Our Way

Melanie & Raphael's Honeymoon

And now, the end is near and so we face the final boarding. Our friends we'll say it clear and hopefully not too boring. We've had a trip that was full and travelled with many a bus and car on the way but more, much more than this we did it our way.

Everybody now...

First off, apologies to Paul Anka. You will almost certainly be relieved to know that this is our last travelogue. The test will be at the end, so we hope you have been reading carefully. This final travelogue covers three countries because we did.

So, when last we wrote, we were hoping to get on a boat to see the Ballestas Islands. You'll be relieved to know that we managed to do so. It is only a short boat ride from the port in Paracas out to the islands. We went past the enigmatic Candelabra, a massive petroglyph carved into the sand. Then to the islands where we saw Peruvian boobies, guanay, Peruvian pelicans, turkey vultures, sea lions and most importantly, Humboldt penguins, which are cute little things. After having watched the BBC documentary 'Spy in the Huddle', which featured emperor, rockhopper and Humboldt penguins, we were determined to see them and thankfully we weren't disappointed.

We then headed south to Nasca (nothing to do with stock car racing), site of the famous lines. These massive petroglyphs, in the forms of various animals, people and geometrical figures, have intrigued people for many years. They were drawn about thirteen hundred years ago by the pre-Colombian culture of the area, the Nasca people.

Sorry to disappoint anyone, but the fact is that in this terrain, making petroglyphs is comparatively easy. It is very arid and so, if one were to clear a path through the rubble it would last indefinitely, until someone else decided to alter it. So that part is time-consuming but not difficult. As for making the drawings on such a large scale, there are various simple ways to increase the scale of a picture one draws, whether that be by using a grid, strings, or something more elaborate. So, the question shouldn't be so much about how they did it, but why? The explanation for that is probably one of two things — most likely it was a way of showing things to the deities they worshipped. Alternatively, they just liked art on a big scale. Anish Kapoor does, so why not the Nasca?

Anyway, we didn't do the flight, as it has become extremely expensive, so we were able to see some of the forms from a viewing tower and a nearby small mountain. We were most impressed by the grid of extremely long lines, some several miles long. We also got to see a lovely sunset.

From Nasca, we took an overnight bus south to Tacna. There we got a taxi over the border to Arica in Chile and then that evening took another overnight bus to San Pedro de Atacama. This place is famous for two main things: (1) ALMA, the massive array of radio telescopes that makes up the second largest science project on the planet after CERN, and (2) being the driest place on earth. For us, the fact that it was a convenient location en route was also important.

Once again, this little place has changed dramatically. Whereas ten years ago there were just a handful of simple places to stay or eat, the number has grown massively. Also, whereas in the past the tourists were foreign budget travellers, now it is overwhelmingly middle-class Chileans. This has created a peculiar situation where simple hotels are expensive and slightly better ones are exorbitant. This is odd as the village is still a dusty little place in the desert, even if it has trebled in size in the last few years.

We arrived early in the morning, having driven through stark desert, and were given directions to where we were staying. We were walking along and some locals stopped us and asked where we were going. We told them, they told us we were heading the wrong way and insisted on giving us a lift to the hotel. It transpired that these were the first of many friendly and helpful locals. Though in actuality, most of the people had moved there in the last few years, including several artisans we got to know in the markets there.

Apart from general mooching and chatting to locals, we did three excursions. On our first night, we went to do the SpaceObs star tour. Due to the altitude and aridity, this makes it one of the best places for clear skies and stargazing. Our tour began by having the night sky explained to us as it was regarded in ancient times, the different zodiacs that existed around the world, and how the worldview changed from geocentric (earth-centred) through heliocentric (sun-centred) to the modern interpretation. All the time this was done using the night sky above and around us and a laser pointer. We then had a look through nine large telescopes, each trained on a different celestial object or area. We could see nebulae, binary stars, clusters of stars, the gibbous moon and Saturn. When looking at Saturn, we could clearly see the rings as well as four of its moons. Mel is still convinced that it wasn't real, as it was so clear that it must have been fake. This was despite me obscuring the view for the telescope and it disappearing whilst she looked at it. Some people are hard to convince.

Another excursion we did was to walk to the Pukara de Quintor. We didn't know too much what we were walking to see — it was just a destination. When we got to the Plaza de Quintor, after 45 minutes, we had a look around, thought the setting pleasant and after a while relaxing and appreciating the desert environment, walked back. Somehow, we had walked past the entrance to the archaeological site without noticing it on the way down. We could see that it was just some walls and the remains of a village from the sixteenth or seventeenth centuries, which didn't entice us, so we headed back to San Pedro.

