LAURIE'S TRIP TO LATIN AMERICA: 1ST OF AUGUST TO 14TH OF OCTOBER

I WILL REMEMBER...

2006-10-17T10:46:00.000-04:00

I will remember:
The people:
- their laughing eyes,
- their toothless smile,
- the sun they carry on their skin,
- the rivers that cross their face and carry deep in their skin their hard life,
- the screams of the women selling their fruits in the streets markets,
- the poems of the kids,
- the songs of the elders,
- the colors of their clothing,
- the humility of their look,
- and their kindness, kindness, kindness...

The moments:
- Pucon, the snow, Phil, and the stars...
- Peninsula Valdes, Charlotte, and the love of the whales,
- Easter Island, my mom, and the discovery of mankind's genius and madness,
- Uyuni, Alexander, and the untamed nature,
- Machu Picchu, my dad, the power of the Inkas and the spirit of the mountain...

The nature:
- its boundless beauty,
- its free, untamed, wild animals,
- its serenity,
- its grace,
- the gods it holds....

I won't forget,
That one does not make a trip but is made by it.

PEROU WITH DAD: 2ND TO 14TH OF OCTOBER: ON THE TRAIL TO THE INKAS' SOUL (PART 4): THE SPIRIT OF THE MACHU PICCHU MOUNTAINS

2006-10-15T09:47:00.000-04:00

After our visits of the different sites surrounding Cuzco, we were left with the absolute desire and curiosity to discover the most famous and world-renowned Inka site: the great Machu Picchu.

After crossing in bus the Sacred Valley and following by train the Inka trail through the jungle, we arrived in Aguas Calientes with the firm intention to manage to visit this site alone, far away from the thousand of tourists, in order to have the chance to "feel" the place.

Walking up the hill was a pretty good way to make sure to be alone, and allowed us to progressively sense its atmosphere and universe overpower us as we went up, surrounded by the tropical trees and the impressive mountains.

Arriving at the top really felt extraordinary. The peace and serenity of the place were absolutely overwhelming. The entire site was filled by the mysterious Apu - the spirit which lives in the heart of a sacred mountain for Inkas- and an ever deeper fog... Spirits, ghosts, souls seem to have invaded the place as the sun was slowly fading down...

It is there that I felt how powerful the mountains could be as a symbol of the mystical and transcendent. This place felt as the dwelling place of the gods... I felt there the most palpable manifestation of the supernatural...

I realized there how the mountains had represented at all times and for all cultures, ethnies and religions the most palpable manifestation of the supernatural... Egyptian, Aztec, Peruvian and Hindu pyramids, Indonesians phnoms, North American teepees, Muslim minarets, Christian churches are all the conscious or unconscious representations of the mystical and sacred beliefs which mountains inspire in the human mind.

After discovering the underworld in Titicaca (represented by the snake in the Inka culture), crossing the world of the living in Cuzco (represented by the puma in the Inka culture), we had finally reached the world from above (represented by the condor in the Inka culture).
It was therefore time for us to leave Machu Picchu, its spirit in our hearts, and finish this incredible trip with its only possible conclusion: watch the condors fly over the Colca Valley, near Arequipa, and see them reach the sun in their infinite danse....

Nature had become for me the visible part of God.

PEROU WITH DAD: 2ND TO 14TH OF OCTOBER:ON THE TRAIL OF THE INKAS´SOUL (PART 3): THE MYSTERIOUS SACSAHUAMAN

2006-10-13T11:11:00.000-04:00

As Cuzco was the center of a complex network of villages and administrative facilities, we decided to wander around Cuzco (to visit the ruins of Tambomachay - the ablution site -, Quenco, Puca-Pucara - the red fortress -, and Sacsahuaman) and discover the famous Sacred Valley (where we saw the sites of Pisac, Ollantaytambo, and Chinchero...).

If each and everyone of these sites expressed differently the Inka´s mastery in architectural art (especially in the beautiful sites of Pisac and Ollantaytambo constructed against the mountains),

and their knowledge in science, agriculture, astronomy, only one of these sites really left an everlasting impression on us: Sacsahuaman.

The Sacsahuaman site, located on a hill only 3 km above Cuzco, is described by local guides as a fortress overlooking the city. It is considered to be the head of a puma (the city of Cuzco has been said to have the shape of the body of a puma - (the puma was a sacred animal in the Inka culture representing the world we live in, the snake representing the underground world and the condor the world from above).

However, while visiting it, we felt there were much more than what we had been told. Wandering through this site, we clearly felt we were entering another dimension: we were overwhelmed by the peculiar atmosphere of the place: the softness and strength of the walls and the magnetic or should I say magical power of the circular structure found at the top of the hill....

Indeed, after reading more about it, only mystery seemed to arise.

- Why had such a megalithic architecture made from enormous blocks of limestone (3 retaining walls of 300 feet long and 5 to 6 meters high) been constructed when all other Inka sites we visited were of human dimension and well integrated in their environment?
- How could stones of up to 150 tons have been transported there and be so well adjusted?
- Why this serrated design when Inka buildings are always linear or at most curved?

- Why is there such a strange circular structure made from small stones that form three concentric circles on top of the site - structure that has not been found in any other Inka sites - and what is its purpose?

