SA Sunday: Purmamarca, Jujuy, Argentina

You can thank The Buenos Aires Broken Hearts Club by Jessica Morrison for inspiring this installment of South America Sunday. That and the fact that I finally have free time again with classes over...

I'm picking up from where I left off in Tilcara, Jujuy.

~~~

One of many beautiful scenes we encountered

From the journal:
6 de Julio, 2009 written on a colectivo en route to a then unknown location between Salta City and Cafayate, Salta, Argentina.
...From Tilcara we took a day trip to Purmamarca to see the Cilla de Siete Colores (Hill of Seven Colors). Though the town is tiny the 2km walk around the "hill" was VERY impressive. We took tons of photos! We met a lovely family from Michigan who were very friendly and had really adorable children! We paid 40 pesos and took a remis (a car for hire) up to Las Salinas Grandes (Salt flats on the road to Bolivia). The ride totaled 3 hours and I would estimate that we were at the salt flats for 15 minutes. Totally worth it though! The flats were incredible. It was like another planet. I could hardly see because of the sun reflecting off the huge white landscape. It looked like snow...
...Back in Tilcara I learned the danger of combining guilt and Fernet con Coca when I nearly cut off a dreadlock to give to a man I had mistakenly insulted the day before. I am grateful and forever indebted to Ashley for putting a stop to the madness...

Purmamarca's backyard. Are you jealous? I am.

Town is a generous word for Purmamarca (though who am I to talk, coming from where I do) but it has a treasure in those hills. The hills were ridiculous. Every corner we turned yielded more perfect photo ops and elicited more oohs and aahs. It never got old. I think we could have walked around the route 3 more times without getting bored! Remarkably, we only encountered two or three other people on our walk. A car full drove by, and a little boy was sitting under an overhang selling trinkets. I think he had a slow day...It is incredible that the area is not more heavily populated.

A salt ridge at Las Salinas Grandes

We were late getting to our remis for our trip to Las Salinas, and unable to find a restroom, we begged the driver for some direction. He promptly knocked on the door of the house we were outside of, and they let us use their toilet. I was incredibly grateful that I spoke Spanish at that point. It was awkward.

My very own nativity set

Never inclined to miss an opportunity to shop, Ashley and I scooped up some treasures in the decidedly more pricy market around the town center. Frankly I am beginning to wonder if all of Argentina has conspired to make it impossible to catch a bus without waiting for hours near a market. The result was this lovely nativity set that is currently residing on top of my TV.

Quinoa salad and tamales...mmmm

To pass the time we also had a delicious and remarkably healthy meal at a lovely (I think the only...) hostel in town, right across from the bus stop (El Cardón, I believe).

In short, Purmamarca is a fabulous day trip! Don't spend the night there though...there isn't enough to do besides shop!

For more photos please visit my Flickr album: Jujuy
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SA Sunday: Tilcara, Jujuy, Argentina

View from the ruins, overlooking the valley
From the journal:
5 de julio, 2009 Hostel Terra Oculta, Salta City, Salta, Argentina
...The second stop on our journey was Tilcara, about an hour south of Humahuaca. It is a bit bigger and decidedly more touristy. Though our hostel was cheaper (a mere $25 pesos) the rest of the town was more expensive. We showed down some lovely fried empanadas and delicious treats from Mama Pacha, our new favorite shop in all of Argentina. Our first evening there we picnicked in the plaza with goat cheese, sundried tomatoes, grilled flatbreads and pumpkin alfahores [how posh!]. It was very pleasant, though we were eventually frightened away by some wild and reproductively intact dogs...


Cacti in the botanical garden
We flaked a little bit in Tilcara, opting not to do the recommended hikes because our potential guide was trying very hard to rip us off, and we didn't find him all that pleasant to begin with. We spent a couple of nights in the Pena right in the plaza where we saw the two groups you see pictured. We were aware that it was the tourist bar, but we made a couple of new friends there and thus kept going back. It was there that our trip really began. We forged a little community for ourselves in the three nights that we stayed and by the time we left we were able to walk through the town and greet people as if we lived there.


Alpaca cria rolling in the dust
We spent a morning in the Pucará Ruins, which are reconstructed pre-columbian ruins. We thought the fake pyramid at the top that was dedicated to the archeologists was pretty funny. We passed an hour or two in the attached botanical garden laughing at the alpaca cria and the "yerba buena" before wandering back into town...


Dancing in circles


View of the kitchen decor at Hostel Tilcara (though you can't see the dried frog he had hanging in the window)

For more photos please visit my Flickr album: Jujuy
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SA Sunday: Humahuaca, Jujuy, Argentina

Burro in a plaza in town

From the journal:
5 de julio, 2009 Hostel Terra Oculta, Salta City, Salta, Argentina

...We flew into the city of Jujuy [on June 30] but were unimpressed and decided to move straight on up to Humahuaca. We enjoyed it there, though I did a shameful amount of shopping, It was a very small town nestled between mountains (as these northern towns are) that was remarkably cold at night in contrast to the desert heat during the day. I especially enjoyed our hostel, Posada del Sol, which was a fair ways out of town and very peaceful. We had a delicious breakfast there of breads and spreads and tea, served in beautiful red earthenware. Both nights we had lovely Irish roommates, the first a young man and the second two girls our own age [all heading up to Bolivia]. I felt at peace there for the first time in weeks. I think I could have stayed much longer...

