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August 1, 2012, one month work to go ..
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20 September, 2012
And off we go!
After 2 weeks of finishing up at work, buying the last stuff, cleaning the house and of course packing the bags and saying goodbye, we leave on Saturday, September 15th with a total of "only" 32 kg check-in luggage for Buenos Aires. How wonderful to finally be off after planing for this trip for such a long time. The flight went well for all of us as the children were filled with wonder (How weird that the sound changes at take-off! Do we get food on board?!, No less than dozens jumbos and 3 A380 spotted in a row, etc) and slept for many hours. We had a little help with us from mr. Apple; Hylke, Aafke and Mette each got their own Ipod touch during the first flight with videos, photos, music and of course games.
Arriving in Buenos Aires, we go straight to the apartment we have rented for a whole week, in the neighborhood of San Telmo. This is a nice neighborhood which on the one hand breathes faded glory but on the other radiates cosiness and energy. Once abandoned by the richest of the rich during a yellow fever epidemic, the area is now occupied by more modern and “hip” people with galleries and shops and there does not seem to be a street without a bar or restaurant. We can enjoy the weekly sunday market on our first day here and see the tango dancers that swirl the streets. Initially one small problem was money because with the jetlag that makes codes dissappear from our minds and ATMs that aren’t refilled during the weekend that can sometimes be tricky.
BA has many neighborhoods of which the 10 most interesting lie around the citycenter. So far it seems like relatively small distances to walk although we occasionally take the subway. A kilometer or two becomes a lot for short little legs. That doesn’t mean that the city is small because some 14 million inhabitants is still about 1.5 times the entire population of Sweden. Monday we went out to explore the districts Monteserrat, Retiro and Puerto Madero. The first is the center of the center with the Plaza de Mayo. It is here where the politicians kept their speeches, where Maradona was honored but also the square where people still protest once a week to ask attention for their disappeared sons although since 2006 also for other violations of human rights. Directly to the east is the new place-to-be Puerto Madero, a new neighborhood in the old port area. Beautiful and luxurious. There is also a museum boat that sailed around the world 37 times which is worth a visit. I think we’ll stick to this one time for the moment.
Tuesday morning we take it easy and go for an afternoon visit of the Cementerio de la Recoletta, the most famous and most sought after cemetery of Argentina. It seems like a small town within the city where people can show the world in all eternity how well they had it in life. This results in superb mausoleums and tombs decorated with artwork, you could almost forget that it is a cemetery. The place has a waiting list of decades, which must be difficult to plan. Tricks to move up the list are to carry the name of your famous aristocratic great-great-granddad whom already reserved a place for you or to become the next president of Argentina yourself. Then you may hold the former heads of state, Nobel Prize winners, not to mention Evita, company after death. There efter, initially to take shelter from the rain, we went to the Centro Cultural Recoleta. We got to see quite nice exhibitions that also appealed to the children (think: paintings of animals with funny chicken heads, bodies of elephants and tiger heads, sculptures of medal, etc). And we were lucky, there was an orchestra rehearsing and we were able to sneak in to listen. All three kids listened and watched in awe for 20 minutes. The ride back home by subway during rush hour was less successful with 3 children and a buggy that needs to be to carried up and down the many stairs. This is not a huge problem in itself but if there are hundreds of others around you rushing down the stairs and pressing themselves into the crowded subway it becomes a problem. Well, maybe nothing new for most people but for us it was a long time ago that we had experienced this.
