Backpacking South America

Life is full of new experiences, especially when traveling in a different country.  Usually you should allot twice as much time to get anywhere and anticipate spending twice as much on just about everything, including mail.

Ok, so the post office isn’t a daily venture for me in “real life.”  The mail COMES to my house; I can BUY stamps from a machine; and I usually don’t MAIL things because the things I would MAIL, I would MAIL to the people I SEE.

But, in this life of travel, at times we have come across a few things we really like and would like to buy either for ourselves or for someone else.  However, we’re traveling with only ONE backpack each, so, “think small” – the things we would like to buy need to be small.  Well, over time, we’ve accumulated a few SMALL things.  We off-loaded a few with our friends in Salta, but accumulated a few more items that were impossible to continue to carry with us.  No, it’s not wine, however, I keep telling Jared those bottles really aren’t that big (but when thinking SMALL, we also need to consider weight).  It’s tricky.

In any case, we decided to attempt the post office and found ourselves on a new adventure.  It was Amazing Race meets bureaucratic nightmare.  We had anticipated that a trip to the post office could take a better part of the day.  When we studied in Buenos Aires, a classmate sent a package to his grandchildren in Germany and he said that he and his wife spent 4 hours at the post office.  “You’ve got to be kidding!” was all I could think.  I guess when you anticipate spending 4 hours at the post office, anything less really isn’t that bad.  In any case, we weren’t quite sure if we would need to bring a box, if they provided a box or if we could buy a box…somewhere.

We went to the post office one afternoon and determined which line we needed to be in – International Mail.  Got it.  When we got to the counter we told the man that we had a few things that we needed to mail to the States, but that we didn’t have a box.  He told us that we could buy a box from the post office and buy some packing supplies outside and that we would need to go down the street to the corner and on the 2^nd floor of that building is where we can mail international packages.  However, they are closed right now.  They are only open for 3 hours in the morning (it was afternoon at this point).

Okay, no big deal, we’ll deal with this tomorrow when they reopen.  So the next day, first thing in the morning, we head to the building where you can ship packages internationally, which is actually on the third floor one block away from the post office.  We get there and they tell us that we need to go to the post office to purchase the box.  So, we descend three flights of stairs, walk a block to the post office and stand in line to purchase a box.  We get the box and they tell us that there is a kiosk in front of the post office where we can purchase brown paper (We thought the paper was to stuff the box and protect the contents, but apparently, it was to wrap the outside of the box) and tape.  Tape – are you kidding me?  I have to purchase a big roll of packing tape?

So, we pack up our things, purchase brown paper, not tape – hoping the ladies will have mercy on us and share their tape with us, and return to the office of international packages (which is really on the 3^rd floor – very hot day, no AC).  We get there.  We show the ladies what we are mailing.  We put it in the box with paper for cushioning and they fuss that it’s not protected well enough.  (Are you kidding me?  It’s my package!)  So, they also ask if we have tape and more paper to wrap around the outside of the box because it’s cheaper to send a package without any markings on it, just as a brown paper box.  So, we plead with them to use some tape, but they had no mercy on us.  So, Jared ran down the stairs (again), walked the block to the Kiosk to buy more brown paper and tape.  Now, we’re sweating…I fuss with the ladies and the scale to get the box to the weight we want so we don’t pay an excessive amount of money (too late for that).  The one lady is convinced our things are going to break, so she steps into another office and comes back with some Styrofoam type thing and sticks it in our box.  We fuss a little more with the weight, take out a few items, and then wrap that baby up, finish the paperwork and “listo” – an hour and half later we’re finished (please keep in mind there wasn’t a line).

In the meantime, several foreigners showed up and since we were further along in the process, we were asked to explain the process to them.  For one couple, it was their 4^th attempt to try to ship something and they were still confused as to why you had to buy all the supplies elsewhere, and then come to the third floor of some building to ship it.  They left and were resigned to try the whole thing again for a 5^th time…  Then another foreigner came, he was a bit more organized, but didn’t have the brown paper or tape to wrap his box.  We felt his pain and gave him our left over brown paper and tape.  We definitely have a newfound appreciation for the orderly, if slow Jamaica Plain post office.

