Eating, snacking and lip smacking part 2

Alfajores- what can I say about these wonders? Think of all the wonderful (sweet) things that you could put together and it wouldn´t come close. Two shortbread cookies with a VERY thick layer of dulch de leche in between, now cover that in chocolate....aaaaaaaahhhhhhhhhh SO GOOD! I actually drooled while eating it! (don´t tell anyone) They make different varieties, covered in coconut, with different flavours...but...well....you know me and chocolate.



It was so good I almost forgot to take a picture!

Remember when I went to Humahuaca? Well, I had llama pie for lunch. Actually, pie is a misnomer, llama loaf would be more accurate. YUM-O! So, what does llama taste like you ask??

hmmmm I would say like a cross between pork and chicken. It´s quite a sweet meat, and it´s not red. Anyway, this loaf was magnificent - well seasoned (with what I have no idea), very tasty and not dry at all. Some of the others thought that "playing it safe" would be better, they ordered the vegetable risotto (fair enough one of them was a vegetarian) - pfffffft they got a watery, tasteless mush...and there wasn´t even any rice! HA on them...they looked longingly at my llama loaf...

and for dessert I got...Cayote. This stuff looks really, really gross. It´s brown and viscous with lumps...I had to try it - especially since no one could definitively tell me what it was made of (I eventually had to look it up...thank you Google!). It is made from a type of melon (cucurbita ficifolia) and it´s basically the jam you make from it. You spread it on your bread and eat it like you would jam. I had no butter, but MAN, I´m sure that would have ROCKED! This stuff is awesome! There was a French girl on our bus who said that Cayote costs a fortune in France - here it´s nothing. It tastes like a dark honey with a healthy kick of ginger. At first I ate it all on its own...that was a bit sweet, even for me, but on bread it´s fabulous!!

Ok, I don´t always like what I eat...big surprise, I know.

before...

After...

Tamales - I ate these on my night in Tilcara (you remember the waitress in the sweat pants?). I wasn´t particularly hungry on that night (probably due to that llama empanada I had eaten earlier) so I asked her to suggest something not too big. I got a tamale, con carne (it was that or cheese). I have heard of tamales, but I wasn´t quite sure what to expect. They´re like dumplings, wrapped in a corn husk - it came to me like a giant candy that I had to unwrap.

I got a llama and potato tamale....actually more like POTATO and llama. Sadly, it was dry and tasteless, there were no herbs or spices to speak of...and although it wasn´t big in size, all that dry potato just filled me up and I couldn´t finish it.

Pique Macho - This is a "traditional" Bolivian dish. It´s basically french fries with cut up hot dogs (they say sausage...but nah, they aren´t), sprinkled with fried onions, tomatoes, and boiled egg pieces...um, I give this one a miss altogether - it´s a bit of a weird mixture. You all know the above ingredients...make one at home and tell me what you think.

....one thing I found weird but nice was the french fries in soup. Yes, the Bolivians put french fries in their soup...like croutons. I guess they have more potatoes than wheat so it makes sense - and it´s delicious! (well, it won´t save a crap soup...but you know what I mean)

Bolivia Bound

After a nice breakfast with the girls I headed down the street to the bus station. While I was waiting a guy pulled up to a nearby store...on his horse! How cool is that!??

When the bus arrived, I saw that some bloody foreigner was in my seat! I had specifically asked for the front seat on the top level of the bus. When I mentioned to the offender that she was in my assigned seat, she grumbled, but moved. The guy sitting in the seat next to mine made sure no one else was coming before he reclaimed that seat. They were a group of 4 Germans.

During the course of the trip he took out some coca leaves to help against altitude sickness. They say that if you chew coca leaves (yes, the same plant that makes cocaine) it will stop you from getting altitude sickness. So, I´m watching him from the corner of my eye...he takes out his little coca bag; selects each leaf carefully, putting them in a little pile on his knee. Then he puts his little coca bag away. Then he takes each carefully selected leaf and carefully removes any stem that may be attached and puts them back into a little pile on his knee. Then he takes out some tissues and his spring water and starts to clean each leaf, front and back, carefully folding the tissue after every wipe and placing the leaves back into a little pile on his knee. Then he put his water away in his pack and put the tissues back into his pocket. THEN he carefully places one leaf at a time in his mouth and chews them individually for a few seconds..OMG can you say OCD!

...Other than that the trip was uneventful until we reached La Quiaca - here I had to get off the bus and walk to the border. It was 3 in the afternoon, the sun was hot, there was not a soul around, it´s 3400m above sea level, and I´m again carrying my pack (I´m SO glad I went with the small pack!!!)

