Mendoza, Argentina: Christ, I´m in Chile! Fancy some wine in Maipú?

So when I arrived in Mendoza on Thursday, March 27 and my luggage didn´t, I knew that it was already off to a promising start. Fortunately, I arrived at my hostel without any problem so Mendoza was back on the map. After deciding what my Friday excursion would be, I ended up spending my Thursday evening doing -- what else? -- shmoozing with a guy from Spain (Ibiza, to be precise) and some Argentines. Ibiza is quite a character, actually -- well, more like literally. See, he´s a writer, and after he published his first book and it didn´t get the attention he wanted, for every subsequent work, he used pseudonyms and created whole characters out of them. So, when he goes in for interviews and such, he goes in dressed in character. The book photos? Also in character. A regular Borat , you might say.

My Alta Montaña (High Mountain) excursion on Friday took pretty much the whole day. The first stop was to a large dam on the Mendoza River called the ``Presa Embalse de Portrerillos´´. Basically, it was just a lot of water with some mountains in the background, and one would never know it was artificial. The next stop was to a bridge called Puente del Inca. This place was pretty cool because a) it looked neat and b) there are thermal springs around there, in addition to it being an Incan bridge. After walking around here and looking at the tourist stalls for a bit, we got back in the van and got back on the highway. We stopped at this one point along the road where we had a view of a mountain called Cerro Aconcagua, the highest mountain in the Americas and the highest mountain outside Asia. Even from far away, where things are supposed to look smaller, it still looked big. (Then again, it is 6,962m tall.) And then it was back on the road. While we were on the road (and this was the majority of the day), our tourguide, Mauricio (who does not go by the alias Cecilia..or if he does, he didn´t say so), told us that the town we were passing through, called Uspallata, was where the film ``Seven Years in Tibet´´ was filmed. Surprise, surprise -- it was not actually filmed in Tibet. One funny tidbit of info we learned about the movie (that, of course, may or may not be true) was that Brad Pitt´s double is from Mendoza and now lives with him in L.A. Something doesn´t sound quite right about that, but then, that´s what makes it funny. After we passed through Uspallata, we passed a small town called Las Cuevas and then proceeded to drive up lots of hairpin turns to reach an altitude of 4,200m, at which lies (or, stands...or sits? well, none of the above, really) a statue called Cristo Redentor de los Andes, a statue that divides Argentina and Chile. On one side of the statue is Argentina, and the other side is Chile. What this means is that on Friday, I was in Chile for about 15 minutes or so! Taking it one step further, though (but not too many steps further, since it was 4,200m up and I wasn´t wearing a harness or anything), this just goes to show that in traveling, every day is a new adventure. Originally, I had decided to forego Chile during these four months because there is enough in the country to merit its own trip but, well, the opportunity presented itself... and when that happens, you just gotta greet Chile and say, ´´Christ, I´m in Chile!´´ After a slow descent down the mountain, we headed back to Mendoza (with a stop for a late lunch....mmm asado) and continued back to town.

Saturday started off as a rainy day -- not such a great day to walk around town, but when time is limited, you do it anyway. Besides, it´s only water, so you bring an umbrella, and if you really want to absorb the town, you keep the umbrella closed and just wear your (my) jacket with a hood. I spent some time checking out the main plazas in the city center that have some history behind it -- Plaza España, Plaza Italia, Plaza Chile, Plaza San Martín, and Plaza Independencia. But the history isn´t all that exciting (sorry if you are a history buff, but this is my forum and I´m not one!), and the only interesting part out of all of those plazas was the Andalusian ceramic tiles that decorated the benches in Plaza España. After my improvised tour of the city center, I picked up some lunch and headed back to the hostel, since I had an excursion scheduled for the afternoon.

Since the province of Mendoza is known as the wine region, I did a half-day bodega excursion located in a town just south of the town of Mendoza, called Maipú (hey, I don´t write the jokes -- I just tell them). At the first bodega, called Vistandes, we had a tour of the place, yada yada yada, and of course a free sample at the end. The next stop of the excursion was to an extra virgin olive oil factory called Pasrai. A quick tour, yada yada yada, and another free sample! Finally, we visited another bodega called Cavas de Don Arturo. There, we had a tour and three free samples (but don´t be fooled, as they weren´t that great). These three stops comprised the tour, so this third stop was the last stop. I feel that it´s only appropriate (well, not really, so if you want to stop reading now, feel free) to mention that on the way back from Maipú, I saw a billboard with the town´s slogan. It said, ´´Maipú: el mejor lugar para vivir.´´ (Maipú: the best place to live) Really, who comes up with these things?

At night, I walked around for a bit and ended up sitting at an outdoor café for dinner, ultimately deciding on empanadas. It turned out that the couple next to me was Brazilian -- from Sao Paulo -- and I talked to them for awhile. It occurred to me that last night was my last night in South America after three months of traipsing -- two months in Brazil, three days in Uruguay, and three and a half weeks in Argentina. And there, everything came full circle again, because I was eating dinner in a Portuguese-speaking environment a month after leaving my self-imposed Portuguese immersion, and my new Brazilian friends told me that I had little to no American accent. Hooray! Misson complete (for now).

So, since it seems that my Portuguese is doing okay for now, and I´ve finished up the Argentine portion of my trip, where summer has turned to fall, I think it´s time to swap the ´´vos´´ for the ´´vosotros´´ and go continue this viaje on the other side of the Atlantic, where it´s springtime!

hasta la sangria,

missy

http://andsmilestogobeforeisleep.blogspot.com

(San Carlos de) Bariloche, Argentina: There´s no place like...Spain?

Once again, my travels started off well when I had the row to myself on the airplane from El Calafate to Bariloche on Saturday, March 22. The flight wasn´t so long, though (which is strange, seeing as it would be a day and a half on the bus vs. a one-and-a-half hour plane ride), so I didn´t take advantage of the siesta space.

