Waiting for a bus can either be very boring or most intriguing. I’ve been warned that buses don’t stick to schedules, so I’m always at least an hour early. By the way, in all this time, only one bus has been late and none have been early. Punctuality is the name of the game. Or …
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Humahuaca
How does one put into words the exaltation of standing 4350m above sea-level on a windswept and barren hill over looking the colourful triangles of Serranía del Hornocal. Ice-cold gale whipping your face, slowly trying to fill your lungs with air low in oxygen, keeping movements to the minimum. The steep downhill trail to a …
La Luna
La luna, the moon!! She rose in all her glory over the Andes mountains, and blessed me with misty rays from between the clouds after a rather taxing day. Louise and I started the day like this (down, not up thank goodness), on our way to try and catch a local colectivo (bus) from Jujuy …
Stairway to heaven
Don’t think a thousand steps get you to heaven. It only takes you to the top of Cerro San Bernardo, a hill overlooking Salta, a beautiful city in the north of Argentina. Although, with the spectacular backdrop of the Andes mountains, an exalted feeling is not precluded. It’s just the sweat and shortness of breath …
Thelma & Louise
I have decided to name her Louise, this pink companion of mine. Not that we’re suicidal, or that we’ve murdered anyone (yet), but yesterday she almost got me into big trouble. I had spent the day wandering the streets, sleeping on the grass, watching the river and generally waiting for the night bus to Salta. …
Bicicleta
San Ignacio Mini merited a stop as the best Jesuit-Guaraní ruins are to be seen there. Together with 3 other sites close by, it was declared a World Heritage site in 1984, for its ‘arcitectural beauty and evidence of unrepeatable history’. As a former UNESCO Director General stated: “It is a matter of protecting the …
Blessed
Is it possible for the soul to expand? If indeed, mine doubled in size after my Iguazu experience. The indigenous people of this region, the Guaraní, revered the falls in the Iguazú river. Iguazú is derived from the Guaraní word for ‘big water’, a very apt description for one of the world’s great natural wonders. It …
Slow exit
Exit, not departure. According to my online dictionary, the latter means leaving a place, whereas the former means the way in which one leaves. A slow exit has its merits. And by slow I mean by foot, down a 200m dirt driveway, having to negotiate my pink suitcase around mud puddles, very successfully I might …
Camino del Indio
Never judge a book by its cover, the saying goes. That is the case with Camino del Indio, the place that I’ve been staying and working at. The mere name, which means ‘the way of the aboriginal people’, indicates that it is a sanctimonial place, where people respect nature, the ancestral ways and unsophisticated manner …
Mate
Mate is a culture, not a tea. It is used as means of inclusion, of creating companionship. It is ingrained in the culture, and when you are invited to participate, it is a sign of acceptance. On Sunday I came to fully appreciate the extent of the habit, or more aptly, the ritual. Let me …
Mella Madness 