TENTATIVE TRIP ITINERARY

During the last couple of nights, as my preparations for an imminent departure from Santiago move forward, I have constructed a rather basic trip itinerary, which, by necessity, must be labeled as tentative only, owing to the fact that invariably, unforseen events will determine thye actual trip as it unfolds. Already I have delayed my departure for one day as we finish up with the necessary maintenance works for the Nissan 4x4 while we still have not located my camping gear and will presently be searching through the storage closets here at the office for the tent, backpack stove, and cooler.

Regardless, here is the plan:

Nov. 30: Leave Santiago, overnight in Los Vilos (229 km total)
Dec. 1: Drive to Vallenar (432 km)
Dec. 2: Drive out to ther coast at Huasco (57 km only) - stay for two nights
Dec. 4: Drive up the coast to Taltal (490 km) - stay for five nights
Dec. 9 & 10: Camp out on the So. Pacific coast - near Paposo (north of Taltal) or at playa Cifuncho (south of Taltal)
Dec. 11: Drive to Calama (213 km NE of Antofagasta)
Dec. 12: Drive to San Pedro de Atacama (103 km) - stay for three nights
Dec. 15: Cross over Paso Jama and into Argentina to Susques, Prov. Jujuy (280 km - high points at 4600 meters elev. over the Cordillera de Los Andes) - stay for 4 nights, with hikes into the back country planned
Dec. 19: Drive to Salta, capitol of Salta Province, Argentina (approx. 260 km) - stay for two nights
Dec. 21: Drive to Cafayate, southern Salta Province (185 km) -stay for five nights, including Christmas
Dec. 26: Drive up the Valles Calchaquies from Cafayate to Cachi (158 km) -stay for two nights
Dec. 28: Drive down the Valles Calchaquies from Cachi to Angastaco (89 km) - stay for two nights.
Dec. 30: Drive back to Cafayate from Angastaco (74 km) -stay for two nights, including New Year´s eve.
Jan. 1, 2008: Drive from Cafayate to Belén, Provincia de Catamarca, Argentina (243 km) -stay for three nights
Jan. 4: Drive to Tinogasta (82 km) - stay for three nights
Jan. 7: Drive from Tinogasta to Paso San Francisco (200 km; elev. 4748 meters) and cross back into Chile. Camp overnight at Laguna Verde, just west of the pass
Jan. 8: Drive to Copiapó (291 km)
Jan 9: Drive back to Vallenar (146 km)
Jan. 10: Drive from Vallenar to Pisco Elqui and Río Elqui Valley (546 km) - stay three nights
Jan. 13: Drive back to Los Vilos (339 km)
Jan. 14: Return to Santiago (229 km)

I suppose that some of these places might not exactly ring a bell for you, so you might want to look them up in an atlas. But in a more basic way to explain my route, I can say that I will first be driving north from Santiago with numerous stops in Northern Chile and in the Atacama Desert before crossing into Argentina near the Bolivian border. Then I will be going southward through Northwestern Argentina as far as Paso San Francisco, where I will cross back into Chile once again, and then spend a few days in Pisco Elqui before returning to Santiago.

Of course, now my truck rental will give me until January 16 to return to Santiago, which gives me some kind of a cushion to fall back on with the above tentative itinerary, but regardless, my flight back to the USA will be leaving Santiago on the evening of January 19, so I will have to be back by then. Anyway, I hope that you can return to this site to read my trip reports, which will begin with my next post here. Cheers to all...

John "Smokey" Koelsch
The Atacama Viajero

BACK IN SANTIAGO AGAIN

So once again I am here in the grand capitol of Chile. It is springtime here, and the trees in the parks are providing ample shade from the blazing sun, while flowers of all sorts are in full bloom. The temperature here today is likely in the mid-to-upper 80 degrees (F.) with a slight feel of humidity. They are saying that it will be a hot summer here in Chile, and I am just about set to absorb what it has to offer between now and my scheduled return to the U.S.A. on a flight that will leave in the eveninf of January 19, 2008.

Anyway, speaking of flights, my arrival yesterday morning capped off an extremely long day of travel, which began at 3 a.m. in Portland, Oregon, and included a long layover of over seven hours in Atlanta, Georgia. I´d planned to spend a part of that time getting out to explore that city (I´ve never been to Atlanta before) but the weather was awful - raining all day. But of course, considering the severe drought there in the SE U.S., I suppose that the folks there were sort of figuring that it was the answer to their prayers, so I guess I shouldn´t be feeling bad about the fact that I didn´t get to go out as planned.

The long non-stop overnight flight down from Atlanta to Santiago was uneventful, but surprisingly it had plenty of empty seats, so I was able to stretch out my coach accomodations a bit in the always vain attempt to find some sleep. That´s right, I never can sleep on such flights, but at least my neck and back didn´t hurt as much as usual once I got in.

My agent/friend Andrés had sent his old office hand Luis to pick me up, and he brought me right into Santiago Centro, where I was destined to spend the next eight hours waiting for some other tourists to leave my appointed apartment over on Calle Mosqueto, which is on the other side of the block from Andrés´office. I finally got in there at around 6 p.m., and after spending a couple of hours resting, finally got in my shower and pronounced myself good to go.

So today I got out and walked around a little bit, refreshing my memories of the sights and scenes of Santiago Centro, or the downtown district in this city of nearly six million people. The photo to the right shows one glimpse of the park at Cerro Santa Lucia, which is only a couple of blocks away from this office. And below is a photo of a statue of the poet Pablo Neruda which is located on Avenida Agustinas, just down from Miraflores.

