Guide dogs, and back to BA

I Keu Ken did not come through on the laundry, so I can only give them a qualified endorsement, but it was overall a very nice place to stay, and they set us up with a pretty decent hostel in Buenos Aires as well.

Here´s what happened... 2 days ago. We were a little exhausted with touristy things, so we decided to take it easy, stay in El Calafate, watch some sports (that was more my initiative), and explore a little. First we watched the US dominate Argentina in the Olympic basketball semifinals (with me celebrating and shouting at the TV at exactly the opposite times as everyone else giving me dirty looks in the cafe), then decided to go "bouldering," or climbing on big rocks, a pasttime suggested to us by our cab driver from a couple of days before.

As we walked out of the town and towards the hill (and boulders), 2 dogs, the same ones that ran with me a couple of days before, decided to tag along with us. What followed was incredible -- they hung out with us for the whole afternooon, and became our guide dogs, consistently running ahead of us and helping us find the best way to get where we were going. At one point we came to a wire fence that would have been easy enough to climb through or over, except we were worried it might be electrified. At this point the dogs disappeared, reappearing a minute later on the other side of the fence. One dog then led us to the point on the fence that was the easiest to get through, then himself went through the fence and back, demonstrating its non-electrifying-ness. When he later attacked a sandwich I had been saving for later, I considered it more than fair payment.

Also, we saw a cow/horse skeleton/carcass that one of the dogs started gnawing at, were in an open field with no fence separating us from grazing horses, and climbed to a giant rock/cliff with incredible views that resembled the place in The Lion King where the monkey holds Simba out over all the cheering animals. Pretty awesome.

And later I watched the gold medal soccer match (Erika skipped this one), which started at 1 in the morning, in a bar with a projector screen, and at the moment of Argentinian victory turned around to see the guy running the hostel, so I had someone to high five. Overall, people didn´t go as nuts as I had hoped watching soccer in the Olympics, but it was aiite, and to be fair I didn´t watch any in Buenos Aires.

I´ll do the next couple of days in the next post.

Back in B.A.

We just got to our new B.A. hostel and are preparing to go out shopping. We plan on getting ultra hip before our trip back to New York.

Yesterday we planned on just chilling out in El Calafate but actually went on a very exciting hike up Cerro Calafate. Our idea was to go bouldering and run around for a bit and we did that, but we also had an incredible experience with the dogs that chased Nuri the day before. They actually led us to the Cerro when there was no trail. When there was a fence that we were worried was electric, they showed us the way through. It was incredible and unlike anything we´ve ever experienced. The went up to a big rock with us and sat down in the wind for a while. I didn´t know dogs could be so smart.

I, Erika, have been a little sick for the past few days. Intense nausea, which is a bummer, but I´m feeling better now and that will hopefully last. Tonight is our big going out night!

What, glaciers again?

Many of the places we have been on this trip can be compared to familiar places, but the caveats you have to make with those comparisons quickly make the act of comparing them at all seem ridiculous. For example, Iguazu falls is like Niagara falls, except 50 times bigger and in a jungle. Ushuaia feels kind of like New England in the winter, except surrounded by mountains and at the meeting point of 2 oceans where sea lions and penguins hang out. El Calafate is like a cross between Mendoza and Ushuaia, except for the enormous glaciers that you can walk on and take boats right up to. Let´s just say we´ve seen some things.

Today was the boat trip, and we saw a couple of glaciers more enormous than yesterday´s up close, and passed through an ice barrier, which is just a series of icebergs of varying sizes everywhere. Madness. We´re getting so spoiled with scenery (and over-stimulated by constant activities) that we napped on the way back (and Erika is continuing to nap as we speak), so we will probably just chill out tomorrow and let being in Patagonia sink in while I go to local hangouts to watch the US play Argentina in the basketball semifinals of the Olympics in the morning and then to watch Argentina to play in the gold medal soccer game late at night (at 1 in the morning). Ideally we would be in Buenos Aires and not this tiny town to watch the gold medal match, but that´s life. I´m holding out hope that when we arrive in Buenos Aires on Saturday afternoon they will still be celebrating an Argentine victory (they´re heavily favored against Nigeria) but we´ll see.

