Where we've been: Trip Progress Map & Resources

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A P R I L / 0 6

A weathered Virgen del Valle, the local Virgin protectress,
is like a Maidenhead on this marble grave in the Ojos de
Agua Cemetery near Tafi del Valle, Tucúman.

Monday April 24 2006

Una Mescla / A Random Sampling 

As we have been steadfastly heading back to Bolivia through northern Argentina, we have stopped-in at several tourist attractions along the way. At this stage in the trip, both Frank and I are feeling pretty weary, and not too tolerant of cash-grab touristy activities. However, the odd carefully placed attraction comes in handy to break up the trip. Here are some random photos from the past 10 days as we crossed Catamarca, La Rioja, and Tucuman Provinces. Disclaimer: the Bodega tours and wine tastings in Cafayaté are not considered in any way distasteful, nor were we at all intolerant of this kind of activity. 

The Field of Balls, rocks formed into spheres by a thermal process (sorry, the guide wasn't very good at explaining), in Parque Nacional Ischigualasto, Catamarca.

The Mushroom, P.N. Ischigualasto

The ruins of the Quilmes Indians, dating from AD 1000. The Quilmes survived contact with the Incas around the AD 1500, but were more or less destroyed under siege from the Spanish in 1667.

The Museum of Pachamama (Mother Earth) in Amaicha, formerly called The Museum of Stones (which probably didn't sound too sexy to the average package tourist) is a bit of an odd place. But the imaginative gardens, buildings and sculptures, mostly covered in tribal-inspired stone mosaics, are quite delightful.

A stone mosaic sculpture and its alter-ego on the flip-side.

Tasting a Rosé, in the lovely Bodega Los Nubés, Cafayaté.

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Roadside shrines to Difunta Correa, often resembling
garbage dumps, are found in every corner of Argentina.

Monday April 17 2006

The Difunta Correa Phenomenon

"Legend has it that during the civil wars of the 1840s, Deolinda Correa followed the movements of her sickly conscript husband's batallion on foot through the deserts of San Juan, carrying food, water and their baby son in her arms. When her meager supplies ran out, thirst, hunger and exhaustion killed her. But when passing muleteers found them, the infant was still nursing at the dead woman's breast. Commemorating this apparent miracle, her shrine at Vallecito is widely believed to be the site of her death.

Difunta literally means 'defunct', and Correa is her surname. Technically she is not a saint but rather a 'soul', a dead person who performs miracles and intercedes for people; the child's suvival was the first of a series of miracles attributed to her. Since the 1940s her shrine, originally a hilltop cross, has grown into a small village with it's own gas station, school post office, police station and church. At 17 chapels or exhibit rooms, devotees leave gifts in exchange for supernatural favours.

Interestingly, truckers are particularly devoted. From La Quiaca, on the Bolivian border, to Ushuaia in Tierra del Fuego, you will see roadside shrines with images of the Difunta Correa and the unmistakeable bottles of water left to quench her thirst. At some sites there appear to be enough parts lying around to build a car from scratch! Despite lack of government support and the Catholic Church's open antagonism, the shrine of Difunta Correa has grown as belief in her miraculous powers has become more widespread." from Lonely Planet Argentina

After passing hundreds, if not thousands, of roadside Difunta Correa shrines on Argentina's highways and minor roads it was mandatory that we visit her shrine when we found ourselves near Vallecitos. Here's a taste of what it was like: 

The classic (and rather erotic) depiction of Difunta has her dead, reclining, with her child suckling at her breast. She's on plaques, relief sculptures and bumper stickers. This life-size representation at the main temple is surrounded by offerings, letters and the ubiquitous bottles of water.

The walls of the main temple are covered with commemorative plaques placed in gratitude for wishes come true, lives saved, diseases cured, and jobs found.

Every square centimeter of the inside of the main temple is covered with more plaques, photos, offerings and letters of thanks.

Wishes for a happy and productive marriage anda healthy and united family are hot topics at the offering tables.

To read devotees' letters, ponder family photos and look at framed portraits of lost children and sick people displaying their ailments is at once deeply moving and disturbing.

One can only guess why this photo and ID card were left here. That's what I found so fascinating about this place. The way these momentos activate the imagination, and give one a sense of the power of faith, hope, desire, and the need for recognition.

