South America 2006

This is going to be the record of the travels of some really weird individuals.

We are still in Edmonchuk, about to leave, vehicle unknown.  Actually, morris is in Red Deer, objective known.

We’re off to Vancouver in 5.

We made it to Simon’s and went for sushi at Yoshi’s, good food.

Hola to all our avid readers.  I am sitting in an internet cafe in Santiago, bone-tired and sweating (i’m not sure what the temperature is here today, but upon our arrival we were told that it was +37 yesterday).  It has been a long day, and a half, I think. Our ‘overnight’ flight was much forshortened by the fact that 1) we lost 5 hours time-zone hopping from Vancouver to Santiago, and 2) our stop in Lima, where they have to wake everyone up, get your seat back in the upright position, trays safely stowed, and sit on the ground for over an hour while passengers get on and off.  Then we had 3 more hours in the air, during which I kinda dozed, and Dad figures he dozed almost not at all, and then we arrived.  Thankfully, customs and all associated rigamorroll (sp?) all went smoothly and quickly.  But we arrived in town at 7:30, and can’t get a room until 12:30, and so after walking around a while, finding a coffee, and just now, a beer (as I mentioned the soaring temperatures), i definately find myself running out of steam, and all I can think off is getting that room and laying down for a 4 hour siesta.  Then our plan is to wander around some more this evening when it has hopefully cooled down a tad, and things are a little more lively (all the areas we walked in so far seemed to be real late risers, even for such things as coffee shops, which was surprisingly hard to find.

So yeah, more to tell later when we’re rested and have all our wits about us.

Hopefully that is the last hokeytitle, I doubt it.
We’ve been up 26 hours straight but are about to get a bed. The scenery in Santiago is remarkable, I haven’t found any pictures yet.
It looks like about 40 today under a clear sky.
Luv all, moi

We took a bus toi Valparaiso this morning and are now on the coast.  Once the clouds cleared off it´s another sunny hot day.  No real big stories, we are poking around these areas and will be heading south in the near future.  The mountains around Santiago to Valparaiso are very green compared to Peru, lots of orchards and vegetable farms.

Have a great day, moi

Hey all!

 First of all I want to enlist all of you who know about this page to share it with others who know us, in case we didn´t get the chance to tell them all about it, due to the lateness of the idea and the scatterbrain that I sometimes can be.

So, other than that, we are now in Valpariso, just west of Santiago on the coast.  It´s really neat here, a large bay surrounded by hills that rise very steeply away from the water.  A unique aspect of this town is it´s several ‘Ascensors’, which are touted as escalators set into the hillside to make going up and down easier.  What they really are are kind of a small Funicular, a train car on a ·very· steep slope (With our survey eyes Dad and I figured it was less than a 2:1 in the one we’ve tried).  They are very useful, but can only take you so far, with so many hilly streets yet to climb to get much of anywhere above the main area near sea level.  We’ve made our way through a very busy fish and vegetable market, which bodes well for finding good seafood dishes in restaurants here.

So that’s all for now, on we go,

Miranda

P.S.  All thoughts of visiting Antartica are out the window and far gone, as we met an elderly gentleman on the plane here who was going on a cruise there from the southern tip of Chile, and he said it was costing him $11,000 dollars (american).  So yeah.  that´s that.

well, we are now in the City of Conception, a mite bit south of Santiago, further south than either of us had ever been before (though to be fair even Santiago fit that bill). Valparaiso was nice, our hostel was really great, mostly for all the helpful advice we got from Patricia, the lady who runs the place. That seems to be such a constant thing, in all my travels of this great earth, that it is the people you meet that really colour your impressions of the places you visit. Just think of how much of an embassador you are of the place where you live. People could meet you and decide what they think of Canada based on how you act. Wow, what a thought. Anyways, on a lighter note, trying to decide on a place to eat in Valpo, Dad and I asked Patricia for a recomendation, and she named a place that, once we saw it, both Dad and I agreed that we never would have found the place on our own… it was a restaurant at the end of an alley, which, admittedly, you can see the sign from the street, but it says “casino” on it, and you never would have thought it was a restaurant. Well, it turned out to be a neat little local joint, with basically one dish on the menu, which is called chorillano, which is beef with onions and egg fried on french fries (yeah, a real heart-smart meal) Needless to say, it was a neat experience, with local artists providing musical entertainment throughout the night.