I arrived at my hostel without a problem and already I had a good feeling about it. (A pretty funny immediate encounter: When I went down the street to buy a water, the guy behind the counter asked where I was from. I said the U.S., and he said, ´´Ohio?´´ And I said, ´´No!´´ ´´California?´´ ´´No.´´ ´´Miami?´´ ´´No.´´ etc. etc.) When I got back, I met some Argentines right away, but I spent most of the night talking to an Aussie girl, Karla, who had been on my flight from Calafate (and had been to Antarctica before that), and an American guy named Dan. (I think that was his name; if it´s not, that´s what it is now.) Those people (who didn´t know each other before Saturday) have been all over the world and find ways to make it work. They start sentences with things like, ´´When I was in Tibet...¨ or ´´And then I had to hitchhike to get into Nepal,´´ etc. etc. Meeting people like that and having conversations about previous travel experiences just go to show that hostel living doesn´t have to be hostile at all. In fact, we were (are) all solo travelers from different parts of the globe, in the same place in the middle of Argentina. How strange the world is sometimes.

Since last time I had the first full day in a city to myself, I ended up getting bored pretty quickly, I decided to try something different. There is a popular excursion that tourists do here, called Circuito Chico, which consists of a 65km road course that follows this one lakeshore road to the west of Bariloche. I decided to forego the tourbus in favor of the bicicleta (but I did not do all 65km by bike -- maybe 25km or so). I started off by taking the local bus from the center of town to a place called Cerro Campanario. From there I took the chairlift to a spectactular viewpoint where there was a 360-degree view (then again, what view wouldn´t be 360 degrees if you didn´t want it to be?) of lakes, mountains, trees, nature, etc. I ended up having lunch up there, and it was hard to believe that it was just an 8-minute ride up from the gravel road bus stop. After lunch, I took the chairlift back down and walked 1km or so to the bike rental place, where I had to wait a little bit for the morning rental people to come back. Awhile later (I must say, I am getting much better at signing my life away in other languages), my helmet was strapped on, my water was secured into the front, and I was ready to go.

Near the beginning of this bike route, there is a turnoff to do some mountain biking (as opposed to staying on pavement), so naturally, I decided to go for it. I ended up meeting some Israelis on the path, and we conquered it together, passing some wild boar (perhaps jabalí ) along the way. Later, I biked by the chic hotel Llao Llao and continued past Puerto Pañuelo (a port where boats leave for several nearby island excursions). A few kilometers later, I met up with some other people (a girl from Spain, a guy from England, and a guy from the U.S.), and we all locked our bikes up and hiked to the Lago Escondido (a lake). The Israelis met up with us there, too, and it turned out that everyone knew each other because they were staying at the same hostel. The former three people stayed to go swimming, so I continued on my way. I then went by Bahía Lopez (a bay with a really nice viewpoint) and kept going until ´´the´´ viewpoint that everyone stops at (including tourist buses). I eventually made it back to the bike rental place in tact and feeling no guilt whatsoever when I ate the two (ok, three) chocolates that the bike guy gave me in honor of Easter. I must say, out of all the uphills, downhills, etc. I have two things to note: 1) downhills? funnnnnnnn. uphills? booooo. 2) Circuito Chico? Not that chico when you go by bike.

Later on brought an evening tailor-made for a hostel promotional video. Leandro, a guy from Spain (whom I had met the previous day), ended up making paella for 20 (well, it could have fed 20, but it fed about a dozen of us). And when it was all ready, we all sat around a table and ate, and ate, and ate. Countries represented? Spain, Argentina, U.S., Switzerland, Chile. Number of people? 12. Mmmmmmmm, paella. And we all hung out until the early morning hours, people dropping off one by one as their bedtimes approached. Boy am I glad I met *that* guy. (He only invited people he knew, since he had to know in advance who was coming.)

After a full day of biking on Sunday, I decided to take it easy on Monday. One funny encounter occurred at breakfast between two non-English speakers who were speaking Spanish, so it was easy to overhear. They were saying how they didn´t sleep well for various reasons, one of which was that a girl was talking in her sleep but it was in English, so they didn´t understand a word. At first, they thought this girl was talking to someone else, but then after awhile it turned out she was just talking in her sleep, but it was totally incomprehensible. (I wonder if it was actually incomprehensible or if it was just incomprehensible because it was in English.) Either way, it was funny to hear that because being in such an international environment in hostels all the time, I never stopped to think about these little details that must occur on such a routine basis.

Anyway, that day I had a full-day excursion to go to San Martín de los Andes , a town nestled in the middle of mountains and lakes, like everything else around here. The town lies a few hours away from Bariloche, but the point of the tour wasn´t just to see the town (there´s not much ´´town´´ to see), but rather the landscape you see on the way to the town when you drive along the Camino de los Siete Lagos. In reality, I think there were a lot more than seven, but either way, the full-day of driving to spend two hours in a town just for a quick walk-around and an asado was still worth it. I hung out with a girl from my hostel who hails from Mallorca (in Spain). Our van took a different route back to Bariloche and got back just after sunset. So, I thought that after I had had a full day of biking, a day of sitting in a small van would be good, but it turns out that that´s not so easy on the culo, either! I think it´s better to just change it up, all the time. At night, Jenny (from Mallorca) and I went out for pizza and then hung around the hostel for awhile when we got back. (The hostel has a good atmosphere, so it is a very easy place to kick back and hang out.)

Since I never want to leave a town without having gotten to see what it´s all about, I decided to take part of Tuesday to get to know Bariloche a little bit...you know, take it out for dinner, buy it a drink, etc. After a leisurely breakfast (during which I made a trade with this Argentine guy: I traded away butter in favor of dulce de leche..he said it was like a prison trade for cigarettes), Jenny (Mallorca) and I went out and walked through the streets in town. We walked along the lake to the Catedral Nuestra Señora del Nahuel Huapi, picking up some stray dog friends along the way. Then we walked back toward Centro Cívico , which is the main square in town. Because once we had seen those few things, that meant we had seen the town of Bariloche (we heard the chocolate museum wasn´t worth it), I decided to create my own chocolate excursion, and that was taaa-sty! We knew where there was this one block with several chocolaterías, so we went there, and walked on that block, going into the various places and walking out of each one a little bit more slowly than we had gone in. By the end of the invented excursion, we had visited four chocolaterías, and I had no more room to try anything else, so we rolled on back to the hostel. The rest of the day ended up being a low-key day, taking care of odds and ends and hanging out with various people from the hostel. At night, I went out with Jenny (Mallorca) and Marta (Argentina) and saw some of Bariloche by (dreary/drizzly) night.

