Part 6: A New Face of Argentina, Patagonia

I lived in Buenos Aires in 2008, and visited again in 2009; I thought I knew Argentina, I had no clue. Buenos Aires is Buenos Aires, it's a whole different world compared the the rest of the Argentine nation. The Argentina that we have been travelling and getting to know during the last month is an incredible wonder of nature, with breathtaking views and scenic paths around every bend. Not one place has let us down and I can safely say that the only complaint I have is about the food.

I'll get to Patagonia, but let me exxplain a little about Argentine culinary culture first. Argentine cuisine consists of a rotation of a carb overload of about 5 different plates, which are as follows: empanadas (little pastries filled with meat, cheese, ham, and/or chicken, which, while they sound delicious, are rather flavorless), milanesas (tenderloin), pastas with flavorless salsa, pizza (overloaded with mozzarella) and, the only thing that saves them, asado (some of the most delicious meat you can eat in the world). I suppose that I conveniently forgot about my study abroad days, when I carried around a a bottle of Tabasco as if it were a flask, and whipped it out at every meal. It's really quite unfortunate because everything looks so delicious until that first bite, then there's the tremendous let down of another flavorless mouthful. Most of our Argentine friends insist that their food is inspired by the Spaniards and Italians, which may very well be the case, but my have they dumbed down the tastes. I am not exaggerating when I say that the most seasoning an Argentine can handle is a pinch of pepper or salt, but not both. This is one cultural element that remained quite unchanged throughout our explorations. Bland main dishes aside, Patagonia dazzled us with artisan cerveza, amazing chocolate and calafate jam, the berry from which the city, El Calafate, derives its name. 

We began our journey through the lower lands of Argentina with a flight into Ushuaia, known as el fin del mundo because it is the southernmost city in the world. Believe it or not, the plane ticket cost us just slightly more than what we would have paid to travel; bus travel in Argentina is incredibly expensive (kind of makes me miss those torturous, but cheap, bus rides through Ecuador). Landing in Ushuaia is a very unique experience, I'm sure people who fly into Alaska may have a similar feeling. As we took in the views of pristine lakes, the dark blue waters of the Beagle Channel and snow capped mountain peaks from our tiny little airplane window, we wondered if it was real, if we were actually arriving to the end of the world. The southernmost province of Argentina, of which Ushuaia is the capi-

tal is known as Tierra del fuego (Land of Fire), but it was originally appointed the title Tierra de humos (Land of Smoke). Both titles are references to the fires that the Yaghan peoples (the original and now extinct indigenous population of these lands) created for warmth, which were visible from the ocean as European explorers and conquistadors began to "discover" this territory. 

Ushuaia was both sad and interesting for us. It's sad, because of its unfortunate past. The European colonizers decided to "civilize" the Yaghan people by introducing them to shelters and clothing (these people survived in the frigid lands of Tierra del fuego naked or nearly naked by having their bodies covered in the fat of the sea lions and other animals they lived off and taking in the warmth of their fires in the crouched position. When these people were introduced to clothing, they were overwhelmed by the heat it produced, that combined with the introduction of previously non-existent diseases brought over by the Europeans, assured that the entire population of the Yaghan tribe was completely wiped out within less than one hundred years. Today, there is only one known speaker of the Yaghan language and full blood Yaghan person living (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cristina_Calder%C3%B3n). 

These big barrels were the only heat source in the place.

The sad story of Ushuaia doesn't end with the extinction of its indigenous peoples. The territory was later to be utilized a penal colony, a sort of Argentine version of Russian Siberia. The prison at the end of the world is now on display to the public as as sort of "Alcatraz-like" museum. I say "like" because the Argentines have put quite an odd twist on the place, they utilize many of the wings of the museum as a sort of art gallery, with model ships and paintings on display in many of the former cells, disturbing to say the least. Dani and I didn't really know what to think of the place; it was really sad to think that people were imprisoned in this big cold stone structure at the end of the world (imprisoned in the building that they themselves were obliged to construct) and bizarre that paintings and boats were on display here. We kind of just frowned at the oddness of the place and the decoration decisions of the current administration and soon moved on. 

We discovered a lot of natural beauty exploring the national park of Tierra del fuego and walking up the the Martial Glacier, but we were not prepared for the tremendous amount of trekking required to explore Patagonia. Daniela came with some worn out Pumas and I wasn't much better off with my Asics (great for running, not for mountain trekking). There was no other option but to buy some trekking boots for Dani and I made due with my Asics. 

