The Wonders of South America.
On the 11th July 1990 I boarded an Aerolineas Argetinas 747 Jumbo Jet, complete with genuine leather seats, and that is the economy class. At Auckland I met all my fellow travellers all of whom were Australians and New Zealanders. It was a direct flight from Auckland, New Zealand to Buenos Aires, the capitol of Argentina. After an eleven-hour flight of excellent service we arrived in the early evening to start a wonderful experience of 30 days bus tour, exploring Argentina, Bolivia, Peru and Brazil. with Adventure World. .
I awoke refreshed to a mild winter’s morning, after a huge breakfast we all gathered for a formal introduction to fellow passengers, including my room mate Dallas from Blenheim, New Zealand, our bus driver and Jacque, our New Zealand tour guide, The start of our tour comprised of a general tour of the city, known to many as the “ Paris of the Americas” lots of lovely old French style buildings including the City Hall, Government House, Metro Cathedral, then the La Boca Italian district with it’s multi coloured buildings, singers and artists, plus lots of souvenir market stalls. Moving on, the next stop was the Recolata Cemetary, huge ornate constructions for the wealthy of the city, we also visited the tomb of Eva Baron, wife of the late Presidente Juan Peron.
An afternoon of leisure gave me a chance to explore the inner city with its rows of elegant shops displaying top name clothing and jewellery from around the world, also a place where people dress up, ladies in furs, hats and gloves, men with suits, felt hats and canes, this scene looked very European and traditional. I was fortunate to go to Casa Blanca Nightclub to view some of the national Tango competitions; the dances were very professional and colourful. My first taste of a typical Argentinean beef dinner proved more than I could manage, and a moderate price, waiters kept circulating with huge mountains of meat to refill your plates with delicious top grade steaks.
Early next morning we boarded the first of many internal flights, a four-hour flight to Lima, the capitol of Peru. The aircraft followed a route allowing us to view some of the spectacular scenery that forms the mighty Andes mountain range. Lima, an old colonial city where there has been much unrest and civil wars over many decades, it is often referred to as the “ City of Kings”. On arrival there was plenty of time to get acquainted with a bus tour around the main centre. Huge Government buildings, Torre Tagle Palace, City Hall and the Metropolitan Cathedral of Cabildo, also included was the ornate Church of San Francisco framing the lovely Plaza de Armas city square, many buildings were pock marked with countless bullet holes during clashes, thank goodness now there seemed to be peace, allowing the tourists to return. There was much activity among the scores of street sellers who added colour contrast to the old buildings; these happy people came daily from their remote country villages, also the shantytowns around the outskirts of the city. Survival is very hard in this already overpopulated city. Thieving is rampart in South America; they blame it on the roaming gypsies. It was suggested we leave all valuables at our hotel security boxes and only take enough money for daily use, sadly this meant cameras of value, but our tour guide promised plenty of stops to capture the beauty of the countries. Apart from this problem the markets were fantastic, a whole street of floral displays, huge wedding arrangements with dazzling colour. A local drink called Pisco, which is brandy, based with lemon juice, very smooth and a great preparation to a good nights sleep. The country currency is the Intas, cashing in $10 U.S.A. made you an immediate millionaire.
We departed Lima by coach, destination Nazca, a journey of 400 klms, the countryside was very barren and seem to have a permanent fog. The coach climbed over rocky mountain roads badly in need of repair, in the fertile valleys where small towns settled along rivers where crops of potatoes, corn and peppers thrived. Nasca sits in the middle of an oasis surrounded by desert on the coastal plains, there was much poverty everywhere; the best-looking building seemed to be the hotel. Twenty-two klms north of the town is the world famous enormous and mysterious geometrical lines and figures scratched into stony desert resembling landing strips, a condor, monkey and a spider which can be admired by taking an flight to view these amazing markings, I preferred to see them from the ground after checking out the little old vintage planes. Our stay in Nasca left plenty of time to check out the many markets with sellers displaying beautiful handmade Lama and Alpaca jerseys and scarves and lots of colourful ornaments.