It turned out that Tuesday was the perfect day to make the ´´exploring´´ day because Wednesday´s weather was back to perfect, with not a cloud in the sky. I had a mini-trekking excursion lined up for Wednesday, which ended up lasting the whole day. The point of the excursion was to do three hikes within Parque Nacional Nahuel Huapi . The first one led us to a waterfall called Cascada los Césares. We stopped for lunch at Pampa Linda (an area of the park) before continuing on. The second one was a trail called Sendero Natural Saltillo de las Nalcas, where there was another waterfall. The final one (the grand finale) we did was to get to Cerro Tronador, a mountain covered with glaciers. We waited around a little bit for the Tronador (Spanish for ´thunderer´) to do its thing and have some pieces break off and be true to its name, but just as a watched pot never boils (is that how the saying goes?), it never happened. At the bottom of the mountain, there is one black glacier called the Ventisquero Negro. After seeing so many other glaciers that were all the same (well, not all the same, but you get what I´m saying), it was neat to see one that was different. We stopped at a couple of viewpoints on the way back to Bariloche and in general, we ended up having a good group of people from all over the place, really. Lots of English speakers, which was strange to hear, some Spanish-speakers (and one Mallorquín speaker! -- Jenny), some Germans, and one girl from Italy (who is currently living in Barcelona), etc.

At night, we had an asado party at the hostel in honor of Marta (Argentina)´s birthday and for a couple other reasons. I was very glad when I found out that this would be happening because normally Friday is asado night, and since I arrived on a Saturday and I would be leaving on a Thursday, well, you can imagine how disappointed a newfound meat-eater would be after finding out that asado night is Friday. How fun it is when nightlife is brought to you and you don´t have to go anywhere!

Today, Thursday, I leave for Mendoza, and once again I am back on track, with the knowledge that I could have easily stayed more time in Bariloche. Ah well. Such is life. But wine country is calling, and when wine country calls, you just gotta pop the cork and get goin´.

missy
http://andsmilestogobeforeisleep.blogspot.com

El Calafate, Argentina: The only thing this ´´town´´ has is freezing water and even that is more than an hour away

The downside of traveling by plane is that when you find out in your travels that in some places there isn´t going to be much to do, and you are already stationed in a place where you haven´t yet run out of things to do, sometimes there is just nothing you can do about it. Such was the case when I left Ushuaia for El Calafate on Tuesday, March 18.

The only lucky thing about those travels was that on a full flight, I happened to have a row to myself, and I didn´t even notice the plane had taken off until I woke up and there were only 20 minutes left to go. While waiting in line for a taxi, it turned out that the three Slovakians in front of me were going to the same hostel, so we ended up going together. When they talked amongst themselves, I tried to eavesdrop. I bet they don´t know that I picked up on what ´´Patagonski´´ means. (That´s as far as it went, though.) It turned out that I arrived to town too late to book any excursions for the following day, which meant that in a town where I would probably be left with nothing to do, I was to start with a day exploring the city. It seemed okay, though, since I usually like to do that at the beginning of my stay someplace anyway.

I got to learn a little bit of the town pretty quickly on Wednesday morning, when I decided to move out of my hostel for various reasons. I hadn´t yet paid for my stay, and the woman at the reception desk was under the impression that I was going to go to the bank and then come back. (She had said that this week the bank would be closed for four days, so if I needed money, I had to go get it ASAP. A real delight, that woman.) Since I was already set to pay the bill, though, I went and sought out a new place to live, and much to my happiness, I found one; thus, within two hours of having left my first hostel, my reservation was set and my bags were dropped off at my new one. So, I guess it turned out to be lucky for me that I didn´t have an excursion that first day. Some hostels aren´t called ´´hostel´´ places for nothin´. The main street in town is made up of the following: shops (that sell tchatchkes, tourist stuff, etc.), internet cafés, a few restaurants, a few hostels, and stray dogs. Needless to say (but clearly, I´ll say it anyway), I walked the length of my map in under 45 minutes (and I was strolling). One of the stray dogs accompanied me, though, so at least I met one nice local. I also ran into the Basques and their cousin (the Argentine) who had been on my 4x4 trip a few days earlier in Ushuaia, so that was random. I knew they would be in El Calafate, and obviously it isn´t that big of a place, so perhaps it wasn´t random at all. (Perhaps the stranger thing was that when I went to Parque Nacional Tierra del Fuego the day before with my Spanish friends, we ran into the two Argentines from the same 4x4 trip. Now *that* is especially weird, considering that out of 630 square kilometers of the national park, I happened to run into two people I know. It turned out that after I told them about Joaquin´s luck at Bingo during our tour, they went to the casino that night and ended up coming out ahead (not 3,000 pesos ahead, but still a few hundred or so). It´s like I was Robin Hood, taking from ´´the system´´ (the rich) and giving to the travelers (the poor) without any of it ever passing through my hands. I´m ready for it to be my turn! (One thing I will say about Bingo, though, is that they read those numbers *fast*, and never in my life have I had to pay such close attention to numbers being read aloud in Spanish, with a clear goal in mind! But alas, having one number left when someone else says Bingo isn´t enough to claim Bingo as your own.))

Thursday, I got an early start, since I had an excursion to catch. It was an all-day tour to the Perito Moreno Glacier, located in Parque Nacional Los Glaciares . Since the glacier isn´t located in El Calafate itself (not much is), the bus ride out there took a little while and we made a couple of stops along the way. The unplanned stops were more like ´´slows´´ really, since we saw some animals along the side of the ´´highway´´ (gravel road). We saw an ostrich-like animal, eagles, condors, sheep, rabbits, etc. The first stop was to take a picture of the Lago Argentino, which looked like it belonged on the front of a 500-piece puzzle box. The second stop we made was to take a little hike and learn about trees, lakes, nature in Patagonia and whatnot. After that, we went to the glacier. As we approached the glacier, our tourguide, Cecilia (is everyone´s name in South America Cecilia?), put some music on the loudspeaker in the bus that counted down from 6 (6, 5, 4, 3, 2, 1) and at 1 we had our first view of the Perito Moreno Glacier, and then it segued into Star Wars music..it was pretty funny; everyone started clapping. After a few minutes of picture-taking there, we got back on the bus and went to our next stop, where we could actually walk around. At that stop, we had two hours of free time, where we could walk a couple of routes to get closer to the glacier to take (yep, you guessed it) more pictures, as well as eat lunch. In those two hours, I managed to do the two routes that were available, eat lunch, watch the glacier for awhile (and hear some thuds as some pieces broke off), and drink a hot chocolate before it was time to get back on the bus. The final part of our tour was a one-hour boat ride that got us a few hundred meters away from the glacier and gave us another vantage point from which to take photos. After this boat ride, it was back on the bus and back to El Calafate. (Essentially, it was a day of a whole lot of pictures of a glacier that only moves one meter or so per day.)