From Ushuaia, we made our way up to El Calafate, the jumping off point to explore nearby Glacier Park. Getting to El Calafate was a humorous experience that put on display, front and center, years of political ad territorial disputes between Chile and Argentina. In order for us to get to El Calafate by land, we first had to cross the Magellan Straits, Chilean territory, before heading back into Argentine lands. Even though we stayed on the bus the majority of the time, we were still required to go through customs, have our bags scanned and be ran through immigration, twice! All of that aside, crossing the Magellan Strait  was a dream completed.

El Calafate is a giant tourist bear trap, one which I would rather not have fallen in, yield one thing, seeing the Perito Moreno Glacier. The Glacier Park region of Argentina is full of amazing and much larger glaciers than the Moreno, but it is the most accessible and the easiest to build walkways around. Another really interesting aspect of the Moreno is that it is advancing, rather than receding like most glaciers. Sitting around staring at a giant chunk of ice is much more rewarding than it sounds, the experience is an audiovisual sensory enchantment. As the glacier advances, giant chunks of is face halve off and fall into the Lake Argentina, creating an amazing spectacle, if you're lucky enough to catch it. Fortunately for us, we were there and waiting with the camera, right when a tremendous berg came crashing down off of the face of the Perito Moreno. 

After experiencing the wonder of the Perito Moreno, I wondered if much else would be able to impress us, I was to be pleasantly surprised. 

We made our way up to El Chalten, a much more quiet little town that serves as the point of embarkation for, what else, a whole lot of trekking. The attraction of the treks available in the northern region of the glacier park are, given you have the luck of limited wind and fog, stunning lookouts and dazzling views to the Fitz Roy Range, one of the most famous mountain climbs in the world. No, we did not scale the slopes of the Fitz Roy, but we did get one nice day of hiking to a nearby waterfall and a beautiful lookout point to check out the spectacular jagged teeth of the surrounding Andes. 

The next day in El Chalten was so windy, that you could literally stand diagonally as the bluster held you up. Needless to say, we quickly moved on, always northward. 

Our next stop was the Cueva de las Manos, apparently featured in one of the Indiana Jones films, I am having a hard time remembering which. The Cave of Hands is located near a tiny little one horse town known as Perito Moreno, just like the glacier, but ten times less exciting. We were lucky enough to only spend one night in this place. We got in, arranged everything for one day, saw the cave, and got the hell out of Dodge. When we bought our bus tickets for Bariloche, the salesman let us know that those were the last two seats, oh thank God. We were, on the bright side, completely enthralled with the Cueva de las Manos. It is a wonderful site, filled with history and mystery. It was really fun to be in front of artwork that you know was made by some of the earliest inhabitants of the land, the same ones that crossed the Bering Strait land bridge, and not have a clue what purpose it served or the significance of the designs. It's mind boggling, really. They used their hands as stencils, rather than dipping them in paint and printing the walls, and the paint they used was so good that it has lasted thousands of years. Quite simply, it's pretty damn cool. 

Since the Hand Cave, we've pretty much been on a four day chocolate binge in the ski resort city of Bariloche (San Carlos de Bariloche). We really didn't know what to expect out of Bariloche, honestly neither of us had a clue about what we were going to do there, but it had dozens of great little surprises for us, mostly of the sweet kind. Bariloche has to be a really cool place in the winter, I would love to see it all full of snow and skiers, but it was still really fun. The city is kind of like the Aspen of Argentina. I had heard that they had some chocolate, but I didn't know that this place was the chocolate capital of South America! I would have really been content just sitting around in the quaint little cafes all day, eating chocolate and sipping on coffee, but Bariloche is also full of natural wonder as well. We visited a nice park that was surrounded by a giant lake with crystal blue waters, rode a chairlift up to one of the best views in the world (according to Nat. Geo. and, now, us too), and explored a cute little Swiss Colony hidden in the nearby forest. On our last day in Bariloche, beyond done with trekking, we rented a little French car, a Peugeot 206, and sped north towards St. Martin de los Andes to check out the Route of the Seven Lakes. Dani spent most of the time yelling at me to go slower and be careful, but I was just having way to much fun taking the highway's mountain curves and rallying over a stretch of gravel road. I felt bad in the end, and went much slower around the Circuito Chico (the Small Circuit) a circuit just outside Bariloche that offers up incredible views. We were rather happy to have completed the circuit in car rather than by bicycle, which was the original plan, the ups and significantly steep uphill and downhill stretches of the circuit would have made for an unholy and completely unrewarding torture. 

