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TL #11
13 November 1981 Friday
enroute to Buenos Aires,
Argentina
Hi All!!
If you've always wanted to visit Argentina but haven't dared because of the high costs here, drop everything and come now! For quite a few years now, we've heard about their inflation rates ... almost 350% in 1976 ... and still running at over 100% each year. In addition, Argentina didn't devalue their peso for a long, long time. Thus it became unrealistically expensive for tourists. However, the peso is now undergoing continual devaluation. We've been told that at the first of this year one could get 1200 pesos for one dollar. Two weeks ago it was nearing 9000. And when we entered the country yesterday morning, we received 11,100 pesos per dollar. In the afternoon, we decided to change more money in anticipation of the weekend. We returned to the same moneychanger ... and then got 11,800!! ... up 6% during the one day. As you can imagine, prices don't soar at quite that same rapid rate, so our dollar is buying more and more. Our hotel was very good (by our recent standards, it was sheer luxury) ... with clean sheets, private bathroom, and even supplied with toilet paper, towels, and soap ... and running water every time we turned on the tap! All for the outrageous price of $7.00! Today we saw a price posted of about $1.00 for 5 liters of wine, and Argentine wine is quite good. Beef prices are low in this country, even by local standards ... and excellent quality. This is one of the world's greatest cattle countries. The one cheese we've bought was under $1/lb, so it seems that dairy products also will be good buys. As you can imagine, we're living like kings!
It's outrageous to deal with money in such quantities as 100,000peso notes. When we had purchased $100 worth of pesos, we had 1,110,000 pesos ... millionaires! Sometimes in giving change, the cashier might not have the small change of ... say 100 or 200 pesos. So they throw in a piece of candy instead. Memories flooded back to me of Italy in 1972, when we'd often get candy instead of small change, and how we had laughed then at prices that were always "thousands of lire". But then we were dealing with only about 450 lire per dollar. Now we're dealing with "tens of thousands"! Almost all the money is paper; few coins ... or I suppose we'd see life given to the old story of a wheelbarrow of money needed to buy a loaf of bread. Inflation!
It might be cheap for us now; but for the locals it's a nightmare. We were at a shoe repair today. The owner glowed when he heard we're from the U.S. He wanted to talk, and talk he did ... about how expensive everything is, how hard and what long hours he works, the high taxes ... been working 57 years and has nothing to show for it. It is sad. But it seemed to make him feel better to talk to us about it ... He did a small repair for us and refused to take any pay.
People are so very nice here ... and we needn't fear for thieves so much. It's such a relief not to have constant paranoia guiding everything we do. Also, in Brazil and Argentina, the immigrant population is from Germany, Poland, Italy, etc. We see blond hair, fair skin, and tall people all the time. Without our backpacks, we can blend right in. You just can't imagine how good that feels to us right now. One area of Brazil we passed through, full of beautiful farm land corn, soy, tobacco; developed by German immigrants over the last couple of generations Robert found himself speaking German with some of the people.
Beautiful buses. One we were in had TV. We've heard of sleepers and stewardesses on some of the buses. Oh, yes ... I have another bus story for you. By the way, we took our bus #99 today. We'll celebrate #100, but haven't decided quite how yet ... It may not be for a while. Trains are cheaper here; so this evening we board our train #22.
Bus #96 was an adventure I want to try to convey ... up in the
beautiful farm land in Brazil. We boarded this beautiful big
bus in Campo Grande, Brazil modern, shining clean,
luxurious seats, expansive windows all around. The driver wore
black slacks, white shirt, and necktie. He was a small man ..
always smiling .. and he liked to talk! We're not used to hearing
Portuguese ... and we really laughed. To hear him talk made me
think that was exactly how I'd expect a man from Mars to sound
... kind of bubbly, and quick, nonsensical sounds! And
could this guy drive! Whew! The paved road didn't last long
out of Campo Grande. We soon turned off into the richred
dirt roads that go on and on between miles and miles and miles
of agriculture fields. A short while later it began raining ...