According to some, all these facts tend to demonstrate that perhaps this site pre-dates the Inka period although the stone adjustment is clearly Inka-like (let us remember that the Inka-type stone architectural layout has been found on Easter Island, a place where it has now been established that the Inka have never set foot, as well as in an underwater plateau near Bimini Island in the Bahamas...) and could have been built up to 10.000 years ago...
Another Atlantis?

We felt we had entered yet another dimension...

If Cuzco was the heart of the Inka civilization, Sacsayhuaman was clearly its core mystery...

PEROU WITH DAD: 2ND TO 14TH OF OCTOBER:ON THE TRAIL OF THE INKAS´SOUL (PART 2): CUZCO OR THE NAVEL OF THE WORLD

2006-10-13T09:51:00.000-04:00

Our unavoidable next step had to be the city elected by the first Inkas as the predestined place of gods on earth: Cuzco (The navel of the world in quechua language).

Cuzco, a relatively small town situated approximatively 300 km north-west of Puno, was, back in the 15-16th centuries, the center of the large Inka empire extending from the south of Ecuador to the middle part of Chile and Argentina and from the west of Perou to the east of Bolivia. Cuzco was also the center of a complex administrative network composed of fortresses, villages, temples, postal facilities, trails, etc...
Although invaded and largely destroyed and transformed by the spanish conquistadores in the mid-16th century, this city still holds a very palpable Inka spirit.

If the Titicaca lake was the Inkas´ craddle, Cuzco was for us its heart.

The shock was total when arriving from Puno (a frontier-type town), as we found ourselves in the middle of the amazingly delicate, esthetic, and cultural Plaza de Armas of Cuzco.

Stepping out of the famous church of the Compania de Jesus - considered to be one of the most beautiful baroque church in latin america - we suddendly felt immersed in an absolute warmth as the night was falling and the lights of the Plaza and the surrounding city were lighting up, as if it was Christmas time...
We understood as much as we felt why this city had been chosen as the navel of the Inka empire...

Although everything in Cuzco felt the spanish conquista (large cathedrals, balconies, rococo art in churches, the patios, etc...), the Inka presence could be felt in every streets, as their imposing walls remained as the basis of the spanish constructions... The Inka supremacy in the architectural field (especially in stone layout and adjustment) in comparison with the Spanish was the most blatant in the Monastery of Santo Domingo.

Cuzco was for us the first tangible contact with the Inka´s mastery in stone construction: simplicity, geometry, and perfection which supprisingly carried an overwhelming spiritual content.

Visiting the surrounding sites only reinforced this first impression...

PEROU WITH DAD: 2ND TO 14TH OF OCTOBER:ON THE TRAIL OF THE INKAS´SOUL (PART 1): THE LAKE TITICACA

2006-10-12T18:42:00.000-04:00

Back on a bus (my 14th of this trip...) for what seemed to me a short trip (only 8 hours!), I met my dad in Puno, Perou, near the Titicaca lake.

This peculiar place (this lake is the highest navigable lake - at 3812 meters high - or should I say sea? - it covers more than 8000 km2 and contains more than 40 islands...) was the starting point of our journey into the Inka civilization....

The legend has it that Tayta Inti (the father Sun) moved by the plight of mankind, took pity on them and sent his children (Manqo Kapaq and his sister-wife Mama Oqllo) from heaven into the Titicaca Lake. From these sacred waters, his children had to find a place predestined by the gods as the site of their magical city - which turned out to be Cuzco - and build the Inka civilization...

There we were, in the birthplace of the Inkas, aquatic world full of traditions, myths and magic...

Navigating through this lake-ocean we encountered strange islands inhabited by Inka descendants who lived as if time had not passed by...

We first visited some of the 40 floating islands (the Uros islands) of the lake. These islands entirely man-made, were solely composed of totora (a kind of reed found in the lake)...

As we wandered on them, we felt we were walking on water, challenging gravity for a brief moment, as these islands were unavoidably bound to disappear in the waters of the lake within a year or more as their weight increased...

Back on a more solid island, made of volcanic rock (the Taquile island), we found ourselves surrounded by an incredible vegetation at more than 4000 meters high, in a traditional village where nothing seemed to have changed since Inka time: agriculture was hand-made, men were knitting, the clothing was traditional, and everything (colors, designs, drawings..) told a story to whom could decipher its meaning...

This lake, a place where nothing starts or ends according to the Inkas, seemed to have held the time still... we had just set foot into another dimension.
Our journey into the Inka mysteries was just beginning...

BOLIVIA: LA PAZ, THE CITY WHERE BLACK IS COLOR

2006-10-06T09:26:00.000-04:00

Still under the spell of the untamed nature we had discovered, exhausted by the trip, the cold, the altitude and the lack of real good food, Alexander and I left for what I had promised myself (didn't happen...) would be my last bus trip from Uyuni to La Paz. The worse bus trip ever.... 11 hours in a crowed bus without heating, food, or reclinable seats, on an unpaved road for 5 hours, and surrounded by this typical bolivian smell that I will avoid describing here for the sake of all...
At least we were "feeling" Bolivia up to the core!!!

Thank God tentacular La Paz was there to greet us with its mountains, its sunshine, its markets, its people, its shouts, colors, folklore...

