Al’ n And’s grey gap year adventures

Hyderabad was not on my radar as a city to visit. Over the summer I receive an email from Charlotte, a friend and former colleague at Thrings. We worked together from when I joined the London office in 2010 until I retired in 2018 – coincidentally just after Charlotte relocated to the Bath office. Charlotte announces that she will be leaving Thrings in the autumn as husband Max has been offered a two year post in India with his job, an opportunity too good to pass up for them and their five year old son Ralph – leaving drinks? Well drinks yes but more importantly where in India and where – because Andy and I will be leaving Jaipur on 23rd October after attending a wedding (what a wedding!!) for a trip as yet very fluid – could we meet up? And so it happens: Charlotte absolutely confident they will be in Hyderabad by 23rd October and checks and tells me its only a two hour flight from Jaipur – which it is

Max and Charlotte are incredibly brave to host us, and insist it is all fine and we do not have to stay in a hotel as they have a large apartment. All well and good, but what I did not appreciate until we arrived – Charlotte was scant with details and far too busy to answer unimportant questions(!) (merely requiring our flight details so that she and Ralph could meet us with a driver) – is that they have only been in India five nights, three in an hotel and two in their apartment. More, that their apartment, while huge, is taken unfurnished apart from beds

They have achieved marvels in the few days available to them with a little help from Max’s team at EPAM and a lot from IKEA . . . The huge apartment has a working kitchen, an all important water cooler, sofa, TV, internet, new bedding, new towels, a balcony with a stone ledge and new cushions to sit on and a well stocked fridge. Astonishing progress. It is so interesting getting a glimpse over the next few days of what their life will be like for the next two years

We are met at the airport, collect Max from outside his office (not officially at work yet), stop at a supermarket and liquor store and head home… Lodha. In a new part of the city, an apartment on the 25th floor (of I think 40) in a complex of seven towers: gated, security, pool, gym, club house, kids play grounds, shop, ATM and monkeys! Our first evening is happily spent catching up, drinking concocted cocktails, helping Charlotte prep a butter chicken dish (which needed marinating – but sadly we never got to eat – too much eating out) and dining on the balcony on excellent, and very hot, takeaway biryani. Poor Charlotte, her taste buds are in for a major acclimatisation, she’s not good with chilli or any hot spice, but is determined to learn

The next day it is tourist time: two cars, two drivers, one of Max’s colleagues as a guide. We visit Golconda fort and walk the many, many steps to the top: Ralph did so well. Great views over the city which still has large green areas. Then to Charminar, the heart of the old city, its landmark four minarets glowing and the area really busy – its a public holiday, Dussehra, at the end of the nine days of Navrati – Hindu festivals. There are marigolds decorating everything and the colours seem more riotous than usual. Irani chai – the local speciality – with delicious cherry coconut biscuits. Home to freshen up and change – and High Tea at Taj Falaknuma. What a treat, organised by Max. A fabulous former palace on a hill overlooking the city. Built in 1894 for the Nizam at the time rumoured to be the richest man in the world. We briefly join an history tour of the building and then head for our sumptuous tea, spicy delicacies, a few sandwiches, cakes and desserts. And for Ralph, as many cheese sandwiches on white bread cheese sandwiches as he can manage – which he pronounced delicious! Its the reason we could not cook and eat the butter chicken that evening, way too full

Max is at work the following day, the first day of his new normal. We head back to Charminar, bangle buying, more Irani tea, a delicious veg puff and biscuits. An ice cream stop for Ralph and a visit to a park for peacocks – thwarted because it is closed between 12:00 and 16:30. Never mind – it’s hot, the pool beckons. Except it’s closed for cleaning. Never mind, lovely to sit out, enjoy the breeze and watch Ralph make friends with local kids in the play ground. He starts school tomorrow. A big day for him which he appears completely un-phased about. Dinner – local biryani at an ITC hotel restaurant – and our time in Hyderabad is done. We are off to Hampi tomorrow

It’s a huge city – to us very distinct between the modern and the old. Massive new buildings and huge investment: Google, Accenture, Deloitte, Tara, Capgemini – the list goes on. Lots of traffic but it doesn’t feel always filled with mayhem on the roads, and not too smoggy, perhaps helped by its vast green areas, long may they survive

A very fond farewell to Max, Charlotte and Ralph. We wish them the best times and many experiences, good and unusual, as well as every success professional and personal, during their new chapter

Until next time, namaste

ALISON 

Arrival – being driven by Babu

Charlotte & Max’s apartment, kitchen cocktails, prepping butter chicken

Golconda Fort – the entrance

Golconda Fort – within the complex

Golconda Fort – interior shot, Ralph in a bat cave, decoration at the Hindu temple built by the Muslim rulers within the complex for the workers

Views over Hyderabad from Golconda Fort

Golconda Fort – on the way up and the mosque at the summit (it was approx 720 steps each way!)

Ralph as superstar at Golconda Fort – everyone wanted to be photographed with him, ask his name, where he is from, his age and pinch his cheeks – he coped very well!!

Charminar – first visit

Walkabout and Irani tea and biscuits at Charminar

Marigolds- for Puja

Street side fish stall and a fishy building

Some interiors at Taj Falaknuma

High Tea – before the tea! Taj Falaknuma

Some exteriors, Taj Falaknuma

A peacock in the grounds and sunset over Hyderabad as we leave Tal Falaknuma

Back at Charminar bazar: bangle and watch – for Ralph – buying, more Irani tea and a veg puff, Ralph’s ice cream stop, and a bit of Charlotte’s non-spicy pizza!!

