The Adventure Moves North

Annie and our friend Dano arrived here on Sunday evening (17 hours later than expected) after already having quite a South American adventure. It started when they missed their connection to Buenos Aires due to a delay on the part of American Airlines. After quite a bit of haggling and a short nap on the floor of the Miami airport, they got put on LAN Peru flight that stopped in Bogota, Lima, and Santiago before finally reaching Buenos Aires. Of course, their checked bags could not keep up with that kind of itinerary. Luckily, they arrived the next day – along with Jon’s missing bag!

We let them sleep late the next day and then spent our time visiting the Recoleta Cemetery, stopping at La Biela for lunch, got a guidebook for mate at the El Ateno bookstore (which is housed in an old theater) and walked along 9 de Julio – the widest street in the world! After a break with ice cream and espresso, we headed back home to open the long-lost bags. We celebrated their arrival, and a successful first day in Argentina with a wonderful dinner and lots of wine at El Fondo del Polo, Martin’s Dad’s favorite restaurant in all of Buenos Aires.

The following day we visited one of the most important parts of Buenos Aires, the Plaza de Mayo which is surrounded by the Banco Nacional, Catedral Metropolitana and other such fancy buildings. We walked around for a while, stopping at a bar for some Quilmes and Isenbeck (Argentine beers) and then we returned to the plaza to watch the light of the sunset on the Casa Rosada (the “pink house” Argentina’s capitol building where the president works, and from which Eva and Juan Peron gave many speeches from the balcony). From there, we went down to the Puerto Madero area to check out the Fragata Uruguay (the ship Argentina used to explore Antarctica with) and walk across the Millenuim Bridge. We stopped for more drinks, this time Gancia Batidas (an herbal liquor mixed with lemon and sugar) and finished off our evening with traditional Argentine parrilla, including (to Dano’s delight): Mojella (salivary glands), Morcilla (blood sausage), Rinon (kidneys), Chinchulines (small intestines), Chorizo (sausage), Tire de Asado (short ribs) and Entrana (like a skirt steak cut).

For pictures of neat buildings (sorry, none of the meat) go here:

www.picasaweb.google.com/martinswims/plazademayo

Annie and Dano decided they wanted to add yet another South American country stamp to their passports, so we took the ferry to Uruguay the next day. Although it was just as hot and humid as Buenos Aires has been, the little village of Colonia was so quiet and relaxing, we were all glad to have a break from the city. We walked around the cobblestone streets and historic buildings, looking for birds and admiring the flowers. We had lunch at the restaurant with the waiter who wears funny hats and sat in the sun on the banks of the river. The only minor mishap of the day was when I (Grace) caused a minor scene at the restaurant we were having ice cream at, when my chair started to tip over (cobblestone streets do not make for very stable ground) and I fell into Annie’s lap (oh how embarrassing, yet not entirely unexpected). We spent the evening at home, Dano caught up on his journal (Annie has given up on hers) and ordered empanadas and all 3 types of Quilmes for dinner.
For more Uruguayan pictures go here: www.picasaweb.google.com/martinswims/colonia2

The Palermo neighborhood of Buenos Aires is another fun place we spent time in. We checked out the Evita Museum, which is in a beautiful mansion that became one of the many places Evita turned into a home for poor women and children. It was a really cool museum, filled with photographs, newspaper clippings, videos and Evita’s personal things such as notes she had written and dresses she wore (only a few pairs of shoes though!). Afterwards we spent some time in the unique shops of Palermo Soho, and of course our favorite store in Buenos Aires, the Papeleria Palermo.

We have now just finished making pasta (with our neat little press) and the sauce Dano made is simmering. Later we will be going to a bar to watch Boca (Martin’s favorite soccer team) play a game in the Copa Libertadores, a South American futbol tournament. But before we go, we have to pack up our backpacks, as tomorrow morning we are heading for Peru! We will be spending 4 days hiking to the Inca Trail to visit the ruins of Machu Picchu, and a few days in Lima until Annie and Dano fly home from there. Martin and I will be returning to Buenos Aires on various buses, stopping throughout the south of Peru and Bolivia. The tentative plan (if you are sitting near an atlas right now, this would be more interesting!) is to go to Huacachina and Arequipa in Peru, both the Peruvian and Bolivian sides of Lake Titicaca and its islands, then La Paz, Oruro and Uyuri in Bolivia, before crossing into Argentina where we will spend some time in the Jujuy and Salta provinces. We figure we will be home in about 3 weeks, with some incredible stories and pictures that we are really looking forward to sharing with you all.

Lots of love, Grace & Martin