Think about it – imagine a post office where you can ship anything you want either domestically or internationally and where all the shipping supplies are in one place.  The world would be just a little bit more perfect.  Wait – there wouldn’t be any lines either.

After our long, restful week (9 days) in Cafayate, it was time to move on.  The five of us (four adults and one very grown up 4 year old) hopped into a cab heading to Salta.   These were our last 3 hours together with our new friends.   I suppose that since we survived such a journey it goes to show that this friendship could last a long time.  After arriving at the Salta terminal, we parted ways as they were heading west to Chile and we were looking to go east.

Unfortunately, we weren’t able to catch the bus out of town the same day and we had to wait until the following afternoon.  So we were stuck in Salta for one night.  I say stuck in Salta because, well, “been there, done that.”  At this point, we were ready to move on to some place new.

Surving The Heat

After a nice, long 23-hour bus ride, we finally arrived in the hot and humid Puerto Iguazu!  We went from a dry, hot climate to a HOT and HUMID climate.  It was atrocious!  It really was nearly unbearable.  (I think sweatbands could possibly be fashionable in this neck of the woods, at least they would be practical.)  We found a hostel with air-conditioning, but they didn’t have availability at their place for the first night.  But they arranged for us to stay with a senora across the street; fan only.  My theory was that if you walked slow or just sat still the humidity (and the mosquitoes) wouldn’t be so bothersome.  So the next morning we woke up early, moved our things back to the hostel to our new room with air-conditioning and headed to the Falls.

We arrived at the Park early, but there were already so many people.  Iguazu has received so much rain this year that it was impossible to see the bottom of the Falls from the most raging part called “La Garganta del Diablo” (The Devil’s Throat).

We aren’t able to share our photos with you since they were lost with the camera…

This picture is from the blog On Our Own Path, a blog we followed as we planned our trip to South America.

On the Argentine side of the falls, you get to experience and interact with the waterfalls.  However, the Brazilian side provides a better panaromic view.  Unfortunately, due to relations between Brazil and the United States, it wasn’t an option for us to hop into Brazil solely for financial reasons…

Before we left for our trip we bought a waterproof bag for our camera, in case we got stuck in a torrential downpour we could be sure to keep our electronics dry.  Well, we finally got to use it.  We took a boat ride directly into some of the minor falls.  It was more water than even the most torrential of downpours.  We were physically having water from a 100+ foot waterfall falling on top of us.  There was not a dry spot on us when we got off.  It was incredible to have so much water pouring down on top of us!  We could hardly see 5 inches in front of us.  I have no idea how the driver of our boat was able to see where we were going.  In fact, there was a couple in our boat who actually wore goggles into the falls.  Jared was so jealous; he thought this was ingenious!  Next time…

Typically, there is a ferry that runs to San Martin Island, centrally located at the base of all the falls that provides an incredible panoramic view of the river.  Unfortunately, the ferry wasn’t running due to the level of the river, so we weren’t able to visit the Island.  But we didn’t mind too much because the falls were powerful, beautiful and massive from where we were!

It was so hot and humid that day that it was really refreshing to be around water.  There were several instances where we were sprayed with water just from the power of the falls. (insert more pictures here, if I had one).  The day was sort of overcast, but when the sun peeked through the clouds it was intense and when it reflected off the water those beautiful rainbows appeared.  We will forever have those mental pictures in our memories (until I lose my mine).

So, Iguazu was extravagant – beautiful and the falls were enormous!  It’s a jungle, so it was very wet, humid and green combined with lots of bugs (particularly mosquitoes).  However, I wasn’t the one who had problems with bugs… there were only a few freak out moments.  If Jared ever says he can’t dance, I will remind him of how he removed the ant crawling up his neck.  Iguazu was fun.  It was very different from any place we’ve been so far.  It is one of the largest waterfalls in the world (5th – 1 spot ahead of Niagara)!  We had a great time, but we would be hard pressed to go back and face that humidity again.

Every good plan has it’s setbacks.  Everyday can’t be just “hoops and glitter.”