Last Hyderabadi biryani supper: Ralph slept through all of it, bless him

And finally, as we leave Lodha, a big macaque puts in an appearance

Blog II was confined purely to Sajni and Gaurav’s amazing wedding – deservedly so – but there are a few moments either side of the wedding that I would like to share, having also recovered from the trauma of processing the photographs* for Blog II

We travelled from Delhi to Jaipur by car, with driver, sharing the journey with Amanda and Stephen, great friends of the groom’s family and new friends, Islington locals, for us. A new highway and an uneventful journey (just under five hours, 226 Ks, including two fuel stops and a restroom stop) re-acquainting ourselves with the usual Indian traffic mayhem of lane creation, mad overtaking, cows, goats and this time even monkeys!

The Leela Palace is new, but built in a traditional, palatial, decorative style – so everything looks amazing but works and is fit for purpose, such luxury

A swim and catch up beer with Amo and Josh (well no beer for Josh, he’s only eight!) and then dressing for an informal dinner, hosted by the bride and groom’s families – as an impromptu pre-event for the 100ish guests at the Leela the night before day one of the wedding celebrations. Our first taste of the exquisite Leela catering and immense hospitality of our hosts. A great fun evening 

The following morning we figured we had time for a quick dash into central Jaipur – me to buy lac (resin) bangles, Andy for a haircut. Well the 18 ks took 45 minutes: bangles purchased, locks un-shorn. I was very happy – the bangles are a Jaipur speciality and watching the thick colourful small sized bangles being heated, hammered and stretched to size is an abiding memory from our 2018 trip and an experience I was ready to repeat – and they were much admired during the celebrations! 

A few words about the Sunderban Lawn: a large, enclosed, grass area to the palace side of the hotel complex, the site for the Sangeet on the evening of day one. When we arrived it was full of detritus from a wedding the previous day. It looked un-inspiringly messy. In less than 24 hours it was transformed into the magnificent, pavilioned setting for Sajni and Guarav’s Sangeet, with dining and seating areas, a full serving kitchen, a covered walkway, a huge stage and lighting rig and fabulous decorations. Just extraordinary. That was then dismantled, taken away and the entire area cleaned and restored to function as a lawn 

The day after the wedding concluded was spent by many of us poolside, reliving the previous days and relaxing. High tea was offered to guests by the hotel on the restored Sunderban Lawn – complete with music, dancing, magic and puppet shows plus, for the more active, badminton and croquet. After that a visit from elephants in full Rajasthani regalia. I know they can be mistreated for tourist purposes but these two seemed pretty content, happy to accept bananas and moving in for a stroke, and they looked magnificent. Supper at a large courtyard table with the groom’s family and several friends – and the celebrations are complete. Definitely memories for a life time

We fly to Hydrabad the next day, but that is for Blog IV. I finish with a sign at Jaipur airport: as Andy said, he packed his bow and arrow and the meat cleaver in his checked bag – obvs.

The road to Jaipur:

Chilling at Leela:

Sunderban Lawn:

Dinner:

Bangle buying:

High tea entertainments and elephants:

Leaving Jaipur:

Until next time, namaste

ALISON

*Not so much the selection or editing but uploading them to the WordPress site. I think my wifi upload speeds in Hyderabad (where I was – see Blog IV in due course!) may have been very compromised! The issue was resolved by substantially reducing the data/file size of every photograph used and then setting Andy to research how I could remove embedded captions which suddenly appeared in those taken on my camera only after the size reduction exercise. Me and technology, especially WordPress technology – grrrrr` 🙈

How privileged are we, to be able to attend the many celebrations making up Sajni & Gaurav’s wedding in Jaipur, what an occasion. Superlatives required in abundance. To be honest I am still processing, and probably need to do more photograph editing, but I want to share as quickly as possible, and unbelievably it is already four days ago. So how about some bullet points:

EMOTION: love, joy, friendship, inclusion, generosity, happiness, laughter, fun, and did I mention love? In abundance for this couple at every turn over the two days and beyond and evident in each for the other 

COLOUR: the clothes, the jewellery, the flowers, the decorations, the place – sun and sky and trees

CULTURE: Punjabi, Gujarati, Rajasthani, Sikh and Hindu 

DECORATION: the trees, the table settings, the flowers, the pavilions, the spices

MUSIC: traditional and modern, enthralling, an aural and visual spectacle at every occasion, so many musicians and don’t forget AJ the Mumbai DJ who kept the after-parties booming well into the following mornings

DANCING: local, traditional, modern, of professionals, the guests, the bride and groom

FOOD and DRINK: abundant, generous: Indian of every state and type plus European and Thai. Masala dosa for breakfast anyone? Yes please! Sajni and Gaurav cocktails bespoke to mark their celebrations, just fantastic

GIFTS: as if being guests is not enough there is mehndi, a Rajasthani scarf, a silver anklet, a Gujarati bag filled with comestibles, so kind and thoughtful of the bride, groom and their families 

FRIENDS and FAMILY: from around the globe, we renewed acquaintances and met so many new people, enjoyed everyone’s company, forged memories for a lifetime

We cannot thank you enough Sajni and Gaurav for letting us share the experience of your Jaipur Wedding with you, with enormous thanks too to the rest of both your families for including us in theirs

And now, some photographs (its been hard to choose, I cannot imagine the task ahead of the six professional photographers/videographers who covered the two days from start to end). . . 

