Argentina: Mendoza or the cradle of wine.

After visiting Montevideo, it was time to come back to Argentina, in this occasion for a longer period of time. The trip back to Buenos Aires by boat was really pleasant: a clear and sunny day made it really enjoyable and the sight of Puerto Madero and its skyscrapers' silhouette in the horizon would welcome us back go the "capital federal", even if it was only for a few hours before departing for Mendoza, the cradle of Argentinian wine. Maybe it's not really relevant to describe in detail my means of transportation this time but I had to admit that, after all the horrible buses and roads in Bolivia, I wanted to spoil myself a little bit, so I decided to take a first class bus ride to Mendoza and trust me when I say I didn't regret my decision: completely flat bed with blankets, personal entertainment system including all sorts of movies and music, an attentive steward, wine, spirits, warm dinner and breakfast and all sorts of luxurious details. Who would want to fly within Argentina having these buses?


Mendoza in itself is not the city with the most sightseeing possibilities, but what really attracts people to it are the hundreds of wineries producing over 70% of the wine of the country and the astonishing natural surroundings, as the city is located just at the feet of the Andes and has some really incredible views of some of the highest peaks, like Aconcagua ( 6962 m ). I had had the chance to see some really incredible mountain landscapes in Bolivia and Peru and this time I didn't have many days to explore the area, so I focused on what I really came for...wine!

We took a tour covering three of the main wineries in the region and had the chance to try some really incredible wines, some of them while enjoying nice modern cuisine with the most dreamy landscapes of the Andes. As my passion for wine grows, so does my passion for this country. Its people are just so kind and warm, making you welcome and leaving aside the gringo tag I was so often given in the upper areas of the Andes. They are latin but really Mediterranean like, that is where their Spanish and Italian blood seems to go to. Passionate about what they like or hate, and always knowing how to enjoy life.


My visit to Mendoza was fairly brief, but it left me a really good aftertaste, and it was not (just) because of the wine, I swear. I would like to come back and enjoy some more peaceful days in this calmed side of Argentina, next time visiting the lovely natural surroundings. In the meantime, I can say I have really enjoyed widening my knowledge about Argentinian wine and taking some time off the big cities.

Uruguay: Montevideo. A quiet town overlooking the "sea".

Prior to coming to Montevideo, I spent a few days in Buenos Aires, but I would like to explore this fascinating city a bit more before posting anything about it. I have decided that I will wait until I come back from my trip to Mendoza to upload some pictures and impressions of Argentina keeping a coherent order this way.

I took a ferry yesterday from Buenos Aires to Colonia (del Sacramento) from where a bus would be waiting for us in order to take us to Montevideo. The one hour trip was nothing special and, unfortunately, I couldn´t get to see anything of Colonia as the bus didn´t even drive through the town. So we finally made it to the capital of this "small" South American country.

How to describe Montevideo? Well, I would use the word "quiet". To be a city of 1.4 million people, it really feels like a small town. Its streets have some charm and somehow it feels like the city got stuck in time somewhere in the past. People here are really laid back and friendly and they can hardly be seen in the streets after 8pm. The main proof is that their national team was playing semifinals of the Copa de America yesterday and the streets were literally empty. Not even people screaming or waving the omnipresent flag. Nothing you could think of in a country like Spain.

The streets don´t have that familiar feeling they do in Buenos Aires and you can see a vague mix of styles when it comes to architecture: small cosy houses, then wild and tall 70´s like buildings with ugly air condition machines in their windows, some palaces, other buildings that would remind you to those of Gran Via in Madrid, etc. Something not especially sophisticated, but fairly appealing to some dreamy mind like mine who enjoys looking up all the time. A few interesting squares here and there, and a long avenue represent the skeleton of this capital but one of the biggest attractions of it is the boulevard by the coast line. What you can see from here it is not strictly the sea, but the beginning of the Rio de la Plata. However, the coast of Argentina is way too far to be seen and the water is really salty (the deep smell of it spreads all along to coast, telling you this is not a river) so the city has all the characteristics of a true sea city. Even the melancholy of its winter evenings by the sea.