After a 10 min walk I see it - a bridge; some flags; a giant ditch; lots of garbage; and a pig. The German team comes out from a street ahead of me and we all head towards the bridge.



The ditch



The line for customs seemed quite long so we hunkered down and waited. There were people though, who seemed to just breeze through - I don´t know if they were Bolivians or Argentinians, but it was a little annoying to have a constant stream of people passing by when your line only moved every 10 minutes...no, I´m not exagerating. I found out later that there were only 2 guys manning the station that day, maybe because it was Sunday, I dunno.

SO, we´re all waiting. One of the German girls looks not quite right, probably the altitude. Waiting. People passing. Waiting. Dogs passing. Waiting. Kids on bikes passing. Waiting. Moms with babies passing...this one stops next to me, holding her toddler by the armpits....the kid spews. Nice. The German girl looks like she´s gonna pop too - her friend tells her something and she quickly looks away, holding her hand over her mouth, dry heaving.

...People continue to pass, sometimes missing the vomit, sometimes not....the smell is over powering and I really hope the line will move a little faster.

It takes me about 2 min to get my stamp when I finally get to the window. The walk over the bridge is a bit weird - there are military guys on both sides. Then I have to go through Bolivian customs...there´s only one guy at this window...and he´s in his t-shirt and jeans. The room is tiny and there are heaps of people there, but it does go more quickly...then voila! I´m in Bolivia!



Villazon is the Bolivian side of the border...and as with most border towns it seems a little dodgy and nasty. My plan had been to stick around for one night and take the train the next day to Uyuni, but I´m not sure I can stay in such a place. As I walk by the bus station, which is just up the street from the border, a lady asks me if I want to get a bus to Tupizia. Hmmmmmm. I think about it for 5 seconds, while I watch the homeless man pick through the garbage, grabbing some chicken bones left behind by someone else. Yes, I would like to go to Tupizia - I know I can get a tour of Uyuni from there too. She tells me that the bus leaves at 5. It´s now 10 minutes to 5 - fantastic, I don´t have to wait too long.



Yeah, right. The bus finally leaves an hour later...and when I say bus I mean passenger van. They crammed about 20 people AND all their stuff in a van that seats 12! I had chosen the front seat; On one side is the driver, and on the other side a mom and her 6 year old on her knee. Oh, dear...I wonder how long this is going to take.

After dropping off people in the middle of nowhere (literally!) we arrived at Tupizia (2850m) an hour later. I randomly walk down a street and come across a hostal (Valle Hermosa) and wander in - single room, shared bathroom? $7. I love this country already.

There´s a 4 day tour of the Uyuni province leaving tomorrow, would I like to join? $190 ....includes driver, cook, accoms, meals.

I had looked at tours for this region before leaving and they cost, bottom end, $2000.

...guess where I went next...



Stay tuned for part deux of Eating, snacking and lip smacking...







Hippies, French chicks, and perhaps I should have gotten that rabies shot...

Having been dropped off at the edge of town, I had to find my way to a hostal and book my bus ticket for the next day. I knew where the bus station was from our visit in the morning so I stopped there first and got a ticket to La Quiaca, on the border.

The Routard guide recommended a particular hostal on the other side of the town - right on the edge and up the hill (remember what I said about hills?). Well, Tilcara is 2400m above sea level, it´s really hot, and I´m carrying my pack. After what seems like forever, I finally find this elusive place (up a very steep hill), and it looks fantastic - overlooking the town and valley, quiet...ahhhhh. I go in and ask for a bed in a dorm (trying to save money here folks!), those go for $18. The fella behind the counter has long grey hair tied in a pony tail, he yells out to the back and then tells me that there are no more dorm rooms, but I can have a single room for $42. Bugger.  I tell him thanks but no thanks and then drag my feet back outside.

Now what? Back down the hill and back into the village. Now, in Salta there was a hostal every 20 feet...here no such luck. I keep walking until I notice that I´m the only one on this side of the street, everyone else, including the stray dogs are on the other side...oh, that´s the shady side...duh! I cross the street towards the spot where a smallish dog is barking. I step up onto the curb (kerb for my Aussie friends!) and the little fucker bites me! Dogs never bite me. Dogs love me! wtf? Then he has the stones to try for another go! I stick my shopping bag in his face and walk on. Maybe I should have gotten that rabies shot after all....

The view from my bunk

I walk all the way back to the bus station and there, right across from it is a hostal....sigh. There´s a young girl tending the entrance, which looks more like a common room - there's a tv on and there are 2 guys playing darts. I ask for a dorm room and she says yep, $7...now that's more like it! She tells me that there are 3 other girls staying in the room and they're from France...but they're not in the room at the moment.
A note on bunk selection: Check the mattresses - they are not all created equally. I found out after a long sleepless night that my bunk had just a nasty old foam slab...and the other bunks had proper mattresses.
I drop off my stuff and off I go for a proper look around.