Part 1 – what happened and where it happened:

Part 2 – events

Mehndi and welcome party:

Sangeet:

The Haldi:

Safa tying – groom’s side complete with drums, but none of the groom – only videos which I cannot upload🙈:

The Baraat – the groom’s procession with family and friends: drummers and half way round a full DJ deck which played songs which the drummers accompanied . . . Music and dancing for about 90 minutes until we joined the bridal party for the ceremony. Huge fun, we only processed about 800 metres!! Gaurav’s bridal car overheated and was pushed the last stage of the procession:

The marriage ceremony – stunning stunning flowers, so beautifully decorated roof top location. Bride and groom looking amazing:

The reception, including cake cutting, first dance, speeches, food, cocktails and love, love, love. More stunning clothes and jewellery too:

The After-Parties:

Part 3 – gifts:

Part 4 – friends and family, so many, here are just a few . . .

Until next time, namaste

ALISON

What an absolutely marvellous excuse for another trip to India: an invitation to Gaurav and Sajni’s wedding in Jaipur in October 2023. An invitation accepted without a second thought. Not only a chance to celebrate with the wonderful couple and their friends and family (even though we live within a few hundred metres of the groom’s family in London, we so rarely all get together) but also the opportunity to plan another trip to this endlessly fascinating country. 

I have two places I really want to visit this time, I tried in 2018 but it was just too complicated. Fortunately Andy is happy to visit them too (😜) and the route fell into place. Map attached . . . 

We start in Delhi: a good night’s sleep, breakfast with the groom’s family – he is already in Jaipur – and as they head to Jaipur we have the day to tread ground familiar: Khan Market – and new: Hamuyan’s Tomb.

The weather is perfect: 25 degrees C and not humid. Khan Market is buzzy and fun. We get there by Uber, extremely cheap – around £4.20 including tip – to cover 18ks but it takes nearly an hour, from Aerocity where we are staying. We have not previously explored this new, expansive part of Delhi close to the airport: think Canary Wharf without the river and with aeroplanes. It’s sleek, modern, clean with very tight security everywhere. A new and unexpected – to us – version of India, accessible, comprehensible, familiar to foreign souls. 

On the drive we are reminded how extremely green New Delhi is: wide tree lined boulevards, many parks and gardens glimpsed through perimeter fencing, smart housing, hotels and buildings in the government and diplomatic quarters and so clean – a consequence of the G20 Summit held in New Delhi last month perhaps. In some way we are reassured by the still chaotic and cacophonous traffic!

After a very little shopping (Andy: sunglasses) we take a tuk tuk to Hamuyan’s tomb. It is set in a glorious tree filled park, the light is beautiful, the birds vocal – especially the vibrant parakeets and the mynahs – and the several monuments are evocative. Hamuyan’s, apparently the first paradise-garden tomb in India, was commissioned in 1558, and pre-dates the Taj Mahal by some 70 years but the resonances are clear. The Isa Khan tomb complex within the park is 20 years older again but smaller and less grand.

Apart from the buildings we were entertained watching White Ibis, Red-Naped Ibis and Black Kites all grazing, paddling and (in the case of the kites) bathing in shallow wetland created by the garden watering system. The photographs, from the cameras on our phones, give an indication but through the binoculars the colours of the Red-Naped Ibis and the antics of the kites were extremely visible.

Another Uber back to the hotel – over an hour, similar distance, still extremely cheap at £6.20 – and a swim in the roof top pool; it is dark now and somewhat surreal doing lengths as the planes take off and land beyond the glazed barrier at the pool’s end.

Dinner locally, a restaurant which claims to have invented Butter Chicken and Dhal Makhani. The latter was excellent regardless of its origins (Persia/Bombay perhaps?!) eaten with a mutton curry. No lack of spice today.

Today we travel to Jaipur and the wedding. We cannot wait!

Until next time, namaste

ALISON

THE PHOTOGRAPHS:

THE PHOTOGRAPHS:

Route/itinerary map

The breakfast table and an aloo parantha with ginger pickle and sambal veg

Walls of water – the hotel courtyard

Khan Market

Local colour during our tuk tuk ride

The entrance stone at Humayan’s Tomb

The Isa Khan gateway

More of the Isa Khan complex

The West Gate

A pink Taj? (Humayan’s tomb x 2)

Bird life

Another tomb, couldn’t find this one’s name!

Dropping in for fuel?

The rooftop pool

Dinner!!

It’s all about …. well pretty much more desert!

After our four fascinating days based in San Pedro de Atacama we hit the road again. First by a late afternoon/evening bus journey to Antofagasta (374 Ks, five and a half hours) and then, after an overnight stop, we collect a hire car – this one complete with number plates – and hit the mostly coastal road south.

Once again, this country – or at least this part of it – is big with a lot of nothing in it except mines, quarries, cement works and sparse settlements in shacks and pre-fab housing along the coast. Like the road trip in Argentina this area of Chile seems big and empty on a similar scale: the vistas are vast but the mountains slightly lower: looking at the Andes’ foothills, we have lost massive peaks and volcanoes. The skies remain superbly blue for the most part but the colours are far more muted: earth tones of the desert and little to no vegetation. After a while on the road we understand why most people we have met fly into or out of San Pedro de Atacama from points south . . .

Our route:

• Antofagasta 🛏️
• Bahia Inglese 🛏️ 🛏️ 🛏️
• Caldera
• Parque Provincial Pan de Azucar
• La Serena 🛏️ 🛏️ 🛏️
• Valle del Elqui
• Valparaiso 🛏️ 🛏️ 🛏️
• Viña del Mar (actually a short hop by train from Valparaiso)
• Santiago airport 🛏️

The maps below do not include the “side” trips at steps 3, 4, and 6 above and the basic route is still 1,410 Ks (881 miles) and covers a small, tiny, fraction of Chile – and is still further than Land’s End to John o’Groats which is 1,340 Ks (837 miles).