Wednesdaymorning we started up slow again, which is fairly easy with 2 separate bedrooms, before going to the La Boca neighborhood. This is where the working class lives and it’s best known for the football club La Boca where Maradona started his career. There was no football match to visit today but we have seen the stadium. The neighborhood is now even famous for the many houses painted in bright colors. Once started to cheer up the dreary life, it has become a tourist attraction but we found it very worthwhile. It was 13 degrees and blowing like crazy but that couldn’t keep us away! Although, the children were not so eager to join in in the "we are not made of sugar"-song that we normally sing in such situations. After that we took the subway to the Museo de Ciencas Naturalis. We spent over 2 hours with all dinosaur skeletons, fish, etc. On the way back we took a taxi instead of the subway as it was after 5 already. We were pleasantly surprised with the taxis, with our previous Asia experience, that the meter is actually turned on without discussion, there is no attempt to talk you to a store and the drivers are friendly and helpful. Add the fact that it is inexpensive and it becomes highly recommended. , What the children said was the strangest/craziest or most fun these days:
-Fireworks at the airport -a shower for the buttocks ‘or feet’ beside the toilet(;-)) -milk from a bag instead of a package -all the dog poop on the streets -a bus under the ground -a dead dog in the museum boat (stuffed mascot) -that you can see the coffins on a cemetery -that Jesus is hanging on a cross in EVERY church -and the dozens of cats that lived around the museum.
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28 September, 2012
Buenos Aires Part 2 and spectacular Puerto Iguazu
Buenos Aires has much more to offer than we can manage in one week. We pick a few more sites that we think are fun for both the children and ourselves. This means we travel a little further from home to Tigre where the Rio de la Plata delta is accessible. The journey begins with two trains, of which the latter rides along the coast. Exciting for the kids. Tigre itself is full of old and stately buildings because the rich (the same ones that now rest at the cemetery in Recoleta) built their weekend bungalows here. Rowing was a big hobby of theirs and within 500m we pass four rowing clubs. While we’re trying to take a peek at ‘The Buenos Aires Rowing Club’ from the side-walk we are adressed in Dutch by one of the members who is willing to show us around. What a coincidence! She shows us around in the boathouse and in the clubhouse. They do not have enough members these days to be able to renovate the huge building but it is still quite impressive. It would be a great experience to take a week to explore the delta from the water with rowingboats for those who feel like organizing something original. After that we take an hour long (motorised)boatride, “the thing to do” in Tigre. It mostly implies taking a look at all the summerhouses but we don’t have enough time to go further into the delta. This is of no concern for the children who thoroughly enjoy the boatride anyway.
On our last day in Buenos Aires we are going to the zoo! It is a well looking zoo although some cages are definitly to small. It was great for the children and they enjoyed themselves like every child does at a zoo; running, pointing, being amazed, eating ice-cream and drinking soda. The last night in the apartment we ate at home like the days before. This time it was pasta with pesto and lemon, the tastiest steak with pesto and a caprese salad, all thanks to Michiel. It was delicious!
Sunday the 23 of september is the day of our first long busride, 17 hours. We have booked so-called 'cama coche' seats which are more luxurious and have more legspace. Mette doesn’t need a ticket but has to sit on our lap. After one last round across the market and streets of San Telmo we leave Buenos Aires by bus at 19 o’clock. And what at luxury seats we get! You can almost lie down flat and the chairs are wide enough for 2 children to sit together. Thus the children actually sleep through the night which is the most important factor for us to at least get a shot at sleeping. Dinner is accompanied by a glass of wine and breakfast is served the following morning. In all honesty it’s not very tasty food but it’s the thought that counts, right? In the morning the vast landscape becomes visible to us to entertain us the last few hours of our journey. There are mostly landscapes with nothing but meadows and cows interspersed with dense vegetation. And I always thought ostriches only live in Africa but they have south american neeces and nephews that roam freely in Argentina as well, only they’re called nandus here. After all in all a long but smooth ride we arrive in Puerto Iguazu on monday afternoon. There a wonderful garden WITH a pool awaits us at our hostel. The water is freezing but our 3 little heroes jump in for a swim anyway. Michiel and I are as tough as the children.
One visits Puerto Iguazu as a tourist for one simple reason, to see one of the most beautiful naturall wonders in the world; the Iguazu waterfalls. They are part of the Rio de Iguazu which forms the border between Brazil and Argentina and drops down up to 60 meters through several dozens of separate waterfalls. So Michiel gets one mighty birthday present the next day when we visit the falls. We visit the waterfalls on the Argentinian side first. After entering the park the path leads to the first of the 3 walkways, the ‘Paseo Superior’, where we can walk at only a few feet from the edge of many of the falls. Along the way, we are warned by signs not to feed the coatis and monkeys as they can be agressive. The caotis definitly don’t fear people anymore as they even manage to steel a drink from Mette right from under our noses despite our efforts to prevent just that. And believe me! Michiel tried his best to scare them away, even armed with a broom. But they sure are cute to look at! Especially the monkeys provide much fun for the kids. The birds that are busy building their hanging nests in the palmtrees are also a pleasure to watch. They do this so that the toucans cannot reach the eggs.
