Day 16 - The caves

When we made it to Baralochie this morning it was very beautiful. Everything was frosted over and the hills and trees were beautiful. I felt like we were in more of a temperate climate, not so much desert like. It is a good change. I am sick of feeling hot and stuffy.

When we were in the taxi John had asked the taxi driver if there was a lot of ash in Baralochie from the volcano. The taxi driver said there was a little bit, but not much really. It is all gone now. That was good for me to know too, because Courtney wasn’t going to come to Baralochie or to El Botsan, where we are going tomorrow, because of the ash. I informed her otherwise though.

Our hostel is pretty nice. Everyone here speaks English. Many of the people are actually from the US. I met a girl from Denver and another girl from CA.

Today John and I decided to go check out some old caves. The caves actually turned out to be the same exact situation as with Angel Rocks in the interior. They were formed by volcanoes. They have the same exact rock as we have at Angel Rocks. The guide, who spoke some English, was telling me that the Indians who used to live in the caves have actually been traced back to Alaska natives, the tlinkets he thinks. (I know I didn’t spell that right at all, but I am sure you know which ones I am referring too. The ones that lived near Sitka.) Unlike Angel Rocks, these rocks actually formed large caves. They were pretty cool. There were even writings on the walls from the Indians. You could only see them if you through water on the walls because the writing are so faded. (I cannot remember the name of what it is called when they wrote on the walls.)

Being out there was very interesting. We were outside of the city, about a 40 minute drive. We took the city bus out there. It was so dry. When we were in the bus it was full of dirt from the roads. When we were at the lodge just before you go up to the caves it was very dry, dust everywhere. Then when we were walking up the hill to the caves, once again, a lot of dust.

The lodge was very beautiful. They had a huge green lawn with very tall trees. All around you was hills. The lodge has a panoramic view of the Andes and the huge lake that Baralochie sits on. They also had a small herd of sheep that were grazing along and some loose horses.

On our tour of the caves, which we only paid to go and check them out ourselves, but we actually ended up in the guided tour somehow, we went into one of the caves. That cave lead to another cave through this small hole at the end of the cave. We all put on our hard hats and our guide had a large light so we went into the other cave. The hole was only about two feet wide and two and a half feet tall. It was a bit of a scrunch to get through there. In the second cave there was a water hole. The guide said that at the other end of the water hole, in the water, there is an entrance to another cave, but it is completely filled with water. Right now is a dry time of the year so the water in the cave we were in was pretty low.

On our way back to the bus stop after our adventure a group of people who were with us on the tour were heading back to town so they gave us a ride. I was able to ride in the truck, but there wasn´t room for John so he road in the bed of the truck. Here I guess you aren’t supposed to ride in the back of trucks either, but laws here are more suggested and not enforced, so people pretty much drive how they want. That explains all of the running of red lights, not abiding by the speed limit, driving on the should, or in the case of the bus full of soccer boys, driving on the grass to get around traffic.

Which reminds me, the farmers and the president have not yet come to terms as to what to do about the tax on the farmers. The farmers have however agreed not to block the roads in and out of Buenos Aires anymore. Now they just all park next to the roads, mostly at the intersections, hold up big signs, slow down traffic, and hand out fliers. We saw a lot of that when we were driving from Rosario to Baralochie yesterday.

Baralochie is also known for its chocolates. Let me tell you, they are amazing. The chocolate just melts in your mouth. It is so good. I only had three pieces though and I just couldn’t handle any more chocolate. I am going to try and bring some home, but I am running out of room.

We went out to this AMAZING Mexican place for dinner. The family who owns the restaurant is actually from Mexico. I actually wanted to go to a different place that was in my Lonely Planet book, but I think it was closed down. It was not where it was supposed to be. I settled for the Mexican food though. The food was the best Mexican food I have ever had in my entire life. It was kind of funny, here in Argentina everything comes with bread as an appetizer. We had salsa and bread instead of salsa and chips as an appetizer. The salsa was so amazing. The waitress told us where we can find it so I think I am going to bring some home with me. I had two amazing strawberry daiquiris and some delicious fajitas. They were so full of flavour.

A few more things I keep meaning to say about Argentina, that I always forget is how much they use straws and about their construction zones. The construction zones are kind of funny. If you need to get around them you just walk through them. As for the straws, you drink almost everything with straws. Whenever I get a bottle of water or a bottle of soda, if they are not going to pour it into a cup for me to drink they give me a straw to drink it out of my bottle. I really don´t think this is too bad of an idea though. When I started getting a cavity I did some reading and the website recommended drinking out of a straw because it causes less direct contact between your teeth and what you are drinking, which is better for your teeth. I don’t know how true that is, but found it interesting.

All in all Baralochie is very beautiful. I am glad I came here. Tomorrow we are going to El Botason. We will probably stay there until the 12th. We will leave here the 13th. I don’t think we are going to go to Chili, not enough time.