Arequipa, was our next destination, we travelled over a combination of more desolate country, coastline scenery and valleys growing citrus and vegetables, the 600 klms journey passed many small primitive villages where the children made money by filling in potholes on the highway. Arequipa is Peru’s second largest city, sitting at the foot of the impressive snow capped volcano Mt. El Misti. It is built almost entirely of low buildings constructed of white volcanic stone. There are many beautiful old Spanish colonial mansions and it’s full of magnificent old churches and a Labyrinthine nunnery which is a city within a city. It has a quiet, kind of charm, quite different from Lima. On another level, it’s a lively centre of folk music and you never run short of a Pena to go to in the evenings. We visited the Monastery of Santa Catalina, recently opened to the public after 400 years, another city within a city, narrow cobbled streets, gardens, fountains and churches, even a cemetery, unfortunately there were few artefacts left from the days when the nuns occupied the entire Monastery, maybe they lived very frugally. The gardeners have made up for that with pots of flowering plants and small gardens on every street corner.
The following morning we were transferred to the airport for a flight to Cuzco which was delayed five hours, which we were told is very common in South American countries. There is no seat allocated numbers so when it is time to board there is a mad scramble to get a window seat, apart from the delay we were soon rewarded by some magnificent mountain scenery including the wonderful El Misti.
Arriving at Cuzco, at an altitude of 4,000 mitres, this beautiful old rose tinted city had been rebuilt many times after very strong earthquakes. The original stone foundations of the Inca era were always used and much of it still remains perfectly intact, even modern day buildings use these foundations, the Spanish conquerors had the good sense to only demolish the upper parts of structures and build on top of the remains. This beautiful stonework is all over the city, even in restaurants and hotels. The Incas built enormous temples to the sun, moon and stars as well as palaces and fortresses, such as the Sacsayhuaman ruins overlooking the city; this is a magnificent sight of night-lights looking down on the entire valley. At this high altitude we were all instructed to walk and breath slowly, and drink an occasional cup of coca tea, a light stimulant to help the body relaxed, it is the leaves of the coca tree which is one of the main ingredients to making cocaine, scary thought, but it works, the locals were always chewing on the leaves, we at least had the option of using it like tea bags. Thieving was ramped in the city, as I walked through the streets with my new friend Dallas he complained about his false teeth hurting as they were just a new pair before the trip, I suggested he take them out for a while which he did, putting them in a side pocket, seconds later a hand appeared and drew them out along with a few dollar notes. The thief got such a shock he dropped them and ran off, sellers on the roadside were in fits of laughter, then said sorry but it looked so funny, they helped us retrieve the money and teeth and stated that the gypsies days of thieving would be over for a while
Now we come to an exciting part of this journey, an early morning departure by train through the mountains to the fantastic ruins of Machu Picchu. Situated on top of a mountain and undiscovered until 1911 it remains today as a monument to the Incas who suffered miserably at the hands of the Spanish. It is probably the most famous archaeological site in the entire Americas. It staddles a narrow mountain, high above a bend in the Urubamba river, against a backdrop of snow capped peaks which rise over 6,000 metres. The train journey itself was a wonderful experience, zigzagging its way up the mountainside, sometimes backing a distance to gain altitude. The final six klms were by bus up a very windy, narrow road.
At first glance at this wonder of the world most people are speechless, curious as to how this city has built way up on the top of a ridge, how were the huge stone blocks carried up the steep hillside without the help of the wheel, and how the city remained a secret for four centuries. Some of the blocks were up to 200 tonnes, shaped to perfection and the joins so well crafted, not even a cigarette paper could be lodged between them. Although the timber and roofs of the houses had long gone, the walls were still intact. There are different levels of fitness for walking the Inca Trails of up to five days, which are very popular and cover the history, and fate of the Inca race.
