Days 59-60: Salta & Cafayate, Argentina

Sunday morning, Dan and I checked out of our hotel and walked through the town of Salta with our overnight belongings. We had a couple of hours to kill before our bus to Cafayate, so we went to a small museum in the city center. The museum focused on the Inca empire, which had previously extended to the Salta region. More specifically, the exhibit highlighted a religious ritual that culminated in the live burial of two "chosen" children. Amazingly, a few of these children had been discovered in frozen ground, and as a result, were nearly perfectly preserved. One of the children was on display in the museum, which was a disturbing yet fascinating sight to behold.

After leaving the exhibit, we headed to the bus station and took a four-hour bus ride to the "neighboring" town of Cafayate. On the way we drove through some beautiful landscape, much of which reminded me of the red rock mountains of Arizona. When we pulled into town in the early evening, the owner of our hostel, José, was there to greet us--talk about customer service! He talked with us about Cafayate as he led us the few blocks to the hostel. We then dropped our belongings and went to explore the town. 

We discovered that Cafayate was tiny and we were able to walk around the whole town in about 10 minutes. During our walk, we saw flyers advertising "La Semana de Torrentes" (the week of Torrentes), a celebration of the white wine that is commonly produced in this region. The final event was that night. So Dan and I decided to check it out. We walked to the venue, and there, were greeted with 12 or so booths where local vineyards offered free tastings of their wines. Dan and I took a couple of laps around to the booths, purely for evaluative purposes, of course. Once sated, we left the event and walked through town to get some dinner to-go (we had a Giants vs. Eagles game we needed to be back for). Empanadas being the famed food of the region, we chose to stop at La Casa de Empanadas, where we ordered a dozen empanadas with various fillings for a pricey two dollar total. While there, we also got a chance to leave our mark on Cafayate.

Back at the hostel, we ate our tasty empanadas while watching some NFL. José, the owner, also stopped by the common room to chat us up as we ate. He engaged us in a lengthy conversation about Argentina's two-tiered society and the tacit suppression of the indigenous majority. Since arriving in the north, we had noticed a much larger indigenous population than in other regions, and often in the poorer areas. It was interesting, though depressing, to hear José confirm our observations.

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The next day, Dan and I rented bikes from the hostel with the plan to ride to the nearby desert and a few of Cafayate's vineyards. We had a nice, smooth ride to the desert and got some great views of the area.

As we departed, I made it about five feet before I rode over something sharp and my back tire went flat. José had prepared us for this possibility and gave us the necessary equipment to shore up the hole and pump the tire full. I would have been useless in this endeavor, but Dan made an impressive attempt at repairing the bike. Unfortunately, after two valiant attempts, the tire remained flat. We were forced to walk our bikes back into town, all the while keeping one thumb out in hopes that a friendly driver would take pity on us. Only one car stopped, where a friendly pair of brothers used an electronic pump to fill my back tire. Of course, this didn't solve our problem, but it gave us a short reprieve from walking. 

Two exhausting, sun-punishing hours later, we finally made it back to our hostel. We returned the bikes and got a partial refund, and then headed into town for a quick bite. We then set off on-foot for a nearby vineyard. While there, we had a change of luck and received a personal tour of the expansive property. 

After sampling the wines and buying a ridiculously cheap bottle, we walked back to our hostel. It was already getting late, and after we had returned and taken much-needed showers, it was time for us to take the bus back to Salta. There, we spent one last night at our ho(s)tel before leaving the city early the following morning.

Days 57-58: Salta, Argentina

As I had mentioned, Dan and I decided to go to Mendoza as a stopping point on our way to northern Argentina (and eventually, Bolivia). Our first destination after Mendoza was a city called Salta. After our day of wine touring in Mendoza, we went to the bus station to take off for Salta. We knew we had a long ride ahead of us, but it was only after looking at our tickets that we processed just how long--we would be spending nineteen consecutive hours on a bus! Considering how massive South America is, a bus ride of this length is not uncommon. Yet it would be our longest trip yet.

