LIFE IN SOUTH AMERICA

Otago Witness, Issue 2810, 22 January 1908, Page 96

LIFE IN SOUTH AMERICA

fc By Stlvia Buchanan.

(See Illustrations elsewhere. J II.— CROSSING THE CORDILLERAS, As our through train from Buenoi Aires to Valparaiso left at 7 a.m., we made an early start from the Phceni: Hotel, ourselves and luggage filling twt "tiny victorias, and it was fortunate tha: we did so, for the babel and confusion at the Betiro were overwhelming, while the porter whom we had brought from th« hotel on purpose to help us was toe stupid to be of any use. After travelling in many countries, I find it much the easiest and quickest way to do everything one's self and not truefc to the native population. When once the lug gage was fired up, however, we had no more trouble, as, through the kindness oi an invaluable friend, we had a fourberth compartment reserved for us. Although there was an outside glazed corridor, our quarters were far more roomy than in an English train, owing to th« very broad gauge of the Ferro Carril Pacifico. The seats made up into berths much wider than those of an ordinary steamer, and altogether we thought we should be very comfortable aa far as Mendoza, where we were to change into the tiny Transandine train. One thing strange to British eves was the fact that there are no 6moking carriages. Men were free to indulge themselves in this particular wherever they pleased, even in the corridor or restaurant car, where, .as is common in many South American hotels and restaurants, all around may be eeen men lighting the eternal cigarillo in every interval between coux'see. Another difference was the dust screen of the very finest wire gauze over every window, but even this did not altogether keep out the red-brown clouds of choking sand. Fortunately for us there had been heavy Tains over a great part of the line the previous day, but even with that it wate very disagreeable. Everyone wiore linen or tussore dustcloaks, and most women had their heads tied up in motor-veils. It seemed a choice of being smothered with dust or heat. The inhabitants profess to find this journey tedious, and do most of their travelling at night, as it is, of course, much cooler then ; but to me, fresh to the country, it was unendingly interesting, fortunately so, as, having a reserved compartment, we saw nothing of our fellowtravellers, except when going into the corridor for our meals, and even then they seemed a less striking assembly than, owing to the great mixture of nationalities, the Argentinos usually are. On star tin ff from the station we at first passed closely-packed houses; then casße the more scattered Italian quarter, each white square "casa" with its littl* patch of melons or maize, and a pergola of vivid green vines casting a delightful ehadie on the parched' red earth; then the lovely Palermo Park where aJI the fashion and beauty of the town (and neither is to be surpassed anywhere) display themselves between 6 and 7 m tie coolness of the evening, driving | lin their wonderfully-horsed carriages up and down the long avenue of stately , palms, which was the last glimpse we caught of gay, beautiful, Buenos Aires, -which had endeared itself to us in spite of the perpetual thunderstorms, which are indeed terrifying. ' Then, until 4.30 next morning, when - we got to Mendoza, we rushed league after league throgh wide, open, bare country, on the flattest, straightesfc railway track in the world. There were few things to diversify the vast expanse of j camp," not a tree, not a river, until, late in the afternoon, we passed at Oinco Bios, a few water courses, dry at this | season, and low, mimosa-like scrub wreathed with a lovely feathery clematis in the " old-man's-beard " stage, growing on sandhills surrounding a small lake. Here and there were droves of cattle and horses, many of the old Criolle breed, spotted and streaked with white and every shade of brown, like the " ringstraked, spotted, and speckled"" herds of Jacob. Sometimes a tall North American or Canadian windmill, surrounded by a few weeping willows, showed where a "puestero" lived, regulating the water supply, so that the " bebidas," where every night and morning the cattle, horses, and sheep came to quench their thitst, should never be found empty. Then wide tracts of emerald-green maize, or alfalfa with its lilac blossoms, almost hidden by hovering clouds of yellow and white butterflies, broke -the monotone of yellowish brown. When columns of white smoke rose in the still air, one knew that thousands, nay, millions, of the dreaded locusts had, on their southward march in the " hopping " stage, from their breeding-place in the Chaco, fallen into the pits digged for them, and were being destroyed by bundles of burning straw. All these things, however, were rarely to be seen, and usually the "camp" stretched 'unbroken to the horizon, giving one a sense of illimitable space — infinity. Our train being a through-express to Mendoza, there were not many stops — Diego de Alvear, Villa Mercedes, San , ( Luis, and, finally, Mendoza in *he dawn j J of the next morning. Once we gradu- 1 ally came to a standstill without the i tiniest station in sight, and were at a ( Joss to imagine why, until we happened j s to glance down at the permanent way, | ] where we saw the ground was a moving ; j macs of srey and yellow striped baby i locusts. The wheels refused to "bite' 1 until sand was thrown on the rails, when t we went on as before. ' « Owing to the width of the berths we c slept very soundly^ in spite of the con- t stant rumble and thud of the wheels, but, t oh ! the discomfort of waking to find one's . self covered with a thick layer of dust -\ which seemed to have sifted in at every c srack of the carriage. There were very , 1 scanty means of cleansing one's self, too, j

