Bonnie Tucker / FST
The delicate high-altitude Andean flowers that bask in the sun amid dry, coarse volcanic rocks in the northern sector of Argentine Patagonia are one of the miracles of nature that fascinate hikers at this time of year. Just a couple of months ago, the plants that support these miraculous blooms were buried beneath meters of snow.
At lower elevations on the same mountains, forest floors are strewn with beautiful yellow alstroemerias.
Sun-loving fire bushes border lakes and clearings, and shrubs bearing yellow and pink blooms beautify the steppe.
Meanwhile, the humid forests tucked away in Andean valleys are rife with fuchsias and wild orchids.
Around the northern Patagonian town of Bariloche, arid steppe, humid forest and high mountain environments are very near each other, and in the spring and summer the blooms that represent them await hikers who have a few days to explore the surroundings.
Diversidad, a travel agency run by native son mountaineer Clemente Arko, offers a wide variety of hiking excursions in this area, including specialized hikes for botanists. In addition to the photos of the viola, the forest-floor alstroemerias and the dainty wild orchid seen above, they have sent us the following photos of high-altitude blooms to share with you.
Seeing is believing.One of the mountain tops around the Challhuaco Valley where these blooms can be seen is included in their four-day hiking program which includes other environments as well: the Mount Tronador area that offers nalca plants with sunshade-sized leaves, fire bushes, fuchsias and a “black” glacier; the humid forest of the Llao Llao Peninsula area, and the steppe with caves, ancient rock paintings and lots of birds.
Information: http://www.diversidadpatagonia.com/.
PHOTO CREDITS: An example of floral mimicry, Diversidad. Alstroemerias in the forest, and detail of a bloom, Diversidad. Flowering fire bush and neneo shrubs, Bonnie Tucker. Fuchsias, Bonnie Tucker. Chloraea alpina orchid, Diversidad. Peak of Mount Challhuaco, Diversidad. Oxalis, Rhodophiala, Ranunculus and Viola flowers, Diversidad.
For Hernán, watching the landscape change from atop a horse that picked its way up and down mountain trails was the best way to “ruminate” (assimilate) it, and to slow down enough to enjoy living a rustic life for a few days. Indeed, one’s concepts of time – and priorities in life – inevitably changed during the course of one of his rides.
The first rule of the game was implacable: all your essentials had to fit into the saddlebags behind your saddle. There was room for just a few toiletry items (soap, towel, toothbrush, comb, toilet paper), a change of underwear, and clothing for dealing with heat, cold and rain, all of which could be experienced in a single day at certain times of the year. In the outdoors, nothing can be taken for granted.
Hernán lived in the city of Salta and took his clients on three different circuits in semi-arid and high-mountain areas in the province. On each circuit he used the horses of a local supplier (usually a small rancher), who accompanied the ride and took care of his animals. He said that local horses know the terrain, and what poisonous plants they are not supposed to eat.
We lived four days without electricity. On the first night we ate and slept beneath a storm lamp on the porch of a rudimentary ranch house. On the second and third nights we slept in tents, or under the stars. A sole kerosene lamp illuminated the family table at which we devoured noodles on night two, and on night three, food was prepared by flashlight and eaten around a campfire because the host (a curandero, or practitioner of popular medicine) had no lamp at all. Earlier on the third day, when we had tea in the curandero’s cookhouse, we learned that by sitting on a low stool, one escapes the smoke, which rises and goes out the door.
Hernán called this sort of experience “alternative tourism” – that is, “doing something different from what a consumer society proposes.”
This final winds up a series of three prestigious high-handicap spring tournaments: the Tortugas Country Club Open (Sept.-Oct.), the Hurlingham Open (Oct.-Nov.) and the Argentine Open in Palermo (Nov.-Dec.). Forty-goal Ellerstina, which won the Tortugas and Hurlingham tournaments, is the favorite to win this year’s Open and take the triple. Its chief contender is La Dolfina, also a 40-goal team, whose captain is Adolfo Cambiaso, considered the world’s best polo player.
The organizers chose Argentine Patagonia for its natural beauty, road and tourism infrastructure, cultural traditions and safety. And the participants signed up with the idea of living their own Patagonian experience. When some of them who were present at a press conference at the Expo Patagonia show were asked what pleasure they expected to get out of the tour, they were unanimous: “driving on roads without traffic in unending natural spaces.”
They will begin their tour in Bariloche with a round-trip detour to Villa La Angostura. Then they will head south on Route 40, passing El Bolsón and El Hoyo on their way to Esquel. From there, they will have a look at Trevelin and Los Alerces National Park. Then they will cross the arid central plateau to Puerto Madryn, with a stop in Gaiman. They will tour the penguin rookery of Punta Tombo and then continue on to the Valdés Peninsula. From there, they will go to the Río Negro beach resort of Las Grutas. Leaving the coast, they will drive to the city of Neuquén. They will rest up in San Martín de los Andes and finally return to Bariloche, where the Patagonia driving part of their tour will end. Before and after the tour, they will spend some time in Buenos Aires, the port of arrival and departure of the foreign contingent.
