CHILE-ARGENTINA 2007: A FINAL WRAP

Okay, so I am sitting in front of the computer in the office of LYS Rent A Car in Santiago Centro. Andres´main office assistant is off to his almuerzo (lunch) so I´m going to just have a little fun with some images I´ve culled from the internet and put up some final thoughts on this very

successful third trip through Chile and Argentina. I suppose that I could try to give ID´s to images where appropriate, but the formatting of this blogging system might not make for really accurate notation. Anyway, to the left is a classic old tango image, I think from maybe about 1920?

And below is a copy of a lithograph of one of the head Libertadores himself, the Argentine San Martín, who is credited with liberating both countries, back in 1818, when he, along with his Chilean counterparts under Bernardo O´Higgins, routed the Spanish in the Battle of Maipú.

Now here is the map of the route that led from Paso de Jama into the Northwestern Argentine Province of Jujuy. I drove part of that route this time around, past Susques and to the edge of the Salinas Grandes, where I turned southward on the unpaved dirt track that cut across that emptiness in the direction of San Antonio De Los Cobres and my rather unplanned accompaniment in that double vehicle rescue over the summit of Abra Del Acay and failed attempt to reach Cafayate in a timely manner. Now here´s more Tango, for those of you out there who are total music history freaks: That´s the immortal "founder" of the tango, the great Carlos Gardel, whose music still reverbrates loudly down in these parts, especially in Argentina.


And of course, if you dig the sort of real gaucho folksinging, here is a photo of another immortal but still dead Argentine musician, Jorge Cafrune, whose gritty and soulful music is at least as gutsy as anything that Woody Guthrie or Ramblin´Jack Elliot ever sang. Too bad his music is not better known outside of Latin America. He was incredible, and Todo Argentino!

More Gaucho culture here with the artwork of the great Argentine artist and illustrator F. Molino Campos, with this little gem that came from the website at www.folkloredelnorte.com.ar

Lastly, in order to prove that this is not all meant to revere the soulfulness of the Argentines, here is an image of the great Chilean songwriter and martyr, Victor Jara, whose incredibly creative life was rudely snuffed out during the September 11, 1973 Golpe Del Estado in Chile, which was the military coup that ousted the democratically elected president, Salvador Allende, and installed General Augusto Pinochet Ugarte as the head of the military junta that would rule the country with an iron fist for the next 17 years.

Oh, did I just finish traveling here, you bet I did. And now I will officially declare that there is a good chance I will be back again, perhaps as soon as this coming December. So stay tuned, my amigos, there could soon be more adventures to come for the Atacama Viajero.