Not quite such a cold, snowy and spectacular month but ... er ....
interesting nevertheless (is that really one word)...
Zigzagging my way between Chile and Argentina. From Puerto Natales in South
Chile I took a 4 night boat trip north to Puerto Montt, then down to Chiloe
a poor but traditional island on the west coast, back across into Argentina
to Bariloche (the most trendy ski resort type place that you can imagine),
San Martin de los Andes which is even more trendy than the place you just
imagined (probably cos it has a longer name), back into Chile to Pucon, a
town with a huge snowed capped volcano and nothing else. Northwards via
Santiago to Mendoza (yes back into Argentina) where they make wine and
therefore they have sunshine Hurrah!! About time too. Northwards again to
Cordoba and Salta in the north West of Argentina.
It´s difficult to imagine that the villages in these areas are in the same country as the major
European style towns. Some of the villages are third world, the houses made
of mud and the people native indians. Here as in most places the whiter the
skin the greater the affluence.
Just for a change the downers (Lows) first ........
- On top of a very snowy mountain in Barriloche admiring the incredible
views I trod on a virgin piece of snow (there were a lot of them about) but
I didnt expect from such a piece of snow that it was just a thin cover over
a huge hole ! My leg was strangely drawn right into this orrifice which
wouldn´t have been a disaster except that in the course of it´s penetration
my knee met a piece of sharp rock - it stopped suddenly, and hurt!
For the first time in my life I could see inside my knee through a hole I could have fitted my little finger into (although I didn´t actually try ´cos rolling around in the snow uttering
expletives, and seeing the remainder of my trip flash before my eyes, seemed
far more appropriate behaviour at this point). After a half hour ´walk´
through sometimes deep snow to the chairlift I tried to keep my leg as
straight as possible as each time I bent it my newly acquired aerosol in the
knee sprayed my boot and the snow bright red. Eventually I got back to
civilisation and to a hospital emergency room where I got stiched up (for
US$ 4 - a bargain). Now 3 weeks later I can at least walk properly again !
- Economic Crisis - Fortunately not mine, but the whole of Argentina´s.
Things don´t get any better for the locals. At end April all the banks, ATMs and
foreign exchange places were closed for a week to stop the withdrawls (cos no-one here trusts the banks anymore)! It worked. Luckily I had US$ cash so I changed money with the locals on the street. I heard about some riots in Buenos Aires but I am a long way from there at the moment. When I arrived in Argentina 2 months ago I was getting 2 pesos to the dollar, now I am getting well over 3 so you can imagine how cheap everything is to us foreign
folk (in December it was 1 pesos = 1 dollar).
Put it this way : Argentina. Probably the only place in the world where you can enjoy first
world quality at third world prices ! That´s why I´m still here (and it´s
an amazing place).
- Pucon, the place with the great volcano. Couldn´t climb it cos I hurt my
knee. Bugger.
Time for some High bits
- Bariloche only had 2 types of shops. Chocolate shops and ice cream shops.
Most shops sold Chocolate flavoured ice cream, but I didn´t find anywhere
that sold ice cream flavoured chocolate, and it was nearly all excellent.
And, thanks to the exchange rate it was all really cheap. We stayed there a
while ! - well I had hurt my knee and all that ....
- The 4 night boat trip. Great scenery (just the usual snow capped peaks
and glaciers) although it was cloudy most of the time. At night the sea
glowed an incredible bright green due to phospheresence (a bio-chemical
reaction ....... algae ........ or something like that).
- The wine! Did I mention the wine yet! Chilean wine rates far better than
Argentinian, amongst the cheap US$1 per litre stuff I mean - I´m a bit of an
expert on that now (well it´s cheaper than the beer litre for litre).
- Stayed at a top hotel, one of the ´Leading Hotels of the World Group´.
Well when I say ´stayed there´ it was more like sneaking in and enjoying
their facilities for an afternoon, drinking our 20 pence a litre supermarket
wine on their sunbeds.
- The food in Mendoza - Imagine a top class ´All you can eat´ with loads of
variety for US$3 (2 pounds). Or all you can eat pasta for US$1 (60p). I
think I´ve put on a bit of weight recently.
Oh and culture. Of course culture. I mean I have seen some, cos that´s
what I came for. I have seen some cultural things...... at least I think so
........ 9th April I think it was.
- Difunta Correa Shrine - The most materialistic semi-religious place
imagineable. Argentinians pray for houses, cars and anything else they want
and if they get it they build a model of the house, truck or car and leave
it at the shrine. There is a whole town of houses (several hundred) about
1m high on the hillside and a roomful of trucks about 1m long. The room
where those who prayed for sporting success looks more impressive that Real
Madrids trophy room. There are even some rooms that are vaguely religious
but the catholic church apparently shuns this shrine and it is not
surprising. Surreal... it has more goods that some shopping centres I have
been in.
- Salta - The landscape looks like Arizona or Colorado. The shapes of the
rock almost defy belief. The colours of the rock make up an artists
palette, almost all the colours of the rainbow - ever seen green and blue
rock - it´s all here.
So where to go next? Bolivia soon, maybe via Chile, and I must get
somewhere decent to watch some world cup action, not a good time to be in
Argentina just in case England get an unlikely win. Winning the world cup
won´t solve Argentina´s problems but there are a lot of pissed off people
here already and getting knocked out early on sure won´t help !
Bye for now
Luv Pete
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