And now, like I said, we are in Conception, a nice enough city (where my Spanish teacher is from), and from which we will base our next couple days, touring the Pacific beaches and abandoned coal mines and the like.

that’s all for now, love, mir

Yesterday we headed south from Santiago.  From there to Chillan, about 4.5 hours bus, its a lush, very flat, valley full of orchards and food crops, a real big bread basket area.  The mountains were visible to the east and I saw two volcanoes, one of which I’m sure was active.  From Chillan to Conception is mountainous with major tree farming as it’s industry.  Most days we are seeing sun and 30 plus temperatures although at the coast we seem to get cloudy mornings also.

I worked out last night that at the cost of living down here I could already retire here and live quite well but if I work another two years I could live real well, maid and all.

As Miranda posted, Antartica is likely out unless some surprise comes up, its not worth it at this time so soon, off to the lake district.

Moi

We moved from Conception to Pucon today.  Interesting drive.  Basically, Chile has a climb in elevation from the ocean up to the main plateau.  By Valparaiso it was quite mountainous but by Concepcion not so noticeable.  The whole area we have travelled has been green, absolutely no desert yet not rainforest anywhere.  Today, up into some thick greenery and then south.  The farming is now grain, oats and wheat, not orchards although there are some of them too, apples and such, not grapes nor anymore corn fields.  From Temura to Pucon, we were still on the plateau but going straight at the mountains, especially, the active volcano.

Pucon, imagine a beautiful blue mountain lake at the foot of the mountains surrouneded by lush greenery, a snow covered cone with a smoking problem at your back.  Yes, snow covered, that´s how high it rises above this low elevation plateau.  Likely we will be climbing it shortly.  This is quite a town for Chile, uptown galore.

Just so you know it is not all fun and stuff down here, yours truly is recovering from sunburn on the top of my left foot, some sympathy would be appreciated.

Moi

Hmmm, what have I not told about Concepcíon?  Well our second day there was spent just south of the city, in a town called Lota.  There we visited a really charming and well-tended park, and an abandoned coal mine.  The coal mine was active from 1840 to 1982, when it was turned into a tourist attraction.  It is the only mine known to have natural ventilation and is actually below the ocean floor (Lota is a coastal town).  I would be able to give more details about this if my spanish was better, for the tour was only in Spanish.  Our trip to and from Lota was accomplished using the local buses, which Doerte will remember with us seemed to be such a confusing and daunting affair.  But with a little direction from the tourist office and helpful hostel staff, Dad and I feel we are getting a small handle on it.  We didn’t get lost, in any case.
So we are now safely in Pucòn, after travelling approximatly 5 hours by bus from Concepcíon.  The scenery on the way was just fantastic.  The first hour out of Conce was great, we were on a secondary highway, just two lanes, no real towns along the way, just a few farms and such, with the greenery being split between evergreen and deciduous, so that the forests looked almost like we might see at home (except that there are no poplars here that I can see, but I’m not sure what the major tree type is here.  Dad and I both have expressed an interest in knowing more about the flora here).  Then we were back on the PanAmericana Highway, back in rich farmland, with vinyards and orchards and cornfields.  The last part of our bus trip was more towards the inland, where the fields became grain and we saw more and more cows, and of course the Andes lurked on the horizon.  We are staying in a small cabin in this great little town, the cabin has 3 double bedrooms, and a kitchen and a living room to share.  Very quaint and very comfortable.  Oh, and the view out our front door is an active volcano covered in snow.  Yeah, it’s pretty impressive (if I had the software for my camera with me I could show it to you now).

So we have only just arrived in this town, and expect to stay for a few days, possibly to take in some  adventurous activities like rafting, hiking to the top of a volcano, and maybe just to up the adrenaline ante, relaxing in some natural hot springs.  Ahh me.  So while I ponder the next couple of days, I think I will go for a dip in the lovely mountain lake Villarrica that our town sits on the shore of.

P.S. is it snowing yet in Edmonton?

Mir

Okay, this is a test, my first time doing this, so hopefully it works. Here are some pictures of our rafting trip:

This was from the first waterfall we went down, a height of 4 1/2 meters, and the next picture in the series (which i have yet to upload) shows that me and the girl behind me both fell out of the boat on this one. When I have the next picture, I’ll add it cause it’s a good one, you can see one of our legs up in the air amid the crashing waves!

Tons of fun.

