Talampaya

Alright so on Thursday night we took a bus out to La Rioja, six hours away, hung around the city for a couple of hours and went to a museum about life before and during colonization in La Rioja. We then took a bus to Villa Union, four hours away and were met at the terminal by el dueño del hostel donde nos quedamos. I liked the hostel a lot because it was more like a bed and breakfast but really cheap like a hostel. We were the only ones there and so always had the bathroom, kitchen, patio etc to ourselves which was really nice. This was a pretty tiny little town, much smaller than Amherst, a little bigger than Leverett but we set up a trip the next day to Talampaya National Park with a guide who was from France, had lived in Argentina for five years, and who also spoke English which was great. We headed out after breakfast and picked up three other people, a guy who lives in Villa Union, his sister and their friend visiting from Buenos Aires.

The park was beautiful and very cool. It’s the place where they’ve found the oldest dinosaur fossils firstly and secondly it’s the only place where you can see the Triassic and Jurassic periods in the rock formations. I think in other places they can tell they’re older by taking soil samples and carbon dating? Yeah? I really don't know anything about this stuff but anyway I'm pretty sure it's an impressive thing! She also explained to us what different patterns in the rock face means which I found really interesting. And then yesterday Jacob and I went to the museum of Natural Science in Cordoba which was a great review. Jacob is studying Chemical Engineering and Geology at Tufts and he basically knew everything about everything so I got to have a excellent personal tour guide. But anyway after Talampaya for six hours we headed back to make dinner, Lola taught me how to make those cool bracelets that all the traveling hippies sell on the street, we played a lot of cards and called it quits. The next day, Sunday, Rinna and I went horseback riding in Villa Union which was amazing and beautiful and really really fun. I definitely want to do more horseback riding. Our “guide” was a 15 year old who obviously didn’t care if we went galloping off. It was beautiful and I actually learned a lot! I feel comfortable galloping now, running I don’t think I’ll try... I loved it I really did but my butt hurt a whole lot afterwards. That night we got a ride back with the dueños of the hostel who, as it turns out live in Villa General Belgrano (where Cristina has, had because she just sold them, a few cottages). They have a big white van pretty really similar to Rachael’s van except with little wholes in the floor. We put down a whole lot of blankets and actually slept pretty well. It was fantastic and saved us about $30 and gained us a good night’s rest. So that was my week! It was fabulous!

So now... I like all my classes, I love going to tango, I’m feeling better about being a city girl, starting to think out our Peru Bolivia trip, and basically doing really well!! Tonight I went to a peña, which basically means anything traditionally argentinian and usually includes music, wine, and empanadas. This was a presentation of a book about the cordobese folklorico musician Chango Rodriguez who killed a man and just wrote a ton of music in jail. The other night Patricia had just taught me one of his songs and then we just happened to find out about this great free, close to home event, very cool. Also this guy Facundo Torres who is one of the big young folklorico musicians in Argentina played a bunch of his songs. Beautiful. People here play such beautiful passionate music. It’s great. Also I’ve heard a lot of songs from Brazil which I really like. Well cool. I suppose that’s all I have to say... Tomorrow, Friday I have a violin lesson and then I’m heading out to Capilla. On Saturday and Sunday, Noah and I are going to a close town called San Marco de Sierras and I’m pushing for horseback riding so lets cross our fingers its cheap!