The roads are generally good and rarely very busy with the exception of heavy traffic, especially trucks, leaving both Antofagasta and when we joined the autopista out of Valparaiso. We are again blessed with good weather but it feels noticeably more autumnal with both cooler overcast mornings and cool evenings and nights as we travel south from Bahia Inglese.

Antofagasta is a big modern port and town, grown up a round the mining industry it supports. We are there only to pick up the hire car but the hotel looks across the bay and our morning view is of huge numbers of pelicans, cormorants and gulls swimming and fishing in the bay and turkey vultures looking on, including poolside.

Off the road to Bahia Inglese the countryside is scarred with evidence of current and former mining industries. The town itself, on the sea, is a local holiday spot and we arrive on the penultimate day of the season. It is very quiet by 8 o’clock on a Saturday evening and we use it as a base for two days exploring this area of coast: Caldera, a few miles north where we watch seals and sea lions frolic in the harbour waiting for the fishing boats to return. We are as interested as they are in the fish being unloaded and filleted and sold immediately to waiting locals. Some people take hold fish, others fillets, others all the heads and off-cuts, no doubt for excellent stocks and soups. We wish we had a good kitchen and bbq, we have rented a beach house for our three days stay, but it is disappointingly shabby and ill-equipped for fish cooking. Instead, we eat well at a restaurant recommended by one of the fishermen. Roberto is again the key to all our locally gleaned information. Alison M’s Spanish is good but the speed and local adaptation of the language by the Chileans is a challenge for her and well beyond our limited vocabulary.

The next day, retracing our steps even further north, we visit Parque Naçional Pan de Azucar. On a quiet Monday there are no tourist boats to take spotting Humboldt penguins on an off-shore island but we do a fabulous walk up a gently climbing hill to a mirador overlooking the coast, walking through cactus groves, this time Copiapoa rather than the Cardones seen in Argentina, all extremely photogenic.

The drive to La Serena gave us more of the same landscape. With the sun shining and immense blue skies it was far from desolate but we wonder what its like during the dark months of winter. We spend a day exploring la Serena – its a biggish town of approx. 55,000 people and has a lot of churches with architecturally interesting spires and bell towers. There is a pretty Japanese garden and the town has extended to the beach – we eat good fish two of our three nights. There is also a very good archaeological museum: fascinating ceramics from the indigenous Molle and Daguita peoples and one exhibit which chimes a personal chord with Andy: a Moai, a gift from the Easter Island community of Rapa Nui given to the city of La Serena in thanks for an inaugural flight made to the island in January 1951 in a Catalina. Andy’s father, seconded to the Dutch Air Force in WWII, was a crew member in a Catalina flying missions along the coast of South Africa to spot German submarines. The museum exhibit includes creaky film footage of the inaugural flight to Rapa Nui, the first time Andy has seen a Catalina flying.

On our second full day we explore the Elqui Valley – home to vineyards and the centre of pisco production. It is lush and verdant and a complete contrast to our journey south from Antofagasta. Lunch at a piscoria, a tour and tasting are taken. Before that we stopped at Vicuña, and visited the museum in the birthplace of Chilean poet Gabriela Mistral, awarded the Nobel prize for literature in 1945 and of whom we previously were wholly unaware.

And then Valparaiso: once Chile’s biggest port, now apparently its third but still active with vesssels and derricks. The hill behind the town has become renowned for its street art, graffiti and its artistic and somewhat bohemian community. We stay in a hotel created from the home of Thomas Somerscales , a Yorkshireman who joined the Royal Navy and was invalided ashore at Valparaiso. He stayed, built a (grand) house, turned an enthusiasm for art, especially landscapes and naval painting, into a career and is considered a Chilean painter. We love and are energised by Valparaiso, its gritty and grimly; many bars an restaurants; fantastic 19th century elevators to ascend and descend the hills; there is a pervading smell of dope in certain areas; the historic architecture invokes for us both Victorian and Californian precededents. We take a three hour walking tour one afternoon, with a great guide, and it is fascinating.

We spend an afternoon at nearby Vina del Mar, much lauded by the guide books as a beach resort popular with those weekending from Santiago, we find it somewhat bland!

And just like that our adventure is nearly over. For us it closes with a bonus day in Santiago. Alison M and Roberto decide to fly back to Buenos Aires for their last five days so we travel to Santiago airport together and return the hire car. We drop our bags at the airport hotel we have booked for our last night, and bid a sad farewell to A & R as they check in for their flight to BA. We then take the bus into Santiago and have a great day walking and discovering new and now familiar bits of the city. The change in five weeks is huge: it is now full of people, everyone is back from their summer escape from the city; the universities are open and thronged with students; there is a buzz lacking before; the weather is still glorious and the colours in the parks are definitely autumnal. We have a late lunch at the restaurant we found on our second evening, which we loved and we are not disappointed.

The decision to stay at the airport hotel is a good one: modern, clean, comfortable and an oh so easy six minute walk to departures in the morning. Our 14 hour flight beckons, it will give us some time to process all we have seen and done. It has been a fabulous trip.

PS: the airport wifi was far too feeble to enable me to upload this, let alone the photographs, to my blog site so I am doing so two full days (and a bit) after reaching home. It means I can add the photos Andy took from the plane . . .

Until next time, wherever that may be from, adios amigos, thanks for reading
ALISON

Chile again – San Pedro de Atacama

Our bus journey from Salta starts at 01:10, only 10 minutes after its scheduled departure time. It’s a single decker, the first in our experience, but still high off the ground because of luggage storage and it is comfortable.

