Salud de… Holanda!

(Back in the Netherlands: Windmill "De Vink" of Herveld, near Zetten)

Well, finally I made the big crossing of oceans again and arrived safely in the Netherlands. My parents picked me up from Amsterdam airport Schiphol and now my residence is my parents’ place in the metropole of Zetten (5.000 heads). Now I’m writing about the last piece of my trip through Argentina and Chile, at my own fast computer, with a CD of the Argentine band Los Fabulosos Cadillacs running in the CD player.

Some things are still to be told about my last days in Salta (if you live in the Netherlands and you’re interested in Northern Argentina, watch the TV programme “Wie is de Mol?”, this is filmed in and around Salta): I rented a car again, to visit the rainforest of Northwest Argentina in the National Park Calilegua (this is part of the rainforest belt which goes into Bolivia). It was a nice Chevrolet Corsa 1.6 Sport (actually an Opel or Vauxhall with another name on it) which drove perfectly. On the way up to the north, I took a policeman and an old farmer as hitchhikers, which was a nice contact. After parking in the forest, I asked the maintenance men of the National Park what was the best way to hike. But they did not explain it to me before I had some coca leaves with them: small leaves that you put into your mouth like a guinea pig and chew and suck a bit (I didn’t feel a thing…).
(Visiting the rain forest of Calilegua: chewing coca leaves; the river grows and turns red from heavy rainfall; without a 4x4, I could come up to 1.000m on the dirtroads; the great colors of the forest)

As I went into the forest, I found out that I completely forgot my mosquito repellent, which is not so smart when you visit a rain forest. The mosquitoes started attacking as soon as I came out of the car. So I dressed in my coat and long trousers, although it was very warm and humid (26°C) and immediately started sweating. I drove around for a bit and hiked some smaller trails and this was really amazing! It’s the red soil, the land slides, the thick green vegetation with brightly colored flowers, the warmth and humidity and the sounds you know from Discovery Channel or any travel or forestry magazine, together with birds, huge colored butterflies and grasshoppers, really amazing and worth driving up there! The raining season had just started there (although it was dry all day), so I could not make it up to the small indigenous villages with my car, but I still had a great experience. But you could see the rain coming: there were thick and dark clouds and the bigger rivers already had been transporting loads of water, since you saw a lot of red streams flowing.

Back in Salta, at the camping site, I talked with a French biker who was on his way “through the world” for more than a year already, and with two German motorcyclists, who went through South America for a long period on their enduro bikes (www.zwei-auf-reise.de). This was a nice and interesting meeting.
(The world travellers in Salta; two "helpers" while drying my tent)

This camping site was in the middle of a poor suburb, so there was police protection at the gate, and the police was patrolling around our tents at night! I don’t know if this gave me a secure feeling or rather not…

Salta was also the place to buy some souvenirs, as you can see on the picture with the windmill: a nice sheep-woolen poncho and alpaca-woolen hat.

Then it was time to finish the trip: since I was running out of time, but I was also getting very tired of traveling and organizing everything every day again (I think, when you know that three months come to an end, it’s been enough as well). I took the bus back to Mendoza (again 18 hrs.) to round my circle through Argentina and Chile. A very nice meeting with Alejandro and his family took place. It was at Eastern, so we also had a great lunch at Eduardo and Delly’s (Ale’s parents) place and we visited Ale’s girlfriend Luci’s house in the pre-Andes. The first night, we went for dinner and playing pool with Ana Maria, Silja and Vivienne from the language school, whom I met in January.
(Bingo game in the bus from Salta to Mendoza; Alejandro and family at Eastern)

And I bought another great and important souvenir: a black leather trousers for motorbiking!

