Beijing trip: Day 5 (31 October)

Hey there loyal readers. Welcome to Day 5 of my Beijing adventure. If you had already read Day 4, then you know that last night I stayed closer to the center of the city, at my good friend Csilla’s place. At 7:00 AM I was out the door from her apartment and heading towards Shangjing subway station. As I walked out, I noticed that they have a nice garden in the back for the residents. As with other places I have seen in Beijing, the neighborhood looks clear and well-organized. Furthermore, the trees along the street make it feel much nicer, despite being in a megacity.

At 7:13 AM I was in the station, quickly getting my 3 CNY ($0.41 USD) ticket and getting on the train by 7:21 AM. The train was quite full, but it was not oppressively crowded. Then at 7:39 AM I hit a minor hiccup when I needed to transfer to the capital airport express at Sanyuanqiao. I guess the name should have given it away, but I hadn’t realized that this was a special train which would require a separate ticket purchase with a cost of 25 CNY ($3.43 USD). The funny thing was that I only had to ride one stop!

Still, the total trip was very affordable and despite the transfer hiccup, by 7:57 AM I had arrived at the meeting spot, the B1 northeast exit of the Dongzhimen station. There were already a couple of people waiting there, and the guide had us put on stickers while waiting. As there were a couple of stragglers, it was not until 8:12 AM that we started walking, and by 8:20 AM we were on the bus. I put my phone into airport mode in order to conserve the battery, and our guide Jessica began the tourisms spiel. She said we would have 5 hours at our destination . . . the Mutianyu section of the Great Wall of China!

She said that this particular section was built just 650 years ago, during the Ming Dynasty, but the oldest parts of the wall are 2000 years old. In terms of what route to take once we were there, she suggested first going to tower 3 on the eastern route. Along with that she said taking the toboggan down would be a good option today since it would be a slower day. As far as the western route which we could opt to do afterwards, she said that tower 14 to 18 were relatively easy, but 18 to 20 were very physically challenging.

For those only wanting to do one route, she said that in her opinion the western route is a bit more beautiful, but she said that both sides would be manageable in the 5 hours, especially if we went up in the cable cars rather than walking the entire time; however, the cars had an additional fee. Via GetYourGuide, I had already paid $43.78 USD for the basic part of the tour. For those wanting to take advantage of the cable cars, she also gave us special instructions about our tickets since cable cars for each side are actually managed by two different companies. Finally, she advised that we do all sightseeing first and then get the included buffet lunch. After a bit of thought, I paid 280 CNY ($38.36 USD) to do both sides with the assistance of the cable cars . . . it was unlikely that I would be returning here again anytime soon, and I wanted to see as much as possible.

At 9:45 AM we arrived at the general starting point and many of us did a quick bathroom break. While the restroom was very clean, there was neither toilet paper nor washing hose, so keep that in mind. I of course had my trusty pack of wet wipes, so it was all good for me.

Then at 9:57 AM we walked over to the MuBus family building. This whole area has a lot of shops and restaurants. It is clearly a tourist trap, but there were few people. Remember though that I did this at the end of October, which was already the beginning of the low season. While waiting in the MuBus building, she reminded us that we needed to be completely ready to head out by 3:00 PM, as that was when the last bus would leave. For those who were wondering, she said that 30 minutes should be enough to comfortably eat the included buffet lunch.

Three of us had originally opted for a slightly more expensive architectural tour of the eastern section, and at 10:09 AM our separate guide came to collect us, and we were off to get on the shuttle which goes up the last 3.5 km. While it is possible to walk, the shuttle is included for all visitors, so everyone just rides it. We were on the shuttle at 10:17 AM and in only 4 minutes were getting off to head through the passport and ticket scan at 10:37 AM.

The first lift car was a bit of an adventure since it was just a simple bench that we had to quickly jump onto without it stopping.

I was on it at 10:40 AM and at 10:47 AM was jumping off at the actual starting point. The views had been incredible!

As is generally the case, I was quite pleased to have a guide. Furthermore, as there were only three of us, so it was highly personalized. At 10:54 AM we saw the general’s room, which was far less impressive than one might have expected.

At 11:07 AM the walk was starting to get a little bit more challenging. Shortly thereafter at 11:12 AM, the Italian woman in our small group gave up and said she was going to head back down on her own. I felt sorry for her, as like me, she clearly had not been properly briefed on how physically challenging this might be, but unlike me, she had come in far less practical clothing and shoes.

At 11:17 AM we looked at some original arches which were still there and had been built with no nails etc . . . Evidently this particular section of the wall had taken 200 years to finish. Next, at 11:26 AM he showed us where there would have been a ladder to get up to the upper level, but the ladder was no longer there. The lower area was where they would live, and the upper level was for the actual guard work.

At 11:35 AM, while this had nothing to do with the wall itself, our guide commented that it was in 1985 that China opened up to more foreign visitors. To be honest, I had not even known that. Then, in an odd moment of apparent openness when we were alone with the guide away from others at 11:41 AM, the guide was very candid about living in a dictatorship, but I kind of wondered if he was just saying that to please us foreign tourists. Regardless, he was particularly bitter about how during Covid-19 times people were kept like prisoners in their homes. This seemed to have been particularly hard in the village area where he was from.

At 11:48 AM I started walking down and at 12:00 PM decided I would take the Toboggan down rather than the cable car. I think just seeing the eastern side would be enough for most people, but I had paid to also see the western route, so I figured I may as well do it. The toboggan line which I reached at 12:10 PM was very short, and by 12:16 PM I was already down the slide. It was an interesting experience, but on the way down I was behind a very cautious older woman who kept completely braking her car, so it was not especially adventuresome.

The entrance to the western route was nearby, and I at 12:24 PM I was already in the next cable car, but this one was a completely enclosed “Sky Tram” type of vehicle. This ride also only took 4 minutes, so at 12:28 I was out and walking, but now on my own, since the guide had only been for the eastern route.

I was glad that I had done both sides, as there were some notable differences. To begin with, at 12:32 I noticed that the western route looked much more developed than the eastern route. There were also way more annoying people blocking the way, doing their overly orchestrated picture poses.

I really needed to rest!

Despite some doubts about whether I would do it, at 1:09 PM I was at the highest point one can go to on the western route. Along the way, several people had clearly given up before getting here.

I also had some concerns about my legs cramping up as I started walking down. Still, after just four minutes of looking around, I headed back towards the cable car.

As I was walking at 1:25 PM I felt that it was very important for me to have had a guide on the eastern route, as otherwise, the whole visit would have just been a big physical challenge. Don’t get me wrong, the Great Wall is EXACTLY like what you have seen in pictures. However, it all looks very similar. So, after the initial awe wears off, I think that without a guide it just becomes a fairly intense physical challenge. Due to the physical exertion required, I also think that in addition to the beautiful colored leaves, the Autumn temperature is ideal for this sort of a trek. Just a little bit colder would not have been very manageable, and much hotter weather would have been sheer torture.

At 1:45 PM I was getting in the cable car again, and in just three minutes was down at the starting point. There had DEFINITELY been other people around, in particular on the western route, but it had never felt overly crowded. Somewhere along the way I got lost, forgetting both where to find it and also that I needed to take the shuttle bus down to the main reception area. Asking people for help was also useless, as nobody really understood me. However, by 2:19 PM I finally somehow had figured it out and was entering the shuttle bus to head down, then arriving at MuBus family home at 2:27 PM.

The buffet was very impressive, and frankly, it was a huge challenge to quickly get food and finish eating by 2:58 PM. One new food that I particularly liked on the buffet was fried yogurt. Honestly, I don’t think I have eaten that fast in years.

I did barely make it to the final departure spot at 3:00 PM sharp, as we had been directed, but then they told us that we would actually not be leaving until 3:30 PM. It really was a pity, since I would have liked to be a bit more leisurely with my delicious lunch, but I am also happy that I did not miss the final transport!

However, it worked out since I realized at 3:23 PM that I probably needed to use the toilet before taking the long bus ride back. Unfortunately, they only had the Asian style squat toilet, and my legs were cramping up . . .somehow though, I made it work . . . which was good both for me and everyone else!

At 3:33 PM we were finally on the bus back to Beijing, and that guide was going the extra mile, trying to give us ideas of nice free places we could go to visit in Beijing, as well as suggesting affordable but tasty restaurants. I was particularly interested in the Olympic Park, which she said was a nice place to visit for a couple of hours in the evening. The chatter stopped at 3:45 PM, and we were mostly in silence up to 4:53 PM when we arrived back to Dongzhimen and said our goodbyes.

I entered the metro station at 5:02 PM, and the only thing that really stood out for me as I headed back to Shunyi on the subway, was when I was waiting for the first train, and I saw the same security guard from a couple of days ago who looked to be maximum 18 years old. Honestly, several of the guards I have seen look to be incredibly young . . .maybe it is considered a starter job?

Given that I was a bit closer to Melody and Alex’s place, this trip was only 5 CNY ($0.69 USD), and at 17:47 PM I was already walking out of the final subway station, this time having successfully remembered which exit to take.

As I was walking back, I reflected on how peaceful it was to walk here at night, so at 6:06 PM I decided to also check out the little park I had seen earlier even though the lighting was not very good. It was smaller than I had originally thought, and there was no sort of playground or anything like that, but it looked like it would be a good place to sit and read or just talk with a friend.

I did not spend too much time there and continued walking, at 6:16 PM noticing another similar small park, but I did not check it out, assuming that it was very similar to the first one. Thus, at 6:27 PM I arrived at Melody and Alex’s place where I was surprised to see Trick or Treaters! Oddly enough, from my point of view, Halloween seems to be a big deal in at least some parts of Beijing.

I had a nice time sitting out on the porch with Alex until we ran out of candy, and then we went in. Afterwards, with Melody and Alex’s coaching, I made my first ever Sushi Roll, and it was super delicious! So, what did you think of Day 5? Despite the fact that a Great Wall visit is a bit of a stereotype, I freely admit that I am extremely glad that I had visited! As I think I had mentioned earlier, this is one of the few places I’ve visited in the world which look exactly the same in person as what one has imagined when seeing pictures. Definitely, it was not something to miss.

As I had now fully leaned into tourist mode, if you follow along for Day 6, I think you will continue to be extremely pleased with what you see. Speaking of which, if you liked what you saw and read about Day 5, do let me know in the comments section below. If you completely detested it, you could also let me know in the comments section below, but please be polite about it! As always, thanks for reading along, and I look forward to sharing more in the near future.

Beijing trip: Day 4 (30 October)

Hey again everyone! So as promised, day 4 will probably be much more of what you were expecting from a trip to Beijing. The previous afternoon, noting how my earlier attempts to do things on my own, while not disasters, had also not been exactly as planned, I had booked a $40.50 USD Forbidden City and Tiananmen Square tour on GetYourGuide. I know it is not very “adventurous” but those of you who follow me know that I generally recommend this tour aggregator, and so far I have not been especially disappointed. According to the booking, we might not be able to actually get into the square, depending upon the political events of the moment, but it seemed that there would be no problem entering the Forbidden City.

I was out the door in Shunyi at 10:19 AM, once again headed to the nearby Capital Exhibition Center subway/metro station.

This time I took the little scenic path from the main street to the station.

In general terms, if possible, I like to use public mass transit, and in the particular case of Beijing, I have not been able to get the ride hailing app to work! As I am assuming that anyone who is reading Day 4 will already have seen my information about taking the subway/metro, I will not share any details beyond the most basic information. My ticket was once more 6 CNY ($0.82 USD), so I assume that around that amount is what it would generally be.

Having already done it a couple of times, the trip was now mostly unremarkable, and at 11:34 AM I was off the subway and trying to figure out how to exit and then get to the meeting place at the Grand Hotel lobby. My only complaint about the Moovit app in Beijing is that the formatting on it is off on the Android app, so you cannot see what exit you are supposed to take when coming out of the subway station. Perhaps they will get that fixed soon?

So, while trying to figure out where to exit, I somehow ended up in a mall and couldn’t easily find an exit. However, I then saw a delivery person at 11:42 and reasoned that if I were to follow him, there was a good chance he would be heading outside. As luck would have it, that was the case and at 11:48 I had arrived at the rather fancy Grand Hotel Beijing lobby.

As had been projected, our guide James arrived at 12:00 PM sharp and we waited a minute to get everyone checked in. In contrast to earlier days in Beijing, I now saw quite a few people who appeared to not be from East Asia. He gave us these handy little single-ear earphones which were connected to his Bluetooth microphone transmitter. Perhaps for others, these are common, but it was the first time I had encountered them, and I thought they would be a great idea for when we take our students on trips and tours from my school. Even with a group of no more than 10, it can otherwise be really hard at times for everyone to hear a guide.

