All aboard the parilla bus!

Saturday 1 March 2008

Our last meal in Argentina (for a while anyway) was a big pile of meat at a parilla, which was very fitting and normal. What was not normal, however, was the fact that the pile of meat was eaten inside a bus! We saw this little city-bus-turned-restaurant and just couldn't resist.

Mud bricks

Friday 29 February 2008

A lot of houses up in the mountains here are still made with traditional mud bricks.

Maimará

Thursday 28 February 2008

Just about the only attraction in the tiny town of Maimará is its graveyard, which sprawls up and down two hills on the edge of town. Personally, I couldn't even figure out how they bury people at such a steep angle - the coffins must be practically standing up! It was a pretty little cemetery, though.

Necropolis

Wednesday 27 February 2007

Up in the town of Tilcara today, where we visited some pre-Incan ruins. They were quite extensive and impressively conserved. Archeologists were even able to reconstruct some houses and buildings, so we could go inside and see what their dwellings would have felt like. (Dark.) This here is the cemetery, where they buried people in these pits (adults in the fetal position, children buried inside of a very specific kind of urn), along with all kinds of food and everyday items that might be useful in the afterlife.

Another foggy cactus

Tuesday 26 February 2008

Okay, another foggy cactus picture. We left Cachi today, and spent most of the day on the bus.

Another graveyard

Monday 25 February 2008

The first place we visited in the town of Cachi? The graveyard - go figure. We're getting enough pictures of South American cemeteries to publish an entire book about it! But these little graveyards up in the mountains are often so peaceful and pretty, they really are a neat and representative place to see in any region.

Coming into Cachi

Sunday 24 February 2008

We arrived in Cachi today, a very small town a couple of hours away from Salta. The bus ride through the mountains is supposed to be one of the most beautiful in Argentina. Unfortunately, for most of the ride we could see nothing but white out of the windows, due to fog. It was a little frustrating, but it certainly made for some amazing views once we got back down into the valley!

Tuna

Saturday 23 February 2008

This is a cactus fruit called "tuna" in Spanish. They are covered in tiny stinging needles, but are well worth the trouble - they taste like a melon, very sweet and soft.

Not Good Friday yet

Friday 22 February 2008

Ryan and I tried some "empanadas de vigilia" today, which ended up just being empanadas without meat in them, because it is a Friday during Lent. Later, as we were sitting in the square enjoying a glass of beer and a game of cards with some local kids, hundreds of people start streaming out of the church, headed by this cross, "El Señor de los milagros." They were going around the plaza doing a stations of the cross. It seemed a little early to me, but I guess they do it every Friday during Lent. There were probably a couple hundred people, and they stuck around afterward to try and touch the statue of Jesus.

Plaza 9 de Julio

Thursday 21 February 2008

The edge of the central plaza in Salta, from the balcony of the Cabildo (old town hall.) This plaza reminds me so much of Spain, more than anywhere else I've seen in South America so far.

Holy Water

Wednesday 20 February 2008

In the cathedral in the city of Salta, you can find this sign by all of the fonts of holy water. It says that holy water is sacramental, and a sacred thing. The first two ask you not to throw in on the floor and not to use it as a means to something else (that translation is a little iffy, though). Okay. But the third tells you not to use it for witchcraft. I wonder if they have much trouble with that kind of thing around here . . . ?

Pata de Lana

Tuesday 19 February 2008

We visited the Museum of the Chaqueño Man today, a museum celebrating the indigenous, gaucho, and gringo influences in this part of the continent, the Chaco. It was a neat museum, and the slightly different second floor was by far the neatest part. They had these little statues of characters from Guaraní mythology, and played a recording explaining their importance, telling little stories. This guy is called Pata de Lana, or Wool-Foot, because he wraps his feet in wool in order to be able to walk silently. He is a little dwarf who takes advantage of fights between couples to seduce the woman. Because of his silence, however, he is never caught by the jealous husband!

San Fransisco

Monday 18 February 2008

Back in Argentina! We came down to the town of Resistencia today, which is known as the "City of Sculptures." There are hundreds upons hundreds of statues dotting the city, of all different styles and sizes. They pride themselves on being an artsy town, and hold a sculpture competition every year just to celebrate this. We did a walking tour around town today, and found over a hundred statues! It was really neat. This one was outside the church. We saw it in the afternoon, but it was so much more impressive at night!

Lagarto Overo

Friday 1 February 2008

Saw this big fat dude on the wall along the pathway today. Unfortunately, this was our last walk at Esteros del Iberá.

Howler Monkey

Thursday 31 January 2008

Our second day at the Esteros del Iberá. We went on a walk through the forest today, and saw a family of howler monkeys. This is the big male - I caught him looking at me.

Did you know that the Guiness Book of World Records lists howler monkeys as the loudest animals on earth? Their calls can be heard 2 to 3 kilometers away! I was very happy that this family had their mouths full of fruit, and weren't in a noisy mood!

Into the swamps . . .

Wednesday 30 January 2008

Ryan and I are in Esteros del Iberá right now, a nature preserve covering hundreds of square kilometers of wetlands in northern Argentina. This afternoon we went on a boat right with a really knowledgable young guide around the "floating islands," collections of floating plants that have grown so thick that they are now kilometers wide in some places, where trees and bushes grow, and you can see animals as big as deer living. We walked on one for a little while, and it felt kinda like walking on a mattress. The land was solid, as the dirt there is now about a meter thick, but it moved under you, like walking on a water bed. A very strange sensation, indeed.

On this trip we saw lots of the above - black caimans, not agressive at all - along with capybaras (the largest rodent on earth!), marsh deer, and tons and tons of different kinds of birds.

Gauchito Gil

Tuesday 29 January 2008

On the outskirts of the town of Mercedes, in northern Argentina, there is a shrine to a man named Antonio Mamerto Gil Núñez, or Gauchito Gil to his friends. The stories about who he was vary, but most agree that he was a gaucho in the 1870's who was conscripted into the army but deserted rather than fight in the war (either the Argentine Civil War or the War of the Triple Alliance between Argentina, Brasil, and Paraguay). He was going to be put to death for this crime, when he told the commissary that the commissary's son was dying, and that if he prayed for him in the name of Gauchito Gil, he would get better. The commissary killed him anyway, cutting his throat and hanging him upside down from a tree. (Which dyed his white poncho red, making red the color of Gauchito Gil.) But, of course, the commissary prayed in his name and his son was miraculously cured.

A shrine was built at his execution site, and now thousands flock there every year to ask favors and give thanks. He is one of the "profane saints," of which there are a few in Argentina, which are well-loved and oft-called upon by the Argentine public, but not recongized by the church. The devotion of the people was very clear at this shrine. There were millions of plaques thanking Gauchito Gil for services rendered, miracles performed, thousands of car license plates thanking him for granting people cars (which begs the question - are there thousands of cars driving around without plates? or is the local registration office constantly giving out new plates?), hundreds of baby pictures, and a whole building full of wedding dresses and football jerseys, given in thanks for men and games won. It was really an amazing place, a shrine the likes of which I have never seen before.

love notes

Monday 28 January 2008

My last subway trip for a nice long time. Some love notes written on the back of used cards, shoved into a display case. There was one that said "Naty, I adore you, but I adore my Playstation more." I decided that these were nicer.

Fru ería

Sunday 27 January 2008

A little fruit and veggie store near our apartment. Not the best produce there, but it's certainly picturesque!

Carnival season begins!

Saturday 26 January 2008

Ryan and I went out to the Mataderos market one last time before leaving BA, and were treated to a neighborhood murga. Here's the band-leader, as it were.