The Department of Geology and Geography at Georgia Southern University, where
Dallas works, had taken a spring-break field trip to Ecuador. Dallas returned
with great enthusiasm for South America, for exploring a new culture, and for
taking a summer vacation in a place where (1) we had never been, (2) the dollar
had a favorable exchange rate, and (3) the season would be winter rather than
summer. In the back of his mind was a story he had read in grade school about
the gauchos. Back then, when he was 10 years old, cowboys and the St. Louis
Cardinals were the only things that mattered to Dallas. Discovering that cowboys
lived and worked in South America was a great revelation — and one that
he had never forgotten.
This fascination was what ultimately led us to select Argentina for our vacation.
We turned to Patricia Schultz’s book 1000 Places to See Before You Die
for guidance about where to go. Not slavishly, mind you, but for advice.
Because geology, as a discipline, is all about a sense of place, many geologists
may be fascinated with 1000 Places, as I discussed in my September
Geologic Column. When Bruce and Kate Johnson (both with the U.S. Geological
Survey) introduced us to the book, they were already working on their second
copy, the first one having been disassembled for easier packing. Dallas and
I quickly got our own copy, and we used the places listed in the book to organize
our Argentina trip. We did not limit the itinerary to only those places listed
in the book, but it was certainly a useful guide.
One of the amazing experiences of the trip was a visit to an estancia (ranch)
on the Argentinean Pampas (South American praries): Estancia la Porteño
near San Antonio de Areco. The 1000 Places book listed several estancias,
including this one. We were the only guests during our stay, riding horses and
sleeping in the room where Ricardo Güiraldes wrote the ultimate gaucho
novel, Don Segundo Sombra. Who wouldn’t love horseback riding in a frosty
dawn on the pampas?
We ultimately visited seven of the book’s 1,000 places during our trip
to Argentina: (1) Estancia La Porteña, (2) Iguazú Falls, (3) Colonia
del Sacramento (a UNESCO World Heritage Site in Uruguay), as well as (4) Teatro
Colón and Gran Café Tortoni, (5) Cabaña Las Lilas, (6)
and Alvear Palace Hotel and La Recoleta Cemetery — all in Buenos Aires.
We also tangoed in Buenos Aires, an activity listed as a “place” (7).
Ironically, one of the centerpieces of the trip, as we originally planned it,
ended up not happening at all. 1000 Places raved about the experience
of traveling into the Andes in northwestern Argentina on El Tren de Las Nubes
(“Train to the Clouds”). The full-day trip takes passengers 217 kilometers
up into the Andes, to an elevation of 4,200 meters. The book described the geology
as incredible, and the experience as a once-in-a-lifetime sight. The train was
only scheduled for one excursion during our two-week visit, so we organized
the entire itinerary around being at its starting point in Salta for that date.
When we arrived in Salta, however, our local guide had very little positive
to say about the focus of our trip. “The train — I never recommend
it,” she said, explaining that the trip is 15 hours “if you are lucky.”
The guide said that many times the train is delayed because of technical problems,
and that it only stops twice, when everyone must leave the train. In San Antonio
de Los Cobres, the longest stop, she said that it is impossible to walk around
because of the altitude, and the ride back is a loss because the sun sets early
in the winter. “When you finally return to Salta, it is 10 o’clock
— and if you think that everything finishes there, imagine 514 people trying
to get a taxi,” she said.
The guide instead recommended a personalized tour in which we could see all
the same geology and more, with photography stops whenever we wanted, from the
relative comfort of her Peugeot 405. We decided not to take the train, missing
this opportunity to add another of the 1,000 places to our list. Sure, the guide
had a vested interest in persuading us to hire her, but we certainly saw an
amazing amount of geology on the day that we did not take the train. We visited
Quebrada de Humahuaca (another UNESCO World Heritage Site), drove up into the
Andes, walked on a high-altitude salt flat and climbed up box canyons. We saw
vicuñas, condors and flocks of parrots. And we stopped and took many
photographs, something that, I am certain, the train conductor would not have
been so accommodating as to allow.
We have since learned that on the day we did not take the train, it had mechanical
problems. And on the next scheduled trip, the entire load of 514 people reportedly
almost froze when the engine quit working and the outside temperature was minus
15 degrees Celsius (5 degrees Fahrenheit).
So 1000 Places was valuable in getting us to northwestern Argentina,
even if we didn’t ultimately take the Train to the Clouds. The original
plan did not happen the way we expected — it probably worked better. And
after all, we have to leave something besides Patagonia for the next visit,
right?
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