The journey should be about nine hours but we have no idea how the border crossing will be dealt with. As dawn breaks we are in the mountains and we stop, just before 9 o’clock, at Paso de Jama – the northernmost border crossing between Argentina and Chile and at 4,100 metres it is no surprise we feel a bit spacey! The border checks are thorough: first leave Argentina, passport stamped; next enter Chile, customs checks are rigorously pursued, food – especially nuts and seeds – examined and prohibited items are confiscated; all luggage has to be removed from the bus and scanned; Chilean immigration check passports . . . and after nearly two hours we are back on the bus, and in Chile.

The scenery is wonderful: snowy peaks, vicuña, flamingoes and the bus driver even stops so we can see a fox, and we learn that the fox knows the bus is going to pass and hangs around hoping to be fed; he is rewarded with a bread roll today, he seems happy!

The arrival into San Pedro de Atacama is not promising: the bus route takes us past a car and truck scrap yard and then what appears to be the town rubbish dump, both just exposed to the street and all passersby. The town, as we descend from the bus, is dusty and litter strewn. Dogs roam everywhere. The sun is scorching. Not many people are about. If there had been tumbleweed and plaintive music we could have wandered onto a spaghetti western film set.

Our mood is much improved on arrival at our hotel: small (eight rooms), edge of town, twig clad and with astonishing views at the back over fields of corn and sunflowers to snow clad volcanoes Lascar and Licancabur – which is our backdrop to breakfast for the next four mornings. The staff are charming: los chicos from Cochabamba (as they introduce themselves), Rodriguo the manager and the three dogs: Aukan – who is the size of a small horse, very affectionate, and likes leaning; Quila, a friendly soul and the ever-sleeping, shagggy Newton.

After a quick freshen up we walk into town: for late lunch, to explore, to check out some tours. It takes under 15 minutes and although initially we notice only dust and litter we came to enjoy it over the successive days, noticing the dusky pinks in the adobe walls, some interesting architectural details, use of local materials, irrigation channels. The town itself is low rise, local materials – especially adobe – and vibrant, very cosmopolitan in terms of visitors because it is the centre for the astronomic, desert and high Andes tours. Roberto is kept on his toes recognising the accents of the restaurant, tour and shop workers we encounter – many Bolivians, Colombians, Venezuelans as well as Chileans.

Tours: there are many to chose from, some it would be possible to do by self driving but we have no car for this stage of our trip and part of the experience is to learn from guides. So we investigate agencies and apart from our astronomical tour, which Alison M researched and pre-booked, settle on three others. We find, on reviewing our experiences at the end of the stay, that the quality of the guides has a huge impact on the enjoyment of each tour – and (for us at least) that quality is a matter of pot luck. We had two extremely good guides (astronomical and salt flats/lagoons), one poor (Valle del Luna) and one OK (geysers). So a mixed bag, but each experience was more than worthwhile: breathtaking scenery, unimaginably huge vistas, colourful panoramas . . .

The astronomical tour is a group of 12; we have four telescopes to look through ranging in diameter from 80 cm to 130 cm; it is not perfect conditions: the moon is near half full and bright and there is some cloud but our guide is extremely knowledgable and interesting. She points out constellations and discusses navigation, time, space. It is fascinating – but in terms of sheer star numbers and Milky Way visibility does not beat our experience in Karijini in Western Australia in 2019.

The next day Valle del Luna – amazing mountains, colours, rock formations and volcanoes at sunset while sipping a pisco sour – what’s not to love? It is on this tour we really understand the “big ticket” attraction of San Pedro and the desert – our minibus is one of many and the paths we walk and miradors we visit are all well populated. By earwigging tour guides for other groups we also begin to understand how each individual guide, and therefore experience, varies.

Then geysers: a 4:00 a.m. start for a 4:30 pick up is hard but so worthwhile; it is a near two hour bus journey to the geyser field which we explore on foot at sunrise. The temperature is -4 centigrade, finally we are justified in packing the thermaIs! It is located above 4,200 metres and even a short ascent has us breathing hard. We can roam the paths freely, all beautifully marked by local stones marking borders – but are warned not to stray as the geyser water temperature averages 85 centigrade and falling in would be certain death. After the geysers breakfast and a tour of a couple of lagoons – great to see Andean ducks, oyster catchers, flamingoes and vicuña.

Our final tour is slat flats, stromatolites and salt lagoons where we float weightlessly and bob like turtles. These are fabulous, empty, huge land landscapes. And so interesting for us as we encountered stromatolites in 2019, again in WA at Hamelin Pool. We learn there are now only three extant sites of living stromatolites, here, WA and Mexico (although a brief internet search might challenge this) assertion.

I could write lots more but will constrain myself to adding and annotating photographs.

Food and drink: less meat, more fish; good bread and pebre; less wine (this surprises us: we are in Chile after all, even if not in wine country) and excellent pisco sours.

We thoroughly enjoy our four days and leave the driest desert in the world feeling well satisfied with our adventures here and head, by evening bus, to coastal Antofagasta and the start of our Chilean road trip – but that is for another occasion.

Until next time, adios amigos
ALISON

It’s all about the mountains

After a week of feasting at different wineries with a bit of mountain visiting thrown in we set off on our road trip proper. Boy, this country is big with a lot of nothing in it (thanks for that Alison M). You may remember similar sentiments about our road trip in 2019 when we went from Perth to Darwin in 54 days BUT this part of Argentina seems big and empty on a different scale: the vistas are vast, the mountains huge, the skies superb, the colours extraordinary.