At the village square there's an aerobics class going on, complete with shake your booty moves - the dudes manning the stalls around the square are all sitting forwards in their chairs with their mouths open. Next up, the little kiddies doing traditional dances in traditional clothes...awww.

As I wandered around I got a distinct "wannabe hippie" vibe to the place...very weird.

By now I'm getting a little peckish, but it's too early for dinner and as I slowly wend my way back to the hostal I come across a empanada street vendor. An empanada is a cross between a meat pie and a calzone. Street food!!! I'll have one (40 cents)!!

mmmmm - llama empanada....

After a quick chat with the French roomies (all from the Toulouse region) and a short siesta, I go out to a "fancy" restaurant for dinner at 9. I say "fancy" because although the decor and ambiance are chic - the waitress is wearing track pants.  Ooooohhhh can it be another entry for that next food post? I think yes!

The hostal kitchen....oh my.

When I got back to the hostal, things are hopping - its 11pm. The girls had made themselves boiled potatoes for dinner and the people from the hostal felt sorry for them and so had taken over the dinner prep. There were a few people in the kitchen including the girl from the front desk and a bearded dude (Big Lebowski style)...who started chatting me up. He started to talk to me about the cosmos, destiny and I'm not sure what else, and every time I would tell him I didn't understand he would just try harder to explain it to me...in Spanish. He eventually asked if I wanted to listen to some of his music...uh - no. I finally convinced him that he should eat, so we joined the others in the back area where the girls had kindly saved me a single seat next to them - there was some olde tyme Black Sabbath playing for ambiance. The girls told me that the Big Lebowski had hit on each of them as well. Quelle surprise!

We stayed up for a while chatting and listening to some classic metal.

The next morning I had a bus to catch and the girls were going on a hike.

Quebrada de Humahuaca, crossing the Tropic of Capricorn, y Humahuaca

I took a tourist bus through La Quebrada de Humahuaca (pronounced oomawaka), I learned from the Cayafate trip that sometimes taking the tourist bus pays off because you get more out of what you´re seeing. First off, it stopped so that we could take our pretty pictures, and secondly our guide gave us some very interesting insight into this beautiful area.

La quebrada means the gorge and it separates 2 mountain ranges by the Rio Grande. The Rio, however, is not so Grande. In fact, its practically non existent. The river only comes from mid to late December to March...this is the mountain desert after all.

Our first stop was a small village called Purmamarca. This village has the beautiful painted mountains as a backdrop so heaps of tour buses stop there to take pictures. The mountain range from a white (limestone) to red (iron) to green (oxidized iron). The village also has an old church dating from 1778 which has some really cool cactus wood infrastructure..and a fantastic 700 year old tree just outside (well, they told me it was that old at any rate).

Onwards and upwards...The gorge itself is so breathtaking I kept taking pictures and finally had to come to terms with the fact that nothing could convey such massive beauty...(came to the same conclusion on my trip through the Uyuni province of Bolivia...)

That hole is the burial pit

Our next stop was Tilcara - here there were important archaeological digs which unearthed a village of the Humahuaca people, a pre-Inca civilization. At the site they had re-created the village so that we could see how these people lived. The poorer folks lived on the outside and the rich folks, higher up the hill...somethings never change - 10 to 1 the rich folks in your town live on the high points. Entire families would live in 3x2 sq/m with a courtyard outside, complete with family burial pit. The fantastic thing about these homes was that even though it was sweltering hot outside and there was no door on these places, the inside was quite cool. All the doors in the village faced either north or south, never in the direct path of the sun.


15 km outside of Tilcara we crossed the Tropic of Capricorn! WOOT! He had to hustle though because we had lunch reservations in Humahuaca...the bloody Pom and his German friend were 15min late coming back to the bus in Purmamarca...

AHHHHH what we had for lunch is to be saved for my next food update!!!

 

Humahuaca was a little bit bigger and the mountain folks were becoming more and more prominent. There´s an impressive statue dominating the hill here, its a celebration of the liberation of the Argentinian people. It was here that I started feeling the altitude -2 946m above sea level. When you exert a bit too much your heart begins to pound...its kinda like being out of breath but instead of just your lungs craving oxygen, your whole body is.