One other thing to mention, stray-ish dogs (I think people feed them, but during they day they just go wherever) have been everywhere here and in Ushuaia. They love love love chasing cars and barking at everything. Those of you familiar with my non-paralyzing but definitely existent fear of barking dogs can guess why I cut my run here short yesterday evening -- 2 dogs that were chasing a car decided that I was slower and easier to keep up with, but also entertaining, and kind of hopped up on me friendly-like as I stood still petrified until I realized that they only way to get them to stop was just to start running back to the town. They just ran with me, which was actually kind of cool. This may be boring to you, but it wasn´t for me.

Also, shout-out to the very nice and pleasant hostel we´re staying at, I Keu Ken. I will revoke this compliment if they screw up our laundry situation, as it looks like they might. More later!

Perito Moreno- The Fortress of Solitude

Today we went "minitrekking", a trip to the Perito Moreno glacier. They picked us up in a bus at 8am (early for us these days!) and after entering the national park, we boarded a small boat that took us to an area right next to the glacier. Seeing the enormous glacier approaching over sparkling water was breathtaking.

Once we arrived, we dropped our gear off and walked up towards the glacier. While standing in awe, a chunk broke off and smashed into the water. We felt like we were in a movie.

The title of this posting is Fortress of Solitude because the blue ice shoots out of the ocean and reminded us for Superman´s resting place. The bright blue looks fake up close. When you move off a layer of snow, the blue shines through as though there is a light right underneath.

Then we walked up to put on some campons (the spiked shoe attachments used for ice climbing) and hiked up into the glacier. It looked like we were in a desert of ice with mountains all around us and hidden deathly crevasses. We walked and walked and when we hit a high peak, we could see a flowing river on one side and endless ice on the other. It makes us feel very, very small. As it turns out, you could fit the city of Buenos Aires on Perito Moreno and it is actually part of a much bigger strand of glaciers the size of Japan.

At the end of our glacier hike, we were fed Alfajores (chocolate covered cookies with dulce de leche in the center), whiskey (yes, whiskey) and water taken straight from the ground. Glacier water really does taste amazing.

After returning and eating some lunch, we headed back to the bus and went to the north face of the glacier where there are some walking paths and look out points. From there we were able to get a better idea of how vast it is. The surface is jagged for miles. It actually mimics the ocean bed terrain that it rests on.

Neither of us have ever seen anything like it.

Enjoy some of our personal pictures (we took them all ourselves, no internet downloads!) that I have just uploaded. I´m working on getting the video in.

Obama!

I went to the pharmacy this morning to buy Lamotrigine, which is 1/5 the price here, and ended up talking politics. (The men next to me just SCREAMED for the Argentine goal against Brazil) People really want to know what we think of Obama and all have their own opinions about the guy. "Do you think he´ll win??" they ask. I started speaking to one pharmacist and then the others all gathered around.

How many of us know the name of the Argentine presidente? Let alone her platform.

(Christian Fernandez de Kirchner).

More from Ushuaia

You can´t tell time using the Ushuaian winter sun. It never passes overhead. The sun arcs just above the horizon and so it always seems like sunset is minutes away. During the winter soltice, you often cannot see it, just the light that emanates from the horizon.

Yesterday we took a delightful trip to the Parque Nacional del Tierra del Fuego. We walked through deep snow to Bahia Ensenada, possibly the most beautiful place on earth. The place is almost cheesy- like right out of a silly motivational poster. We trudged down a hill to a snowy bay framed by snow capped mountains and a bright blue sky. There were horses roaming the area and small birds chirping next to us. We were all alone with nature.

When we walked back up and wanted to see the rest of the park we met a man who was driving around the park taking pictures for his 23 year old daughter and 21 year old son who had moved to the cities up north. He immediately took us in and showed us around the area. We saw the best of the park with this very nice man, Daniel Striker, the working class grandson of German immigrants who came at the beginning of the 20th century. He is a navy vet from the Falkland Islands war and has a big sign on the front of his car that proclaims "Malvinas son Argentinas!" (The Falklands are Argentine!) against a blue and white (Argentine flag) backdrop. It was one of the best days we have had so far.