Sweet relief from the sun in the tamale shop

The truth is that in Humahuaca there wasn't much to "do" once the gifts had been purchased and we had seen the noontime holy cuckoo clock. For that reason I wholly enjoyed it. We laughed at the sight of dogs running around on rooftops. We wandered around and stared in awe at the views which were unlike anything I had ever seen before, having never left the east coast of the United States. We sat in the square and ate mandarinas, four for a peso, while identifying new birds for my list. We went to bed early, and got up early, a routine which was strange to me, but came naturally during those days. One afternoon we took a walk up to a mirador, a look-out point, that we had been told about. Though we had no idea where we were going we were joined by a dog who never left our sight the entire walk up and down. We ate some tamales and sampled the traditional "locro", a stew that I can't honestly recommend, as it is very greasy and gave us both indigestion.

In this manner we passed two nights in the small town of Humahuaca before catching a 4peso bus to Tilcara...

King of the Mountain, our walking friend

Mountain Worship

For more photos please visit my Flickr album: Jujuy
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SA Sunday: Packing up, moving out

Packing up, moving out, originally uploaded by Soasa Designs.

I was going to show you a photo of my packed backpack for our trip, but all of my laundry is still wet, so my bag isn't packed. It's causing me a good deal of stress. Instead I'm going to spend the afternoon reading through some travel guides and packing up my suitcases to put in storage!

I've decided that I can't bear to leave my second BsAs hoop behind. It's my Project Spectrum hoop and it's perfect. I've doubled it up and hopefully it will travel home safely in my suitcase. Cross your fingers for me!

We are in the midst of refining our travel plans, and I have to admit I'm feeling some anxiety. I just feel like we don't have enough time! Maybe I set my heart on accomplishing too much. We're off bright and early Tuesday morning, and I'm hoping that I'll be able to take a deep breath and just let things roll forward. We'll get to what we get to, I suppose. It's going to fly by so fast! I'll try and keep you updated as things change!

SA Sunday: Lechucita Vizcachera - Birdwatching

Lechucita Vizcachera, originally uploaded by Soasa Designs.

I spotted this Burrowing Owl while my friends and I were at a polo club outside the city of Buenos Aires. I couldn't believe how close it let me get!

I've just finished my birdwatching class at UCA, and I'm so pumped about how it went! I'm very sad to say goodbye to my professor and my classmates. We were a small, tight-knit group, and we had a lot of fun together. Yesterday we saw some incredibly cool birds, including a father and son pair of Rufescent Tiger-Herons, a whole mess of Monk Parakeets, a Golden-Breasted Woodpecker, and the silly looking Guira Cuckoo (Looks like he's got bad bedhead, right?).



This is a portion of my list of birds that I've identified from Argentina and the US. It's growing, hopefully forever! I'm very excited to take my book with me on my trip and see what else I can find! You can click the image to see it more clearly.

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SA Sunday: It's a plan!

It's a plan!, originally uploaded by Soasa Designs.

Two weeks from Tuesday my friend Ashley and I will embark on our cross-country adventure! We will be flying up north, then busing down through northwestern Argentina, into Chile, and then down and back into Argentina. This map shows our plans! The towns I hit are the "major" towns, or rather, our base camps. There are great places to see surrounding all of these areas, and we may end up spending some time in those as well! We're very excited, and trying hard to come up with a feasible budget plan for this. Ashley just bought her plane ticket to Jujuy, and I'm working on getting mine as well!

If you'd like to see the map larger so you can actually read some of it, click here!

From the top:
Jujuy, A
Salta, A
Tucuman, A
La Rioja, A
San Juan, A
Mendoza, A
Santiago, C
Valparaiso, C
Vildavia, C
Osorno, C
Bariloche, A
El Bolson, A
Buenos Aires, A

We're very excited! I'm not sure how consistent my blogging will be, but I promise to do my best!

Don't forget that my Etsy Discount Offer is still available, until this Thursday!

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I'm so glad I was in the Colombia section

I'm so glad I was in the Colombia section, originally uploaded by Soasa Designs.

Yesterday a friend of mine and a friend of hers planned to meet up for some gift shopping in Recoleta. Her friend arrived in a tizzy and said that her friend had 3 tickets to the Argentina vs Colombia World Cup Qualifying game, and would we like to go? $100 pesos each! Practically free, as soccer games go. "Of course!" we shouted. "Let's go!" she said. Game started at 6, and it was 4:15 already.

It wasn't until we were in a cab and positive that we were headed in the right direction that we found out we'd be sitting in the Colombia section because the tickets belonged to the girlfriend of the friend of the friend of my friend, who is Colombian (say that three times fast!).

We were a little nervous, because secretly we were crossing our fingers for Argentina, and we didn't want anyone to find out and beat us up! The truth of the matter is that after 10 minutes in the stadium it was clear that Colombia is SO MUCH MORE FUN than Argentina. We didn't hear a peep from the Argentine fans, but Colombia was all over it!