Here the markets are in the streets, leaving little space for the cars to pass... honking has therefore become a way of passing by, in the middle of the women´s shouts, the kids´ screams, the bargains....

The nature we had seen was expressed in every piece of fruit or plant or costume we could see in the streets. Colors so vibrant, so proud, so full... once again there were no limits to their expression, their power, their force and their energy...
Bolivia, the poor, the coca-maker, the unsafe, will always remain for me Bolivia the vibrant, the colorful, the joyful...

It was time for Alexander to go back to the NY honkings and for me to join my dad in Puno, Perou...
To be continued...

COLORFUL BOLIVIA: THE COUNTRY WHERE WHITE IS COLOR: IN ROUTE FOR UYUNI: PART 2

2006-10-05T21:26:00.000-04:00

... And then there was the Desert which made us feel we had stepped in one of Dali's painting (it is not called the Dali Desert for no reason), with its rocks and their improbable shapes (how long could this one deny gravity?)

And then there was the salt sea, the famous Salar the Uyuni, where white became our color, our space, our time, our universe...

Finally, there was the Sun...

COLORFUL BOLIVIA: THE COUNTRY WHERE WHITE IS COLOR: IN ROUTE FOR THE SALAR DE UYUNI: PART 1

2006-10-03T08:53:00.000-04:00

With millions of stars in our eyes, we once again packed our stuff and left beautiful Chile - definitely this time - to hit the bolivian road!
Alexander and I found two great french partners to accompany us on a three-day excursion from San Pedro de Atacama to Uyuni.
It was quite a trip! A 4 wheels, no paved roads, food for three days, a bolivian driver and a chilian doctor to make sure that this incredible excursion in the bolivian´s heights was of no trouble for mom and baby...
In one word, the best possible conditions for a rough trip where pregnant women do not really have their place. But hey! that´s part of these kind of trips...

Once the Bolivian border was crossed we entered a wild nature - emblematic for me of Latin America as a whole - where rules have no place and nature has no limits: here landscapes, colors and shapes express themselves freely incognizant of physic rules and human comprehension.

First, there were the lakes and their improbable colors...

Proud and peaceful was the Laguna Blanca, a lake so pale and so calm that it perfectly reflects the whiteness and tranquility of the sky.

Hidden as a beautiful piece of jewelry in a great-aunt's closet was the Laguna Verde, at the feet of the mysterious Licancabur Volcano, a lake whose color reveals itself when the wind starts blowing (the Incas had hidden from the Spaniards precious minerals in the waters of this lake...)

Further north, was yet another lake which color - due to its algae - I still have not been able to define: was it red, brown, bordeau, orange, purple?

And then...

THE GREAT NORTH: INCREDIBLE ATACAMA DESERT: PART 2

2006-10-02T17:29:00.000-04:00

...watching in awe the pink landscapes of the Valle de la Luna during sunset:

discovering at the corner of a hill deep blue lakes hidden at more than 4000 meters of altitude,

obsessing over the fascinating Volcano Licancabur overlooking the desert at more than 5900 meters high, and contemplating the clearest sky in the world (Atacama is the place where most of the observatories can be found) and discovering at night the secrets behind the millions of diamonds illuminating us as if it was daytime...

In the midst of this infinite sand, infinite sky, infinite universe, we felt little, humble, but strangely powerful...

THE GREAT NORTH WITH ALEXANDER: 23RD OF SEPTEMBRE TO 1ST OF OCTOBER: INCREDIBLE ATACAMA DESERT: PART 1

2006-09-28T15:53:00.000-04:00

After yet another enjoyable bus trip from Santiago to Calama I met my dear friend Alexander to hit the road once more in order to spend the night in nearby San Pedro de Atacama.
After quite a ride in the Atacama desert during sunset we arrived in a tiny morrocan looking pueblo lost in the surrounding dunes and mountains...
The dusty streets were against all odds very animated, full of cute little restaurants with open sky ceilings, live music and a central fireplace... tourists seemed to feel at home wandering between cafes, markets and plazas... Such animation gave us the strength to go out and fill up our starving stomachs in one of these appealing restaurants...

The driest desert of the world seemed to be full of surprises and promises!
We were eager to discover its mysteries and decided after a restful night (well deserved) and a copious breakfast to wander in its valleys...

We found ourselves walking next to flamingos on Atacama's salt lake:

Wandering along a river in the shadow of the vegetation of a hidden oasis in the Quebrada de Jere...

to be continued...

BACK TO THE CONTINENT: SOUTH AND NORTH OF SANTIAGO

2006-09-25T18:37:00.000-04:00

MORE PICTURES TO COME
After the isolation we felt in Rapa Nui, it was time for us to go back to our western civilization and celebrate with the Chileans their independence day (18th of Septembre) in a tiny but cute village in the south of Santiago. There we enjoyed the latin way of life.... which involves mainly: eating a lot, riding horses, talking all night long and drinking drinking drinking...
We also had the great luxury to attend the famous 18th of Septembre PARADE that lasted a little more than 3 hours (for a pueblo of less then 300 people).... as everyone of the village who had something to show (a horse, a dog, a kid, a truck, whatever...) participated to this joyful celebration!
Quite an experience to see a priest dance with a prostitute, a man fall from his horse because he was too drunk or a man cooking food on top of the oldest truck one has seen still moving...

