Prayers Please

I just left the boat, checked my email, and called home. My father died Tuesday night, while I was on the boat and inaccessible.

Please keep my family in your prayers. Thank you.

Navimag - Day 3

After dinner and the horrible movie last night, some of the younger passengers gathered around one couple and their guitar. It took “Country Roads” and a little bit of wine to get me moving and to branch out of my comfort zone. I had a great time, and ended up staying up until almost 4am, sharing and finishing off the magnum bottle of red that I never thought would be gone. Unfortunately, we go started talking about politics. Everyone was very nice and open-minded about things except one British guy, who’s been living in Germany for the past 5 years. He is the first strongly anti-American person I’ve met on this trip, and maybe one of the worst I’ve met anywhere in my travels. Maybe. He prefaced everything with “no offense,” “in my opinion,” etc., trying to be nice, but after a while, it was just plain rude. I mean, I’ll be the first to admit that your average American is completely ignorant of topics concerning the rest of the world, and also how the US affects the rest of the world both politically and obviously economically. But he was making generalizations that were just insulting, about how he can’t stand Americans because they are ALL loud and obnoxious, coincidentally a description of the way he was acting at the time. Everyone else was very, very polite, mostly Brits, an Irish guy, and a couple of Aussies. We had a wonderful time, aside from the politically-charged banter from the one guy. I was actually glad his girlfriend had gone to bed early; if I was her, I would have been mortified and sent him to bed.

Because we were trying to beat the storm, we will be arriving to Puerto Montt much earlier than scheduled. We were supposed to arrive at 5am tomorrow; instead we will be there at 8pm tonight. We are allowed to stay on the boat, since we did pay for 4 nights, but we are not allowed to leave the boat and come back, making a run to the bus station tonight impossible. I’d love to have just an hour to run and check the schedules, which are not online or easily accessible without actually going to the terminal. Instead, I will have to wait until tomorrow to figure out where and when I will go next. The ideal situation would be a night bus to Pucón, or to the nearest town where I can make that connection, and take a day trip to Chiloé beforehand. But who knows. I love having flexibility, but I do prefer being able to access schedules, book, and pay for bus trips online.

After Pucón, I will head back to Santiago to meet friends, return my guide book and bip card, and take a day trip to Viña del Mar. My crazy German boys will be turning 24, and I’m sure it will be a wild couple of days. From there, a 24-hour bus to San Pedro de Atacama, then to Cusco and Machu Picchu for yet another grueling hike before returning to Buenos Aires via Lima. Then to Texas!

Navimag - Day 2

Day 2 on the boat. Today was a bit interesting because we had to change our course in order to beat a storm coming at us from the South. This required us to head into the Gulfo de Penas and the Pacific Ocean earlier than scheduled.

I feel like I’ve missed out on the sights to see on this boat trip, mainly because we’ve hit most of the high points somewhere between 5 and 7am. After only a day and a half in Torres del Paine, I still required a good bit of recovery time and haven’t woken up in time to get dressed and out to the deck. We arrived at Puerto Eden around 11pm last night, and passed through the English Channels and by Cotopaxi between 5:30 and 6:30 this morning. I heard the announcement, but since the loudspeaker is only in the hallways, not in the cabins, it barely woke me up. I started moving, but again, I was too late. I waited for breakfast at 8 while charting out a possible trip to Chiloe, then watched “The March of the Penguins” after breakfast.

We hit the “high seas” around 11am, and despite taking a motion sickness pill, the rocking was almost unbearable. I had it in my mind that the ship was big enough to reduce a good bit of the rocking, but I was sorely mistaken. After the movie, I headed back to my cabin to lay down for a bit with my iPod. I got up again for lunch at 12:30, but preferred not to remain in the dining/lounging area, which is covered in windows. I got in bed, yet again, to battle the waves and fell asleep for another FIVE hours. We’ll see how I sleep tonight….eek.

One selling point about this boat excursion is the camaraderie that apparently develops among its passengers, but I haven’t really felt that as much here, perhaps because of the low season and smaller amount of passengers. I am also the only person traveling alone, and one of maybe three people not part of a couple. I have generally been ok in terms of keeping myself busy and meeting other people, but this trip has been the loneliest part of my time here in South America. I think it’s a combination of having a warm room all to myself, the confinements of the boat, and the almost nonexistent single population. At least on the mainland, I can be out and doing something. Eva and Alex have been great, but I’ve also felt the need to give them more space and not cling to them, as the only people I know on this ship. They have been really great though, and I am anxious to keep up with their blog while they complete their trip around the world.

I'm on a boat!

Day 1 on the boat.

Last night, after the long day in the park, I showed up for check-in, on time, and ran into Eva and Alex again at the Navimag office. Since dinner would not be served on the boat that night, the three of us headed back to La Ultima Esperanza before boarding at 9pm. The owner of the restaurant recognized me immediately! I ordered the conger eel again, although I tried to shellfish sauce this time, because it was delicious and the price was right. Alex and Eva tried a seafood soup, king crab casserole, and albacones, which are these weird-looking shellfish, out of what looks like an oyster or clam shell, but it’s huge and a totally different texture. Poor Eva got sick from something in the soup, she thinks, and I felt so bad for recommending it! I know it’s not my fault, but still!

After dinner, we received some quick instructions from the Navimag staff and boarded the ferry. I was pleasantly surprised to find that my “shared” room was, in fact, not shared at all. Perhaps it was a result of the low season, or maybe no one else had booked a shared AA cabin, but I have four bunk beds all to myself. I feel a little bad, considering that there are couples sharing similar 4-bed rooms, but I might as well enjoy the private room and bathroom while I can! There’s an estufa (heater), hot shower, and the bed is very comfortable as well! I was surprised at how well I slept last night!

We were supposed to be woken up via loudspeaker at 6:30, but the announcement barely woke me up, and I snoozed for too long and missed seeking the narrow channel that were passing through. I made it for breakfast though! I was so excited to have eggs! I’ve only had eggs twice while in South America, whereas in the states, I have an egg almost every day. Breakfast was followed by a short presentation about the fauna of Patagonia, which I decided to view in Spanish instead of English. I understood most of the lecture, and was aided by the bullet points, which were in both English and Spanish.

There was an afternoon movie, but unfortunately I slept through it. I am amazed at how much my body wants to recover from the hiking. I haven’t been very sore at all, but just want to sleep all the time. Perhaps it’s the cold, windy weather and being on the boat. I did make it for the night movie, Machuca, which I’d viewed already while at ECELA. It’s a really great Chilean movie about the Pinochet era, given from a child’s point of view, which won several awards at Cannes, and probably would have won more awards internationally had it not been made in the same year as the Academy Award winner that year (I can’t remember what it was). I enjoyed the movie very much the first time, but even more this time, since there were English subtitles and I had the opportunity to understand everything, not just piece it all together. I was exhausted after the movie (and a couple glasses of wine), so I showered and went straight to bed.

Torres del Paine

5 October 2009

I hopped on a bus at 8am on Saturday and headed back to Chile, to Puerto Natales. Puerto Natales is the jumping –off point for excursions into Parque Nacional Torres del Paine, one of the most photographed places in all of Patagonia. The park is amazing, but it definitely requires at least a night in the park if you really want to hike and get the most out of it.

I arrived in Puerto Natales around 1pm and searched for a hostel. Typically I will book on hostelworld the night before, but that wasn’t the case for this stop. I was bombarded with flyers at the bus drop-off, and a little overwhelmed. So I just started walking. I found a nice hostel right around the corner from the Navimag port, and one that I recognized while searching hostel world a few days before (Hostel Natales). It was a bit pricey, but very nice. However, due to the low season, I was the only one staying there! Since there was no one to meet, I headed out to buy some supplies for the park, namely some waterproof hiking boots, as recommended by a girl in El Calafate. I also picked up some peanuts and bread for the park and had a fabulous dinner at Restaurant La Ultima Esperanza, down the street from the hostel. I got some funny looks, coming in very early for dinner (6:45) and alone. I had the conger eel with king crab sauce, as recommended in my guide book, with the Santa Digna Sauvignon Blanc from the Miguel Torres Vineyard. The eel was very good and the sauce very rich, and I topped the dinner off with some Mousse del Calafate, a native berry in Patagonia. It was an amazing last meal before the expected strenuous trek through Torres del Paine.

