You come for the towns - you stay for the countryside.
Britain is very VERY small. The Andes, however, are very very big.
Hands down the best mountain range I ever saw.
I now understand all the lurid colours of Andean clothing and crafts; are not a rebellion against the bleakness of their surroundings, but a reflection of their brightness. Each peak is painted in primary tones as if by a small child, this one red, this green, this almost purple. Here, stripes, there splodges. Curves next to jagged crags, scrub with cactus, desert with llamas. In 10 minutes driving, nay, in one panoramic sweep of the eye, you can appreciate the contrasts, but in a whole day's journey cannot see enough. I went up to the mountains in Mendoza, and again in Salta. Every bus journey, now in Bolivia, I press my face up to the window to soak up more, breathing in the landscape in gulps I can't only ascribe to the altitude.
No comments:
Post a Comment