I can imagine that this city must have a completely different aspect in summertime, but I think I prefer to have come this time of the year when hardly any tourists are seen in the city and we can blend with the locals more easily.

I am glad I have had the chance to visit the country, but I am already missing Argentina. Thus, I am happy I am travelling back tomorrow to Buenos Aires to take a night bus to Mendoza, where some nice wine tasting sessions are awaiting. And now we are talking about a real night bus, not like the noctural torture on the dangerous roads of Bolivia! So, time to come back to the mountains.

Sleep well my friends.

Bolivia: Vallegrande & La Higuera. The last days of Che in Bolivia, my last days in Bolivia.

Santa Cruz is not the city with the most appeal in Bolivia but it is the biggest one, the one that has the international airport and the closest to the area where Che Guevara had his last days before being captured and executed by the Bolivian army with the help of CIA agents. These were the main reasons that took me there before taking off for Buenos Aires. But no need to spend much time describing a city that is basically made out of a pretty square and several rings and suburbs around with no special interest. Let´s stick to the Che Guevara trail.

It is no secret I have always been fascinated by the stories of guerrilla fighting against dictatorial regimes and, as a lover of history and interested in socialist movements, the last days of Che in Bolivia are part of a chapter that attracted me to visit this part of Bolivia. Surprisingly, the Che Guevara trail is not a popular tourist route and the Government and Tour Operators of Bolivia don´t do much to take advantage of it. Actually, I was unable to find an operator that could provide some information from Santa Cruz or, let alone, take me to these areas. So I decided to travel to Vallegrande on my own and arrange something with some local people.

The first stop on the "inverted" route I took is Vallegrande. This is the place where Che´s body was taken to after his execution at La Higuera. The most known place here is the laundry where Che´s body was shown to the international press by the Bolivian army to prove that the "dangerous guerrillero" and "threaten to the local people" Ernesto Guevara had been "killed in combat" in an area close by. The truth is that he was captured near by and executed at La Higuera, then flewn by helicopter to Villagrande. The truth is also that most peasants from the area had no clue who he was and, if they had heard of him, they thought he was a "narcotraficante". There is still an old lady living in the small town who was the nurse that received the orders to wash Che´s body to be prepared to be shown publicly. I didn´t get to speak to her, but the guide explained that she usually tells who she was given the order to wash the body of this person she didn´t know by some serious general that wouldn´t allow any affection be shown. She said he had his eyes wide open and she felt like he was looking at her all the time. Truth or fantasy, the woman was clearly shocked by the order and wouldn´t feel too comfortable carrying it out.

The area around the laundry is still, to this day, a hospital where several Cuban doctors work side by side with some Bolivian ones, as a sign of cooperation between the two countries.

A mausoleum can also be found in the area where the bodies of Che and some other guerrilleros where found in 1997, buried secretly by the Bolivian authorities between the airfield (military at the time) and the cemetery. The mausoleum holds a small museum like with several pictures of Che´s life and the pit where the bodies where found. Che´s body was taken shortly after to Cuba where it still lies nowadays.

The next stop of my visit was the area where Che was captured, Quebrada del Churo. This privately owned
place saw the battle where Che was ambushed and captured together with Willy and Chino. It is not an easy place to reach and by spending just two hours in this valley one can just imagine how the guerrilla might have suffered not only by the army haunting but also by the attacks of bugs. My legs still keep some bites and wounds as a souvenir. The local farmer explained how a local neighbour widely known as La Enana (and now deceased) used to cooperate with Che and provide food and information as support to their cause. This person is mentioned in Ernesto Guevara´s diaries.

To complete my route, I paid a visit to La Higuera, a really small village only 70km away from Vallegrande but a long 3 hour drive through a really bad unpaved road. Here one can find the school where Che was shot dead, now transformed into a small museum, and several pictures and paintings on the walls paying tribute to the man whose memory still keeps this village alive.