Descending again from a memorial day and some fantastic scenery, there was still time to visit more Inca ruins in the valleys around Cuzco. Sellers displayed their goods anywhere there was a chance the tourists would be stopping, even trying to make a sale as the train slowed down or changed lines. Back at the hotel we were introduced to a local beer called Cheecha, made from fermented corn and tasted revolting but was very cheap and popular with the locals and made them horribly drunk, one sip was enough for me! One of the ladies on our tour wished to sample the countries delicacy, Guinea pig, the chef at our hotel roasted it and we all stood around while she ate it, so sad as most countries keep them as pets.
Next day was a chance to explore the interesting Indian city of Pisac, the enchantment of local ladies selling their homespun alpaca goods, always open for a good barter. Our bus took us on to Ollantaytambo; another well preserved Inca ruin, then to a Palace, a Temple and more ruins.
Our journey carried on next day with a train trip through some breathtaking Valley scenery with the mighty Andes as a backdrop, our destination, Puno. At least that was what we expected, to start with the train was delayed for five hours, the reason being terrorists had blown up a bridge in a remote area of the Valley. Finally on our way, there was a tourist car attached to the local train, we were served a very nice meal with refreshments at no charge to compensate for the delay. Sellers were following us holding on to the carriages as best they could and every time the train stopped they would spread out their wares for possible sales. We had soldiers to guard us on the journey, just in case of any trouble with terrorists. About mid afternoon the train gave a sudden jolt, then stopped, we were informed that there was another problem with bandits blowing up more of the track. So much for the beautiful views of the lovely scenery, we weren’t going anywhere, it got dark and spooky, a huge quiet spread through the carriage, with many different nationalities on board, equally scared it was suggested we have a party, out came the liquor we were carrying, our mixture of different nations performed some very entertaining songs and dances of their countries, fuelled by whatever drinks they had, the time soon passed and some hours later the train was on it’s way again, a much happier bunch of people with new friendships made fuelled by a mixture of different alcohols.
Arriving in Puno just before dawn we were escorted from the train to a waiting bus, a fight broke out among some locals, we were shielded by our soldiers and safely made it to the bus, we were told the fight was staged to distract the luggage carrier giving the thieves a chance to steel what they wanted, what a welcome!!!. It was twenty-three hours since we started out for this journey; now after a further hour we finally reached our hotel and most welcome beds.
All too soon we were on our way again to visit the floating Islands of Uros, there were about forty of them with whole villages built on reeds, as they rotted the buildings were lifted and new reeds placed on top, not a healthy life, lots of arthritic and lung problems among the residents, but they chose to live there as their ancestors did for centuries. We carried on with a cruise of the lovely Lake Tuticaca, high above sea level, stopping for a visit to Suriqui Island where three brothers made the famous Ra 11 reed boat which crossed the Atlantic, they demonstrated how the reeds were tied and shaped. It is now in a museum in Oslo, Norway, I was fortunate to view it on a recent visit there. Today they still build reed boats, mostly for pleasure seeking people. Joining our bus again at Cocacabana, completing customs control, we were now in Bolivia and journeyed on to La Paz, a beautiful city 3.600 mts. above sea level and it claims to be the highest Capitol city in the world, lots of narrow cobbled streets and colourful markets selling an enormous selection of craft wear, leather jackets and very reasonably priced clothes. The Bolivian people are very happy and friendly, they enjoyed showing their produce without being pushy. The dresses of the ladies were full colourful skirts and black bowler hats. The skyscrapers of the banks and business houses down in the centre are surrounded on all sides by houses, which climb up the steep slopes of the canyon walls. Our bus took us to visit the mysterious “ Valley of the Moon”, an eerie sort of place with an apt name. I enjoyed some free time just exploring the older part of the city which has retained a colourful Colonial flavour plus re-visiting the cobbled streets of the old Quito.