Many of the same rituals around Difunta - leaving behind a symbol of a wish or favour asked (such as a pair of baby booties for the birth a healthy child), lighting candles, burning incense, mounting plaques, offering meaningful objects to honour her - are practised for other regional saints, virgins, goddesses and folk heroes throughout South America. Before Frank, the Rhino and I left Bolivia to embark on this trip, we participated in two Ch'allas (centuries-old Indigenous blessing ceremonies) performed by Ayamara Priests. We placed tokens representing safe travel, money, health, good gas mileage and love in a ceremonial platter along with other goodies for the Incan gods, and set it on fire. The smoke rose to the heavens and, it appears, our prayers were received. We've had good luck and a safe trip so far, so we felt it was time to give thanks and ask Difunta for a smooth trip back to Bolivia.

This little house, in the real estate and housing section, represents not only a desire for decent accomodation but a happy and unified family.

License plates left by car-crash survivors frame the neighbourhood (or is it a sub-division?).

An old Fiat, found in the junkyard section of the complex. Apparently survivors of car accidents leave parts of their smashed-up vehicles, in this case the whole darned thing, as a show of appreciation for her favours.

If one doubts the ability of the Difunta to deliver, you need only look at the prosperity spread in the form of souvenir stalls, restaurants, street hawkers and a hotel.

Over the Easter weekend 50,000 pilgrims, or "promesantes" (individuals and families asking for favours), were expected at the shrine. 

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Wednesday April 04 2006

Worshipping The Grape in Mendoza

Merlot grapes - ready for picking - at Bodega La Rural

A plaque depicting the The Virgin of the Grape at the bodega
"La Rural". Now, that's my kind of religion

During our travels here not a day has gone by where Frank and I haven't polished off a bottle of good wine (not including the rationed half-bottle during long treks). Aside from my fondness for wine and the affordable prices (cdn $5 gets you a fine vintage) I justify our indulgence as "sampling the local cuisine". And because we don't eat beef - the national cuisine - it's only natural to compensate for the lack of one thing with another (it's the hedonist in me). With this bit of background info, you may well appreciate how excited I was to be in Mendoza, the epicentre of Argentina's wine industry. Luckily we visited during the harvest, which meant the wineries were in full-production and we were able to see the process from grape harvest to bottling.

With a WineMap of the Maipú and Luján regions, we raced around to a variety of bodegas over the course of a week. Here's a sampling of what we saw and tasted:

- In the ultra modern (and multinational) Chandon enterprise (of Moét & Chandon fame) we saw how "espumantés" are made and stored in the international-standard metallic vats. Walking along the catwalks above the tanks, the whoosh of air conditioning humming in my ears, I felt as though this ultra-modern warehouse could be a set for a chase scene in a sci-fi televison series.
-The austere Weinert Bodega boasts its traditional wine-making techniques by showcasing their caves filled with grand old oak casks, some ageing wine since 1976
- Luigi Bosca makes robust wines in the Italian style in their family-run bodega, and the artifacts in the museum at Bodega La Rural illustrate just how technologically-advanced wine making has become since the days of hand-operated grape presses .
- Do you ever dream of quitting the city, buying a vineyard and making sumptuous boutique-style wines? My dream was confirmed possible (without thinking too hard about where I'd find the money) by a visit to Carinae, a restored bodega bought just three years ago by a French couple. A very intimate tour was just a warm-up to the generous tasting of several of their luscious wines.

The Bodega Weinert makes an interesting tri-varietal named Carrascal. The bodega is known for its caves filled with huge antique oak casks (6000 lt. capacity!), some with elaborate wood carvings on the fronts. To keep the casks in good shape, the insides are cleaned from time to time by a very skinny, very petite man who (armed with a scrub brush and a bucket) climbs through a very tiny trap door at the front of the barrel.

Swirling a glass of merlot, Mendoza's signature grape, in the tasting room at the stylish The Vines of Mendoza.

A photo of the Rutini family, in the Wine museum at Bodega La Rural. The family has been making wines, under the San Felipe and Rutini labels, for generations.

Following two decades of winemaking, mainly for domestic consumption, Argentina's wineries upgraded their wine-making technology to compete with international markets in the late 1980s. They had to, domestic wine consumption was down from 25 litres per capita to 10 due to the increased popularity of beer. In the 90s Argentina began to get noticed as a serious contender in the international world of wine. With the Argentine economic meltdown in 2002, producers were forced to find outside markets to sell their forthcoming products. Buyers were further encouraged by the devaluatiion of the peso to a third of it's former worth, making the wine very good value. All of these factors, squeezing producers into a corner and forcing change within a very traditional industry, have in the long run been good for both producers and imbibers, catapulting Argentina into the winners' circle at international wine competitions. 