This morning we left early to buy plane tickets. We bought super expensive tickets to Calafate (holy crap aerolineas argentinas stinks!) and we are headed there this afternoon. Nuri is watching the Brasil-Argentina soccer game in the cafe of an indoor mall with 25 other men whose eyes are glued to the screen. Go blue and white!

That was Erika. This is Nuri.

OK, I just wrote a bunch of stuff and then accidentally deleted it and Ctrl+Z doesn´t work here, and I can´t find an alternative, which could single-handedly account for the financial crisis of 2000.

The points were that this place looks really awesome, the sea lions and penguin-like cormorands were great, king crabs are as ugly as they are enormous as they are delicious, and our host is a chill, laid-back dude who scuba dives in 40 degree water as part of his job.

That´s all for now. As for the picture, we have seen king crabs that size in fish tanks (crab tanks?) in restaurants here. They eat only the legs.

The End of the Earth

We haven´t blogged for a while now, sorry about that.

Today was our second day in Ushuaia, the southern most city in the world, the end of the earth, the weirdest place in the world. But let me backtrack a little...

Our last day in Mendoza was in Chacras, a suburb that is known, in Frommer´s, for its wine. We took a bus there and followed an extremely unreliable wine path. Our first stop was closed, our second stop was closed for lunch (2 hr lunch!!!) but we kept on walking and were able to visit two big wineries. These were different from Maipu in that they were much larger and commercial. The tours were much more official and were were able to learn about some of the technicalities of climate control and the process of red wine coloration.

The next day was spent in transit to Ushuaia, our current location.

When we arrived, we were still able to see some of the scenery. Our taxi driver explained that to our right was the Atlantic and to our left, the Pacific. We were driving on a small piece of land between the two. Yesterday we were able to truly enjoy the panorama of mountains against the ocean on an intensely cold boat ride aboard a catamaran. It took us 17km from the coast to a lighthouse. We passed various islands of animals, including an island full of adorable sea lions basking in the sun.

Today we went to The Martial Glacier. But alas, we did not see a glacier. Instead we went skiing!!! It was another unreal view of mountains against the ocean. Spectacular.

Then we went to Tierra Mayor- a winter activity area. While on a ski mobile drive the weather became a white out. We didn´t pack enough winter gear to handle it so here we are, back in the city.

Tomorrow we are going to the Tierra del Fuego park.

How did our adventure turn out?

Raise your hand. Keep your hand raised if you have ever gone to a new-age breathing / meditation type session. OK, now keep your hand raised if you arrived at that session in the back seat of a police car. None of your hands should be up, unless you are me in the future or Erika. Now slap yourself in the face for not knowing where this was going.

The person who we were visiting gave us not-perfectly-clear directions on how to get there, which would have been fine except that a cab driver, about a dozen passers-by, and a gas station attendant had never heard of that street before in their lives and had no idea where it was. Another gas station attendant gave us very confident directions to nowhere. As we were wandering around, some guy stopped to help us, and flagged down a cop car to ask directions. They then drove us where we needed to go, but we had to sit in the back, like common criminals, making small talk with the cops, like common cops´acquaintances. The session was every bit as weird as we had hoped, but the funny details are mainly noises that will not come through in simple text.

We did other stuff today too. Saw a park, I guess. It was aiite.

People who know what Unicoum is (though I don´t think they´re reading this blog) (for everyone else, it´s a very "strong" Hungarian liquor): I have found the superior South American equivalent to Unicoum. It is better in that it is sweet at first and spicy as it goes down, as opposed to being terrible at first and then terrible until you eat like two meals afterwards. We will drink it upon my return.

That´s all... more wine tasting tomorrow.

First Day at the Vineyards

We were picked up at 10am by a driver and taken to Maipu, part of Mendoza´s wine country. We were given a map, terrible bikes, and told to have fun. We followed the map from a wine museum, to a liquor-chocolate factory, to various vineyards. There was not a cloud in they sky and so we had a stunning view of the snow capped Andes as we biked along the roads.

We sipped all sorts of Malbec, ate some empanadas de pollo, took a shot of weird liquors (dulce de leche with banana and chocolate chips for Erika, green pepper for Nuri) and took deep breaths of the valley air. By the time 6 rolled around were were all tuckered out (`knackered´ as our British pals would say) from the biking and touring.