After enjoying the songs and screams of drunk Chileans for two full days, we decided it was time to go back to find some peace and left for la Serena, enjoying once again the beautiful Chilean coast.
We found in la Serena a beautiful colonial city leading us right to another quebrada (I had missed them greatly since Salta...), the Quebrada D'Elki.
There we enjoyed not only the beauties of the high lakes, multicolored mountains, and their famous "vibe" (this place is crowded by seekers of UFOs and cosmic energies...) but also the green valleys formed by millions of hectares of vinyards necessary for the production of Pisco (the Chilean drink - 50 million tons of pisco are produced by Chile each year...). Now we are talking!

Bacchus should have come...

It was unfortunately time for my mom to go back to France and for me to take yet another 23h bus to meet my very good friend Alexander in San Pedro de Atacama (Chile).
The aventure continues....

BACK TO CHILE: SEPTEMBER 10TH TO SEPTEMBER 23RD WITH MOM:SPELLBINDING EASTER ISLAND

2006-09-19T21:43:00.000-04:00

After spending a couple of relaxing and restful days in Santiago with our dear friend Angelica, mom and I left the continent (in plane, a great luxury for me....) to discover one of the most isolated place on earth - the closest inhabited land is more than 2000 km away - the mysterious Easter Island or Rapa Nui.

Describing such a place is a difficult thing to do. It is a place that can be `felt´ much more than it can be seen. The atmosphere there is simply surreal.
Setting foot on this tiny land, we found ourselves surrounded by the most infinite sea I had ever seen. Its horizon was so boundless that I could feel the roundness of the earth. The clarity (one can see 75 meters deep through these waters) and blue-turquoise color of the ocean did not diminish its power and its ghastly effect as it crushed abruptly on the deep dark cliffs of the island (Rapa Nui was formed where lava from three separate volcanoes coalesced in a single trinagular landmass...).

Walking through the ruins of the Rapa Nui villages, we discovered that this island was much more than a tropical island with beautiful white beaches, palm trees and transparent waters...

There they were, the Moai, these impressive, severe and massive figures built in lava rock, turning their back to the sea as a last battlement to protect the island against the raging waves of the infinite ocean...
Their dark excavated eyes, their lifted chins and their pinched lips gave them the appearance of authorities that could save and shield inasmuch as they could judge and punish.

I felt truly impressed by these prodigious figures whether they were standing up (in the restored sites), half burried in the sand, still being excavated from the quarry or face down... their authority and power was blatant and forced respect.
But what they represented was much more than a spiritual clout, they were the last remnants of a lost civilization that had appeared, developped and died in this other world, with its enigmatic cults (one of which is the incredible birdman cult), its unique writing (the Rongo Rongo script that no one has been able to decifer), its art (they erected more than 800 moai), and its destructive folly (leading them to internal wars, cannibalism and slavery)....

The story of mankind, its rise and its fall, is revealed in this piece of rock...

MEANWHILE.... THE BABY....

2006-09-10T22:56:00.000-04:00

IS GROWING!

BACK TO OUR FIRST LOVE: BUENOS AIRES

2006-09-10T10:15:00.000-04:00

Leaving the paradise of Peninsula Valdes to return to the polluted and crowded city was not an easy thing to do... but Buenos Aires has this magic that made us get back into its rythm in no time...
Take a spoon of young and cute argentinians, add an amazing number of museums, theaters, cemetaries, churches and 19th century french-looking buildings,

mix with a lot of sun, parks, amazing palm trees, japanese and botanical gardens,

flavour with the smile of Evita

and finish with a great splash of music and tango...

then you can have a taste of the wonderful Buenos Aires we enjoyed during 4 days....

It was time for us to say CHAO to Argentina with the unique desire to come back soon and discover fully the great Patagonia and its infinite horizons...
It was time for the baby and I to leave Charlotte and return to Chile to meet my mom and continue our latinamerican adventures....

INCREDIBLE PATAGONIA, THE PENINSULA VALDES

2006-09-07T18:03:00.000-04:00

Time was now for us to go away from Mendoza to discover the fascinating region of the south of Argentina. We were leaving Bacchus to meet Poseidon.
We found, in Peninsula Valdes, much more than a God.

The peninsula, fragile and isolated in what seems to be the end of the world, has an absolutely plane landscape pretty similar to Ireland. The similarity stops however when one reaches the beach and the absolute blue of its seas.

Suddenly the beauty of the place transforms itself in pure magic. At different points in time, the peninsula is filled by killer whales, Austral whales, seals, sea lions, pinguins, birds attracted by these waters "pour le temps des amours".... We had the fortune to see an incredible number of seals, sea lions and especially whales during our stay on Valdes...

Walking by the beach we were mesmerized by the ballet of the great Austral whales... They would continually bounce from the blue horizon, showing their powerful tails, expulsing in an enormous fountain (up to 4 meters high) the unneeded water, clapping the calm waters with all their weight (40 tons), chanting to the glory of love...

