Carnaval in Tilcara 2009 Images

One of the many ¨diablitos¨. They speak with very high-pitched voices (perhaps to hide their identity), and are extremly cheeky. There are also women dressed as brujas (witches) who run around with giant zanahorias (carrots) - I won´t say what they do with them.




Here´s one that stole my wife a few times. she could barely walk the next day (from all the dancing that is)






This is the mojon (constructed shrine) to the diablito. It is from here that he is disinterrado (unearthed).





A couple of diablos that were encouraging the dancing and the drinking!

We have finally edited our video footage, we've put a couple of ten minute previews on our YouTube Channel for anybody interested.

Canaval en Tilcara, Jujuy 2009

Today I witnessed the break out of urban guerilla warfare in the streets of S. S Jujuy. But not a war where men throw stones or hit police with battons, with blood or any kind of injustice. There were children as young as my ahijada (God daughter) leading the charge. Water baloons galore.

We are in the final Count down for the official beggining of facilities. The following Monday and Tuesday are public holidays for the northern states of Jujuy, Salta and Misiones. This year is one where droubt and flash flooding have affected the national psychy, but here in San Salvador de Jujuy (see photos for Google Map locations) Valentines Day has passed, there has been lots of rain (and more mosquitos I fear) and the thunder has clapped around the valley that encapsulates S.S. between two great rivers. Estoy esperando en acute anticipacion por la exercisio de los demonios.

The best story I could hunt on the web that sums it up well is here in spanish, and translated here into english (but using google's autobots so no guarantee on the grammar).

When we arrived on the day of the Comadres. Our women folk went out for a meal and drinking. It is customery to eat certain food and to ghossip a lot, but as >I was not there, and I didn't participate in the day of the copadres (for men folk), I cannot relate to you what happened, but I can say that when they returned hom, we went out dancing together and I drank too much wine. The next day the altitude and the dust took their toll and for the next week I was somewhat ill with a snivelly nose and flem. But that didn't stop me from enjoying carnaval. The friday was an opportunity for us to explore the Quebrada further. La Quebrada is a World Heritage protected site, and if you want to see some shots, check out our Picasa public albums. We visitited Volcan, Humahuaca and a few little pueblos (villages) along the way. Lots of fun ferias (little shops on the street) to buy loads of fascinating gifts for the folk back home and plenty of good food and interesting history along the way. Humhuaca is further north than Tilcara and is less touristy and more of a local hangout for the Jujenans of San Salvador. We were content to be in Tilcara for the big day on Saturday as we had friends there and there is a slightly less booze cruise feel about Tilcara compared to Humhuaca (or so I was told). On the Saturday we followed a comparsa (company of musicians) known as Pecha Pecha. They started off their ceremony in the cerro (hill) opposite Tilcara and I didn't realise that the drink they were feeding us was pure alcohol with fruit juice. So we got quite tiddly by the end of it, and the little devils seemed to enjoy dancing with my wife, so she could barely walk the next day from all the dancing and running up and down the hill. But it was a load of fun. Once night fell, the comparsa hung outside a kiosk in the town and they served warm beer from a window and we all talked until the wee hours. By the time everybody decided to go to the open air clubs in the central township, we snuk off to bed. as we knew there would be another day of madness on Sunday. And there was. much the same, except this time we went out dancing and had a lot of fun. The pueblo was starting to take on the distict odour of a urinal, as they don't supply latrines, so you pretty much go where you can.

By the Monday we had to go to a party back in San Salvador, so we bid farewell to Tilcara which was by this time teething with tourists from across Argentina and the streets filled with talcum powder, spray cans and confetti. not to mention the stench of urine. I don't know how the locals can handle a week of that. I was happy to retun to the lower altitudes and recuperate from the partying.

It is now the middle of the week, and aside from the odd water baloon battle in the street, things appear very quiet in the city (compared to up North).

We will post some of the the imatges to Youtube when we get back to an IEEE connection and broadband internet.