MIr

Okay, now that I know it’s possible, here are a few more pictures. This series is from right at the beginning of our trip, where the guide was teaching us how to respond to comands, one of which is to ‘jump to the left’, which is to be used when the raft is alongside a big wave, and all of us have to be in the left side of the raft to keep it from flipping. But for the practice you can see we arein calm water, and our guide (que chico malo) told us to make sure we had our bodies so far to the left that they were outside of the boat. Well, the pictures tell the story of how well that worked:

(Dad is in the in the front of the raft on the left -the second red helmet from the front- and I am the one jumping to the left just behind him -the 3rd red helmet)

Well, Pucon was interesting.  First day, white water rafting in 3-4+ level rapids and getting very wet.  Its neat going over the 5m falls and since I was at the front, looking down at not much but white.

Second day, 1000m+ vertical to the top of an active volcano.  Does it ever stink up there!!!  Actually seen it spit up some magma/lava and should have such as a picture.  That was an extremely tough hike, 1800-2800 in elevation on snow most of the way excèpt the top about 30m but coming down sliding on your back, a body luge type thing for most of the way was neat.  Got soaked bit in the end it was very worth it.  We were well above the surrounding Andes and had a great view from the top.

Third day, Miranda decides I need some exercise so up another 500m+ to Lago Chico, a picturesque lake.  Took some pictures of monkey puzzle trees and stuff.

Pucon itself is very expensive compared to all else down here, almost Canada prices.  But the word is that Argentina is substantially cheaper even than the normal parts of Chile.

We are back almost at the coast, Valdivia.  The drive today was through lush greenery with rolling hills all the way.  There`s quite a large fish market here, the second we`ve seen and daily shopping for a seafood based diet, salmon, oysters, mussels, eels, barracudas etc. would be easy and cheap, fresh vegetables in the same market.

Simon, hows the pathfinder?

Soon off to Bariloce, moi

So we have been in Valdivia now for a day and a half, and today we were told that it is supposed to be the 3rd rainiest place on earth, after the Amazon and somewhere in Scotland.  But that hasn’t been the case while we’ve been here, it has been sunshine all the time (i guess that’s their winter, kinda like you poor folks in Vancouver these days).  Valdivia was a very important port in colonial times, as it is at the mouth of one of the only navigable rivers on this coast of South America, and it was the last place to stock up on fresh water before leaving S.America to return to Europe.  So at the mouth of the river the Spanish built 17 forts to protect this valuable resource, effectively barricading the entrance to the rivers.  When Chile gained independence in 1820, this was the last stronghold of the Spaniards, and you would think it would take quite a fleet to defeat the 17 fortifications, but no, the Chileans enlisted the help of an English Captain (Sir Thomas Cochrane), and he beat the Spaniards with 350 men and three ships by landing just out of site and attacking by land in the fog, a move totally unexpected by the entrenched Spaniards.  All in all, a neat bit of history.  So we got to visit a couple of the remaining forts today, as only 4/17 are still standing today, after the strongest earthquake known(9.5 richter scale) hit in 1960 and leveled the rest, along with most of the towns on the coast.

So there’s the history lesson.  Since colonial times, steady German immigration to the region has left a heavy stamp on local archetecture and culture, which we’ve experienced in the locally brewed Kunstmann Bier and various German-style shops and restaurants, notably the Cafè Haussmann, where tonight we sampled their version of steak tartare *Simon!*, called Crudos, and had some apple kuchen for dessert.  A neat blend of cultural experiences to have in one day.

We are presently as far south as we will be +/- a bit.  We were talking about the range of our travels.  For my enfants, west, north, east are roughly the same, who crossed what street.  But south, 2 of you have to work at it.

Supper, Kenny, salmon covered in avocado, wrapped in a pastry shell.  Bake.  Serve with a sauce of sauted carrots, zucccini, beets, peppers and capers. in butter, olive oil and ?maybe soya.  This is tasty.  Most of the food down here is basically fired in oil/butter and served.  Very little spicing.  Tomatoes are peeled.  Vegetables are fresh but not well presented.  It is not a culinary delight to talk about.

Something else I’d like to say, flowers.  They have lots and lots of different flowering plants down here.  Alot of blue ?dahlias? and other colors that nobody seems to pay any attention to.