 

Just outside of Humahuaca there´s a fantastic little church built in 1661. When the Spaniards had this church built, they also commissioned local artists to paint pictures of angels. The locals had no idea what the heck an angel was so when they asked the question the answer they got was, "Well, they look like us, but with wings".  OK, seems straight forward enough. What the Spaniards got was angel paintings of them in all their Spanish glory: stylish fine lace, fashionable brocade, coiffed hair, breeches, wings....and of course guns.
Priceless. Sadly, I was not allowed to take pictures, so you´ll have to take my word for it (I can´t make up stuff this good, I assure you!)

Instead of going back to Salta with the rest of the group, I asked that they drop me back off at Tilcarra....which is where I had my next adventure...

UPDATE

I'm running behind in my posts...too much moving! I thought I would just throw up an update on my where abouts - I need to buy toilet paper before the stores close. (Sorry no pics, my camera is charging)

Alrighty, on Saturday I took a tourist bus through the La Quebrada de Humahuaca, and they dropped me off at a small village called Tilcarra instead of bringing me back to Salta.

This morning I took a bus to the boarder of Argentina (La Quiaca) and Bolivia (Villazon) - PAINFUL border crossing, on foot...complete with barfing children.

Ok...border towns all over the world are dodgy at best, this was no exception. My plan was to stay the night, but as I wandered by the bus station a lady approached me and asked if I wanted to go to Tupizia.....hmmmm why, yes, yes I did want to go to Tupizia. So for 15 Bolivares (about $2) I caught the "express" van to Tupizia (it left an hour late) I got to sit in the front seat with a lady and her 6 year old "baby"...and the driver of course.

Anyhoo, I finally got to Tupizia, found a place to stay and a great price on a tour for Uyuni leaving tomorrow (toilet paper not included). I'll be gone for 5 days and ending in Uyuni, where hopefully I'll catch transport to Potosi and hang out for a few days to recuperate...and catch up on some posts.

Things to look forward to:
Angels with guns
Llama pie and other regional goodies
Staying with Argentinian hippies and some French chicks
Bureaucracy; South American style
and whatever else I come across in the next few days! CIAO for now !

Salta, Cayafate

These past few days have been busy, busy, busy! Well, truth be told I've spent a lot of time on buses.
I arrived in Salta on Wed and checked it out for a couple of days to recover from my awesome bus ride, and give my foot a rest.

Built in 1858

 A wee history lesson. Salta is both the name of the province and the capital city of said province. It (the city) was founded in 1582 at the behest of the Spanish invaders (Francisco de Toledo, to be exact) as a link between Lima and Buenos Aires. It was ok to visit, there's an interesting Archaeological museum (a small one) with quite a creepy mummy of a sacrificed 6 year old girl. The people of the region (pre-Inca), used to offer their most beautiful children (one girl, one boy) to their gods each year. They would be buried alive on the mountains - after being drugged - and the climate being so dry, would perfectly preserve the bodies. This was considered a great honour. 

ANYHOO, Salta has a lovely centre place with its old buildings, notably the cathedral. I tried to go in but there was a service going on, when I tried again later it was all locked up. Apparently, people steal things from the church - apparently nothing is sacred! Especially when you're poor and your local church has the virgin Mary wearing a gold crown...

 

View from San Bernardo

For kicks one day I took the cable car up the hill overlooking Salta. Cable cars freak me out...especially when they pass over the roll-y bits when they come to a post...<shudders> Well, I got to the top, surely because I stayed very, very still while going up, and well, I saw the city from the top. One really weird thing was the aerobics/spin class that was going on up there...and the weight training area...odd. Speaking of which, I noticed in several areas that,what I initially thought were kids´ playgrounds, were actually exercises areas. Games to work your calves, do sit ups, chin ups, stomach crunches...you name it - stuff you´d find at the gym. It is admirable to get your people fit like that...I must say that this is a VERY high carb diet.

One thing I found fascinating is that this is about the same size as Canberra - I went out last night to get some papas fritas (ok, busted, it's french fries...they were fantastico) and the place was packed! It was hard to move around there were so many people - all the shops were open and there was music in the air! Thinking about civic on a Friday night at 8pm....not so much.

Yesterday I caught a bus to Cayafate...known for it´s wine. I thought it would be a nice chill ride through the mountains...nice. No. About 30min after we left Salta we stopped and picked up a bunch of school kids - pre teens...and they had portable speakers...need I say more?

The noisy and annoying kids aside, it was an absolutely beautiful drive. The mountains were spectacular. As we drove into Cayafate, you could tell that the vineyards had had their influence on the place. Everything looked like it was rural Argentina, but it was all sparkly and new. Some place that the rich tourists could go to and feel safe? Dunno. Apparently there is a big American ex-pat community in the area. 