But then the waterfalls! You first hear them in the distance and then begin to feel a little moisture in the air. Then you see the first one! And the second! Etcetera, etcetera. The last is the biggest one along this walkway and the water poors down with a great roar right under your feet. The ‘Paseo inferior’ leads us along the base of the falls and gives a completely different perspective and muc more spray of the water. It’s fantastic to see! Michiel is especially pleased with the training he has done in Sweden before we left because now it's not so hard for him to lift the buggy up and down the hundreds of steps and stairs. Finally, we take a train to the third walkway. It passes over about 1 km of the river where giant catfish of over 1 meter long can be seen and ends up at one of the most impressive places we have ever been to: a waterfall called ‘the throat of the devil’. With deafening noise an awesome amount of water drops down over the horseshoe-shaped edge. We stand only 2 meters from this edge on a platform and the water flows at high speed right underneath us. It's almost hypnotic. Heavily impressed we leave the park after 8 hours of amazement. And they leave us wondering how on earth they managed to build this last pathway?!
The next day it is time for an easy going day again. The children mostly scavenge in the garden and around the pool in the morning. In the afternoon we take a 1.5 km stroll to an animal shelter. Mette falls asleep untill we mount the trailer behind a tractor that will take us through part of the jungle-like park. A thrilling ride for the kids! Accompanied by a guide we then get to see all the birds, monkeys and other animals here and hear why and how they ended up in the shelter and whether or not they can be set lose again. For example the eagle missing a part of its beek and the monkey that will be shot by farmers if he is released will stay. It ends up being a really nice excursion, to be honest a bit unexpected, with the toucans we could admire upclose as a personal highlight.
Thursday we are off to the waterfalls again but this time on the Brazilian side. The mere fact that we cross the border excites the children because that means more stamps in their passport! OK, OK, I confess, Michiel and I also think that’s a plus. By taxi it is only an hour away which includes a smooth passage over the border. This park looks a bit more commercial than the Argentinian side. We need to board a bus to take us to the walkways. We are not the only ones visiting today I can assure you. I can only imagine how that will be during high season. But tourgroups move along fast and we get all the space we need and views we want. The view to the Argentinian side is breathtaking as most waterfalls lie on that side. I have not counted the pictures we took but both our cameras had dead batteries at the end of the day. We walk on a long path high up along the riverside. A hundred viewpoints and “Ahhhs!” and “Wows” later we get near ‘the throat of the devil’ again. This time much lower and that means that raincoats are no luxury. Otherwise you will get soaked by the spray of the water in combination with the wind caused by the falling water. It’s thundering and shaking all around us and I can feel the constant vibrations in my stomach. As if that were not enough, the sun cuts through the clouds and rainbows appear in the spray while dozens of vultures swirl above us on the thermal currents. Well, I have not seen all the waterfalls in the world but nevertheless agree with the statement that these are one of the best there are. The children also are amazed but of course don’t realise the force of the water and potential danger. Aafke wanted to climb on all the edges she could find, including of the walkway. Not this time sweetheart. We have spent so much time gazing at the falls again that we only have one hour left to visit the nearby bird park before our taxi picks us up again. It was very rewarding, especially for Hylke, our biologist, who is possessed by birds of prey and there were plenty there to see. It had been a great day for our 3 young explorers, not only because of the falls and the birds but also because of the 30 minutes of building and testing a wasp-catching device earlier at lunch. It worked! The score was 8 wasps.