Not having waited too long, at 12:08 PM we set off walking, and once again at 12:14 PM had a passport check. This was followed by some other sort of check at 12:19 which the guide managed without us showing any documents, but then again at 12:21 PM there was another passport check; in contrast to the earlier checks, they actually took our passports for a moment this time and appeared to be genuinely looking at them. Then at 12:23 PM we had a full airport style security checkpoint.

At 12:37 PM, while walking, we came across the Gate of Heavenly Peace. From there, in the distance we could see a pillar, and behind that is the Chairman Mao museum. We did not go there, but evidently that museum has a crystal coffin with Chairman Mao, but I understand it’s hard to get tickets to enter. The National Museum is the building with the red banner and star at the top.

At 12:44 PM James explained the design of the flag, with the four stars representing the four social classes of people. This was new information for me. Then at 12:55 PM he told us that the reason for the white and blue flags was because the president of Finland was currently visiting.

At 1:03 PM we decided to exit the square and head over to the next location. In case you are wondering, YES, I had some misgivings about visiting this place, but I also wanted to see where it all had happened. Even our guide quietly acknowledged that there have been terrible things happen here, but he also wanted to highlight that many good things have happened since then and before then as well. So anyways, yes, I was morally conflicted, but no, I was also not clueless about where I was standing.

At 1:07 PM James suggested that we do a quick bathroom break, as there were not many in the Forbidden City. Oddly enough, the bathroom building also had a gift shop and snack shop . . .I mean why not?

Then at 1:12 PM I noted that visibility was not so great, and James indicated that while air quality had been greatly improved in recent years, the visibility today was affected by a combination of both fog and smog. While walking, he also suggested that we come back on our own to this area when we have the time, since there are many museums around the square which have free entry to the public.

Having now seen several dragon images, at 1:20 PM the guide explained that the number of fingers/claws on the dragon tells us the type of dragon. Five fingers mean it is a king dragon, 4 fingers is a common dragon, and 3 is an evil dragon. Then at 1:24 PM we started to cross the bridge that before 1911 was only permitted to be used by high-ranking officials.

Looking at the map at 1:31 PM we learned that the gray area of the map is still not open to the general public. As we were getting ready there, he also told us that foreigners can buy an entry ticket on the same day, but Chinese citizens have to book their entry seven days in advance, and it is hard to get the tickets since they generally sell out completely within 30 minutes each morning. His explanation for this was that the Chinese government recognizes that for foreigners, this may be their only opportunity in their whole life to visit the Forbidden City, and it is unlikely that a foreigner would have known about the advance purchase rule. However, Chinese citizens should be able to adequately plan in advance. Still, this evidently causes some obvious discontent among the locals, so if asked when getting tickets, he told us to say that we were visiting on our own rather than with a group.

While standing in line at 1:39 PM to get my ticket, I was thinking that maybe this walk-up ticket purchase thing only functions if you already have a Tiannamen Square pass? Certainly, two days ago when I tried to get in through a different entry point, they did not let me do so because I did not have an advance ticket. Note, as my tour had been all-inclusive of all entry fees, the guide had given me 60 CNY in cash to pay at the window. The line itself was not terribly long, but it took some time. Incidentally, they don’t actually give you a ticket; rather, they record your passport information.

At 2:00 PM I was back at the table area waiting for everyone else to finish getting their tickets. While sitting there I ate one of the granola bars that Melody had thoughtfully put in for me in the morning. It was a Giant Bar blueberry flapjack bar, and it actually did taste like a blueberry pancake. Thanks Melody!

At 2:18 PM we were finally entering. Unsurprisingly, the automated passport reader did not work for me, but they just waved me through anyways. Starting from now, there was a lot of information given, most of which I was not able to write down.

For instance, at 2:28 PM James explained the difference between the male and female lions of the “lion gardens”. The female lion can always be recognized by the cub, and the male always has a ball which symbolizes unity of the state. While our guide did not tell us this, I think in a different tour I had been told that these sorts of stylized creature were not actually “lions” but I may be wrong. Regardless, they sort of look like lions. Again, there was a LOT of other information which I am not sharing, but you can definitely do a deep dive into everything found in the Forbidden City by looking online if you really want all the details about the symbolism and function of everything. I will just mention the random things that for whatever reason stood out for me.

On a practical note, at 2:37 PM the guide told us that the huge cauldrons here were actually water recipients for the purpose of fighting fires. A separate note of security was that there were 15 layers of bricks underneath the square in order to make it more difficult for an enemy to tunnel up from underneath.

At 2:41 PM we saw the hall of supreme harmony. This is where the Japanese signed their surrender in 1945. Then, at 2:46 PM we learned that up until 1924, the last emperor still lived in this palace. But at that time, he was completely removed, and the space became open to the public. While seeing the throne room at 2:53 PM (from quite a distance), we learned that through the 1950s, visitors were still allowed to enter the throne room, but they closed it off due to the room starting to be damaged with so much traffic. I think he said that this place is also called the hall of supreme harmony.

At 2:54 PM we were told that the crane and the turtle stand for long life. Separately, throughout the visit, he several times mentioned that there were not many visitors today, and that this was a positive thing. It was unclear to me if this was because it was late October, or if this was just a slow day. Regardless, I certainly appreciated that there were fewer people.

It seems that anywhere in China which is vaguely historic or pretty, you will see people, usually only women, dressed up in “period dress” to have pictures taken.

Even through I certainly was not really absorbing everything the guide said, at 3:22 PM I reflected that while coming here without a guide would not be a complete waste of time, it would certainly be far less interesting. Don’t get me wrong, but after a while, most things seemed to look more or less the same, but the tour spiel kept me engaged. So the takeaway is that if you come here without a guide, you will still probably like how many things look, but you will also probably get bored rather quickly.

At 3:37 PM we were in the garden of tranquility and benevolence. I think he said that the temple here was for the emperor’s mother and his concubines. Then at 3:39 PM I got a nice interior furniture picture at the palace of Longevity and Health.

I didn’t really understand why, but there was this golden pagoda we saw at 3:51 PM which was there to keep the emperor’s mother’s hair. Then near that, at 3:54 PM was a hall of Budhist sculptures and a few of the terra cotta warriors (not replicas).

Then at 4:06 PM we were entering the inner court. This was followed by the imperial garden and the study of the last emperor at 4:12 PM. Next, at 4:24 PM I appreciated the mosaics which were on the passageway.

Then at 4:38 PM we started to finish up and the guide gave us a small parting gift, a refrigerator magnet. I believe it is the character for luck. I would never actually buy something like this, but I admit that I took it home with me, and it is on my refrigerator today. All in all, I thought the guide did a very good job, so here is a positive shout out to Catherine Lu Tours, who were the actual tour operator for the tour I had booked through GetYourGuide. If anyone from the company reads this, I hope they will also note the great work which was done by our guide, James.

We could stay longer on our own, but I had made plans to meet up again with Csilla in the evening. Thus at 4:44 PM I looked for an exit, and by 4:48 PM I was walking outside towards the nearest subway station.

The walk itself was nice, and I arrived outside the Tiannamen East Station at 5:26 PM, but this time the ticket was only 3 CNY ($0.41 USD), since I only had to go 5 stations. It was a quick trip, so I was already back on the sidewalk again at 5:45 PM.

I lucked out, because Amap worked for where I was going when I wrote the name in English. I have probably already mentioned this in an earlier entry, but Google maps does not work well at all in China. IF you use an Android phone, Amap works great for walking and driving instructions, but the app is all in Chinese. For Iphone users, I understand that Apple maps works well in China.

So at 5:56 PM I arrived out in front of Beersmith with four minutes to spare. There were many beautiful building to see in this area, especially at night. Csilla arrived shortly thereafter. I had a very good hamburger and a 4-beer sampler for a cost of 214 CNY ($30.03 USD).

The original plan had been to stay later and listen to the live music, but Csilla was not feeling so well, and I also had an early start the next morning, so at 8:18 PM we were already back at Csilla’s place, having previously taken a couple of minutes to get some ice-cream at the shop across the street. After a brief chat while Csilla helped me get ready on her couch for the evening, we both turned in for the night.

So, what did you think? Was this more along the lines of what you had been hoping for when I said I was going to Beijing? If so, I think you will be even happier with Day 5, because it was a big one! As always, thanks for continuing to read along, and let me know your thoughts in the comments section below.

Beijing trip: Day 3 (29 October)

Hey everyone, so by now you have figured out that it might be a full year later before I finish up writing about these trips. Nevertheless, I fully intend to try and finish them up. Today should not be that difficult, since the only thing on the agenda was a trip to the zoo; while perhaps not the ideal way to have this particular experience, I was very excited about the prospect of seeing real live Pandas! On a separate note, I was desperate enough to churn these entries out faster that I tried generative AI to do this entry for me, but it was such a mess that I ended up giving up entirely on that route, and I’m back to doing everything manually. So, if you like to read this, then I’m an amazing writer. However, if you don’t like it . . .well, then let’s not discuss that for now.

Anyway, on Day 3, I was up and out of Alex and Melody’s house at 10:38 AM. Once more as I was walking, I was really impressed by how clean and well-maintained both the streets and sidewalk were. However, since I had already seen it once, I was not as inclined to take so many pictures. At 11:00 AM I was back at the China International Exhibition Center, this time, having already learned how to navigate things easily the day before, I was able to quickly buy my one-way subway for ticket for 6 RMB ($0.83 USD), and then get on the first subway at 11:00 AM. This first trip was more challenging than yesterday, since it would involve four different subway lines. I won’t go into all of the details about the subway trip this time, but it’s worth noting that when I changed to line 13 at Wangjing XI I had to pay special attention to the indicator lines before actually arriving at the platform.

Most of the time in Beijing, you stand on the same platform and just check to see which direction, but there are several stops where you have to check ahead of time to make sure that you get the right entrance since the train only goes one direction on each platform. However, just like for day 2, as long as I was checking the Moovit app while making a transfer, it was very easy to see which entrance to take. Still, you definitely need to pay attention. At 12:10 PM, when I was switching to line 2 at Dongzhi Men, I noticed it was another “double platform”. I also noticed that this station seemed a bit more “industrial” (read as “slightly outdated and rundown”) looking than others; I assume that this is because the line numbers indicate when each line came into service, so this was probably an older station. Still, it was very clean, safe feeling and orderly.

My other transfers were uneventful, and I was even starting to feel very relaxed about the whole thing. No doubt if I were to do this on a daily basis, within a month I would not even think about it. With great anticipation, at 12:15 PM I was finally taking the exit to street level. Pandas here I come!!

And, this is what happens when you get too excited about something . . .

So . . . what to do? Clearly, I was not the only one who primarily sees the zoo as a place to see Pandas. Otherwise, they would not have seen the need to put this sign in the window. Still, I was thankful that they had done so, since I would have been incredibly sad had I entered and then discovered that they were not available. Despite all of this, between the walking and the four different subway lines, I had travelled for two hours to get here. Furthermore, the entry fee was only 15 CNY ($2.06 USD). So, using similar logic to what got me into the park on Day 2, I went ahead and bought a ticket and headed on inside at 12:28 PM. Given all of the generally negative reviews I had read online, my expectations were incredibly low, but for two dollars, how could I complain? Rather than focusing too much on the animals, I decided that I would approach this as another “park visit”.

For most Europeans or North Americans, that is probably the right approach to visiting this zoo. The landscaping really is beautiful, and it is very peaceful if you go during the day on a weekday like I did, especially in October. Honestly though, there is a good chance that you might not be very happy about the conditions of several of the animal enclosures. While the animals themselves appear to be well cared for, the larger animals in particular seem to have very little space. This definitely seemed to be the case for the Malayan Tapirs, and I also wondered why the three of them were kept separate from each other . . . perhaps they would otherwise fight?

However, if your goal is to actually SEE the animals, these smaller enclosures pretty much guarantee that you will get an up-close view of most of them. Unsurprisingly (due to their small size), at 12:48 I saw that the banded mongoose enclosure was a bit less depressing, but I was somewhat surprised to see the people ignoring the “Do not feed” signs.

Banded mongoose enclosure

The entrance to the “American animals” area was also priceless. I will let you figure out why on your own.

So, despite obvious criticisms, it really was pretty to walk around, and there was also the opportunity to see some interesting looking animals.

