anadiomene

Well arrived safely in Rio - what a crazy crazy place, its beach fundamentalism gone wild… its a war on fat, clothing, modesty - and in with kitsch in your face, beach madness (and speedo´s)….. mix this in with the hot and humid and you have some serious craziness.  But liking it all none the less, complete assault of the senses, so getting our money´s worth…
No photos on this blog, traveling so light I have only half a weekend bag with me, hence nothing to wear. But luckily its a place clothes don´t seem to be much of a requirement. Everything seems to be gearing up for new years, and we are ready and waiting.  Wishing everyone a totally fabulous new years, all all the best for 2009.  Mxxxxx

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Arrived in Salta in time for the fashion parade in the plaza, of which the men were hilarious – perhaps due to having been plucked off the street moments earlier…..  Next day we did a tour up to Cachi, through the ‘Los Cadrones’ national park, amazing cactus’s – huge. The mountains were covered in them, which from a distance looked like they were getting some serious acupuncture, no wonder their so relaxed.  Saw lots of condors and llama’s (or their local relatives I can’t remember the name of). The pueblo of Cachi is super picturesque and quaint. Got to chew some coco leaves, and had some mate / coco tea – nice place, and everything is so cheap in comparison to BA.  Next day we headed to our luxury spa in Jujuy – had been looking forward but it turned into a bit of a fiasco,  they didn’t have a room so upgraded us, but found a room so down graded us again, the pool and spa were closed, but lucky for us the kids party was rocking and took up the whole property and went on till the wee hours of the morning– lucky us!  But did get dinner free (fortunately as it wasn’t really worth paying for) as compensation for the fact nothing else worked e.g. door to room, safe, internet, TV. Hence cancelled our second night. Gorgeous area though, we went on a mini hike before the rain started; forgot it was rainy season up north. From there went up to the pueblo’s of Tilcara and Pulmacara, the mountains are truly spectacular, both sides of the road are different, the colors and shades reflect off each other and make it almost impossible to capture it on camera. And the villages were much more authentic and natural, which I preferred. Had a scary moment when stopped by province border patrol with a mouth full of coco leaves…. luckily they didn’t notice - or they decided it was worth doing anything about.  Finally found the perfect place to stay at Cerros de San Lorenzo and shame it was for just one night, had breathtaking views and beds worth sleeping in. Shame we had to get up early to fly back to BA, happy to be back though.  Got a bit of altitude sickness on return though – strange… but true.

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Finally after much searching and looking found a volunteer place I like. I liked the kids in the other places but found the organizations themselves a little short on social skills, so finally I came across BABS (British American Benevolent Society) retirement home.  Which is actually more like fun than work, there’s  a program of activities that we join or help with like the arts and crafts, remising, story telling, and of course the Bingo. The people there are all super international well travelled souls, who always have an interesting story or two.  And its great for us to get such a rich look into the history and real life side of what it was like living and growing up in Argentina.  Some of the residents are almost 100, can beat that for wisdom and experience.

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Will let photos speak for themselves, as it was all as quaint as quaint can be.  Really sweet place, the opposite of BA.  The vibe is super relaxed – so much so it is practically horizontal – the pace so slow its basically ground to a halt. Amazing as it is so close to Argentina but yet so different. It is safe the windows of the houses don’t need bars, and locals friendly, beaches and quiet – the water clearer and it all seems so clean.  Feels like we are a million miles away and 1 day seems like several. Of course other than the buquebus – which needs a lot of patience and an early arrival – due to the amount of lines you need to stand on before getting on the ferry. However the 1^st class ticket on way back and watching the deck aerobics made it all worth while.

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Have to say been quite busy now that Fiona is here. Fill it in soon. Just came back from Rosario - actually have yet to find words that can describe our trip, so lets leave it at ‘interesting’.  But in short: Terrible coffee, a tired city in need of a bit of love and a serious makeover, most things were closed, veggie restaurant serving breakfast at 8PM as lunch was over (yes we also thought that dinner would seem logical…), no plaque at Che’s house, mural ok, soaked by falling rain – feet drenched by loose street tiles and puddles, no one is smiles (but hey neither were we), so bored and rained out that we gate-crashed a mass baptism and stayed to see the new day for at least 15 babies before a sleepless night at the party B&B (thank goddess for valium) but the very best part of it all – front row super de-luxe coach seats yeahhhhhh!!!! smiling happy vegemites every inch of the way home (we love BA). Finished off weekend by watching Tango in San Telmo (where everyone was smiling) before a super veggie meal.  Today checked out the madness they call La Boca, nice but too touristy…. But still worth a pic or two.