Friday´s excursion was called ´´Todo Glaciares´´ (´´All Glaciers´´) and it was another early start. I rode in a van with a bunch of other people from the hostel to Puerta Bandera (the port) (during which time sunrise occurred), where we caught the boat that we and a lot of other people would be sailing on the rest of the day (including, oddly enough, the Basques). The boat´s first stop was Bahía Onelli (Onelli Bay), where we walked an 800m trail to be able to see the North Heim Glacier, the Onelli Glacier, and the Agassiz Glacier. There were also mini-icebergs floating around in the water. We spent a couple of hours there, which gave us enough time to walk around a bit, eat lunch in front of the glaciers, and take photos. (I think some people thought that it was necessary to take a picture of every single ice cube from every imaginable angle.) From there, we went to see the Upsala Glacier, which was named in honor of a university in Sweden. Personally, I was more impressed by the big blue icebergs in front of the glacier than by the glacier itself. After this glacier, we went to see the Spegazzini Glacier, which is the highest glacier in Parque Nacional Los Glaciares (it´s front measures 80-125m in its highest part). The glacier is 25km long, with a width of 1.5km and a surface of 66km-squared. In other words, it´s big. I think I liked it more than Perito Moreno. We also saw the south side of the North Heim Glacier (conveniently named South Heim Glacier). After seeing all of these glaciers, we sailed back to the port, where we got picked up in the van and then got driven back to El Calafate.

Today, Saturday, is my last day in El Calafate and I spent part of the morning at the Laguna Nimez bird reserve. You know I´m reaching for things to do when I pay 2 pesos (less than a dollar, but that´s besides the point) to go on a 2,500m hike around a lagoon to go look at birds, especially considering I don´t even like birds to begin with (only in Duck Hunt). I at least like hiking, so that´s a start. The woman who gave me the map of the reserve said that most of the path was blocked by water so there were ´´alternate routes´´ to take (and even those routes somehow put water in my shoes). I asked her if there was anything to see, and she said there was lots of stuff. She also said the whole thing would take about an hour. Since I had way more time than that to kill before going to the airport, I thought I might as well give it a go, seeing as though I ran out of other things to do. I ended up seeing some Chilean flamingoes, and even they didn´t look thrilled to be there (but where else where they going to go?).

So, it seems that while El Calafate isn´t really ´´the town´´ of any one thing in particular, since all of its attractions aren´t even in the town itself, it is where you need to go in order to see the glaciers and icebergs and such. I thus depart Calafate ready to move on to Bariloche, and with that darn ´´Titanic´´ song stuck in my head.

´´Near, far, where-evvvver you are....´´
missy
http://andsmilestogobeforeisleep.blogspot.com/

Ushuaia, Argentina: It´s the end of the world as we know it, and I feel fine

After a long early-morning trip to the airport on Saturday morning (March 15), waiting in line for over an hour, etc. etc., I boarded the plane and enjoyed my exit-row (and thus backpack in overhead compartment, argh!) slumber most of the way to Ushuaia (pronounced oo-SWY-yah). When I got to my hostel, there was a little mix-up with the rooms, but fortunately it all worked out at the end. So, I put my stuff away and took to the streets. First stop? Lunch. Second stop? The Museo Marítimo y Presidio (the Maritime Museum and Ex-Prison of Ushuaia). There were model ships and info about the explorer Ferdinand Magellan as well as other maritime things (like a compass with water inside). The prison part featured details about the criminals who occupied the cells, etc. I then checked out the former lighthouse, a scale-reconstruction which was the inspiration for Jules Verne´s Lighthouse at the End of the World. After checking out the lighthouse, I checked out of the museum entirely. I wandered along the main street of Ushuaia, taking in the fresh air and atmosphere that reminded me of a combination of Reykjavik, Iceland and Andorra (Reykjavik for the fresh air and for the layout of the town; Andorra, because the stores were open and they seemed to sell everything).

At night, I ended up meeting up with Cecilia, a girl whom I met way back when (it´s funny that here, ´´way back when´´ is only a month and a half ago) in Salvador when she was traveling in my temporary homebase. She is from Ushuaia, so already when I arrived I had a contact. Fortunately, when I called her, she was in town, so at night when a friend of hers was having a birthday get-together, she invited me to come along. The friend whose birthday it was is one of five siblings, and basically the ´´get-together´´ was more like a dinner (read: empanada extravaganza) at her house, with various friends of hers (and her siblings) stopping by throughout the course of the night. Cecilia and I went by car, so I got to see some of residential Ushuaia on the way and then spend some time with real locals...just as they hung out with an American, thus making me the representative for all things American and everything that goes on in the (good ole?) US of A. One funny thing happened when the second sibling, Natalia, asked me if people count sheep in the United States. (I forget how we got to this topic of conversation, but believe me -- we covered a lot of ground. I think it might have just been a conversation of cultural differences, more or less.) I said, yes, that it´s a thing for kids, really, and Chris, the third sibling..he said, ´´you know what? When I was a kid, I used to count sheep to help me go to sleep, but here we also turn sheep into asado, so every time I would count sheep, I would get hungry.´´