Then at 1:09 PM I realized that the Beijing aquarium, which has a separate entry fee, is actually located within the zoo. From the outside at least, it looked reasonably modern, and with a fee of 160 CNY ($22.02 USD) it was also quite a bit cheaper than other aquariums which I have visited around the world. I was a bit short on cash and WeChat funds, but I decided that if I were able to pay with my international credit card, I would go ahead and check it out. Furthermore, even less so than the zoo, it did not look crowded, so I figured it would be a decent visit.

My first impression as I entered at 1:33 PM was that while it was not “incredibly fancy” it seemed to be reasonably well maintained. Furthermore, if comparing aquarium costs elsewhere, it seemed to be entirely affordable. Of course, it also helped a lot that there were so few people. There was some signage in English, but most of it was only in Chinese. Unlike the zoo, there seemed to be only one set route, so as long as one continues forward, you will see everything.

At 1:50 PM I wondered if there might be something wrong with one of the sharks, since its body seemed to be permanently L shaped.

In addition to the aquarium sites, there were of course also PLENTY of opportunities to buy overpriced souvenirs.

At 1:54 PM I noticed that the Beluga tank seemed very small for an animal of that size, but the 2:00 PM Chinese sturgeon show (a diver giving them food) was particularly impressive. I had no idea that these fish were so huge!

At 2:25 PM I saw a fire shrimp. That was also something special which I had not seen before.

The nearby tanks I saw at 2:27 PM for lobsters and crabs were way too small, but maybe they were just happy that they were not being boiled/steamed alive to be eaten? Again, I noticed that they were REALLY working the gift shop angle. Parents with more than one small child beware . . .

At 2:29 PM I came across a fairly short aquarium tunnel, but the only way through was on a fairly quickly moving mechanical sidewalk. I guess that’s one way to keep it from getting too crowded while also eliminating long term gawkers.

At 2:33 PM I walked past the penguin exhibit, but the penguins were clearly not in a mood to cooperate.

There were also some tanks with some sea turtles which seemed a bit small, but maybe they don’t actually mind? At any rate, at least they were able to move around a bit. On a separate note, all throughout the aquarium there were abundant restrooms. I also went in to check them out, and all of them seemed to be very clean.

As is normally the case at aquariums, the jellyfish exhibits were especially beautiful. Note, these tanks also seemed to be very crowded, but for whatever reason, I at least was not that concerned about jellyfish not having tons of extra room.

At 2:51 PM I decided to head towards the marine mammal pavilion for the 3:00 PM show. As is usually the case with zoo and aquarium shows, there was no extra charge for any of the shows themselves, but there were always abundant salespeople trying to hawk overpriced “souvenirs”. I was seated at 2:56 PM and I noticed that even for a “slow day” there seemed to be a few hundred people. However, as the amphitheatre itself was made to accommodate many more, the first impression was that it was almost empty.

The show started at exactly 3:00 PM with a silly clown show. I have to give them credit; they did a very good job amusing the kids. Then at 15:06 PM a sea lion came out and they launched into what I can only assume was an educational spiel, but I of course understood nothing. Despite my lingering misgivings about this sort of a show, I had to recognize that they really did seem to be trying to keep the focus on education rather than forcing the sea lion to do all sorts of ridiculous tricks.

It was a similar situation with the two dolphins which came out at 3:15 PM. Again, the emphasis did not seem to be on making the animals do lots of tricks, but rather primarily on the educational talks. Still, it was nice to see, and I was happy to see that they were pushing the learning side of things.

Especially for someone who had not seen dolphins before, this would have been a very special experience. Finally, again, for what it’s worth, not that I am an expert, the animals seemed to look healthy. The entire show was exactly thirty minutes.

By 3:36 PM I was heading out the exit where there was of course one final gift shop. This was perhaps the most “troubling” of the shops, since they were selling small aquatic animals in tiny “cute containers.” Most of these animals will presumably die within a few days of being bought, and those which do not, being confined to such tiny quarters, will doubtless be miserable unless the thoughtful purchaser has a MUCH larger enclosure at home. I did not take a picture of everything, as I figured they might realize that I was being critical, but there were even tiny animals in sealed plastic key chain pouches . . .meaning of course that there would be no way for them to be fed unless they were cut out of the pouches. On the plus side, today at least, nobody seemed to be buying them.

Putting aside all of the questionable elements of the various gift shops, the aquarium visit was nice, and certainly worth the $22 USD. By 3:40 PM I was back out outside at the main zoo. As mentioned earlier, the gardens really were a treat, and since nobody else seemed that interested, I had them all to myself.

At 3:51 PM I admitted to myself that I really did like to see the bears, even though the Polar Bear in particular seemed a bit lonely. Of course, in reality I have no idea what the any of the them were thinking, but it is impossible to not speculate.

Then, unsurprisingly, at 3:58 PM, I noticed that the Red Pandas were absolutely adorable, even though they were not the type of panda I had planned on seeing today.

Yes, I saw a couple more animals, but at 4:18 PM I decided to go ahead and start finding my way out of the zoo and then head back to Shunyi. While it only took me 10 minutes, it was a bit more difficult to figure out the exit than I would have liked; I think they could work a bit on improving their signage. Again, as mentioned earlier, the gardens continued to be a big highlight as I headed towards the exit.

By 4:27 PM I was at the exit and headed out walking towards the subway, where I arrived at 4:39 PM. Now being an old pro, I was able to quickly buy my 6 CNY ($0.83 USD) subway ticket, entering the first subway at 4:44 PM, once more following the same route to get back to Melody and Alex’s place. As I have already explained a lot about transfers, and also how to best manage them (Use Moovit!), I won’t once again share all the details.

This is not an observation applying to only Beijing, but throughout this trip I have noticed that people here REALLY seem addicted to their phones . . .a benefit of this is that everyone is very quiet on the subway.

Several smooth transfers later, at 5:43 PM I arrived back to China International Exhibition Center and finished my walk back to the house, arriving at 6:16 PM.

So, once more, things had not gone quite as planned, but I was still satisfied with my second full day in Beijing. I was now a pro at taking the subway, and I was also happily rolling with the punches whenever my plans went a bit sideways. However, if you have the patience to keep reading Day 4, you will see that things really started to pick up, and you will start to read about some of the experiences and see some of the images you no doubt had in mind when you first heard that I would be heading to this part of the world. As always, thanks for reading along, and don’t be shy about putting any questions or comments in the section shown below.

Beijing trip: Day 2 (28 October)

Hey there readers, let me first begin by saying how sorry I am that these other entries are coming out so later. However, if you think this is late, just wait till I try to finish the entries for my last few days in Argentina back in June! As is probably obvious from the less than stellar quality of these entries, I don’t have any sponsorship, so these travel blog entries can be seen either as an act of love or a simple act of insanity. Keeping this in mind, I just write these when I have the time.

So anyways, as those of you who are regular readers will remember, I was staying in Shuyin, for my recent trip to Beijing. As I understand it, which may be completely inaccurate, Beijing is built on a ring system, and Shuyin is on the 6th ring. In lay person’s terms, if you are coming as a tourist, this is probably not the best place to stay, since it is quite far from the city center, but when staying with great friends like I was doing, it was a perfect location. Alex and Melody, like pretty much everyone else I knew in Beijing, regularly recommended me to just use DIDI (the main Chinese ride hailing service, sort of like Uber). However, I strongly suspected it would not work properly for me. Furthermore, I like to use public mass transport systems while travelling if it is at all feasible. This helps me both get a better idea of what “the average person does” and also forces me to walk more, which means I see more and also get a bit of exercise.

Thus, having had plenty of sleep, I left the villa at 10:19 AM and started walking towards the nearest subway station. It was a beautiful clear day, and the temperature was a comfortable (with the sweatshirt Melody had lent me) 14 degrees C. Both the street and the sidewalks were very clean and at least at this time of the day were not very busy.

I resolved to check out this neighborhood park later on.
For those of you not used to travel in Asia, despite having plenty of highly skilled English writers and even native speakers available to proofread texts, these comical translations of English are fairly common everywhere. Still, despite the errors, they are appreciated.

Alex had warned me that it was not a short walk, but at 10:46 AM I was near the turn in which would lead to the China International Exhibition Center subway station.

It looked like I could take this nature trail to the subway station, but I opted to stay on the road this time around.

At 10:52 AM I was in the station, quickly going through the security check and then trying to figure out how to buy the ticket. I had earlier used the Moovit app, to figure out my destination of Xidan and the associated subway transfers, so that part at least was already sorted. Seeing that there were no human ticket sellers, but rather a bank of machines, after much trial and error I finally discovered that the small machine on the end was the only one that I could get to work for me, despite even having money loaded onto my WeChat wallet. Still, I was not in a hurry today, so I didn’t mind that it took me twenty minutes to finally figure it out. Armed with my single use, plastic subway card, I was safely waiting at the platform at 11:15 AM.

It was a short wait, and at 11:20 AM I was in the first train which was clean, quiet and comfortable. I appreciated that the upcoming subway/train stations were listed in both Chinese and English.

I know that for my day 1 entry for Beijing I said that I would try to be more concise than I had been with earlier trips, but I think that some of these details about subway transfers could be useful for a first-time traveller subway traveller in Beijing, so bear with me as I give you way too many details. At 11:37 AM it was time to transfer from line 15 to 16, but this time around I forgot to note down the station. There was very clear signage which I could tell was also appreciated by Chinese visitors who might not be regular users of these subway lines.

At 11:44 AM I was on the next train and was even able to get a seat until it was once more time to transfer to the Red line at Dawang Lu at 12:06 PM. As mentioned earlier, using the Moovit app, it had also been easy to see which platform to stand on even though there were trains going both directions. Again, at Dawang Lu it was easy to follow the signs, and by 12:11 PM I was in the next train. As a side note, up until now, I had not seen anyone who did not look “East Asian” but at the same time, nobody seemed to think it was of particular note that I was in the subway. Finally, at 12:28 PM I exited the last subway car of this trip and was quickly outside at 12:32 PM, having exited from the Xidan north F1 exit. While it had earlier been my plan to walk to the Temple of Heaven from here, once outside I noticed that this was much farther away than it had appeared on the map, so after a few minutes of consideration, I decided to try to walk to Tiananmen square, which seemed much closer.

So far, things seemed to be going well. Then at 12:43 PM there was an ID card check which seemed to apply to anyone on the street. As such, I was glad that I had brought my passport, but it didn’t seem to be a big deal, since the official only seemed to glance at it before waving me through. Then again there was another check just four minutes later at 12:47 PM. This did not seem to make sense to me since the sidewalk mostly deserted and I didn’t even see how anyone could have entered the sidewalk from the last check. Then much to my surprise, there was another check at 12:49 PM! I started to wonder, was I in some sort of a high-security area? This seemed unlikely since they didn’t seem to care about me walking there, but once more it happened at 12:53 PM. Still, the ID checkpoints were quick, and nobody seemed alarm that I was there, so I kept going.

Then at 12:56 PM I saw this interesting looking building. However, with all the guards outside, I was cautious about approaching closer. They weren’t particularly intimidating looking, but I didn’t see anyone else going that way, so I figured that despite outward appearances, it probably was not a “tourist attraction”.

Then guess what happened at 1:00 PM . . . that’s right, another ID check. While these checkpoints did not seem particularly onerous, I had to wander at the point of it all. I mean there were already CCTV cameras. But when in Rome, or in this case, when in Beijing . . . Interestingly, at 1:02 PM a random woman asked to take a selfie with me; this was the first time during the day that anyone had seemed to even notice that I might not just be a regular part of the scenery. Also, around about this time it started to become clear to me that I was definitely in the Tiananmen square area, which was also where there seemed to be some other standard sites of interest, but for the life of me, I could not figure out how to actually get there. Every way seemed to be blocked, but at the same time, in the far distance I could definitely tell that there were apparent tourists.

By sheer chance, at 1:15 PM I arrived at what I thought would be another negligent security check which led to some place called the temple museum, but I was made to understand that I could not pass since I did not have a ticket and there also was no way for me to get a ticket. Interestingly, it did seem to be open, despite it being a Monday, and everything online said it was closed on Mondays. I continued with this fruitless wandering for the next hour, going down into tunnels, trying through alternative exits, and even attempted to ask several people for help, but I don’t understand Chinese and at least around here (as would make sense), people also did not seem to understand English. Oddly, I even ended up inside the National Center for Performing Arts. Needless to say, it was a bit of any adventure, and I had no clear agenda for the day, so it was fine.