What the children said was the strangest/craziest or most fun these days:
-Eating, drinking, sleeping and of course a toilet on a bus. -Crazy that if the power is down you do not have running water. -The waterfalls! -A pool in front of their “home” -Coati’s, monkeys, toucans, eagles, turtles, catfish, ostriches, cows, cows, cows, vultures and giant butterflies. -Aafke has completely spontaneously petted a dog! -Catching wasps without getting stung
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2 October 2012
Posadas, Paraguay and a not so smooth busride
Today we head to Posadas by bus, only a 5-hour trip. The next hotel has a pool AND roomservice so after a few refreshing dives, the children eat in our room. They don’t seem to have a clue how luxurios that is. And Michael and I? We grab the opportunity to use the baby moniters that we have been carrying along and dine in the hotel restaurant with delicious food and a good bottle of wine.
We have now been on the road for 2 weeks and are beginning to find our travelling rhythm. It's not so strange for the children anymore that we should relocate regularly and that we pack and unpack every other day. That we can’t always have regular eating moments during the day is the thing that gives most discussions. The standard ‘survival’-bag with cookies, crackers and the occasional candy can usually fix that. Mette has learned quickly who to turn to for a snack: “What’s in the bag now, mom?”
On Saturday we take a day trip to Paraguay to visit one of the best preserved ruins of a Jesuit Mission, the Trinidad ruins. The trip there is already a lot of fun. We start by taking a taxi. The taxi driver tried to negotiate a price to take us all the way but we reclined and will only go to the busstop, or so we thought. When we see the border looming in the distance we realise we’ve been cheated and are forced to pay the extra kilometers. But ok, it went fast. We leave Argentina via the first checkpoint and then get on the bus (that we should have been on in the first place) to cross the Rio Panana which marks the border between the countries. Then out of the bus again, a second check-point to get in to Paraguay and into an other bus to the town Encarnation. There we change buses for the last time to get to the ruins. Al this time we are surrounded by people curiously gazing at us. Especially the children with their blond hair draw a lot of attention. The children think it’s funny to get attention but don’t like the occasional pat on the head very much. What strikes me is how friendly people are. We obviously had no idea which bus to take, at which counter to stand in line, where to go next, etc but with our poor Spanish and our ‘hands and feet’ we encounter friendly, helpful people over and over again who showed us where we needed to go.
Oke, back to the jesuits. The Jesuits have been present in this area for 150 years. They put down gigantic settlements where thousands of Guarani, the local population, could live. The aim was not only to repent these people, but also to educate them and to give shelter and protection from slavery. They did not have to give up their own culture but were urged to change only the little details that were not compatible with Catholicism, Little things like polygamy and the occasional consumption of human flesh. In 1767 the succesfull formula came to an abrupt end when spain called back the priests. The ruins that are left are beautiful. The stones have the same red color as the earth, and there is much left of the rooms of the Guarani and the priests. The church was a gigantic cathedral complete with catacombs and the pulpit. For the children it is one big playground because there are enough stones to climb and to investigate. It’s exciting for them to imagine where people have walked, eaten and slept 400 years ago. The flowers that grow all around are also very popular. At ease because we now know the routine, we follow the same procedure in reverse to get back to Argentina. On the way we are lucky to get to eat the best empanadas ever! All in all a very successful day which again ends with diner in the room for the kids and a bottle of Salentein Merlot for mom and dad.
We sleep in after the long but fun day the day before. After a few more dives in the pool it is time for the 18-hour bus ride to Salta in the northwest. The first hours go by smoothly and we even have 20 minutes before departure of our connecting luxurybus (cama coche again) in Resistencia. But what the …?! Our luxury bus for the night leaves right in front of our noses! A sprint to the counter cannot change the course of things even though it is still before the official departure time. We have the choice to stay here and get on the next bus in about 24 hours or taking normal bus tonight. Alright, we’ll take the normalbus. This means Michiel is forced to sit sideways the whole way because he simply doesn’t fit between the seats properly because of his length. This will be a long night ... It also gets a little extra cozy in the bus when extra passengers board because their bus broke down. A lesson for us that it can always be worse. As a big plus, we experienced another example of Argentine kindness when we received help from a woman at Resistencia. We needed a last minute ticket for Mette which they forgot to give is in the chaos of switching buses. But the bus was ready to leave! She ran with me to the counter and even insisted on paying for Mette. Super friendly! Maybe my sweaty face and yes, perhaps a little stressed behaviour also had to do with it??
