Backdated from Monday, April 25, 2005 11:55pm-ish (mined from paper journal.)
Jujuy Terminal, San Salvador de Jujuy, Argentina.
Brrr. Waiting for remise to Salta cuz Bolut, the only company with
buses still going there, doesn't leave until at least 1:20am and takes
2.5 hours instead of under 2 in a smaller vehicle. Which makes this
seem a more reasonable, albeit sketchier, option. Ariel and Gabriel,
who are also waiting for the Remis driver to appear, I´m not too sure
about, but they apparently own a bar called La Palmira (the same name
as the hospedaje I stayed at in Iruya) in Jujuy, so at least there´s a
reference if I disappear or something
Spent most of a beautiful (cold, cloudy) day in Purmamarca with
Gonzalo A., an intriguing painter/shopkeeper who I somehow connected
with upon visual impact. He took me to La Peña, his uncle Mario's
restaurant, where he was working on a huge canvas and has some of his
earlier works displayed. Then we went and hung out in his aunt's
shop, where he works, and I finally got my hands on a somewhat tuned
guitar and tried working out the song I've been trying to write in my
head for weeks. Periodically, we popped back into La Peña (only a
block away), where I watched him paint and took a bunch of pictures
and ate humitas (corn-cheese mixture wrapped and boiled in the corn
sheath, sorta like a tamale) .
Next, we walked to El Caminito de los Colorados together, on the way
stopping by the house he is (re)building on the land his grandmother
left him and his late great-grandmother's house and land (replete with
¨artistically¨ unkept fields and living space and visiting cats),
where he is officially living until the former's completion. The
scenery there is really something else. I didn't make it out to las
Salinas (salt deposits), which would have been a longer, hired
excursion, but I figure I've gotta leave something for another time
Back to the shop, more of the same, and La Peña (gotta love small
towns, eh?), where this time I hung out with the chef in the kitchen
and learned to make empanadas (i.e., stuff the pre-made dough circles
with cheese-onion-red pepper filling and fold with little ridges).
I'm a natural! Plus I got the bonus priviledge of getting to eat on
the job I opted not to accept the drink offers from the moso
(waiter), who had obviously been helping himself a bit too much in
that regard, and decided he was in love with me (and every other young
woman who came into the restaurant).
We had a bit too much fun in the kitchen, I guess, cuz I ended up just
missing the 9:15pm last bus from Purmamarca to Jujuy. Luckily, with
the help of a $3 peso cab ride, I caught up with it on the highway
where it was stopped for some sort of military inspection.
Goodbyes are strange things. I was unable to read most of the words
Gonzalo wrote in the little brown book I´ve been passing around to
folks I encounter, but even after just one day of shared presence, I
know he is a character I will fondly remember. I am pretty sure from
his accompanying sketch of (presumably) me - with big, bright, shining
eyes that I also made a lasting impression.