I will admit that while I had no fixed agenda for the day, by 2:12 PM I was starting to get just a tiny bit disheartened. I was open to seeing random sites, but I seemed to be trapped in an endless maze of blocked sidewalks and tunnels which appeared to lead to nowhere new. Then finally at 2:15 PM, after trailing after a few people walking down the sidewalk, I saw a place which seemed to be selling tickets to enter, so I decided that I may was well give it a go. It was only 3 CNY ($0.41 USD) to enter, and at the point, despite the pleasant looking mostly empty streets, I was game to try anything different.

Once inside I discovered that it was called Zhongshan park. It really was very nice inside, and for $0.41 USD you can’t really complain about anything regardless. Like other places I had seen on my earlier trip to China, a big draw of this place seemed to be for women to rent period costumes and the services of a photographer. The goldfish pond was a bit sad, and there were several buildings which looked like they might be interesting inside, but all were blocked off, so it’s hard to say.

At 2:45 PM I came across a large plaza which as far as I could initially tell, served no purpose, but then closer inspection revealed that this was the “Altar of Land and Grain”. It’s hard to appreciate in the pictures, but the altar has a symbolic pattern laid out with dirt which naturally has five different colors. It’s hard to read on the sign, but the colors evidently represent the different types of soil found throughout China.

This was clearly a very large park, and as I wandered around, at 2:53 PM I reflected on the fact that steel must be rather cheap here, since they seem to put barriers made of it around countless items. I had earlier noticed this out on the street, but oddly inside the park I saw that there were even steel barriers around certain trees, despite the fact that those trees were already in a clearly roped off area. More intriguingly, other trees which at least to my eye looked identical, did not seem to merit the same protection.

Then at 3:15 PM there was an unexpected memory triggered as I entered an area of yellow Ginko trees. This reminded me of the Autumn sidewalk outside my residence hall my first year at Truman State University. I also tried to sneak a couple of pictures of two middle-aged women who had clearly identically dressed the same for the purpose of taking pictures together; for some reason I liked this idea more than the ones I had seen who were wearing period costumes.

I easily could have spent a couple more hours here, but at 3:40 PM I started looking for the way out, as I had scheduled to meet a friend and former coworker at 5:00 PM. Again, using the Moovit app, it wasn’t that difficult to find my way out and then once again find myself in the TianAnMen Dong subway station, quickly buying a 3 CNY ($0.41 USD) ticket. This time I remembered to take a picture of the type of ticket machine which seems to be the best option for foreigners. Things went well, with a well-marked transfer to line 10 at 4:37 PM, finally arriving to my general destination at 4:56 PM.

This the machine that foreign visitors need to use.

My friend Csilla offered to book me a DiDi to get to our meeting space, but by using the Amap app I thought that I would be able to manage it walking without too much trouble. Yes, it was still a bit of a challenge since the map is entirely in Chinese, but I was up for the adventure. Sure enough, things worked out fine, and at 5:08 PM I arrived at The Local.

The place itself was “fine” and the food was “decent” but not outstanding. The real treat of course was once again meeting up with my wonderful friend Csilla Szabo, who is currently working as a Drama teacher at an international school in Beijing. Csilla and I are friends from when we used to work together in Mumbai, and while we were both in India, I always greatly appreciated that whenever she would come to Bengaluru, she would make a special effort to see me, even though distances and traffic in the city can be quite a challenge.

Despite having had an amazing visit, by 8:20 PM it was time for Csilla to head home and me to head back to Shunyi. The total cost of our shared meal and drinks was 468 CNY ($64.57 USD). Due to the distance and the late hour, I was a bit cautious about trying to take the subway back at that hour. Thus, I tried to use my DiDi app, which disappointingly but predictably didn’t work; this however seems to be a “me problem” since most foreign visitors have no issues. Fortunately, DiDi allows you to book a ride on behalf of someone else, and that’s what Csilla did for me. The car arrived at 8:30 PM, and at 9:10 PM I was already back to Melody and Alex’s place, with a total bill of 75 CNY ($10.35 USD).

And that was the end of my first full day in Beijing. Yes, there were some challenges associated with transportation and finding places, but all in all it was a very satisfying day. Looking back, I could have been very frustrated with regards to my derailed attempts at independent tourism, but I still had plenty of time left to my visit. Additionally, as long as I don’t feel in danger or under unrealistic time pressure, figuring out how to do things in a new place is in itself part of the fun. So, did I manage day 3 better than day 2 or did I get stuck in another maze of blocked streets and tunnels? If you want to find out, you will have to wait for the next entry.

As always, thank you for reading along, and don’t hesitate to leave your questions or comments in the section shown below.

Beijing trip: Day 1 (27 October)

Hey folks, so this trip’s entries are going to be a bit different than my earlier trips as I am trying a couple of new approaches.

To start out, I am going to omit the entire process of travelling from Bengaluru to Beijing. For those of you who have been following along with me, you already know my routine and also know the general process for getting out of Bengaluru and my recommendations about the same. Furthermore, I am also not detailing any information about transfers; although, in this case I only went through Singapore, and it is so easy to find information about that airport that there is no real value in providing more narrative.

Separately, I am trying out a less detailed style, still trying to include what I think would actually be interesting or important information for fellow travellers, but not always giving the minute-by-minute explanations which some of you really appreciate, but others find unnecessarily tedious. So anyways, let’s get right to it.

After an almost entirely pleasant flight on Singapore Air SQ800, direct from Singapore, we touched down at 7:15 AM, but it was not until 7:41 AM that we were actually off the plane. I was pleased to see that there was easy to follow signage in both Chinese (which I could not read) and English. However, despite the signs, not everything was clear.

At 7:50 AM there were prominent instructions about needing to register one’s fingerprints at an impressive bank of machines. However, upon further investigation, it seemed very unclear as to whether or not this applied to people with actual printed visas in their passports, like me, or only for those taking advantage of China’s recently expanded visa on arrival system. At any rate, it evidently didn’t matter, since after trying four machines, none of which seemed to work, some sort of official just told all of us encountering the same problem to ignore the machines and proceed to the next step of the process, the arrival card machines.

The arrival card machines I encountered at 7:57 AM worked for me, but they clearly were not working for many other travellers. Presumably after a few minutes of watching this, another official told all of those nervous supplicants to simply ignore the second impressive phalanx of machines. Oddly enough, the extremely expensive looking machine only fills out part of the card, which seems to negate the purpose of having it automated, since I still had to fill out more than half of it by hand, but never question immigration procedures . . . Then at 8:03 AM I was on to the actual human operated immigration lines.

These seemed to go fairly quickly, and there was another required fingerprint collection station in front of each counter. There were no questions about where I was going, when I was leaving or why I was there, and by 8:31 AM I was through and on my way towards the train which would take me to the baggage claim area when I arrived at 8:45 AM. Like many airports, there was quite a bit of walking involved, but I didn’t find it to be tedious.

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By 8:48 AM I had the bag and headed towards the exit, but I made a stop along the way which might not make sense for you. Despite the many claims about it now being so easy for foreigners to use China’s ubiquitous online payment systems, that had definitely not been my experience when I had been in Fujian province in December and January. However, part of that may be because I was attempting to use Costa Rican and Indian “international cards” so your mileage may vary. Still, as I would not have Huixian chaperoning me everywhere this time, I decided to take her advice and get $200 USD changed to 1281 Chinese Yen (CNY). I did not get the best exchange rate, but the “lost” $20 USD was worth the peace of mind enabled by having emergency backup cash.

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Upon exiting at 9:00 AM, the fancy black sedan driver which Alex had arranged for me was waiting to collect me and by 9:05 AM we were on our way to Shunyi. The roads were very smooth and the ride pleasant. While it was “chilly” outside, it was clearly warmer than I had expected. Yes, there were some signs of Autumn along the way, but most of the trees were vibrant green.

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Upon arrival to Melody, Alex and Robin’s home about thirty minutes later, they promptly got me settled in. Seeing that my coat was much too heavy, Melody lent me three sweatshirts which were just my size; they were intended to be for Robin, but he was not keen on them, so his loss was my gain, at least for a few days anyways. Then Alex helped me load up my WeChat wallet in exchange for a bunch of my Chinese cash; that way I would not have to worry about the international card connection to Alipay and WeChat not working. Then a bit later they took me out to a sort of fancy shopping area which they favor where we had a very nice late lunch at Sue Cuisine. Robin of course no doubt did not remember me at all since the last time I had seen him, I think he was maybe 4 years old; I think it had been 11 years since we last saw one another in person! Regardless, it was great catching up, and I was extremely thankful for Melody and Alex for hosting me for the week at their comfortable home.

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Following a wonderful day of catching up and reflecting on old times, since Robin and Melody had to be at school early the next morning, we all turned in by 10:15 PM. I had no clear plan about what I would actually do the next day when I would set off on my own, but I was excited about the adventures (or as is often the case with me, misadventures) which were ahead. If you want the nitty gritty of getting around Beijing’s transport system as I attempt to see the sites, you will have to read along with me for day 2.

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So, what do you think about the new style so far? Have I become too abbreviated, or should I cut things down even more? Let me know your thoughts and questions in the comment section below.

Argentina trip: Day 14 (28 June)

Hey there everyone, so day 14 was a bit different from the previous days, because nothing definite had been arranged ahead of time with any tour provider.

As such, I got up at 7:30 AM and started taking care of preliminary packing, then leaving the apartment at 8:25 AM and walking towards Plaza 9 de Julio.



At 8:42 AM I decided to get a simple and fast light breakfast at McDonald’s. I ordered a café Americano + 2 media lunas for 3500 ARS, which I paid for with my Indian credit card (235 INR – $2.82 USD). At 8:50 AM I sat down with my food.

At 9:08 AM I gave 200 ARS to a guy seeking money for Remar Argentina. He gave me a calendar which of course nobody these days would ever use. I’ve noticed that if you had out around this central plaza, there is a good chance of something similar being sold or there being some similar solicitation of funds. However, when I checked with locals, they confirmed that these are legitimate organizations doing good work in the community, so I was happy to contribute, even when doing so in a minimal fashion.

At 9:18 AM I left and went towards the meeting point in front of Hotel Salta for a “free” historical walking tour of the center which was supposed to take hours. I put free in quotations, because you are expected to give a tip. In Europe this is usually a minimum of 5 euros, but I was not sure what would be expected here.

At 9:23 AM I arrived and met a much older retired gentleman who was to be our guide, Jorge Luis Acuña. As he understandably wanted to give time for stragglers to arrive, we didn’t get started until 9:45 AM. Right off I understood that this was going to be more like a historical chat with an older relative, but he was very likable, and since it was free anyways, I figured it would be fine. If I decided I didn’t like it, I would just leave. Unfortunately, I had only just learned some background about Hotel Salta, including that it had started operating as a hotel in 1945 when at 9:50 AM I received a message from my ground transport provider for the next morning, informing me that my morning flight with Flybondi had been cancelled.

To the left is Jorge Luis Acuña

Unlike most other airlines which automatically reschedule you, I needed to make arrangements by calling them. They only had an option at 2:00 AM or one at 8:15 PM tomorrow; my original flight had been at 10:30 AM. I also found out that I would now have to fly into Ezeiza rather than Aeroparque, which was inconvenient, but not a disaster. What I did find absurd was that it took them 30 minutes on the phone in order to get my reservation changed. They said another email would arrive later in the day with the final confirmation. Now I understand why people don’t recommend FlyBondi. . . Evidently this flight got cancelled on the 26th, but last night when I did the web check-in, it showed up as fine, also permitting me to do the check-in.

At 10:44 AM I was able to join up with the group again at Hotel Adobe. 1750 was when the original house was made. Calisto Gauna lived here (not the original family owners), but he was born in Sumalau (some of the spelling might be off). There was a lot of name dropping going on of important historical figures from Argentinian history, but most of it meant little to me. However, almost everyone else on the tour was Argentinian, so it was clearly much more meaningful for them. Even though I didn’t personally connect with the names, he was incredibly knowledgeable and made the history come alive.

This is inside Hotel Adobe
Picture from the balcony of Hotel Adobe

At 11:03 AM I was still on the tour.  Evidently Gauna’s family still lives there in his house in Sumalau. What is clear, is that this whole area is steeped in important Argentinian history. Again, Don Jorge mentioned many names and events that the Argentinians knew, but I of course did not. As I assume that most of my readers, like me, will find a lot of the information to be overwhelming, I will condense down to points which I either found more interesting or which might be of interest to people outside Argentina.

At 11:29 AM we were at the main cathedral. In 1582 the first church was built here, but they finished construction of the current church in 1852. On the 13th of September at 3 PM a huge group of pilgrims arrive here from all over the north of the country, some having walked 14 days.

At 11:51 AM we saw the Archbishop’s residence. Don Jorge was quite proud that Pope Juan Pablo II slept here when he was visiting Salta.