After packing my big backpack with only the essentials (or at least I thought), I had an excellent breakfast at the hostel and took a 2-hour bus ride to the park. The hostel was great to store my other belongings while I was on my trekking adventure. I planned to stay in one of the many refugios along the way and cook my own food there, as the guidebooks had mentioned was possible. We got to the ranger station, paid the fee, and were informed that only 2 refugios (aka albergues) were open: Chileno and Grey, which are on complete opposite sides of the park. With more than a day’s hike in between the two, this appeared to be a problem for me, with no proper camping gear. I didn’t know how this was all going to work out, but I knew that Day 1 would involve hiking up to the Torres, a 5.5 hour hike one-way, and staying at Albergue Chileno, about halfway down from the Torres. So 7.5 hours of hiking for the day.

The first stretch of the hike, the 2 hour trek to Albergue Chileno, was BRUTAL, particularly for this novice hiker who has never done so with a pack. It took me a little more than 2 hours, which is the estimated time given by the park service. I was honestly surprised at how many times I had to stop to rest my burning calves and my poor heels, in my brand-new hiking boots. Thank goodness for the breath-taking views; I used my camera as an excuse to stop more times than I’d like to admit. There were not many, but plenty, of groups hiking both in front of and behind me, so I wasn’t worried at all about the hiking alone. In fact, one group of older Israeli tourists, with a tour guide, was nearby me for a good majority of the hike up to the Torres and also stopped frequently. I finally saw Albergue Chileno in the distance; my light at the end of that tunnel! And it started snowing! I picked up speed along an easier stretch of trail, and made up a little jingle for motivation (since I can be a huge dork when left to my own devices). It goes like this, to the tune of The Eyes of Texas:
I am hiking in the mountains, in the Andes range.
I am hiking in the mountains. So glad I am my age!
I don’t care that it is snowing, ‘cuz I’m so warm from the hike.
I am hiking in the mountains; it’s something that I like!
I made it to Albergue Chileno just after noon. After booking an extremely overpriced bed (without bedding), I finally dropped my big pack for a day pack and headed back out onto the trail to Las Torres.

The trail to Las Torres got easier after leaving Albergue Chileno, although dropping the extra weight from the pack was part of that. It was along this 1.5-hour stretch, between Albergue Chileno and Campamento Las Torres, that I really started to appreciate my new boots. Despite the horrible blisters forming, they were amazing to keep out the water and the mud, especially in the areas where the trail was essentially hiking up a stream. I also would not have had the same traction in tennis shoes; it really would have been impossible without the boots, particularly in the uphill stretch between Campamento Los Torres and the viewpoint, Mirador Las Torres. From the campamento, you hike uphill through sandy terrain, then uphill through snow, rocks, and rocks covered with snow, where you can’t see where you’re walking. There are a few places from which the Torres can be partially seen from the trail, but they don’t come into complete view until you reach the viewpoint. I reached the top, finally, and was disappointed to see that the weather had changed, and the Torres were completely covered by the clouds and snow. They were not visible at all. But it happens…they’re only visible about 20% of the time, due to the crazy Patagonian weather. I decided to wait it out by climbing down the rocks toward the lake at the bottom of the hill. The lake was absolutely gorgeous, a deep aquamarine and halfway covered with ice and snow. I hoped that by the time I climbed back up, that the Torres would start to come into view, but I was not so lucky. Of course, it started to clear a little bit, after getting about an hour down the mountain, but it wasn’t clear enough to justify the hike again. It was getting colder and windier, and I was anxious to get back to Chileno for a shower. I will make sure to label the pictures clearly – the picture of me at the viewpoint, the picture of the Torres covered, then of the Torres coming into view from below, and the picture taken by friends, when the Torres were in full view the next day.

At Albergue Chileno, I met Eva and Alex, a Spanish couple who just recently embarked on a year-long trip around the world. They were also scheduled to take the Navimag ferry to Puerto Montt, and apparently I was mistaken about the check-in and boarding times, by a full day. I thought I needed to board on Tuesday night, when in fact, boarding was Monday night for a Tuesday morning departure. I am so glad that I met them; otherwise, I would have missed the boat! The three of us shared some good conversation, and overpriced meal, and a cold night in the dorm room of the albergue. I woke up the next morning to an absolutely gorgeous day – the Torres were in clear view from the albergue, at least the portion that can be seen from that area. I was tempted to hike back up, but with only so much time, it was imperative that I hike down to Hosteria Las Torres to check my email and confirm the boarding time. If, for instance, I had been on a different boat and didn’t leave until Tuesday, I wanted to have time to make it to Los Cuernos and up through the Valle Francés before catching a bus from the other side of the park the next day. But alas, Eva and Alex were correct, and I had to leave the park at 2pm that day. Because I’d been told that the Cuernos are visible for much of the hike, I stored by pack at the Hosteria (essentially a hotel, not a hostel) and planned to trek halfway (2 hours) to Los Cuernos before turning back to catch the bus. I made it to the halfway point, and still no Cuernos. I could see what I thought might be a Cuerno, but I could tell that any real view would be on the other side of the next hill, too long a hike to go and then turn back. However, the hike is a very rewarding one, with the trail winding its way around Lago Nordenskjold, the second biggest lake in the park and a main attraction for those tourists who skip the climbing and view the park from the road. The lake is a gorgeous aquamarine color, and I believe that the cause of the coloring is similar to that of Lago Argentina in Argentina’s Parque Nacional Las Glacieres, outside El Calafate. The color is no actually the color of the water, but is caused by the reflection of light and the minerals found in the lake, from the mountain and glacier streams that feed into it. The hike was not bad, but very muddy, and my blisters from the day before were killing me. Despite no view of the Cuernos, it was still a long, 6-hour day of hiking.

All in all, I am disappointed that the weather and my time constraints were such that I missed the breathtaking views that make this park as spectacular as it is. However, the personal gain for me in trekking up to the Torres, and just spending all that time outside, challenging myself, was worth the short trip. Torres del Paine is definitely a place I plan to visit again, when I have a good 4-5 days to trek the entire “W” circuit: up to the Torres, down to the Cuernos, through the French Valley, and to Lago and Glacier Grey. It really was an amazing experience that I will not soon forget.

Perito Moreno Glacier

2 October 2009

I arrived to the hostel late last night, but I was anxious to get in my full day and opted for the 8am tour. The tour bus came by the hostel to pick me up around 8:30, on the way out of town, before the 1 ½-hour drive to Los Glacieres. Our guide spoke both Spanish and English during the tour, so she was talking for literally the entire time on the bus, describing the different flora and fauna, the origin of the town of El Calafate, the history of the glacier, etc. After arriving in the park, we went straight to the boat dock to take an hour-long cruise up to the southern face of the Perito Moreno glacier, which sits on Lago Argentina. It was really unbelievable to see this glacier, which has been around since the last ice age, up close, and to look into the crevices and see the blocks of ice fall from the face into the water. There were a ton of icebergs in the water as well, that had fallen from the face of the glacier. The sound of the ice falling was really magnificent, but so unpredictable; it sounded like thunder every time, but you could never catch a photo, because by the time you heard it, the ice had already hit the ground. After the boat ride, we headed up to the restaurant and catwalks to the viewpoint. Again, these “trails” were raised metal platforms, similar to those in Parque Nacional Iguazu, but they were amazing at keeping your feet dry. It was raining the entire time while we were at the viewpoint, so I had to just suck it up, zip up the jacket, and head to the trail for the hour+ walk. The rain wasn’t too bad, but the wind in the Andes is so powerful, I very much regretted the decision not to wear my snow pants. We got back on the bus around 2:30 and headed back to town, which was perfect for me, as I wanted to do some shopping, explore town a bit, and buy my bus ticket for the next morning.