Sunday morning, I ended up taking a boat excursion through the Beagle Channel , something that is recommended for everyone who travels to Ushuaia. The boat trip lasted five hours, and a lot of it was spent going to and traveling from the places, but the views were great. The boat first stopped at La Isla de los Lobos (the Island of the Sea-lions), where we saw...sea-lions! They were really fun to watch, and man are they loud when they bark! They also seemed to cohabit well with the cormorants that were there. The next destination was the lighthouse. Third, we went to see the penguins that live at Isla Martillo (Penguin Island), where we saw lots of happy feet. (By the way, these ´´stops´´ that the boats make aren´t stops for us to get off of the boat; rather, the boat just got really close to these animals so that everyone could take two (or two hundred as the case may be) photos.) While going to see the penguins (which were farther away from the other sites), we saw Chile pass us by -- that is, Chile was on one side of the boat and Argentina on the other. Once we finally docked back in Ushuaia, the day was only half-done, and since I only had a limited amount of time in the city, I had to take advantage of the rest of the day and do something else. On the boat, I had met two Spaniards who were staying in my hostel, and it was lucky for me that they arrived in Ushuaia the same day that I did. Thus, when I ultimately decided to go check out the Glaciar Martial , I had company. We took the chairlift to the base of the ski area (the whole zone is a ski area, but it´s not winter right now, so it wasn´t all covered in snow), at which point we hiked up almost to where the glacier begins, the whole thing just going up, up, up (yes, I realize, the glacier wouldn´t be down). The view from up there was *wow* but when we finally descended, it proved to be a little tricky. Eventually, we made it down just fine and then instead of taking a taxi the 7km back to the hostel, we hoofed it.

Later on, the Spaniards and I had a rather interesting evening. They had stumbled across Bingo the previous night, where one of them, Joaquin, ended up winning just over 3,000 pesos (about $1,000 USD). Thus, after a hearty dinner, Joaquin, Manolo, and I went to try our luck there. Lots of close calls, but sadly no Bingos for us.

On Monday, I went on a cuatro-por-cuatro excursion, also known as 4x4. When I got in the car, there were two Argentine guys already there, and when I started talking to them, we soon started talking about differences between our manners of speaking (my Spain Spanish vs. their Argentine Spanish). Then we picked up five more people (one Argentine and his cousins, four people from Spain -- from the Basque country), so our tourgroup ended up being a funny bunch of people, because it was a lot of back and forth between the countries. (I found it funny, too, when the Argentine guys said to the Basques that I speak like them -- that is, the Basques.) The tour itself ended up being a full day event and made lots of stops, most of them to take pictures of scenic views along lakes and such. We saw husky puppies (from a distance), went to a place where there are 8km of beaver dams, and went canoeing. We also had lunch (asado), which ended up lasting a good three and a half hours, including waiting time, eating time, and talking time. When I got back to the hostel, I found my Spain buddies and unfortunately, we didn´t make it a Bingo night, but that´s ok, because it was cold outside and everyone was worn out.

Tuesday was my last day in Ushuaia, which meant I had to go to Parque Nacional Tierra del Fuego or I wouldn´t get to go at all. Manolo and Joaquin hadn´t gone yet, either, since Monday it was rainy, so the three of us went together and hiked a 6.5km trail along the coast that took a few hours. The weather turned out to be great (sunny and not too cold, if you kept a good pace), so it was a good hike and we definitely earned our sandwiches and hot chocolate at the end.

And so ends my time at the end of the world. I went to Ushuaia thinking that maybe there would be a couple of things to do and I might end up bored by the time it was time to leave, but surprisingly, when I left, I could still think of a few more things to do. I guess that just means I´ll have to go back! So, having made it to the end of the world, I can safely quote R.E.M. in saying, ´´It´s the end of the world as we know it, and I feel fine...´´

hasta pronto,
missy
http://andsmilestogobeforeisleep.blogspot.com

Buenos Aires, Argentina: No down time in the land of the good airs

After just having to get out of Colonia, Uruguay, it's not hard for things to take a turn for the better. I arrived without any trouble in Buenos Aires, Argentina, and got off the ferry, into a waiting cab to take me to the apartment of a friend of mine whom I had met in Salvador. My first day in Buenos Aires was Wednesday, March 5, and I was very lucky to be able to stay with Veronica, who lives in Buenos Aires. Once I got there, we hung out for a couple of hours before she had to go back to work (she works in the Congress), at which point I wandered around a bit by myself. At night, I went out with her and her husband, Lucas, and we went out to the Recoleta area.

Thursday, I hung out with Veronica a little bit in the morning before she had to go to work, and there was just enough time to eat breakfast and dulce de leche, an Argentine treat. What a way to start the day! Then I moved from her apartment into another apartment, as, since my parents were coming the following day to visit me for a week, we had an apartment already lined up. I spent the day taking care of various odds and ends that needed to get done. Sometimes, when you are traveling for a long period of time, you need a day here and there to take care of such things.

Friday, my parents arrived in not-so-sunny Buenos Aires! We spent the day walking around the neighborhood in the center of town and had a big lunch, which seems to be pretty common down here. We meandered some more the rest of the day as well, still getting acquainted with the area.

We kicked off Saturday morning with a trip to La Boca, a neighborhood in Buenos Aires whose early settlers came from Genoa, Italy. The houses in this barrio (neighborhood) are brightly colored, and we walked through the streets (starting with the main one, called Caminito), passing random shops and stalls along the way. We ended up at the soccer stadium called La Bombonera (''the chocolate box''), which is home to one of Argentina's most famous soccer teams, called Boca Juniors. Diego Maradona played for this team a long long time ago.

After La Boca, we grabbed a cab and went to Puerto Madero, the port area of Buenos Aires. We strolled along the promenade and ended up eating lunch at a place called Siga la vaca (''follow the cow''). (Yep, it was a meat place!) Following another multi-course meal, we continued walking around the port area, and eventually headed in the direction of Calle Florida, a pedestrian street that has a lot of stores and some street performers.

On Sunday, we started off the day by heading to Plaza de Mayo, a major square in Buenos Aires where a lot of demonstrations are held. From the plaza, we could see the Casa Rosada (''The Pink House''), on whose balcony has stood many political figures, such as Eva Peron and Pope John Paul II. Then we walked by the Cabildo, ''the only colonial-era civil edifice that managed to survive the rebuilding craze of the 1880s" (according to my guidebook). (It was closed; that's why we only walked by it.) Continuing along, we then made our way to the Catedral Metropolitana, the main Catholic Church in Buenos Aires. It was churchey, and after that, we went in search of another barrio.