On our way we met a fun TESOLer who invited us to her house tomorrow to learn more about her New Age religion. Why not? This is a fun adventure.

Before we paint the town red...

... a post from Nuri! While Erika was off dancing under waterfalls, I was nursing a mild sickness (back in check for now) and staying in bed until a wonderfully late hour. Iguazu, in addition to the fantastic waterfalls, is a great place to nap. And lying in a hammock under palm trees under a perfect blue sky listening to sub-tropical birds chirp is a fine vacation day any time. The downside is I failed, for the second out of 2 times, to watch an Argentina soccer match. I´ll try to watch their third opening round game against Serbia in a couple of days even though it´s meaningless and they will win, guaranteed. There´s a decent chance they play the US in the elmination-round quarterfinals, though, which I am pledging even harder than before to watch if it happens.

Yeah, Mendoza has this awesome mountain range overlooking it -- kind of reminds me of Brokeback Mountain, my only reference point for the American Rockies.

More later -- also, remind me to blog about mate, the thing Argentinians drink like it´s the air they breathe, next time. I´m holding each and every one of you accountable.

Hasta la vista! (that means "see you later" in Terminator.)

Arrivals and Departures

We just arrived in Mendoza, known for its wine and beautiful mountains. We left the warm and sunny Iguazu this afternoon and were excited to learn that Mendoza isn´t too cold, just kind of cold.

Yesterday I (Erika) went back to the falls for the 3rd time. I just couldn´t resist it. I walked the lower circuit which gives stunning panoramic views from below. Then I went to La Garganta again. This time there were no clouds in the sky and so the spray kept on creating full arc rainbows. It was majestic.

The day before, we did the upper circuit and the Macuco trail. The Macuco trail is quite long and there are much fewer people on it. We had a lot of time alone to just listen to the various animals and breath in the heavy air of the subtropical rainforest. We spotted a Tucan and a bizarre pig-rat thing. The end of the trail was a smaller waterfall (see above). I decided to climb about the rocks a little bit and ended up stranded on a big rock I jumped to. All the people there were starring at me and wondering what I was going to do. I made it back just fine.

We met a lovely couple from London in Iguazu and had a nice dinner with them last night. It´s fun to make trip-friends and now I have a place to stay in London whenever I go!

Nuri just came out of the shower so we are off to paint the town red!

So we are idiots

Erika and I just posted stuff at the same time while sitting right next to each other at an Internet place, because we are morons. Whatever, we covered kind of different stuff. Enjoy!

Devils Throat

My punctuation is going to be off because I cant find the apostrophe on this good-for-nothing foreign keyboard. And I also cant find the "at" sign, so I cant even log onto Facebook, a thing that did not exist 5 years ago but is now very important to me. (this is nuri, by the way)

Anyway, the important thing is we went to Iguazu national park today, which features the unbelievable "Garganta del Diablo" ("Throat of the Devil" in Spanish) the something like 3rd highest waterfall in the world, one of the biggest (factoring in length and stuff), and the crazy one that was the last, crazy waterfall that Indiana Jones tumbled down in his most recent movie. In the movie, his whole band of like 6 people survives -- in real life, they would have each died 20 times. When youre looking at it from the top of the falls (and there is a great lookout point), you cant even see the bottom, because so much water-slash-mist is kicked up from the tremendous impact the massive amount of water has when it hits the, I guess, other water. Awesome stuff.

Also, we had some boat tour that took us really right up to some of the biggest falls and got us soaking wet, which was really crazy. If you really enjoy experiencing people screaming at your whim but dont have the planning skills needed to be a good serial killer, you should be the "captain" of one of these little boats, and always make sure to turn a little sharper and go through the falls one more time than you need to. I hope our captain was crazy, so that he could fully enjoy what he was doing. The downside of this great thing was we were wet all day. Meh.

Tomorrow we are going back to stare down at that crazy waterfall for another hour, plus hike or something. Also, for dinner tonight we ate a barbecued version of pretty much every part of some animal. Turns out I really like the taste of blood sausage.

More later!

Iguazu Falls

Last night was incredibly wet and rainy so we sat leisurely beneath an awning drinking Quilmes, the local Bud Light. We made sure to get home in time for a good sleep before heading out to the Iguazu park.

