All Saints (Allerheiligen)

On November 2nd, it was "Todos Santos" (also called Día de los Muertos or Día de los Santos Difuntos). All Saints/All Souls Day. People visit the graves of their dead family members, bringing them flowers and adorning the tombs. Many people spend the entire day in a type of family picnic (and sometimes the night), eating and drinking, leaving bread dolls and other pastries, as well as full meals and drinks for the dead. They set a place for the deceased at each meal.

On November 1st, most people clean the tomb stones and graves of their deceased relatives. The evening of November 1st, I visited the cemetery in the center of Tarija city with some friends. All graves are lit up with lights and or candles. Tons of people are at their relatives graves, praying, eating, drinking, talking, etc. It was an impressive sight. Unfortunately, I didn't bring my camera. However, the next day my friend Cecilia and I visited a small cemetery, south of Tarija, located on a small hill. Here are some of the photos (click on the photos to enlarge them)

 

 

 

 

 

 

Chewing coca leaves; they give you energy, reduce the hunger feeling. A lot of farmers are addicted to it, they chew all day long......

 

 

 

  

Hay stack; here they use trees to dry grass in. With the strong and hot wind here, an ideal solution.

Ancient and modern fencing combined

Walking home ...... public transport is unfortunately not for everyone

The Tarija area has not seen much rain yet this season. Most riverbeds are dry or almost dry.

This canyon is famous for its funnel effect, creating very strong winds at the bridge.

Downhill Mountain Biking

Today Ernesto, Herbert, Christian and I went for a practice run for the downhill mountain biking race of next weekend (Copa Erquis, 13-14 November in Tarija, Bolivia) We will be racing in the semi suspension adult class. 

As a Dutchman, I of course have lots of experience riding a bike, but much less with mountain biking, let alone downhill. The track was very challenging and though; lots of loose gravel and sand, sharp corners and deep drops if you miss a corner. I am going to put a bit wider tires on my bike, so I have more traction and thus better handling and braking in corners.

CLICK ON THE PHOTOS TO SEE ORIGINAL SIZE

Lars, Herbert, Ernesto's brother, a young guy who joint us, and Christian

View of the valley towards we were descending

Steep and sharp corners.......

Herbert in rapid descend....

That's me.....

and another shot of me

Herbert in the far center

Herbert, Lars and Christian

Young local talent ;-)

We are all attending this race next weekend

My new "neighbour"

I heard him calling already for a few days, and suddenly one late afternoon I spotted him..... in a tree, right in front of my window of my apartment.

People told me that it is very rare to see an owl here in Tarija, let alone, in the middle of the city. 

Here is my new "neighbor"

Dinner with friends

Last Saturday night, I had dinner with some of my friends. Christian and his wife Monica, Merieke and her husband Luis, Mauricio and his wife Veronica.

I cooked chicken, sate, babi bangang, stir fried vegetables and noodles. Afterwards we played yenga.

It was a very nice night, and since everyone liked it so much, we now will have once a month a dinner together, rotating.

In the background on the wall, you can see a black and white landscape photo of Venlo (my home town) from the 1930's (a gift from my dear friend Angelie).

(click on the photos to enlarge them, and please leave a comment once in awhile)

Luis, Merieke, Monica, Christian, Verionica

Christian, Lars, Luis, Merieke, Veronica

Lars, Mauricio, Christian, Luis

Luis and Merieke

Veronica and Mauricio

Christian and Monica

Visa & Salta, Argentina

Awhile back, I had to go to the Bolivian consulate in Salta, Argentina, to apply for an extension of my visa, since my work permit application is still being processed in La Paz, and my current tourist visa was expiring. 

There is a shuttle service from Tarija to Salta, that leaves at 4 am every morning. The morning I left it was freezing (-8°C) and got was it cold in the shuttle bus. I was sitting at the site of the door and immediately regarded not bringing blanket or extra jacket. After an hour, I was lucky that the lady next to me gave me her extra blanket, as she shared the other one with her daughter.

The drive to Salta was nice. Right after the border with Bolivia, you have much better farmland, and right away I understood why Argentina conquered this large valley during the Gran Chaco War (1932-1935). (Actually, Bolivia lost a lot of its territory during the last 200 years to all its neighboring countries Peru, Chili, Argentina, Brazil, Paraguay)

When I arrived in Salta, it was snowing and it remained cold, gray and snowing for 4 days!! During the day it remained around zero and at night around minus ten Celsius! And I thought I went to the tropics ;-) It actually happened to turn out to be one of the coldest winters in Argentina and Bolivia since decades.

As I caught a cold, I didn’t see much of Salta. I did of course apply for my visa, which took 3 days to process (what else is new).

Besides visiting a mall, a movie theater, I visited some museums and bumped into Luis (Merieke’s husband, who both live in Tarija as well and are my friends). I was walking down the shopping street in the evening, when I heard someone call what I thought was my name. Since I didn’t know anyone in Salta, I thought I heard wrong, till I heard my name again. Surprised I looked over my shoulder, only to see Luis. He was only in town that evening to pick up Merieke from the airport (vacation in Holland), but her flight got canceled due to the bad weather and snow. Talk about a coincidence!! That we just happen to bump into each other that night. However, it was a great surprise and we both went out for a big famous Argentinian steak!!! The best steak ever!!! Big and juicy, just like butter!!

The other days I did a bit of shopping, however, I was a bit disappointed with the city and it’s facilities. People always say that Chili and Argentina are more developed and more modern than the surrounding countries, but frankly, Salta is not. Later I was told that the north of Argentina is a bit subordinated in comparison to the rest of the country, and as such, the infrastructure, etc. is lacking behind that of the rest of the country.

But it was good to get out of Tarija for a few days and see a bit of Argentina. I enjoyed the shopping mall, the big movie theater, the Carefour supermarket (although not to be compared to Europe, the selection was much smaller) the nice coffee bars with WIFI :-)

Here are some of the photos I took (click to enlarge them)

Photo from my hotel room, 4 days of overcast and snow

Salta sky line

Salta sky line

Hotel swimming pool on the roof (indoor)

Hotel swimming pool on the roof (outdoor), unfortunately too cold to use

Salta sky line

Salta sky line

Shopping street, felt a bit like Europe!!

Of course I had a coffee in the Van Gogh Cafe!!!

After the snow melted, an unique photo, a snowman at a plaza with palm trees

A very old hacienda, now turned into a museum

Lots of nice colonial architecture......

...... with here and there the need of some maintenance

Famous Argentine steak.... delicious!!!