As always, the Patagonian weather was as unpredictable as ever, resulting in a snow storm in El Calafate when we arrived downtown. I still got out of the bus to brave the snow, and I was glad I did. Twenty minutes later, it was all sun and blue skies, followed by cold and wind in the early evening hours. I tried to get some pictures of these spring flowers just covered in snow, but I don’t think they turned out as well as I liked, because of the weak zoom on my camera. When the sun came out, it was absolutely brilliant, reflecting off of the freshly-fallen snow. After wandering around and purchasing a few souvenirs, I headed back up the hill towards the hostel, in search of this grocery store that was “just around the corner.” What I thought was the grocery store turned out to be the Argentine Home Depot – and they didn’t even carry duct tape for my poor jacket! Luckily, the grocery store, which did not look like one at all, was just beyond the hardware store, and they carried everything I needed for my journey into Torres del Paine: duct tape (aptly titled “Rapifix” here), rope, a flashlight, silverware, a Tupperware for my pasta, peanuts, bread, etc.

That night, the staff of the hostel was having a traditional asado, or BBQ, for one of their friends that was leaving town. The guy at reception invited me to join in the meat-eating, but I had already purchased food for my 1 night in El Calafate – breaded patties of broccoli! Weird, I know, but it caught my eye in the store, and I had to try them. While eating my delicious broccoli patties, I met some of the other guests at the hostel. There was the German girl I met on the tour, along with her South African boyfriend, a married couple living in Australia but from Florida (USA) and the Philippines, and some other girls from Czechoslovakia and Holland. After the asado, the staff treated us to some music, via drum circle. I never knew a tambourine could be such a versatile instrument – I thought one guys left for more wine, and he returned with a tambourine in a fancy case. I really liked the hostel a lot – it had a very good vibe.

There were also a ton of dogs that lived at the hostel or belonged to the friends of the staff, so it was entertaining to watch the dogs sitting outside while the meat cooked, just begging for a taste, then scramble when the scraps were deposited outside. One of the dogs, Mano, belonged to the guy who typically works the shift starting sometime in the middle of the night and ending after breakfast. He picked me up from the bus station when I arrived at 1am the night before, with Mano in tow, and I was so excited. Mano looks very much like Daisy! He’s a little bigger, with some black spots on the white of his nose, but their coloring is very similar. This poor guy – I probably told him about 6 times over my 2-night stay how much Mano looks like my dog. I’ve missed Daisy a lot since I came to Patagonia because there are so many more herding breeds down here, due to the sheep ranching. I kept seeing border collies on the bus from Ushuaia. I miss my baby Daisy!

El Glacier Martial & the Bus to El Calafate

Yesterday, I got started a little later than I’d planned because I was still so tired from the night before. I guess I returned from the bar around 11, but I was still very tired and wanting to snooze. By the time I was ready to get up, my roommate in the hostel was already moving around, and I was desperately trying to avoid an overly-enthusiastic conversation about my beautiful eyes at 8am. So I pretended to be asleep until he went down for breakfast. I had breakfast and finally got out the door a little after 10, only an hour or so behind schedule.

My plan was to visit Glacier Martial early in the morning, so that I could get a full day of snowboarding in, but I am so happy I was running late. Because the weather is starting to warm up, the lower part of the only run was closed due to the ice, and the lift did not get moving until 11:30 that morning, an hour after I arrived and rented my equipment. I had a decent day on my board, but 7-8 times down the same, icy run was plenty for me. In addition, it was RAINING. Not snowing, raining. I’m pretty sure I’ve never experienced that in my 20+ years going to the mountains. My jacket and pants did a pretty good job of keeping the water out, but I was still damp, and my feet were soaked, as the water soaked through the “breathable” areas of the snowboard boots. Every time I got halfway up the lift during the afternoon, I kept saying to my self, “this is the last one,” but of course, I’d have a good run and not want to stop. I had a ton of good runs this trip, despite the bad conditions. I even decided to try turning onto toe-side with my opposite foot forward, but after a few tries, the icy run changed my mind. In addition to my experience, it was Tobias’s first day snowboarding. I’d recommended that he check out the glacier prices for classes, rather than take classes at the resort, Cerro Castor. The hostel employees said it was much less expensive, because it only has one run, but for beginners and for practicing, that is not always a bad thing. I’m not sure how much lift tickets cost at Cerro Castor, but I assume they are closer to what you’d pay in the states; I paid about $12 for the all-day ticket and the one run. But he loved it, even in the ice and the rain. I remember learning on ice, and the purple spots on my bottom…he didn’t seem to have that problem, probably because he surfs when he’s home in Brasil.

We took a cab back to town and agreed to meet up later, for another round of Irish pub grub, as we did after the navigation the night before. Meanwhile, I washed another set of clothes and managed to burn a hole in my ski jacket. Yep. The cheap plastic lining inside was a little too flimsy for the super-power heater in my room at the hostel and melted within a minute. Literally, this heater was ridiculous; our room was like a sauna with it on. Luckily, only the inner lining and part of the stuffing melted, so the shell is still intact. I’ll need to find some duct-tape to ghetto-rig the jacket at some point, so I won’t loose more stuffing, but for now, it works. But there goes my problem with hauling ski gear through the deserts in Northern Chile and Peru; I was going to ship it all back from Santiago, but now I’ll just ditch the jacket to save space. Problem solved, and it’s $50 less to report to customs upon my return to the states! But add that one to my clumsy stories…just for y’all, Daniel and Damon.

I met up with Tobias and Mario at their hostel, which was really warm and had a rasta-type feel to it. I’d almost wished I would have stayed there, although I love how cozy La Posta was (with an amazing shower!). We headed for Dublin, one of many Irish pubs in this little town, and the one that was closed the night before. We had a few Beagle beers, the artesenal beer made right here in Ushuaia (on the Beagle Canal), and we all ordered milanesa with papas Dublin, which were covered in a rich and cheesy sauce…just what I wanted. I made up for it with a salad and simple bus food today, and with all the exercise in Ushuaia, my food baby is starting to disappear again. Thank goodness, just have to keep moving and stay away from the rich food!

We stayed out a bit late, but I still made it to my bus at 5am…and what a horrible bus ride it was, after a night of heavy beers. I decided to take the bus, instead of fly, because I’d get to see a little bit more of Patagonia. I would have taken an early morning flight, but the earliest flight would still put me in El Calafate by 2 or 3, not leaving much time to do any activities. So the 21-hour bus trip trumped. There’s no semi-camas either, and the roads are horrible, but I did see some amazing stuff through the window. By the time I woke up again, we were out of the tall mountains, more or less, and coming into the areas of Patagonia in which ranching is big. At one point, there were sheep on every hillside – tons of them. The combination of the sheep, jutting rock formations above, and the occasional llama-like animal (I can’t remember the name!) made for and amazing view. There was even a point at which the bus had to slow down and stop for an entire heard of sheep to clear the road! Watching the squatty little things run up the hill with their little lambs was pretty cool. Another exciting part was crossing the Straight of Magellan. The downsides? There’s no roads running from Ushuaia to El Calafate in Argentina, so you have to go through Chile. We only crossed the border twice, but each country required stamps to leave the country, so we had to stop 4 times. There were also 2 families with 3+ young children each, so there was always a baby screaming. And the bus driver put on some not-so-family-friendly movies on the bus – Slumdog Millionaire and Traitor, with Spanish subtitles. I was excited about Slumdog Millionaire until I realized that they speak another language for most of the movie, and I really needed the English subtitles to understand – the Spanish subtitles were not sufficient. And the bus ride was not direct – I have to connect with another bus by another company to get to El Calafate.

So here I am, sitting in the bus station in Rio Gallegos, waiting for my Marga bus (the other was Techni-Austral). Fortunately, I have a hostel employee that will be waiting for me at the bus terminal and has already set up tomorrow’s excursion. I’m excited for yet another fabulous day in Patagonia, on the Perito Moreno Glacier in Argentina’s Parque Nacional Los Glacieres.

