I spend the last three weeks of September, 2011 in Mendoza, Argentina. The well we were supposed to be working on hit an unexpected and thick igneous intrusion so most of the job was spent visiting some of Mendoza's 2,000 wineries. We also managed a day trip up to Aconcagua, the highest mountain in the Americas at 22,841 feet. (
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Aconcagua) September is spring in Argentina and the parque was mostly still covered in snow. We did manage to hike about a 1/4 -1/2 mile and scramble up onto a large rock for great views of this majestic mountain. Not to mention that I collected some andesite from the Andes to smuggle home for my rock collection.
The Andes overwhelmed me absolutely. As you look west from Mendoza they crown the horizon, as tall as the Rockies appear, but with intermittent volcanoes like the Cascades. Subduction leads to orogeny folks. On the Argentina side the Andes are bare, at least in Mendoza Province. This is a geologist's dream, nothing in the way of the rocks! As we drove up to Aconcagua I was constantly overwhelmed, each time it seemed that the mountains could not possibly get bigger, we would round a bend and there would be a new breathtaking range of peaks. The foothills of the Andes put the mountains I have known to shame.
Coming to Argentina was my first experience traveling outside of the U.S. I don't really speak Spanish, a few years in high school and a year in college taught me just enough to get myself into trouble. I was so nervous getting off the plane, but of course trying extra hard not so show that on the outside, after all I was there for work, I needed to be professional. I was relieved to meet up with my coworkers, one of whom spoke fluent Spanish and acted as our translator. As the nerves subsided I began to take in the people and the culture. No spicy food, dinner at 10 or 11 pm, and the clubs were everyone danced till the sun came up. Oh the feeling of stumbling from the dark to find the sun already risen! Argentina stole my heart so quickly I hardly noticed it had happened at all.
Besos Secreto (Argentina Uno)
I could kiss you forever
Until my lips were blue with bruises
Until I could not find my breath and did not want to
Until Orion was no longer upside down
Only to find myself unsatisfied; longing for more
Porque mi alma conoci tu alma al instante
I dreamt of your touch
And woke with only a memory
Sticky ice cream
Sweet laughter
Tuvimos un momento bonita
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I am back in Argentina. In theory I was supposed to pick up 900 samples in Buenos Aires and then bring them down to our lab here in Neuquen and organize and supervise as they were run. In practice the permission to access the samples (which are the property of YPF, the government run petroleum company) never materialized. Typical and awesome as I got to spend nearly a week being a tourista in Buenos Aires.
Buenos Aires is easily the biggest city that I've ever been in, 13 million people. At first I was a little nervous about exploring by myself, but since it is such a big city it was easy to blend into all the people. My very dear friend had studied abroad here and sent me a wonderful long distance tour guide email. With her suggestions for places to visit I started each day by taking a taxi to one of these locations. I visited MALBA, the amazing art museum and saw a Frida Kahlo painting and many other inspiring works of art. This was my first visit to a major metropolitan art museum and I was not disappointed. All of the artists there are latin american and I noticed that so many of the paintings, sculptures and photographs contained a theme of revolution, or suppression or celebrated the working class and the oppressed. Additionally many pieces seemed to be odes to the color of life and the beauty of women. That day seemed to be a day for art, as I left the museum I wandered into the Palermo neighborhood and into a fair in a square there. I ended up buying two pieces of art at this fair, one by a man who was clearly enamored with revolution and portrayed this with wonderful comic style drawings, the other by a woman who was just as much of a romantic as myself. They both spoke enough english that combined with my poor spanish we had wonderful, inspiring conversations. The conversations were as awesome as the art.
The thing about travelling alone is that it is both freeing and isolating. You have the freedom to do whatever you want, your schedule is your own. But you eat every meal alone and without mastery of a language making friends is daunting. I really wanted to go to a disco in BA, but I was too nervous to go by myself. I got my dance on instead at La Bomba del Tiemp, a drumming concert held in a venue that was little more than an empty lot between two buildings with grafitied walls. It was fantastic; the performance becoming a giant dance party as the sun went down and the beer lines got longer.
There was so much to see everywhere I looked in BA. I definitely walked miles and miles through that city, each day easily spending at least 4 hours just walking, wandering. There are so many little plazas and parks and neighborhoods. Even though I was always aware that I was in the center of a huge metropolis I also felt at times like I was in a town smaller than K__________. There were so many street fairs and hidden alleys that were lined with painted walls. Perhaps vibrant is the best adjective. I would love to return to Buenos Aires with a friend and explore even more.
Now I am Neuquen. There is a huge oil boom here and the town is growing, although at an Argentine pace. Less people speak english here, which is good as it is forcing me to really try and use my spanish, although I still get so tongue tied and nervous at times.
Peace out!
Pinky
