THE SMALL TOWN LIFE?

(Aventuras Argentinas Part 4)

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Surrounding Cordoba are a couple of low mountain ranges and valleys with small towns that are very popular with Argentines. Our first trip was to Alta Gracia (High Grace). Talk about easy and convenient bus service - the 20 person, air-conditioned small buses ran every twenty minutes or so and it took about an hour and a half to get there. Alta Gracia originated as a Jesuit Estancia (farm and church) in 1622. The Jesuits created a whole network of estancias throughout Argentina and parts of Paraguay. They served two purposes; generate cash to support the colleges they ran in Buenos Aires, Cordoba and elsewhere and provide in-roads to converting the native population.

The Jesuits were very ingenious and ambitious. They had a toilet system with channels to wash away the waste, up-stream collecting pools to hold water for the dry season and gristmills to produce flour from grain. Their growing financial and political power eventually led to their downfall when the king of Spain threw them out of the country and all colonies.

Che Guevara spent his childhood in Alta Gracia when his parents brought him here to help with his asthma. The house where he grew up was turned into a very informative museum with a wealth of information about Che, his parents and his children. Reading some of his letters, we understood that he intended to fight "the revolution" until he was killed and would not give up until then. Quoting Che from a letter to one of his children, "To be a revolutionary, you must never stop fighting".

After finishing a walk around town, we had a bite to eat at a cafe around 3:30. We noticed they were setting up as many tables as they could on the sidewalk and crowding the chairs around them. We asked why and were told so that there would be enough for all the people! We looked around the town, saw almost no one and thought huh???? However, later that evening, the town was transformed, packed with people and cars and literally jumping. It was a Saturday night and half of Cordoba must have come for the evening. This must happen every week.

Our next stop was Villa General Belgrano. Because it was the height of tourist season for this area, we had called ahead for reservations. We reserved a room at the cheapest place in town and hoped for the best! When we got there, the señor told me, "We take very few people these days". We persisted and told him we had made a reservation with his wife. His wife came out and confirmed that we indeed had a reservation. We went in and the señora showed us to a large, clean, simple room.

We spent some time talking to them and figured out the whole story. They were both in their seventies and he wanted to sell the place, buy a small house, relax and enjoy life. She wanted to keep the place and keep taking guests. We could just imagine, every time someone calls and the señor answers the phone, he says they are full and every time she answers, she takes a reservation! It appeared that she was winning because the place was booked solid (ten rooms) both nights we were there.

Villa General Belgrano was originally founded by Germans escaping a ship the British sank outside Montevideo, Uruguay during World War 2. The town had an alpine German village feel to it. The main strip was sweet shop or knick-knack shop after shop with restaurants and hotels thrown in. Some signs in German and schnitzel and sauerkraut were on almost every menu in town. Argentina has a large German population and many of them come to VGB for vacation. It was sort of like Solvang in California or some overly touristy town in the Adirondacks. After Paul had his fill of schnitzel, it was time to move on.

This was when we had our first difficult day travel wise. We wanted to go to a park where you can view condors. We went to the bus station and found that every bus that passed the park was full until 1:00 PM. We regrouped and figured, okay, we can leave at 1:00, get to the park by 2:30, hike the five miles to the viewing point, rest a while, then hike back and make it to the bus stop by dark. We went to buy tickets and found out that all the return buses were full!!! DAMN.

Okay, new plan - we decided we would have to skip the park and head on to Jesus Maria, our next planned stop. That was easy enough; we got a bus and arrived in Jesus Maria at 12:45 in the afternoon. We checked with tourist information and found out that Santa Catalina, the Jesuit estancia and UNESCO world heritage site was closed from 1:00 PM - 3:00 PM. DAMN (again!).

There was another UNESCO world heritage site estancia in Jesus Maria that was open and we went there for a visit. The estancia was started in 1618 and the Jesuits built it to last (as it has). The walls were over three feet thick and standing the test of time very well. Now, we had seen a couple of Jesuit estancias and decided that they were all more or less similar and missing Santa Catalina wasn't so bad. We hopped on another bus and headed to Santa Elena where we arrived at about 5:30.

We got off the bus at Santa Elena and were confronted with... NOTHING… a bar/restaurant and a couple of shacks. Lois was looking VERY unhappy. Paul asked in the bar and was told there was a hospedaje (guesthouse) around the corner. We started walking, passed one house with a few ladies sitting outside (drinking mate, of course) and kept going, looking for a sign or something. However, there was nothing but a school (closed), police station (closed) and small candy store (closed). We walked back to the mate drinking ladies and discovered that this was the hospedaje and she had a room for us. (Things were looking better since Lois was almost smiling).

Ten kilometers from Santa Elena was Cerro Colorado where we wanted to see some 1000-year-old petroglyphs. The señora told us there was a big festival in Cerro Colorado tomorrow so we decided to try and see it immediately. We went to the road and stuck out our thumbs. After five minutes, one car had passed and a second one was approaching. We gave our thumbs an extra special waggle and got a ride with a very friendly couple out for an afternoon drive. We arrived in Cerro Colorado at 6:10 PM, just to find out that the last tour of the petroglyphs left at 6:00. DAMN (third time today).