So far, I´ve been to lunch twice with Andrés, yesterday to Café El Alemán, and today to Café Nuria. Then, after the almuerzo, Andrés took me to an interesting place, I think it was called Icarabú, to introduce me to "Café con Piernas," which is another unique aspect of Chilean culture. If you want to know more, do a google for "Café con Piernas Chile."

In the next couple of days, before my planned departure for points north of here, I will hopefully be recovering the camping gear I´d left here when I departed back in March. I´m also hoping to get to visit two of Andrés´three children (the third, Matías, is currently on a student exchange program visiting Mexico for a couple of weeks.

So it is good to be back here in this sunny and warm country. Quite a change from the cold weather that is settling into my digs back home. And my message to all of you, my friends and family, is to check back here often. I will be posting things on this blog as much as possible as my journey unfolds.

ON THE EVE OF DEPARTURE

Finally my time of departure has come, and I suspect that this will be my last post until I have arrived in South America. Today I finished with the last few odds and ends that relate to making this new trip, and I must say that it is a relief to have taken care of all those little things and can finally start to concentrate my thoughts on images like what you see above - which is a glimpse of the countryside along Argentine Ruta Provincial 16 east of Susques in remote Jujuy Province, in the far northwest corner of that country.

Being out in such a wide open place has always held a special appeal for me. It gives me such a sense of space, much like I also find in the many empty parts of my own state of Nevada, which I suppose is one reason why I ended up living in rural Elko County. But of course, there are differences as well, not the least of which is the fact that Nevada is on the cusp of ste start of another winter, but down in the other hemisphere, it is springtime, and soon another austral summer will be commencing. So I go, and can only feel good about getting back into this other realm, to travel and hike, soaking in the warm rays of the brilliant sunshine of the long days ahead.

I have chosen to again journey northward after spending my first few days in Santiago, which means that I will return once again to the driest place on earth - that strange and oddly wonderful place known as the Atacama Desert. Along the way, of course, the familiar and the absurd will be revisited in the guise of certain landmarks - such as La Mano Del Desierto, which pokes out of a small rise in the terrain in the midst of the barren valley traversed by the Chilean Ruta 5, also known as the Panamericana, about 70 kilometers south of Antofagasta.

My vagabond amigo Roberto sent me a preliminary Chilean highway report that describes the principal stretches of routes that sutained damage in the earthquake of November 14th, and it appears that the route I have chosen, which will go north from Santiago to the Antofagasta turnoff and then to go east to Calama, San Pedro and the crossing into Argentina over the cordillera will miss the bulk of the damages, which are for the most part, from Maria Elena and on north to the approaches of Arica, on the Peruvian frontier. All of that is further north than where I will be going, so that is a relief.

I'll also be hoping to re-connect with some friends I've made on some previous journeys. Here you see Eugenia, who was managing the hotel and resturaunt known as Pastos Chicos, outside of Susques, in Argentine Jujuy Province, along with Elizabeth, aka "Ellie," who is her best employee. Now I'm not sure that Eugenia and Ellie are still there, because I know that the work was hard and the pay was less than it should have been. When I was there in February, Eugenia was saying that she didn't think she'd still be there too much longer, and Ellie said that she'd go too if Eugenia left.

I could tell that the tasks of running the place were wearing Eugenia down, but I also was impressed with Ellie's energy and how much of a help she was for her immediate boss. Of course, Pastos Chicos has an absentee owner who lives in nice, big house in the city of San Salvador de Jujuy, some 150 kilometers away. Well, I'm still going to go back to Susques, and I do hope that these two friends are still there.

But you know, even though I am leaving home tomorrow, I won't be getting down to South America for another week. That's because I will be driving up to Ashland, Oregon first, to cook a big Thanksgiving dinner for my son and his friends. Then I'll travel up to Portland next Saturday, for an early morning flight to Atlanta and a 7+ hour layover before my long, overnight, non-stop flight to Santiago.

Anyway, it's time to be "on the road again."

Cheers to you all...

MAJOR EARTHQUAKE HITS THE ATACAMA DESERT

Yesterday morning, Northern Chile was rocked by a major 7.7 magnitude earthquake. The fact that the epicenter was located some 37 miles below the surface limited the destructive effects of the quake to some extent, although least two deaths (both in the coastal city of Tocopilla) and significant property damage (in the cities of Tocopilla, Arica, Antofagasta and Calama) have been reported.





The accompanying maps come from the USGS, and give much better detail than the fuzzy-pixeled versions one finds attached to most of the web news reports of the incident. Please click on the images to see the full-size versions. The first one illustrates the relative location of the quake epicenter while the second map presents an image of the varying intensity of the shock
within the general region.



From the first map, one can get a general idea of how volatile
the area is by observing the incredible number of volcanoes
that run the length of the Andean cordillera in this part of
South America.


The link to the USGS website which I have included below will give you a general overview of the quake and its effects. If you go to the site, click on "Summary" for a report of the quake and the relative rankings of the intensity level of the shocks reported from different locations in this part of South America.

Now, this new earthquake instantly becomes a factor for me in this trip I will be taking in literally a few days because it happened right where I will be going. Of course I expect that there will be travel disruptions, and I would not be surprised if there will be parts of the highway that will have been busted up by the tremors, and there will also be the possibility that basic services I would normally expect to depend on might not be available. No doubt the relief efforts directed toward the victims who were injured or who lost their homes will also be clearly evident. As I understand, some 1000 homes in Tocopilla alone were destroyed yesterday, which meant that thousands of residents slept out on the streets last night. Accomodations in the cities might be at a premium, so I will possibly be camping out a lot more than I had planned during my time in this part of Chile

But considering the offhand chance that there might be another major seismic event during this period I might reconsider my plans to camp on the shores of the Pacific at Los Hornitos, north of Antofagasta. I'd camped there in January 2006 and didn't think a thing about it, but now I have a nagging apprehension tugging on my mind about the possibility (albeit remote) of being washed out to sea by a tsunami...

