A natural high for my birthday
Trip Start
Oct 14, 2005
1
67
71
Trip End
??? ??, 2006
Humahuaca,
Argentina
Friday, May 5, 2006
Humahuaca is a small town in the middle of the Andes and at over 3000 meters altitude it was breathtaking in more ways than one. After settling into our picturesque little cottage of a hostel, bizzarely we decided to tke the hostel that was nearly a kilometer from the bus station, and walk there in the heat with our full packs, but it was a very nice hostel.
After settling in, we decided that a bit of trekking was in order, and we caught a bus out to Hornaditis, where there were allegedley Inca cave paintings, very easy to find we were assured you won´t need a guide
01. Humahuaca Hills
. Expecting Hornaditis to be some kinda of town or village with people to ask, we set off. It turns out that all there was at Hornaditis was a large farm, a few little huts, no people and a couple of full size football pitches. Which was to become a feature of the poorer rural areas of South America, it didn´t mater where we went there was always a football pitch, in the middle of no where, bang another football pitch. I guess when you have electricity for only a few hours a day and not a lot money, but plenty of space, what better way to keep the kids entertained than by sticking up a few posts and giving them a ball. Probably explains why argebtiba are one of the best footballing nations.With no-one to ask for directions, we set off in the most likely direction for inca cave paintings, towards the rocks. After an hour of exploring the rocks and the cactuses we did not see anything even remotely like an Incan cave painting, but that did not put a dampner on what was a great way to spend an afternoon, climbing through alien terrain. The landscape was very barren with every plant havin spikes a plenty to protect itself from various predators, and preserve what little water it can absorb.
A quick exploration of the town, including an imposing statue, probably of a spanish conquistador, in the centre of the town, and we retire to the hostel to get ready for my birthday celebrations
02.Misty Mountains
. Not only was this my birthday, but it was also our last night in Argentina, and we still had not tried Maté yet. Maté is the traditional drink of Argentina, made famous by Che Guevara in his motor cycle diaries, and is drunk by everyone, everywhere. So why had it taken us so long to try it? The problem with Maté is that you require a special cup, and more importantly a special straw "bombilla" to drink it. It is a made from a bitter herb, that is filled to the top of the cup, and then hot water is poured over it to infuse the flavours, like tea. you need the special straw with perforations in the end to be able to drink it without getting a mouthful of herbs. Our kind host at the hostel, allowed us to use his cup and straw and didn´t charge us for the Maté either.After our Maté drinking and card session, we set out to town for some food and a few drinks. Unfortunately we were in Humahuaca and not Buenos Aries, and at 11 o´clock all the reccomendations from the hostel were closed. We eventually found a small place inhabited by drunken Argentines that did food and wine and beer, this will do.
We ended up getting very drunk (I blame the altitude) and having a great time with a group of old men, who kept on bringing up the Falklands and Thatcher and "Mano de Dios" the Hand of God, for those of you less football inclined, it was referring to an incident when Diego Maradona, decided to score with his hand against England in the 1986 World Cup. Definitely a sore point amongst English football fans. It all ended amicably with everyone having a great time, and one of my new Argentinian friends going home with an empañada for his daughter Lucy.
Definately one of my more unusual birthdays.
The next day we decided to take a trip out to Iruya, a mountain town, with spectacualer scenery, the drive over there was very impressive, stopping for a toilet break at 4000m was a highlight of the trip through winding mountain roads at cloud level. Once in Iruya, the steep cobbled streets were an endurance test, not aided by the 30 minute football game against some of the local kids, which, despite a deserved victory for the europeans, was not easy at over 3000m. After a bit of condor watching, and a rather bizarre attack by 4 stray dogs on a Donkey it was time to leave Iruya return to Humahuaca, and spend the remainder of our Pesos before our bus to Villazon, and Bolivia.