Really hard to argue with National Geographic about this view. 

It's a giant chocolate egg, come on now!

The architecture in Bariloche is German inspired and unique for Latin America. 

Who could resist this?

Another amazing lake view. 

Our little French baby car. 

The famous Llao Llao Hotel, we did not stay here. 

Part 5: Tough Times for Argentina

Welcome travelers to Argentine territory

It has been a little over a month since we set foot on Argentine territory in the north, La Quiaca, Argentina, border town with Bolivia. Some incredibly obliging friends, Mari and Pablo, that we will never be able to pay back, have been giving us refuge at their home in La Plata, the capital city of the province of Buenos Aires, for about a month now. La Plata is about an hour outside of the city of Buenos Aires (the Federal Capital of the country). We came with the idea and hopes of settling down, ending our travels for a while, and establishing ourselves in some type of educational employment, English teaching perhaps. Things have changed. As I sit here typing, sipping down yerba mate from a metal straw, I am thinking about next week, when we will find ourselves at "the end of the world." We cam to settle, and we settled on further travels. 

There are a lot of factors that have led to our decision. The inherent pessimism of the Argentine people has become even more understandable to me as we've been struggling to find employment and establish ourselves in a very economically unstable environment. In the United States, people are complaining about an "economic crisis," but the U.S. citizens know nothing of a true crisis. First off, economically speaking, Argentina is going through a really bad time right now. The government is lying about inflation, pitting itself in a one-on-one fight with the IMF. Cristina Kirchner and her government insist that inflation is at 12%, when, in reality, it's at about 30%. As a result, everything is expensive, the value of the peso is low (officially $1usd = 5 ars, unofficially 1usd = 8ars) and food, above other things, is perhaps the most expensive product. Prices have tripled since I lived here in 2008/2009. This type of economic instability is all to familiar to the people of Argentina. Their history is full of market crashes, coup d'etat after coup d'etat, years of military dictatorship, which involved the disappearances, kidnappings, torture and murder of thousands of people labeled "political dissidents," a real economic crisis in 2001 that resulted in the collapse of the monetary unit, the freezing of bank accounts and mass riots in the streets of Buenos Aires, a forfeiture on the country's foreign debt and rocky up and downs ever since. 

The cathedral of Salta's beautiful center. 

As we came traveling down to Buenos Aires, telling people about our plans, everyone was unrealistically optimistic and sure that we would have no problems in finding well-paying work in no time. We stopped first in Salta, a beautiful colonial city in the north. There we were greeted by the owner of our hostel who had done quite a bit of traveling himself. This guy gave us a toothless, mate-stained, smile and said, "dale, dale, no habrá problema," (go on, you won't have a problem). One thing that is certain, Salta is a very nice a tranquil place, maybe that's why people were so optimistic. 

From Salta, we took a short bus ride to the south, to the next major city, San Miguel de Tucumán. We have since been told that there are amazing gorge desert formations in the north of Argentina that we should have visited while we were there, but the truth is we were incredibly exhausted and had seen quite enough desert in Peru and Bolivia. Tucumán is really just another city, there is nothing of especial interest to mention about it. On the other hand, the hostel we stayed at in Tucumán was simply impressive. The owners had acquired the place for a song and took this incredible colonial mansion, which was once owned by the mayor of the city, and converted it into a residence. 

Our new friend from A La Gurda Hostel 

The family that owns the hostel was incredibly nice to us. They also had nothing but good things to say about our plans and had all kinds of great stories to tell us about successful English teachers´ experiences. They told us all about how they knew this young Japanese girl who went to Buenos Aires and made money hand over fist teaching private English lessons. They had great intentions, but their stories painted us a picture that was far different from the reality that awaited us. We began to make have a series of unfortunate revelations upon after arriving to Buenos Aires and starting our job search. 

Education is accessible for everyone in Argentina, which is great, but this has also led to unforeseen issues. It seems like education is actually devalued and rather under appreciated here because everything is free! It has been my impression that the Argentines take education for granted. Anyone in Argentina has a right to free access to the state universities and a degree, which means almost everyone has a degree  of some sort. It's not unusual to meet engineer taxi drivers or economist bus drivers. When you tell people about your education, they seem to react, "And?" As a result, having an advanced degree doesn't necessarily make you marketable. 

