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Jan. 19, 2007 Greetings from San Miguel de Tucumán, usually known simply as Tucumán, Argentina's fifth city, and the capital of the province of Tucumán. Tucumán is 562 miles northwest of Buenos Aires, on the 27th parallel, and so just outside the tropics. I've known of the existence of Tucumán since I was about 10 years old, but never did I imagine that one day I'd be here. It's not particularly a world tourist mecca though, but it looks so far like a very handsome city where I'd have no trouble residing, if it weren't for the coolish winters that they tell me befall the environs. The city has 550,000, with a metropolitan population of 800,000. From Tucumán, looking west, you can see one of the Sierras Subandinas (Sub-Andean Ranges) called the Aconquija, not to be confused with Aconcagua, which is several hundred miles south and which I visited a month ago. The plains to the east are called the Gran Chaco, and this is a very fertile, green region, with numerous sugarcane plantations. I also saw plenty of cattle and horses, but no sheep or cameline animals (llamas, vicuñas, alpacas, guanacos). I left Buenos Aires at 6 PM on Thursday, January 18, and got to town at noon today, Friday. The fare was 127 pesos ($42). A little mishap of the kind that one has to get used to in busing around South America is that the bus died near Santiago del Estero, a major city in the province of the same name, next to the east. We waited about two hours for a replacement bus, and then proceeded. The original bus was a double-decker, with "semicamas", which are reclining seats that go back almost flat. I slept 12 hours, so it couldn't have been all that uncomfortable. Actually, I'm on my way to Jujuy, the northwesternmost province in Argentina. In Jujuy, there are Inca ruins, spurs of the Andes, and the Quebrada of Humahuaca, (pronounced 'Oomawocka'), which consists of palisaded cliffs with laminated colorations, I suppose something on the order of the Painted Desert in Arizona, which I visited as a child. Basically, I'm just going for the ride. After Jujuy, I have a choice of routes to get me back to Buenos Aires. I don't think that today there is any significant Indian population in the area. The Spaniards exterminated most of the aborigines. One local tribe, the Quilmes, was moved to the Atlantic coast, to the city of Quilmes, today one of the suburbs of Buenos Aires. Whether I'll encounter any Indian life when I get to Jujuy remains to be seen. Tucumán's architecture is a combination of modern and colonial styles. I got a very nice little room in an old-fashioned hotel with a patio or atrium for 32 pesos ($11). The cab from the terminal cost $1, but I gave the driver $2. With prices like that, I could stay forever. The Terminal de San Miguel de Tucumán is a huge, modern bus station with 62 platforms and a stylish mall. ------------ About the author Thomas Keyes: I have written two books: A SOJOURN IN ASIA (non-fiction) and A TALE OF UNG (fiction), neither published so far. I have studied languages for years and traveled extensively on five continents. Email: udikeyes@yahoo.com Comment on this article here! ------------ All articles are EXCLUSIVE to Useless-Knowledge.com and are not allowed to be posted on other websites. ARTICLE THIEVES WILL BE PROSECUTED! |
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