This is interesting, I wish I could really tell you what its about, love you all, moi

OK, Kenny, from last year in Peru, take 1 cuy (guinea pig), kill first (Canadian pet stores may not particularilly like this idea), skin, gut, split in half and grill with the necessary spicing, mostly salt and pepper (it tastes like chicken). Presentation is important, claws splayed, eyes forward. Agregado (extras), papas (potatoe how you want), aroz (rice), maize (corn).
Actually, they dont spice their food, they serve it with really nice sauces, that is where the extra flavour is. Tonight I had a nice bowl of crab ?soup? that totally tasted of crab, it cost about $7 but in Canada would have cost $30+. Miranda had the smoked salmon that was gorgeous.
Other than that, for those of you who dont know, I am now the owner of a first edition of the lord of the rings, yeah me and thank you Char and C.

Hej all.  Well, Dad and I are now in Puerto Montt, after spending three great days on the Island of Chiloé.  This island is one of the most scenic places we’ve been yet.  On one of our day trips on the island, we went to visit the National Park of Chiloé, and on the road there we hit the most southerly point we will make on this trip, roughly 42.5 degrees.  There was a great soft white sand beach there, looking out on the vastness of the Pacific ocean.  Other than that, there was some nice trails through interesting forrest, with many trees that I don’t think I’ve seen before.  I’ve really come to realize that, while the deserts we saw in the north of this contient last year were awesome, the true beauty of this country in my eyes is the lush greeness of this central portion.  You just feel like you’re breathing fresh clean air, with all the plant life photosynthesizing constantly around you.  Add to that a crisp breeze off the ocean, and it’s heaven.  It’s so easy to see it all here in Chile.  As a Canadian, I like to say we come from a country of extremes: hot, cold, glacial, rich farmland, rolling prairies, towering mountains, coastal rainforests,….etc, etc, but given all that, I’ve seen the same such extremes here in this small narrow land.  From the driest place on earth in the north with the Atacama desert, to the fjords and mountainous glacial wastelands of the south (which we can see the start of from here in Puerto Montt, but unfortunately won’t be travelling through on this trip).  The lush green farmland of central Chile is a narrow strip between the spine of the Andes and a breezy coast with a healthy fish and seafood trade.  It’s neat to see and sometimes hard to wrap one’s head around.  Just the order that we’ve been doing things in, we’ve been bouncing back and forth between inland destinations and beaches and ports, all in less than the distance of the drive from Edmonton to GP.  I’ll always recommend Canada to travellers as a place of great natural beauty, but from what I’ve seen so far of Chile it could be equivalent, in it’s own way.  The big difference here would be that there is really nowhere that you can say that you are very far from anyone else, as Chile has half our population in less than a tenth of our landmass.

This is mostly all coming clear in my mind now because tomorrow Dad and I make the big crossover to Argentina, as we hop on a bus to Bariloche, which means that we are saying goodbye to this amazing country for now, only to return in a couple of weeks to make the journey home from Santiago.  Another small adventure in a trip full of small adventures.

I guess that’s all for now.

Ciao!

This portion of south america, Patagonia, is really something else.  Gorgeous lakes with mountain backdrops.  The forests vary but lots of huge trees.  At the pass between Chile and Argentina we were almost at tree line.  Both leaving Chile and entering Argentina, about an hour apart by bus, we had to wait around for about an hour to get checked through but no difficulties at all.  Meeting neat people, in fact today in Bariloce Miranda was recognized on the street by a couple we met in Pucon, Nicholas and Carolinas, so a short visit happened with them and friends.

Steak last night at Albertos was very good, Mirandas was even rare enough.  Tasty meat.  We plan on trying jabali, wild boar, while here and maybe wild deer or fondue.  Chocolate shops everywhere, supermarkets in some cases.  If anyone would like a real nice place to come camp, hike, stay in cabanas, see mountains and lakes, this is definetely one of the prettiest places I´ve seen.

Miranda forced me this morning to walk all the way to a bakery to get her fresh bread for breakfast and then slept in until it was cold, I enjoyed it fresh though.

I do like the people, the scenery and will always recommend people add this to their travel lists, moi

She came up with the study idea, it brought tears to my eyes, moi

We are moving around in Argentina after some quality time in Bariloce.  Christopher, it´s not so much european in flavour as just a bit more uptown in atitude, not problematical though.  Argentina, so far, is cleaner, more our style of buildings and cleaner.  But then, I found southern Chile to be quite a step in that direction from all of Peru and Bolivia.  Of note is that Argentina is supposed to be probably the wealthiest country down here but in Bariloche the cars in use are a lot older and more of junk heaps than anywhere in southern Chile, I think their mechanic died over a year ago and no one has accepted the position yet.  Muflers, tuneups, seat belts and signal lights are definetely an option not many people invest in.  Gas in Chile was about $1.30 yet here is close to $0.75.