What the children said was the strangest/craziest or most fun these days:
-Buses that drive with the door open -The graves near the Jesuit ruins; every rock became a potential tombstone -That we do not know when the bus actually will come because there is not always a timetable, -All the new stamps in the passports! -We slept in a bus again! -Hylke and Aafke shared a double bed in Posada. -That you may not throw paper in the toilet everywhere -Another ‘feet or buttocks’-washer beside the toilet -And it's official: children now refer to cows as ‘walking steaks’!
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October 10, 2012
Salta, the Andes and an unfortunate fall
Dear people,
To my shame I (Michiel) confess that all updates to date are written by Marije. It is therefore about time that I start writing.
Argentina is a great country to be in. The country is beautiful, the people are very friendly and the steaks are juicy and vary between a half and whole pound. The Argentine wines are world class. It is not a cheap destination, the price level is not comparable to eg Southeast Asia. The supermarket prices are about the same as in Europe. A hotel for our family costs between 50 and 100 euros per night. Wines are luckily cheap. A bite to eat at a restaurant with the family costs between 20 and 40 euros. On the other hand, empanadas everywere and those are cheap. Taxis and local public transport are cheap. The bus trips between major cities are in turn relatively expensive, but a lot cheaper than flying.
We become a bit concerned about the warnings that we have received several times from strangers about abduction of children, especially in Buenos Aires, and in Ciudad del Este in Paraguay. This is the reason we skipped the last place. We cannot reconcile it with the kindness that we experience from the Argentines and their concern for children but take the warnings serious. We are not overly concerned, but we are on our guard, especially in malls and around stations.
On October 1, we arrive in Salta, tired after a 18 hour uncomfortable bus journey. We have a small hotel just off the main square and there is a small swimming pool, albeit a cold pool. We decide to take it easy for the rest of the day. In the afternoon I go for a drink with Hylke on the Plaza de 9 Julio and Marije and the girls hang around the room and the pool. The next day we sleep in a little and then take a walk around town. First we visit the MAAM museum, known for the "Llullaillaco children". These are well-preserved mummies of children who some years ago were found on top of a mountain. They were left there 400 years ago by the Incas, sacrificed to the gods. There is now a whole museum devoted to them, which includes a freezer where a boy of 7 years old can be admired. I have previously seen such mummies in Peru. After eating a delicious empanada to take the minds of the previous we take a cable car up a mountain and enjoy ourselves there a few hours. The mummies leave quite a deep impression on the children and with every mountain we see in the following days, quite a few so close to the Andes, they ask if this is the mountain where the children were found, why they were there and what they did to deserve that.
After Buenos Aires and the amazing Iguazu Falls, we find it is time to get out of our comfort zone a little more and Salta is the base for all possible tours in the surrounding Andean region. We decide to rent a car for a week so we can explore the area at our own pace. We rent at a vague little tour desk and receive a car with a crack in the windshield, however for half the price that the reputable rentals ask. The car drives fine and we decide to explore the Andean region south of Salta first. The first day is immediatly a big hit: after an hour we go on unpaved roads up to an altitude of 4000 meters. The journey takes several hours, partly because we end up in the clouds and can’t see a thing besides tremendous abysses. Eventually we end up on a huge plateau that is unbelievebly beautiful. It is the ‘Parque Nacional los Cardones’ and the view is determined by thousands of giant cactuses, the cardons, on a plateau surrounded by mountain peaks and clouds. Through a valley with beautiful rock formations we wind down in to the town of Cachi. Here we stay in a charming guesthouse.
The next day we drive on towards the town of Cafayate. Again a wonderful ride over unpaved roads, beautiful scenery, rock formations and many hairpin-turns. Hylke uses this opportunity to attack the worldrecord of projectile vomiting. He sits in the middle of the backseat a lot because he enjoys watching and chatting, but suddenly doesn’t feel well. As a result my right arm gets covered with vomit and the rest ends up between the two frontseats. It takes us half an hour to clean everything and everybody up. We kindly ask Hylke to announce his nausea next time and use a plastic bag instead. Finally we arrive in Cafayate and take our residence in a friendly guesthouse with another cold pool, and 2 bedrooms, close to the main square. So nice that we want to stay an extra night. That means the next day is a day without to much planned activity. The children scurry around the pool and play a while with 2 older children and its only in the afternoon that we leave the premisses.