We could hardly believe it, and we felt so intrigued and fascinated that we decided to go see this incredible show from closer and embark on a small boat. We rapidly found ourselves surrounded by hundreds of enormous black monsters who all could with a simple move of their tail send us back to the shore...

A little impressed and frightened at first the whales calm, playful character (one spent half an hour dancing around our boat just to listen to our whistle and let us touch its rough head...) and kindness (one who weights 40 tons and measures 13 meters has to be full of attention not to overturn a boat of barely 300 kg and 3 meters length...), overwhelmed us. Suddenly our greatest wish was to go swim and play with these great mammals and enter their great blue world... Even though we were so small, so delicate, so fragile next to these enormous mammals, we felt safe. Safer than one could feel in its own house with a locked door.
Love was indeed everywhere...

Peninsula Valdes meant to us much more than an incredible place on earth, unique and breathtaking. It represented another world in and of itself, full of myths, mysteries, and magic. We spent four days absolutely taken away by it, lost in its deep skies, unbounded landscapes and infinite horizons.
This experience is hard to express and talking about it makes me feel I am betraying what it meant to us. There is not much to say. It has to be experienced.
Our quest for paradise had stopped here. Suddenly the boundary between sky, sea and earth had faded and paradise was found.
But we had yet again to pack our bags and leave as we understood that paradise is to have but not to hold...

AH! MENDOZA....

2006-09-04T19:40:00.000-04:00

Thrilled by Salta's beauties and wonders we decided to continue our quest for paradise on earth. In search for paradise one has to be looking for its Gods (in Argentina there is not one but many Gods....). After encountering the Gods of Earth, Wind, Sand, Rock, and Water... we thought it was time to meet the God of Wine and therefore decided to look for Bacchus in the city where he would most likely to be found: Mendoza. We therefore took another 20 hour bus from Salta...
We arrived early morning in Mendoza and decided to immediatly discover the city, walking through its Plazas and bicycling in its beautiful park... But our visit was not complete until we visited, the next day, its famous BODEGAS!
There we found ourselves, surrounded by vinyards located right at the feet of nothing less than the snowy Andes!

What an amazing sight... and I must admit that the wine was as impressive as the view... We not only tested all the wines produced by the Catena Bodega (at least 25 different) between lunch and dinner (we were accompanied the whole day by the people working at this bodega, one of the most famous of the country, enjoying a VIP treatment... sometimes it is pretty useful to travel with someone who works for one of the most famous chef.... thanks Charlotte!!!) but also discovered their entire production line from the harvest to the packaging. What a beautiful business, where patience, luck, good soil and most of all true love need to be found in order to produce a good wine... All were present there, along with the usual kindness of the Argentines... A great trip with our friend Bacchus who did not disappoint us... We left with a full stomach and two bottles of wine in our backpacks, ready to jump in our longest bus trip (24 hours) to Peninsula Valdes...

If paradise is not on Earth, the Gods definitely have to come to our land from time to time to replenish their bottles... (indeed, what could possibly be paradise without wine???)

AMAZING SOUTH (OF SALTA)

2006-08-30T20:57:00.000-04:00

We entered the region of the south of Salta thinking that the landscape we were to encounter would be similar to the one previously seen in the north. Indeed, we, at first, crossed similar hills of trees and formation of mountains of beautiful colors althoug this time the tones were warmer and stronger: the pink, beige and brown were replaced by red, green, and bright yellow... The landscape however changed abruptly as we crossed the beautiful Parque De Las Cardones (park of cactus). Suddenly, we were right in the middle of the desert, surrounded by nothing except cactus, far away mountains and this endless strait line road. It was as if we had reached the end of the world and that this world was suddenly becoming infinite: a strait line to eternity. A couple of lamas trying to cross our strait road awoke us from our dream...

Not so much the end of the world finally, but nevertheless breathtaking. We felt a strong desire to stop the car and go wander with these lamas in this infinite nothingness...
But as the sun started coming down, along with the gas left in our dusty and tired car, we decided to continue our trip. Ready to fall in the arms of Morpheus with the mysteries of this park in our minds, once we had reached Cafayate, we were far from imagining that our journey through the canyons of the south was not over just yet.
Crossing the Quebrada de Calchiques (or de las Flechas) we found ourselves yet again in a completly different environment.

We were now surrounded by hills of all forms, size, and shapes all with the same beige color. It was a if a talented sculptor had discovered this place before us and decided to practice his talent on these hills. Our imagination could wander as the imagination of all the kids of the world in front of the clouds in the sky: here a gaucho and his horse, there an Inca templar, on the other side of the valley an old woman and her dog... We wondered endlessly in these giants of sand and rock playing with their shades, created by the fading sun... The desert had become a museum were we could wander indefinitly and let our imagination be an artist and become the greatest creator of all...
And we still had to see most of the south of Salta...
We continued our discovery of the South by visiting the ruins of Quilmes, urban settlement dating from about AD 1000 of an estounishing size (it occupies 30 hectares and housed as many as 5000 people) and fascinating emplacement and organization. Powerful, beautiful and imposing, it proves to the eyes of all the generations to come that although the Quilmes Indians have disappeared under the the Spaniards' rule, their memory, tradition and strength was still alive and vibrant.