Having heard that Sunday is ''the'' day to go to San Telmo, we walked along the recommended street (lined with vendors, of course) until we got to the Sunday market, also known as the Feria de San Telmo. It was crowded, and there were a lot of tourists out by this point, but there also happened to be a couple sets of tango dancers out at various points in the neighborhood doing their thing. One set featured an eighty-plus-year-old woman (read: however old she was, she looked way older than her age and she is not the kind of woman you want to envision in a red tango dress and heels). Other dancers were more suitable for the eyes.

Following our excursion to San Telmo, we jetted over to Recoleta, the neighborhood most known for its cemetery. For us, the first thing we did that day in Recoleta was eat lunch. After that, we went to La Recoleta Cemetery, where we walked the streets of the burial grounds and visited Evita and her family's mausoleum. The cemetery wasn't very happening (are they usually?), so when we left Recoleta, we walked back along Avenida Alvear (ritzy street) and toward the barrio of Retiro, where it was nice to just sit and relax for a bit in Plaza San Martin (where there is a lot of green space and several benches). Eventually, we called it a day and then went back to the apartment.

Since one of the largest Jewish communities in the world resides in Buenos Aires, on Monday, we spent the morning doing a tour of Jewish Buenos Aires. We went back to Plaza de Mayo to see the historical significance of the plaza relating to Judaism, we visited various synagogues, we walked around Once (a Jewish neighborhood), we saw the Israeli embassy from the outside, and we went into the Holocaust Museum. After lunch, we walked along Calle Santa Fe (a shopping street), where one of the more notable things we found was Freddo ice cream. (I got wildberry, raspberry, and passion fruit -- all in one cone...all of it delicious!)

At night, I met up with a friend from home, Guille(rmo), who is from Buenos Aires, and we went out in Palermo. Hooray for making plans with locals!

Tuesday was a get-out-of-town kind of day. No, really. We got out of town. All of the guidebooks recommend that when you go to Argentina, you *must* visit an estancia (or, ranch). The estancia we went to was called La Cinacina and is located in a town called San Antonio de Areco. We started our day with a traffic-filled bus ride to the town. Once we got there, we grabbed a cab to the property and had a look around the ranch. We then went on a carriage ride, and when we returned, we were greeted with yummy empanadas. After more meandering around the property, we settled down to watch some gauchos playing music and a gaucho guy and gaucho girl dancing. Somehow I did not have a say in the matter when the audience participation portion of the show came around, so I had to get the Carnaval music out of my head to make way for gaucho guitar tunes. (And let me tell you, there were no camarotes, no blocos, and I suppose I could say there was a pipoca of about five people.) Fortunately, the lunch bell rang soon after.

Lunch consisted of salad, parrilla (lots of meat cooked on a grill, like asado), and ice cream. During lunch, some of the gauchos put on a show for all of the tourists, exhibiting different gaucho dances from all over Argentina. After lunch, the gauchos put on another show for the tourists, but this time they were on horseback. The three participating gauchos showed us the game called ''carrera de sortija" (essentially, they were ring races). Basically, the gaucho goes really fast on his horse and tries to take down this little ring that is suspended by string. After those games, we wandered the grounds some more, had some pasteles de dulce (quince pastries), and we eventually headed out of there, checking out the town and (obviously) the town's main church (Iglesia Parroquial San Antonio de Padua) before buying our bus tickets and heading on back to Buenos Aires on the top row of a double-decker bus. Hasta luego, gauchos!

Wednesday proved to be another day-trip kind of day. For less than a dollar each, we took the train about an hour outside of the city to a town called Tigre, a place that was named for the jaguars that used to inhabit the Parana Delta region until the beginning of the 1900s. Upon our arrival here, we walked up and down a few main streets. Before long, it was time to catch the boat to Tres Bocas, a forty-five minute boat trip away from Tigre. The boat that we took was more like a bus in that it made local stops along the way, picking up and dropping off passengers at various piers. At our stop, a fair number of people disembarked. Once we got onto this little island, we found that maybe it really was comprised of only ''tres bocas'' (three mouths) as we really didn't see any locals around. There was a significant amount of ground to walk, and houses to see, but not much in the way of ''doing'' or ''checking out.'' Thus, after a mosquito-happy walk and lunch (both for the mosquitoes and for us) on the island, we caught the boat-bus back to Tigre, where we walked around some more, spending time at the Puerto de Frutos (the fruit and crafts market) before leaving jaguar-town. When we left Tigre, we decided to make another stop along the way before going back to Buenos Aires, so we stopped at another town called San Isidro, a suburb of Buenos Aires seemingly known for luxurious residences and elegance. When we got there, the guy selling tickets for the train didn't have a map of the town, didn't know if there was an information center, and didn't know how to get to the old city from the train station. How telling...Fortunately for us, once you walk out of the train station, it is easy enough to figure out for oneself. We ended up seeing the cathedral as well as a viewpoint from which one can see the Rio de la Plata in the distance. We walked through the main plaza, Plaza Mitre, on the way back to the train. Once we made it back to Buenos Aires, we walked to a place known for its empanadas, so for dinner, we opted to have...empanadas. (When in Buenos Aires...)