I did make a friend though...he was long and lanky...and German! Poor guy...I folded my Cayafate map into a makeshift bowl and gave him the rest of my water...he was so thirsty - some of the other tourists thought I was crazy for letting such a vicious dog near me. Interesting place to visit for the day.

Gunter





Eating, snacking and lip smacking

Ok, as most of you know I'm not much of a foodie - you may have heard me talk of my human kibble ideas?
Be that as it may, one of the fun things about going somewhere different, is eating new stuff. So I thought I'd tell you about some of the fun places my taste buds have been.

Some old ones from the 1800's
- the long things in the foreground are the straws

Maté: This is THE drink of Argentina. This stuff is like crack and almost everyone is addicted (before you scoff, have you had your coffee/tea/coke today??) I had to try it!! Nina, my lovely Couch Surfing hostess with the most-est, was having some on my first morning (when we went to the markets) - How exciting!! There's a whole ritual on how to make it too, perhaps not as elaborate as the Japanese tea ceremony, but it's there none the less. The maté has to be done just so or else you risk scalding the leaves if you put water that is too hot.You have to put only a little water in first so that the leaves expand slowly...etc, etc I can't even begin to pretend that I got all the tiny nuances. It's a drink to be shared amongst family and friends so you pass the cup around. There's a metal (best if it's silver or plated silver) straw that has a flat round bottom to strain the leaves as you sip.

The ones you see here are made from pumpkin

The containers are traditionally made from pumpkin, wood, metal, or horn (Nina says the pumpkin ones are the best for retaining flavour). Each time you get a new one it has to be cured (well, not the metal ones) again with a very specific process. Nina was in the process of changing over to a new container and was telling me that it's hard to let the old ones go because they have that taste that you enjoy - the taste patina if you will. I know, you're all thinking, get on with it woman! What the hell does it taste like??? Did you know that Ernesto (Che) Guevara was also addicted to maté (he was Argentinian after all) and his revolutionary buddies would get it to him as often as they could?
 It tastes a little like smoked green tea - an acquired taste I'm sure, but one that wouldn't be that hard to acquire...unlike yak butter tea (which doesn't taste like tea at all). You can buy it in tea bags too, but I think that you miss out on the whole ritual thing, which seems a pity.

Dulce de leche - This is like caramel, but from a different galaxy. Caramel that has won the gold medal in caramel-ness since forever. Caramel that has multiple doctorates in deliciousness. Caramel that has reached enlightenment in it´s creamy magnificence. You put it on bread and butter in the morning and your day is bound to be a great one...sadly, it is your hips´ worst enemy :(


Walking with a bung foot sure takes it out of a gal....this is where snacks come in. 

This looked quite tasty in the kiosko - there's chocolate involved...what could go wrong?

This particular biscuit (??) was fun to bite into because I wasn´t sure what I was in for!
So, have you ever had a nice dark chocolate...mmmm yeah, you have. Ok, now add a squishy creamy chocolaty centre...oooo so good!
Now add a couple of rice crackers.

Ok sounds totally weird, I know, and that first bite was, well, curious. But it was quite delightful in the end and I wish I had gotten two!

And speaking of chocolate...On Monday night Nina and I went to a nice restaurant to have a nice piece of meat (a special post on meat coming soon) - Argentina is the place for a nice steak after all! We each had a perfectly cooked piece of meat, a salad, and kick ass Malbec (Uxmal, for those aficionados) to wash it down. Well, I have to say that the dessert is what captured my heart that evening - although the waiter was quite cute...*ahem* Apparently, this delight is a common dessert made at home and is seldom seen on menus because it is considered so banal. If I may say, in common parlance, OMG! The heavenly explosion of deliciousness! It is a layer cake with fine layers of a light chocolate cake, layered with dulce de leche (see above), and cream cheese. Repeat for about 8-10 layers. Ok, admittedly the cream cheese punished me the next day, but it was SO worth it! The name of this wonderful piece of heaven? Chocotorta.

No, I don't only eat sweet things...

Last night I got this delightful salsa to go with my bread instead of butter. It was standard salsa fare, made with tomatoes, onions, garlic, herbs (can´t tell you which ones - the waiter wouldn't tell me....or I just didn't understand him...) the interesting yum factor was the quinoa - simple, but wonderfully tasty!

Locro was the main course to this meal. It is a local soup made with meat, white beans, pumpkin, potatoes, and sausage. Holy stick to your ribs, batman! It was a bit chilly up here in the mountains last night so it was perfect - but I couldn't finish it even though it looked like a small portion. It was nicely seasoned and had a little kick to it.

Stay tuned...there´s heaps more to try!