and in the grey morning light, we botl. looked more than a little dejected and unwashed, the only comfort being thafi everyone else looked, and no doubt felt, as bad. We tried to get coffee and rolls,' but in vain, a 9 the corridor had been droppe" at Villa Mercedes the previous evening, and even our most carefullyprepared Spanish sentences . were of no ■ avail, so there was nothing to be don© but wait in" patience until after th» change of railways. On looking out of the carriage window one saw that the whole character of thel landscape had changed. In the distance, steep, rocky mountains loomed into tho sky, while near at hand were acres and acres of flowering vines, trimmed closely in the utilitarian French way. The sate for the rough red Mendoza wine is so> great that the present area is quite un> equal to the demands made upon it, and everywhere the vineyards are extending into the country in an ever-increasing radius from the town. Mendoza itself is a large city, but rather dull, all the buildings we saw from the train being " adobe," the gardens also being surrounded by walls of the same material, 6O high that only the gjreen tops of such trees as walnuts were visible. We had brought only such luggage ap could easily be carried, and it waa fortur nate that we had done so, as there seemed! to be no porters in the fair-sized station, and the agent of the Villalohga ExpressCompany, who takes charge of all lug* I g a g* through from Buenos Aires to Valparaiso, had to transfer it all himself, witft much gesticulation and excited talk. The ! usual baggage of travelling Argentines and Chilenos seems to consist of enormous , iron-bound chests and cardboard band* boxes with their beet hats — nothing in between. Here we left the luxurious F.C.P. and took possession of the tiny carriages of the short Ferro Carril Transandino. Only, about seven people were crossing the Cor* dilleras, so we had plenty of room — a great consideration when on a long journey.) There was no delay in getting us off. as we were already an hour late ; and at! last we were able to get our much-needed early breakfast — enormous thick cups of boiling-hot coffee and delicious rolls and butter. I have never in all my life seen coffee so black as that which South Americans, especially Argntinos, drink after* every meal, and never with milk except at breakfast. , On the right the Cordilleras rose straight! i into the sky, precipitous and bare, cheer. I masses of rock; on the left, shingly -up--I lands . with sparse vegetation, pampas grass, cacti, and prickly mimosas — everything with a thorn or 6pine. But beyond words was the freshness of the air, pure and invigorating after the sultry and ex- ! hausting atmosphere of the Argentine. s Gradually we eeemed to be piercing into 1 the very heart of the mountains ; always fol-i lowing the course of the turbid Rio Mendoza, crossing and -Decrossing. The day was beautifully clear, and in the rarefied air the mountains, sharply outlined against ■ the almost too blue sky, seemed walls of rock. It was almost terrifying; they! seemed near enough to touch, as if they | west and east coasts of South America. 1 were closing in on us gradually, and w» 1 should be crushed with no hope of escape 1 . In our guide-book the traveller was advised to "occasionally cast his eye out of the carriage window to see the majesties condor in his native fastnesses " ; but, , although I cast mine frequently^ I did not get a glimpse of him—indeg£> there was no trace of any ai^mal or bird life. . The colouring is wonderful — red mountains of porphyry, blue mountains, and yellow mountains. When we were near Las Cuevas we lost .the Mendoza and fol* lowed a river of brHliant crimson — the Bio Colorado. The steep sides of the railway were covered with a deep purple vetch and enormous cushions of a yellow flower, species to me unknown. The engine stopped several times, seemingly to get its breath, so that we were able to pick some specimens. Stations there were none, for there are no inhabitants, but at regular intervals are huts for the railway employees, each, called "Kilometre " These said railway men do not bear the best of characters, for the Cordilleras are, as it were, neuiral territory between Chile and Argen.tina, whither resort criminals from both' sides, who are anxious, for the time being, not to court public attention, and are frequently employed as surfacemen. At Puente del Inca there was quite a station to serve the neighbouring hotel, where many people go in the summer to make use of the excellent sulphur springs. It was, however, deserted when we passed, as everyone had left owing to an alarm of brigands, reported to have come from the JhSian side. Several people got out to see the curious natural bridge, with quantities of stalactites hanging from it j and I was so engaged in taking the accompanying photograph fhat I did not notice that everyone had rejoined the train until I heard immense vociferations from the guard, and realised that I was keeping the whole train waiting,«but soon found that running was impossible at thaJ altitude, for my heart beat co chokingly that I had to stop. Beyom? £h*6 momentary feeling and a sensation as of something bound tightly round - my temples I felt no inconvenience from the arrity of the air ; but on crossing the actual summit my companion suffered slightly from "la pouma," or mountain 3iekness. It is from this hotel that most people 6tart when attempting an ascent of Aconcagua. Soon after leaving the station tve saw this beautiful mountain, 23,393 ft ligh, glistening in the sun, framed between :wo lower ranges. We were surprised to see so little snow, and came to the contusion that the various mountains were :oo steep for it to lie in drifts large enough /O be appreciable. At the 11 o'clock " almuerzo " we were rery pleased to find the potatoes as hard is stones, owing to the low temperature of wiling water at that height. Up and up We w^nt^ the engine spovfr