Anyway, this earthquake will no doubt cause me to pause and to reflect on the mysterious forces of nature at work on this earth, and what their potential consequences are for us, the inhabitants. So here is the link to the USGS site. Remember to click on the "Summary" to read more...


http://earthquake.usgs.gov/eqcenter/recenteqsww/Quakes/us2007jsat.php#details

A New South American Adventure Imminent

Hello once again to all my amigos y amigas,

Yes, it has been months since I've posted anything here, but now I want to let you all know that the silence ends here. I've decided to once again return to my vagabonding ways with another Argentina/Chile adventure tour in another one of my friend/agent André's sturdy 4x4 extended cab pickup trucks.

I will leave my home here in Nevada two weeks from now to drive up to Oregon, where I will do the Thanksgiving holiday with my son Peter. Then, after we have somewhat recovered from gorging on turkey and dressing, we drive up to Portland from his home in Ashland for a bleary-eyed 6:30 a.m. flight on the morning of Nov. 25 to Atlanta for an overnight non-stop connecting flight back to Santiago, with my arrival there scheduled for 8:35 a.m. Nov. 26, Chilean time.

I'll admit that before I made the decision to make this new journey, I spent a big stretch of my summer grappling with dark personal issues relating to the pros and cons of doing a 4th extended South American journey a mere eight months after my return from the last visit. And although I consider myself to be a very private person who does not make a point of broadcasting my personal situation in general, I have to admit that for me, the year 2007 after my return from the last trip im March has not been a time of brightness. But it is not worth dwelling on all the discouraging personal issues here on this public forum because that is not the purpose of the blog here. We all have good years and bad. Now I am looking forward to this new adventure with anticipation and the sort of measured excitement of a relatively seasoned South American gringo traveler.

As I've noted, I'll be arriving in Santiago on the morning of November 26th. I'll be spending my first days again enjoying the friendship and hospitality of my buen amigo and agent, Andrés Gabor, there in the Chilean metropolis with his family, before heading out on the road on the 29th. I admit that after purchasing my ticket I grappled with the question of whether or not I would aim my rental truck south or north, but finally to go north won out, and I am sorry if my decision was a disappointment to my friends in Patagonia, who had received a preliminary message from me saying I was going to go that direction.

I will miss seeing them. But in the end, I decided I had to decide what would be the most meaningful direction for me, and in the end, I have to say, that the parts of Chile and Argentina that I have connected with most profoundly have been to the north of Santiago: meaning the northern Chile Atacama desert and the trans-cordillera route into the most northwestern provinces of Argentina, namely Jujuy and Salta, especially the towns of Susques (Jujuy) and Cafayate (Salta). I also think that this time I need to book some significant time in the city of Salta (not just traversing through to get to Cafayate this time) because it is such a cultural hub, and I remember it was originally going to be my "point of rendezvous" with my then-long-distance South American traveling friend, the wine expert from Holland, Claudia Van Dongen back during my 2006 mega-trip. But on that journey I found myself logging in an extremely long drive from the northernmost Chilean city of Arica (on the Peruvian border) to Salta for that planned reunion, but before I got there, she e-mailed me to tell me that she had seen enough of that city and was heading on to Cafayate to check out their vineyards.....

Well, that meant I had to do a couple hundred extra kilometers to re-connect withn her, but in the end it was worth it. Of course, It was great to reunite with Claudia, but even more so, in retrospect, it was worth it to discover the wonderful town of Cafayate and to experience the beauties of the region there. So you can be damn sure I am going back there! Watch for stories and images from there and other ports-of-call from now until my return to the USA on January 20, 2008.

So now that I have this imminent pending trip on tap, I am hoping that you can take some time to visit this blog once again to see where I am and to read about what I am up to. I welcome you aboard for a vicarious jump, once again, into the lands far below thre equator, where spring is happening - right now!!!

Cheers,

John M. "Smokey" Koelsch

The Atacama Viajero

RECUERDOS DE SUDAMÉRICA II: TRAVERSING ARGENTINA'S PROVINCIA BIOGEOGRÁFICA DE LAS YUNGAS

A month ago, as I was on the road heading southward through the heart of northwestern Argentina, I crossed through a very specific and fascinating sliver of jungle which runs along the slopes of the mountains of the geologic transition zone east of the Andes (see my entry of March 1: "ROLLING ACROSS NORTH CENTRAL ARGENTINA"). I knew it was a unique biogeographic region, but at the time I didn't know that this thin strip of terrain is actually considered to be an austral expression of the greater Amazon jungle region, which cuts southward through Bolivia, extending down into this part of Argentina.


The map to the right illustrates the two strips of this narrow biogeographic province, which cut down through the northwestern Argentine provinces of Jujuy and Salta, and then across Tucumán and into Catamarca provinces. The image came from the Argentine www.surdesur.com website.





On my drive south from Cafayate, in Salta Province, I cut through the southern end of the Valle Calchaquíes and over the top of the pass known as Abra del Infiernillo, on Ruta Provincial 307 to the picturesque town of Tafi del Valle, which lies in the valley of the same name. There is a reservoir below this town, and beyond the dam, one passes through the narrow defile known as La Angostura, which represents also the entrance into the Selva Las Yungas, which is our narrow strip of Argentine jungle. The road here narrows and winds as it conforms to the contours of the mountain canyon of the Río Los Sosa, and many of the sharp curves ahead are blind.





