Travel highlights!

I haven't been keeping up on my blog the past few weeks so this will be a long one!! Here are some topic titles so you can pick and choose what to read...

1) Where we've been
2) Eye of the Hurricane
3) Amaicha: La Pachamama and God
4) Angastaco: Marcelino's homemade wine
5) Tilcara: Oranges Paraguay-style
6) Random

1) Where we've been
For those of you following me on a map, we went from Buenos Aires to: Córdoba, Villa General Belgrano, Embalse Rio Tercero, Tafi del Valle, Amaicha/Quilmes, Angastaco, Cachi, Cafayate, Purmamarca, Tilcara (now) and then to Santiago, Chile on Wednesday night.

2) EYE OF THE HURRICANE
After climbing mountains in the sun all day, Katie and I sat, exhausted, to take a late merienda (afternoon tea). Katie looked at me and said, "I feel like I'm in the eye of a hurricane. Like everything is chaos emotionally around me, but where I am, everything is so still that it's creepy. And I know that chaos is coming." I'm there, too. I'm stuck inbetween wanting to be alone and with people, wanting to be home in BA and home in Carbondale, wanting to be known and wanting to hide... Ohhh, transitions... Yes, chaos is coming, but I know that where I am is good -- in that it's another chance to form a new life that fits the person I've become in the past six months.

3) AMAICHA: La Pachamama and God
In Amaicha we visited the Quilmes ruins, a pueblo from 900 CE -1667 CE where the native people resisted the Spanish for 130 years by literally living on the side of a mountain(completely impressive). Sebastián, our guide, is a native of the area and also explained to us his belief (and that of the people of Quilmes) of the La Pachamama - "Mother Earth." The people draw their energy from what they have: the sun, the land, and what the earth gives them. Since talking with him, this beautiful spirituality has deeply impacted me. So often I look to the future or to something man-made or to memories to give me energy and life, when if I draw energy and life from what is present and what I have, perhaps I too could carry the grace, calm and peace that Sebastian carries. Also, the idea of the La Pachamama has allowed me to meet a part of God that I haven't before, and once again I was struck by how I can't define Him, I can't box Him in, and He's so much more than I can imagine...

4) ANGASTACO: Marcelino's homemade wine
While in Cafayate, we met a guy who said, "You should go visit my friend Marcelino. He has a farm outside the village of Angastaco and a little vineyard. It's super tranquil." He wrote "Marcelino. La Escondida." on a scrap piece of paper and off we went to find this hidden vineyard. We arrived in the middle of NOWHERE at this 70 year old man's humble house, and immediately pulled up chairs to help him pull the stems from raisins. We borrowed the neighbor's horse, and I rode without a saddle behind Katie through all the vineyards... my first time on a horse. Good times. I kept saying, "Katie, are you SURE you've ridden before??" It was beautiful to fall into a house and be so welcomed, and it was so fun to see what life in a TINY pueblo is like.

5) TILCARA: Oranges Paraguay-style
Yesterday we landed in Tilcara, a small pueblo surrounded by mtns. We quickly befriended (or he befriended us) Miguel, a 37 yr. old Paraguayan who has lived in Tilcara for the past 3 months. He is super out-going and immediately said, "Meet me in the plaza in an hour to take a hike and then take mate." We spent the rest of our time in Tilcara with him -- drinking mate, talking about life and culture, laughing, and getting to know tons of locals through him. Both nights in Tilcara, we went to this Peña (live folklore music) and hung out with the musicians, one of whom is 74 and has ridden a bike from Ushuia (southern most city in the world) to Alaska. He is one crazy Argentine. All the tourists were like, "Who ARE these northamerican girls that get shout-outs from these old men musicians and know the owner of the restaurant?" haha. Yesterday Miguel came with us for an 8 hour day of hiking, and at one point while chilling in the sun in front of a waterfall, he taught us to peel oranges paraguayan-style. (Man! I have so many more skills now! haha)

6) RANDOM
We traveled for a week with 3 super fun and chill Argentine girls we met... From Angastaco to Cachi we hitch-hiked in two different pickup trucks through the mountains (shh! don't tell my mom! haha)... I am ridiculously addicted to hiking mountains; I want a mtn. in my backyard that changes form each day so I can hike whenever I want... I day-dream of sleeping under blankets of llama wool... Llama meat is super tasty (yep, look at my resourcefulness! - wool, meat - haha)... I wasn't a huge beer fan - until I tried artesanal beer in Gen. Belgrano -- cerveza roja? I'm in... In Purmamarca we climbed these cerros (smaller mtns.) that had so many colors that the ground was like a rainbow. We counted 9 colors from violet to yellow to green to pink... In Amaicha we hung out at a peña in the Bar on the Corner (original, huh?) and Katie and I were the only girls who knew how to dance folklore! We put the argentines to shame, dancing their native dance... AND life is good. How I love random adventures like this...