Around 8:30pm, we settled into our seats and prepared for the journey. The chairs were much more comfortable than the ones you would find on a plane, and they reclined quite a bit, features which made the distance seem much less daunting. Amazingly, this long drive, which included three meals, costed a mere 60 US dollarsper ticket. Even more amazing was the fact that neither of us ended up too bothered by the trip.

By 4:30pm the next day, we were finally in Salta. Unfortunately, the city was nothing to marvel over. If it had been the only reason for our long bus ride, I would have been annoyed, but I knew we had to travel north regardless. Our first day in the city, we hung at a coffee shop for a bit before lounging at our ho(s)tel (it was called a hotel, but the price, tiny rooms, and poor plumbing said otherwise). At night, we went for a late dinner at a place that was recommended in our guide book. Or I thought it was a late dinner--people were still rolling in at midnight. The atmosphere of the restaurant was lively and the food was startlingly cheap. We enjoyed some barbecue and wine and then headed back to the ho(s)tel for the night.

The following day, Dan and I explored the town a little more. It had a cute city center, which we walked around for a bit. We then went on a hike to the top of a nearby mountain, which gave us good views of the surrounding area. 

After our hike, I went and got a much needed massage in town. The beds at our ho(s)tel were killing my back and neck, and I was in need of some TLC. I ended up getting a great half hour massage for the equivalent of 10usd--not a bad deal! 

When I got back to our room, Dan and I talked and decided we would try our luck in a nearby town, Cafayate, the following night (we had been a bit underwhelmed by Salta). The buses for our next big stop would be leaving from Salta, meaning we would have to return there after Cafayate. So we determined we would pack overnight bags and put our big backpacks in storage at our hotel. We went into town for a casual dinner that night, and then returned to our room to prepare for the following day.

Days 54-56: Mendoza, Argentina

On Tuesday morning, we left Valparaíso and once again crossed the border into Argentina. We had decided to return to the city of Mendoza because it was a logical stopping point between Valparaíso and northern Argentina (where we would be going after). Also, we had really enjoyed Mendoza during our first visit and thought the city would promise additional entertainment for us. 

The bus ride to Mendoza took about eight hours, so on our first day there we did little else besides hang out and go out to dinner. The following day, we had bigger plans...Dan and I decided to go skydiving (Sorry parents! We didn't tell you before, but it was for your own good. And yes, it was completely safe. Love you!). We arranged the excursion through our hostel, and left midday for our adventure. I had been skydiving twice before, but this was Dan's first time, and I was equally excited for both of us. 

It took an hour to get to the jump site, and once there, the four-person company took their time preparing both plane and equipment. Finally, it was time to go. The man who would be tandem jumping with us informed us of his past experience; he had done well over 4,000 jumps in his life, and I think Dan and I were both happy to be just another number in his tally. He gave us a briefing of what to do once in the air. The plane was extremely small, and there was only one man doing the tandem jumps, so Dan and I would be going up separately.

I went first. We flew fifteen minutes in the sky before the moment arrived. The instructor told me to reposition myself by the door, at which point I put on my goggles and he strapped his harness securely to mine. Finally, he opened the door. The wind came rushing at us, but I focused my attention on placing my feet on the ledge of the plane. One down, two down. Then the instructor's feet were down. Finally, he told me to let go. For a brief moment, my legs were mid-air, yet still beside the plane...then, whishhh. The instructor let go of the plane and we were falling to the ground at an exhilarating rate. The air rushed over my skin and I had a massive smile on my face as we sped downward. After thirty seconds of free falling, the instructor deployed the parachute and we began floating at a peaceful pace down to Earth. Nothing was quite as fun as that initial free fall. Yet having a view of the Andes ahead and vineyards below was pretty remarkable.

