Day 8
February 12, 2014

Salta is still on the go this morning as we take a half day city tour. Hassam drops us near the pink church of San Francisco, undergoing a cleaning, and pulls his van around the corner to avoid blocking traffic! This street is filled with upscale shops featuring hand woven pillows,beautifully crafted silver and brass items, silver candlesticks with leather trim, traditional dolls, and down the street we find designer clothing shops and shoe stores; Lots of shoe stores in Salta.

All of us want to cross the intersection to see the yellow and red Church of San Francisco. As soon as there is a break in the traffic, local folks are darting across the road. There are no stop signs so the first car at the crossing keeps on rolling through. The pedestrians look for a quick moment, not forgetting that cars right beside them can turn right – then they make the dash! After a few good walks, we get the hang of it! Wow!

It takes 30 minutes to drive up curving roads to see the park, the view, the cable car. Michael will climb the hill this afternoon. San Bernardo hill has 1,000 steps with landings at 12 stations, each with a picture of a station of the cross. The cable car is another way to experience the view, but none of our group are eager to do this. We choose to walk about at the top enjoying man made waterfalls, the families with children playing, an exercise area with stationary bicycles and rows of typical outdoor market stalls.

After an enjoyable drive through the lush local park, we return to the city for an afternoon “on our own”.  Hassam suggests a lunch spot before saying so long for the day – Damas Salta turns out to be most enjoyable local lunch spot. Our waiter patiently helps us order the local dish, loco, a porridge of lamb and vegetable stew.  It matches nicely with a green salad that could be served in any country and the local brew, Salta. Very tasty. Large portions, as usual!

By now, some of us are ready to drop, and some of us muster our curiosity to continue to explore those museums we saw on the plaza this morning!

The Museum of High Altitude Archaeology MAAM!

 The High Altitude Museum of Archeology is on the 9 de Julio Plaza in Salta, Argentina.

Up a flight of stairs, past the ticket booth ($10 or 40 pesos for tourists) murals describe the layers of indigenous civilizations; the 3,000 mile long civilization of the Tahuantinsuyu or Tawantinsuyu. No pictures! But see links below.

The Inca archeological museum opened very recently (2004) after the 1998 discovery of 3 young Inca children discovered wrapped in blankets,  entombed at 22,000 feet on the top of Llullaillaco, the second highest volcano in the world, in the Andes 300 kilometers from Salta.   Because of the sensitive subject of the fate of the children, the museum opened with no fanfare, no celebration, no fiestas.  Now, it is still a quiet, unassuming entrance. We choose to walk up the stairs to the first exhibit from the front entrance where there is only the ticket window, and the choice to take an elevator.  Past the entrance, I feel the power of curiosity – what a lure. We have come so far! I am eager to see the actual bodies of the wrapped Inca children. Only one mummy at a time is on display. In the third gallery I find the 7 year old boy displayed in double thick pressurized glass container that can be moved if necessary at any time (for instance in the event of an earthquake or extended period without electricity.) His face is perfect, his forehead elongated, as was the custom.His blanket is bright red, his head is curled in towards his knees. He is real. We stare and stare. (See him here: http://www.nytimes.com/2007/09/11/science/11mummu.html?_r=0)

Leather thong sandals and painted ceramics and gold icons with braided hair are among the ornaments the Incas put with their children. These displays making the children’s lives as present as my own.

Capacocha was the name for this ritual of transition. The sacrifices were to safeguard the transition to the next world when an Inca leader died. Select children from a prominent family were sacrificed to offer the leader safe passageway to the next world.

Music plays from the next gallery where the lights are carefully toned, the descriptions are clear in Spanish and some in English. Many full wall size maps depict the enormity and complexity of the Inca civilization, the diversity of their activities and their craftsmanship, and their trade routes and roads.

There is a video of the discovery of the three children. We watch the mountaineers extract the contents of the deep tunnels in a precarious maneuver. Somehow, they manage to maintain the wrapped mass of the body and blanket as they pull it out of the very deep hole. It is believed that the children, while not actually dead when they were entombed, were probably frozen at that altitude. But we just don’t know for sure. The new field of high altitude archeology takes knowledge of mountaineering technique and this business of archaeology!

The three children were found in one of the remotest parts of the Chilean/Argentine border at 6,720 meters – The location is significant because we know the Inca sites at Lake Titicaca, in Cuzco and of course at Macchu Piccu. They were walked here over hundreds of miles. There are more burials up here, but excavation is now suspended in respect for the local peoples and the Inca culture. After these three were discovered, if they had not been brought to a safe place, the graves would be easy to loot. So it was decided to exhume them.

