Gosh I took an unexpected detour and had quite the adventure. I had never heard of the town Iruya until Salta because it is not on any of the maps in my Lonely Planet guide. In Salta, 2 fellows/vendors told me about it. Then I heard about it on the bus to Tilcara, then at the hostal in Tilcara and finally from a french couple, Martine and Phillipe, in Purmamarca. So I decided to go the 50 km out of the way. Must I say, eventhough it was only 50 km out of the way, it was world's away. And what an adventure it turned out to be!!
So I get on a early bus to Iruya from Tilcara. It is overbooked and not only is there very little room for bags but people as well. So a group of gap year students from England decide to sit on the floor of the aisle. They take it all in good humor - laughing and taking pictures. I felt so inspired by their willingness and good humor to make lemonade out of the lemons handed to them. I know from my own past events that these type of experiences are far more richer, sweeter and puckery than I could have imagined prior to the event, when people work together and make the best out of a situation. Tough experiences when shared seem to compound and exponentially create stronger bonds between people, let alone a great story to tell later on.
With a grateful heart, I turned my head to look out the window at the incredible views. I remembered being a kid, sitting at the back sliding door with my head against the glass, just wanting to go outside and play, always, SIEMPRE, wanting to go outside - especially when it was snowing! (some things never change) I remember dreaming of all the adventures possible on the other side of that door, underneath an umbrella of a sky filled with the sun, moon, stars and clouds. Now here I am some 30 years later with my head against the glass but this time it is a glass window on a bus that is in South America exploring this incredible Andean landscape. Dreams really do come true!! With tears in my eyes, gratefulness flooded my heart, body and soul. I am soooooo lucky!! So as I am flooded with gratefulness, in awe of adventure, teamwork, the earth, the Andes, a total new adventure was headed my way.
But first I must tell you about my ski trip back in the late 90's, to Colorado with some of my family. My brother, my cousin Tom and I went on my cousin's Jim ski trip from the University of Chicago. It was to be the first of many annual family ski trips. We rented a car for the 4 of us and went to Summit County. We skied at several resorts and had a great time. It was time to leave and we were packing up the car`when 2 guys asked my cousin Jimmy for ride back into Denver. Now my cousin Jimmy has a heart of a gold and is a true Eagle Scout through and through. So of course he could not say no eventhough we already had a car full with 4 people and all of our ski gear. So Jim decided to squeeze two more people in with all of their ski gear - I had to sit on my brother's lap in the front seat, 3 people sat in back with bags on top of their laps and their were skis in the middle from the back to the front seat. From the outside you cuold not even see all 3 of their faces. When we were all squeezed in, Jim and the remaining group members thought we were so hilarious they decided to take pictures. Now it is one thing to take a few pictures and it is entirely different when people sit there and laugh at us all squeezed in and then go and get more people in the house to come and look at us. Of course these newcomers wanted to take some pictures as well. So after about 10 minutes we finally get to leave for an hour and a half car ride back to Denver. It was quite the ride as well with my cousin driving about 80 - 90 miles an hour in these steep and curvy canyons and all of us (minus Jim of course) scrunched. Luckily fast driving runs in our family from much practice.
So back to my current trip in northern Argentina.... We pull into a small town terminal and the bus driver gets out and goes to the back of the bus to look at the engine. Well it turns out the bus is not drivable anymore. It is leaking water. But he tells us that 2 buses will be coming in 40 minutes. So we all get off the bus and wait. The first bus arrives an hour later but is not going to Iruya and instead is returning to Humahuaca. The second bus arrives 20 minutes later and is from another bus company. They did not want us on their bus, eventhough we were willing to give them cash. So here we are, about 25 of us, stranded at this bus stop in the middle of nowhere. It is now 11:30 and the bus driver tells us the next bus, from their company, will arrive at 6:30pm. Great!!
When 2 people from Argentina went out and tried to arrange other transportation. A woman from Iruya was able to rent out a truck for 350 pesos. So 15 of us walk over and boy oh boy were we surprised to find out that it was a regular Ford pickup truck. 11 of us were backpackers and had one big and one small backpack each. Needless to say we did not think we would fit. But when push came to shove, we all fit in the truck - 2 in front with the driver and the rest of us WITH all the gear in the bed of the truck.
I love how they filled the gas tank! And of course they checked the engine, oil and gas after all of us were all packed in the back of the pickup and ready to go. Granted I am grateful they checked everything BUT couldn't they have done it before we all squeezed in ??!!
We rode an hour and a half stuffed in the back of this truck with one stop at the 4,000 meters viewpoint. We were very lucky that not only we had a good driver but a very conscientous one, who watched out for the bumps and grooves of the road. But must I tell you, it was an incredible journey! We saw condors soaring through the skies, nests of condors and felt and smelt the incredible mountain sir. It was one of the best rides yet!! We rode through these rural mountains and then to come to a tiny town situated in the middle of absolutely nowhere and yet everywhere at the same time - WOW! Quite the ride and quite the bonding experience!
Martine, Phillipe and I talked along the way and decided to walk to the next town over - San Idrecito. We got into town and within and hour and half, ate lunch, hired a guide, reorganized our packs and were off to a town that had only just gotten electricity in the last year. It was incredible!!!! We stayed the night in this tiny town filled with almost as many animals as people and walked back the next morning. I loved the enormous views alongside a few scattered homes that had fields of corn and flour.
The town itself was a few blocks in size, with 6 or 7 different hospedajes and 1 or 2 mini stores/markets. But there was electricity, running water and a roof over our heads. It really was quite amazing to see how people lived and the views were incredible!
Our 68 year old guide, Celestino
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