Dan followed shortly thereafter. I was able to watch from below as he and the instructor traveled downward in their parachute. As he neared the ground, he looked like a rag doll that was hanging limp in front of the instructor. I was worried he hadn't enjoyed himself, but he had a big smile on his face when I approached him. I asked him if he had been nervous at all. He said no, but I am eager to watch the video evidence and find out if his face betrays him.

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The following day, Dan and I took advantage of being in the wine capital of Argentina and went to some vineyards. We had been to two vineyards when we were previously in Mendoza with my mom, but thought it could be fun to see some more.

During our prior trip to Mendoza, we stayed in the countryside, so all of the wineries were close to the hotel. This time, we were staying in the heart of the city, so we needed to travel about an hour away to seek out the vineyards. We took a bus to a nearby town called Maipu. Once there, Dan and I rented bikes and were given a map of all of the local vineyards. We set off for one that sounded good to us, but once there, learned that they were not yet open. Instead, we settled for a vineyard across the street that was so tiny it was not even marked on our map. We were the only ones there, and apprehensively settled at a table. Then, a woman brought over a wine list from which we were instructed to select four glasses. Allowing us to choose our own wine!...already, I started liking this place. 

From there, it only got better. Because we were the only ones present, the woman gave us a generous pour on each glass. She also brought out a beautiful charcuterie plate for us to share. On top of that, Dan and I were both surprised and excited to discover that all of the wines we sampled were some of the best we had ever tried. Had it not been for space, we probably would have bought a bottle of everything they produced. Instead, we settled for a single bottle of some of the best rosé either of us had ever had. After the fact, once we realized we would probably never again discover wine from this boutique vineyard, we regretted not purchasing more of it. However, at the time we eagerly placed the wine in our bike basket and moved on to our next stop. 

Our next vineyard, Trapiche, was much more established; it had been around since the late 1800s. Though neither of us thought their wine compared to the previous vineyard, we both enjoyed going on a tour through the property and learning about their production.

After the second vineyard, we had had our fill of wine. So we chose to end our day at a nearby beer garden. It was a nice spot to round out our afternoon, and after finishing our beers, we rode our bikes back to the shop and returned back to the city for one final night in Mendoza.

Days 52-53: Valparaíso & Viña del Mar, Chile

I had mentioned that there were two big events in Valparaíso the weekend we were there. The first, as I said, was the tattoo convention. And on Sunday, we went chasing after the other event: La Fiesta de Mil Tambores, The Party of 1,000 Drums. We met up with a few of our new friends near the beach venue that day so we could all take part in the event together. One of our tour friends, Tom, even came from Santiago for the day, so we excitedly reunited with him during the festivities. Once we were all together, we walked down to the beach to begin what would be an eventful afternoon. 

The beach and nearby street were filled primarily with teens to thirty-somethings who had descended upon the city to take part in the event. One of the first things we noticed upon walking around was the body art...and this time I am not referring to tattoos. Numerous individuals were covered--or in the process of being covered--with paint in a memorable display of self-expression.

Warning! R-rated for possible nudity...

In addition to the body art, the beach was converted into a massive party with people hanging, talking and drinking with their friends.

And then, of course, there were the drums. About every 10 minutes, a small drum band would begin beating on their instruments and a crowd would quickly form around them. Each band would take about 15 minutes in the spotlight. At that point, they would end their performance and a new drum band would begin playing somewhere nearby. Naturally, we were part of the drum-chasing crowd and excitedly listened to multiple performances.

It was an exciting and lively event, and everyone was clearly there to have a good time. Eventually, the drum bands began trailing off toward the street where they seemed to be organizing themselves in preparation for a parade. We stood on the sidewalk for several hours, all the while continuing to be entertained by the drummers, other performers, and of course, the people-watching.