Our original plan was to rent bikes and ride the 11 miles out there. But when we asked around, it sounded like it wasn´t such a great idea and after riding the bus there, on the no shoulder highway, I´m glad we decided not to rent the rides.

We splurged a little when we got to the park and decided to take the Gran Aventura ride through the waterfalls. It began with a truck ride through the SubTropical jungle. Our guide told us about the various species of flora and fauna that exist in the subtropics. Unlike tropical areas, the trees are shorter and there aren´t the vibrant greens that exist in a place like the Amazon.

It was a little chilly out when we got into the boats but it was downright cold when we started to fly across the water. The boat zipped into rapids where we rose and fell into what looked like extremely rocky waters. There were times when we both thought the boat was headed directly into danger. Then we slowed as we approached the gigantic falls. They are truly majestic. They are what the word "awesome" is really meant to describe.

But we didn´t just get to look at them. We boated right INTO them and ended up soaked to the bone. Our boat driver took us farther in than could possibly be safe twice. It was unbelievable to look up at a gigantic waterfall with the water running into your face.

After the ride we continued to explore the falls and check them out from various Miradors (look out spots). The mist that sprays from the falls kept us wet the whole time. We then took a train to The Devil´s Throat, the most incredible falls in the park. It was tremendous. We were both silent with wide eyes for minutes, enjoying the jaw dropping view of more water than we have ever seen falling from an unbelievable height into an abyss of spray.

Quick comment

Well, a couple. The only downside of the bus was they served us, slightly after the whisky, something that looked like we were supposed to eat it (had a cherry, a couple of meat-looking things, and an olive, on a skewer) but tasted curiously like bathroom cleaner. Maybe we were supposed to put it in the whisky? Does whisky taste good with bathroom cleaner? 10 bucks to the first person who can give me an answer.

Also, my quick comment is that people love The Simpsons here. Homer, or as they call him "Homero," is everywhere, in statue and souvenir form, including in really quaint historic places like San Telmo, where you´´ll see an old man playing tango music right next to a giant plastecine Homer. Today I heard a cell phone ring that was the theme to Itchy and Scratchy. And while describing one of the Guarani traps, the guide said (in Spanish, to a group of 95% Argentines) "Has anyone seen that episode of the Simpsons where Homer tries to set this trap but it launches the rabbit really really far?" Awesome. And, yes, of course I have. He´s also a fan of The Office and Arrested Development.

Dinner time!

After a 20 Hour Bus Ride...

Yesterday was a leisurely day. We woke up late and decided to explore San Telmo by foot. We began at Desnivel, a local well known restaurant, and ate filet mignon, again. Then we headed to the park. Nuri quickly spotted the old men playing chess. We hung around and then Nuri asked, "Puedo jugar?" (Can I play?) Being an all star, he sat down and beat the 83 year old legend (their words, not mine) Francisco who has been playing in the park for 40 years. The old men clapped when Nuri put his geriatric opponent into checkmate. Francisco smiled and laughed, "No puedo ganar cada vez." (I can´t win every time.)

We walked the streets a little more and then took the subte to the bus station where we boarded our home for the next 20 hours. We sat first class on the upper level of the double decker bus (see 2nd picture above). The first thing they offered us- whiskey. Of course, Erika immediately got queezy and yakked into a plastic bag but we were able to put our seats all the way back and sleep for a million hours. Erika slept the whole way. What could have been a terrible ride was actually a comfortable trip that felt like no time at all.

We arrived at Hostal El Guembe just after noon and immediately planned a trip at 2. The trip took us on a nature walk through the jungle where our guide demonstrated the trapping done by the original indigenous people, the Guarani. Then onto the activities... rock climb, zip line, ladder climb, 2nd zip line, repel down. The zip line had an incredible view of Brazil and the Parana river, the 3rd largest in the Americas. After everyone had their turn, we got on boats that took us on a ride down the river to an area where you can see Paraguay, Brazil and Argentina. We went through the waters of all three countries. (1st photo above).

Tonight we don´t have plans but we hope to check out the downtown area. Tomorrow- the waterfalls.

Additional Corrections

Erika´s doing a great job of blogging, but it´s still my job to fill in all the stuff she missed.