That's a glimpse of La Angostura to the left. Below that point Ruta Provincial 307 enters the compact and sinewy Reserva Natural Los Sosa, a stretch of some 18 km in length which parallels the road with an average width of 1 km with the idea to preserve and protect the diverse biosphere of this narrow stretch of territory that lies between the high plateaus to the north and the plains of Tucumán and the extension of the Chaco to the south and east. It was established in 1941.


The microclimate of this narrow band of jungle is wet and frequently clouded, but unlike its more tropical realms to the north in Brasil, there can be snow here in the winter. Since the zone occurs on the slopes of the mountains, the vegetation types change with the relative elevation. The most prominent of the many trees in the zone is the laurel, which is most common on the slopes between 500 and 1200 meters elevation, but also accompanied by a host of other species such as the horco molle, a diverse collection of cedros, plus nogal, mato and horco-mato. Three types of forests predominate at the upper elevations (pino del cerro, bosque de aliso and bosque de queñoa) and the lower realms are thick with a profound variety of trees, including palo blanco, palo amarillo, and especially tipa blanca, pacará and cebil colorado.
As for the fauna, the jungle is home to dozens of mammal species and at least 50 different types of birds.
This photo here shows a pair of memorial shrines, or "animitas" which are alongside Ruta 307 at an extermely sharp curve known as Fin del Mundo, which is about mid-way through the territory of the reserve. Currently, Tucumán Province has been studying a plan to improve the roadway here in this most treacherous stretch, where the via twists and turns around the countless bends in the mountain, often through thick fog and rain. There are parts here where the canyon walls are so steep and the jungle so thick that they say the sun never shines, but regardless of that, it is something special to experience. But there are obvious environmental issues concerning this narrow zone of jungle, and that is why these 18 kilometers were designated as a natural reserve many years ago. The government of Tucumán has published an extensive environmental impact statement which asserts that their highway improvement project will not impact adversly this relatively small and fragile biogeographic strip, but the truth has always been that Las Yungas has suffered through the years from human impact. Nonetheless, some improvement here is necessary, since this is the only route from Cafayate and Tafi del Valle connecting those communities with the main route to the cities of Tucumán and Catamarca. I do hope that the Argentines proceed with care in this endeavor.


When I drove through the Reserva Nacional Los Sosa, back on the last day of February the weather alternated between thick mist and true rain. I suppose I could have been disappointed that I could not see the canyon of the Río Los Sosa better, but actually, I think that the moist conditions are normal, along with the accompanying heat and humidity. Actually, once I had passed out of the mouth of the canyon and effected my linkup with the busy Ruta Nacional 38 running southward from Tucumán to Catamarca, the rains turned torrential, and remained so until just before I reached the latter city, where I managed to find a decent hotel to put up for the night.

Incidentally, the two pictures above show more of the selva, or jungle, there in the Reserva Natural Los Sosa, on the left is a re-presentation of the picture I originally posted back on March 1, and the other is one view of the Río Los Sosa. If you click on them you can get to see an enlarged version.
In the coming weeks, when the spirit moves me, I hope to post more from my travels - details that just could not be covered adequately while on the road. So please do check back from time to time.

RECUERDOS DE SUDAMÉRICA I: THE IMAGE OF MARTÍN FIERRO

During my just-completed South American journey I discovered a rather remarkable piece of art hanging from a pillar inside La Escalera, which is one of the most thorough gift shops in the Argentine city of Cafayate, in Salta province. This piece is a solid piece of wood planking nearly 1" thick and measuring roughly 18"x24". The above image is mounted on the wood base and comes from a vintage 1937 calendar that had been published by the Argentine textile giant, Alpargatas Textil (aka the Sociedad Anónima Fábrica de Alpargatas, founded in 1883), who specialize in gaucho clothing, and especially the manufacture of the distinctive rope-soled gaucho sandals, known as alpargatas.
The verse that accompanies the image comes from the epic gaucho poem Martín Fierro (1872), by José Hernández, and the subtitle to the image itself is "El Boliche de Virtú," which translates into the "little shop of virtue." The four phrases included are excerpted from canto IV of the poem, and relate to the relative importance of this little business for the goods (drinks and items to consume as food or medicinals) the pulpero serves to his clients.
The mounted piece appears as a truly striking work of art, and although I could find out little on the original artist, whose signature on the image is "Lavattaro," a name of Italian origin, the artist who mounted and laminated the image is a Cafayate local named Hector Habrhan. Later editions of the calendar published by this same textile company were illustrated by the famed F. Molina Campos.
Anyway, even though it was a piece of relative substantial size and substance, I could not resist buying it and bringing it back with me. As it was, the package barely fit inside the larger of my two suitcases, so I was lucky in that regard for not having to pay an exorbitant fee for shipping. Instead, it took up quite a bit of luggage space while making that particular suitcase even heavier than it had been at the time of my departure.
My purpose with this piece of art is not to further clutter up my already over-full wall space in my small home but rather, to be a donation to the Western Folklife Center, which is the organization which puts on the famous National Cowboy Poetry Gathering, held every year in Elko, Nevada. A couple of years ago they featured the work of several gaucho artists, and last December they sponsored a folklife exchange visit to Brasil and Argentina.
It is my intention that this piece will be sold at the Silent Auction, which takes place every year during the Gathering as a means of generating funds that go towards the continued operation of the Folklife Center. And for donors such as myself, in this case, it becomes a tax-deductible donation.
Anyway, I should say that from time to time I will plan to post additional materials here on this blog that might pertain to some aspect of South America, either something that came directly from my travels, or perhaps something of interest that relates to the region in general. In other words, even though I am home now, I will try to keep the blog going, so please, feel free to visit from time to time. Chao, amigos.