At 12:07 PM we were in Plaza Belgrano. When General Güemes was 14, he joined the infantry. Later on when he was injured on June 7, 1821 by a competing revolutionary faction, he could have been saved by Spanish doctors, but a condition of doing so was that he would renounce control of northern Argentina in favor of the Spanish. Rather than betray his command, he refused medical attention and then days later he died.

12:31 PM we departed the plaza. This guide is extremely knowledgeable and had a wonderful way of presenting. The guide recommended Museo de Güemes, a good free museum with lots of outstanding historical information.

At 1:07 PM we were in front of the Iglesia San Francisco (where I had made a sorry visit on my own a couple days earlier). The bell which is shown in front is from 1860 and weighs 1300 kg. It was made in Italy, but it broke after just a few years since it was badly made. At 1:10 PM we finished. Although others were giving less, I gave a tip of 2000 ARS. I think it might have been better for local Argentinians, but I still was very impressed with his passion. I went off on my own from there.

If you look closely, the building with the red flag is the museum which Jorge recommended.
After so much time together, I asked if we could have a picture together.

At 1:56 PM I saw a street dog which was officially identified as a street dog belonging to the center of Salta.

This says “don’t steal”. I’m not sure if it means the dog’s jacket, the dog herself, or just in general.

At 2:00 PM I went towards the counter of the High altitude archeology museum, arriving at 2:21 PM. After some internal debate, I decided to wait in the 9 de Julio Plaza until 3:00 PM in order to register for the 4:30 guided tour (Registration was not allowed until 3:00 PM sharp, and it was first come first serve). I think no pictures are allowed inside, but it is considered an obligatory place to visit in Salta.

At 3:12 PM I bought my ticket to the museum paying 8000 ARS (538 INR – $6.45 USD) and I signed up for the guide tour at 4:30. They said I needed to be there at 4:25 PM.

As I wanted to get some lunch which I would quickly receive and would be able to eat before the tour, at 3:32 PM I ordered a Grand McBacon Doble with fries and a drink, paying 11900 ARS (800 INR – $9.6 USD). I felt a bit ridiculous buying McDonald’s for a second time in one day, but my double grand bacon burger was incredibly delicious, and I was able to have it quickly.

At 4:05 PM I had finished my food and was feeling quite satisfied. I sat there comfortably waiting for a bit, and then walked over to the nearby museum, arriving promptly at 4:25 PM.

The tour started right on time. While the artifacts were not especially fancy, it’s extremely impressive how well the funerary objects were preserved, especially considering the materials which were used in many cases, such as cloth, feathers and leather.

It was also interesting to learn that the Incas only arrived in this area a relatively short time before the Spanish. They came between 1480 and 1532, the Spanish invaders then arrived in 1532.

5:47 She suggests El museo de antropología detrás del monumento Güemes.

When it was my turn to see the mummified child at around 5:46 PM I found it incredibly impressive how her eyelashes and teeth and even the braids in her hair were perfectly preserved. At first I thought that there had been some posthumous deformation of her head, but they explained that it had been intentionally shaped into a cone shape during her life as a means of showing her high social standing. The current shawl she is wearing is the only thing which is not original, as her original covering was partially burned, as was part of her body, by a lightning strike, believed to have taken place 300 years ago. Locals from the area insisted that she be properly covered if she were to be viewed by the public, so they provided a shawl which would have been very similar to what she was originally wearing.   Today only the lightning girl was on display; only one of the children is permitted to be displayed at a time, both to avoid further upsetting local native/first peoples and also for conservation purposes. At 5:47 the actual tour ended.

In the next rooms pictures were permitted, but in most cases that was taking pictures of pictures. As mentioned before, the textiles recovered look brand new, just like what you could buy today in the market, if it were good quality. I also found it interesting that the boy had short hair. What is the universality of shorter hair in men that took place in many cultures across the world despite their separation?

As alluded to earlier, no photos of any type were allowed in the area with the burial objects and the current mummified child on display. Despite the lack of any visible guards, everyone seemed to respect this rule. There are however high quality videos and pictures available which can be seen online for free. Despite this online availability, I’m very glad that I was able to see this in person. The mummies and funerary objects here were “naturally” preserved due to the climactic characteristics of the region, target than being artificially preserved in any way.

At 6:31 PM in a different part of the museum, it was notable to compare the state of the mummy and objects which were robbed in 1920, with the robbers and subsequent “owners” not observing nor having knowledge of how to properly preserve the findings. However, even within that context, even the 1920 tomb had remarkably well preserved pieces, including much of the mummy itself, which now is kept under optional preservation conditions to keep it from further deterioration.

Finally at 6:41 PM I came out of the museum and decided to go back to my apartment before meeting up later on with Natalia to go to La Vieja Estación Peña. I headed back towards the apartment, noting at 7:01 PM that it was crazy how quickly the temperature drops later in the day

From 7:20 PM to 8:12 AM I was at the apartment, and then headed out walking towards La Vieja Estación. I was really grateful to Natalia for saying that she would go with me, since it’s a bit odd to go to these places on one’s own.

When I arrived at 8:40 PM, they immediately seated us in a spot with a decent view of the stage. At 9:30 PM the show started, save I also noticed that I had another message from Flybondi saying that now my rescheduled flight would depart at 9:30 PM. At this point I didn’t believe anything from Flybondi, but I was eager to just enjoy the show.

At 10:56 PM I reflected that so far, everything about the show has been fantastic. Due to the lighting, photos didn’t come out well, but here you can see some videos. Yes, it’s a bit expensive, but if you can pay for it, then it’s worth it. When I paid my bill, it was 23800 for one glass of wine, 1 small dish of sweetbreads and 1 bread pudding. It was a bit more expensive because I paid with a card. I have discovered that many places here either charge 10% more if you pay with a card or essentially the same thing, give a 10% discount if paying with cash.

At 12:42 AM the main show was over although they continued with live music, and we left walking. On the way I left Natalia at her nearby hotel at 12:51 AM then continued walking back to my lodging where I arrived at 1:12 AM.

So it was annoying to have so many changes with Flybondi, but if this hadn’t happened, I probably also wouldn’t have felt comfortable staying out so late when I had an upcoming morning flight. Furthermore, like I said earlier, the morning walking tour was a bit of an information overload, but it was nice to not just think of my surroundings as a bunch of random old buildings. Given that I would now have most of the day in Salta the following day, I was also resolved to take advantage of the time by checking out other sites which I had earlier missed. As to whether or not the Flybondi flight ever actually left, that’s a mystery that won’t be solved until day 15!

Argentina trip: Day 13 (27 June)

Hey there readers. I really hope things are going well for you. Today, as with the previous several days, I got up at 6:00 AM and for breakfast at 6:30 AM heated up some of the empanadas and the simple pastries I had bought from the street vendor.

It wasn’t until 7:54 AM that the minibus picked me pick up. It looked like this would be the biggest group so far. There were 14 passengers with me, and 2 more entered at 7:54 AM. Today I scored the coveted single front seat, so I will have a good view of both the front and the side (get ready for lots of windshield pictures). The driver/guide’s name was Marcelo.

Around 7:58 AM Marcelo started with his running explanation, all in Spanish. That was fine with me. The sky was clear, and at 8:04 AM it was already fairly light out. Interestingly, while there are various spices and other agricultural products here, the paprika from this area is considered one of the two best varieties of paprika in the world. Among the other major products of the region are sugar cane, biodiesel, and tobacco.

At 8:14 AM the driver stopped speaking and we were given time to rest and just enjoy the scenery.

At 8:17 AM we passed Cerrillos, and then at 8:32 AM through Mercedes.

By 8:41 AM since I think everyone else on the excursion today was Argentinian or a local resident, the ever present mate thermoses and “bombas” were out in force. Before coming here I had thought it was just a custom to constantly drink this herbal infusion, but I have since learned that while there is clearly a strong cultural element, it is partially also an addiction, since mate contains various degrees of caffeine. However, similar to green tea, without the caffeine jitters at times associated with coffee. Regardless, as an outsider, it’s certainly odd to see the way they lug those Mate kits everywhere. I guess it’s no stranger than in some countries, people carry water bottles everywhere. The only difference is how the Mate is drunk out of an open cup.

At 8:51 we were in a transitory jungle/forest (selva de transición).

Then at 9:05 AM we stopped at a bridge (Cuesta del Obispo –  Bishop’s Hill) to take pictures. The bridge we walked across is still good for pedestrians but no longer for vehicles.

This is the modern bridge now used for vehicles.

At 9:14 AM we got back on the bus.  Marcelo pointed out that the vegetation on the right is much more exuberant than the left because of the direction of the winds. He was also full of other tidbits like how in the late 1970’s domestic tourism and then international tourism in this area started to develop because of the influence of Sol Jet, which was a subsidiary of Aerolíneas Argentinas.

At 9:32 he was still talking, and I certainly found much of it to be interesting,  it was too much to write it all down. Again though, here is some that he shared. He told all the rocks in the area and why there are differences and what each type means. He also mixed it in with many stories and legends, kind of like a grandpa. At 9:40 one of the stories, who knows if it was true, was that during carnaval people could do a trial marriage for one year, but they were only allowed two attempts. If the second one didn’t work, you were allowed to separate, but had to remain single.

Random cow
Random llama

At 9:42 AM we had a rest stop. I paid 2800 ARS ($2.26 USD)  for my coffee with milk, Alfajor and a bottle of water. It drew my attention that the cup was styrofoam and the spoon was disposable plastic. The woman who was selling was running all over the place. I had decided to buy another bottle of water since I noticed that I had already drunk half of the one I had filled in the apartment, and I decided to not risk filling it here, even though the tap water was probably perfectly good.

At 10:04 AM we were promptly back in the van and moving. Again, Marcelo was commenting the entire time. We moved onto an unpaved road, which was not permitted to be paved as a preservation effort since much of this route was a historic Incan road. While I agree with the theoretical desire to preserve, I don’t really see how this is a preservation effort when it is still constantly used by cars and vans, even with pressed down gravel; regardless, I’m not a conservationist, so who knows. Interestingly,  only 20 km is unpaved because when the road moves into the national park, the national government does not recognize the preservation of the road which was declared by the provincial authorities.

At 10:12 AM we were heading up in a steady fashion.

At 10:20 AM Marcelo, who is clearly an apologist for the Spanish invasion and colonization, started making the argument that the Spanish left the Americas better than they had found it. Of course, that assumes that everyone judges better/worse using the same criteria. However, he recognized the many benefits also brought by the Incas (who were also invaders to this area), many of which still remain, both physical and cultural/practical. No doubt the first peoples of the area might have a different interpretation, especially when considering the abuse/enslavement/even genocide which took place of many tribes, but none of them were in the tour group. At 10:27 AM I acknowledged to myself that certainly his discourse in favor of the advantages of the fusion of cultures which took place in the Americas is practical for attempting to maintain peace and cohabitation of cultures today. Around about this same time, he pointed out that there are no longer trees here due to the altitude, but there was still plenty of short vegetation.

At 10:42 AM we stopped for the viewpoint and to try salami and queso made by local producers. While there were several tourists here, it definitely wasn’t crowded. There were also some local sellers of handicrafts, but they weren’t intrusive or annoying.

I noticed at 10:55 AM that they were selling llama salami and goat cheese. It wasn’t expensive at all. However, I didn’t see how I could take it back to India with me to Costa Rica or the USA. One of the people I was talking to told me that there was mostly domestic tourism in the north, partially because it’s cheaper, but it’s also considered heritage tourism. In contrast, the far south is more expensive, mostly pure nature tourism, and more where there is international tourism. In general I found it to be a good stop, but was also ready to get back in the vehicle at 11:06 AM.

Shortly thereafter at 11:12 AM we stopped at another viewpoint which is known for being where a large millstone was left abandoned when a cart broke. There was more to the story, but he was talking so much that at some points I just didn’t really pay a lot of attention, even though he was mostly entertaining and at times extremely informative. There was also a small chapel here, which I think had something to do with the whole millstone story. If you come here later on, you can ask for the additional details. Alternatively, with these modern days it’s probably also all available somewhere on the internet without too much research required.

At 11:22 AM we got back in the van. Marcelo commented that the highland valleys have a different name: “Puna” which distinguishes them from lowland valleys, simply called “vales”. In the distance we saw some guanacos which are protected in this national park. They have black faces, which distinguish them from vicuñas. Here the vicuñas and guanacos are protected animals, unlike llamas, because these first two are not easily domesticated.