We stopped at a restaurant, had a quick drink and told the señora there our sad story. She gave us the name of a private guide who took us to see some of the petroglyphs (hmm, were things starting to look up again?). We went to a few sights, saw some gorgeous landscape and a number of well-preserved petroglyphs that were about one thousand years old. The area had all sorts of unusual rock formations, cliffs, caves, overhangs etc. There were literally thousands of petroglyphs in the area, however, after about fifty we decided that was enough. We went back to our hospedaje, had dinner at the small restaurant on the side of the road and mulled over the day.

Lois’ thoughts were “I'm too old for this...” Paul thought that sometimes you have to take some risks (i.e. he’s not too old for this). It can certainly be stressful when you’re not sure where you are going to sleep or how you will get back to “civilization”. On further reflection, this would have been a good day to rent a car!

From Santa Elena, our next destination was Tucuman, a six-hour bus ride. The problem was that there are very few local buses in Argentina, meaning that all buses go from big city to big city with no intermediate stops. They usually won't stop at the side of the road and pick you up anywhere as they do in other Latin American countries. So, we had to get to a big enough city where the long distance buses would stop. We hitched a ride from Santa Elena to Villa de Maria de Rio Seco (talk about a long name!). Supposedly none of the buses stopped there, but we were hoping for a little luck. When we got into town, we saw a number of young guys standing with bags on the main road, just across from the bus terminal. Paul asked them if the buses to Tucuman stop here and one of the guys said, "maybe, sometimes"! So we joined them and waved at the passing buses. The third bus stopped and the driver said he had three seats available. Since we were going the furthest, we got two of them and one of the guys the third. We got lucky because after a six hour air-conditioned ride, with movies, we were in Tucuman. (Did that make up, karmically, for the prior day??)

Tucuman was a large, low-lying city and therefore, very hot. Paul insisted on a room with air conditioning, which it turned out was a pretty easy request to fill. We got a large, very clean room with spacious bathroom in a small hotel with a palm tree filled courtyard. When Paul first saw the air conditioner, he was skeptical, but it turned out to work extremely well. All this cost a mere $13 per day.

As a city, Tucuman was a mixed bag. It had very narrow, congested streets, a minimal pedestrian area and almost no traffic control. There were no stoplights or signs at intersections. Drivers simply played a game of chicken to determine who went through the intersection first. Meanwhile, as a pedestrian, you are at the bottom of the pecking order. We took little comfort in noticing that the locals had as hard a time as us crossing the street.

The up side in Tucuman was a number of beautiful buildings of various architectural styles. Some of the museums were mediocre, but the buildings that housed them were works of art in their own right. So, while Lois looked around the museums, Paul relaxed, wrote in his journal or took pictures.

 

The square itself was a very nice gathering spot with a couple of beautiful, big, old trees providing shade and a cool spot for everyone to avoid the afternoon heat. As was the case everywhere, we encountered many friendly people including the guy in an empanada shop who upon hearing Paul's Spanish immediately asked where we were from and tried out his English on us. More importantly, he gave us a refrigerator magnet in the shape of an empanada with the name and phone number of the shop on it! First thing when we get home, it goes on the fridge. Do you think they deliver to Virginia??

From Tucuman, we left the lowlands (1500 feet altitude) and headed into the mountains and the small town of Tafi del Valle at an altitude of 7000 feet. Yes, the bus climbed 5500 feet in altitude, passing through some beautiful scenery on the way. Very green mountains with stands of medium height trees and streams running throughout. The trees were unusual in that they were extremely twisted and gnarled, sort of like some driftwood and covered with moss and epiphytes. As we got higher (in altitude, no drugs were involved), the vegetation changed to low scrub brush and grasses. Tafi del Valle, itself, was sort of a contradiction in terms. Population 8,000, in a small valley surrounded by mountains, it could have been a calm, tranquil place to enjoy nature but was packed full with argentine vacationers and had little traffic jams.

According to our guidebooks, these small towns are mostly visited by Argentines and not many foreigners.  While we don’t regret going to them, we certainly would not return.  If we lived in Buenos Aires and wanted to get away for the weekend, it would be a great destination. Sometimes, the guidebooks seem to oversell these areas. We guess they are trying to have people think that there are “undiscovered” parts of Argentina.  Walking into what was supposed to be a small tranquil town and finding it overrun with people and traffic can be unappealing and belies the notion that it is “undiscovered”.

 This brings our travelogue up to about January 30.  You’ll have to wait for the next one to read and see pictures of the truly spectacular parts of the North that we visited since then…

Paul & Lois
JuJuy, Argentina
February 7, 2006

 

Aventuras Argentinas Part 3                 Aventuras Argentinas Part 5

 

All content is copyright © Paul Schneider, 2006.