After awhile, we lost faith the parade would ever start. Parade or no parade, by that point, we had already had our satisfying fill of the entertainment. So we walked our way through the crowd to head back into town. As we walked, or rather got swept away by the immense volume of people traveling in both directions, we were able to pass by the entire parade line, many acts of which were performing in-place. In that way, we got a chance to see everything we had wanted to--a massive production with artists of all kind, and quite possibly, more than the promised 1,000 drums. It was a great day, which we ended with one final round of drinks before our friend Tom left for Santiago and due to exhaustion from the event, we retired to Nona's B&B for the night.

The following day, Dan and I took a bus to the nearby town of Viña del Mar. It was a beautiful, clean beach town, and we spent the afternoon hanging on the sand in the sun. We then returned to Valparaíso for our final evening, and took one last opportunity to soak up the art contained on the walls of this special city.

 

Day 51: Valparaíso, Chile

Saturday morning, Dan and I walked around the hills of Valparaíso and continued to admire the street art. It seemed that around every corner there was a new mural to admire, and we did our best to uncover as many as we could.

At lunch, we talked about the two events that were taking place in the city that weekend. The first was a tattoo convention; we had seen several banners advertising this expo and the numerous body artists who would be present to display their work. Intrigued, Dan and I stopped by the event that afternoon. 

The setting of the convention was just as one would imagine. Outside the exhibition were several beer stands set beside a stage where a heavy metal band was rocking out. Inside...well we heard before we saw. We were greeted with the consistent sound of buzzing needles, and then turned a corner to see booth-upon-booth of makeshift tattoo shops. At nearly every stand sat multiple individuals who were in the process of getting inked. Some of the tattoos, even if not in line with my own taste, were impressive in their accuracy and detail...

Clearly, I was drawn to face tattoos

Then there were others that were simply terrible...

Yes, that is supposed to be Megan Fox, and no, her face should not be that wide...nor should you be getting a tattoo of Megan Fox. Ever.

The whole event (both the atmosphere and the people who comprised it) felt like a portal into an alternate world to which we visibly did not belong. Dan and I walked around for a little while before we had our fill of tattoo-viewing and left the venue. We made it back to our bed and breakfast about an hour and a half later. By that point, we had we had gotten lost a total of three times in one day. During our third mishap, we completely missed our bus stop and wound up all the way at the bus depot. Though all the experiences were frustrating, the compassion we were shown through each instance cemented our belief that Chileans are the friendliest group of South Americans we have met so far.

Saturday night, we met back up with our friends Suze, Sarah, and Chloe to get dinner. We went to a restaurant heavily recommended by a local, and discovered there were two options on the menu: a plate for two people or a plate for three. Given that there were five of us, we decided to go crazy and ordered one of everything. The food came out a short while later; it was a heaping plate of fries topped with meat, cheese, and carmelized onions. It was a well-balanced meal of meat, dairy, and vegetables,  rounded off with some bread and beers. And for my part, I couldn't have been happier; it was really good. 

After dinner, we went back to the girls' hostel where we played some drinking games and then ended up at a nearby party. There was a live band at the bar, and they must have been playing some great cover songs because all of the Chileans were going crazy over the music. We hung at the bar until the band stopped playing and then went back to our B&B for the night.

Day 50: Valparaíso, Chile

When you have been traveling for awhile, you can very easily lose all sense of day and date. In fact, it is  mostly because of my blog (and football) that I ever have any sense of time at all. So it is only for that reason that I was able to realize that Friday, October 3, marked the fiftieth day of our adventure! It certainly has not felt like that long. Yet, when I remind myself of everything we have done since we have been in South America, and everything my friends and family have been up to since we have been away...then it feels like we have been traveling for a year. 

On day fifty, we showed no signs of slowing down. We left mid-morning by bus for a town two hours north of Santiago called Valparaíso. We had heard multiple people talk about this place, but it was only upon arrival that we understood why. Valparaíso is a bowl-shaped city, with more than half of its buildings sitting along the slopes of large hills. From a distance, the stacked homes resemble the colorful favelas of Rio. Yet up close, you can see the buildings are then further enhanced by beautiful grafitti, which covers any space that can be construed as a blank canvas. 