The End of the World (as they say)

Days 1 & 2 in Ushuaia. The weather was great when I arrived around 3pm on Monday, to the point that I was a little disappointed that I wouldn’t get to use the full day. I desperately needed to wash clothes, having procrastinated with taking them to the lavanderia in BsAs. I did so, and headed to the maritime museum in town while the clothes dried. This museum was incredibly interesting, because it was set up in this old prison. In the early 1900s, the government of Argentina wanted to create a penal colony in Tierra del Fuego, and this prison was a part of that system. The museum itself highlights the maritime and exploratory history of Tierra del Fuego, the native yámanas that inhabited the area before European colonization (and burnt a certain plant to stay warm, hence the name given to the land by an explorer, “Land of Fire”), the prison history, information about former inmates and suspected inmates (such as Carlos Gardel), history of Antarctic exploration, new oil production, the flora and fauna in the area….you name it, it was in this museum. I thought the guy at the hostel was joking when he said you need 3 hours for the maritime museum, but he wasn’t kidding. I took some photos of some of the parts of the museum that were particularly weird, such as a spacesuit-looking thing with no title next to it.

La Posta Hostel is definitely everything people said it would be. Almost too warm rooms, an AMAZING shower, a cozy, homey atmosphere, and an incredibly helpful staff. Christian was a ton of help; so was Lucas, who wasn’t bad to look at either. The hostel seems to be a family that owns the hostel and lives in the separate wing to the back of the hostel. I believe the youngens or friends work the desk during the day, while the parents/owners work shifts at night. It was farther from town, but I was prepared for extra cab rides to and from town. Really, aside from my roommate in the hostel, it was an awesome experience. My Brazilian roommate Bruno was very nice, but clung to me from the moment we met, to the point that I had to be rude to have some time to myself. Even for a South American male, he had no notions of personal space, and was obviously interested in me, which made me uncomfortable. I was happy to have others there to diffuse the awkwardness, Antonio (from Spain) in the hostel and Endrick (from Germany) on the trails in the park.

The park itself was fabulous, although I was rushed. I had hoped to leave the hostel around 8:30 or 9 to go to the park, but the next van did not run until 10.10. I also was told that the van could bring me back from the park at 2, in time for the navigation, but we discovered that it was impossible when the van arrived. So I had approximately 2.5 hours in the park. Our hike consisted of a circle, to and from the big attraction for me, the end of the Pan-America Highway. Along the way, I got some awesome pictures of the glaciers, lakes, grasslands, and forests in the park. We met Endrick on the way back, and he was interested in the navigation as well, so he and I headed to the port while Bruno stayed in the park.

At the port, we met two Brazilians, Mario and Tobias, at the office for Navegando del Fin del Mundo, where Endrick had to buy his ticket. We had an hour to kill, so Endrick and I headed to this fabulous little seafood restaurant with enormous king crab in the tank in the window, Cocina de Freddy (or something similar). It had been recommended by both the van driver and in the Lonely Planet guide. The crab was a bit expensive (in pesos, about $60US), so we settled for delicious seafood medleys. We then headed for the boat and met our tour group: Mario and Tobias, Antonio (from the hostel) and his friend, Endrick and I, and our guide and captain of Yate Che. And a pony keg of Beagle beer. Yate Che was relatively small, but perfect for touring the islands in the Beagle Canal. We visited Faro Les Eclaireus (the famous lighthouse), Isla de los Pajaros (birds), Isla de los Lobos (sea lions), and Isla Bridges, where we disembarked to hike and view the flora on the island, the Beagle Canal, and the surrounding mountains. The islands with the fauna were a bit stinky…there were comments from many about how you don’t account for that while watching Discovery channel. The ride was bumpy, but we were rewarded on the ride back with the delicious artesenal beer, made right here in Ushuaia.

Because the navigation office gave us all vouchers for free beer at Dublin Irish Pub, Mario, Tobias, Endrick, and I headed to the pub, which was closed. Of course, that was not going to break our spirits, so we headed to the Irish pub that we knew was open for more Beagle and some pub grub. We had a lot of fun, and I slept very well, hoping that I’d run into these boys again during my stay in Ushuaia. It was bound to happen; Ushuaia is tiny, and I’ve seen all the people from my flight several times in two days. And sure enough, they met me on the glacier the next day.

And we're off to Patagonia...

So I have to admit, I’m a little nervous about traveling to Patagonia alone. It being a place that has inspired so many, with its desolate landscapes, is a little bit daunting. I don’t know why. Perhaps it will be the cure for my quarter-life crisis. Who knows? Vamos a ver…

I had to say goodbye to the girls, Ilana and Allie last night, and to my growing collections of scarves, purses, and everything trendy that I have here. Hello to the life of a mochilera (backpacker), my new title for the next month. I managed t fit all my short-sleeved shirts and tank tops, then only a few long-sleeved shirts, for layering and probably continuous wear in Patagonia.

I had the best meal I’ve had in a while, or since Melissa left! Allie, Ilana, and I went to Fervor, a newer restaurant known for its seafood, which is uncommon in BsAs. Ilana and I shared this Parrillada de Mariscos, with shrimp, squid, unbelievably good octopus, and four different kinds of fish, including the North Atlantic pink salmon we know in the states, which is pretty rare around here. We also got a free dessert, the fruity ice creams of the house, just for being pretty girls…which happens somewhat often here. I’m not sure if the waiters just want to look at us longer, or what. But the fish and fruity flavors were just what I needed to feel like a normal, healthy-eating person again…and not a gordita! I’m excited to embark on my backpacker’s diet…skipping the pricey restaurants for salads, sandwiches, and bus food. I’m hoping my budgeting skills will overpower my love to dine and eat well in Argentina! Again, vamos a ver…

And, we’re taking off for Ushuaia…here goes nothing!

Colonia del Sacramento!

25 September 2009

I took an amazing day-trip to Uruguay today, to a little town just across the Rio de la Plata called Colonia del Sacramento. The town is absolutely gorgeous, but it’s TINY! It was definitely worth the money to see a little part of another country, but I was done seeing the sights I wanted to see by 1:30. I arrived around 10am via Buquebus, which runs passenger and vehicle ferry services between Buenos Aires and Colonia. It’s actually very comfortable, with a snack bar, duty-free shop, and airplane-esque seats, and the trip is only an hour on the barco rapido. I took some pics of the boat while I was on land in Colonia, so you can see what I’m talking about, at least size-wise. My only problem the entire day was the construction around the port area. They were building a new passenger terminal and you couldn’t find the street! And all there was at the port was customs…no real information booth or taxis waiting or anything. Finally the lady who was organizing tours for those who’d reserved ahead of time helped me find the street and the nearest tourist information office. I was ready to start my sole day in Uruguay.

The historic district of town is beautiful. The town was an old Portuguese colonial settlement, hence its name, Colonia. Because of this, there is a ton of Portuguese influence. The pictures are amazing – you’ll have to take a look for yourself. The pictures and the scenery were the best part of the visit by far. I actually skipped out on the museums because of the way they sell tickets; you have to buy a pass to all seven museums and cannot buy tickets museum by museum. There were only a couple museums that I was interested in enough to visit – one was a tile museum, showcasing some of the first tiles made in Uruguay! But all the museums were also small, and it didn’t seem worth it to me to buy the pass. My absolute favorite place in Colonia is the old port (see the first set of pictures in the album). The shopping was also really great, with good leathers and friendly, unobtrusive sales people. They also took Argentine pesos and US dollars, so I never had to change money for a 1-day trip, which was clutch. Lunch was a bit pricey, but I had fabulously rich ravioli with ham and cheese inside and a creamy mushroom sauce on top. It was definitely NOT what I needed – I really just wanted a couple empanadas or a good salad. But the resto where I stopped to relax did not carry what I wanted, so I made due. The 20-peso bread service (which is normal here – they bring bread, never mention that it an extra charge) included some of the best bread I’ve had here. After lunch, I finished up my sightseeing and did some shopping, buying 2 purses…the first of my large handbag purchases. However, the purchase wasn’t large in US dollars, and that’s really what counts, right?

All in all Colonia was just what I needed – a day off from touristy Once (which I pass through twice a day), where you’re hounded to buy crap from vendors on the street, all selling the same crap as the next guy. It was perfect – a gorgeous day to myself, in a very quaint and beautiful town, outside of the hustle and bustle of the city.

