South America 2006

Simon got us at the airport.  Moi

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

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.

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

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

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.

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

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

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

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.