Before properly exploring the street art, Dan and I had to check into our hostel. It turned out, we were staying in more of a bed and breakfast than a hostel, with only three guest rooms and a very sweet caretaker. Nona, a woman in her mid-60s, sat us down in the living room to talk to us. She only spoke Spanish, so she talked slowly as she told us all about the residence and the surrounding area. We felt bad interrupting her, so she went on for a good hour, describing every last piece of "useful" information she could draw up from map or memory. 

Eventually we were able to excuse ourselves, at which point we went out for a late lunch and to look at some graffiti. On our walk, we passed a little restaurant where we unexpectedly spotted Suze and her travel mates, Chloe and Sarah. We went inside to catch up with them and had a round of pisco sours (a popular Chilean cocktail). After finishing our drinks, we made plans with the three girls to meet up in the evening, and went off to explore more of the street art.

That evening, the five of us went into town. We made a couple of stops on our bar route, enjoying the drinks and each other's company. As we went around, we observed that the city was bustling with young people, most of whom seemed to be residents of Valparaíso. The youthfulness was unsurprising given the hippieish feel of the place. Yet it was still nice to feel that we were living and hanging among locals rather than tourists. At around 2am, we called it a night and made our way up the windy roads back to Nona's.

Days 48-49: Santiago, Chile

After taking the night bus, Dan and I arrived in Santiago early Wednesday morning. We were both still drained from our travels and achey from the volcano trek, so we spent the morning lounging at our hostel. In the afternoon, we decided to pull ourselves together and get a taste of Chile's capital. We set off for a museum Dan had read about. As we walked, we began to formulate the opinion that Santiago is a city like any other. We passed both busy sections and quiet parks, run down areas as well as new buildings, but nothing that struck us as particularly alluring.

We hopped on the metro, and soon after arrived at the Museum of Memory and Human Rights. The museum was three stories tall, and as we walked from room to room, began to piece together the story it told. It was built to commemorate the nation's tragic ruling throughout its 17-year military dictatorship (1973-1990). During that time, the leadership committed various atrocities against those who were suspected of going against it. The museum documented these horror stories, along with the eventual toppling of the regime. Dan and I both found the exhibit disturbing yet enlightening. 

As we headed toward the building's exit, I spotted a familiar face. It was our friend, Suze, from our 17-day tour! We hadn't even known she was in the same country as us, let alone the same city at the same exhibit. It was a crazy chance encounter, and we spent a while catching up on what we had done since parting ways two-and-a-half weeks prior. We made plans to meet up that evening and then left the museum. In the afternoon, Dan and I went for a nice lunch in the city before returning to our hostel to relax some more. At night, we went to Suze's hostel, where the three of us prepared dinner and discussed our past and future travel plans. We learned that Suze was temporarily traveling with two other girls, who we also met that night. The three of them would be heading to the same place as us, so rather than saying a long goodbye after dinner, we made plans to meet back up in the next city.

The following day, I woke up with an eye infection. I had forgotten to take my contacts off during our night bus, and was now paying the price. Luckily, this happened while we were in major city, so that morning, I was able to (somewhat) easily find an eye doctor and address my problem. As I walked through the busy streets, I marveled at the number of people who were wearing suits. This was the first city we had been to where I actually got the impression that people worked. In most of Argentina, by comparison, we had learned that people received four hour breaks in the afternoon. In Santiago, however, it seemed people were only leaving work for a quick noon coffee. The urgency of the coffee break seemed to be reinforced by the fact that the coffee shops all had high tables sans chairs.

After walking through the busy part of town, I met back up with Dan. We spent the afternoon at a park and then went to a nice dinner at night. By the next morning, we felt ready to move on. Santiago was fine, but it was not the city for us.