It's not a slow car, it's a fast house

August 2023

Argentina

 

With surgeries, visitors, mechanical work and many delicious meals, enough time has been spent in and around the big, beautiful city of Buenos Aires.  It is time to begin moving toward Bolivia.  Argentina has so many different climates, regions and zones, but there remains one that we have not explored.  In this area we found quirky museums, little known relics and ruins, a secret society and a great deal of dust.

One of our campsites in the middle of nowhere was a great opportunity for Mike to play with the drone.  He flew around the hills behind us and quickly spotted some old ruins.  As you can see, we are far from anywhere, and these ruins were not identified.  But this is an often overlooked part of this beautiful country.

A little further down the highway we found a small village which included a heritage site protecting some ruins similar to what we had seen with the drone.  Within the protective fence we found a few grazing llamas and a surprise.  An extensive museum of items from  the ancient people of this region.  It was a surprising collection of high quality artifacts, most with no information or explanation.  The main signage was impressive, as it displayed several languages, as well as braille and a link to listen to the text being read aloud on Spotify.  Amazing accommodations for a tiny, dusty museum in the back country of Argentina.

The final summary at the museum really felt like a statement to summarize our travels.  I found it to be quite profound. 

 

The area was filled with striking landscapes and beautiful colors.  The rock formations were amazing, jutting high above the desert floor.  And then a small lake appeared, offering us a quite place to camp for the night.

Of course, any landscape so dry and dusty would be the perfect zone for goats.  We found a small goat farm which included a little coffee shop, cheese shop and tasting opportunity.  The local cats seemed be familiar with the process of handling any cheese flavors we did not enjoy.  They stayed close by as we sampled all the cheeses, but promptly ran away once we made our purcases.

Our next backroads discovery was very unusual.  I have stored the notes and photos for two years, just to share it with you.   We found an Arkadia Temple and the Order of the Temple Arkadia invited us in for a tour.  They welcomed photos, although some areas were restricted.  They spoke to us about their lifestyle, history and beliefs.  If you wish to learn more, research it and let me know what you find.  Here are some photos and information that I gleaned from the visit.

Several families live on site, and others were there visiting for a birthday party.  Initially the leader was somewhat protected by another man.  But when they realized that we were harmless, the guard was directed to take us on a tour of the property.  The guard and his wife drove us around the acreage and told us of how they gave up their lives, wealth and careers to serve the temple.  The man was trained by USA special forces but has disassociated from that past.  He showed us a building called the Oca.  This small is designed to give a meditational sound bath at a 528 Hertz to cleanse individuals and stimulate the pineal gland.  They use this for special ceremonies.  We were never asked to donate, worship or participate in any way.  We felt welcomed to learn as much as we asked about, but nothing more. We spent several hours there, and left to continue through the desert to find a peaceful campsite at sunset.

 

The next small town promised another unique museum.  This one offered a huge collection of action figures!  It is housed in a beautiful, three story building.  The figures range from tiny little toys to larger than life mannequins.  They also had antique action figures and a small collection of action comic books.  We had fun reminiscing and snapping photos for our grandchildren to enjoy!

Camped in the small town, we realized that we were not the only ones sleeping on the street there.  And we were sad to see that the Hippie Museum was closed for the week that we were around!  But it was time to get to the last big city of Argentina……

 

Because we are headed toward Bolivia, it is time to sort out the dog paperwork.  That means a visit to the vet for a health check and rabies verification.  Then deliver the papers and a fee to the agriculture department for an export permit.  This is not a huge hassle, but takes time a usually a small fee.  It was tucked away in a beautifully tiled building, with a typically boring waiting area.

While we were in the large city we decided to tour the square or plaza and sample some food.  The street sales specialty seemed to be candied apples, which did not disappoint.   These were wrapped in a bright red, cinnamon candied shell and sweet on the inside.  Not the “break a tooth” kind we were accustomed to, but soft and chewy with the perfect blend of sweet and tart and cinnamon.  Sorry, it was eaten before we got a proper photo.

Then we found a small shop claiming to sell Mexican food.  Of course, being on a continent far away from Mexico decreased the odds of this being a true claim.  So, as expected, the food was not authentic.  But the huge wall art brought a smile to our faces as we ate strange attempts at tacos, made with delicious Argentinian beef.

 

The sun is setting on our time in Argentina.  We are now at the border to Bolivia.  We have gathered the myriad of paperwork required for a USA passport holder to receive a Bolivian visa.  We will approach the border and hope for the best.  Follow along to see what happens next!