Last Monday, Ale brought me to the airport for my last trip: visiting Buenos Aires! This was just for one day and night, but it was really worth going! Such a nice and living city (and huge, 14 million people!), such great buildings (you think you’re in Paris!). I took a city tour, to get to know the highlights in the short time that I had. This was nice, we passed the square of the “mothers of the lost sons”, the church where the body of San Martin lays (the liberator of Argentina and Chile from the Spaniards), the tango place San Telmo, the poor place called Boca (with all the colored sailor’s houses and the soccer stadium of the Boca Juniors) and the rich place Recoleta (with it’s interesting cementary and monastry). Unfortunately, after the tour, many places to visit where already closed, so I went back to San Telmo to have dinner and find some tango. The first thing functioned very well (very nice steak again…) but the tango didn’t: there where some shows for € 50,=, where gala clothing where asked (so I didn’t fit in there, unshaved with my hiking boots and T-shirt). I ended up in another nice bar with a live folk band and good wine, which was fine for me.
(Buenos Aires: the Boca Juniors stadium; a surprise at the end of the city tour, me dancing with...; the main square with ancient, colonial and new builings, much crowd and noice, the statue of the Republic and the daily socialist demo against unemployment and poverty)

The next morning, there was not much time left in Argentina, because my flight went at 1pm from Ezeiza airport, which is about 35km from the city. So I walked a bit around San Telmo and then I took the subway and bus to the airport. And then, after 13 hrs of flying to Milano and a great flight over the Alps, with a marvelous, very clear and sunny sight on Mont Blanc, Monte Rosa and Matterhorn, I landed in Amsterdam, last Wednesday morning.

So this was it: I’m sleeping much now, getting used to Holland again (which is not so difficult with the great spring weather we have). I already did a motorbike tour with my father. The next weeks, I will be a trumpet teacher. My friend Harald plays with his military police orchestra in Australia, so I will replace him in his music school, with about 30 pupils from 8 to 60 years of age (also on flute, keyboard, guitar, clarinet, let’s see how that works…). And after that… who knows? Even Joost doesn’t!

I want to thank you for reading and reacting on my stories. This was not only to inform you about what I was doing, but more about keeping up the contact and about telling about my travel experiences (which you really need when you’re traveling alone!).

Then thanks a lot to everybody who made this trip to a success and made me feel at home in Southern America: Alejandro, his family and friends, Alina and Francesco from CIEFAP in Esquel, my Welsh friends Clare, Esyltt and Christian (who got married at Eastern, congratulations!!!), Lily from Chiloé, Klaus from GMF in Salta, my parents and all the people who gave their hints about where to go and what to do in advance and the Intercultural language school in Mendoza.

Thanks again to NBBS Traveling for the “luggage experience” I had in Buenos Aires, to Lowe Alpine for making the most expensive but worst gaitors I’ve ever had, to Euro car rental who rented me a broken car for a two day desert trip, to Salewa for making a water proof and breathing jacket which does everything apart from keeping strong rain out and letting sweat out and to Vaude for constructing the most basic “tent” I’ve ever used. But then, many thanks to Karrimor (backpack 100ltr., at least already 15 years old and still rocking (and thanks to Fred for that!)) and again Vaude (small backpack), again Lowe Alpine (compression bag, about 13y.o.), Leki (hiking/tent poles 4y.o.), Trangia (camping stove on burning alcohol, 14y.o.), HanWag (hiking boots, 6y.o.) and to Nomad (sleeping bag) for not letting me down and to Lonely Planet “South America on a shoe string” for helping by planning this trip (in my 2004 edition, Argentina was very good; Chile was not really up to date anymore; what really misses is good info on National Parks)! And thanks to the three great cars, numerous bus companies, Alitalia, Aerolineas Argentinas and LAN Chile for taking me around Chile and Argentina safely. But the main equipment price gets “Cadans Star” (probably a “Bristol” or “Zeeman” shoe brand…): my basket ball shoes that I bought in about 1991 for school sports and were still serving me during this trip! Now they rest in peace, somewhere near Mendoza…

(The travel award 2006: my Cadans Star basket ball shoes of 1991!)

I hope to see you all soon!

Jeroen