Our route:

• Lujan de Cuyo to a desert hotel east of Ischigualasta “El Chiflon”🛏️
• A 70 K re-tracing of our steps the following morning to find fuel (we didn’t even think we needed to plan for that, out of practice, a mistake not repeated!) and then the 50 Ks back to….
• Ischigualasta
• Villa Union 🛏️
• Talampaya
• Belen 🛏️
• Cafayate 🛏️ 🛏️
• San Salvador de Jujuy 🛏️
• Purmamaca and Tilcara
• Humahuaca 🛏️
• Salta 🛏️

The maps below do not include all the “side” trips at steps 2, 3, 5, and 9 above and the basic route is still 1,675 Ks (1,046 miles) and covers a small, tiny, fraction of Argentina; Land’s End to John o’Groats is 1,340 Ks (837 miles) – just to provide some sense of scale.

The roads are generally good and rarely very busy. Travel time is slow because the roads are often bendy, it is easy to see why the route is so beloved of motorbikers! The slow speeds give more chance to admire the landscape, always mountains on the horizon, the Andes of course and various sierras, some snow capped; a lot is verdant green with trees and shrubs; some is barren rock often multi hued (my, the colours are magnificent); we see spectacular cacti 🌵 and cross many wide, wide river beds almost all dry or with the barest trickle at this time of year.

After a day on the road our first visit is Parque National Ischigualasta. Our day gets off to a very good start with many guanaco (the wild camelid from which llama were domesticated some 4,000 years ago) in evidence. They are so photographic and adorable looking I make no apology for the multiple pictures below!

The tour of the park is in our own vehicle in a conga line, with a park guide up front, and several stops to admire the natural features and have the geology and effects of erosion explained – poor Roberto is working hard as our translator – everything is conducted in Spanish; Alison M’s Spanish is more than good enough to cope, ours the opposite. The shapes and strata colours are fabulous.

The next day is Parque National Talampaya, the tour here is of a canon and is by bus to preserve wildlife and reduce environmental impact. Astonishing rock formations and colours. Genuinely awe inspiring. We even saw condors, which have been shy on the whole.

A couple of nights in Cafayate give us a day out of the car properly to stretch our legs by walking to a winery: another glorious setting and fabulous lunch. The town is pretty and the hotel a delight, with a Mediterranean garden and a pretty pool. In fact all our accommodation so far on the road has been a delight. Before our Ischigualasta visit we stayed in a proper desert motel – built in the middle of nowhere, earthy tones and great cacti with a beautiful sierra as back drop, and a pool table for after dinner entertainment. At Villa Union it was a more corporately run enterprise but in a beautiful setting and with a great pool. At Belen it was a modern hotel which incorporated indigenous art and motifs in its decoration, housed the local archeology museum (a collection of ceramics) and had an even better pool.

Another day on the road to San Salvador de Jujuy, a big sprawling town which looks scruffy and somewhat unappealing. Our hotel, in a sympathetically converted and extended grand old house, is very central and we take a walk around the city. There are some impressive buildings in various states of disrepair, parks with lovely trees, and not much else to detain us, it was just a convenient place to break up the journey.

Our last full day on the road to our northernmost stop at Humahuaca includes stops at Purmamaca – more spectacular rock formations and colours – and Tilcara – a pre-Spanish indigenous fort at Pulcara and a botanic garden of astonishing cacti. We learn these cacti, cardones, have a life span of 100 years, desiccate from the inside out and the desiccated plant is used like wood, in buildings and carvings. Mature plants are protected so not found in any new building unless from salvage.

Humahuaca sits in the Quebrada valley, beautiful landscapes lead us to the largely whitewashed, low rise adobe town, hot and dusty and with crane ale in full swing – costumes abound, music and marching (well strolling) an an evening spent at a restaurant with an impressive band playing indigenous folk music.

The next day sees us re-trace our steps south to Salta, our last destination in Argentina. A town with an Hispanic heart (and churches), more beautiful trees, good souvenir shopping and, on our last day, torrential rain storms, which close the cable car to the top of the hill overlooking town and facilitate the souvenir shopping, well by me and Alison M; Andy and Roberto retreat red to a bar and watched Newcastle lose to Man U in the Carabou Cup.

Our utterly fabulous time in Argentina closes with our 1 a.m. departure, by bus, to San Pedro de Atacama, in Chile, but that is for the next instalment.

The car with no number plate: although stopped repeatedly during our road trip at numerous police checks the absence of a number plate appears not to be the cause of the stoppages or of any concern to the police stopping us (we remain unclear why there are so many police checks) UNTIL on our penultimate day when we cross into Salta province en route to Humahuaca when we are stopped three times. At the first, the police officer examines all the car documents, interrogates Roberto and finds the absence of number plate unacceptable and applies a fine to the owner of the vehicle; at the second the police officer repeats the examination/interrogation process and says we cannot lawfully drive the car on public roads, this leads to a mini Mexican stand-off and eventually we are waved through with a shrug; at the third Roberto is able to produce some photographed documentation which the renter of the vehicle eventually provides by wattsapp – responding to messages sent after the first and second stop of the day! We are relieved to hand the car back in Salta, and equally relieved that we do so without damage.

Until next time, adios amigos
ALISON

Mendoza

We survive our 14 hour overnight bus journey from Buenos Aires to Mendoza city in remarkably good shape. We head immediately to our hotel a few kilometres south of the city chosen for the convenience of collecting the hire car and then heading south into serious wine country in a couple of days.