and pouring ... and that continued then the whole day and the
whole night. The richred dirt roads were soon thick, oozing,
richred mud. The mud formed deep heavy ruts, slippery,
like heavy snow. The rear end of the bus sometimes tried to catch
up with the front end. The oft gently sloped roadways were like
slippery slides. The first time we got stuck .. on an uphill
.. the driver must have worked that steering wheel, gears and
pedals for 20 minutes or so .. spinning, turning, spinning, rock,
spin .. like an art .. moving that massive elegant bus just inches
at a time .. and finally it grabbed. On and on we continued through
miles of rolling hills and slick red mud roads. In the fields
alongside we saw "rows and rows" of huge red piles,
so many it sometimes looked as if someone raised bees. But! these
mounds up to 4 feet high or so .. these are ant hills! So many
ants, so many huge ant hills. On and on we continued, slick road,
nice bus. We sat up front with a great view through the big front
window. He's a good driver .. and something so ..? .. a real
picture .. The big, modern bus, the little driver talking in his
fast Martian tongue, always smiling, white shirt, tie. He charged
out into the mud to look the situation over a few times, never
hesitated, always back in with hardly a speck of dirt. Spin that
wheel, work those gears, wiped his brow with a clean cloth, smiled
and would give us the thumbs up sign. I love that! The Brazilians
do it a lot. Thumbs up and a smile. All's going well! It's
like a wink with the thumb. Many hours behind schedule, we pulled
into a few towns, drank some of the world's best coffee, and climbed
back on the bus. From early morning 'til late that evening.
And finally we could see the lights of Mundo Novo in the distance,
the last stop. In the darkness, we slid around a bend in the
road and in the headlights saw a high road and a low road. Can't
hesitate, otta keep those wheels under control. Up on the high
road ... and then saw that it was just barely wide enough for
the bus ... no extra room for those real wheels to slide out.
But slide they did. He spun the wheel one way and then the next
.. couldn't let them slide more than a foot or so in either direction.
Making good progress, but then they slid a little too far. The
rear wheels were hanging off the edge .. nothing for them to grip
into, just air. It didn't take long to determine we were going
no further that night. With the lights of the town in the distance,
some people got out and walked. The rest of us curled up in our
seats and slept. No danger. The level down was only a yard or
so below. Saved us the search for and the price of a hotel room.
The next morning, the sun was shining. We were soon towed off
our perch and were on our way once again.
now 23 November 1981 on boat to the Chilean border
It's so easy to get into the habit of breakfast and a BIG lunch and a BIG dinner! I'm afraid I'm not still as bony as I was in Peru. But why doesn't Robert put any weight back on? Not fair! With such marvelous food and low prices in Argentina, we have really treated ourselves well .. too well, maybe!
With a couple we'd met (from the San Francisco area), we went out to a very special restaurant one evening. Perhaps we should consider it our anniversary celebration. It was food and service to compare with the best restaurants of the U.S. and Europe. Dinner, wine, dessert, and tip came to less than $6.00 per person. When I asked the waiter for the cork and we told him that I collect them (corchos), he brought out a whole bag of corks from the kitchen. 172 of them ... each one with insignia. I promised to send him corks from the U.S. in turn. He saves them also ... and is making curtains, I think he said.