The final part of our route in the region of the south took us to the Quebrada de Cafayates, one of the most extraordinary landscape yet to be seen by our overwhelmed eyes. Crossing a large green valley with its sinuous river, we found ourselves in the middle of an incredible number of rocky mountains and sandy hills of all shapes and size. The sculptor of the Quebrada of Calchiques had come by... But instead of the continuous beige color we had encountered in the previous quebrada, we were surrounded by vivid green, blue, red, pink, yellow, white, and brown colors. The artist of the north and the sculptor of the south had met...

That night our sleep was profound, still and fulfilled as it became clear to us that paradise could not be that far from earth.

THE WONDERS OF THE NORTH OF SALTA

2006-08-27T12:29:00.000-04:00

We started our trip to the north from Salta by crossing large valleys of grassy hills and small rivers... We could have been in the Alps during summer! The sun was warm, the road empty, the wind subtle, the landscape refreshing. We soon encountered lakes and slowly the landscape changed and became much different from anything we had ever encountered before. We felt like in a national park: everything seemed open, without any house, without any fence, with animals free, wild, walking around for some good grass... We decided to stop for some lunch at a beautiful transparent lake hidden between two large mountains and felt part of it all. There we were, completly alone but for a couple of wild horses, some healthy cows, goats, sheeps, birds, ducks, bees... we felt not only in harmony with this beautiful nature but in harmony with the animals that were surrounding us treating us simply like other beings and not as humans they were afraid of. I had forgotten how it felt not to be feared by animals...
Losing this "power" made us feel so much more fulfilled.
We continued our journey accompanied by horses, dunkeys and cows crossing or following our road until we reached a mountain absolutely covered by trees. But not any type of trees, tropical trees, green as can be, large, big, covered with cactus, flowers, ropes... that looked like housing-trees. We felt so protected beneath this forest of trees that we wanted to climb and be cuddled by their motherly branches like all the other animals and plants they were already housing with so much hospitality...
The landscape abruptly changed and we found ourselves in a valley surrounded by hundreds of naked mountains covered only by their estonishing colors: green, yellow, pink, orange, purple, white, brown.... We had never seen so many colors displayed on the face of a rock.... it seemed as if thousand of artists had come to paint them.

The villages we crossed were as hospitable as the trees we had seen and as colorful as the mountains housing them: Carmen, Maimara, Tilcara, Pumamarca, Humahuaca, Iruya... all pueblos lost in these mountains, so much part of their environment that they could only been seen from a close point of view. All of them with their pink houses, their artisanal markets, their churches, their cemetaries and the smile, the kindness, the true ingenuity of their people.

Life is so soft here: there is no screams, no sirens, no traffic. Here we always thank for what we have, we always accept what is being forced on us, and we always try to make things better. These "hijos de los Incas" on which we imposed our God, built churches to venerate Him, but here mass is celebrated at night and not in the morning, with songs and instruments from their origins, in simple churches and right after mass they go on to venerate their God, Mother Earth (the celebration of Pachamama takes place in August), to thank her for what is given to them everyday, as here we thank for what we have and not complain for what we lack.... A perfect blend of their past and the present, to honour and respect both...
Our cultures would definitly have much to learn.
The North had left us in awe, fulfilled, and so thankful, that we wondered what the South of Salta could offer that we hadn't had the chance to already receive...
We were wrong...

BEAUTIFUL SALTA

2006-08-25T18:48:00.000-04:00

After yet another loooonggg trip from San Ignacio to Salta (waited for a collectivo that never came, finally made it to Posadas to take a 5 hour bus to Residencia to catch another 13 hour bus to Salta), we discovered, at 7:00 a.m, a beautiful little town still hidden in the remnants of the night and watched, delighted the sun rise with a good "te de yierbas"...
The city has, like all the latin cities I have encountered, its major "Plaza de May or 9 de Julio", where the church, the official buildings and the expensive hotels stand, its "Florida" streets, where all the stores are packed, its Cerro, where a couple of trees show their beautiful branches, and its famous artisanal market...
We enjoyed all of them greatly... After finding a nice hospedaje where our clothes could finally be cleaned (it was about time!) we left in search for a car to rent, good food to buy and some locals to meet to prepare for our trip in the north of Salta. We rented a small car for 6 days and discovered a cute market where we bought the best goat cheese, dulce de leche, almonds, and dried fruits we encountered in Argentina (and Chile)... Off with our food and a car ready for the next day we decided to walk around this city full of youngsters, cafes, and plazas...

We also went for a little walk to the famous Cerro de San Bernardo from which we could enjoy the view on all the valley... What a great walk and a beautiful view! For the people of Salta, this is the place where they do their daily workout - quite a climb - (much better than any sport center!!!). We came back to the city at night to discover a whole new side of the place, packed with people, lights, restaurants, LIFE! Argentinians definitly know how to live well, specially after 8:00 p.m... We ended up in a great meat restaurant where anyone can come with their instruments and sing.

There we were, really, IN Argentina, in the middle of the locals, listening to this music of los pueblos, trying this amazing wine (just a little) and feeding ourselves and my little one with the best meat ever. The only tourists in this huge and famous local joint, we truly felt for the first time in the argentinian life. And that really is a life I enjoy and I feel close to (Phil: interested in living in Argentina any time soon????).
We left late with music and faces in our hearts to leave early the next morning to enter into a new part of our trip, far away from the cities and its lights. The beauties of the north, its deserts, salt lakes and tropical forests were awaiting...