Thursday we stayed in Buenos Aires, and after a week of being in the city, we still had not yet run out of things to do. We opened the day with a trip to the barrio of Palermo, where we started with the Japanese Garden. There was greenery, koi , stones, bridges -- it seemed like a little piece of Japan was right there in Argentina! After the garden, we walked to the MALBA (Museo de Arte Latinoamericano de Buenos Aires), where we saw Latin American art. It was.... arty. Some of it was your typical art museum stuff, and other work was contemporary. And that contemporary stuff...well, I never really much got that anyway. Following our highly intellectual run-down of each piece of artwork, we headed toward Plaza Serrano, a small plaza in Buenos Aires' largest barrio. Just like in every place we ever go, we walked around the plaza a fair bit. After having lunch by the plaza, we went to Plaza de Mayo (yes, *again*) because every Thursday afternoon from 3:30-4pm, the mothers of the desaparecidos march around the plaza. Today, there were men, too (as I imagine there are every week), and everyone was chanting: "Plaza es de las madres y no de los cobardes" ["Plaza is of the mothers and not of the cowards."] I asked one of the chanters what was meant by the phrase and who the word ''cowards'' refers to, specifically, and he told me that it refers to the military with respect to the 30,000 desaparecidos as well as the genocide that took place during the end of the 1970s; he then added that they are trying to get democracy back. Some women who were marching had signs around their necks with pictures of their loved ones whom they are still hoping will turn up someday. When the marching ended at 4pm, the leaders rolled up their banners, and as people were clapping, the whole spectacle came to its weekly end. At this point, we left and went to visit the Museo Judio de Buenos Aires (Jewish Museum of Buenos Aires), which was founded in 1967, and its accompanying synagogue. Lots of historical facts later, we exhaustedly walked back to the apartment after a full day of activities all around town.

Friday being our last full day in Buenos Aires, we took the opportunity to stroll the streets one last time. We walked along some pedestrian streets we hadn't been to before and basically took it easy. We also went back to the Holocaust Museum, since the first time we didn't have much time there during our tour. We finished off the week with -- what else?! -- dinner at a parilla place. Gotta have your meat.

And so ends my stay in Buenos Aires. It has been a week and a half staying put (and yet not staying put at all) and now it is time to get back on the road. One thing I've learned from being here (though I figured as much beforehand) is that all Spanish-speaking places are *not* the same. The vocabulary is not the same, the pronunciation is not the same, the culture is not the same, etc. I've tried to pick up some of the Argentine ways, and with the two weeks that I have left in Argentina, we'll see how well I do.

Tomorrow morning, I depart for Ushuaia, (arguably) the world's southernmost city. It's the jumping off point to get to Antarctica. To answer some questions that might arise with that statement, 1) No, I will not be jumping off of Ushuaia, and 2) I have no current plans (or time) to make it to Antarctica (this trip).

So, for now, bundle up and stay warm (oh wait, that's me), and let's see what this Beagle Channel is all about.
hasta luego,
missy
http://andsmilestogobeforeisleep.blogspot.com

Colonia del Sacramento, Uruguay: Not so sure what the colonists saw in this one, either

When the weather is beachy and you're in the mood for a half-day trip from big-city Buenos Aires, ok, fine, I can see the appeal. When you feel like walking along cobblestone streets and looking at big streetmaps that highlight names that are merely there for making the map seem more important, that's fair, too -- I'll give you that. Any other situation leaves me completely befuddled.I got the bus from Montevideo to Colonia and it was expected to take just under 3 hours. I thought it was a fortunate thing when the bus pulled in clocking in at two and a half hours. Turned out that I was wrong. Why? Well, that meant I would have more of the day to figure out what to do with. (Note: If you are planning to use this entry to procrastinate in any way, you will not get very far in your quest; I am just telling you now.)

When it took the taxi under two minutes to get from the bus station to the house where I was staying (and that house is not in the city center), I should have begun to wonder how long it would take to wander around the city. After I dropped my bags off and settled in, I walked the 15 minutes or so into town and found a restaurant to have lunch. Once I finished my sandwich (that they cut into rectangles -- aww), I kept going into the old city. I walked in and out of probably every little street on my map and when I saw something that looked important, I did it. For example, I saw a lighthouse, so I climbed up it (there were just over 100 steps -- 116 I think?). At the top, I met some Brazilians, which was fun because then I could just slip right back into Portuguese and not have to concentrate on transitioning into Spanish. After the lighthouse, I walked through Plaza Mayor (not so big), around the port area, and by and through the city gates. As I was doing so, probably the funniest encounter of the day (and this says a lot) occurred. A mime who is usually stationed in front of the city gates was taking a smoke break, and as I was passing by, a woman was driving a motorbike with a kid in front and a kid in back. At the exact moment that the bike passed by, and Mimey saw the kids, the mime hid the cigarette behind his back and started waving at the kids. When the bike was gone and he saw me laughing at him, he gave me a funny mime face as if to say, ´´Gotta do it for the kids´´ and went back to his cigarette.

After that, I went into the Basilica (not so impressive) and then walked right out, wandering around old city for another 15 minutes or so before calling it a day and walking back to the house. When I got there, though, it was still early yet, so I decided to go back out (the best part of that mini-excursion was the ice cream I got). To make a short story shorter, I ended up walking the whole town about 2-3 times in about 3 hours. And to think I had originally planned to maybe spend three days in Colonia? Ha! And *this* is where I´m glad that Uruguay was one of the places I had decided to play by ear and not make plans for.

I thus resolved to leave the next morning (today -- Wednesday) for Buenos Aires via ferry. So, I went to the port, got my ticket, and hightailed it out of Colonia, leaving the rain behind (well, actually, it accompanied the boat).

In Spain, when something is cool, people use the word guay. What I have to say to Uruguay, though, is, ´´U? R *U* guay?´´ As if you even had to ask...

have a good rest of the week,
missy
http://andsmilestogobeforeisleep.blogspot.com

Montevideo, Uruguay: No need to be kind and rewind *that* video

So, once I decided to include Uruguay in my itinerary, I was pleasantly surprised to find that there was a section (however small) on the country in my guidebook. What was bizarre, though, was that this tiny section in said guidebook had no information about Montevideo, the country's capital. Now, though, I'm thinking it's not so strange. After all, the publishers did want their guidebook to sell. Thus, without a clue or a sentence of how to approach Montevideo, I hopped in a taxi at the airport and set off for my temporary home, at which I had planned to stay only one night.

