El tren a los nubes photos

Llama on the menu

In the provinces of Salta and Jujuy where I have spent the last week or so, the regional specialty is llama. A little disconcerting at first since they´re so iconic to South America, but I suppose it´s a bit like us Aussies eating kangaroos. Anyway, we figured that we should try some llama meat, and we got it in a few forms...

First, we took a shot at a pretty delicious sounding dish of llama steaks cooked in peach sauce accompanied by potatoes, parsley and goat´s cheese, as well as a bottle of the local viño tinto (red wine). Well, don´t know what happened to the sauce, parsley and goat´s cheese (maybe the truck went awol off one of those crazy roads...), but the potatoes were good and the llama actually was really nice! A little tougher than other meats, but tasty nonetheless.

Another variation was that of the regional specialty locro, a type of soup with pretty much anything I think such as beans, corn, pulses, vegies, and meat (yes, including llama). It´s really nice, and makes a change from the usual meat-and-salad combination! Plus, it´s a bit more warming on those cold, high-altitude nights.

Thirdly, I don´t think I´ve mentioned Empanadas before, but these are another Argentinian obsession. They´re pretty much pastries filled with carne (meat), pollo (chicken), verduras (vegetables), queso (cheese) or yep, you guessed it, llama! If nothing else, you can always be guaranteed to find empanadas on the menu at any eatery in the country! Not sure I could tell the difference between llama empanades and the normal carne, but maybe the blocked nose got in the way!

Speaking of, I´ve been sick for over a week now with a cold, hopefully not Swine Flu (which resulted in a month of holidays here in Salta and there are signs EVERYWHERE in Argentina about being hygenic etc). It was funny going to the Doc here, who thankfully did speak English. This is the first time I´ve been prescribed oxygen 3 times a day and Ivy leaf extract as part of my treatment! Anyway, I´m spending a few extra days in Salta to recuperate fully before returning to self-inflicted sickness at altitude. A good opportunity though to take some Spanish lessons and catch up on the blog and photos!!

Have finally managed to get the photos into photobucket, and have added the links in the sidebar on the right if you´re keen and want to check them all out! Otherwise, I´ll post them as slideshows over the next few days so they aren´t all in one chunk (many many photos!!).

Hasta la proxima!

¨...Beep beep, beep beep, yeah!¨

Ok, so the road trip continues...

To the rest of the world, it must seem a little strange that Britain and its derivitaves such as Australia drive on the left-hand side of the road. But we all know we´re the normal ones! So my first experience driving on the wrong side of the road certainly took some getting used to. For starters, my left hand had to learn to hold the wheel straight on its own, something which it´s apparently unaccustomed to doing - but, once I´d worked out that the door handle didn´t help to change gears and that windscreen wipers weren´t particularly good indicators, I think I got the hang of it pretty quickly (with a few reminders from the backseat on unlined roads and intersections!!).

I think we´ve travelled the equivalent of Melbourne to Sydney and back in the last few days, about 1600km anyway. But unlike the lovely, smooth, well-signed Hume Highway with its possum bridges, we´ve instead had to slow down for llama crossings and attempt to negotiate the unpredictable and often frustratingly illogical Argentinian road system, which is in dire need of some signage and repair. We´ve driven on anything from straight and loooong two lane paved roads, to corrugated gravel tracks, salt pans, and windy mountainous passes better suited to bike-widths than cars (or trucks for that matter...).

Particularly difficult to understand is what makes a stretch of road worthy of being sealed. I´m not sure how these decisions are made, but it makes no sense to me that you can be for example, driving along a seemingly main road between places that switches any number of times between gravel and sealed (if you can call it that when there are HUGE potholes to be avoided! But it has been nice to be in a car again on the open road, driving through fields of cacti backed by rugged mountain ranges, and being able to stop at leasure to take in the silence and stillness and snap photos of everything from the ever-changing landscapes to donkeys, llamas, goats, horses, cowboys and shephards.

Particularly nice was the stretch through the National Park de los Cardones. Though it didn´t feel like we were climbing that high, by the time we reached the highest point on the drive we were about 4000m above sea level. At the top there was a small church, and the most spectacular view across the sunshine drenched valley below. Breathtaking (literally)!

The way down took us back towards Salta, where there is a traintrack built unashamedly for touristic purposes that winds its way ¨a las nubes (to the clouds)¨ of the Andean plateau through the Quebrada del Toro, a spectacular journey and popular attraction. If only it were actually running once in a while! It has been closed for a few years, and in recent times has been sporadic at best but thankfully there is a road following close to the same route allowing you to experience the same spectacular scenery en route to the seen-better-days desert town of San Antonio de Los Cobres, 3700m above sea level. If you´re lucky like we were, you might even pass a film crew on the road with a poor girl wrapped in a towel in the freezing wind waiting for her cowboy to come along!

The piece de resistance of the train track is a bridge that extends between two mountains which seems incredibly high and narrow. If I hadn´t been flattened by altitude sickness, I could have appreciated this engineering masterpiece a little better, but as it where I could only manage to step out of the car for about 3 minutes to take a photo and go ¨wow¨. Altitude sickness sucks, let me tell you, and is not helped by having a cold at the same time! The headache is splitting, the nausea debilitating, and loss of appetite unhelpful. Thank goodness it is easily fixed by descent!

Now lastly today, a little request to everyone reading to make yourself known to me by leading the pack and becoming a follower! It´s been great getting all your messages and I´m so glad to hear everyone´s enjoying the blog so much, so it´d be great to have you following so I can keep track of who´s reading! Signing up is really easy, under followers click ´follow´ and ´create a google account´, type in your current email and password, and that´s it! This will also allow you to leave comments on the blog, or otherwise please continue to email/facebook me directly because it´s great to hear from everyone!

Once again I´ve well and truly filled a post, so llamas will have to wait for next time, as will the final part(s) of the drive and my latest experience with the Argentinian healthcare system.

Chau amigos!