Next morning we were back in the air again for a 50-minute flight to Santa Cruz, which until the mid 1960’s was isolated for centuries through lack of communications, then the town boomed, prospered from the profits gained from cocaine, agriculture and cattle ranching. Another plane trip to Puerto Suarez, there was still an 18 klm. bus trip through thick jungle to Corumba and the Brazilian border. More red tape here, the customs officers tried to give us a hard time by making us come into a grubby office and show our cameras and fill out forms, the officer consigned to questioning me was a dirty little weasel of a man delighted in showing his authority. Our bougainvillea covered hotel was a little primitive but a lovely meal in a nearby restaurant compensated, complimented with some delightful locals dancing the Lambada. This was a relaxing end to a stressful day dealing with border controls.
Travelling on through the heart of the Panternal, a vast swampy area, and one of the worlds greatest wildlife preserves for birds, fish and animals, unique to the area, we crossed many rickety bridges and skilfully manoeuvred over some very narrow winding roads. We were able to visit the Santa Clara ranch; very isolated from civilization, they were very happy and industrious people, our bus was taken by barge across the Paraquay River, our tour followed by a cruise in a long boat Many sightings of alligators and colourful birds could be seen, we noted giant guinea pigs, lots of monkeys were viable through the thick undergrowth. Our lovely old hotel at Pantanal again was a little primitive but a wonderful meal and entertainment made up for any discomfort.
Next morning I awoke to the jungle sounds of many birds and animals, the bus was soon on the road again through more jungle with loads of wildlife, our next destination, Campo Grande, quite a large rural industrial Brazilian city, and of little interest to travellers, we lunched at a remarkably modern shopping centre before heading to the airport for flight to Brasilia, the capitol of Brazil.
The modern plane covered a vast barren countryside of little interest, arriving at the city built in the middle of nowhere, the Capitol was created by the architect Oscar Niemeyer, planned in the shape of an aeroplane, the wings as residential, the fuselage as the administration, shops and offices. Wide tree lined freeways linked the city, gave a feeling of space, hundreds of kilometres from the coast. Apart from being an enormous, almost an expensive monument to the vanity of architects and military dictators, there are some magnificent buildings and sculptures including an underground cathedral, which I was enthralled with it’s beautiful stained glass windows. The Capitol has been referred to as a “ Big White Elephant”
Back in the sky again after noisy nights accommodation, we left the concrete jungle, our plane took us over the jungle around the Amazon, on to Manaus, a duty free port where huge ships make the 2000 klm. journey from the coast. It is a city of legends, set in the middle of the Amazon jungle accessible by river and air only. Despite it’s remoteness there is a colourful collection of buildings, British built Customs House and Portuguese Colonial houses and the Italian Opera House which has rivalled those of many European cities for it’s opulence. The beautiful artwork inside the Opera House needs constant cleaning and painting to stand the severe environmental elements of being 3 degs. from the equator.
Our tour was to board a luxury Amazon River cruise ship, for a three-day tour, somehow there was confusion, and the boat was not there. The Brazilian Government decided to claim it to entertain some V.I.P’s so we were left with alternatives, two smaller crafts that were very cramped, especially the cabins, there were two bunks but only one person could get changed at a time so the other had to wait outside till the first one went to bed, quite a laugh. The dining room, meals and the decks were adequate so we settled back to enjoy the cruise.
First the boats sailed along Amazon, meeting the Rio Negro stopping the first night anchored among overhanging trees along the banks, it had been raining quite heavily but cleared during the night and after a peaceful sleep were awakened to many strange jungle noises. We took an early trek through the thick undergrowth gaining knowledge of different trees, wild life and Indian culture among this steamy unspoilt region. Returning to where the Negro flowed into the Amazon, the almost black water the ran side by side without mingling and there was a distinctive line down the middle with the yellow waters of the Amazon, which lasted for about six klms. This phenomenon is referred to as “the meeting of the waters”. At this point the Amazon is about eight klms wide
After cruising most of the day with a few stops to view native villages, we were entertained with some native songs and dances. A stop at a floating trading post created a lot of interest, selling a variety of fresh vegetables and fruits, there were crates of snakes for us to study and handle, most of us were a bit hesitant, although we were told none were venomous . Some of the locally made craft ware was very different and not seen anywhere else. We were taken in powered canoes through the lagoons and tributaries of the river, crossing the Archipelago up to the mouth of the Apuau River, I was amazed by the lack of bird life, maybe it is because the jungle is slowly being milled and they have moved on? Our tour guides organised us in long, narrow boats with canopies for a dusk fishing trip, teaching us how to catch the vicious Piranha, amazing their small size but razor sharp teeth. Our guide caught many other small fish for us to study. As night took over the beady eyes of scores of alligators dotted the river and banks, luckily the small boats kept us at a safe distance. Our boats were anchored closer this time so we could share hospitality nightcaps with the rest of our tour before enjoying another peaceful night in the jungle.
