The most expensive beer commercial ever made, Guinness's "Tipping Point" features a domino run in a remote, but stunningly beautiful town in the mountains of northern Argentina.
Few people make the trek to Iruya in North-Eastern Argentina but those who do are rewarded with an authentic slice of Andean life as it was fifty or a hundred years ago, set against one of the world's most spectacular backdrops. I visited in my backpacking days, and the ride there on the local bus was one of the most terrifying experiences I've ever had. Forget Bolivia's famous 'Death Road' (which I know well)...this was on another level.
Once we got to town, however, things calmed down a lot. We ambled (the altitude allowed nothing more than this) the vertiginous quarried alleys and spent hours watching local schoolkids prepare a hula-hoop dance for the town's annual celebration. We hiked up to the mirador and balanced the camera on a Catholic shrine to take the selfie which still hangs in our bedroom: the dramatic purple, green, orange and red Andes behind us diverting enough attention from our sweaty brows and pale apunado expressions!
With Iruya, half the challenge is getting there and the other half is getting back. Which makes this incredibly intricate commercial for Guinness all the more impressive. How they managed to lug everything there beggars belief, but lug it they did. The end result is spectacular...and it makes me wish Iruya wasn't so damned hard to get to!
Thanks to Rod Waddington for the title image of this blog.