The final outing there was to The Valley of the Moon and Death Valley. We were in a small group and had a knowledgeable, enthusiastic and informative guide. He described the geology in detail, though clearly. The area is a range of eroded mountains in the high desert, with extinct geysers and salt pans. It is very pretty with predominantly orange sand and rock. The Valley of Death is called so because tourists are the only living things there — apparently not even bacteria survive in such an arid environment. We were there for the sunset, which was very picturesque, changing the colours of the mountains and valleys around us.

We got a bus from San Pedro to Jujuy in Argentina. This should have been a ten-hour journey — it wasn't. When we were in San Pedro, we had seen organised convoys of Chilean football fans heading across Argentina to Brazil to support their team. We had been told it was a well-organised thing, with policemen, customs officials and so forth as part of the caravans, so they would travel safely and swiftly. In front of us at the border with Argentina were two busloads of Chileans. They held things up to such an extent it took five hours for us to cross the border. Our bus took very little time when we finally got to the head of the queue. So much for the well-organised movement of people. It did however give us time to chat with a pair of Peruvian nuns on their way to do missionary work in Argentina. Very nice ladies — one even had a guitar, just to fulfil the stereotype and give a feeling of being in the Airplane film.

We arrived in Jujuy (pronounced hoo-hooee) four hours late and didn't really see anything of the city, as we left the following day to San Miguel de Tucuman. We liked the vibe in Tucuman immediately and spent our first evening just walking around. We also booked a private tour (as it would avoid loud or stupid people being with us — as of course, at least in our heads, we are neither of those things) for the following day.

That morning, Raul our guide collected us for our day exploring the local area. We headed to the local valley, where it changes from normal agriculture and vegetation into cloud forest for the first part. Then, past a certain point, the strong winds and sun turn it into an arid mountain environment. Our first proper stop was in the village of El Mollar, where there is the Menhir Park. This was established just twelve years ago, to preserve the phallic obelisks distributed around the local area. These were made by the Tafi culture about two thousand years ago. Whilst most are simple phalluses, some have impressive and intricate carving. Considering that the culture had no metal, so used stone-on-stone techniques, it makes the workmanship more impressive. Menhir is a Celtic word, so in the local language they are known as Huancars (say it out loud). We were in hysterics when the local guide said that. Then, I had to explain to him in Spanish why we found it so funny. He didn't seem to get the joke.

We then went along the beautifully stark valley, along the sinuous road to the ruins of Quilmes. These are both less well known and less visited than some other archaeological sites around South America, which is peculiar as in many ways they are more impressive and important. The Quilmes fortress is built in the valley and by using stones from the nearby cliffs and essentially building the structures up the cliff face, it meant that the fortress was camouflaged. The Quilmes people had no territorial ambitions; they were known however for being extremely defensive. The culture existed for several hundred years before the Spanish Conquistadors arrived and apparently, the Spanish walked past the fortress several times without seeing it before they discovered it. This then led to the longest running resistance to the Spanish conquest, lasting one hundred and thirty years. Finally, the Spanish surrounded the fortress, cutting off all food and water, forcing a surrender of the two thousand inhabitants. These were then marched to Buenos Aires, though only four hundred survived the journey, where they were used as slaves. There is a town called Quilmes in Buenos Aires province which was founded by survivors and is now known for its eponymous beer.

We had a nice few days relaxing back in Buenos Aires. We saw my friend Mauro again, went to some markets, wandered around and generally took it easy. It also provided us with some time to reflect on the adventures, experiences and learning of the past three months. We are both so appreciative of the opportunity we have had, to see things, enjoy ourselves and create wonderful memories. In these past months we have had more shared experiences than many couples have in years of marriage, and that is something we are truly grateful for — not least as it has given us the opportunity to learn even more about each other and to better prepare us for our future together. We are so thankful to everyone who contributed and has supported us on our adventure and look forward to sharing future forays with you too.

Now for the test:
1) How many dolphins did we see in Paracas?
2) What were their names?
* Terms and conditions below.

With love, thanks and looking forward to seeing many of you very soon.

Melanie & Raphael

Competition Terms & Conditions:
1) The total referred to is the total number of individuals.
2) Names are birth or maiden names, including surnames. Nicknames will not be accepted.
3) Close associates or family members of the dolphins are not eligible to enter. This includes most cetaceans, Tori Amos, Barry Gibb and Mariah Carey.
4) The judge's decision is final, unless a substantial bribe is offered, in which case the winner is Qatar.
5) Full terms and conditions are available if you send yourself a SAE.
6) Closing date 19th June 2003.