NORTHEAST OF ARGENTINA: IGUAZU FALLS AND THE JESUIT MISSIONS

2006-08-22T11:02:00.000-04:00

After 20 hours of bus and a transfer (19.5 hours of which Carlotta has been sleeping...) we finally arrived to Foz do Iguazu in Brazil. The city, quite inattractive, and the hotel, absolutely horrendous (the first and last hotel of my trip, I highly prefer hospedajes!!!), did not prevent us from having the time of our lives discovering the Cataratas de Iguazu, the most impressive water falls of the world, from both the Bresilian and Argentinian sides...
The amount of tourists did not diminish the beauty of the parks and of this untamed nature. If one listens and quiets down, one can hear and see amazing tropical birds, colorful butterflies, big racoons, and all the little living animals that constitute these tropical forests... The water, its power, its transparence, its fake stillness and its abrupt falls makes the scenery absolutely extraordinary. Pictures cannot depict the beauty, serenity, and force of this place. One has to go, stay still and watch, humble.
Leaving this scenery was hard but we both needed to go to a place less crowded by tourists and to be left alone with locals in little pueblos and national parks... we therefore decided to leave with stars in our eyes the volcanic region of Iguazu and its black soil to set foot in the historical area of the Jesuit Missions. We arrived in San Ignacio Mini, a country vibrant by its reddish color... soil, houses, trees, cars all covered by this red dust and these red rocks so distinguishable from this limitless blue sky... The city was a ghost town, no hotels in sight, nobody in the streets and the last bus gone...
We were finally where we wanted to be.

We could discover alone the immense jesuit ruins of San Ignacio, red as can be, still showing pride and strength, although half destroyed and slowly eaten by the nearby vegetation. A place of true quietness, calm, and spiritual enlightment... so much so, that resting on the grass we decided to do some yoga...

We are now on our way to the famous andean northwest provinces of Salta, Tucuman, Juyjuy, la Rioja, Santiago del Estero and Catamarca... to blend completly with nature and its real inhabitants, the indigeneous people, who have almost completly disappeared in the indifference of all... wiped out by the white men, killed by their hand our by their disease, put into forced labor, treated as inferiors - still today - These true owners of Argentina, the keepers of the secret of nature and its preservation, fading away in front of the white man´s guns and the power of money.

We hope to find there remnants of their civilization and maybe even meet some of them still living as before.
Argentina and its beauty is a country of happiness and sorrow, of construction and destruction, of respect and blatant inequalities... a country of paradox where our hearts bloom and bleed at once.

HOLA ARGENTINA: 17 OF AUGUST - 9 OF SEPTEMBER WITH CHARLOTTE

2006-08-18T15:27:00.000-04:00

After a wonderful flight from Santiago to Buenos Aires, I met my dear friend Charlotte (or Carlota) at the airport for a full month of discovery of Argentina, starting with Buenos Aires.
And what was not my surprise to discover a city so much more, enchanting, vibrating, authentique, and fun than any other city I had seen before in Latin America!
We did not waste a minute! We visited the district of San Telmo and its antiquaires, its restaurants, and its tango cafes;

la Boca and its incredible genuity, with its european looking houses - no higher than one or two floors, its famous colourful neighbourhood, its park...;

la Plaza de Mayo with its wide avenues and its beautiful official buildings; el Puerto Madero and its amazing water front...; and the argentinians, and their kindness, their european way of taking life....
How could I describe it? It is latin and italian and french at the same time, but in the midst of all these influences it is absolutely argentinian, with its pride, its culture, its musique, its danse.... There is something here that I had not found in Chile: a true latin identity visible to my unacustomed eyes...
We however, have decided to leave Buenos Aires to come back when the weather will be a little warmer to go see the beautiful Iguazu falls from both Bresilian and Argentinian sides (we will be in Brazil tomorrow...)
OLE!!!!

IT IS A .......

2006-08-16T19:57:00.000-04:00

............. GIRL!!!!!!!!!!!

Trip to Bariloche/Patagonia (Argentina)

2006-08-13T10:06:00.000-04:00

After a couple of rough days in Chile (we got stuck in the snow and therefore missed the only plane that could take us to the Pumalin Park, had our car radio stolen in Puerto Varas and had to pay for it since the insurance we got only covered for damages below $800, and had to spend the night in Puerto Montt in a pouring rain...) we decided that it was time to change countries and have some sun, some fun and some surf (for Phil) in Bariloche.
And we found sun, fun, youngster everywhere, a welcoming city, plenty of gooood snow and a beautiful landscape in which to go skying (at least for Phil).

We spent the day yesterday walking in the cutest little snowy chalet-type village surrounding the "Cerro Catedral" I have seen. Phil enjoyed the snow yesterday,

surfing on the mountain while I and the baby visited the city, had some great chocolate (did I mention that Bariloche is very famous for its fondues, especially its cheese and chocolate ones...), which I am particularly craving for right now, and enjoyed the beautiful lake...