Cafayate is a famous wine region and the rather unique Torrontes wine originates here. The place is full of Bodegas and we visit one of the oldest and largest in the afternoon, namely the Bodega Etchart. We get a tour and then the children are provided with papper and pencils because it's time for the Torrontes tasting. It is generously poored and an hour later we leave in a great mood towards Cafayate. In the evening we have dinner in a restaurant with a terrace on the main square. The food is fine but just beside our table sits a large dog, who clearly does not intend to leave. Aafke and Mette are not particularly fond of dogs and Marije attempts with many gestures and sounds to chase the dog away. The beast curls on his back however, and starts sparking his legs while furiously wagging its tail. We take our loss and ask for the bill. Cafayate is a charming town and is an attractive place to stay a little longer, but we actually do not have time for that.
After 2 nights we leave Cafayate to return to Salta. It is once again a beautiful ride along the most unusual rock formations. Occasionally we have to stop because of motion sickness, but we arrive in Salta without anyone emptying their stomach and book into an hotel in the center. The next day we celebrate Mette’s third birthday! We decorate the room and a chair in the breakfast room with streamers and balloons. Marije and Aafke have fixed a cake with three candles on it and there are ofcourse gifts for our little girl. She has even invited al her friends to her party the day before with her own telephone; a plastic bottle. Grandpa and grandma are also present via skype. Beside our hotel is a restaurant which means within good range again for our baby monitor so after the kids go to bed we go out for diner. The waiter tells us about a special dish that’s not on the menu but should be great. We order it and are each served a plate with 3 butter succulent steaks, probably tenderloin, 150-200 grams each, one with mushrooms, one with a red wine sauce and the third with mustard sauce. It is absolutely delicious, the wine is good and we are happy to pay the bill of 30 euros.
The next day we go on the road to explore the region north of Salta. The first day we drive straight to the Andean town of Tilcara, in the middle of the Quebrada de Humahuaca: another Unesco World Heritage site. It is a canyon outlined with mountains and rocks in many shades and colors because of the copper, iron, salt and sand. Tilcara is situated at 2500 meters altitude. The town has the typical Andean atmosphere that we recognize from our previous trips in Peru. Everywhere there are shops and stalls selling souvenirs and a pleasant square where we pick a bench in the sun to have a beer and Fanta. In the evening we eat Lama steak to stay in Andean atmospheres. The next day we take a drive to the town Humahuaca, fairly close to the border with Bolivia. We amuse ourselves an afternoon on the central square. There is a large playground for the children nearby which is a big hit and in the afternoon we head back to Tilcara.
The next day we need to get back to Salta to return the car and we have already booked bustickets to San Pedro de Atacama in northern Chile for the day after. We leave early in the morning because we want to take our time visiting Purmamarca that is built at the foot of ‘Cerro de los siete colores’: the hill with seven colors. After a short drive with spectacular views we arrive and on the main square is a playground. The kids run of to play while we take a seat on a nearby bench. Suddenly we hear a scream and see Hylke lying on the ground. We didn’t see exactly what happened but he slipped and fell of one of the instruments and had a unlucky landing. He grabs at his left wrist and we suspect a fracture. Marije goes to look for a pharmacy to find a bandage before taking him to a hospital while I wait with Hylke on the square. The poor thing has turned pale as chalk. After only a few minutes a friendly fat man appears who introduces himself as a nurse. There was obviously someone in the square that had seen that a little boy had gotten hurt, and alerted the medical post. This is of course very welcome and I carry Hylke to the medical station, which fortunately is nearby. Hylke gets an improvised but very effective splint made of cardboard and a referral for an X-ray examination and consultation in the village Maimara, a half hour drive back towards Tilcara.