Furthermore, guanacos have only one calf a year, and the vicuñas which live even higher up have only one calf every two years. In contrast, the llama is not protected, because it is easily domesticated, lives at a much lower altitude, and has two calves a year.

Vicuña wool is evidently incredibly expensive. Even in vicuñas ranches, where they have semi-domesticated animals, they are only permitted to take 200 grams of wool a year from the male vicuñas. They are not permitted to take any from the females, since it’s too cold and taking part of their wool could result in the death of the gestating calf and even the mother. As I said, assuming it was true, much of Marcelo’s information seemed useful and interesting, whereas other things were just him talking. Nevertheless, almost everyone seemed to find him to be very enjoyable.

At 11:39 AM we are on a rather large plain. Where I could increasingly see more and more of these larger cacti. Happily, at 11:42 AM, we stopped to learn about this tall cactus which is called a Cardón. He was another time when Marcelo appeared to be both very knowledgeable, and passionate about conservation. These large plants are technically considered to be trees, because inside their thick protective covering, the adult ones have wood. Due to excessive clearing of the land, and their slow growth, these must be protected from further deforestation. The Cardones, which are hermaphrodites, only grow 1 cm a year. During the first ten years of life, they depend almost entirely on the symbiotic relationship they have with the low bushes to get their water. Then they develop their interior pulp. The woodpecker takes water from them, but the cactus heals itself within a few days afterwards.

They reproduce when an arm falls off, and then rolls, until stopped by the symbiotic bush which they need for water. Initially they remain lying on their side until they finally are able to develop roots and then stand up. Really, it was all very fascinating and I was especially awed to see how many of them in this area were several hundred years old . . . If I understand correctly, the oldest of them can be around a thousand years old, but there were many here that were at least 500. I really do hope that they stick to their conservation efforts as it would be incredibly sad to lose this desert “forest”.

At 12:15 PM we got back in the van, then having another mini stop at 12:26 PM to take pictures of the snow capped Andes in the far distance, which are something to see with the Cardones trees in the foreground.

Coming in from India, at 12:37 PM it was interesting for me to see them selling local spices and talking about the advantages of those which are of course quite common in India and I think most of them originally come from India.  However, in this area the mostly native/first/indigenous peoples have developed their own local spice agriculture, which they really value. They especially talked about the advantages of turmeric. I thought that all of my friends and coworkers back in India would be delighted by this.

At 12:42 we got in the van again,  passing through Payogaso at 12:55 PM . Here they are extremely well known for paprika. It was interesting to hear Marcelo talk about the internal conflict of nationalized vs  provincial commodities. For instance he was saying that in the north they don’t want the salt flats nationalized so that the lithium dollars will stay within the province rather than being redistributed throughout the country.

At 1:15 PM we arrived at Cachi, it’s kind of like Antigua Guatemala. Everything seems frozen in time. At the recommended restaurant, I had stuffed bell pepper, custard and lemonade. I stayed longer than I would have otherwise since I was having a nice conversation with another trip participant, a Venezuelan engineer who has been a resident of Argentina for seven years. At 2:40 PM I paid 12700 ARS cash + 1000 tip ($11.95 USD total) for my meal.

We left the restaurant at 2:56 PM and walked around. I checked out the local church and saw they had used the Cardón wood for the roof, the pulpit and a confessional. The floor was stone.

The confessional looks that way not because it’s old but because Cardón wood has holes like that.

Note, at some time while we were eating, electricity went out in the town, and as a consequence, there also was no running water. They all seemed to take this in stride, so it must be common. I understood the general problem, but thought it odd that they did not invest in water tanks to guard against this inconvenience. In other towns in the area, I had seen the large tanks which are there precisely for this purpose, also being quite common in many other parts of Latin America.

At 3:30 PM we departed from the town of Cachi. Believe it or not, he now turned on the air conditioner! Yes, there is a lot of variability in the temperature in a day, but I think people are also sometimes just too delicate. The road near Cachí was paved, but not as good as in other areas I’ve seen so far in this region.

At 3:50 PM I noticed that now the road quality was again much better.

At 4:24 PM I saw that we were clearly headed downhill again, and at 4:28 PM we were back on the winding, unpaved roads. Despite them being unpaved, they seemed perfectly safe mountain roads, nothing like when I went to Sikkim a couple of years ago.

At 4:59 PM we had another rest stop at the same place as before when we were going up: Pie de la Cuesta. This time, as I didn’t buy anything, I paid 200 ARS to use the bathroom.


At 5:15 PM we were on our way again, with traditional music playing most of this time. At 5:51 PM Marcelo said that local people here frequently mix the local wines with other things like Fanta (a type of flavored soda) or juice. I suppose that’s unsurprising, since the wine is ubiquitous and many times has a similar cost as that of a flavored soda.

By 5:58 PM we were all the way down the hill/mountain and on our way again on flat road.

At 6:35 PM I saw volunteer firefighters collecting funds in the town of Cerrillos. It was still completely clear outside, and I hoped it would be that way for tomorrow as well.

The rest of the drive was scenic and relaxing.

When we arrived at 7:10 PM It had originally been my plan to perhaps try to go to a peña (folklore and live music place) tonight by myself, but shortly before we arrived at Salta, Natalia, the engineer with whom I’d had lunch asked if I would like to walk around the center a bit. She seemed like a very nice person, and I thought it would be nice to chat with someone rather than always being alone. I said yes, and we stayed in that area, then also deciding to have a light dinner together. My food was 17400 ARS, paid by card (1170 INR – $14 USD).

At 9:48 PM we parted ways and I departed from near the 9 de Julio plaza and headed back to Donna Alba serviced apartments, where I was staying. I walked by Plaza Belgrano at 10:09 PM and then was in the apartment at 10:25 PM.

Once more, I had a wonderful day. For sure, Marcelo was certainly a character. I especially enjoyed the Cardones “forest” but the town of Cachi was also quite nice. Finally, it was an unexpected surprise to have had Natalia as a conversation partner.

I think it’s quite common to make random friends while traveling when one is younger, but at least as I myself get older, it is less so. Part of this is because of how younger people tend to stay in hostels etc, but part of it is also because I think we just become a bit more particular as we get older. Anyways, I feel like I’m rambling at this point, so I will go ahead and bring today’s entry to a close. I look forward to sharing more with you tomorrow!

Argentina trip: Day 12 (26 June)

Hey there followers, this has been one of my longer trips, so I congratulate you if you are one of those who have kept reading since day 1. If you came in late and would like to catch up, you can just go to Travels with Jay, and scroll backwards. At some point I may do a redesign of the site to make it easier to navigate to past trips, but for now it serves its purpose.

So today I was again up at 6:00 AM and got ready for the day. At 6:50 AM I was feeling a bit insecure because the previous days of programmed excursions, by this time I had already received two confirmation messages, but today I hadn’t  received anything even though I had already sent messages to all the contact numbers I had. There was no reason for me to need the confirmations, but this shows the danger of changing routine. They had previously been very proactive about letting me know that everything was going well for the upcoming day, and now that I didn’t have it, I was worried.

My breakfast doesn’t look appetizing but it was delicious. They were apple crumble pastries.

Breaking the suspense, at 7:00 AM I finally received a message saying everything was in order for today. Although, I didn’t actually know where I would be going 🤣. Shortly thereafter, at 7:26 AM I was picked up and off we went towards Cafayate. This was again a slightly different type of minibus from the previous two days, but it was still a similar design. 

Today, Juan was the driver and Jazmin the guide. Today’s bus was a bit more comfortable than yesterday

Unlike the other days, today at 7:57 AM they collected all of our documents to make a list. They also advised us that it was likely the police would be making stops and asking questions. I think this was related to the current national obsession with the case of the missing boy Loan. Regarding that, from what I can tell, it’s playing out in a similar way to the John Bennett Ramsey case in the USA many years ago. It’s curious how so many children go missing (usually with a family member) but you never hear about it, but then there are these huge cases which capture everyone’s imagination.

At 8:34 AM I noted the pleasant, mostly flat (unlike previous days) scenery, with mountains in the distant background.  Then around 8:37 AM we started to see vineyards, but as it was “the winter” the vines were bare.

At 9:13 AM we stopped in the town of Talapampa. From here on there was no stopping point where we could use the bathroom, etc . .  . Until arriving at the winery.  The bathroom was clean, but the whole place was much more rustic than places from previous days. Note, there was no toilet paper nor bidet facility, and I had been told that is fairly normal in Argentina, so be prepared. Most of the others were getting something quick to eat, but I had made sure to have my delicious apple pastries in the morning. 

Having a couple minutes to spare, at 9:25 AM I peeked into the chapel next to where we had stopped, Capilla San Roque. The temperature outside was 5 C. 

With several other small tourist buses stopping here, it was clear that this was the stopping point for all companies. I suspect that if I had shopped around in Salta I could have found a slightly cheaper package for the four days I had bought, but Get Your Guide generally does a good job of vetting its tour operators, and I also didn’t even really know everything I wanted to do. So far I had been happy with the Tiamar operated trips, with the only hiccup being not having an advance confirmation for today’s trip. Again though, if you are really bargain shopping and have the time, it’s probably better to shop around a bit and also even contact operators directly once you arrive in Salta.

At 9:39 AM  we got back in the van and went on our way. Today’s group had around 14 people, but the van definitely had a couple spots open. The microphone which was used the first day would sort of cut out, but the sound system the last two days had been much better. Jazmin continued giving us the general chat, telling us that we were going to go through la Quebrada de las conchas. She shared quite a few interesting tidbits.

Salta is a province with more rain, even in the dry season, than most of the country. That’s why things have mostly looked green, even though we are in winter. Note, much of the time of my first two days of tours was actually in Jujuy, not Salta, so it was frequently not as green.

At 9:49 AM we passed the ghost town of Alemanía which is now only inhabited by three families. It was the other side of the bus and I could not take a picture. It became a ghost town, because the train stopped operating going through here around 1970. Unsurprisingly, Alemanía was founded by German immigrants.

This area was at some point under the ocean, and there are many obvious fossils and remnants in this area. That’s why it’s called “Shell” valley (Quebrada de las conchas). 

At 10:05 AM  Jazmin mentioned that the first/native peoples in Salta and Jujuy held back the Spanish invaders for 100 years as the indigenous communities here were very organized and war like; however, they eventually fell. I couldn’t tell exactly how, but wine and the Catholic church were important in this. Today, Salta is the most religious/Catholic province in Argentina.

An unexpected surprise at 10:21 AM was when we stopped at La garganta del diablo (Devil’s throat). Sadly, this beautiful rock formation used to be used as a threat by the Spanish, directed at the first peoples. I’m not really sure how that worked, since it seemed that having been here first, they would have known better. However, they used to threaten the local people saying that if they didn’t pay tribute, the devil would come get them, with this rock formation being a type of portal to hell. Honestly, I found that hard to believe, but maybe they were tribes which had been moved here from somewhere else? Incidentally, until only very shortly the arrival of the Spanish, the tribes here were not part of the Incan empire, but they had active trade with them. 

Evidently It wasn’t until 2007 that they started developing tourism here. Jazmin said that other companies irresponsibly allow the tourists to go up on the rocks, but she begged us to not do the same as we could either get hurt or unintentionally damage some of the natural landscape.

At 10:36 AM I noticed that various sellers had wares there on a cloth, but they respected the main space so that it would look uncluttered.

By 10:46 AM we were back in the van. It had been a nice little stop. As is frequently the case, I don’t think the photos will really show it’s beauty, but still you will get an idea.

From here we were going to a place they call anfiteatro (amphitheatre) which is well known for its natural acoustics. We actually arrived there very quickly, at 10:49 and were out again. The local people used this site as an astronomical observatory. I could see how this would have been good as an observatory, since it’s structure would keep the view to a limited section of the sky which would change over time. There was a guy singing as well, and yes, the acoustics were impressive. Jazmin said that they do local concerts here in July which go on for several hours, but no sound systems nor amplification equipment are used.

One more we were in the vehicle at 11:07 AM, arriving at “Three crosses viewpoint at 11:13 AM. The legend is that three thieves killed each other here, after they had stolen gold from the revolutionary army. Given the circumstances, I didn’t really see why they would be honored with crosses, but it makes for a good story.

While I wouldn’t say that this is a “dangerous” viewpoint, at 11:20 AM I could see that it was definitely slippery for a lot of people with a couple of women in front of me even falling down. There was also no sort of railing at the top, and a fall from there certainly could have caused greater injury. I may have separately commented on this, but throughout my time in Salta, I noticed that almost all the tourism was local. However, I was told that in the south of the country it was primarily international tourists. For my money, the international visitors are missing out by not coming to Salta and Jujuy, but not having visited the South due to time constraints, I had no point of comparison.

