Crossing borders

The beautiful colonial architecture of Iglesia San Francisco, Salta

New Zealand is surrounded entirely by sea, as I`m sure you know, and so as a result, we don`t have any borders. I have thus, always be fascinated by crossing a frontier into another country - the first time I did it, from the US to Mexico, I was looking for the line on the ground all the time. But what you don`t really realise, growing up in NZ, is that borders are completely arbitrary things. Drawn on maps by a combination of surveyors, diplomats, treaty negotiators, and the ruling elite, they often don`t reflect the reality of the situation on the ground. Our recent experiences have reflected this.

Our travels have taken us here, to Salta, in the northwest of Argentina. Salta is a lovely old colonial city, filled with churchs, adobe mansions, and many other beautiful old buildings dating back 200 or more years. It is located in a fertile basin, right at the base of the Andes, and is surrounded by a combination of foothills and plains covered in sugar cane and oranges - it has to be said, it feels very mediteranean. Dorthe and I have had a great time exploring the city, and its environs.

But Salta feels very different from everywhere else that we have been so far. The climate is far warmer and higher, and the for the first time, the Andes are there, hovering over us all the time, everprescent in the distance. And with the Andres comes the first significant population of the Quechua people, the modern descendents of the Inca. Quechua, being essentially american indians, look very different from most of the rest of european-descended Argentina - they have a dark brown skin, very dark eyes, and are often shorter in stature. The region is thus strongly infuenced by the mixing of the Andean cultures of the north, and the very european cultures of further south. Thus, although you can still get Argentine beef and beer, you can now buy Coca leaves quite openly on the street. Similarly, in the arts and crafts, the unique indigenous designs of the south are starting to be replaced by what one would think of as very Andean designs.

From Salta we made a brief two day trip north further into Quechua territory, to Humahuaca, and the associated Quebrada (Canon). Although we were still in Argentina, it felt like we had ventured far from the familar european cities that we have enjoyed so much over the past six weeks. The green of the Salta basin was replaced with red and brown desert hues. The trees and the plains were replaced with cactus and low scrub. Modern buildings of glass and steel gave way to half completed brick and mortar structures. And with this change came many other challenges - the high altitude (3000m) of Humahuaca made Dorthe quite ill, and gave me quite a whack of sunburn. The punctual, luxury semi-cama sleeping buses of the south have been replaced by run down local buses packed to the brims (not even standing room) that seem to run on their own timetable. Many adults look as you with a look that is almost suspicious, and you certaintly feel much more conspicuous. Children approach you and ask you directly for money, something we have not seen before. It feels much more under-developed than the Argentina we have come to know.

After a surprisingly challenging two days, the return to Salta today has proved to be quite a welcome relief, both for Dorthe`s upset stomach and for the peace of mind as well. From here, we sadly leave Argentine steak behind, heading first to Calama in Chile, and then over into Bolivia. And although we have the actual line on the map ahead of us, the last few days feel like we have crossed the border long ago.