In Maimara we quickly find the small hospital. It is very busy with locals and we see one doctor dealing with 10 things at the same time but nurses around him that know exactly who is next and who has what problem. Half the consultations are done in the hallway; so much for privacy. Behind another door I discover an old x-ray machine. We adres a man in the hallway and give him the reference in his hand and call Hylke to point at his wrist. How Marije wishes she had learned more spanish! But the man comes into action immediately and 10 minutes later the X-ray is done. You don’t have to be a doctor to see that both his radius and ulna are broken. The doctor introduces himself as a peadiatrician and comes to the same conclusion but refers us to a next hospital for a final judgment. He wants a traumatologist to look at the fracture and Hylke now gets a temporary cast. For this we need to go through a room where some old and sick women lie a receiving a drop. The traumatologist is in the children's hospital in Jujuy, about an hour away. So we get back in the car and drive to Jujuy. The Children's Hospital in Jujuy is located in the center and we notify us at the reception. The chaos seems complete with screaming kids and at least 100 people in the waiting room. But once again there is a effective triage. We only have to wait about fifteen minutes before we are called in. The traumatologist has already seen the pictures. The fracture fortunately doesn’t need further action and Hylke now gets his definitive plaster cast from almost shoulder to his fingers. He will need it for 30 days.
With the cast in place he has no pain anymore and its time for the final bit of driving to Salta. No scenic route this time but simply highway and we arrive at a reasonable time. There is a room in the same hotel where we were before. Hylke may choose what to eat after todays ordeal and what a surprise: hamburger with fries and cola it is. We return the car again and Marije and I take advantage of the location and later in the evening eat at the same place and the same dish as a few days earlier.
Tomorrow we go to San Pedro de Atacama with what is known to be one of the most beautiful scenic drives in Argentina. To be continued!
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17 October, 2012
Volcanoes, vicunas and flamingos!
And then we arrive in San Pedro de Atacama, Chile. A small town in the middle of the driest desert on Earth. That's no understatement since it only rains about 1 mm every 500 years. It is located at nearly 2500m altitude and is surrounded by mountains up to nearly 6,000 meters high that even now, at the end of the Andean summer, are covered with snow. Most of them are volcanoes and of these 12 are still active.The village itself is small with only little more than 3 thousand inhabitants but it is one of the most important tourist destinations in the country. Small, low-built adobe houses lie along the narrow streets. The church on the Plaza de Armas that each village has is painted white and has a roof made of cactus wood. Because there were no nails at the time the beems are tied together with pieces of leather. The atmosphere is one of a sleepy small town in the morning despite the high tourist pressure. It is a bit dusty of course which Hylke likes to contribute to by “dragging his feet" when he walks in order to create the biggest possible dust cloud. Not everyone can appreciate that. Fortunately, Hylke has little pain from his arm but we have nevertheless decided to stay put a while. That it's a holiday weekend for the Chileans makes the search for accommodation more difficult but not impossible. After switching hotel 2 times, we now have a room where we can stay a little longer. It is also time to do some laundry, to repair several pieces of clothing and get my backpack fixed that has suffered a bit already. Apart from simply lying in the hammock and enjoying ourselves, we also do the "flamingo tour". A full-day tour that first brings us to the village of Toconao with an old central square and not to forget a baby lama who Mette and Hylke may give a bottle of milk. This village has houses built of lavastone instead of loam because you use the building material that is closest by of course. Strange enough, this town is known for the fruit that grows here abundently despite its location in the Atacama desert. This is made possible by the water from the mountains that runs very superficial under the surface. Along the way we get a nice view on the vapour from the nearest active volcano, the Lacras volcano which 3 days earlier burped up a sizable ashcloud. The volcano is carefully monitered the rest of the day by Aafke and she keeps us informed when the mountain is awake (vapour) or when it sleeps so that we can get away in time in case lava comes... We drive on to the Salar de Atacama, the salt plains. In the middle of the 45 to 100 km large, light brown plain with bright white areas lie several lagunas. The Laguna Chaxa is one of them. And thats what the children came for because it’s here the flamingo’s live! They stand 16 hours per day with their head upside-down eating the mini-shrimp and thus having little time for other anything else. And to think they don't get headaches?! Or pain in their legs when they only stand on one?! Next on the programme is the altiplano to the lagunas Miniques and Miscanti and equally named volcanoes at 4300m altitude. The clear waters contain melting water and have a light to dark turquoise/blue color. There are also several species of birds including flamingos. The side lines are inhabited by vicunas, the smallest and most endangered nephew of the lama. The children think it’s hilarious that they mark their territory with heaps of poop. In about 3 to 4 months everything here will be covered with 2-3 meters of snow again and melt water can refill the lagunas. After a late but filling lunch we go home.