We left yesterday to go back to Santiago where Phil will take his plane back home (snif....). We enjoyed a wonderful trip back were the true landscape of Patagonia finally unfolded:

PS: thanks to all the ones sending comments, it is really really appreciated!

The lake district: part 3 (read parts 1 and 2 below first)

2006-08-09T19:19:00.001-04:00

Phil and I left Pucon under the rain to go east discover some nature and enjoy the only great activity when it rains and one wants to stay outside THE HOT SPRINGS...
We found a couple of kilometers aways, at Los Pozones, the most amazing natural hot springs I have ever seen.... In the valley of two beautiful mountains, next to a river, six natural hot springs, each of a different temperature sitting in the middle of rocks and sand.... and nobody else but us!

Once complete relaxation had been reached and our bodies were hot enough to cook a bagel on top of our backs, we left for the nearby national park, Huerquehue, to get some action in the moutains...
We arrived in a beautiful Refugio, lost in the mountains, all in wood, made by eco-conscious people, with a great fire place, tons of books, a huge kitchen and an amazing cook, a sauna, two dogs, a lake, a beach, and tons of trails.... heaven really...
The bad weather did not prevent us from, the next day, exploring the one trail taking us to all the surrounding lakes.... the walk was amazing and quite surreal... we were in the middle of winter surrounding by green! the tropical forest... but not any kind of trees, pines, eucalyptus and... bamboos... I would have never thought finding so many of them anywhere else than in China!

Reaching the top, heavy snow started falling, which made the place even more mysterious and beautiful.
Sky started to blend with the trees, the frozen lakes, the snow to form a kind of amazing and peaceful landscape where man and nature can be one... It is then and there, in the snow storm, facing a beautiful lake, in the middle of the forest, alone, frozen, with white underneath, around and below us... that Phil asked me to marry him...
stuck in the snow we spent one more night and half a day there in between dream and reality... I said yes of course...

Lake district: part 2 (read part 1 below first...)

2006-08-06T16:46:00.000-04:00

Valdivia was fun indeed, but Phil and I needed the ocean... so we went to Niebla up to this little village (could one even call it a village?) of Curiñanco...
Finally! The nature! The sea! We are alone on earth.. and although we are heartbroken to see all these trees being cut, the nature is truly beautiful... we are finally in our element and at peace with our surroundings... ah! nature...

The lake district: part 1

2006-08-06T16:28:00.000-04:00

After 13 hours on a very comfortable bus (much better than the plane indeed! - and much cheaper) we arrived in Puerto Montt. The city is crowded, surrounded by poor houses and too many stores to count... we definitely are in the age of consumerism ....
The hills surrounding this town gather an impressive number of such houses in the middle of which we can find a cemetary... strange landscape.
As soon as we got our car, Phil and I immediately decided to leave for Puerto Varas (supposedly a cute town but which did not win our heart either...), a town right on the Llanquihue lake... The view was nice but not as beautiful as the one we got in Frutillar, a little town next to the lake and less touristy that we greatly enjoyed.

This is the view from our hotel... with the beautiful Osorno Volcan...

After enjoying a beautiful morning in Frutillar, we left for the north to see the famous Valdivia, the city where sea lions and markets by the river gather... One would think that sea lions only can be found in the sea.. well, not when there is food to be found! And how nice is it when you have the chance to find at the same time fresh fish, fresh vegetable, fresh fruits and the local cheese!!!

A FOGGY DAY IN SANTIAGO DE CHILE...

2006-08-03T18:48:00.000-04:00

We have spent the day in the cool and smoggy Santiago... I am not particularly fan of this city, which reminds me of the 14th district of Paris on a cold November day... We were lucky however, to meet in Santiago a londonian girl, Ruth, who left everything to help kids in an orphanage in Sucre, Bolivia... it gives me ideas... The other highlight of our day was to be able to see from the Cierra Santa Lucia the great mountains surrounding Santiago.
We are getting ready to get on our 15 hours bus to Puerto Montt: earplugs, food, a good book, our guides, a lot of patience and tiredness... I think we will be fine! Enough of the cities! We are ready for the rainny weather of Puerto Montt and the lake district!!!

TRIP TO SANTIAGO DE CHILE: 2-3 OF AUGUST

2006-08-02T22:23:00.000-04:00

After a long flight (5 hours to get to Atlanta instead of 2 and 11 hours from Atlanta to get to Santiago instead of 9 hours...) with a beautiful view upon the Andes, Phil and I arrived in Santiago de Chile this morning, tired but extremely happy to be there!
Santiago has welcomed us with its cool weather, its large streets, and its european style boroughs... We enjoy every bit of it: the latin culture, the food, the feeling of being in vacation, far from New York, far from our habits, eager to discover, meet and make of this trip a life changing experience!
We only have one more day in Santiago before leaving tomorrow night on our bus to Puerto Montt to discover the beauties of the lake district.
... life is good!

TRIP TO CHILE: 1-16 OF AUGUST

2006-07-30T09:01:00.001-04:00

The first part of the trip starts with my two weeks with Phil in the Center-South part of Chile.
The departure is scheduled for the 1st of August, arrival the 2nd at Santiago de Chile.
From there, we will go discover the beauties of the lake district, Puerto Montt, Chiloe and the magnificent Pumalin Park....

... Stay tuned... More to come!!!!