Game ended Argentina 1 : Colombia 0. After it ended security kept us up in the stands for about 45 minutes to let all the Argentine fans clear out. I've never been to a big sporting event. Is that normal? I can see the sense in it, but at the same time it was really late at night and we were cold and hungry!

The whole thing was a blast. I have lots of video, and I'm going to try and sort it out and piece it together a bit, even though the quality is pretty mediocre.

Because I don't know enough about the teams to give any real commentary, here's someone else's opinion!

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Rituals

Morning Ritual, originally uploaded by Soasa Designs.

I love my maté. Really love it. A couple weeks ago I bought that great thermos on the left. It's incredible! I put hot water in it at 7am and opened it at 2:30pm and it burned me!

Tons of people in Argentina drink maté, but not nearly as many as do in Uruguay. In Uruguay every second or third person has a thermos under their arm, everywhere they go. Here in Argentina it's a really communal activity, similar to smoking a bowl, with it's own etiquette and language. (Except that it's legal, and instead of giving you munchies it makes you less hungry, and instead of making you tired it gives you energy.) One unspoken rule is that when you're sick you don't drink from a shared maté, which means that for more than a month I've been drinking my maté all alone. This might seem sad, but I actually enjoy my little quiet morning ritual.

I've started a new ritual with myself, and I thought it particularly appropriate to share it here. I've turned into a real whiner in the last couple of months. It's hard to read and hear about all my friends starting their gardens, going on hikes, and heading off to festivals when I'm here in Argentina, at a point in my trip that's pretty anticlimactic. At this point I just live here, and there's no dirt to put my feet in. I've worked on a farm for two summers now, and I miss it! I'm really just homesick, I know, but it makes me feel resentful towards Argentina, which is wrong!

My new ritual involves writing in my journal, my real journal. I've started to keep a list of everything I'm grateful for, or that I've learned or discovered since I've been here. It' helps! I had an incredibly productive day yesterday, based on the fact that I realized the upside of having too much free time! This is the free time I always wanted! I had two fabulous ideas yesterday, and the wheels are in motion to actually pursue them!

I've decided to share some of my list each week, so here's today's bunch! It's not all significant and huge, but it all makes a difference in my life.

Big, small, profound and trivial things I am grateful to have discovered since coming to Argentina:
I can converse, more or less, in Spanish!
I love drinking maté with friends, but I also love my morning ritual
I can enjoy a beer, in a bar, with the right friends
Ceci, Steve, Ali and Ashley
I have time to knit
I got to explore the city with Mom and Paula, it was wonderful!

The list is really long, so I'm breaking it up over time.

Now, I want to know, what are your rituals? What keeps you on track? What never fails to bring you joy?

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Ravelry Meet-up, Buenos Aires, Argentina

Ravelry Meet-up, Buenos Aires, Argentina, originally uploaded by Soasa Designs.

Yesterday I finally made it to the new Buenos Aires monthly Ravelry meetup! This started in March because a few of us out-of-towners wanted to meet the local knitters, but I was never able to make it as it always fell on the weekend of my Birds class. Ravelry has a strong fanbase here in BsAs. There must have been 18 of 20 of us, knitting together in the food court at the big shopping center, Abasto. There was one particular security guard who was very curious about what we were doing, and he kept walking around us, but every time I said hello he scurried away. We had a blast:)

This photo isn't even of all of us! I didn't realize I had my camera with me until a bunch of folks had left. What fun we had! So many people from so many places! Canada, Portugal, Argentina, Uruguay, Spain, USA, and I'm sure I'm missing some! Ravelry is amazing!

South America Sunday: My View

My view, originally uploaded by Soasa Designs.

Every day that I go to school I walk by this amazing view on my way to and from the Subte. The bridge is the Puente de la Mujer by Santiago Calatrava and is located at Dique 3, Puerto Madero, Buenos Aires, Argentina

The ship is a cool floating museum that I don't know anything about because I've never actually been on it. Some day I'll have to make a point of visiting it.

I really enjoy this walk, even when I'm late. It takes me about 15 minutes, and I get a kick out of watching all the people sightseeing because I hear so many different languages. Along this strip there is an interesting combination of restaurants ranging from Hooters and TGI Fridays to some of the finest dining in the city. There are tons of benches set out along the river and they always have kissy-face couples and napping office workers sprawled across them. It's a people watching extravaganza!

South America Sunday: Little Bird, Big World

"Little Bird, Big World" Inspiration, originally uploaded by Soasa Designs.

I took this photo while waiting on the corner of my street, Loyola, and the closest avenida, Scalebrini Ortiz. I was just sitting watching cars and people rush by, and this little pigeon was standing at the edge of the crosswalk. I snapped this shot and that's when the new name for my blog occurred to me. I feel a lot like a little pigeon here, just one in the crowd with people rushing by and paying me very little mind. Every day when I leave the house I'm not sure what I'll experience, what I'll come across, who I'll encounter. Leaving the house I feel like a little bird getting pushed out of the nest, learning to fly for fear of falling.