Wild West in Chilecito

Sorry for not keeping you up to date on my travel, but in the last few weeks I really did not manage to spend much time in front of a computer. I will give you a quick update on what had happened in the meantime...

James and my next stop after the Estancia would have actually been La Rioja. Even though I really like the name of the city, it actually was not a nice place at all. So we quickly ended up on the next bus to Chilecito, a small town in a gorgeous situation among low rocky hills and sizable snowcapped peaks that has a bit of a Wild West feel. Our initial plan was to stay there for one or two nights, but we ended up spending four wonderful days there. It was the perfect place to relax and enjoy the Argentinean way of life – which means juicy steaks, lush icecream, delicious wine and socializing with locals. Fantastic!

When we found out that there was a circus in town we could not resist. I had not been to any circus since I was a child and I have to say I really loved it! It was rather Cirque du Soleil style than the circus that I had been to when I was little, but it was wonderful! We even met an Argentinean couple who are in their twenties with whom we ended up going out to a concert and some more drinks until far too late! But it was good fun :-) 

 

A real highlight during our stay was the visit to an old mine - especially as the landscape was magnificent. In order to enable the mining of gold, silver and copper a German company constructed a 35km cablecar running from Chilecito up to a height of 4603m – 3.5km above Chilecito. The project was completed in 1904 but it only was in use until the 1930s. Now it is just a cemetery of rusted metal, but still very impressive. It must be so disappointing and frustrating to see in which state it is now for those guys who once had done this masterpiece of work. 

Unfortunately I do not have many pictures from there as my bag including my camera got stolen some days later. Hate it...!