Word is you are having a great warm winter, congratulations all, moi

Ahh.  A destination Dad first heard about 2 years ago, then read more about in the Travel section of the Edmonton Journal, then thought about when we were on this side of the equator last year, and now we’ve been there.  It was an excellent four days, and well worth the wait.

Where to begin?  Even as I was trying to catch up in my travel journal, I was discovering that I was missing so much, as pretty much every aspect of every day spent here is worth mentioning, in one way or another.  I guess I’ll try to separate it by categories:

The Hostel we stayed at was fantastic.  It was a bit of an uphill walk to get to it, though it proved to be worth it.  Basically a cottage in the backyard, with a beautiful flower garden (where we sat in the morning for coffee and in the evening for a glass of wine) and just three double rooms, which were inhabited by others just half of the time we were there (and always by nice and interesting people).  The lady who runs the place is a spry 84-year old Slovenian named Milena, whose son lives in Toronto and was visiting for the week.  Milena was very helpful in answering all our questions from what to do to where to eat.

The Food  was amazing.  Our first night in Argentina we went to a very well-recomended Steak house, Alberto’s, where we had our first real steak dinner.  It was very good, comparable to Alberta Beef, I would go so far as to say, and we even managed to order it rare.  The next night we tried fondue, which was really only middle of the road, as the sauces were nothing like we’ve been led to expect from other culinary experiences thus far.  Then we had planned to visit a restaurant recommended in one of our travel books, but instead ended up saying “we’ll have what they’re having” at a bar/restaurant where we’d stopped along the way.  Neither Dad nor I were particularly hungry, after a long day in the sun, and we ended up with a supremely tasty platter consisting of several pickled tidbits, and a large assortment of smoked meats, sausages, and cheeses, including all the favorites of the region: jabali (wild boar), ciervo (deer), and trucha (trout).  Wow.  And just what we wanted, in terms of type and amount.

The Sights  were indescribable.  And even the pictures we took won’t do them justice.  How to begin?… I guess just to tell you all to come down and see for yourselves :)  Yeah.  Bariloche is on the shore of a large lake dotted with islands in the midst of several smaller lakes surrounded by mountains big and small, below and above tree-line, some still snow-capped even in the heat of summer.  Argentina’s (and possibly South America’s) largest and most popular ski resort is here, on the Mountain Catedral.  In the summer, instead of shutting right down they keep a couple of lifts open which take you to very close to the summit, and from the drop-off point it is just a 40min walk to the peak, where you get the most awe-inspiring view we’ve had yet (and that’s saying alot) into the next vally and across the spine of the Andes, taking in Volcan Tronador (which is dead) and in the far distance, another volcano that is active, which we passed by when we were still in Chile.  I’m sure our pictures won’t do it justice.  On another day we ascended a smaller chair lift to the top of Cerro Campanerio, which was less than half as high as Catedral, but afforded great views of the valley we were in such as the various legs and arms of the surrounding lakes, the islands, and little towns in the area.

The People  were so friendly.  From our lovely old Slovenian lady running the hostel, to the waiters and waitresses who were eager to try their english out on us, to Alfredo, a nice man who picked Dad and I up on a deserted road we were hiking on in the heat of the day that turned out to be alot longer than we’d been led to believe and brought us the rest of the way to the cool, inviting lake at the end of it, but not before inviting us into his cabaña, introducing us to his family, and sharing a cool glass of pear juice with us.

All of this and more has contributed to a great trip so far, and we hope it continues thus.

Miranda

Just to let you know, we are on the Atlantic coast, Peurto Madryn as of this morning.  Another sunny, going to be hot day.  We travelled overnight so didn`t see any farming so no comment yet.  The area surrounding here is almost all sand with gorse so quite desolate.  No pointy things with white tops anywhere to be seen.

Well, as of today, we turn around and begin the return with a 12 hour overnight bus tonight to Neuquen, the start of Argentina´s wine country.

Yesterday we had the experience of seeing 3 orcas cruise the shore in front of us looking for sea lion snacks, they were only about 20m off shore and we were about 100m from the shore, so close.  The whole crowd on shore seemed to be cheering for the orcas and not the cute little sea lion pups.  On the drive back our bus driver tried to balance our full 13 passenger bus on two wheels in the ditch, interesting.  500m down the road a truck had actually rolled just in front of us.  Saw guacunas, more penguins, you get within a meter of them, various local avians.