Overall, it was a truly inspiring experience, especially after having read the Che diaries and some other books about his struggles in South America. I could really imagine how hard it might have been to live and fight in those lost areas while trying to keep hidden from the Bolivian army and attempting to convince some suspicious local peasants that they were fighting to end up the priviledges of the ruling elites in the country. Today, Che´s figure has been completely overruled by marketing and by a misleading image that feeds widely from the myth, but there is no denial that he was clearly a man of ideals who fought and gave his life while trying to solve some class issues that still survive to these days. After all, he must have been an important man, as he is still either loved or hated.

Bolivia: Sucre. The White City

So I made it to Santa Cruz. This is a bold statement considering that all my worst fears came true regarding the overnight bus from Sucre. It wasn´t bad: it was the worst bus experience of my life. The bus was pretty old and it was completely overcrowded. There were lots of people and kids all over the place and, when I say all over the place, I mean: groups of 4 people seating in 2-people seats, kids sleeping on the corridor, animals (luckily only dogs; I have heard reports of live chickens on buses here) and even two kids who were travelling on the luggage compartment. Of course, I had to have a mother with her child by my side, which made 3 of us for 2 seats.....and it goes without saying, I found the little boy partially sleeping on my lap at some points of the trip.

The driving was very insane, to the point that it was difficult to fall asleep. To this, we can add that the road was mostly unpaved, narrow and full of close turns. The engine stopped leaving us stuck in the middle of nowhere for a while - and in the middle of the night. But the worst thing by far happened when I finally managed to fall asleep. I was woken up by the sound of shattered glass when our bus collided with another bus at a slow speeding in a really narrow part of the road. No major damage to any passenger, but I guess some people had to continue their ride with some glass around and a chilly night breeze coming into the bus. Now I am so glad I chose the right side of the bus.

So that was it. I am happy to be alive. ONCE MORE. I am almost done with the Bolivian roads.

In the meantime, I have uploaded some pictures of Sucre for you to see. No wonder why they call it "the white city" of South America. The city centre, full of colonial buildings with white facades, lots of palm trees and lovely squares, has a bit of Madrid and Andalusia to it. It somehow feels like having left the other areas of El Altiplano way behind when you come to a place like this, despite it is not far from Potosi.  Sucre, also known at other points of time as La Plata, Charcas and Chuquisaca, is the constitutional capital of Bolivia, despite the fact that the government was transferred to La Paz in 1898. However, people from Sucre still call it "La capital" and have an issue with the "capitalidad". Capital or not, it certainly looks more beautiful than La Paz does whether the paceños like this or not. It also has a way warmer climate and a really laid back lifestyle. It feels like a small town. Not necessarily a bad thing at all.

At this precise moment I am in Santa Cruz, alive and well, and following the trace of the Che Guevara trail. But if you want to know more about this, you will have to wait for the next chapter...

Bolivia: Uyuni and the salt flats. And the sky came down to Earth...

After coming back from the jungle I was not wishing to spend any time at all in La Paz, so I went to the bus station there to buy a ticket to Uyuni. There had been several problems the previous days with the routes to and from Uyuni due to heavy snow and rain but fortunately some bus companies were operating again. The overnight bus took approximately 12 hours and the road was far from wonderful: in other words, it was yet another mostly unpaved, bumpy and cold road. That didn´t prevent me from falling asleep at 9pm approximately despite the terrible loud movie they played on the bus with Silvester Stallone dubbed to South American Spanish (thank the lord for my iPod!).

Uyuni was, as expected, damn cold. So cold that the snow and rain from the previous days had flooded the roads South from there and all the way to the Chilean border. I was confirmed last minute (nothing surprising in Bolivia), that our 3 day tour would not leave in the end, and we were only left with the option to take a 1 day tour, visiting only the salt flats and leaving out the different lakes (Laguna Verde, Laguna Colorada, etc.). This that in principle was dissapointed, didn´t come as a bad thing in the end, as it would give me more time to continue my route towards Sucre and then Santa Cruz, avoiding this way missing my flight to Buenos Aires from there on the 15th July. Chances would have been fairly high considering how other tourist had got stuck in the area in the previous days. Obviously, this meant also that I would spare myself some cold (with freezing temperatures of -15c at night in the area at night) and even a bit of money. At the end of the day, I came to see the salt flats. And that´s what I saw...

