Train to the Clouds

After a lot of deliberation ("Can we handle 15 hours on a train?" "Is it worth the money?" "Who is going to get altitude sickness?"), we decided to buy tickets on the Tren de los Nubes, or the Train to the Clouds.  

The kids were troopers!  And thanks to suggestions online, we came prepared with books, warm clothes, lots of food, extra water, and an assumption that the whole thing might be awful.

Luckily, it was pretty great.  Here are some photos.

The train has regular tunnels, but also 2 switchbacks and two spirals.  

Still happy on the way up

Cacti in the morning light

One of the stops - the train is an attraction to people driving on the road.

The train had 200 people on it, even in the low season of winter.  Most were Argentinian. 

The "Puna," or high altitude desert plains of the Andes

Typical scene:  Abby reading, Taylor looking for condors.

The highest viaduct in the world, at 11,800 feet.

Got out at the top, but met by a crowd of locals selling crafts, snacks, and showing their llamas

On the high plateau

Most of the way back...

Taylor was alert and happy most of the way.  Saw many Andean condors.

Quilmes

On our drive from Cafyate to Tafi del Valle (for information read the post two down), we came across a native (indian) ruin.  It is called Quilmes.  They lived up on a mountain side surrounded by cactuses.  There are two watch towers; the south and the north. In the middle there is a large town. The only things left are the rock walls around the houses (the formations).  The houses are made very creatively so that there are many homes.
Here are some pictures:

The city from the north tower.

It felt like a maze!

Picture from the south tower.

Us and a cactus.

Dad, don't get in the picture of me and mom!

Welcome to llama land!

Salta History

           Umm, just a warning: If you are not a history nut you will find the next few paragraphs kinda boring. And when you are done, don't say I didn't warn you.

          Well, right now we are vacationing all over northwestern Argentina. It is FULL of history, so naturally I love it here. I am taking tons of pictures!. A few days ago, we visited the old Quilmes ruins in Tucaman. The Quilmes were a small tribe who, depite their numbers RESISTED the huge Inca tribe in the 15th century. Then, they resisted the Spanish conquerers for 130 YEARS before they took over and sent 2,000 survivors to a camp south of Buenos Aires. This 1,500 kilometer trek was MADE ON FOOT!!! Ahhhh!!!! Isn't that amazing? Well, except for the fact that tons of Quilmes natives died on the journey.Then the camp was abandoned because people though it was a ghost town and the dead Quilmes people were trying to seek revenge.

               Anyway, now we are in Salta, which is the OLDEST CITY IN ARGENTINA!!!!!! It was formed by a Spanish Conquistador named Hernandez de Lerma. Salta has TONS of cathedrals and convents, and it is also one of the highest cities in the region.          

          Yesterday we rode El Tren a las Nubes (the train to the clouds), which is a 13 hour train ride with a few stops (so all in all it was 7 am to 11 pm). We rode through the highest town in Argentina and the highest and longest viaduct (bridge for a train thingymagig). We also reached an altitude of 14,000 feet!!!!!! My ears popped and we all had headaches. Anyway, the guide told us a lot about the Native legends like the Native Americans turning into cacti to watch over the people. Cool right?

          Today was amazing. We visited the Museo de Archeologia de la Alto Montonas. In it, there was all the artifacts of Incas that were sacrificed on the mountains. You know, where they make the kid drink an overdose of alcohol and then bury them on top of a mountain? Did you know that they were chosen when they were born, it was an honor to be chosen, and that the kid was MARRIED right before they died? So basically it was like; Here's your bride, your married, okay now you both go on top of a snowy mountain and die!!!! Have a good honeymoon!!!! It was fascinating!!!
                They actually had two mummies at the museum (they had one more but it wasn't on display)! One was a 6 year old girl (she was found with the boy that was not shown, so they were presumably married) and the other was a fifteen year old girl found in a different place. There was a really cool video showing how they can tell how old the mummies are by their teeth.  Sorry, I am such a history nut! Here are some pictures!

Cathedral

Highest viaduct in the world

Quilmes ruins

Mi amigo the llama!!!!

Salta and around

Before we come home we are taking a vacation in the northwest of Argentina. First we flew from Trelew to Buenos Aires and met up with my dad (he was in Oklahoma city a few days before). Then we stayed in the Lafayette hotel for a night. The next day we flew from Buenos Aires to Salta.  In Salta we rented a car and drove for four hours. It should have been three but dad got a little messed up and did a huge detour.  Our destination was Cafyate, a town that makes very good wine (according to mom and dad).  After staying a night there we drove in to a town called Tafi del Valle. We are staying two nights here.  We are also here right now. After this we are going to drive to Salta, stay three nights, drive to a place called Cachi stay two nights, go back to Salta, fly to Buenos Aires stay one night there and finely go home!!!!!

