Awesome in the pampas!

Jeez, I´m not sure how to manage a couple of days worth of experience into one blog post.  I´ll give it my best shot though.

My last post was truly a lazy day that ended with me on a bus headed south to a small town called Villa de la Ventana, which outside of a small town called Sierra de la Ventana.  I took some notes while I was sitting in the bus station Retiro.

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22/1/10

The taxi driver dropped me on the curb as if he was glad to be rid of me.  He chuckles with the guy on the sidewalk at the size and weight of my bag.  The man on the curb is smiling but has the look of someone who who is helping people like me - traveling with almost more than I can carry to a place I only heard of 2 days ago to experience the challenge of life - for the possibility of a peso.  He makes a bit of a production of helping me put my backpack on, and as I glance down at his hands that seeemed to linger near my pockets, I see that they are wide open as if to say both "I didn´t take anything" and "please give me something".  I hesitate, and it is apparently a look that he is used to, because he waves his hands and walks away to the next taxi bearing burdened passengers.  I say "señor" and he turns around as I fish out the peso.  He says thank you and directs me, again with a smile, to the platform listed on my ticket.

I walk through the bus station fast, catching glimpses of myself in the wall of windows to my right.  SO fast, in fact, that I don´t realize that I´m looking at the wrong numbers on the signs and have reached the end of the station, and that my bus will be departing from very close to where I entered the building.  In fact, it is almost a straight shot in from the front door: "derecho" as my friend on the curb had told me in the first place.  I found a place to sit, and I am somewhat comforted that everybody looks as nervous about missing their bus and confused about where to go as I am.

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The terminal was bustling with people - everyonbody was loaded down with bags, and the PA announcement was calling out departure times without stopping - at one point it switched from a male voice to a female voice, but it never stopped.  I finally discovered that my ticket didn´t say platform 15, it said that I would be leaving from platforms 15-25, and that it was my job to watch the monitors to see which it would be.  This explained everybody´s nervous looks as we all stared at the shiny blue oracle on high.

I met Scott and Liam - two Scotsmen who were also going to Sierra de la Ventana.  I must say, something about the casual feel of the accent reminded me that even if this all goes wrong, we´ll be fine and we can laugh about it.  They get a huge kick out of my name and tell me that there was a famous revolutionary named John Maclean.  No, not this one, THIS one.  (I must say, I did like some of the marketing campaigns that cropped up witht this last movie) They were very friendly and made me feel like a linguistic star with the Spanish that I do have. 

The bus that I rode was absolute luxury.  Nicer than the airplane for sure!  Even though my friends at thte hostel bemoaned the fact that I only got the semi-cama ticket vs the cama, it was SO comfortable.  Chairs went almost all the way back, there was this cool, padded leg support system, and I had a very friendly Argentinian kid across the way who loved that I was practicing my Spanish, so I got a chance to talk to him in Spanish!

I woke up the next morning as the sun was rising, and we were driving through rocky pampas.  Only now did I start to realize just how large and expansive Argentina probably is.  I can see for miles, and there are cattling dotting the countryside.  The occasional riparian zone ribbons through the landscape, and I see one or two wrought iron gates that clearly belong to an owner of some of those cattle, but make no mistake about it, this is remote!  I tried to take a pictures, but I fear they might make your motion sickness kick in.

We arrive at 630 in the morning, and there are remises (informal taxis) there taking people to their various destinations.  I heard that Sierra de la ventana was a small town, but all I see is this bus station and the tienda attached to it.  I find a gentleman who will take me to Villa de la Ventana (forgot to ask how much before I got in and so paid $40 pesos for it) and he is also very friendly and helps me with my Spanish.  He tells me that Villa de la Ventana es mas tranquilo que Sierra de la Ventana, and I can´t believe him until the pavement ends and we are kicking up dust as we drive past other dirt roads marked with wooden carved signs.

He drops me at the address and I see that it is a place to come and stay in cabañas.  I think "uh oh, this guy Fernando lured me here under couchsurfing pretenses only to rent me a room at an okay price"  but it´s too early anway, and the sign on the door says not until 930 - so I just keep walking.  I go all the way down this road which intersects with another, I take a right and see that there is a gap in the fence going up onto the hill above Villa de la Ventana.

Okay, yes, it´s a little posed, but I had to run and get there in less than 10 seconds!

I hope that these pictures accurately represent the size of the place.  I had hiked quite a ways up thinking I was so intrepid and when I finally got to that spot, I looked out and saw people sitting below a large cairn waving at me to come over.  So I did, and it turned out they were 4 scouts from down in town.  (yeah, like boy scouts, except there were 3 guys and 1 gal)  They were very friendly, we talked about my trip, they told me what the word for ant was, and we parted with them shouting after me "don´t get lost".  I went back to my rock and stayed there for 2 hours spinning wool, eating my banana, and enjoying the wind, and the lack of concern for my stuff as it sat in the middle of a hill with nobody around.

I finally went back down the hill and back up to my potential couch to surf, and knocked on the door.  Fernando came around the corner with a smile on his face and said "¿McLean?"  I said "¿Fernando?" and one of the best days of my life began.

I won´t fill too much of this post explaining the extreme level of generosity that I´ve seen here, but it´s all around me.  It turns out that Fernando owns this place:  La Morera and he also takes couchsurfers.  I had tea, home-made pizza for lunch cooked in the horno del barro (mud oven) out back.  I played ping-pong and frisbee with the kids who are staying here with their families (also learned some spansih from them) I went swimming in the pool - spoke more Spanish with the teenagers who were learning English and so were just as excited to talk to me as I was to talk to them.  Sunbathed, did my laundry and hung it to dry with all the towels and sheets up on the terrace, we went out to watch a cover band (Argentinians LOVE CCR, and I almost went up and sang one with them), and then a jazz show put on by the local library (which Fernando does pro-bono work to support his community)  I had to stop being shocked at the generosity as it kept coming and coming.  They love having me as a guest (I´m pretty sure I´m an exciting novelty for the kids staying here) and I really feel quite welcomed.  I was able to sit and talk and drink maté (con jugo - juice) with Virginia y Juan, who are friends of Fernando´s (a Psychologist and Lawyer) and they taught me a lot of Spanish.  I can now talk a bit more like an Argentinian.  (They never us Tu...always vos, which sounds like boss) and we finally went to bed at an early (according to Buenos Aires schedules) 230 in the morning.  I felt like an honored guest walking around with Fernando, his cousin, and his friends last night.

I have to say, it is has been a wonderful pleasure to be a part of this couchsurfing project so far and I reccomend that YOU ALL follow that link and sign up for it.  Even if you are not traveling, or you can´t host somebody on your couch, they have options and preferences and you can get involved as little or as much as you like, and if you´re reading this blog, you´re probably a good person, and we need all the good people we can get signed up for this.  As I told my sister, it really does feel like it brings the world together, and you realize that it´s a wonderful place!

That´s it for now, I was going to go climb Sierra de la Ventana today, but I think I might go play some ping-pong and then sit by the pool before we have marinated lamb for lunch (for those fo you who know and care, you can buy an entire lamb for like $40 here!) and then do...something.  Not sure where I´m headed next, but I´m not too worried about it at the moment.

maybe a bit more sunscreen today...

Las Palabras Españoles del dia:

Hormiga - ant

Pampas - Prairies