Last Day at La Juanita

24 September 2009

Today was my last at La Juanita. I almost wish it were more bittersweet, because I haven’t really formed bonds with many of the people here, other than the volunteers. Because of this, not many people knew it was my last day, and Ilana was sick as well. Poor shanti…

Allie bought some dog food for the little puppy that was left at La Juanita yesterday…it was entertaining watching her try to buy dog food by the kilo from the open 40-lb bags, just open on the sidewalk. I’m surprised the stray dogs don’t get into them, but then again, I’m sure they’re fed table scraps and don’t want the real dog food.

The kids in the jardin were a mess, as usual. Our short time in the jardin was spent blocking the doors so the kids couldn’t escape or get into trouble inside while everyone else was outside. Mauri and Lucas with the mullet were up to no good again, and I actually had to pick up Mauri and bring him outside. Yet another testament that kids need some kind of discipline.


Not all of the kids showed up for class either, including the two I’ve been helping a lot recently, Rocio and Abigail, doing multiplication in Spanish. It was hard enough to remember how to do long division and multiplication, and having to teach it in a different language was quite a feat. But with no kids to help, I had plenty of time to finish my own homework before my Spanish lesson at 6:30. Carlos came and chatted with us for a bit, actually helping Allie teach English phonetics and me with my homework. (Carlos is a guy that comes frequently to speak with us in English and has been studying English for many years, diligently. He has an internship with Boomtown in Bossier City, starting in December. Explaining the Cajun accent has been an on-going source of entertainment.)

Martin, a former student of ours, came to the cooperativa drunk today, so that was a source of excitement for a hot minute. He wasn’t violent or anything, but disrupting class and generally being a creepster. We had to call for some help in getting him out of the room and out of the center, since it’s really not appropriate with the kids there and all. His intoxication got me thinking about the street drug here, paco, which Ariana just informed me about. It made me want to do a little more research, and it’s essentially cocaine paste and byproducts, mixed with whatever else they can find. I don’t know if he was using at all, who knows.

After La Juanita, I had a pretty strenuous Spanish lesson with Gisela, listening to audios about lumfardo, the slang here in BsAs. Afterwards, I was exhausted and cranky, and couldn’t decide whether I wanted pizza or wine (or both). Wine won out, and I vetoed the pizza because of my growing food baby from eating so well in this town. So I headed to the supermercado next door…and it was closed, only 20 minutes after I’d passed it open on my way home. So I kept walking, perhaps I’d stop at Lo Bebe parilla and have a salad, or make my way to my café for a glass of wine. I decided to stop in Lo Bebe, and it was definitely interesting, to say the least. I ended up getting a sandwich, marcipan, and a side salad, since it would come out the same cost-wise as if I’d gotten a large salad. I’ve had churipan before, which is delicious, but I’d never had marcipan and wanted to try something different. And it’s definitely blood sausage. Yeah. And also came with fries, surprisingly. I knew exactly what it was when I cut into it, and it took a lot of effort to get a large enough portion down to remain polite to the chef. Or grill master… I’ve never had it before, and it was very rich, and had the consistency of the not-so-mushed variety refried black beans. I think the knowing what I was eating was the pin in the coffin for me. I ended up taking home the rest of it, because I was so afraid of offending someone! So I need to trash that eventually, or feed it to a stray dog or something. I think in the future, I’ll stick to delicious churipan, which is essentially a sausage sandwich with delicious sauce that totally makes it. But major diet time when I leave BsAs. My body cannot handle this any longer! I am really starting to love it here, but I can’t wait to leave this gastronomical roller coaster ride of a city!

2nd to last day...

Today, yet again, I planned to visit the Recoleta Cemetery before work, and of course, sleep won. I slept in for THREE hours and ended up having to rush to meet the girls to take the cumvi (van) to La Matanza. I usually leave myself an hour to walk from my apartment to Plaza Miserere in Once, but I got there in 45 minutes today by cutting out the window shopping on Avenida Paso. Despite my being late, I was super excited for another trip to the Parilla La Familia before work! This parilla (traditional grill or asado-type restaurant) is as authentic as you can get. The 3 chefs cook every kind of meat imaginable on a large, outdoor grill that is made from an old metal door. It’s one of those neighborhood venues that is always filled with old men and blue-collar workers on lunch break, and there’s never a female patron in sight. I got some great pictures of the girls, some randos who wanted their picture taken, and of the 3 chefs in front of their grill. I looked liked a huge goober, but I didn’t want to forget the parilla and the delicious churipan!

We continued on to La Juanita for a pretty normal and uneventful day. I grabbed a last alfajor (cookies with dulce de leche in between) from the panderia…my stomach thanks me for stopping with the dulce de leche! I’ll have to bring my alfajor-making skills to the states now, I guess.

After work, I had to make a special errand to a part of town that I hadn’t really included as something I HAD to see, and I’m so glad I did. My errand took me to an area called Puerto Madero, which used to be the main port for the city until port operations moved to La Boca. I had no clue how cute this area is! I was expecting an old port area, not brand-spanking new skyscrapers and cute little shops and restaurants. To get there, I also had to walk from Plaza de Mayo, where the cumvi dropped us off, through San Telmo. I also hadn’t really planned to walk through San Telmo much, but it has so much character! It’s a nice place to just stroll and people watch. I was so grateful that this errand took me through these neighborhoods, because I wouldn’t have known them otherwise. BsAs really is an amazing city, it’s just so BIG! Too much to see and too little time. My favorite is still Palermo, my home in the city!

Feliz Primavera!

22 September 2009

The weeks in Buenos Aires haven’t been too exciting, with work and all, but this week is definitely an exception. Monday was a big holiday for Argentina, the first day of spring! Feliz Primavera everyone! There was a big fiesta for the kids in the jardin, with music, costumes, cookies, and even SODA! Lots of Fanta orange (which is huge down here). Of course, I forgot my camera, but Allie and Ilana got some great pictures, which I will later steal. It was so much fun in the jardin that we were actually disappointed when our students showed up for English classes. We wanted to play in the jardin and do the Hokey Pokey and drink Fanta!

For after work, the girls and I had planned to go to La Bomba del Tiempo, which is THE thing to do on a Monday, at least in certain circles. It’s this semi-outdoor concert that is essentially a drum circle on steroids and just has an amazing vibe. I had not been and was so excited about going, but because of the holiday, we couldn’t get in! The week before, the girls got in without a hitch, but we arrived around the same time this week, and the line was over 2 blocks long. At one point they stopped selling tickets. We thought we could finagle our way in, being 3 girls (and one natural blonde, a powerful weapon in these parts), but alas, we were unsuccessful. We started to look for another bar and ended up near Abasto shopping center, so we stopped in for some McDonald’s, to put something in our stomachs… the first American fast-food I’ve had in South America, I assure you. But it always tastes the same, in every country, which is comforting. We ended up at this bar which was the after-La Bomba party spot in the prior week, and the bar had live reggae music later in the night, which was awesome. However, prior to the band starting, they played Bob Marley’s greatest hits on loop…and as much as we love Bob Marley, we were happy for the musica in vivo to start.

I find it amazing how much better my Spanish becomes with a little bit of alcohol. It’s an extremely common occurrence for many people, in both Spanish and English, but it still blows my mind. I love meeting new people and having to socialize in Spanish, but it has its pros and cons. The pros: it helps my Spanish immensely. For example, in Chile, I had conversations where I spoke solely in Spanish, and the native Spanish speakers spoke solely in English…a sight to see for others around us. The cons: the blond curls have attracted a large and varied group of men down here in South America – to the point that Melissa joked about my many “boyfriends.” The combination of Latino, Spanish, and Italian here in Argentina makes for a pretty aggressive environment, so staying polite while fending off advances is in no way an effortless activity, like it is in the states (MUCH, MUCH less frequently, of course). It will definitely be a shot to my self esteem to come back to the states, but not necessarily an unwanted one. After many discussions with the girls, I believe that something in between would be perfect…something between the aggressive advances here and the shy, generally inhibited guys in the states. At least the guys here aren’t hard to read…it’s like a children’s book here in Argentina. But that’s neither here nor there.

Regardless, we drank, danced, and enjoyed ourselves until closing time, on a Monday. Needless to say, all three of us were pleased with the rain this morning, since rain = a free day off from work. (The infrastructure where we work is such that it is difficult for the people to get there in the rain. The main road is paved; we can get there via van and bus, but may have to wade through ankle-deep water for half a block. But aside from the main road, it’s all dirt roads, which become large, muddy puddles preventing travel to and from the cooperativa.)

