Day 9
Day 9 took us north. On the way, we drove thru a rain forest.
These trees can be host to 20 different other things growing in them. Lots
of orchids (not in bloom this time of year), cactus (in which are pools of
water, in which frogs live their whole lives) and vines.
The rain forest is east of the Andes. The rain forest captures all the
moisture from the prevailing winds coming from the Atlantic, and dries
out the air. This causes the "Reverse Desert" effect.
In the USA, the higher you go, the more trees there are. Here, the
higher you go, the less trees (less rainfall). So that's why we are
filming the rainforest on our "Desert Trip". The deserts would not be
here without the rainforest.
David, Roberto and Dan are discussing the trees.
This is Chis, the sound guy, with fluffy. Fluffy is the shot-gun microphone.
Chris is an apprentice with the crew. He used to be a stock broker, but burned out
on that and needed some more rewarding work, so he thought he would try
video production, which he seems to like. He joined Dan and Tom, who have
been together now 12 years, doing the show. Incidentally, I just learned that Dan
and Tom received Emmy award nominations for the Western States, for 2 of their productions
last year. These guys are good.
Starting with the new season (Feb, 2002), with this Argentina show, the series
will be distributed by PBS all over the country, to several hundred stations.
After the rain forest (part one), we arrive at Purmamarca, a tiny village, and have a great lunch.
This town is absolutely charming, with a shady square and local vendors selling
textiles, wood carvings and herbs for everything.
Boy, we like to eat (and drink).
We learned a great toast, and did it every day….
Arriba! (Glasses UP!)
Abajo! (Glasses Down!)
Al centro! (To the center!)
Pa'dentro! (Down the hatch!)
This town is at the base of Cerro de los Siete Colores, the Hill of the Seven Colors.
You can see why it's called that.
At the church and a wall at Purmamarca.
Money
A couple of things about currency down here.
The currency is the Argentine Peso.
I don't know how, but the governments of the USA and Argentina have arranged the
exchange rate such that the Argentine Peso is exactly worth one US dollar. That makes
for easy shopping.
I carried only some cash. Before we went to Northwest Argentina, a bunch of us went in
search of a ATM in Buenos Aires. We found one, and after some trial and error (Fran went
thru at least 4 cards), were able to extract many hundreds of Pesos with our bank cards.
This is so much easier than Travelers Checks, which seem to be losing popularity.
Most merchants/hotels took our USA dollars.
Here we are at the highest part of our trip, 13,000 feet.
I was with the crew. The other van with the guests had a couple of people feeling ill
from the altitude, dusty roads, and curvy hairpin turns, so they returned to Purmamarca.
Indeed, as I jumped from the van at our stop, I almost zonked out, feeling quite
dizzy for a few moments.
Notice the eerie picture. I think it was due to the thin, clear air, that
so defines the 3 guys against the mountain. In fact the mountains look like a
flat surface, like an Eastman print.
Tom and an inspiring view.
We arrive in Tilcara that evening. We video tape a local group doing native songs
and instruments. After the songs, our driver, Luis, gets a guitar and starts
jamming with them, and really rocked out, doing traditional music. It was fun.
We slept well that night at our Motel6 equivalent.