This desolate area is something, they get 500mm of rain annually yet it´s almost desert flora.  We got rain soaked yesterday, in fact Morris was out looking at sea elephants in the rain when lightning struck within 1/5 of a mile.  Kaboom.

Lots of travellers down here, swiss, british, auzzies (not many) dutch, germans, and a few north americans, lots of travelling Chileans and Argentinians.  This is a great travel destination for alomost everybody.

Take care everybody, see you whenever, moi

Okay, I know a couple of you have asked, and now I’m going to post a few to help catch you all up. This is just a sample, I can’t post them all now for you cause then you would have no reason to see us in person when we get back, and some of you we like enough to spend time with. And it’s not right up to date, as you will see from Dad’s post under this one, we had an exciting day yesterday.

Volcan Villarica (notice the smoke from the top

Dad and I on our way up (the easy part)

On the way up (the hard part)

Dad at the top

How we get down

Bariloche

The Pacific Ocean and the Atlantic Ocean

A sample of our great views above Bariloche

See, we had snow too!

A couple of penguins we saw, at a small colony of about 1million of them

Kay, this is kind of a joint post, both Dad and I remembering all the small things that kind of get burried beneath the onslaught of new experiences. All of you who have travelled know what the small things are.

Like “the meal,” basically seafood extraordinaire, eaten within sight of the Atlantic Ocean. People who are too numerous to mention (Maria, Adrian, German, Milena, unamed people on the street who help out in any way they can, Mariano, Joseph, Alfredo…). How great the busses can be here in Argentina, like first class on a plane: Greyhound has some catching up to do. Finding great accomodations by just going with someone who greets you at the bus station. Missing great-sounding festivals by a day or two, but still having a terrific time in whatever city we find ourselves in on any particular day. Stuck in Neuquen, which we were told was ugly and boring, but we managed to fill our day by walking the length of the town to the riverside, where all the locals were hanging out. Finally finding this “Cheap Argentina” that we’ve been hearing so much about ($1.70 for a liter of beer, or a bottle of wine… in a restaurant). Me paying Dad back 10000 in one meal, and him taking forever to make up the 60 difference he owed me. Great seafood (good enough to mention twice, and hey, we were on both coasts). The thrill of getting the hang of the local busses, which were a confusing mess to us in Lima, though we’re not totally fluent yet. Sand that is too hot to walk in bare-foot. Scenery, oh, wait, that’s not a small thing. Trying to get used to eating supper later, which some cities made easy by restaurants opening only at 7:30 or 8pm, and then getting here, to San Rafael where they don’t even open until 9! I guess that’s why Dad has been partying the night away at the bars ’til 1am, cause it feels like 10 Old cars, Dad pegs some models at ‘62-’63 Fords, and ‘73-’75 Citroyens (even some with all body parts the same colour!). Fruit, fruit, and more fresh fruit. Gypsies: “Will you buy this cheap plastic trinket from me? No? Well then will you just give me some money?” Good marketing strategy, eh? So far, in Santiago, Dad got sworn at (well fuck you then) for not giving a beggar money, hexed by a romany in Neuquen, and sworn at by a 12 year old in San Rafael for not giving him money, he looked quite wealthy. Dad also seems to attract the most unseemly lot of old men who seem to need to help him spend his money. But, in Santiago, he says he met a neat crowd of colored people when he bought a round of drinks in a hole in the wall. (Almost) free entertainment: jugglers and mimes playing in traffic, for just some small change, please. One mime in particular in Valdivia who had drawn a huge crowd… ask us later, oh, and the two-tiered juggling. Orcas, orcas, orcas (oh wait, that’s a pretty big thing too). Going from lush mountian forrests to dry pampas oh so quickly. Eucalyptus, monkey puzzle trees, olives (which Dad tried right off the tree when they are green, I don’t think he recommends them this way), grapes (which taste so great when you pluck them from the vine). Clean and organized bus stations. Some non-smoking areas in Argentina, the health factor showing up here in S.America for the first time we can think of. Fellow travellers who you share a hostel/outing/meal/drink/experience with, again too numerous to mention (Beth & Casey, Martje & Sonder, Nicolas & Carolina, flatlanders, Morris, Adrian, the Swiss couple, the Holland couple, Gerry and Lucy…).