At the moment we're sitting on the aftdeck of a large "tourist" boat. The sun is hot! Wispy clouds too thin to cast any shadow, but pretty enough to add character to the blue skies. Travelling up a beautiful inlet of Lake Nahuel Huapi, treecovered mountains with snowcapped peaks all around us, passing small treecovered islets. This is the lovely Lakes District. A ski paradise in the winter (JulyAugust) with ski runs of 3 miles ... 36 ski lifts at one major spot near Bariloche. South America's Swiss Alps. Now it's spring. Flowers coming into bloom. Some snow still on the peaks. Bright yellow scotchbroom covering the hillsides and lining the shores. I'm finally learning an appreciation for that hardy, abundant bush. It really is quite lovely when it's all in bloom. For years, I've thought only of aphids when I think of scotchbroom. There was so much scotchbroom on the hills and in the forests around our house when I grew up, and I'd be covered with aphids after brushing up against the bushes. And there are lilacs, pansies, iris, poppies, plus many, many more I can't name blooming here. But the local people hardly acknowledge that anything is blooming yet. They say the flowers are incredible in January! Lovely! But I'm glad we're here now with these flowers and some snow still on the mountain tops. In summer, there remain only a few snowcapped peaks.
Lots of tourists in Bariloche. It seems that the travel agents
of the world are quickly spreading the word that Argentina is
again affordable. We met a very interesting couple at our hotel
in Bariloche. From Pasadena, a retired couple in their 50's.
They've been travelling much like us. Through Mexico and Central
America. But they left the States in February .. and plan to
continue the entire circuit of South America and maybe the Caribbean,
too .. until June or so of next year. Great people!
24 November 1981 Puerto Montt, Chile
It was a beautiful trip yesterday. Bus boat bus boat bus boat bus .. 4 buses and 3 boats, crossing the ArgentineChilean border at the continental divide in the Andes. The lakes in varying shades of blues and greens. Many lovely mountains. One that was shaped like a Hershey's Kiss .. and another that looked much like Mt. St. Helens "before": almost perfectly and elegantly symmetrical and also a "dormant" volcano with a lovely lake at its base.
Happy Anniversary to us! We're going to cook dinner in our room this evening and we've bought some "relatively expensive" wine (G2 instead of a cheap one).
We're researching a way to get south of here to see some glaciers that flow right into the sea. We have a possible nine days to do it. That's not enough time to get to the National Park region just north of Tierra del Fuego, but we do think we might be able to get passage to the San Rafael Glacier, which has the icebergs "closest to the equator in the Southern Hemisphere". We'll start south tomorrow by bus and catch an overnight ferry then to Pto. Aysen. There we hope to find someone who will take us to the glacier, about a day's passage south .. perhaps on a fishing boat .. or perhaps on a tour boat that has some empty beds. Sometimes it's possible to swing a deal with a captain when there's room. So keep your fingers crossed for us, please!
Yes .. so close to the glaciers. And at the equivalent latitude
in the Northern Hemisphere, we'd be at about the OregonCalifornia
border. But we did see a palm tree yesterday. Otherwise, the
vegetation is much like in Washington. There are even "monkey
trees" here, which I've never known to grow anywhere other
than around Western Washington.
Hmm....When we saw the full moon
the other day, it was laying down. And since the moon is in a
fixed position facing the Earth, that wouldn't change .. Or would
it? Is that only because the moon was low in the sky? We shall
continue to observe from our southerly viewpoint.
Chile. We can't judge by just one city, but it certainly seems that our gourmet meals are all behind us. People are different, too. We see more poverty here. But I should reserve further comment 'til we've seen more.
We do hope to return to Argentina for sure some day. It's a beautiful country. And we like the people .. very friendly .. and they seem to enjoy life. We want to see more of Brazil, too. Our brief glimpse of that huge country left a favorable impression. What I think of most aptly demon strates how I feel about Brazil is their "thumbs up" sign with a smile. It's an easily acquired habit, and makes everyone feel good!
With that, I'll close. One month from today is Christmas Eve. Robert will be in Lidingö, and I'll be in Redondo. Sorry, but we don't think we'll get out Christmas greetings this year; so just in case we don't get another chance, we'll wish you all Happy Holidays right now .. and God Jul! But it hardly seems possible with all this sunshine (gets dark about 9:30), no Santa Clauses on street corners, no Christmas decorations, no Christmas carols ... but soon!
love and hugs
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[Letter 11] |