The next gallery is a room used as a classroom with students doing a project there – we don’t interrupt . And two more rooms show more maps of the whole of Argentina and more objects from pre industrial local culture; farming of sheep and hunting of guanaco, etc.

In the back of the last room is another “mummy”. She is a 15 year old. There is a warning not to look if you don’t want to see the child. I push the button for the light to go on to see her. Her face is much more distorted. She is larger. And she was also sacrificed. Was she in agony?

Here we are. We see, but only begin to understand this southern pinnacle that is the ultimate placement of the human sacrifice of the Inca civilization. The children came from the prominent  families in the Inca hierarchy. They were paraded through Cuzco in celebration, then filled with food and drink before they were offered to the gods, who, in the Inca culture, exist within the mountains.

Until now, it was not believed that Inca’s scarified people, though there was evidence of animal sacrifices.

The museum does an excellent job setting a respectful tone and extending the layers of stories to what we know from our travels to Cusco, Peru, to Quito Ecuador and to the desert areas north of Lima in the Mochica region and the Atacama desert in Peru. A most sophisticated civilization. This is the farthest south that the Inca region extended. Salta later grew into a center of trade where Peruvian goods and Bolivan goods were brought to be exported to the mother country: Spain.

http://www.patagonia-argentina.com/en/maam-museum-salta

 http://www.nytimes.com/2007/09/11/science/11mummu.html?_r=0

Gail and I are still going: we think about an ice cream cone….as we continue around the 9 Julio square founded in 1592! We  pass the spectacular architecture of the Americas Cultural Center to the continue on to the largest example of a colonial architecture anywhere: it is now the “Northern Historical Museum” once the town hall. We pay the price of admission and stride on through – a beautiful overview of Spanish colonial life in this wild, remote part of the country.

We will leave the bustling capital of the region tomorrow to explore the vast,  incredible scenery; to visit the  oldest, continuously operating winery in the country, and to see the remarkable art collection of Swiss vintner  Donald Hess. In the remote village of Colome, we will find Hess’s museum designed and built to exhibit exclusively the works of American light artist, James Turrell.

In two days we will span a rainbow of human cultural art and artifacts across more than 500 years; yet most of this part of the world has developed in only the last 10. It is all very new.  This is a case when seeing is believing.

Day 4
February 9, 2014

Wine tasting in Mendoza can start with a pick up time of 8:30 AM!

We beg off for half an hour due to our late arrival at this boutique estancia outside of the city: Chacras de Coria, a family owned vineyard. The planes from Buenos Aires to Mendoza were overbooked and in chaos from unexpected rain storms that knocked out the power in many neighborhoods, including exclusive Recoleta.

Finca Adalgiza will be our home for three nights. The full breakfast in the morning is nicely presented with a sleepy staff keeping up with the guests’ requests . The “chef’s choice” of tapas is our “dinner” and we enjoy trays full of nuts & cheeses or roasted vegetables with our complementary glass of wine.

We are within a few short blocks of the central square of Chacras, an upscale town outside the bustle of the city of Mendoza.

The Fulotti Family still lives here on this little vineyard producing wine and olive oil. An older woman still enjoys her home, while we stay in attractive connecting rooms along the edge of the vineyard where water flows thru black tubes to water the roots.

Water is the key to the success of the Mendoza wine region we learn on our first day with beautiful guide Anna. She travels with us to the small vineyard to the famous UCO Valley where the water is controlled by the Lujan de Cuyo department. All the water is diverted from the river thru locks and canal sluices to the farms. For the last 7 years, on one side of the road is a swirl of water and on the other side of the road it is completely dry.

Salentein Winery was our second winery – they make 10 million bottles a year – yes, that is a big winery!

The building is a contemporary clean monument with a full basement of storage for the barrels and stainless steel tanks and bottling facility AND three art galleries.

We had a memorable lunch here: a set menu of 3 courses beautifully presented, small elegant portions with wines that were described – sabroso! super delicious.

The outdoor sculpture is a welcome addition, as you can see from these pix. Look at Michael and Ed clowning around here! The museum of art was a nice addition – one gallery is dedicated to art for sale.