The tour started with a visit to the train cemetery close to Uyuni, where they keep the "corpses" of the original trains used for the transport of minerals from Potosi during the 1900-1950´s. It was something definitely different. So it was the amount of garbage that can be found in the surroundings of this not-so-nice town of Uyuni, where not much can be done apart from eating pizza at tourist places, freeze your ass, suffer electricity shortages and miss for a good hot shower.

Afterwards, we visited some pre-inca ruins where we could see some really ancient mummies in what was the beginning of the salt flats. Really interesting, but we couldn´t wait to see the biggest salt lake in the world.

The fact that the salt flats had gotten flooded only made the views better. The water covered partially the salt flats making them almost like a real lake, and reflecting the sky in a rather surreal way. The 4x4 didn´t have any issue when cruising this amazing landscape and it seemed like we were flying in a reflection of the sky rather than driving. The pictures don´t make any justice to the views I could contemplate. It was like being in a different planet and one could hardly get tired of driving through the infinity of this white dessert where many people have died in the past when getting lost and running out of fuel (apparently, there is a huge amount of lithium in the ground that prevents any compass from functioning properly hence making the drivers lose their direction).

We came back in the evening with the feeling of having experienced something unique. South America has the power to easily inspire such things. Every day is a new experience. I promise to bring back all these memories to Europe and lots of stories to tell.

Bolivia: Rurrenabaque. First steps into the jungle.

Since it´s been a while that I don´t get to update the blog, I guess I will have to backdate my posts to explain a bit what´s been going on and why have I been so busy these days. I finished work with the children at Para Los Niños and felt the urge to leave La Paz for some "peace" actually. What better place than the amazon jungle north of La Paz? So, no hesitation to take a plane to Rurrenabaque....that was just before I knew what kind of planes they had and the kind of flight that was expecting me!

What you see above is the view from inside the plane. Two rows, one on each side and barely 20 passengers. The plane was really tiny and it was impossible to even stand up on the inside. The worst thing was taking off and having to gain altitude really quickly to go through an area of really high mountains and strong winds. It goes without saying, this plane is shaken by the wind like a fly would be. Luckily, I made it alive and we landed in the middle of a jungle area, cows in the runway of the airport included, and a strong humidity gave us a "warm" welcome.

Rurrenabaque is a nice small town where everyone (and I mean ABSOLUTELY everyone) rides a motorbike. Despite the motorbike traffic is a really quiet town with a really laid back feeling to it. Surrounded by hills, a wide river and lots of green all around, it was the perfect place to escape from the chaotic and polluted La Paz. I just wished I´ve had more time to spend there.

The time I had there was well spent doing one of the Pampas tours along the river Yuca. The tour consisted of three days in the Pampas area sailing the river on a small boat and seeing all sorts of animals, mainly caimans, strange birds and a really strange animal from the same family as the rat, but as big as a pig. Crazy. Special activies included:

- sailing the river at night to see how the eyes of the caimans reflecting the light of our torches; nice and fun, bit scary though when getting to a distance of 1.5m of them!

- hunting anacondas in the swamps, with rubber boots to avoid any accidental bites if stepping onto one of them, and water up to our knees; the weather wasn´t the best but we managed to find one and a so called "fake cobra". Impressive.

- fishing for piranhas with....of course, meat! as dangerous as these little carnivorous fishes canbe, they are actually really pretty and can be found in different colours: green, yellow, red.

- finding unexpected bugs, like a cockroach looking one the size of half my number 44 hiking boot (proof below!). Nasty.

- ....a Bolivia-Argentina football match on TV that never took place. That is just another proof of Bolivian people´s organisational skills.

All in all, it was an incredible experience. As oposed to the high mountains where all is peace, there is a constant feeling of uneasiness in the jungle. You never know what´s around, especially at night, and danger is present at all times if you don´t know the areas well and where to walk. The positive aspect was that the weather was fairly cold due to a cold wave coming from the South, and mosquitoes were quite absent. I survived the jungle with only one mosquito bite, and that is a huge achievement for someone like me!