Well, no. I’m not really lost. But I’m in the Andes alright. And my computer cable is lost, although lost isn’t the right word. Swiped is. As in, swiped by some blighter who grabbed it out from me while I was, of all things, trying to check my stuff into the left luggage. May it blow up his laptop and may his descendants be Internet addicts who run up his DSL bill and send him to the poor house…
So that is why I’ve been remiss in my blogging. And will continue to be a while, until this is all sorted out.
Which may not be for a bit, because right now the main puzzle I am trying to work out is how to bus it from the Andes into Colombia in the safest and cheapest way possible. I want to avoid visas, but it seems I cannot. Apparently, from Salta, which is where I am now, you have to take a bus that either gets you to San Pedro de Atacama in Chile, or across the Bolivian border. One route I am looking at is Salta to Arica and from Arica to Lima.
Does this work out fiendishly cheaper than a bargain flight from Buenos Aires? Probably not. But then the Argentines have gone and introduced a visa charge of some kind, effective from January. Something like a hundred dollars or so. It’s a reciprocity fee (that means it’s tit for our government’s tat – and who can blame them) but it means I’m trying to avoid airports, which is where they levy such things.
So far the past several days, it’s been buses and terminals…33 hours of them, and day long layovers. And on top of that I’ve been a little ill…and developed some kind of rash or allergy that makes my scalp crawl literally. I’ll never use the phrase casually again. And no, it was not cooties or dandruff, it was my new Argentine shampoo that did it…I have a sensitive skin and new anything on it is always a bit of a risk.
Which is all much more than you should know.
But on the up side the scenery here is spectacular.
I fed the ducks on the pond on San Martin Avenue right outside the bus terminal, had myself three empanadas with goat cheese – which felt like manna from heaven after two and half days without food..
The hills are verdant and rise high. And in the summers, the temperatures reach up to 50 degrees celsius, I’m told.
Which is what the temperatures are in my home town in India. There the hills are much lower and have been denuded over centuries. And of course, the town is overpopulated, noisy and polluted. But in a strange way, in its bare bones, it has some similarities…
The food in India is, of course, way, way better.
After 7 months of the rather stodgy South American diet, I am positively ravenous for rasam, curry, pappadams, pilafs…
I shouldn’t have started…..
Welcome back!! I was starting to get worried ? AGAIN.
I lived and worked in South America for a couple of years, that is, if Guyana can be considered part of SA. Loved my experience there.
At the time, you could be arrested for possessing flour or chickpeas as the government wanted the locals to subsist on what could be produced locally. On a return trip to the states, after clearing customs, and without giving any thought to what we were doing, my wife and I made a beeline to the closest hotdog stand and scarfed down a couple of dogs and cokes. After that, we looked at each other and laughed out loud not realizing, prior to that, how hungry we really were.
Gene
Your trip sounds cool, in spite of the layovers and such.
You’re like those attractive girls on that British backpacking adventure TV show, GlobeTrekker, fighting off bandits, hacking a path through the jungle with a machete… you *are* getting pictures and video of this aren’t you? Heh. j/k.
I don’t know about anyone else, but I’m glad you laid it all out there, brings it home/more realism.
Got my curiosity up, why you’re going and what you’re seeing in Colombia… gonna go see the new military bases?
Glad you are o.k.
Americans typically think that south american (and carribean) food is interesting much like that of Mexicos. Sadly, or just due to multiple factors of geography and history, carribean and south american good are rather dull. There is something about the great cousines (and I mean cuisine not just food) that include China, India, Mexico, and of course Italy. France and Spain on list as well as Japan in a different level. After these, the variety, flavor passion and art of the food drop off. Some isolated dishes here and there but after these–its drops off fast!! Interesting how tastebuds are like intellect–not equally distributed and some nations have little in the way of cousine and just have grub.
Be careful. Colombian food is boring and egg on rice and some basic stewed beef are the delicacies. Run to Oaxaca and then india for some real food.
Thanks all…
Clark, I am making it all sound much more exciting than it really is..
I think of it mostly as a logistical puzzle..how do you get from x to y in one piece without breakig the bank.
I am now thinking it would have been smarter to bus from directly from BA…if there is such a route.
Colombia, only because I think the dangers are exaggerated and having come all the way, I might as well see one more country
Yes, R, there is cuisine and there is food…
I only consider France, India and Mexico as having cuisines of the top rank..although that’s my bias in favor of hot, wet, creamy, spicy or seasoned food….and there are all those Anglo-Am pies that are delicious too..
Gene – I thought of Guyana too but right now I am so tired, Lima is the only thing I am thinking about.