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.

LAST DAY AT ISLA NEGRA: LA CASA DE NERUDA

Yesterday I thought it appropriate to once again visit the famed house of the late, great Chilean poet Pablo Neruda during my last day in Isla Negra. The image you see above is of an elderly gentleman gazing out of a glass door that stands next to a large mural of Neruda, in the reception hall of the main building of the Fundación Neruda, next to the poet´s house. This building houses the offices of the Fundación, as well as the bookstore, a cafe, and the registration desk for tours of the house.


Now I didn´t go in for the tour, choosing instead to just walk the grounds and buy a book in the bookstore, Neruda´s Canto General, which includes one of his most famous poems, "Las Alturas de Macchu Picchu."
Now, the more I read Neruda, the more I am struck by the power of his imagery. And although I consider my command of Spanish to be limited, I have enough under my belt to appreciate how his Castellano can be so precise and carry such magnitude. Canto General is considered to be one of his essential works. It contains 15 chapters, beginning with "La Lampara en la Tierra" and followed by "Las Alturas de Macchu Picchu." These first two chapters embrace the majestic natural beauty of the South American continent before the conquest in some of the most expressive poetry I have ever read. But the third chapter is entitled "Los Conquistadores," which I finished reading last night in my cabaña. You can imagine that such a master of the language could lay out the most precise and chilling indictment of the conquistadors as one could ever expect to find, and in fact, he does so with such a natural skill that I, for one, was astounded. Neruda holds no quarter for the likes of Cortéz, Pizzarro, Valdivia and their fellows, so now I am anxious to begin my reading of the fourth chapter, "Los Libertadores."

Anyway, a short time ago I arrived back in Santiago, and I delivered that trusty Toyota Hilux that had carried me along across Northern Chile and Northwestern Argentina for these past four weeks to my agent here. This time there were no sorrowful incidents like that time in February 2006 when I had the collision with the llama in the remotest parts of Argentina´s Jujuy Province. . .this trip actually ended up being nearly flawless, for which I am certainly thankful.
Perhaps tomorrow I will try to post one more piece here, to put a final wrap on this third trip through the countries of Chile and Argentina. So check back, my friends.
Chao.

ACROSS THE ANDES AND BACK TO CHILE

So once more I pushed my trusty rented 4x4 Toyota Hilux up across the high Andes, on the route leading west from Mendoza, Argentina and back into Chile. Actually, the above image is the view of Aconcagua, the highest mountain in the Western Hemisphere, as seen from the vista point only a couple of kilometers from the Chilean border.

But Aconcagua is not the only mountain of note on this very aerial crossing point. The above image shows another very high peak, seen from a distance through a high, lonesome quebrada on the Argentine side of the border.

The third picture will give you a bit of perspective on the depth of the valleys (or the height of the peaks, with the road visible at the bottom of the frame. This last shot was taken on the Chilean side, after passing through customs.

Anyway, It was a long, slow traversal of the mountains, partly due to the presence of many trucks, each one laboring up (and down) in their lower gears on the narrow, winding two-lane highway. Also, the highway departments of both countries were busy making road repairs. The other thing that made the drive go so slowly were the numerous (TOO NUMEROUS) police check points on the Argentine side of the pass. Such repeated (and in my mind, unnecessary) authoritarian incursions tends to be intimidating (at least it is for me), and I really got to a point where I wanted to just tell one of the Gendarmes to "stuff it," but my better self told me that such a negative act would only serve to land me in a very messy situation, so politeness was always the rule.

And thanks to my sense of restraint, I am now here on the Chilean coast, renting a cozy little cabaña in Los Tabos, a sleepy little resort town just down the road ( maybe 4 km only) from the late, great Chilean poet Pablo Neruda´s fabled ocean home at Isla Negra. Actually, I stayed here back in November, 2005, at the start of my last South American adventure, so I feel it is right that this one, my third excursion, ends up here. I will be staying here until the morning of March 8th, strolling the beach and doing little of importance before making the 120 km drive back to Santiago on that date. So this will likely be my last post before returning to that city, and then perhaps I will try to put up one last blog post from there to put a wrap on this journey. Remember, I fly out from Santiago on the evening of March 10.

So until that last post from the road, that´s it from here.

Chao, amigos.

THE GRAND CITY OF MENDOZA

So there´s time for one more stop here in Argentina - the grand city of Mendoza, best-kown as the place where 80% of the country´s wine is produced. Besides the great wine, Mendoza prides itself in the stately appearance of its broad avenues, many of which are shaded by long rows of tall and stately London Plane Trees. The centro is full of fine outdoor cafes and elegant shops catering to the more unique tastes of the tourist crowd. The impressive Plaza Independencia (shown in the above picture) fills up on the weekends with booths run by the local artisans of the region.
It is the comercial and administrative center for this part of Argentina as well, and for many visitors it is the perfect jumping off point for visits to the high Andes and Cerro Aconcagua (6962 meters, or 22,836 ft. elevation), sometimes called the "roof of the Americas" and the highest point in the hemisphere.
Anyway, I got in here yesterday afternoon after spending my previous day at Villa Dolores, where I met the father (Dr. Domingo José Martino) , brother (Sebastiano), and best friend (Hugo Tello) of my old Argentine pal Matías Martino, who unfortunately could not be there since he happens to be going to the United States tomorrow on a work assignment.
A word should be said about the good time I had in my short visit to Villa Dolores and the fine hospitality of Dr. Martino, who fed me and put me up in his home. Also, Hugo took me for a fascinating tour of some of the local outdoor highlights in the region, including a hike in the mountains that separate that valley, known as the "Traslasierra," from the city of Córdoba.