I should have done some sight-seeing this afternoon, but with a ton of Spanish homework to do before my lesson from 6-8, a nap and homework trumped. I feel like I need to see all I can in my last week, but I just don’t always have the energy! There’s something about the rain that sucks it all up. I think tomorrow I will go to see Recoleta Cemetery, where Eva Peron is buried, weather permitting. That is, if I get up early enough. Vamos a ver (we will see) …

Buenas noches, mis queridos!

Parque Nacional Iguazu

19 September 2009

We visited the falls today!! Allie, Ilana, and I had such a fabulous time! The weather was great, a little cool in the morning, but very warm in the sun for most of the day. Since I didn’t have a good, sturdy poncho with me (how I forgot one, who knows), I just brought along a thin, long-sleeved shirt and a cheapo plastic poncho from the train station, which I didn’t even end up using.

The national park, which is so much more built up than we thought (ala Disney World) was a little underwhelming, but the falls were absolutely amazing. We started out at the main attraction, Gardanta del Diablo, or Devil’s Throat, which is the largest of all the falls and lies along the Brazilian border. The pics are mostly in the order in which we viewed the falls, but you can’t mistake this one. It’s huge and among the first pictures we took. From there we headed for the Lower Circuit Trail, where you can view the falls from below. The trail is also the jumping-off point for the Adventuras Nauticas, boats that take you along the Lower Iguazu River and INTO San Martin Fall, the second largest, and just in front of Gardanta del Diablo. There’re some fabulous pics of me looking like a goober in my swimsuit, but the girls were wishing they’d worn theirs by the time we got off the boat. We were SOAKED! Even with their North Faces, the girls were soaked from the waist down. This smart cookie had a change of underthings and plastic bags for my clothing, so by lunch, I was ready to change back into dry clothes, rather than hiking in wet clothing all afternoon.

Lunch consisted of some rather underwhelming empanadas and being hounded by Coatis, which are similar to raccoons and were all over the park, begging for food. Some very rude Argentine men kept telling us not to feed them, when in all reality, we were trying to shoo them away.

After lunch, Allie wanted to check out this trail that was less-traveled than the others, which turned out to be the only trail that was actually a TRAIL, and not a raised steel path above/below the falls. We hiked about 5-6 kilometers down to this waterfall, and there was a lookout over the waterfall and underneath, where there was a natural pool. The hike was great, the view was great, and our tennis shoes were covered in mud…exactly the kind of experience we had expected from the park. Ilana has some great pictures of us braving the mud puddles blocking the path. Afterwards, we checked out the Upper or Superior Trail, where we saw the smaller waterfalls from above. It was really an awesome experience; it’s no wonder that Iguazu Falls is considered one of the new world wonders. The “Argentine Grand Canyon” was really more than we could ask for, and many of the people we’ve met have considered this and Macchu Picchu as the highlights of their trips.

Tomorrow we head back to BA for my last week! I will be sad to leave the city, but I am SO excited about Tierra del Fuego…that is until I get down there and freeze my butt off! I think I’ve checked out all the parillas in BA that my body can handle, so I just have one more restaurant in BA that I’m dying to try – Bio, a gourmet organic restaurant that has received rave reviews. Perhaps I’ll stop by to get the hummus down the street from me, and of course visit my beloved café, Di Vino, a few more times, perhaps for breakfast this weekend, or if the internet decides to cut out for the entire evening (as it very well may do). BA has been all about food for me, so my poor, food-exhausted body will be the happiest about leaving, I think. A trip to our parilla in La Matanza for lunch one day for a last Churripan is definitely in the cards.

Tentative plan for post-BA travels

Tierra del Fuego via Ushuaia (Argentina)
Parques Paine del Torre, Las Glaciares (Chile, Argentina)
Boat tour through the Chilean Lakes District (hopefully)
Santiago de Chile for Christian’s Bday
San Pedro de Atacama (Chile)
Potosi (Bolivia)
La Paz (Bolivia)
Lake Titicaca (Bolivia & Peru)
Cusco & Machu Picchu (Peru)
Ica (Peru)
Lima - Buenos Aires - Dallas - Austin!

We’ll see if this can actually be done in a month….yikes!

These gorditas (little fat ones) are about to take our exhausted bodies back to dinner at our new fave restaurant, Pizza Color, here in Puerto Iguazu to recharge after the long day of hiking. Chau!

Iguazu

18 September 2009

We arrived to Puerto Iguazu yesterday evening. We had incredible turbulence on the plane from Buenos Aires to Puerto Iguazu, to the point where Ilana was feeling a little under the weather when we got here. I’ve experiences more turbulence on airplane here in South America than I have anywhere else, and for some reason it does not really phase me at all. I am very thankful for the fact that I’ve flown all my life and am comfortable enough to stomach it.

It looks like a totally different country here. We went from a very urban environment, where el campo was still pretty urban with the massive McDonald’s and kioscos on every corner. I guess La Matanza isn’t really el campo, but it is in comparison to BA. But Puerto Iguazu is a town of maybe 30,000, in the middle of the rainforest. We left a chilly, windy BA full of urbanites for this hot and humid little paradise, and I couldn’t be any happier about it. We walked out of the airport and were greeted by several different species of butterflies, just chillin’ among the people, and a little Argentine girl who couldn’t stop saying “Mama, mama, las mariposas, las mariposas!” (the butterflies).

The hostel is pretty good too, although the pressure in the shower sucks. But the shower is very roomy and very refreshing in light of my tiny shower at my homestay. I can actually shave my legs without bumping my head on the sink and soap dish! Otherwise, I have great wifi, an ensuite bathroom I’m sharing with my friends and 2 others, and a tropical backdrop that made this morning’s rain incredibly bearable.

Last night, the desk attendant at the hostel recommended we go to this place called Hitos Las Fronteras, a lookout point where you can view both Paraguay and Brasil, which lie just across the Rio Iguazu. Although we arrived just AFTER sunset, the view was absolutely breathtaking. See the pictures. It really is awesome, and totally whet my appetite to see the falls even more. Afterwards, we went to this restaurant called Pizza Color, where we were serenaded by the smooth sounds of our “cruise ship” entertainers, singing and playing elevator music favorites while we dined outside on the patio. We also met a very preggers pup at the end of our dinner, which we fed food from the empty tables around us. We’re eaters, and we shared salads and a pizza, so of course we had nothing to offer from our table to her and her babies inside. We had a fabulous time with our new mama pup, who we named Che. The waitstaff was pretty upset with us though. Oops.

Today, I woke up (probably many times) to the sound of heavy, heavy rain on the tin roof of our hostel in Iguazu. I’m pretty sure there were some kind of fruit trees above us, as every once in a while, we’d hear loud thuds on the roof along with the rain. It’s awesome to sit in the rainforest and just watch the rain, but when all the activities in town involve the outdoors, it’s a bit of a buzzkill when it rains all day long (today’s forecast). I can’t wait to make it to the park and Iguazu Falls tomorrow!

While watching the rain, I’ve tried to journal/blog some, but at some point I NEEDED food (since we slept in and missed breakfast), so we set out down the road for this cute little restaurant down the way. It turns out that our friend Che lives at the hostel, and she followed us all the way to the restaurant, at which point she was shooed away. We were very upset by this…we gotta feed Che and her babies! We had these massive milanesa (fried veal) sandwiches and were stuffed.

We followed up lunch with a tour of this place called Aripuca, which is this weird place out in the woods, and almost every structure there is made from the trunks of these massive trees. I believe that the trees were sick, and that’s why they were hollowed out and used for building, but I’m not completely sure. The verbal explanation was in Spanish, and all other notation in the tree museum was about God and his plan for these trees and how we all need to live in harmony or something. We climbed up into the rafters of this tree building, which we were not supposed to do, but everyone else was doing it and we were dying to get up there. But see the pictures, they’re pretty cool. We also got some yerba mate flavored ice cream, which was pretty interesting. (Yerba Mate is this type of tea that is incredibly common in Argentina).