Too early to access our rooms we drop our luggage and walk to a nearby small retail area, breakfast at leisure and then check in, shower, change and taxi to the city centre. Except we don’t quite make it, with a loud bang our taxi just….expires. We abandon the embarrassed driver and set off on foot. A happy outcome as we enter the main part of the city through a beautiful garden square which manifests its Spanish heritage in the pavement tiles and bench.

All the streets are tree lined and we see for the first time something repeated in every town and village we visit throughout the province: an irrigation system of trenches and sluice gates which provide and regulate water to all the trees, parks and gardens. It’s highly impressive, occasionally very decorative, and a fantastically engineered use of Andes’ snow melt and river water: the region has one of the lowest annual rainfalls on the planet but our first sight of the city, repeated through much of the areas we visit, is that it is so green one would never believe that we are technically in a desert!

Walking the deserted streets – it is hot, and siesta time for sensible locals – it is apparent from the large houses, varied architecture and gardens that the city is wealthy and we spot businesses that clearly link it to the wine industry. We walk north to Parque San Martín. Revived by a beer we stroll its tree lined paths, admiring the fountain and lake. An evening walk back into the centre leads us to an excellent Pisco Sour in a Peruvian restaurant and dinner on the terrace of a parilla, pretty much empty as we arrive at 8:30 and absolutely heaving as we leave a couple of hours later, full of asado (again!). One interesting conversation during the course of dinner between Roberto and the parilla owner is that his meat bill had increased by 5% the previous week and he is expecting a similar increase next week; he has not yet passed on the increase to his customers but does not know how long he will sustain that. Managing any business must be really difficult in these inflationary times, as much as one’s personal budget. That said, nowhere we have been has there been any shortage of people out, eating and drinking so to us the problems seem well hidden.

The next day is our first (of four) winery lunches in the Mendoza region, but before that Roberto and Andy collect the hire car. They return to the hotel a little perturbed: it is a three day old, bright red Fiat Cronos with 174 delivery kilometres on the clock and no number plates. We were expecting something more worn and are not sure how driving with no number plates will pan out…..*

The winery, Clos de Chacras, is a delight. On the edge of the town, Chacras de Coria, it is a rosy pink, Spanish style building set in manicured lawns and vineyards. Lunch is served on a deck overlooking a carp pond and is a delicious six course tasting menu with wine pairings. No tour of the winery today, but a walk through the vines (netted, which I have not seen before) back into town.

The following day we relocate to Lujan de Cuyo, our base for the next five days, exploring the mountains and vineyards. We start in earnest the following morning, Aconcagua, the Andes’ highest mountain (although not high enough to make the world’s top 100, the summit is 6,961m) is visible from our balcony and we head there today. A wondrous drive through a geography lesson. The weather is glorious, the skies blue and the vistas huge. Our first stop is Puente del Inca, colorful rock which does not seem real, on an old Inca trading route. Then into Parque Provincial Aconcagua and a three hour circular hike initially taking us towards the snow capped mountain, walking steadily towards the glacier. The car park is at approx 2,800m and we climb to about 3,200m – not a huge change but we can all feel we are breathing more heavily than usual on the walk. Good acclimatization and a spectacular day.

The next three days are visits to three very different and all extremely lovely winerys, all serving outstanding food: Zuccardi, then Azul, then Hacienda del Plata. Zuccardi and Azul require scenic drives south of Luján de Cuyo with magnificent views; Hacienda del Plata is in the town and we walk there and back. It would take me pages to recount each of our visits so I shall rely on captioning the photographs (there are many!). As to the wines: mostly Malbec and Cabernet Sauvignon. The very occasional Chardonnay but with all the meat we eat we mostly drink red. Not much fizz, which is a shame for Alison M who does not drink still wine, but is well used to watching the three of us doing so!

Mendoza, the city and the province, has been a fabulous stay. Extremely well fed and full of wine we ready ourselves for our road trip proper, north….but that is for another blog!

*the car: on our trip to Puente del Inca we drive through a number of police and customs check points. We are not at all clear what the former are looking for as we are waved through; customs are mostly checking trucks but it seems there is a prohibition on moving fruit across provincial and national borders – we are asked if we are carrying fruit on one occasion. No-one raises the absence of number plates. We are however persuaded to pull over as a result of repeated gesticulations from a family who pull in in front of us; the mother runs back to tell us our number plates have fallen off. Roberto explains. She is surprised as she cautions the police can be very difficult about this. We’ll see! We thank her for her concern – of course Roberto does all the explaining – and with parting good wishes on both sides she goes back to her car to regale her family with the three English and one Argentinian traveling in a hire car without number plates because the man renting them the car has assured them it is fine.

Until next time, adios amigos
ALISON

Buenos Aires

Wow, what a city. Andy and I came to Argentina in July 2007 for nearly three weeks, to meet up with Alison, Roberto and their children. We divided our time between BA, Bariloche and San Martín de los Andes – the latter two for skiing. We had an amazing time. It was of course winter then: days were short and cool (cold and extremely snowy in the mountains), nights cold. The city was subject to daily disruption from strikers and protesters. We remember great steak, great pizza, colourful buildings in La Bocca, a great art museum, a lot of walking. Lots of broken pavements requiring constant attention to avoid tripping. Everyone smoked, finding seating for seven in non smoking areas in restaurants was sometimes difficult.