This photo here shows the view from the vista point on the trail that looks down into the Río Mina Clavado, near its source. Its waters flow out from these mountains to invigorate the agrigultural pursuits in the area around the town of Mina Clavado and Villa Dolores. Hugo and I hiked there to see the waterfalls that pour down from the heights and are considered to be the source of the river.





We were planning to go further to check out some more views, but the winds picked up and became something of a force to be reckoned with, as witnessed by this shot of some pampas grass being bent by the force of the wind. I asked Hugo if these winds were a normal occurrence and he said they were very extraordinary, that usually it is calm. It even became a thing of concern for driving on the winding mountain road, so we cut our tour short and returned to Villa Dolores. So it goes.

When I left Villa Dolores yesterday morning I was thinking that I had enough time left before I am scheduled to return the truck that I was going to cross back into Chile and then drive southward as far as Los Angeles, to visit again my German friends Winfried and Elke at the Hosteria "El Rincón," but when I got into Mendoza I decided that I would have to at least spend one day taking in this city, so now I am planning to cross back into Chile tomorrow, and just drive out to the coast, likely near the late, great poet Pablo Neruda´s famous home at Isla Negra, to rent a small cabaña for my last couple of days before my mandatory return to Santiago on March 8th. Then It will be time to bid South America good-bye once again, when my return flight to the USA leaves on the evening of March 10.

But don´t think that this trip is over yet. I still have to cross those Andes. . .

ROLLING ACROSS NORTH CENTRAL ARGENTINA

Considering how difficult traversing the vast expanses of this rather huge and beautiful country, I was amazed today how quickly I was able to cut across the flat but thickly-vegetated regions south of Catamarca. But before I go forward with that, let me just mention the lead photo I posted, which came from the rainy crossing of a very spectacular canyon that cuts right through the Selva Subtropical Yungay, which is north of Catamarca. Looks like a real jungle, doesn´t it?
Anyway, the Ruta Nacional 38 below Catamarca is a long and straight road - and in surprisingly good condition too. I felt I was rolling along just as rapidly as I did when I went north on Chile´s portion of the Panamerican Highway a couple of weeks back.
But the road passes through a vcariety of ecological/vegetation zones, from the near-jungle in the above picture to a near-Paraguayan Chaco-type of thick brush, sticky heat and the nastiest flies you can imagine. I stopped at a hermitage dedicated to a priest where I managed to take a few pictures (not shown here) before my truck got filled with a voacious bunch of biting flies! I had a heck of a time getting rid of them.

Anyway, a bit farther down the trail from the buggy hermitage I encountered a typical cemetery in SE La Rioja Province. These photos of a few of the mausoleums will show that once upon a time, these people had the money to be interred in style, but I think it is all old Argentine money, as the faces on the tombs all looked like their prime was in the early days of the 20th Century. The town this particular cemetery is located is known as Serrezuela, and is located just west of the Córdoba Provincial boundary. I thought it was also interesting to note that there were almost as many mausoleums in the cemetery as there were houses in the town...

Farther south still, I reached the point where Ruta Nacional 38 connects with Ruta Provincial 15 (Córdoba Province), which is my road that will take me into Villa Dolores tomorrow. As I followed this route, I got another good blast of rain (see photo of the storm) which was enough to wash off all the dead bugs from my windshield. The river in the photo was also from the same spot as the cumulus cloud picture - just looking down off the bridge instead of up to the sky.

Anyway, like I said, I got farther today than I had expected, finally booking a room in a nice hotel in the somewhat tourist town of Mina Clavado. But now that it is March 1st, tourist season is past, so I think I can enjoy the somewhat mellow atmosphere, and will continue doing that for a time in the morning, since Villa Dolores is only 50 km away.

When I pull in there around noon tomorrow I will be meeting the father of my friend Matias Martino for the first time. I am planning to stay there through March 3rd, and then will start my way back to Chile on the 4th.

Stay tuned, there is still plenty of territory to cross on this one, which means numerous potential adventures.

Chao, for now, amigos.

SAN FERNANDO DEL VALLE DE CATAMARCA

Okay, no photos, no maps, just a short post to let all know I have arrived at this major Argentine city after a long day on the road, which was made longer and more complex thanks to the fact that that last partiers to leave Cafayate after their annual Serenata de Cafayate drained the gas pumps dry at the only station in town...actually, the person in line in front of me got gas, but maybe it was diesel. Regardless, when the attendant tried to pump mine (with nafta, as they call the unleaded stuff here) the reservoir was all tapped out. They then told me that I would have to wait until mid-day tomorrow (yikes!) for their tanker truck to arrive...
Well, all that was just too dismal to contemplate, so I considered my options. I asked the attendant how far was the next station south of there, and she told me I could get gas at Santa María, a gritty little city about 70 km south. Well, I knew I could make 70 kilometers, so off I went. Trouble was, it was off my planned route, and once I got there I had a heck of a time locating the town´s mgas station. But at least the attendant there was able to accurately describe for me how to get back onto the highway I´d made the long detour from to buy the precious fuel.
Then for a time the drive became spectacular, going up into some impressive mountain terrain with vast stands of huge Cardón Cacti and then a surprise once I got up to the summit overlooking the valley below with its attractive town of Tafi del Valle sitting like a pearl at the bottom - but alas, the valley was socked in with a thick cloudbank, which would prove to be the leading edge of a rather nasty storm front, which meant that I had to maneuver the Toyota through a massive rainstorm for much of the afternoon. It got quite treacherous when I made the connection with Ruta Nacional 38, which rolls through north-central Argentina in a large arc and which I will be following practically all the way to Villa Dolores, my planned destination for the day after tomorrow.
But the rains subsided as I approached Catamarca (Officially named San Fernando del Valle de Catamarca), and when the clouds broke, the heat settled in. I´ve done my share of sweating in this intense subtropical heat, which is of course augmented by the humidity from all the rain...Actually, the rains started last night when I was settling in to my last night in Cafayate. It was an impressive sustained downpour, complete with all the thunder and lightning, and I do believe there has been some flooding, especially in some of the places I drove through this afternoon when the rains were filling many of the rivers.
Anyway, I made it here, safe and sound, and will be planning to get a decent start in the morning. I want to at least get to the city of La Rioja, but will probably get past there, maybe as far as Chamical, east of the Sierra de Los Llanos, or even to Castro Barros, out on the Salinas Grandes. I am not so sure that either one of those potential destinations will afford me the opportunity to report in to the blog as they are not much on the map, but they will get me well within striking distance of Villa Dolores on March 2nd.
So whenever I can, I´ll be back here, posting new stuff, and hopefully some new pics. So stay in touch, amigos.