At 11:25 AM I got back in the vehicle, soon after passing the “El sapo” rock formation, which amazingly really did look very much like a frog, but we didn’t stop, and I couldn’t get a good picture.

Whether or not this is true, I don’t know, but at 11:34 AM Jazmin said that the Franciscans were different from other Catholic religious groups that came, because they supported the local population more and also pushed for a greater recognition of the rights of the native peoples. The Jesuits had also tried, but they were expelled by the Spanish crown, and most of their monuments and churches were destroyed. To honor their contribution, they had named a sort of “Friar shaped” natural rock formation “The Franciscan” and we passed this at 11:36 AM.

The frog
The Franciscan

At 11:42 AM the Quebrada was coming to an end. I half slept for a few minutes, when at 11:55 AM I noticed that we were entering Cafayete, which is known probably for its white wine, but there was some red. I think I understood that most of the wine from this region was consumed by the domestic market. 

We pulled into Vasija Secreta winery at 12:05 PM. Despite being at a lower altitude, it was fortunately not overcast today. This place must be quite popular, as they do mini tours and wine tasting starting every ten minutes. My group’s tour began at 12:17 PM.

This winery was founded in 1857. There is a type of wine they make which is very limited which only comes from vines which are at least 90 years old. She explained tons of other things, but it was really too much for me to mark down. Also, much of it was particular information for people who know more about wines, and that’s not me.

At 12:30 PM the vineyard guide said that the metal tanks of the white wine were designed like this in order to maintain a cooler temperature, without using electricity. She explained about how different rooms have different characteristics because they need different climactic conditions to make different wines. This is of course more important for a traditional winery like this one.

At 12:37 PM the big room with huge wooden casks was actually a museum. While their wine is still considered artisanal, they have included a lot of aspects from the industrial revolution. For instance, they don’t stomp the grapes here. A machine does that. The skins used to be fed to animals, but now that mostly goes to cosmetic use, but some is used to make Grappa.

At 12:43 PM she explained that generally speaking, Argentinean wines are considered a bit sweeter than others. After trying the Malbec Cafayete, we rinsed our cups before trying the next one. This was a Torrontés Cafayete and yes, it was quite sweet but pleasant. According to her it’s semi sweet, but I think many from outside Argentina would find it fully sweet. I did like it, but I suspect it isn’t sold much outside Argentina. I thought of my friend Dorothée and was sure that she would not have liked it, but she would appreciate learning about a different type of wines.

At 12:51 PM there was a store where one could buy, by my standards, quite cheap bottles of wine, costing between 4500 ARS and 16000 ARS a bottle. The locals confirmed that buying right here was a bit cheaper than buying from a store; this of course made sense, since they make the wine right here. I would have liked to buy some to take home, but in my case, due to continued travel and still having planned to visit a couple more countries on this trip, that didn’t make sense.

At 12:59 PM we were back in the van, making a quick stop at Feria Artesanal Cafayete where they offered us vino mistela, which was way too sweet, and some local raisins. The prices of the food items were good, and it would have been nice to take some, but all but impossible to reasonably transport the way I travel. The costs of the other souvenirs were also reasonable. I would in particular have liked to take escabeche de llama and ciervo with me, but I’m pretty sure you are only supposed to eat very small amounts at a time and I definitely didn’t want to juggle glass bottles in my luggage.

When I got back in the transpory at 1:16 PM, I asked the other passengers, and they told me that the meat escabeche is eaten with bread. 

Shortly thereafter at 1:21 PM we stopped at the recommended restaurant, El criollo. I didn’t want to wander around before choosing where to eat. I ordered the plate of the day which included Jamón cocido, locro. It was cool inside but not cold, so I put on my long sleeve shirt over my other shirt but kept the coat off. I had done the same thing yesterday. The Jamón cocido appears to just be pork ham, basically lunch meat. The tiny piece of cheese was nice. It was basically a “new cheese” similar to queso Turrialba in Costa Rica.

At 1:36 PM my locro arrived. This was my first locro in Argentina. It’s basically a hominy (the main ingredient) and butter bean stew with rather chewy beef. It was alright, and good for the cold weather, but I thought it would have been better with a bit of chili or at least some black pepper. I’ve noticed that in Argentina people will add salt to their food, but I haven’t seen pepper or chili on a table. I don’t think Indians would like this food at all. . . I could see myself making something like this stew, but I would add a splash of vinegar.

Around this time I was also thinking that for dinner I would try to see if that empanada place near my apartment was open when we got back, and I would also get a couple for tomorrow morning. Separately, I think I would like to TRY mate, but I definitely don’t want to buy a big thing of it. I strongly suspect that I won’t be all that impressed, that it is an acquired taste.

At 2:02 PM I opted for Cayote con Nuez for my dessert. It’s basically sweetened squash with walnut. It was a tiny bit too sweet for my taste, but that’s also the way it’s usually made in Costa Rica. At 2:16 PM I left 1050 ARS tip on the table and then paid 11500 ARS cash ($9.27 USD) for the meal and drink. I had thought about paying with a card, but there was a 10% surcharge, and I seemed to have enough cash with me.

I departed at 2:19 PM and decided to try to check out the plaza which was near there. Upon arriving at 2:29 PM I understood why they had prohibited the tourist vans and vendors around the square. It was much nicer without them, and there were plenty of other places to buy crafts without it being there.

At 2:33 PM I entered the Catholic church. It had a simple but elegant design. I found the flooring to be of particular note, as I didn’t think I’d seen that before in a church.

I departed at 2:40 PM walking back to our transport. The plaza was very peaceful. The theme of the city/town of Cafayete seemed to be “simple elegance”. It was not overly adorned in any way, but things seemed to be cleanly organized and in an attractive fashion.

I was back in the van at 2:52 PM waiting for stragglers. Today had definitely not been a walking day. I will probably try to do more walking when we get back, even though I had sort of thought of keeping it a simple evening near the apartment. I was feeling a bit bloated from too much food.

The vehicle departed at 2:56 PM. The guide mentioned that here in February there is a huge folklore festival, and it’s always closed by several hours of el Chaqueño Palavecino (a very popular local assist) singing.

At 3:15 we had a photo stop to take pictures of what they call “Los castillos” (the castles). It was fine, but I thought the earlier things we had seen were more noteworthy. Then at 3:25 PM we were on our way once more. That was the last “tourist stop” of the trip.

However we did make a quick rest stop at 4:29 PM at the same place as before, being back on the road by 4:45 PM.

I was pleased to get off the minibus at 6:24 PM, right in front of Basilica Menor y Convento San Francisco in Salta. I decided to go into the main hall where I saw that this Catholic church was more like the ones I’m accustomed to visiting as a tourist in Latin America. Adding to the solemnity, they had beautiful religious music playing at a reduced volume. 

At 6:45 PM I had to admit that even though I had only been there for a few minutes, this church left me with a feeling of peace. I’m very happy that they dropped us off here, as otherwise I probably wouldn’t have wandered inside. I left at 6:50 PM with no particular destination in mind, just wanting to see more.

At 7:07 PM I found myself back at Plaza 9 de Julio. Then at 7:22 PM there was some sort of a peaceful street protest related to education. It was very orderly. While hanging out I bought some pastries from a street vendor for 1500 ARS.

My general impression at 7:34 PM was that everything was very beautiful and there was a lot of action around the plaza. It was nice, but I decided to walk back to where I had eaten on Sunday. I had liked it before, and wanted to patronize them again.

When I arrived at 8:17 PM the gate was locked, but I knocked and they were happy to let me in where I ordered 2 of each of the types of empanada she had (6 total). I sat while she baked them. 

At 8:39 the six empanadas were turned over to me for only 3000 ARS cash and I headed to the house, where I arrived at 8:45.

I washed clothes, ate, and read in bed until 10:30 PM

Today’s excursion had definitely been more low key than the previous two days, but it had been good to have a bit more relaxation. What did you think? Did you prefer today or one of the other days of excursions? Let me know in the comment section below.

Argentina trip: Day 11 (25 June)

Hey there everyone, so today is another excursion day, so I was again up at 6:00 AM, at 6:15 AM reheating pastries from two days ago for breakfast.

At 7:15 AM I was picked up and we were on our way. There were several people in the vehicle already. At 7:51 our guide Eduardo started with the spiel. Today there was one “guide”, and a separate driver, Ramon Luis. He mentioned that we would be going about 90 minutes before our first stop.

At 8:14 AM I was really feeling that yesterday’s bus had been a bit more comfortable, still at 8:22 AM I tried to sort of sleep, but it didn’t work well.

At 8:36 AM we passed through General Güemes, and then at 9:24 AM made a rest stop at a gas station in San Salvador de Jujuy.

By 9:52 AM I was back on the bus and Eduardo was continuing with his running commentary. Unlike yesterday, things are done in both Spanish and English. Maybe that’s why there is both a driver and a separate guide today.

At 10:13 we passed León. The part near the road looked kind of poor. Nearby I saw that the Rio grande riverbed is very large, but it has almost no water. They said it’s pretty much always like that.

Then at 10:21 AM we started the drive through the cloud barrier

At 10:29 AM we saw a small train which is evidently solar powered. Obviously, it must have a battery in order to get through the cloudy section.

It was great at 10:30 AM to see as we were almost through the cloud barrier. There were now patches of sun.

Then at 10:32 AM And we passed both Tumbaya and the final remains of the cloud barrier. I’m glad that I actually saw it happen this time!

At 10:46 AM we stopped just outside Purmamarca to get a different view of the seven-colored hill. This was a good stop, as it allowed for an unobstructed view, albeit from a distance.

At 10:51 I was back in the vehicle and we continued going upwards. Eduardo said that the isolated, different homes lived in here that we could at times see are almost always lived in by native/first people’s. They don’t own the land, and if they temporarily move away then they no longer have a right to return to the same spot, so in many ways they are trapped here.

At 11:25 AM my head was starting to feel a bit full as we went up, so I asked for a couple of Coco leaves to put in the side of my mouth. Then at 11:39 AM we stopped at the 4170 meter high spot for a picture. I bought some coco candies for 1500 ARS the bag: 15 candies in one bag. Supposedly you are only supposed to take 3 in a day according to what it says on the bag.

Of course at 11:45 AM I got my obligatory photo at the attitude marker.

At 11:51 AM I was again back in the van heading down to Salinas Grandes. The view really was amazing, even from the window of the van.

At 12:01 PM we had to stop as one of the passengers was not feeling well, so it was another opportunity to get outside, but it was a quick stop and we were again on our way at 12:04 PM.

Finally at 12:20 PM we arrived. In order to gain access to the salt flats tourist area we had to pay 2000 ARS cash but that really was a huge bargain as this payment also included the “artistic photo” service, and they really did a good job with these funny pictures. I had fully embraced my tourist identity, so at 12:33 PM I was in one of the several short lines waiting for my turn to get pictures.

By 12:40 PM I was finished with my silly pics and moving on to where there were the evaporation and crystallization pits. Even though it was undoubtedly a bag idea, at 12:49 PM, I scooped some of the salt crystals which were floating on top of the water and tasted them. You guessed it; they were VERY salty!

Then I decided to do some more silly pics on my own. Really being here was like being in another world. It was just amazing.

At 1:14 PM we were back in the van. Eduardo said that the local people working here taking the pictures couldn’t do it a long time because the salt in the air affected their eyes and lungs over time. It’s just a temporary job. Most of the people here don’t have cellphones themselves, since they are useless here as communication devices (no signal), but they learn how to use the camera function in order to take pictures of tourists.

At 1:20 PM we had to depart.

At 1:48 PM we had a quick five-minute photo stop and then continued on our way back to Purmamarca.


Then at 2:31 PM we arrived at Purmamarca. I was happy to learn that today we would have two hours here.

While I did want to explore, I also wanted a proper lunch today, so at 2:38 PM I went into the recommended restaurant and was pleased to see they had a live singer who was really quite good.

My food arrived at 3:01 PM and shortly thereafter I noticed this little boy who was just enchanted by the music and kept creeping up until the singer invited him to play the drum. I decided to give the singer a 2000 ARS tip which seemed to me the maximum that others were giving. He was a very good singer and also a good sport with the little kid.

I was very happy with my Cazuela de cordero. I’m sure I could have eaten for less, but the singer was very good and it was especially fun when the little boy kept wanting to join him.

Then at 3:39 PM I finished and paid 11500 ARS with my Indian credit card (795 INR – 9.53 USD). After departing at 3:53 PM I soon went into the Santa Rosa de Lima church. I loved the sound of the birds outside. It was very rustic inside. I liked it.