Afterwards, we wandered down the highway looking for this monkey and toucan reserve. We found it, but apparently there are no monkeys, and were a bit more than we wanted to spend a day before going to the park, so we ended up at another hostel down the road. This hostel was also affiliated with ours, and had a swimming pool, so we used their activities desk to try and figure out something else to do before settling down around their pool and drinking Quilmes, the main beer here (and it’s really not great at all). We did a whole lot of people watching, and ended up taking pictures of a caterpillar. It was pretty, I liked it, and the girls made fun of me. Very naturey.

Who knows what the night will hold...all I know is that I'm dirty, in the middle of the rainforest, can see 3 countries from this point, and am perfectly content.

Mendoza!

Finally, the Mendoza recap! The weekend in Mendoza was definitely una mierda (a mess). The ride there was pretty interesting, in our FlechaBus. We brought some boxed wine (to avoid having to bring an opener), and ended up forgetting cups and having to pour the wine into our empty water bottles from a tiny hole made by nail cutters, since the pour spout was too big. We met a South African girl named Jenna, who was just ecstatic that we were speaking English and came to share the wine and chat until she was booted back to her seat. We had some interesting bus food and a mostly sleepless night, despite the semi-cama seats. Melissa and I also booked different hostels while trying to accommodate all my friends from Santiago…big mistake, trying to work with boys to plan something. I ended up staying at one with my friends, and Melissa couldn’t cancel her reservation, so she stayed at the other. So that was an issue upon our arrival. By the time we got everything settled, we were ready for a good girls’ afternoon/night, before the boys from Santiago were to arrive later. We wanted to shop, but apparently Mendocinos take a siesta, at least in terms of stores staying open. We wandered around town, looking for good shopping, and everything was closed. From there, we took a nap and got ready for our evening.

For pre-dinner cocktails, we headed to Casa 3, which is also supposed to have delicious food. But for dinner, we were heading to Azafran, the pricey joint in town that’s in every guide book and has been reviewed by the NY Times. First of all, Azafran was Argentina expensive, not US expensive. Secondly, the entire wait-staff was extraordinarily attractive, to the point that we were giggling like school girls. It was bad. We wanted to order a bottle of wine, but there was no list; instead, we were told that they don’t believe in a wine list and lead to the wine cellar to choose a bottle of our liking. Luckily the prices were clearly listed in the cellar! The restaurant really looks like an old wine and cheese shop. The food was also amazing. We ordered seared tuna and noquis to share, of course with crème brulee to top it off. But the best part of the meal was Melissa’s crush on the waiter. I was trying to get her to take a chance, give him her number or ask what he was doing later. Fortunately, he asked us out for drinks before she got the chance!! From dinner, we went with Abel to another bar for my first taste of Fernet and Coke, the local cocktail. It tastes like scotch and coke to me…not my favorite, but I got it down. We then met up with his friend Kevin and moved to a disco, or boliche, that was filled with locals, no foreigners at all. We had so much fun; in fact, I didn’t look at my watch until 5:30, and I needed to be back at the hostel around 5 to greet my friends. I felt a little bit like Cinderella, having to leave so quickly, but it all worked out in the end. The bus from Santiago was late, and my friends did not get to the hostel until after 6:30. We all settled in for a VERY short night of sleep before heading to the wineries the next morning.

The wine tour was equally a mess. After booking the tour and exploring the city a bit, we set off for the wineries around 2:30. I didn’t realize that the boys had never done a wine tour before…they thought it was like a pub crawl, and were a little bit upset when the first winery started us out with an actual tour of the facilities. It got messy at the 2nd winery (and 3rd stop) when the boys bought bottles instead of taking the tour – between 5 people, we killed 2-3 bottles before the tasting began. From that point on, it was a mess. We were not supposed to drink in the bus, and sure enough, they made it happen – even opening a bottle with a mechanical pencil. By the end of the night, we were all trying to go out, but some of us were dragging from no sleep and day drinking. Sunday was sad, saying goodbye to the bys again, but I was anxious to catch up with Melissa as well. She was sick on Saturday and missed the whole wine tour! As we waited for our bus, we ran into our waiter from Friday, Abel, at the station. We sat and chatted for a while, and at some point he bought us these weird little rat-looking key chains from one of the kids selling crap in the bus station. I had not yet found an ornament (or suitable keychain to become one) in town, and this random keychain is a perfect representation of what a crazy weekend we had in Mendoza. I can’t wait to tie a ribbon around it and put it on my tree this Christmas, to remember la mierda que fue Mendoza!

Oh and Cata bus, which we took back to BsAs, is the bomb. I highly recommend it for your South American travels!

I am so bad at this!

Ack! I'm sorry, I haven't had much time to blog! The last week in Santiago was a whirlwind of activities, including traditional asado (BBQ) at the school, followed by a Monday night fiesta at la casa loca, salsa lessons Wednesday, a show and dinner of traditional Chilean food and dance (including baile interactivo) Thursday, going away party Friday, and a lower-key night at the disco Saturday with my fave Germans and Swiss. Needless to say I was pooped and have slept as much as possible over the course of this week. I will try to fill it all in this weekend, I promise!

I also had my first day at La Juanita today. I should have taken pictures, but I'll try to do so next week. Meanwhile, pics from Santiago are posted, so enjoy! Love y'all!

San Cristobel and snowboarding the Andes!!

OoooooooK, finally, a little bit of free time, although I probably need to be socializing in Spanish. Don’t worry, that won’t keep me from communicating, although perhaps I should write in spanish and then plug that into Google Translate?

Anwway, Monday, we went to visit the hill San Cristobel, which overlooks Santiago and is topped by a large statue of the Virgin Mary, or the mother of Santiago. Apparently the Virgen Mary is extremely important here, moreso than for other Catholics, although I’m not sure why. This was explained to me in Spanish, so that’s about as much as I could pick up. I think it might have something to do with this small statue of the virgin which was carried to Santiago by one of the founding fathers. The statute was some kind of good luck charm, protecting him from danger in his travels. The statue is on display in town, but I’m sure I’ll have more information after I visit that particular attraction.

San Cristobel was abosolutely fabulous. The hill is behind the trendy Bellavista neighborhood, where my first hostel was located. The hill is actually a park, and contains all kinds of trails, the Santiago Zoo, and several other things (says the Fodor’s book). However, we merely passed by the zoo on the 1920s funicular (see photos) that took us all the way to the top of the hill. I was surprised to find an outdoor church upon the top of the hill (with the virgin overlooking the entire seating area and alter from the peak of the hill). The have mass there every Sunday, and as with many historic or significant churches or Catholic monuments, a worship area with candles and memorials for prayer. But really, the outdoor church upon the hill was what really interested me. I don’t think I’ll make it up there for mass, as I’m sure it’s a madhouse on Sunday (and I snowboarded today), but it would be amazing to see.

Monday night, the school held a wine tasting for the students. The only participants were the newbies, so just one of my housemates and 3 other classmates were in attendence. It was really interesting to learn about Chilean wines, and there was a Syrah that was abosolutely to die for. Now I don’t like any of my wines too sweet, but this one was pretty sweet but amazing. It smelled amazing, tasted amazing, the whole shebang. Another wine that I learned about was a Camerere (?) that is specific to Chile, I believe. Unfortunately blogging a week later results in not remembering some specifics. Sorry! But I’ll have to spend some more time in a wine store back home (or Spec’s, of course!) checking out the Chilean wine selection.

After the wine tasting, 4 of us decided to go out. Two, including myself, were hungry and wanting food first, since the selection of pickled carrot, cauliflower, and pickle (???) served with ham and cheese with our wine was less than filling. Two were not hungry, ready to continue drinking. So we were looking for a place that offered both. We ended up at Elfos bar in Providencia, only a few blocks away, which promised to have food, then had bar food priced ridiculously high. So dinner turned to liquid, not purposely. We started off with some ridiculously large beers (like at Logan’s!) and somehow forgot about dinner? I know, me forget about food is pretty ridiculous. But it happened. It was a fun night, hence the pictures posted after the wine tasting photos. I was late for class the next day, not because of any hangover, but because everyone living at the house left late. Marc (who doesn’t live in the house but was in my class) decided to give me hell about it, and I promptly returned the favor, since he was the one who kept pushing tequila (we had one…blech).