Things:

1. People here are going to be up at 6 AM on certain days watching the Argentinian national futbol team compete in the Olympics. No matter where we are, I will be with them.

2. People here really, really like the color light blue. And Maradona.

3. The national color of La Boca (the neighborhood we were just at) is rainbow. The national animal is snarling, mangy dogs. The national pasttime is not having change for bills so you can get on the bus.

4. While our hostel is kind of a shithole, the guy running it was very impressed that I had once seen Woody Allen (for some reason he loves Woody Allen), so that whole place is OK in my book.

More later.

La Boca

We just returned from La Boca, a historic Italian neighborhood known for íts colorful streets and houses. It was extremely cute though tremendously touristy. Tango dancing in the street isn´t an everyday event I guess. So we walked a little out of the way into the real neighborhood where the colors have faded and the people have less. Faded colors seem to be the Buenos Aires motif. Much of the city is beautiful though obviously faded glory. One can imagine the beauty that must have been but now much of the area is littered with graffiti and trash along the pavement.

Our short walk beyond the touristy area brought us to a local market. Instead of kitchy art and souvenirs, it boasted fruits, vegetables, multi colored chilis and clothing. There were no tango dancers or restaurant hustlers. Just real people engaging in everyday chores. We loved it.

Our plan for the rest of the day is to 1) get ready for our trip to Iguazu tomorrow and 2) walk through one last neighborhood, Puerto Madero.

Oh, and last night we spent the evening in a small cafe drinking house wine and eating Italian food. We returned to our hostel to turn in early which is, how do I say this, ah yes, a shithole. We are having a great time.

Our 2nd Day- Antiques, The Government and Tango

Yesterday began with a walk through the San Telmo antique and crafts market. There were musicians every step of the way playing accordian, guitar or violin. Tango music is incredible romantic while melodramatic.

We ate lunch at an extremely popular restaurant named Desnivel. We had more red meat and red wine than anyone should ever have and it was fantastic.

After hours wandering the street fair, we headed towards La Casa Rosada. Their White House, only pink. We passed by an beautiful and ornate church called La Iglesia Metropolitania and stopped in just before its restoration ceremony began.

After exploring La Plaza Mayo, home to La Casa Rosada and various monuments, we took the old timey subway line A to Congreso- a neighborhood with more government buildings and a gigantic plaza. We watched children feeding the pidgeons and admired the enormous building (picture above).

We entered a small cafe and drank coffee for hours- a regular Argentine tradition. After about 3 hours drinking cafe cortado and munching on gnocci, we headed back to San Telmo to catch some Tango. I wussed out on taking lessons and opted for a bottle of Malbec but we returned to soak up the sights and sounds of a traditional milonga. Internet time running out...

Erika forgot a couple of things

1. In the airport on the way here, we saw the craziest man in the world. He was dressed in all colombia colors, and by ¨dressed¨I mean including his beard and his small dog. He was also wearing a sash over his dress that said ¨srta. colombia.¨ he looked about 50 years old and exuded more charisma in the 5 minutes I saw him than I am able to produce in 1,000 years. what a weirdo.

2. a few minutes later, some lady doing a marketing survey asked us why we had not yet purchased alcohol that day. It was 7:30 AM on a weekday.

3. everything else has been said. time to go out!

Bogota and Our First Day in Buenos Aires

We decided to take advantage of our 9 hour layover in Bogota to explore the parts of the city that were didnt have time to see last winter. We began walking through the colonial old center. Then we made our way to the upscale area in the North where we had dinner and a drink. It reminded both of us of Nolita/SoHo.

We arrived today at 6:15am and had a small adventure finding a hostal. Im making this quick because we want to go out but, in short, we went from Palermo to La Recoleta and then to Microcentro. Palermo had an incredible fair of incredible original clothing. La Recoleta had an art fair but we spent most of our time there walking around. We also followed a crowd into a free orchestral concert in a beautiful and gigantic building. We walked down Corrientes in Microcentro and took in the bright lights. Corrientes is a lot like 42nd street, but without all the tourists. People were lined up to get into the theaters and the cafes were packed. We are now back at our overpriced hostal in Palermo Viejo where we plan to go out for the night.

A quick note- prices have sky rocketed since I was last in this country. Bummer for us.