I forgot to tell you, there were hundreds of cactus on the way! 

A really cool ravine on the way to Cafyate

Eating enpanatas in Cafyate. An enpanata is like a little fried burrito. 

A large spice store in Cafyate.

A really cool house in Cafyate.

Goodbye Tea in Gaiman

As a farewell gift, the Duo family, our friends in Trelew who have lived in Miami for 6 years so are fluent in English and go to school with us, took us to tea in Gaiman. there was lots of cake, tea and tears.

Tango, Terma and Tongue

A few days ago, my mom's friend from the pool that she swims at, invited my mom and I to go to tango lessons with her and her daughter (the mother is fluent in English because she lived in California for a long time). So, we learned how to tango for half an hour, which is an eight step dance from Argentina. After, they took us out to dinner at a small resteraunt, where we were greeted to another special surprise, tongue of cow for an appetizer!!!! We also drank some sour juice made from a bunch of herbs called Terma. All in all, we learned a lot about Argentinian culture on our last week in Trelew!

Yum! Tongue!

Plate of tongue!

Terma

Tangoing

Mom learning to tango!

Earth Day

Earth Day in Argentina (Video - Click Here)

This is an Earth Day video I made (Pay it forward project).  All photos taken in Trelew, Argentina. (Prepare yourselves, it's gross)

Going back in time

I've been working on a theory about living in this small, industrial city in Patagonia.  Here it is:  In Trelew, it's always 1974.

Supporting evidence:

• Muscle cars and loud tailpipes are the epitome of cool.
• Recycling?  Nope.  Only a bottle-return on local beer.
• Construction workers whistle at women (constantly).
• Despite a national obsession with the game, no soccer for girls.  Instead, the big sport for girls is roller skating.
• Cursive writing is a major element of the kids' school.
• Popular ladies fashions include polyester stretch pants.  For men? Members Only-type jackets.
• No car seats or seatbelts in use, ever.
• Litter and graffiti are everywhere, on everything.

A lovely yard nearby

Okay, they aren't all muscle-cars...but they are still from the 70s!
The desert climate means they don't rust so they're still on the road.

Near our house

Paleontology park and Asado

On Sunday we went to a paleontology park in Gaiman.  We went with two of dads colleagues (Pablo and Marcelo).  We went up a steep hill and along the way they had displays of fossils.  The formation in which we walked was the Sarmiento formation.  After that we went back to our house and had an Asado (an Argentinian cookout).  Pablo's son ate Lams heart and tripe (intestine). Here are some pictures...

Basketball in Argentina-2!!!

Hey faithful blog readers! Sorry I haven't blogged in a while... 8 hour school days tend to give you a few headaches.  Less than one month until we come back to Durham!!! We are so excited!!!!!!!

For those of you that don't know, a few weeks ago I switched to a different basketball club, called Club Independente. I switched because of the lack of femininity and because of the drastically high amount of fart jokes. I know, I should be proud of myself that I know enough Spanish to interpret that, but unfortunately it had the opposite affect. Anyway, now that I have joined this new club, I find it amazing. All the players are girls, a lot of them really tall, all of them over the age of 13, and pretty awesome at basketball. It is so cool what you can learn from watching these girls play. I have gained so much confidence in myself, improved my lay-up amazingly, and learned so much about the game of basketball. I have also found a few new friends,made a few new role models and learned not to get on my coaches nerves or else he makes us do 20 push-ups (and that is just for not standing in a line fast enough!).

My coach and his daughter (whose name is Sofie, and who if I interpreted correctly, is trying out for the U-15 Argentinian National Basketball team) threw a party for the team. It was so fun hanging around those girls, eating churripan (the Argentinian version of a hotdog) and watching pro boxing (which I still don't get the point of, even though all my teammates had their eyes glued to the screen).

Here are some pics!!!

The basketball party-one girl in the back is 19 years old!!

Marlene's birthday party

We are not the only foreigners in Trelew. Our neighbors (next door) are German (except for Ruben, he is owner of the museam my dad works in) . Thankfully they all speak fluent english. They have two kids Marlene age four and Pepi age two Pepi is also very crazy. My mom keeps telling me that he is just like I was (it gets annoying). Anyway, Marlene invited us to her birthday party. We gave her cupcakes, flower barrettes, a hat that mom knitted and three cards (German and English) for Pepi we got a wooden train thingy handmade from El Bolson. Here are some pictures.

Merlene's (middle) birthday cake

Blowing out the candles!!!
pepi is blonde with a green shirt

ruben and his mom