During the long ride in the taxi (the airport isn't in the city center), I found out a fair bit about the city, in addition to getting to ride through a bunch of neighborhoods on the way to my own. For instance, on Sundays (the day I arrived), everything is closed. Also, when it is raining (as on the day I arrived), people do not go to the beach. So, after 22 hours of travel, it didn't seem like a waste of time to take a little nap when I got to my hotel. When I woke up, I decided to go for a walk in the 'hood to see what was around, since I didn't want to spend the entire day cooped up in the room, and in walking around town, I found that what I had already learned was true -- the city really was shut down...all except for the internet cafe, where I stopped by to catch up on real life for a bit, do some blogging, etc. Someone once said that when people write autobiographies, they are never completely accurate because the writer is never capable of reaching the moment in which he/she is actually writing. He/she can come close, but there will always be a gap -- even if slight -- between the moment the writer leaves off and the writer's present. It's always been something interesting to consider...one of those random things I remember learning in college but without the faintest idea of who actually said it. Anyway, after that, I went to get dinner, and in the interest of catching up on the rest of my sleep, I then went back to the hotel.

By the following morning (Monday), I had already decided that I wasn't going to be leaving Montevideo that day as I had originally thought. Since I didn't get to see the ''real'' Montevideo, I figured I would give it its fair shot and stay an extra day, so I extended my stay there by one day. Still keeping in mind the lack of guidance from my *guidebook*, I think my aimless wandering ended up giving me the complete Montevideo experience. You can judge for yourself.

I started the day by walking toward Plaza Independencia, one of the main squares in the city. I then checked out the Teatro Solis (Solis Theater -- Uruguay's oldest theater, built in 1857) from the outside, since it hadn't yet opened for the day. At this point, I saw a bunch of official-looking people congregating outside a nearby building alongside Plaza Independencia, so naturally, I had to go find out what the ruckus was about. I asked a police officer what the deal was and he said there would be a conference there that the president of Uruguay would be attending. Apparently, everyone was waiting around for the other official people to arrive and, of course, for the president, so I waited, too...and waited...and waited...and waited. I waited for maybe 15-20 minutes, watching other officials roll in, before I finally decided that I had other things to do (though I knew not what), so I decided that I would stay until my watch read 9:55am (at this point it was 9:53). Sure enough, somewhere toward the end of 9:54, some guy gets out of his shnazzy car and everyone starts snapping pics (as opposed to when only some of the journalists would be snapping pics), so I did, too. And then a trumpet song played and the guy got escorted into the building, and *finally* I got to go in search of breakfast and continue along my way. Seeing the president of Uruguay before breakfast when I had no idea where I was going? Not a bad start to the morning, I suppose.

After breakfast (think Eggo with honey and fresh squeezed orange juice), I kept walking along the main street and saw that there was really just shopping to be done (but not by me). I kept going until I saw yet another crowd of people in yet another plaza, called Plaza Fabini. Not one to pass a crowd of people without knowing what's going on, I (yes, again) went to see what the fuss was about. It turned out it was a protest by teachers, who were fighting to get a higher salary, better benefits, etc. (I asked.) And once again, I continued on my way. (I took a quick detour to go to the bus station to buy my bus ticket for the following day to go to a town called Colonia del Sacramento but was told that I had to go to the bus station on the other side of town (about two blocks up and twenty blocks over). They seemed astonished when I asked for directions and indicated that it was because I would be walking there. I then went back to where I had left off on that original main street because following this street would eventually take me in the direction of that other bus station anyway, so there was no need to change my course of action.)

Continuing along this street, I saw a big church that looked important (relative to what I had already seen), so I went in, took the obligatory ''church picture'' and left, as there really wasn't much more to see. Then, I was back on the street. A few minutes later, I saw a big building that looked more interesting and more inviting than the church, as people kept going in and out of this one, talking to one another, and I didn't see anyone asking for money right outside (though I'm sure everyone would have gladly accepted an extra peso or two). I crossed the street and as I went in the building, too (if everyone else can, why can't I?), I remembered another tidbit of information I had learned from my taxi driver the previous day: Monday was the first day of school! So I walked into the university, and like every first day at a new school, I proceeded to get lost on the first floor of the building, because, well, hell -- both of those courtyards looked exactly alike! But since it was the first day, no one looked at me any differently than they looked at other new kids (I don't think?), and I was just happy to walk into and out of school in a span of about 15 minutes!

I eventually made it to the bus station and bought my ticket for the following day and then crossed town to have lunch at the Mercado del Puerto, a place that no longer functions as a market but, rather, a place where there are lots of places to, in short, eat meat. So, eat meat I did. Not being an Uruguayan and not knowing what the specialty was, I asked for a recommendation and ended up with a plate of baby beef, which was deeeelicious! While I was sitting there, I met a girl from London named Sophia who has been in Montevideo for the past two months, trying to improve her Spanish. I showed her my map of Montevideo and she confirmed for me that I had basically walked the 'things to do' part of Montevideo, as outside the confines of my map, there is nothing but farmland and residential areas. After lunch, we said goodbye and went our separate ways.

Having done most of what I could think of, I continued along my wandering path, checking out a little bit of the Old City (which I was advised against, as it is "old as in 'old and falling apart' and not old as in 'pretty and maintained,''' Sophia told me), and then eventually passing by Iglesia Matriz, the Cathedral of Montevideo. When I walked out, I walked down a pedestrian street where, about 45 minutes after having left the Mercado del Puerto, I ran into Sophia again. Such is the nature of a small city, she said. She recommended that I return to Plaza Independencia, as it is possible to go down underneath the plaza, where the ashes of José Gervasio Artigas Aznar, one of Montevideo's leaders (sometimes called ''the father of Uruguayan independence''), are kept and guarded. She suggested it not because it was a huge tourist attraction, but because it was something more to do. So I did it.

And so ends the tour of the 'video, a place where four -- count 'em, *four* -- people stopped me throughout the course of the day to ask for directions. It was hard enough to find things to do to keep me busy for two days, and people thought I lived there?! Granted, the people in Montevideo were very nice, but the people's being nice doesn't give you something to do for 24 hours (a la '''sorry' doesn't put the Triscuit crackers in my stomach now, does it, Carl?'' ~''Billy Madison'' reference for those who are unaware).

Anyway, the following day (today -- Tuesday), I went to the bus station and hopped the bus to Colonia, in search of, well, something to do.

One thing before I go that just has me wondering, and maybe some of you can provide some insight. When the Portuguese colonized Montevideo and they said 'Monte vide eu' (''I see a hill''), I wonder why they didn't just keep going?

abrazos,
missy
http://andsmilestogobeforeisleep.blogspot.com