NORTHWEST ARGENTINA ADVENTURES

And now, as promised, here follows a rather lengthy recounting of the adventures of the last few days, primarily during the time while I was out of contact with the virtual world and deeply connected with the real one, at least as it exists here in this most spectacular and vast corner of it. In yesterday´s post I had already posted a self-portrait taken while I was out on my hike on the 23rd of February, taking in the stunning landscapes there in the remote realms of Argentina´s Jujuy Province. The above picture will give you a sense of the terrain and its raw beauty. That was the spot where I stopped to enjoy the snacks I had brought along and re-hydrate myself with fluids.
It was, as you can imagine, a sublime day spent communing with the Pachamama (Earth Mother) spirit, which is still much revered by the Quechua peoples there in the Susques region, the anciuent, indigenous predecessor to the Catholic Church which also claims the loyalties of the locals.

The next day I left my convenient accomodations at Pastos Chicos, which is really the only place to stay in Susques. I was determined to make it all the way to the marvelous little city of Cafayate, which is in neighboring Salta Province.

Knowing that I had my options as to which route I should take, but also that the paved route that goes through the cities of San Salvador de Jujuy as well as the metropolis of Salta itself, I opted to go once more on the shorter (and presumed faster) unpaved route that would lead me back up onto the heights of the mountains east of San Antonio de Los Cobres, and the treacherous high mountain pass known as Abra del Acay, which my antiquated Argentine guidebook (published by Argentina´s YPF) calls the highest motor pass in the world, some 4970 meters above sea level (which translates to about 16,300 feet altitude!) The above image shows one view from that summit.

Now as my luck would have it, I became an unintentional collaborator in a rather tedious two-vehicle recovery effort which involved:

1.) A Hertz rental car that some American tourists had rented in Salta and had foolishly tried to take over the high Abra del Acay summit - a 2wd, low-clearance car, which is literally crazy considering that all guidebooks warn that only high-profile 4x4 vehicles should attempt the pass.

2.) A tow truck belonging to Auxilio, a mobile auto repair outfit that operates out of Salta, who advertize that they will service anything "within 500 miles of Salta," which had broken down on its attempt to reach the abandoned Hertz rental car that the gringoes had left half submerged in the raging mountain river that the route crosses a half-dozen times.

Anyway, to make this very long intro a bit shorter I will say that once Hertz learned that Auxilio´s recovery tow truck had broken down, they sent out their own recovery team to try to extract their rental vehicle from the river, while Auxilio sent a second tow truck, with two drivers, to try to salvage both their own broken down truck and also the lost Hertz vehicle. I came into the picture as I happened to be driving into the route from the north, and soon found myself coming along behind the Auxilio recovery tow truck. In front of them was another vehicle, a pickup truck driven by a businessman from Cafayate and acompanied by his girlfriend. They were out for a drive in the country, ostensibly to avoid the crowds in Cafayate that weekend for the town´s annual "Serenata de Cafayate," a huge folk music festival. They suddenly broke down, and the Auxilio guys were thus forced to lend assistance to try to fix what turned out to be only an empty gas tank (the Cafayate businessman luckily had somme spare gas in an auxiliary can).

Anyway, he stopped at the summit while the Auxilio team and I continued onward down the south slope to the point at which their broken-down rig was. I stopped with them, knowing that it would be foolish to continue on this narrow road knowing that the abandoned Hertz vehicle would be blocking my passage. So I offered to lend a hand to the two Auxilio mechanics. They sent me out on foot to do reconnaisance of the route below where they were laboring on the clutch of the broken-down tow truck. The route ahead was ugly, and I reported back to them that I felt that either of their vehicles might not make it past a very narrow and washed-out stretch some 500 meters down from us. Anyway, that grim fact was dismissed when the Hertz recovery team came along, slugging their way uphill with their abandoned rental car (obviously undrivable) in tow. Once they reached our place in the road, the job became one of fixing and extricating the damaged tow truck as well as the inoperable rental car.

We then formed a rather impromptu caravan, as the chief of the Hertz crew, a fellow named Pedro Foa, strongly advised me to abandon my plans to try to go on down through the most ruggewd part of the road, which is the part where the road crosses the rampaging mountain river some half-dozen times. Okay, so I was going back these guys, and would loise a day in my quest to get to Cafayate.

Once the Auxilio guys had fixed the clutch on their tow rig, the next problem would be how to turn the massive vehicle around on the narrow canyon road. It was not hard for me to turn my pickup around, and they Auxilio guys were also able to turn their recovery tow truck around, but this original tow truck was just too long to pull it off. They ended up using the recovery tow truck to tow the bigger truck sideways while we all pushed on it, to swing it around without it going over the edge! Once that was acomplished, we set out in tandem to go back over the summit and go back to San Antonio de Los Cobres.