We have been traveling for about three months now.  For the first two and half months we didn’t have any mishaps, setbacks or unexpected challenges.  Then November arrived and our luck changed.  We never anticipated getting through this trip scot free, but the succession of mishaps this month is fairly discouraging.  First, our iPods started to fritz out, then we forgot some items at a hostel (pocket knife and wine key).  However, the deepest cut was when we lost our CAMERA (or it was taken from our bag on the bus).  November has not been kind to us.

The good news:  nobody was hurt, we still like each other and cameras are replaceable.  Life is full of tragedies, but if our greatest tragedy in this life of travel is losing our camera, then I think we’ll come out on top.

I guess what all this really means is that for the time being, we have to become better writers since we won’t have many pictures for you.  Bear with us as we learn to paint a picture with words.  But please have mercy on us; it’s a work in progress.

We had such a wonderful time in Cafayate that we decided to take the 3.5 hour bus ride back to spend a few more days, which turned into more than a week.  Cafayate is a town that either wraps you up and makes you want more, or is so small that you’re ready to go after one or two days.  Obviously, we fell into the former group.

On our bus trip, we met a nice family that had made reservations at the hostel we were planning to stay at, the Rusty K Hostel.  The Rusty K is the most recommendable hostel that we have stayed at thus far.  It was well laid out, not overly cramped or large, but with lots of open space on the patio that you couldn’t resist grabbing a beer (quite cheap at this hostel) and lounging for a bit.  It was also extremely clean and well run by a super friendly and helpful family.

Our First Asado

One of the nights, we decided to try our hand at the parrilla with our new found friends.  So we grabbed meat for four people, green peppers, 3 types of cheese (soft, hard and blue), and a bag of carbon (already burnt woodchips).  With the help/guidance of Walter, the owner of the hostel, we got the fire started.

Our first course was green peppers sliced in half, stuffed with the cheeses and roasted on the grill for 20-30 minutes, until the cheese was melted and there was a nice char on the bottom of the peppers placed on top of sliced bread.  About 10 minutes later, the first cuts of meat were ready.  First was the bife de lomo (beef tenderloin), then the vacio (flank steak… I think).   It was an epic feast and everybody was completely full by the end.

The Art of Doing Nothing

After visiting a few wineries we had missed and re-visiting a few others, we decided to take a weekend at a hotel to enjoy a pool and relax… (more on this in a future post).  Unfortunately, Hotel Killa was booked, so we had to try another hotel which was totally unremarkable, but comfortable nonetheless.

Breaking out of the Lazy Funk

By the end of the hotel stay, after having too much time and getting restless, which I hadn’t expected – we decided to break out our lethargy by taking an afternoon excursion to Quebrada de las Conchas.   I was very thankful we got out, got the blood pumping, and took advantage of the beautiful scenery around Cafayate.

View complete set from Quebrada de las Conchas

This is another location, similar to Valle de la Luna (but still very different), where the movement of the earth’s plates has caused the earth to shoot up in very drastic formations and colors.

Saying Goodbye

After so much time enjoying Cafayate, it felt really comfortable and a bit like home.  It was hard to say good-bye to the friends we met and the places we enjoyed, but we could feel deep inside our bones that it was time to move on.

After leaving our dear friend’s at the Estancia, we settled into Salta, for what was supposed to be a week of catching up on the blog, reviewing Spanish, and enjoying the city.

Over the weekend, we took one big excursion into the puna, the high altitude areas north and west of Salta.  We followed the route of the Tren de las Nubes, visited Salinas Grandes and took some great photos.

View our photo sets

Then crossed a pass at 4170 meters above sea level.  On our way day, we visited Pumamarca and the Quebrada de Huamaca.

View our photo sets

The city has a very unique charm, with its large colonial buildings and churches.  The city really comes alive at night with people and the buildings are lit up.

View our photo sets

Unfortunately, our stay in Salta coincided with a heatwave and everyday was right around 100 degrees.  We did our best to soldier on, but it is amazing how heat can really keep you down.   We typically tried to get out in the morning to walk around, then found a place to retreat for the afternoon – usually the hostel or a café (AC and wifi).

View our photo sets