We are slightly apprehensive about what we would find this time, the country is suffering rampant inflation (over the last 12 months 97% with a current prediction for the next 12 months of around 120%). Alison and Roberto did all of the research for this part of our trip and getting fixed prices for a rental car (in particular), hotels in the remoter regions, even the bus journeys was a challenge. We wondered if we would find a city paralysed by civil unrest and full of apprehension for the future. Well we find none of that! Admittedly we are staying in a smart part of town, La Recoleta. Our street, opposite the entrance to the famous cemetery is lined with bars, restaurants, clubs, busy until the early hours of the morning. Popular restaurants are full, the streets are clean, the pavements repaired and the people extremely friendly – although having a native with us clearly helps! And the parks are stunning. We do not remember BA being so green: but so many of the streets are tree-lined; parks and squares are filled with trees, the “silk floss tree”, a Ceiba, native to the region is in glorious flower everywhere and has trunks reminiscent of Baobs, particular favourites of mine and Alison M’s as you may remember from my Western Australia blogs and photos (there will be more).

We are here to help Roberto celebrate his 70th birthday, he has family and friends in the city, and he and Alison have lined up a week of socialising, eating and drinking to mark the occasion – what a glorious way it is for us to (re)discover the city. We eat and drink: dinner with cousins, lunch with brothers, dinner just the four of us, lunch with other cousins, grand afternoon tea and a speakeasy, drinks with friends, pizze and papilla – are you feeling full yet?

The weather is properly scorchio, between 30C and 38C all week and sunny. The humidity is high in the latter part of our week and somewhat sapping but we persevere, there is always a corner bar for some refreshment and shady respite. Between celebratory feasting we walk and walk, the pavements are fixed, public buildings have been restored, the architecture is fascinating and did I mention we love the parks and the trees? Apart from some of the feasting venues we live outside during waking hours, glad of the aircon at night as the temperature doesn’t drop below 24C.

Buenos Aires is, of course, the city of tango: we see it performed in squares and parks all over the city, dancers and musicians busking for their living. It is extremely atmospheric. Andy and I fit in a lesson at a milango – a club where mostly non-professionals go to practice and dance. Alison and Roberto did not join us so there is no photographic evidence of just how good we were (not!). It was fun but in a room without air conditioning and limited ventilation it was extremely hot and sweaty. The club, Le Catedrale, is cavernous, described (accurately) as bohemian, looks like it is a former warehouse, and in a less salubrious part of town. We felt adventurous, but also safe and enjoyed the experience. We resolve to seek lessons back home . . .

The city of course has its poor areas, and there is deprivation, and unrest but we are very blessed to experience it at its wonderful best. It is beautiful, leafy, sophisticated, fun and full of fabulous places to people watch.

Are you interested in how our money is working? If not skip to the photographs! The answer is it depends on the exchange rate. We are changing cash US$ for Argentinian pesos. We change US$ at our hotel or an official cambio (which are offering the same rate), not a bank, and we are getting at least twice as many pesos for our dollars than if we paid on credit/debit/prepaid credit card. The dual exchange rate is recognized by the government who publish an official and a “blue” or tourist dollar exchange rate. The cambios all seem to improve the official tourist rate. The disadvantage is having to carry cash. We brought US$ with us (at an exchange rate of $1.195 to £1.00); we are achieving an exchange rate of AR$ (Argentine pesos) of between 350 and 360 to US$1.00. We are working on an approximate conversion rate of £1.00 = AR$410. The mental arithmetic is interesting!! Some things are extremely cheap eg taxis where we seem to be able to travel across the city for half an hour for less than £5*; eating well is generally much cheaper than in the UK; wine prices vary from very low to comparable with the UK, depending on venue, beer is cheap, cocktails vary from venue to venue and are generally much cheaper than at home. But this would be a very different story if we were not enjoying the cambio “blue” rate. We are on alert when carrying our cash reserves – normal city rules apply – but really our experience has (so far) been absolutely fine.

One thing to consider when carrying cash is its bulk: the highest value AR$ note (currently) is 1,000 – approx £2.50. Bringing back a few days worth of cash from the Cambio doesn’t quite require a wheelbarrow but you get my point, especially when AR$1,000 notes run out and Ar$200 notes are given.

*except the one time where we were ripped off by a driver with a dodgy meter, but it was only our second ride after the airport fixed price taxi to our hotel, we learned from that lesson . . .

Until next time, when we move to Mendoza, adios amigos
ALISON

Santiago Part II, a departure and an arrival

A daytime nine and a half hour bus journey from Villarrica to Santiago passed pleasantly enough: comfy seats, our first full cama (!), a bit of reading, snoozing and listening, good views …. and a lot of trying to not watch/hear the back to back American action movies dubbed into Spanish played on the bus’ entertainment system for the entire journey🙈. Although as they were also played with Spanish subtitles we did try and learn a few new words!!

Back at the same hotel in Santiago we readied ourselves for a second walk around and evening of eating and drinking in the “barrio gastronomico” in Lastarria which we discovered last time and we were not disappointed: lively, buzzy, great pisco, food and wine, charming staff

With a last morning to explore the city we head for the much lauded barrio “Paris y Londres”. According to various sources a delightful quarter of early 20th century housing built around the Convento of San Francisco. We were, frankly, disappointed. Dilapidated, litter and graffiti strewn, little cared for there is evidence of charm although not a great deal. That said, the photos do not really show this and the quarter is still photogenic . . .

Packed up and off to the airport for the next phase of our adventure, we see Roberto and Alison several people ahead of us in the check-in queue, and we have been bumped onto their flight (slightly later than our booked one), so all the arrangements made when we were in opposite sides of the world work out perfectly. We catch up over a cuppa, and the flight is another one boasting spectacular views over the Andes

Buenos Aires here we come – for a week of feasting and festivities for Roberto’s 70th birthday in his home town

Until next time, adios amigos
ALISON