San Salvador de Jujuy

San Salvador de Jujuy is a large city in the very north of Argentina. If you use Google Maps, I have posted a few photos up there, and hope to put up a little video soon which shows the interesting architecture and town planning (or lack there of).

Excuse me if this isn't 100% correct but a couple of hundred years ago Jujuy would've been part of Bolivia (before the Argentines got a little greedy and invaded them in cahoots with Chile), so it has one of the largest populations of indigenous peoples. The people are a mixture of tribes the most commont hat I came accross was guarani and kechua. However, Spanish is spoken by virtually everybody. Being a city with many centuries of history the streets are relatively small and the older buildings have been modernised so that a walk in the central areas seems like you are half in the west and half in the east. It{s difficult to describe, so I will hurry up and put a video on Picassa for anybody to see shortly.

It is the weekend before Carnaval. Carnaval for some is a grand excuse to get drunk and party hard, for youth to let loose and get away with being picaron (cheeky) for a week by having water baloon fights in the streets, and for others it is a time to rekindle ancestral beliefs and traditions and come together as a family. Although Christianity is strong in Jujuy the deities and spirituality pre-colonialism are still alive and strong. Although I will hopefully have more to say about this the week following carnaval. As we will be in Tilcara for the entire week, and I doubt that I will be spending much time in the Locutorio (cyber).

Our first days in Buenos Aires

It was a twelve or so hour flight from Auckland to Buenos Aires and despite having the feeling that our Air Lineas plane was held together with plaster and wire we made it well. I say this as we sat in a section that had no onboard entertainment <(the projector was broken) and no music in one of our seats (there was simply no where to plug in your headphones). But the staff were very accommodating and unlike other companies not too fussy about the rules. And thank God for that, as if it weren't for a very nice Mexican lady giving us the idea to put our son to sleep on the floor, we would've had no sleep at all. It was our first flight as a family (long haul) and having very long legs travelling in planes is NOT my favourite thing. But the wine was plentiful and the food certainly tolerable. Enough about that. For anybody wanting some quick tips on flying with children, we have the following to add:

1. Make the most of the hostesses on the flight, they are generally extremely helpful (they hate screaming kids as much as the next person).
2. Ensure that you have appropriate toys (duh)
3. A trip to the cockpit is good for Dad and the child.
4. A chupeti/dummy/pacifier or drinking vessel will help with the equilibration of pressure in the ears (promotes swallowing).
5. ensure that at check in al of your needs are to be met - there are lots of restrictions that mean they will put you in the worst place possible (i.e. you must have a seat with an oxygen mask function (apparently not all seats have this), you must not sit near an exit (the best seats in coach) and you cannot be upgraded to first class for free (they offered me an upgrade but when I asked if the rest of the family ould come they withdrew the offer).
6. Ensure that readjustment to a new routine is carefully managed (we had our first ever midnight feast the first night in Buenos Aires). Young children don{t adapt the same way that adults do.
7. If you are flying to a city with poor footpaths and roads ' make sure you have a 4X4 style pram handy.

Right, so we spent two days in Buenos Aires, moslty sleeping and eating but also a lot of walking. Argentina has inflation of 30% so we were very concerned that we would be watching our pennies. And it is true that eating in most restaurants is very expesnive and buying things such as magazines, groceries and clothes is expensive, but there are still some tricks for the thrifty traveller:

1. Las tiendas (these are the shops that are not in permanent/semi-permanent locations such as those in the side walk (foot path) or in ferias (open air markets) are not subject to the same transaction regulation system. In any shop that is in a mall or street premesis all transactions must be put through an electronic system so that the tax department knows how much you're selling. The other thing is that these shops also tend to have employees who are paid legally and not on the black market, so whilst you may be hurting the economy supporting the tiendas (theoretically less revenue for the govt) - at the same time you may be supporting a black market where the labour is not well paid and there is no insurance/super annuation (social security) to speak of. That said, if you want that Boca Juniors shirt and you don't want to pay top dollar - your choices are severly restricted, and you best be getting on the subte (subway) to the nearest open air market (of which there are many).
2. I am a coffee lover, but I generall do not buy coffee from cafes in New Zealand because you basically have a 1/10 success rate on good coffee on a cafe per cafe basis. Here the odds are reversed. You will pay more for comfort, but generally speaking the quality of the actual beverage will suprise you. My god they make good coffee here. I will be addicted before we finish this trip. If you like yerba mate (the traditional drink of Argentina) many cafe's serve this, but in the cocido fashion (like a normal tea with milk). People tend to drink mate at home and drink cafe in cafes!
3. Buenos Aires is an enormous city, and the differences between different areas is astounding. If you are a thrifty shopper, some barrios may suit you better than others. I personally love the central city (avenida de Corrientes) as the shops have such ineresting things for sale, but I also enjoy Dorrega, San Telmo and Belgrano. More on Barrios in a later blog.
4. You will be asked for money from children, scammers, and all types of poor people. If you scream tourist or hang out in Puerto Madero you will be approached. Personally, it doesn't bother me in BsAs as it can in other countries (I will never forget some of the appauling tactics we saw in India). Generally any moneda (coin) is sufficient. Unlike Auckland - if you give them 10 cents in Queen Street they will call you a tight arse!
5. Travelling within the city is still cheap. For entertainment - the subte is by far the best, the art and the gente (people) are fun to watch. But during rushour you will be uncomfortable, and during the later hours it may be unsafe. I personally do not feel unsafe in BsAs - it feels very safe and I have walked the streets at extremely late hours of the night and without incident, but I could've been lucky as you will hear stories all the time about muggings and all kinds of evil scams that are perpetuated fromthe locals. If you are staying in Puerto Madero (you must be very wealthy) they have very high security (not unlike the Viaduct Basin in Auckland). Finally taxis - are still cheap. you can get right accross to the other side of the city for US$5 so if it is late or not convinient to catch the subte a taxi is only a little more than the price of a couple cups of coffee.
6. If you want to eat on the cheap - you will have to adjust to the different diet in South America. They eat sweet food for breakfast (if you haven't tried dulce de leche - you have my sympathies), and lots of pastries. Medias lunas (like a crossaint), and little cookies are cheap and tasty. If you are attached to your toaster oven, eletric kettle or fried eggs, then you will need to go to an expensive restaurant. For lunch and dinner I can recommend parilla and other food cooked in the asado fashion (BBQ) - you will no doubt have heard how well the beef tastes in Argentina, but for the first time I had tough as old boots beef in Puerto Madero of all places. Most dissapointed (mind you it was a smorgasboard). The smaller restaurants are best, people who take pride in their asados. If you go to a mall to eat - don't expect much but a high bill. If you like takeaway type food, there are many parillas (like a kiwi fish'n'chip shop) that will astound you. And Argentina has Pepsi everywhere - so you will have some choice in your beverage (unlike NZ which seems to be saturated with Coke products).

Well, that's enough for now. I was anxious about the price of things in Buenos Aires, so hopefully this is helpful for you. With inflation running so high, the global economic crisis affecting demand and the national economy hit with poor management, a history of tax evasion and sticky prices and then big shocks, this information may expire relatively soon, but fortunately for me things are ok.

La Pachamama, Tilcara, Jujuy

Culture of South America


This is a family friend of ours in a small mud brick home in Tilcara. This is where we stayed last time and were eaten alive by mosquitos (it was a bad year with flodding accross the continent when we were there last).


These photos were taken with a disposable camera after I had my camera stolen by various postal organisations in South America. This time however we will be taking our Luminx camera and our Sony camcorder and we will be protecting them very carefully. This one again in Tilcara

We went for a Mountain bike ride around La Patrimonio de la Hunidad and saw many of these graveyards. They were like little communities with their very own ecosystem.



San Salvador de Jujuy is the northern most city in Argentina and yet feels quite provincial in character. Perhaps it was just the siestas that they took that made it feel that way!



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