Next morning before we moved on, our tour guide suggested we have a swim in the Amazon, some did, I was a bit wary but after some coxing I dived in only to realise how swift the river flowed and soon I was many metres from the boat, luckily I never panicked, slowly swimming through the strong current till finally making it back to the boat, what a relief, it looked so calm from on board.
The return to Manaus was relaxing, no stops, just cruising and enjoying the jungle scenery. On arrival there was still some time to explore this remote city before joining our craft for the eight-hour flight on to Salvador, making a stopover at Brasilia for refuelling. After a long day I was pleased to take an early night and enjoy a proper bed again.
Salvador, often referred to, as Bahia is unquestionably the most exotic Brazilian city. It is the land of folklore, full of mysticism, historic and cultural traditions. Strange to be back on a coastline again. A tour of the city which was once the capitol of Brazil took us through quaint cobbles streets and colourful marketplaces, beautiful old Cathedrals which were built by Negro slaves, this was a vast contrast to the huge slum areas that seem to be everywhere. We visited the “Mercedo Modelo” with its two floors of Bahian Arts and Crafts, you could bargain for intricate silver jewellery, leather and lace trimmed Bahian blouses. I enjoyed the long stretches of golden beaches and a little cooler from the steamy jungle of the Amazon.
Now, people are also speaking Portuguese, so different from the Spanish spoken all over South America. It is an interesting city partly because of its mixed population, here there were every shape and size and colour of people, its heavily influenced religious ceremonies and colourful fiestas, Until 1763 it was the capitol of Brazil, some areas have definitely have an air of prolonged neglect but others have been restored and home to a wide variety of lively and rustic bars and restaurants.
There was suppose to be a morning to relax but a change of plan meant an earlier flight to Rio de Janeiro, the second capitol of Brazil and home to the most famous. Carnivals. Our hotel was at the end of Copacabana beach, a gem of a setting, a wide paved esplanade followed the golden beach dwarfed with many high-rise hotels. My friend Dallas and I took an evening stroll along this world famous stretch of sand admiring the many volley ball players, and were soon approached by two obvious trouble makers, they wanted the time of day, I told my friend not to tell them, it was a way to bring your arm up so as to make it easier to thieve your watch, we were soon labelled as “white scum”. A scary start to our stay here was to find out a man went missing three days earlier and his wife tried to get the police to start a search which proved fruitless, he was later found on another beach, he had been operated on to remove one of his kidneys, the last we heard he had survived but doctors were anxious to find out whether the surgery was hygienic.
On a lighter side this exciting city had lots of wonderful surprises, first a visit by cable car to the summit of the Sugarloaf for great views of the city, a rail trip up to the eleven story high statue of “Christ Redeemer”, crowning Mt. Corcovado, again there were some fantastic views of the city, then on to Tijuca rain forest and equally famous beaches of Ipanema and Botafogo harbour.
Nest day was a well earned day of relaxing, I started with a swim at Copacabana beach, thieving is so rampart that I had a friend stand on my towel while I enjoyed the tepid waters of this famous beach, all the time watching that nobody forced him aside to steal it. This is so sad in such a lovely place. Later I explored the local shops and markets, all the time keeping an eye out for thieves. After a visit to a huge soccer stadium which houses 250 thousand fans and doubles for huge concerts it was time to experience the marvels of a Samba dance show, very colourful costumes, superb dancing and singing, some of the entertainers had huge baskets of fruit as head gear. The return trip to the hotel was through a massive tunnel, passed the commercial centre and sadly a contrast to the glitter I had just seen, there were many slum areas on the surrounding hillsides.
