Hired a car. Done. A new sense of freedom that doesn’t involve being accompanied by a minibus full of Germans, Aussies or over keen photographers documenting every morsel of their travel experience (we actually saw a non descript European snapping a way, excitedly, at electrical pylons, last week. True.)
Our solo adventure: a three hour drive into the mountains South of Salta, Argentina.
Why? Quite possibly the most incredible drive known to man...or maybe just Tommy and me. Mud roads, overhanging valleys, deteriorating bridges, rocky 30km hillside climb in a Corsa (no 4 wheel drive), rising through the clouds 3000metres to reach the Los Cardones National Park (Cactus National Park). Literally cacti everywhere.....look! above! Stood on an evil, low lying, mini cactus....6 pins inserted into the soul of my foot. Ouch.
Went to hillside Mexican style village and picked up a lonesome hitch hiking granny. Where was she going? We didn’t know. Through some negotiating; her in a local dialect and us in our ‘no understandio your espanol’ she hopped into the passenger seat, and talked constantly en route. To fill the gaps, left for our responses, I recited whatever ‘personal information’ I could...from ‘hi, I am 27 years old’ to ‘i don’t have any children’, for all I know she could have been asking me for a light. Mid desert highway, she suddenly slaps the dashboard which I interpreted as ‘Stop’, which we did. She clambers out, and spends the next 10mins, trying to communicate something that appears to be of great importance. Eventually a passerby translated that she was asking us ‘how much for the ride’. I took a tenner and we went on our way. (This last bit is actually a lie)
No comments:
Post a Comment