We determined that the two damaged vehicles should be front and back, with the good tow truck and me in the middle. In that order we inched our way back to the summit, where we stopped to tke part in a rather crude but rewarding "lunch break."

This picture shows the two Auxilio drivers saluting me while Pedro Foa of Hertz looked on.

And the next picture shows our caravan as it was parked at the summit of Abra del Acay. Considering the treacherous nature of the road still before us, it would take us another two hours to get our vehicles down the mountain and make

the 45 km drive back to San Antonio de Los Cobres.

So the next day I set out on my second day´s attempt to get to Cafayate. In retrospect, of course, I wished I would have thought to have taken Ruta 51 from San Antonio de Los Cobres in the direction of Salta instead of trying that awful mountain road, but naturally I didn´t know. But what I encountered was another spectacular bit of impressive Northwestern Argentine
scenery, which made the lost day seem even more bittersweet. This picture here shows just a small glimpse of some of the rugged beauty on this route, with a forest of Cardón Cacti populating an arroyo in the very beautiful Quebrada de Toro, which the route follows for a long distance.

Farther on the vegetation becomes more lush, as one can see in this shot which looks up the quebrada and back at the small-gauge railroad bridge that crosses the Río Toro. It was a very beautiful drive, and I was so glad to finally make it into Cafayate yesterday at around 4 p.m. Buit of course, the place was mobed with people, as it was the last night of the Serenata de Cafayate set to begin. Although I would have loved to have gone to take in some of the music, I was more preocupied with some more pressing and certainly more plebian necessities: namely finding lodging and then getting some food and water into my system. Then, once that was taken care of, I could finally go out and enjoy some of the finest wine produced on the planet: Organic Malbec wine, locally produced at one of the several great wineries located here in Cafayate.

So that´s my story, and you should now consider yourselves all brought up to date. Today I am getting my laundry done, and then I will be here for one full day to relax, tomorrow. I will then set out on a rather urgent push to get to the town of Villa Dolores, far south of here, and west of the major city of Córdoba. They used to call such a long haul "ballin´the jack," so I guess that is what I will be planning to do on the last day of the month. I am scheduled to arrive ion Villa Dolores on March 2nd, the guest of the family of my friend Matias Martino whom I met on Tierra Del Fuego back during my first trip down to South America in 2002-2003.

CAFAYATE, ARGENTINA, or BACK IN "CIVILIZATION" AFTER EMERGING FROM REMOTE JUJUY PROVINCE

Okay, so here I am, safe and sound after some time in that most remote northwest corner of Argentina - a veritable modern day "terra incognita," if you will. Oh, I´ve had some adventures, so I´ve got some stories to tell, but that will have to wait for tomorrow´s more substantial post, complete with extensive dialogue and significant photo coverage. I invite all to come on board in 24 hours to check it all out.

For now though, just be aware that I am alive and well, but of course my original travel plans have had to be changed following the events that took place up in the more remote parts of Jujuy Province. Incidentally, the above "self-portrait" was taken by yours truly while on an extended hike outside of small pueblo of Susques, and the shot below was taken yesterday, on the road to San Antonio de Los Cobres, en route to the mythical high mountain pass, Abra del Acay.

Today I have finally reached Cafayate, a full two dasys behind schedule, but that´s not an uncommon thing on trips like this. I will be in Cafayate for three nights, and then comes a big push to get to the city of Villa Dolores, west of Córdoba on February 2nd, before going on to Mendoza and back to Chile. But that is still all so much in the future, you know anything can happen before then!

Anyway, so please come back tomorrow for a fully detailed account. It ought to make for some interesting reading...

Saludos, amigos.

SAN PEDRO DE ATACAMA TODAY, THEN ON TO ARGENTINA TOMORROW

Today I have reached the oasis town of San Pedro de Atacama, my last stop before crossing over the roof of the continent at Paso de Jama and on into Northwest Argentina, with a projected one night stay tomorrow night in the Quechua Indian pueblo of Susques before continuing on to Salta and Cafayate. The computer at this internet cafe has a painstakingly feeble internet connection, so again I am posting maps instead of photos, ostensibly to preserve my camera batteries from wholesale drainage.
The map above is of the town of San Pedro, which is not only an oasis in terms of agriculture here in the higher reaches of the Atacama Desert, but is also something of a neo-hippie bohemian outpost in a very remote but beautiful part of Chile. To the northeast, the Bolivian Cordillera reaches upwards toward the skies, dominated by the immense snow-covered Volcán Licancabur. Tomorrow I will drive past Licancabur and up onto the high altiplano and on to my planned routes south through Argentina.

Te above map shows the tenuous route I will be following across Northwest Argentina from Paso Jama on the far left, and finally into the strikingly scenic Quebrada de Humahuaca and Argentine RN 9 which will lead me through The cities of San Salvador de Jujuy and Salta before my arrival in that wonderful little gem of a town known as Cafayate. AS a matter of fact, I do not believe I will be able to post anything here until I have reached Cafayate, which will not be for a couple of days. For those of you who recall my adventures in this part of Argentina back in February of 2006, you will remember that this stretch of highway east of Susques was where I had my fateful collision with a llama, which was the saddest and most effecting moment in that whole 3½ months of touring.

This last schematic illustrates the elevations (in meters) of my climb up onto the altiplano and then the eventual descent into San Salvador de Jujuy. The highest points are real rarified air excursions - 4600 meters equals about 15,000 feet elevation! Breathe deep and move with measured efforts...

I´ll catch you all on the other side.

Chao, amigos.