Christmas blisters
Hola guys,
before continuing with more los tres stories, here are a few more pictures from chilecito
Nearly a week has passed now since christmas and it is time for a few more lines from us. It´ll only be a few this time i´m afraid as today is the last day of 2008 and we are invited to a new year fiesta at the finca where we and the horses are staying at the moment. It sounds like its gonna be a huge fiesta with up to 40 people expected to join the barbecue and kalimocho sessión.
Anyway, a few lines before we have to head off to help the family prepare the food (200 empanadas – mini-calzones are planned!). after leaving chilecito, the first thing worth mentioning is that we were stopped in the next town by a man who wanted to interview us on the local radio station. Caro and me thought it was a funny idea and answered his questions about our trip in more or less understandable spanish. But we were not only on the radio, but also on televisión: Daniel from famatina called the other day and said we were filmed during the processioon of the niño de hualco! Los tres mas uno are becoming famous all across the country. Soon we´ll be chased by paparazzi. ;o)
Anyway, enough of the fame…the day of leaving chilecito we stayed overnight at friends´ of yayo´s, Luis and Betty. The two of them live in a very nice house, built in the style of an old castle and we had some very stylish tea-time and amazing conversation as Luis (who has become my hero in that respect) speaks german, english as well as french fluently and i mean to the highest standard. So he was able to communicate with all of us in our own languages more or less and besides that gave us a few mini-spanish lessons. We spent a great evening with them which ended with a lovely barbecue over the fire place.
The next morning we decided to move on as we had taken alot of rest the previous 2 weeks and wanted to advance a bit. The only problem was our new team member, bronco (the bike), who had a few Little problems which needed fixing before heading out into the ´wild´ again. So Mike went off to get that sorted and we headed off into the cuesta de miranda, a beautiful valley of red rock, a river bed and all in all incredible landscape (see pics). At around midday we were surprised by luis and Mike who joined us for lunch with fresh home-made sándwiches and red wine… what a treat! And how spoilt are we? ;o) after a bottle of red it was kind of clear we werent gonna move forward too much anymore and since we had decided to camp somewhere near the rio that night, we started lookin for a place pretty soon. And we found the perfect spot: a well-hidden site, with a fire place, a Little table, near the rio and under the stars. Just what we had been lookin for after spending the last few weeks in fincas with lots of other people. An evening just with us and the horses. These kind of camp sites in the ´wild´are beautiful, but also require a bit more preparation on our side: we have to filter the wáter from the river, find/get food or the horses, find a place to attach them etc. So caro and me went off to cut some grass and the guys put up the tents and prepared the food and fire…
Rising early the next day, we continued along the cuesta de miranda, the road going up to 2020m which was a good challenge for Mike on the bike…(see pics as well). at the top we took a little break and were able to get a detailed insight into the life of argentinian ants (see pics), philippe even helping them by removing ´debris´from their front door (which gave him the nickname ´Saint Antita´). Going down on the other side of the mountain pass was mike´s treat and we followed slowly , until we got to a little villaje called Los Tampillos, a village which was gonna have a greater significance for us in the following days than we initially expected. For the night we decided to stay there and found a Little oasis, the finca don francisco. The owner, a man called miguel, provided us with food for the horses and we spent a peaceful night there…
The plan for the next day then was to advance only 20km to the next villaje and then get luis to pick us up so we could spend x-mas with him and Betty. It was a great plan but our x-mas eve turned out slightly different…philippe, caro and me had decided to follow the old road to the next villaje which was supposed to be more scenic and obviously with less traffic. Mike and bronco were to take the main road and we were to meet up in aicuña in the afternoon. Weeeelll, that was the plan anyway. P,C and me headed off ´into the bush´, able to make out the road for about 400m and then there was nothing but scrubs and sand…being equipped with compass, binoculars and 3 reasonable senses of direction we decided to keep going anyway, crossed various little gorges, climbed smallish mountains, crossed hill tops and after about 3 hours of this still couldnt see aicuña (we were supposed to have arrived by then) and decided to kind of head back into the direction of the main road. Another good plan, if we hadnt been on top of a plateau from which it seemed imposible to get down…out of all the ways down we picked the slope that seemed the least dangerous, got off the horses and started descending cm by cm, sliding on a bed of stones, stumbling over rocks, the horses all thewhile trying to coordinate their feet trying not to fall on us. It was a treacherous attempt and after about an hour of having advanced very very little and being stuck with the horses more-or-less piggy-back in our necks we made the sensible decisión to turn around and go back towards the top. As you can imagine there are no pictures of this and i have to say it was one of the most fearful moments of the cabalgata so far…having reached the top, we rested our aching muscles and racing hearts and decided to just turn around and go back the way we came. The 3rd great plan of the day which was to be interrupted by a totally unexpected weather phenomenon: the whole day the temperature had been around 40 degrees with more sunshine than we had wished for and all of a sudden we heard thunder and were surprised by a HAIL SHOWER! It was unreal: hail the size of ice cubes hit us and the horses with a forcé that i´ve never experienced before. It actually hurt! Anyway, after 15 mins the shower was over and the sun came back as if nothing had happened. Veeery weird! We made our way back to Los Tampillos which took us another 2 hours and then had to decide what to do since the plans for x-mas eve with Luis were kind of impossible to realise. Knowing that Mike was waiting for us in aicuña, we decided for one of us to hitch-hike and let him know that we´re going to stay in Los Tampillos for the night. But luckily it didnt get that far, as the minute we stepped onto the main road of the villaje, Mike appeared on the bike. He had started to get worried and decided to turn around and cycle all the way back towards us. Fitness training a la ¨los tres mas uno´. ;o) so happy to be reunited we went for a pre-x-mas-beer in the local bar to decide where to spend the night. the finca of miguel was free for the night, as he uses it as a kind of country retreat and lives in villa unión, the city where we are now, about 70km away. It was our only option for the night really, we bought half the food in the local shop and loooooads of beer and headed back to the finca. Feeling at home there already we took care of the horses and then concentrated on preparing our x-mas meal, which was going to be roasted chicken over the fire and baked potatoes. It turned out to be a beautiful evening with good food, plenty of beer and los quatros muy feliz to be back together. ;o) Mike had bought som e fireworks which we decided to light up on the hilltop near the finca. What an experience: fireworks in the darkness and silence of the desert! Christmas day we took it easy, stayed at the finca, played games, rested etc. And all in all it was a very special x-mas indeed!
On Stephens day we decided to finally make our way to aicuña, this time along the main road and walking. Why walking you might ask? Well, the 2 horses have a problem with their back at the momento and we decided to give them a break and walk the 20km that day. Luckily, it was a nice landscape, no long stretches of desert road and we passed our time with games like ´i spy with my little eye´…
In aicuña we found a nice shady camp site with a field for the horses nearby and were so happy to cool our feet in the cold wáter of the canal.
The following day we decided to walk again and had another 20km ahead of us…we made it but by the end of that day i thought my feet were gonna fall off. I had 2 big blisters the size of my big toe and my feet are still recovering.
Right now, we are in villa unión, a further 40km which we covered half by foot half by riding and are staying with Daniel, a friend of Daniel from famatina. The herrera family is another great example of argentinian hospitality and the invitation to join them for new years is one we just couldnt refuse. I´m sure its gonna be an amazing fiesta and more practise in empanada-making !
Bueno, i´m going to head off to meet the others now. Sorry for not having put up any pictures yet, hopefully we´ll be able to do it this afternoon.
We wish you all a happy new year 2009 and will have a toast of kalimocho for all of you!
FELIZ NUEVO AÑO A TODOS!!!
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