Lots of love,
us

If you ever plan on visiting Argentina, put this city on your itinerary, extremely pretty surrounded by orchards, vineyards and to the west the Andes. We actually did some real estate shopping, a 5 Ha vineyard with older house, $160,000 APeso and only 7km from center of town just past the airport and golf course.

We just had a real neat experience, I was sitting outside a supermercado waiting for Morris when I noticed a couple across the way waving at me, the Swiss couple, Petra and Rico, we had met in Peurto Madryn who had headed for Bariloche but now are here.  This is fun, just like when Casey and Beth showed up in Peurto Madryn when we had went different directions from Bariloche.

Anyway, we’re in Mendoza, going to poke around, no, I still don’t own a vineyard but c’est la vie.  This is also a pretty town, about 1,000,000 people, very close to the Andes.  We´ll likely spend most of the rest of our time here, jump to Valpariso for the last two nights (read SEAFOOD) then home.  So far we have managed not one visit to a Bodega but will keep trying.

Last night I had to try the local steak, T-bone (tibon), 700g, muy roja, 23 Apeso ($9) and had a huge steak, huge filet done perfectly, ask Morris.  Simon, try San Juan reserva cognac some time.  Nice flavor.  Cost, 10 Apeso ($3.90) and they poured me about 4 ounces, this seems to be the norm on hard liquor, looks pricey until you see how much you get.

See you all soon, moi

First and foremost, I´d like to thank Christopher for the idea of this blog and then setting it up for us.

Traffic, basically there are no yield signs here, very few traffic lights and almost no stop signs yet does traffic ever flow well, basically, yield to traffic froim the right and give it.  The only jaywalking law probably reads ´just don´t get run over´.  Watching parrallel parking is fun, I liked the one this morning to do it into the double parked lane.

Thank you to Morris for preventing the theft of my camera, sharp girl her.

Trans Siberian railway, Petra and Rico did it recently.  Stops, getting off and on, raise the price.  Hotels are expensive (another swede says up to $40 a night) but food can be bought cheaply at any railway platform, only what they have at that time.  You can get along in english but some russian makes it easier, especially knowing the letters of the alphabet.  We do have their eddress so can ask more questions.  Trans Mongolian is recommended as is a visit to St. Petersburg, Moscow is boring.

Yesterday, what can I say, a nice trip to the Chilean border on the old route, elevation 4400m at the summit, 1100m in the last 8km.  We saw the tallest and 2nd tallest mountains in america.  THEN, somehow we were invited to share a barbeque with our hostel owners.  Done Argentinian style on their patio (read small area on the roof), burn wood down to embers and cook over them.  Vacuna and chorizo, wow, wow and wow.  Miranda was great at keeping me in a conversation with a family of 3 spanish speakers and fun was had by all.

Anyway, hopefully today we´ll actually visit a bodega.

Ciao, moi

Our last full day in Mendoza, and in fact in Argentina as well, and I finally manage to drag Dad to a bodega. Some small frustrations with buses and directions, but with a little help from friendly locals, we got on the right bus and got off at the right stop. It’s so great that there are good people everywhere who are willing to step in and help when it all just seems a little too overwhelming at the time.

So, just one day here, then two days in Valpariso (dad and I both decided we’d rather spend our last days there than in Santiago) and then the long flight home. I can’t stress too much how great an investment my Spanish course was. I’m so much more able to hear and understand the little parts of the language, able to put full scentences together, learning new words all the time, it just works. And for reading, it’s even easier. Last night at for the barbeque (read Dad’s post below) I was able to have a conversation with Isabel about cultural differences, politics and environment, among other things. Though, to look at it another way, Dad was up on the roof with Walter the whole evening, neither of them able to speak to each other, but they managed to communicate plenty. They seem to have common interests: drinking wine and watching women. Lots of hand-waving and “Cheers!” later, they were great pals. p.s. Walter and Isabel are the couple whose house we are staying in, not really a hostel, more that they rent out rooms in their house.

Anyways, looking forwards to seeing some of you soon.

Well, all of February below the equator, a very pleasant experience.  In Valparasio today and off to the airport tommorrow, maybe even to the bodega Concha y Toro, it is booked.  Another sunny day, likely hit about 25 or so so it’s a beach day.

Back soon, see you then, moi

Simon got us at the airport.  Moi