I'm really not interested in what the Wine World says about wines, but I appreciate the tradition, craftsmanship, and process of winemaking. And, needless to say I'm always keen to try a glass, or three. Here are some interesting (and affordable) Argentinean wines I've enjoyed, not just from Mendoza, but from other regions in the country. Keep an eye out for them at your local shop (or you could join the wine club at The Vines of Mendoza, if you're up for a serious splurge):

Carinae, a boutique winery, gorgeous merlots and and a very distinctive syrah indeed.
Colonia Las Liebres, a luscious 2005 Bonarda, and the label's a keeper
Perpetuum Merlot 2004 and Torrontés 2005
Familia Zuccardi, who make some organic wines (Bonarda Sangiovese 2005) and three varietals of olive oil
Vistalba Corte B 2003, a blend of Merlot, Cabernet, Malbec and Bonarda that offers up a multi-tiered taste sensation

from Patagonia:
Fin del Mundo Postales Cabernet Malbec and Semillion Chardonnay
and Ventus Cabernet Malbec

from San Juan:
Finca Las Moras, Malbec and Viognier
Ampakama, Viognier

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Wednesday April 04 2006

The Passionate Eye

These two excellent on-line photo galleries capture the essence of life in two very distinct parts of South America: the slums of Buenos Aires and the remote Aysen region in southern Chile. Read on...

The ph15 Photography Project

"...ph15 is a space for creativity and expression through the use of photography. The students are teenagers who live in Villa 15 (slum 15), also known as "Ciudad Oculta" or the "Hidden City", located on the edge of Buenos Aires. Click here for more

Pobladores Australes
Histories of Life in Patagonia

Photos by Milenka Heran

"To enter into the mountains, to cross rivers, to be patient with the rhythms of nature, to have to wait, as does a poblador living in the far remoteness, where he passes his days, alone with his animals winter and summer, year after year...." Click here for more

Saturday April 01 2006

The Monkey Puzzle Tree, and it's super-size pine nuts

The Araucaria tree, also known as Pehuén in the indigenous Mapuche language, grows in a distinct area on both the Chilean and Argentinean side of the Andean Cordillera, in the far north of Patagonia. Before venturing to Patagonia I had only seen these trees in suburban Vancouver, where they are sometimes found in the manicured gardens of post-war bungalows on the affluent west-side. I never thought much about where they came from, If you'd have asked me, I'd have guessed Africa, or Asia (for the monkeys, that is). So it was with curiosity that I walked through and drove beside thick forests of them in growing in the arid Lanin National Park, and then beyond the park boundaries into Neuquén province.

The tree's branches and bark are covered in prickly succulent leaves. Come into contact with a rogue branch on a trail, and it hurts! The story behind the name "monkey puzzle" goes that the complex pattern of spiky branches act as an self-protecting armour, and thus is a mind-bender for monkeys wanting to scale the tree.

The Araucaria is a protected species in Argentina, and it is sacred to the Mapuches, who's graphic symbol is a silhouette of the tree. Before their land was invaded in the 1800s, the tree supplied the Mapuches with wood, food (in the form of pine nuts), and was of spiritual importance as their tree of life (like the cedar tree of the West Coast indians).

Left, a male pine cone and on the right, a handful of piñones, or pine nuts.

Famous for it's massive pine nuts, 300 of which drop from each pinecone of a female tree during February and March. The floor beneath the hundred-years-old Araucaria is now scoured for the fallen nuts, which are used for self-consumption or sold (we found them in the local supermarkets, and were told we could buy them in the Wal-Mart in Neuquén). As we drove alongside the forests on the Ruta 40 during a national holiday we saw many families, on a day-out excursion, gathering the nuts from the forest floor. We even saw guys up in the trees shaking the cones prematurely off the trees, or teenagers shooting down the tender tips of branches yielding cones with sling shots. The tree may be protected, but it seems it's open-season on the regenerating seeds.

Left, a roasted pine nut, and a right, woman sorting and cleaning her harvest before cooking.

So how do you eat a super-size pine nut? Traditionally they are boiled (for about 1 hour) until the dense peel softens or opens naturally, peeled, and eaten with a bit of salt. I have also roasted them like popcorn and eaten them right from the pan. They are delicious! Resembling roasted chestnuts, they taste like starchy sweet corn with a hint of piney after taste. In the town of Villa Pehuénia there is a bakery that makes the adored Argentinean "Alfajore" (a cookie sandwich filled with caramel, jam or chocolate mousse) from pine nut flour.

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Thanks for visiting.

all photographs lindsay simmonds ©2005/2006