Tuesday was kind of slow. I bought a power converter. We watched a movie about Pinochet in espanol. It was entertaining, but I couldn’t pick up enough to know what was going on most of the time. On Wednesday, I really wanted to attend the scheduled event, jazz at one of the bars in Bellavista, but with a ski trip on our heels, I decided to turn in early.

On Thursday, we skipped class to go to the mountain!!! Ok, didn’t skip skip, it was organized through the school, and I’m supposed to have a private lesson sometime next week to make up for it. Since the four resorts in the Santiago area require driving up the mountain (ala Ruidosa), there are several companies that provide this service. The school has something worked out with one of them, who picked us up at La Casa Loca at 7:20 Thursday morning. After waiting at the stop point to meet other buses and a very long and conplicated drive up the mountain (due to the recent snow), we didn’t actually get moving on the mountain until at least ater 10. There were four of us total (me and 3 boys, of course), and for some reason Marc got picked by a different bus. Levin waited for Marc, while an antsy Steve and I took off for the first lift. At some point we separated, because I’m really slow. But this was fabulous, because I was able to take the day at my own pace and really work on my problems areas, such as getting off ski lifts and make left turns. All problematic for me. I realized how awesome my iPod would have been. Etc. Somehow Steve found the other boys, but I didn’t end up meeting up with them until 4:30 or so, when it was time to take the bus. Apparently we all missed each other at lunch. I knew where the food was, I was fine! But they stopped in with the locker people to see if I’d they’d seen me. Apparently Steve had fed the dog in the ski shop prior to my eating lunch, so the dog was following me around everywhere with my food! It was a big bulldog looking thing, def not as cute as our pups. Plus I think it may have had doggie pink eye. Anyways… overall it was an excellent day on the slopes. As much as I enjoy spending time with the boys and Kara during our trips, there was something completely satisfying abut spending a day out on the slopes by myself though.

Anyways, more to come. Since there’s 3 more days in between. Slowly but surely...

Slowly But Surely Posting

Hola! I've been in Chile for 6 full days, and it is freezing! The climate is not so temperate in the foothills of the Andes, where Santiago lies, more or less.

Sunday, 16 agosto 2009, was pretty calm. I explored Bellavista and withdrew some Chilean pesos, but on Sunday, everything was closed except for the ATM. I headed to Casa Ecela, aka the student residence or "La Casa Loca," somewhere between 11 and noon. After meeting some of the students, I ran to the grocery store and began my quest for a power adaptor. After grocery shopping, I returned to the house to meet another student from the US who was moving into Casa Ecela as well. Since no one else was around, we decided to explore the city and learned that it is pretty dead on Sunday evenings. Everything closes at 4pm, except for the bars in Bellavista, of course. After another unsuccessful search for an adaptor in Providencia, we ended up back in Bellavista to share our first beers in Chile. From what I've seen, there are not many beers made here in Chile, but we did try two, Escudo and Austral. Beer is served by the liter, so it is incredibly common to order a beer with several glasses. You really don't need pitchers, the beers are big enough to share already. We tried some of the local bar food - a mountain of french fries, topped with beef, egg, onion, and Vienna sausages?? It was so good, but talk about heart attack on a plate. It was also my first experience with Vienna sausages...you know, since canned, processed meat isn't really my thing. We returned to the house and met some more people, then to bed to prepare for our 8am placement exam.

The house is nothing to rave about accomodation wise, but it is a safe and very inexpensive place to stay. If you know me well enough, you know I really could care less as long as it is clean. However, in Chile, central heat only exists in very new buildings. Although I'd planned and paid to share a room, I've hit the program in the middle of a slower season and have a room for three all to myself. The house is old and cannot handle electric space heaters, but three beds equals 3 beds worth of blankets to bury myself in each night. Getting up is pretty difficult though.

On Monday, we arrived at the school, which is less than three blocks from Casa Ecela. In our placement exam, there were also students from Germany and Switzerland. The class I have been assigned to is very diverse - me, an older lady from the states, a girl from Japan, and the two guys in our exam, from Germany and Switzerland. There is a lot of German spoken in the house and in the school, so that has been somewhat difficult. Most of them speak English incredibly well though, just prefer German among themselves. As for class level, they started me at the beginning, probably because I forgot some conjugation of some basic verbs. It could have been easily cured with more study prior to coming here. Eh, what are you going to do? So most of the material is very new to others but a review for me. However, it is very helpful because my spoken Spanish is not very good. I can understand the bulk of conversations, but I have always been very timid when speaking. Even just in the past three days, I have become more confident in my skills. I will need to continue to study, either in classes in BA or on my own when I get there.

More to come, including our trip to the hill overlooking Santiago (cerra San Cristobal)and our first trip up to the mountains... but mucha tarea (homework) to do now.

BA, Veces Numero Uno

Just arrived in Buenos Aires (for the first time), only to fly right back to Santiago. I have two sweet Entrada and Salida stamps in my passport to prove it. I was surprised that they stamp the passport upon departure as well…not quite as common elsewhere. We’ll see what Chile has in store when I get there tonight. I originally thought 2 hours would be pushing it to catch the 6pm flight, so I booked the only flight after that, at 10pm. And now here I am, 5pm, checked in, and settling in for my next 6-hour layover. I thought about trying to catch an earlier flight, but of course this brilliant idea comes to my mind AFTER my bag is rechecked. Oh well, I have a car service waiting when I get there, hooray for silver linings and no sketchy cabs. One thing I don’t miss about other countries, the bombardment of “taxi services” being offered as you leave the airport. Legit car services or remises and radio taxis are the way to go.



Another thing about the airports down here is Duty Free everything. Now I’ve been through my share of international terminals, but EZE (Buenos Aires) is ridiculous. You MUST pass through massive duty free shops to get anywhere in the airport – from immigration to baggage claim, security to the terminal, and even mid-terminal, where the hallway itself passes through the duty free shop. That’s the way the exit is, like in attractions where you have to go through the gift shop to exit at all. Each shop is clad with any vice and luxury you can (legally) possess, as well as girls clad in tiny golden dresses with 4-inch heels. Welcome back to Miami. Ugh. Otherwise, EZE is not as nice as other airports, but you’d never know stepping into the duty free shop. It really is like night and day. I mean, girls in golden hooker dresses hawking cigars to dirty metal benches. Logical progression.



There was also a very fashionable group of Chilean girls on my flight from Santiago to Buenos Aires. It was a complete giggle fest en espanol, but it was interesting to listen and to see what they were wearing (as I’m still in workout pants for my 27-hour travel extravaganza). I am completely surprised to see pearls on every young woman over the age of 18. Of course I left all mine, real and fake, at home, so I wouldn’t be a target for theft. The only ones I have are the gray fakes in my ears now. Perhaps I’ll wear them around Palermo, while saving the fun, colorful plastics for volunteering, or simply go without on those days (even though I feel naked without!). As for the boots I’ve heard so much about, every woman down here is wearing either some form of boots with tucked-in skinny jeans, or sporty tennis shoes, “fashion sneakers,” as I like to call them. Good call on the Merrells everyone! I love them anyways, but style and function is always a plus. As for the boots, I’m still on the fence as to what kind I’ll end up with. There’s a lot of slouchy boots, which I haven’t exactly warmed up to yet. But who knows, it took years to get me into my riding boots and one pair of skinny jeans, so we’ll see how this progresses once I get back to BA and have room for new clothes!

En Santiago

Hola from Santiago, Chile!

I arrived in Santiago for the first time today at half after 7, Eastern time. The temperature, at only 50°F, was a big shock following the 60-some-odd days over 100° in Texas this summer. Today is gray, cold, and rainy, also a big difference from Texas, as it’s been awhile since we’ve seen real rain. As much as I enjoyed avoiding customs on this transit arrival, I would have liked to grab my jacket from the checked baggage. Alas, Starbucks is keeping me warm, all the way down here in the Southern Hemisphere.

In true grad student fashion, I hoarded my airline non-perishables to get me through the day, although there are some fabulous-looking empanadas advertised at an Irish pub-themed fast-food restaurant?? I think I’ll pass, as I’m sure many empanadas outside of the airport are sure to come.