By the end of the day, with Anna our guide’s careful explanations, we were well versed in the vintner’s vocabulary: the scent, the flavor, the finish, the terroir that result from a variety of processes, timings and transitions from one barrel to another: steel first, new oak or old oak second, then finally – at the right moment of fermentation after being harvested at just the right day – the product is put into the bottle with a label, and sealed with a Portuguese or plastic cork.

What a lot to remember!

Back we travel to Chacras de Coria, a small town north of Mendoza, we return to our finch, a little vineyard with casitas for the guests. We learned abit more about Mendoza and winemaking from our guide, Anna;

(Did I mention that Anna is a gorgeous blonde? She was wearing a see thru top with lacy bra and stacked heels in tight jeans! She kept our guys in line, even tho they complained they couldn’t understand her English. So I translated the English! What a circus! She has friends at Lan Air so she’ll ask them about my lost journal!)

WATER in Mendoza is a right. For the last 7 years, the river has remained completely diverted to the city cisterns. One side of the dam is desert, the other a deep dangerous channel of swirling currents being diverted in two directions. In the 1450’s, the Incas brought the system of canals they learned from the Nasca peoples. In 1561, the conquerors from Chili came across the Andes. They were from La Rioja Valley in Sapin that they called Mendoza.

In the vineyards, water arrives by allocation. People create their own ponds to hold the water. Some grapes only need to be watered a little once a week. The “struggle” makes them tastier.

In the 1900’s, Italian families discovered the region east of the Andes in these enormous valleys. They brought their malbec grapes and wine making techniques and the olive branches! The original root balls of vines can be grafted onto the imported malbec branches.

At our “hotel”, the Finca Adalgesia, small batches of wine and olive oil here at the Finca Adalgisa, which is in an upscale community outside the bustle of Mendoza.

(As usual, there is no internet in the rooms – we saw signs along the road of the new conduits bringing high speed). This is a very clean place, beautiful grounds. The matriarch of the family still lives in the main house that is right in the middle of the grounds. A younger woman who is a niece is running it.

All is well with our group. We have another time out tomorrow afternoon! Left my journal on the plane here – dumb de dumb dum. I have a few stories in my ipad, but many notes on the little notepads they give out at each hotel…The journal might come back – Anna has friends who work at LAN.

Day 3
February 8, 2014

We spend a morning in the small town of San Miguel del Monte, founded in 1864 on the edge of the untamed regions of eastern Argentina. We find an internet cafe and a shop with blankets and bridles and bags of the gaucho. At a small adobe hacienda,  Angel explains the lifestyle on the frontier from the view of the ruling Rosas Family who were in opposition to his own forefathers.

There is is interesting travel plan circulating: not for a person but for a horse! Judit is planning to take Girlie back to Austria. She has “found” a new farm for the young horse that will join her other horse there. Angel says she can breed her here and have a colt there.   As the plans sound preposterous, Judit continues her devotion to the horse: three times a day, she nurses Girlie’s leg.  Every day, her mane braided in a different style! Girlie has found trust.  Judit’s energy is infectious. Angel calls her crazy!

The life of the household was a joy to join. As we pack up, huge storms roll over the skies the morning we are leaving. We make a dramatic exit to our van that is here in a deluge of rain.

We are off to catch a plane to Mendoza. We are on to new and different climates:

From: the first nights in the flat and hot pampas region with excellent horses, beautiful riding and warm loud generous Argentine hospitality – that means bigger than you can imagine…

To:  today, flying from BA to Mendoza amidst huge T storms.

Flooding had closed the finest sections of BA so luckily we were out in the flat prairies – equally drenched. All the planes were delayed. The six of us were bumped from our reservations by Aerolineas Argentina to a  LAN flight 3 hrs later?! The delay of two hours tired all 3 couples who will be traveling these 8 days: Ed and Wendy are  from Lenox. Wendy’s sister Gail and her husband Richard from CA and Mass (bi coastal snow birds) are also in their 70’s; and Michael and I.

We are having a great time – nonetheless.

Day 2
February 7, 2014

Estancia Los Patos is in San Miguel del Monte, a quiet turn off of Rte 41, south of Buenos Aires. This is a two hour drive to the flat expansive pampas region of the country. There are no hills or mounds anywhere! What a contrast to our treks thru the Patagonian Andes only 2 days ago!!

Angel Estrada, el dueno, the owner, greets our van with enthusiasm and hospitality that will not wane for the next 48 hours. His horseman and his rancher and his nephew are there to meet us as well. Later, his wife Lili, an architect, will arrive from the city. And his house guest, Judit from Austria adds her cheerfulness and by now, her own sense of cheerful hospitality.