Besides the beautiful surroundings San Pedro is also an excellent place for Michiel and me. There are plenty of restaurants within a stone's throw from the hotel and with a clear signal over the baby monitor we can once again go out to diner just the two of us. And may I say once again well above expectations. My mother wondered if we gain weight with all that food we’re always talking about. Hmm, I'm afraid so. But well, that’s also part of enjoying yourselft, right?
North of San Pedro, the Tatio geysers, are reportedly world famous. It means "the crying old man" in the local language. They are located in the middle of a volcanic active area (obviously) which causes more than 60 geysers, boiling pools, mudpools and steamblowing holes. It is most beautiful in the morning when you can best see all the damp because of the low temperature. We decide not to submit the children to a tour that starts at 4 o’clock in the morning and it’s only Michiel that is picked up by the tourbus the following dawn. After the beautiful description of Michiel I also decide to go. Hylke really wants to follow along. And well, why not? We know that he does not suffer from altitude sickness at 4300 metres and that the bus rides go well. Moreover, it is actually quite nice to do something with only 1 child. We do this more often but usually it’s shorter walks, a little shopping or just a stroll. Thus the following morning it’s Hylke and I standing in the dark waiting for the bus. Despite the early hour he can’t get the grin of his face the first hour of the trip. Upon arrival at the geyser fields we drive in a thick fog. That night a thin layer of fresh snow has fallen (weird idea, because we are so close to the driest desert in the world). The temperature is well below zero. All around us the ground is steaming and bubbling with frost on the ground around, and I hold firmly on to Hylke. Michiel’s guide has succesfully scared me with the story of a tourist that fell through the thin crust and died as he fel in boiling water 2 years ago. That we are enjoying the spectacle with a few hundred others is fortunately not so apparent because of the fog. Moments later, the sun breaks through and the mist quickly disappears and the high peaks all around become visible. All in all, once again a wonderful spectacle. The downside is that it is literally freezing. The many layers of clothes and socks over our hands (Hylke's idea!) work well but our toes are still insufficiently protected. Hylke’s feet hurt so bad at last that he needs to be carried the last 15 minutes. He doesn’t want the freshly boiled eggs and hot chocolate either that is served directly from the boiling pool. The hot water springs a short drive away offers the solution and after 5 minutes of dangling his feet in the 33 degree water he recovers. So the next 20 minutes we can just enjoy. Full of tough and beautiful stories we get home at noon.
After 6 days and nights in the desert it is time to leave again. We decide to avoid a 24-hour bus ride and opt for a 3 hour flight to Santiago instead and continue by bus the next day to Mendoza, Argentina. So at 2 p.m. we catch some sunrays on Plaza de Armas in Santiago while the children drive hundreds of pigeons crazy. We had already finished our ice-cream on the way to the plaza.
What the children said was the strangest/craziest or most fun these days:
-That the buggy still works despite it being run over by a car… (Marije) -Flamingos can sleep while standing on 1 leg -The poop collections of the vicunas -That Hylke cannot scratch his own nose with his left arm -It can be freezing at night and scorching hot in the daytime in the same place -The empanadas in Chile look and taste different than in Argentina (our humble opinion is that they’re beter in Argentina) -No walking steak (read: cow) to be seen along the way in the mountains
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October 19, 2012
Aafke and Mette have suddenly disappeared an hour after arrival. We understand that they have made a new friend, the female translator of the hotel, and have decided to pay her a visit in her room. They watch some television and eat the necessary sweets before happily returning home. We are the only non-spanish speaking guests since 3 weeks so they probably didn’t keep her from more important duties.
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