The accommodations that have been contracted for the tour are the Palacio Duhau Park Hyatt Hotel in Buenos Aires, the Llao-Llao in Bariloche, the Hostería Cumbres Blancas in Esquel, the Hotel Territorio in Puerto Madryn, the Faro de Punta Delgada on the Valdés Peninsula, the Hotel Portovenere in Las Grutas, the Casino Magic Hotel in the city of Neuquén, and the Hotel Loi Suites Chapelco in San Martín de los andes.
Better known locally as the “la FIT” (for Feria Internacional de Turismo), this important annual trade show will offer transport, accommodation, recreation and tour options; colorful shows, and special promotions to the general public on Nov. 14 and 15 from 3pm to 10pm, and conferences, seminars and business rounds to professionals on Nov. 16 and 17 from 10am to 7pm. This year, some 1,800 exhibitors from Latin America and other continents will occupy stands en 42,800 m2 of trade fair surface. Last year, 32,000 travel industry people and 48,000 prospective tourists visited the fair. General admission is 15 pesos. Children under 18 are not admitted. Information: 
Grasping a long cord decked with fluttering elements to frighten the vicuñas, the locals formed a “human rope” to drive the animals into stone corrals where they could be caught and shorn, and later freed. The only animals that were killed were old or superfluous males. The fiber was given to the Inca and the meat to the people. Vicuñas were not killed outside the ceremonial chakus because it was believed that they were herded by spirits.
In the Argentine provinces of Salta and Jujuy, a handful of small undertakings raise and shear vicuñas. In the Catamarca Puna, Laguna Blanca, a UNESCO Biosphere Reserve, protects a large population of vicuñas, and the four Indian villages that share it can allow themselves the luxury of staging an Inca-style chacu every year. In recent years they have begun to invite tourists to watch how they do it.
This weekend, (Nov. 7 and 8), one of these vicuña roundups will take place in the village of Laguna Blanca, which lies at 4,000 meters above sea level. Tourists who wish to play an active role in this activity may join in. It has also been announced that they can help shear the animals. Whoever decides to accept this offer should remember that vicuñas, like all camelids, spit when they are frightened or irritated. And a wild vicuña that has never undergone shearing can become so frightened that it suffers a heart attack. But the locals know how to treat these animals so that this doesn’t happen. It is in their interest; vicuña fiber is worth a lot of money.
Every year, on the Sunday closest to November 10 on the calendar, a big gaucho parade makes its way through the streets of the city. It is followed by a barbecue with folk music and dancing. In the afternoon there is a criollo horsemanship show and rodeo.
This Sunday, gauchos from San Antonio de Areco and other towns in the province will concentrate in the Parque Criollo at 10am. They will ride to the Plaza Ruiz de Arellano main square at 11am, and from there they will parade through the town’s streets with herds of horses and back to the Parque Criollo. Whoever wants to get good photos has to look for a good place on a curb around the square and occupy it at least an hour before the parade begins. If it rains – a very common event at this time of year – the equestrian events of Saturday and Sunday will be postponed until the following weekend (Nov. 14 and 15). However, the barbecue of Sunday Nov. 8, which will be served in the Parque Criollo at 1pm, will not be suspended in case of bad weather. 
Every year, Arteclásica invites a different foreign country to send works by its contemporary artists. This year it was the turn of Japan, a country with styles and an aesthetic sense that are quite different from those of Argentina. Artists and art specialists give afternoon lectures on technical and philosophical subjects of interest to the art world every day from 4pm to 8pm.
There were two adult males, two adult females and two juveniles – an orca family. The male of the species has a two-meter-high dorsal fin and can be up to eight meters long. Penguin Island and an islet near it are home to large colonies of sea lions, a favorite prey of orcas. The tourists spent nearly two hours taking pictures of the visitors.
It is the 31st edition of the National Yerba Mate Festival, which this year is taking place from November 3 to 8 with the participation of representatives from the 17 departments of Misiones and the two in Corrientes that grow yerba. During the festival, there will be seminars on advances and new knowledge related to production and industrialization, as well as music and dance shows. The fairground is open in the afternoon and evening.
The Yerba Mate Queen will be elected on Saturday Nov. 7, and the Big Lunch for the “Yerba Family” (for more than 2,000 diners) and the presentation of the Yerba Mate Order to the best producer of the year are programmed for Sunday Nov. 8. Also during the weekend, there will be an exhibition of special cars (vintage, classic and hot rods).