At 4:00 PM I left the church to wander around a bit more.  There were handicraft shops, eateries and lodging places everywhere. Amazingly, I was actually even tempted to buy some things. I wondered what it must be like to grow up in a place like this, so tourism focused but also so perfectly surrounded by the beautiful hills. No doubt similar to how the natural beauty anywhere else is taken for granted and almost forgotten after a short time living in other places, I suspect the same happens here.

At 4:35 PM I was back in the van. I had sort of wanted an empanada rellena, as they looked good, but I reminded myself that I had just eaten and would also want to eat something this evening.

At 5:01 PM we were about to hit the cloud wall again, and just like that at 5:02 PM we were in the clouds again. It was now 5 C outside vs the 26 C that we were in ten minutes ago. Amazing right?

At 5:47 PM we again stopped at a gas station. Here they call bathroom breaks “technical stops – parada técnica) I paid 2980 ARS with my Indian credit card (206 INR – $2.47 USD) for a sweet treat (basically a prepacked Alfajor) and a coca cola zero. I actually wanted a coffee, but this bus while having a much better sound system than yesterday’s, did not have a place to put drinks. . . As such I didn’t fancy juggling a hot cup of coffee.

At 5:55 PM I was once more back in the van, and then at 7:38 PM I had them drop me off near Plaza 9 de Julio where I walked around the area a bit.

At 8:24 PM I decided to eat at Vaca Club located right on Plaza 9 de Julio.  At 9:10 PN I asked for the bill. It was 17000 ARS which I paid with my Indian credit card (INR 1167 -$14 USD) and left a  cash tip of 1700 ARS. I had eaten pepper beef and a glass of Trapiche Malbec wine.

From there, I walked back to my lodging, but at 9:49 PM I paid 4000 ARS cash for two nice looking, hearty, apple pastries which I planned to eat for breakfast tomorrow, finally arriving at the apartment at 9:52 PM.

If tomorrow is half as amazing as today, I will be incredibly happy!

Argentina trip: Day 10 (24 June)

Hey there everyone, welcome back to my Argentinean adventure. Today is the first of four day-trips around Salta which I booked through Get Your Guide for a total of  $183 USD. These trips themselves are operated by Tiamar Travel. There was a similar package offered on Get Your Guide for about $50 USD less, but it’s ratings were a bit lower, so I decided to go with the more expensive, but also more popular and higher rated option. I’ve several times used Get Your Guide in the past for small group excursions, and my experience has been that they are generally good at curating the best offers in a given area.

So I was awakened by my annoying alarm at 6:00 AM, and I started getting ready. At 6:48 AM I ate a couple of reheated pastries from the day before. It’s supposed to be quite a bit colder today, 11 C (52 F), but we will see.

At 7:24 AM I was still waiting, and I noticed there were a couple of people waiting outside the main door of the apartment. Then a message came at 7:26 AM indicating that my driver was about to arrive, so I went out, and sure enough the van pulled up almost immediately. There were already several people (maybe seven) inside. However, those waiting outside my lodging were not among them; perhaps they were waiting for another tour operator? Anyway, I found my seat and at 7:29 AM we were off.

At 7:33 AM we picked up five more people. I think this was a family. Perhaps since most people in Argentina look very similar to me I had assumed that there were not many tourists wandering around, but based on what I was seeing today, evidently Salta at least had plenty of tourists in the area. It appears however that most of the tourism at this time of year is domestic.

At 7:43 AM three more people entered. It looks like we will have a full vehicle. It’s still dark out.

At 7:45 we start the official tour with Julio giving a commentary via microphone and quality speakers. Today is what was listed as “day 4” in the package I had bought. We are going to Hornocal. Evidently the altitude to which we will be arriving is high enough that many people suffer from attitude sickness; he spends a lot of time talking about that.

At 7:56 AM we drove through autódromo. It appears to be a poorer section of the city but definitely not a slum. Finally at 8:04 we were completely out of the city, moving along swiftly on a very smooth road. Outside, it was all rolling hills

At 8:30 AM we passed through the town of General Güemes. It looked like a fairly nice place. The windows were constantly fogging over, so in order to see outside I would use the sleeve of my jacket. At 9:13 we were still on the road, and most of the people in the bus were asleep.

At 9:16 AM Julio indicated we were about to make a stop and he suggested that if we planned on buying drinks or snacks we do it then, since the future stop would be “touristic” and we wouldn’t want to waste time. He also said that after this we would steadily be gaining altitude. As announced, at 9:21 we had a 15 minute gas station stop. I think we were in San Salvador de Jujuy in San Pedrito neighborhood. Lots of people were getting food, but I had eaten beforehand so thought I would be fine waiting until lunch. At 9:35 AM the advert sign for Paris lodging left little to the imagination as to the intended clientele. Then at 9:39 PM I was waiting again back in the bus. It was rather overcast and quite cool (10 C), but Julio seemed to think the sky would be more clear where we were going.

At 9:45 we were on our way again. Julio was doing a running commentary as we went. Evidently, here due to weather patterns, you are much more likely to find snow on the mountains in the Summer than you would find in the winter. That was an interesting tidbit.

At 10:50 AM I had sort of fallen into a half asleep state the last hour, so when I opened my eyes, we were just then arriving at  Purmanarca and yes, it is now completely sunny here. It’s a picturesque village, and I understand why people like to stay here overnight. I was a bit sorry to have missed the gradual change of scenery and climate, but it was a beautiful thing to open my eyes to after the dreary overcast weather in Salta.

I saw at 11:06 that there was a lookout point (Mirador el porito), but it was 5500 for foreigners (300 nationals) but it didn’t seem that one really got to see anything all that special by going there. Just to stand there didn’t seem worth it. This reminded me of similar silly things which were charged for when I was visiting China.

It was very nice to walk around a bit, but I think I would have liked it for longer than 40 minutes.

At 11:34 AM I was again waiting again for the transport. There was a mobile ATM installed, as the physical one in the town was not working and the closest physical bank is 30 km away.

Then at 11:40 AM we departed, only 10 minutes later than had been projected. So far, this entire trip, I’ve found the roads to be excellent.

At 12:00 PM we passed Tilcara. For much of the ride, Julio, who is also the driver, keeps up his running commentary. Similar to when I was in the area around Ladakh, I found it all to be constantly beautiful, but I could also understand how full time residents would find it monotonous after awhile. Different from the area around Leh, where the mountains look barren, here the mountains many times had a green sheen due to low growing plants.

At 12:11 PM we made a quick stop at Huacalera where there is a monument to mark the Tropic of Capricorn line. There I took a couple of obligatory pictures. Throughout the trip I’ve noticed that while there are frequently opportunities to buy souvenirs, the salespeople don’t hassle or chase after you. This might be because bargaining isn’t a big thing here . . If you like the price, you buy it. If you don’t, you don’t, and everybody seems fine with that.

At 12:37 PM we arrived at Humahuaca, and at 12:42 PM we got off the bus and into the restaurant. The flag which is hanging is the flag of the pueblos originarios, which now has a similar status to the national flag which is blue and white. That’s why both of them were raised on flag day. I paid 9000 ARS ($7.26 USD) cash for my take away lunch and then at 12:51 PM was picked up by the next transport to Hornocal. Cachete is the guide and with this group we go to Hornocal.

He gave us a Coco candy and also suggested that we put some sort of liquid inside the nose. I have no idea what it was. He was talking the whole time, but I couldn’t hear him for most of the time because of a fan they had turned on right above me. At 1:45 PM for some reason Cachete asked us each to pay 500 ARS more which I did along with everyone else. I guess it’s an entry fee charged by the Hornocal community. Again, I couldn’t really understand anything, so who actually knows.

Finally at 1:53 PM we arrived. We were told to be back in the transport at 2:20 PM. So anyways, this was the famous 14 color hill. Yes, it was impressive, but I understand why a lot of people stayed back in the town. At 2:10 PM everyone was taking turns helping take pictures of each other next to the Hornocal sign. Despite being at 4350 meters above sea level, I fortunately didn’t feel any altitude sickness. That might have been because of the coco candy and the liquid, or maybe I just wasn’t affected. At any rate, I was happy to not feel sick. It was quite windy.

As instructed, at 2:22 PM we were back in the van and heading back down. I wasn’t really sure why we had brought this food before heading up. With how bumpy the road is from Humahuaca, it certainly does not make sense for us to eat it in the van, and there also was no time to eat it at Hornocal.

I noted that for some reason while they had thought we needed that deafening fan on while we were coming up and the guide was talking,  on the way down we were without the fan. I’m glad I at least saw the hill, since it’s one of the emblematic sites of the area, and yes I would have been sorry to come this far and then not see it.

Perhaps in response to my thoughts, at 2:40 PM they turned on the fan again, I’m not sure why, but at least nobody was talking this time. Then at 2:49 we stopped, because an older woman in the van who had not been feeling well needed to get out. I’m not sure where they took her, but I think it was to get some sort of medical attention. As if altitude sickness were contagious, at 3:02 PM while we were waiting, another passenger took ill, fainting, and they had to bring the first aid people to give him oxygen. As you may already know, not everyone responds the same to high altitudes, and I’ve been told that even someone who was fine in the past at the same altitude may take ill later on during a future visit to that altitude.

Fortunately at 3:14 PM we were on our way back down again, arriving to Huacalera at 3:46 and immediately transferring to the other transport. Cachete came through to ask for tips, and I gave 1000 ARS even though I didn’t hear anything he had said. However, he had given me a coco candy and several sniffs of his magic liquid, which might have helped with me not having altitude sickness. I would have also like to walk around the town of Huacalera a bit, but there was no time.

Once we were under easy, I, like the others who had gone up to Hornocal, ate my lunch on the bus, finishing it at 4:13 PM. The roasted chicken, 2 small empanadas, rice and a badly bruised apple were not delicious, but they were perfectly adequate. The beef empanada was notably better than the chicken one.

Again at 4:17 PM we stopped on the side of the road because the woman who had fainted earlier was again sick. Fortunately she seemed to recover quickly and then minutes later at 4:27 PM we pulled into Tilcara. We had 30 minutes to walk around here. I think this is a town I would like to stay in even more than Purmamarca, since it seemed more “real” and Purmamarca appeared to just be a tourist village/trap.

At 4:42 PM I thought that this looked like it would be a nice place to live, but I can only guess at how easy or difficult it is to make ends meet. Here for sure though, I suspect one needs a car. But who knows, maybe there is a local bus that goes around to nearby villages etc. . . At 4:45 PM we departed.

However at 5:10 PM we stopped again for 5 minutes to do photos at Maimara. There was an interesting cemetery there as well as another multicolored hill. One of the other passengers there kindly gave me his SAETA (Salta public transport) card, saying that he would no longer need it. That was much appreciated, as I hadn’t been able to find one the day before.

At 5:41 PM we again started  through the magical cloud boundary. I imagined that when we emerged, it would be all overcast etc again the same as it was in the morning. Sure enough when we got through at 6:00 PM, yes, that’s what happened.

Then at 6:28 PM we stopped at the same gas station as before and I bought an over-priced coffee with milk for 2750 ARS cash. Shortly thereafter we continued on our way, and at 7:50 PM I noted that we still had 45 minutes left of travel

Finally at 8:41 PM I was dropped off right outside my apartment in Salta. However, I decided to go straight to the nearby Paseo de las Poetas to get food. While I quickly arrived at 8:46 PM, I immediately saw it much less busy than last night. Almost nothing was open. Incidentally, I again saw two police officers. To be sure, I see police here everywhere. Was there really that much crime, or would it be chaos without them?

So at 8:52 PM, despite what might have been the case last night, I came to the conclusion that this definitely wasn’t a place to get food on a Monday night. I decided to check nearby for somewhere else. I guessed the Plaza de 9 de julio would work, I headed that way, but was resolved to stop somewhere else that looked okay should I encounter it before reaching the plaza.

Sure enough at 9:07 PM I saw a tiny sandwich place and decided to just go there, where I only paid 1600 ARS cash for a large subway sandwich. The lady working there was incredibly nice. I thought I might go back there again. I turned around and headed back in the direction of the apartment. Then walking back to the apartment. On the way at 9:12 PM this was the second time I had seen a local dance studio. . .Laura López studio. This sort of leisure class to formally do face must be very popular for people here.

By 9:22 PM I was back in the apartment with my sandwich! I continued working on my blog until 11:35 PM, when I was finally able to sleep. So that was my first small group excursion in Salta. I thought it was great. What about you? Let me know in the comments section below.

I was so happy to have this sandwich!