I would love to do the Bolivia route and cross Lake Titicaca but I hear the border crossing can be rough and a bit of a shakedown if you try to wing it..
I think Cbile is less corrupt, so it might be Pedro de Atacma and let’s hope the reciprocity fee is only for airport entry..
Good luck Lila. wish we could have explored Peru
together when I was down in Salta.
Safe journey, Lila I hope you find what you’re looking for.
come to e6 st in nyc and i will treat u to one of the 20 desi (indian) restaurants on that block
cheers
“Get down from high up in that tree – avoid risk” yelled the worried people on the ground.
Compared to shoveling snow (often) and the endless boring 9-5 routine, punching a time clock and all the rest, what you’re doing – that is exciting – even if it’s only just jumping a puddle.
And, you’re trying to do it the frugal way, a sometimes somewhat fun and rewarding challenge, like walking out of the grocery store with $100 worth of groceries you only paid $25 for, or a new set of snow tires for half off the price.
I think that was also the draw of GlobeTrekker, they traveled around the globe cheaply or as cheaply as they could. Instead of flying to get somewhere, they would hitch a ride on a banana boat.
Something also about roads less traveled… seeing stuff you wouldn’t otherwise… interacting with people you would’ve never met nor will you see again… Some people think that is worth more than a first class travel cabin… Or, sometimes you get ripped off and come back with nothing but mosquito bites or a few bruises, but at least your pockets might not be empty.
Up here, the stereotype of Colombia *is* quite gloomy and dangerously criminal… kidnappers everywhere, small piles of cocaine scattered in every village, U.S. paid for/backed helicopters flying low over every city daily, stone throwers in the streets, it’s like a war zone. Now with the new U.S. bases down there a regular Heart of Darkness might develop… The march of empire and total world domination – and not the fun kind like cheerleaders do.
Things down there could wind up looking like they do up here? Or they’ll blend and look the same?
Dreary thought, but quite likely.
Plus, while you’re down there, you get to walk around outside without a long sleeve jacket on… something I won’t be doing for two more months or so. It’s a quite liberating feeling, one you may be familiar with?
Lila, why do you torture yourself??? looool
Yes, I was wondering myself…
the Ollie part of me told the Stan part of me just that last night…
That’s another fine mess you´ve gotten us into…
Peru is a horrible dive. Ecuador is paradise.
I lived in Colombia for a year, protected by living with a friend from university and his family. I don’t think I would travel there alone.
I lived in Cali during the time of the Rodriguez Orejuela brothers’ so-called Cali Cartel, which dominated following the death of Pablo Escobar. Despite military check-stops to and from the airport, it was common knowledge that every taxi driver reported to the Cartel about their passengers.
Lila thinks the dangers are exaggerated. They may not be perceived adequately at first, but if you stay long enough and survive you’ll become wiser.
I found that many Colombians take a defensive position regarding the country’s reputation as depicted in the media, and they don’t like it if you agree with the media. I think they have adjusted, like people in a war zone such as Sarajevo will tend to do. Often I would be asked, “Colombia isn’t as bad as it’s painted in foreign countries, is it?” I didn’t answer truthfully but always thought to myself, no, in fact, it’s worse.
The media has always focused on the drug violence when in fact it is the common delinquency that is far worse to ordinary Colombians. In order to grasp this, you don’t have to visit to “see for yourself”, you only have to consider the percentage of unsolved murder cases which was 90% when I lived there.
Hi
I believe you on that. I think one can avoid the areas where there is drug running and gangs. But it´s the overall corruption and crime that become a problem.
It´s like India..there´s a lot of terrorism but most people dont´run into that..they run into street crime.
In any case, Colombia is not on my trip this go round because I´m exhausted, holed up in Lima, flat on my back right now.
It´s quite an interesting place to be holed up in.
I dispute the description about it being a dive though..
Peru is awe inspiring..
the landscape
Nothing like it..it´s like returning to prehistory..when giants walked the planet
I won´t be getting upto Cuzco..this go round, but I don´t need to..the granite mountains are enough..
frightening, forbidding.
Cliffs plunging to the sea.
A lot of color and dust.
Cheap food stalls..
delicious fresh fish..
cocount sàuces like something from Kerala
Hustle everywhere
Chinese restaurants everywhere
Haircuts for a a couple of bucks
Music in the buses and on the street corner
It´s definitely grungy in many areas..but beautiful..filled with life
Ecuador I am sure in more pristine
But the great problem for me in both places is nature..
as in earthquakes
they
re in the circum pacific seismic region.
No sense in buying a farm or apartment and having it crater on you..
I have tuned out to everthing..but reading and sleeping
I read Aravind Adiga´s White Tiger yesterday
I strongly recommend it if you want a dekko on India