Still another morning of leisure to enjoy this wonderful city, an afternoon flight took us to the world famous Iguazu Falls, which is on the border of Argentine, Brazil and Paraguay. Our aircraft banked to give us a magnificent view of over 200 falls before landing at Foz do Iguazu. We were transferred to a very beautiful flower covered hotel, There was still time to view some of the falls before dark, which were close to the hotel, the thundering noise was deafening and spectacular. A very nice meal was served, an after meal stroll around the streets was a lot safer than most of the cities I have just visited. Tourism has transformed Foz do Iguazu only two- three decades ago but it is still a pleasant place, no high rise buildings and a much slower pace.
Next morning our coach took us on the grand tour of the falls, they are one of the natural wonders of the world and are equal to the grandeur of Niagara and Victoria Falls. Some of the group opted for a helicopter flight but I was content to view the splendour of millions of litres of water falling at different levels, (the rainy season has just finished so this gave the falls a spectacular show) The bus took us to a lookout to view the eye of the Falls, called the Devils Throat, on the Argentine side, there was a boardwalk going nearly to the centre of this huge whirlpool of water escaping to form the many Falls. After a nice lunch the tour bus took us to visit the huge Itaipu Dam on the Rio Parana, construction of which was still going on. When completed it will have the capacity of producing 12.6 million kilowatts of power. We took a visit to the duty free town of Puetro Stroessner through the border into Paraguay, many markets selling unbelievably cheap product, lots of electrical and imported items, along with a wide range of liquor. My bags are bulging now with memories of the wonderful countries I have visited.
Alas one of my fantastic holidays is coming to an end with a final internal flight to Buenos Aires in Argentine where this memorial journey had started. A day of leisure was welcome to meander through the exciting streets of this wonderful city. Among my experiences I thought this one was a classic. I wanted to purchase a pure leather wallet and pay by Visa Credit Card, being the time before electronic swiping them the young assistant in the shop studied my card, excused herself for a minute, re-appearing and apologised and said she couldn’t except this way of payment as my name wasn’t on the list. Being curious I asked to explain in more detail, she showed me the list, it was for bad debtors, I pointed out her mistake, only when the owner appeared could we solve the problem. I just wondered how many sales she had lost not understanding the system?
Boarding our Aerolineas Argentinas flight home, once more enjoying the comfy leather seats, nice food and excellent service. The thirteen-hour trip was a trans Polar Service with a refuelling stop at a remote base in a bitterly cold isolated place on the southern tip of Argentine.
This was a very memorial holiday for me, rating among the top three of the many countries I have visited, my beloved Germany still rates number one, followed by the unusual beauty of Norway. As for cities around the world, my favourite is still Prague in the Czech Republic, Buenos Aires and strange as it may seem, Frankfurt is high on my list.
One final experience I almost forgot to mention. While walking the streets in La Paz, Bolivia there was a young lady behind the stall of her street side curios, weird medicines, cures, which included dried snakeskins and advertising her ability to tell fortunes. Somehow she attracted my attention and beckoned me over and immediately told me she needed to tell my fortune, I told her a definite NO, she tried again with threatening me that horrible things would happen if I didn’t agree, as her piercing eyes met mine I met her stare with a final refusal, somehow she new she had lost me so she compromised by giving me a little black doll and some coloured wool and told me to hang it in my house and nothing would happen to me. I took the doll, and put it in a draw back home forgetting about the scary incident. Some months later there seemed to be lots of mishaps with me, nothing seem to be going smoothly, one day I remembers the young ladies threats, I searched till I found it and hung it up, amazing everything started to return to normal, ??? I still have the doll on view???
Till next adventure, take care
Jim. Fitzthum