• fng and panting until, at last, two hours - late ? we reached Las Cievas, a small col- • lection of huts' on a stony tableland, which was then the terminus of the railway, at 10,338 ft. Here, in about two minutes, we were - snatched out of the train and hustled into light covered coaches, each holding four inside and two on the box, and drawn by larger waggons, and the rest on nimblefooted pack-mules, which clambered straight up The mountain side like cats, choosing their own track. " rr "nr/j s cannot picture the glorious and - st. panorama which spread itself out we slowly climbed up to the Cumbie. The majesty of these mountains is unspeakable, though they are all so close that one cannot realise tbeir wonderfu v eight. Far down, thousands of feet be meandered the Rio Colorado, looking lik crimson thread in its stony tedl "Not estige of was to be seen, not-hiin^ but detritus and solid " rocks. We shared a coach with two men — a Spaniard who spoke a little English and a, Bolivian, ex-Minister to Madrid, who spoke French. The latter, I think, was a little disappointed that we did not suffer severely from " k -x>uma," it being the' correct thing to do =k>. He recommended us to wrap up rar heads, thrust smelling salts almost into our faces, and altogether was kind. In an hour we reached the top, where there is an immense statue of our Lord, put there by Chile and Argentina to mark the boundary, and also in memory of the treaty ratified between them in the end of last century. The Chunbre is like a knife edge, and we descended immediately. Then began the most terrifying experience of my life. I sincerely hope that I shall never be more frightened. The road zig-zagged in the most acute angles down an absolute precipice, the horses galloped the whole "way, going round every corner literally on one wheel, the driver always thinking this a fitting time to turn to the man on the box seat beside him with _a pleasant lemaxk. At each of the said corners all the protection was a tiny parapet about 2ft high, loosely built of round stones which a finger touch would have sent over. I sat with my eyes tight shut, wotting not of scenery, fully convinced our end was approaching, and could hardly believe my senses when we pulled up _ at the Custom-house at? Juncal, having descended 4000 odd feet in three-quarters of an hour. I fervently hope that if ever I cross the Andes again before the ■ tunnel is through we shall not be trying to make up time. Our trunks were put through without being opened, and while the less fortunate ■ones were having a more rigorous examination, we had time to feel, from various " differences that we observed, that we had practically crossed -a continent, and were in Chile. J For one thing the type of countenance was more saturnine and yillainous; for another, the ponchos were striped and checked with- brilliant colours, "and," in particular, the saddlery differed. The many-shaped quaint horn and leather stirrups of the other side were replaced by ,sabot-shaped ones, sometimes - leather, but more often of beautifully-carved limewood, which go from father to son. All rode on leather saddles, high-peaked back and front, cinched on in the same place • as -an English saddle; instead of the manylayered "recado" girthed much further back. ' While in the train between Juncal and Los Andes the scenery was still beautiful, though not so grand; cacti of all sorts abounded, and there were many strange wild flowers, yellow scented Violets, an enormous scarlet daisy, and what resembled a delicate pink oleander, but only a foot high, also wild asparagus, of which South America is the home, as of the tomato and potato. We stayed a night at Lcs Andes with friends, but most of our fellow I—travellers1 — travellers made ihe "connection there with the Chilian State railways, with 10 minutesSto spare, and on arriving at Valparaiso three hours later were the first party to make the through journey in 40 hours, which is what the various companies wish, to accomplish. At present there is no hotel fit to stay -in at Los Andes, but we were shown a splendid one building, to be run by the railway company, which ought to_ make Los Andes a' rival to Valparaiso jn the summer, with-£b.e people' of 'Santiago.- The : air is delicious, and the inhabitants enjqy a florious panorama of the Andes, which are idden from Valparaiso by foothills. The short journey from. Los Andes to Vina del Mar, the residential suburb of Valparaiso, through the Aconcagua Valley, is charmingly pretty, and the country very fertile and fresh-looking ; but as we nearcd Valparaiso the signs of the- recent earthquake became frequent — great cracks in all the station buildings, adobe walls in ruins, and in many instsnees the houses also. The country" evidently has gr-eat possibilities, and if the Chilenos were not one of the laziest and least reliable nations of the civilised world Sheir country wonld depend for its prosperity as much on its agicijlture as on the nitrate mines. The little luts in which the peasants usually live— adobe, without a chimney or window, or, as is often seen, mere stacks of branches And eacks (the colonial kerosene-tin we were spared) — are sufficient evidence of their laziness and general habit of " manana." We had been told that two women, travelling alone, would find many difficul.ties in. making this long journey, but -we found none, though perhaps that was owum' to the feet that we had very good frienda both, in Argentina and Chile ; but I think no one strong need hesitate to go, and it is certainly worth doing. Luggage 5s tho only difficulty, but if it -is given entirely into the care of the Villalonga Express Company all trouble is saved. Of coarse, the trip is not inexpensive, and a Blight knowledge of Spanish is absolutely neecssary... The ■return journey can be made -through the- Straits of Magellan, by $3eJP f 8 f N. Company, wiose oteamere »ii' %t varioua ini«Eesiia^ porte, both on the