Every building here is painted a bright eye popping rosey red, except the barn! We settle into our rooms, as if we are moving in. Michael and I are in the main house; Ed & Wendy; Gail & Richard have a casita off the front patio. We are offered drinks before lunch and within an hour, we are in the rhythm of a day on an Argentine estancia.

La Senora de la Casa, Lili, is an architect by profession. She also decorates the house and rooms and plans the menus, cooked by a rotation of capable staff in a well managed kitchen. Each meal is set with new linens and china; lunch is an abundant three course affair, tea is cookies and cakes; olives and cheeses and chutneys are presented on long boards with drinks before dinner that is a welcome  light vegetarean dish for supper…

The stream of delicious food is interrupted by relaxing long horseback rides, swimming, polo practice with horses or in our case, without the horses), bird hunting in season (luckily not now) and most importantly, long siestas to digest the mid-day meal. In Argentina, there is a second dawn!

After lunch and a nice siesta, at 4:15, it is time to ride. The beautifully trained horses are ready and saddled up by the capable stable master of 40 years. The system is different than I have seen before: first comes the blanket, a woven pad; then a leather saddle, then a sheepskin layer, then the girth wraps up the whole package. We wrap suede chaps around our lower legs. The horses respond well to western style, tho there is no pummel on their saddles. And they do very well, even with new riders. Richard is proof of this. Having never ridden after unpleasant experiences when he was young, he ends up looking like a natural riding three times before we have to leave.

The horses are criollo breed. They are strong, good workers in the field. Judit’s horse is a cross between a thoroughbred and a criollo. “Girllie” was caught in a fence, injured her leg. She had run wild for 2 years. Judit has charmed her and has “broken” her with the help of Angel and his nephew who is 24 years old…… He is a master horse trainer and breeder on his own 300 km farm who is living the life of a gaucho.

The ride takes us across the estancia  past a huge manicured polo field, a swimming pool, across acres of grasslands and through woods, poplars that that rustle all the time, planted by Angel and his son 30 years ago. The cattle are herded here during the hot days. Last week the temperatures rose well over 100 F. this week, we are cooler, thank goodness. The non riders are brought along in a horse drawn carriage driven by Angel. He keeps up a continuous chatter of friendly conversation in his excellent English.  We ride down long straight dirt roads past other farm houses mostly owned by other family members. There is a windmill, more horses, and flat farmland extending as far as the eye can see.

Day 1 continued
February  6, 2014

We meet up with our New View Tours group to tour the Pampas, the wine region of Mendoza & mountains and wineries of Salta! It is our Wine Tasting Adventure with Ed Baptiste and Wendy Philbrick of Lenox, Mass. They are joining her sister Gail Davis and her husband Richard from CA & MA.

Last night in pouring rain on our first night, we navigate by taxi to a dinner at the Mirabelle Restaurant, recommended by friends who live here and in the US.  Try as we might to split the order and manage the oversized portions, we were astounded by the amount of food! The Mirabelle Restaurant is one of several restaurants under one large canape, so it was easy to confuse it with other places nearby. And that is just what happened. Finally the six of us convene in one place. It was nearly 10 pm!

Filled with a wonderful breakfast from the beautiful Hotel Club Frances, we set out for the Paramo, the enormous flat grasslands area. Our reservation is at Los Patos, “The Ducks”, a ranch or a working, classic estancia. El dueno, Angel Estrada has graciously emailed us with welcome words, arranging our private transfer that will take a couple of hours to escape the capital city of 3 million – Buenos Aires.

As we check out of the hotel, our driver is waiting for us at 9:30. He gladly makes an impromptu stop for a quick look at the expansive Recoleta Cemetary. Dick wants to see the Evita Peron grave, a huge mausoleum among many others. Eva’s remains returned  here  after years of controversy. She is buried here with her family, the Durantes. I recall quite remember where the plot is, but a man tending the infamous cats, shows us.

The freeways are open going out of the city at this time of day. Not so in the other direction. Traffic is a serious issue here making 2 hour commutes a regular way of life.

The Los Patos sign is a small rectangle on the edge of a thin fence – easy to miss.  It is a hard left turn off Rte 41 to the south and the west of the city. The town of San Miguel del Monte, 15 minutes from the estancia,  has 25,000 residents.  This small place still exerts a  powerful influence on the government. We are on the edge of the frontier that in the 1800’s   marked the border between the gauchos and the indigenous tribes.