Language courses are considered a bit of a luxury item as well, but they are not a well-paid luxury. In order for someone to make a decent living teaching English, you have to work teaching back-to-back English in private lessons and work for different language institutes, 8-10 hours a day. English lessons pay around $60 pesos the hour, which is around $7.50. In comparison, private tutoring pays around $30 an hour in the U.S. 

From Tucumán, we boarded a train bound for the Federal Capital City, Buenos Aires. I've traveled in train in Argentina before, and I knew what to expect, but I couldn't anticipate the problems that the summer weather would bring. The last time I traveled in train in Argentina was a trip from Buenos Aires to Bahia Blanca, just 400 miles to the south of the city. A trip that should take around 4-5 hours is a 14 hour experience in train. Our trip from Tucuman to Buenos aires lasted no less than 28 hours! Once upon a time, the rail system of Argentina was one of the most prosperous and extensive systems in  South America and the world, but my how things have changed. The stations, trains and railways that were established in the late 1800's have been updated very little since then. The National Train Company, FA, was dismembered in the 90's and things have only gotten worse since then. We traveled all of that time in from a station and a train designed by the Brits around 1890/1900; travel in style!

We arrived at the station in Buenos Aires hechos mierda (in really bad shape). It's all about the experience. The city hadn't changed much from the last time I was here, but one thing that was quite notable was the quantity of people and the amount of trash in the streets. In just four short years, thousands of people more have immigrated into the city from different parts of Argentina and other countries. I was completely astounded by how many people there were since before. We spent a couple of weeks in the city and realized that even more people would soon be coming into the city; it was still summer and many of the usual inhabitants of the city were still gone on vacation. Being in downtown Buenos Aires always has made me feel a bit small. I suppose it would be like standing in the middle of Times Square, the Avenue 9 de julio is one of the widest in the world and the tremendous presence of the Obelisco (Buenos Aires' very own obelisk) in the middle of the avenue can't help but impress the passerby. 

The nostalgia of being back in Buenos Aires didn't take long the wear off. After talking with some locals and testing the waters a little, we realized that things weren't going to be quite as easy as we had planned. At the same time, we still had to keep in mind that we were in a pretty incredible place, so we had to be a little touristy while we had the chance. I took Daniela around to all of the tourist hotspots, Puerto Madero, the Recoleta Cemmentery, the markets of San Telmo, the Plaza de Mayo (the city center and plaza in front of the government building), etc. I was even surprised to experience something new myself, they are currently giving free tours of the Casa Rosada (the Pink House, government headquarters) and we had the opportunity to stand on the same balcony as Evita and Peron!

After doing all of the great touristy stuff, we began the job and living quarters hunt, and damn has it been tiring. We went to La Plata to stay with our friends and slowly began o figure things out. We found out that our degrees weren't as highly valued as we expected, realized that educators are even more poorly paid here than they are in the states, and that was just for starters. In terms of a place to live, we discovered it is extremely difficult for foreigners to arrange a living situation. The problem is that it's nearly impossible to get a place of your own if you're not Argentine, they double the price of rent for foreigners. The options that exist after that are either paying an exorbitant amount of rent for a small apartment, living in a University residence or a sharing a flat. Dani and I both felt indignant at the possibility of having to live like college students again after having graduated. 

After all, we have slowly come to the realization that our happiness isn't likely to be found here. Teaching English 10 hours a day, crammed in the subway, and traveling tirelessly all around the city sounded neither appealing nor fulfilling to us. We discovered that it is nearly impossible for a foreigner to acquire documented work conditions due to the fact that no one wants to deal with the kilombo (mess) that is the process of arranging papers for residency. Acquiring a job at a university is nearly impossible and finding something with a high school (yield that it be private) is equally difficult. So, Buenos Aires decided that we aren't for it and we decided that it isn't quite for us either.
What to do? Time to travel instead! 

Daniela is currently visiting Iguazu falls with a friend. I have already visited them personally, but I didn't want her to miss the opportunity to see such an amazing site. Come Tuesday, we're flying down to Ushuaia to visit Tierra de Fuego and the southernmost city in the world, "The End of the World". After that, we're going to travel up the western border of Argentina and, eventually, cross over to Santiago, Chile. Needless to say, great adventures await us and there will be much more to come!