A Holiday in the City

This holiday weekend should find us in Peru again, however, we have had a slight change of plans. For more than one reason, we put our return trip to Peru and Bolivia on hold… for quite a while. This decision does make us a bit sad, but it is nice to relax here in Buenos Aires and see even more of this wonderful city and catch up with friends we haven’t seen for a while or even at all.

This weekend is also a long holiday weekend here in Argentina. Instead of celebrating Memorial Day on Monday, the holiday down here is 25 de Mayo, which was this past Friday. 25 de Mayo celebrates the beginning of the revolution that eventually led to Argentina’s independence from Spain six years later on July 9, 1816. On Friday we took a walk through the Plaza de Mayo, which, although it was over by the time we got there, had some sort of patriotic celebration on a grand scale. One neat thing about this holiday is that everyone gets flag crazy, more so than at home during 4th of July – stores, government buildings and banks fly the Argentinean flags in front of their businesses; taxis and busses fly flags from their windows; and people wear ribbons and pins of the flag.

Tonight, to celebrate the Memorial Day weekend, we stuck with American tradition and had a bar-b-que. Of course we could not have one here at our apartment because a bar-b-que may not even fit – but one of the great parts about Argentina is that everything, we mean EVERYTHING can be delivered. And by everything we mean: pizza (obviously), empandas, pastas, sandwiches, your laundry and groceries, bread, sushi, ice cream, and asado (bar-b-que). So for $30 pesos ($10 dollars), we had a bottle of wine, 2 steaks, 3 sausages and french fries delivered for our holiday feast!

This past week, which has found us shuffling around Buenos Aires, we have visited some museums and today we went to an older part of town to the San Telmo Fair, which is one of Grace’s favorite things to visit, especially the tango shows they hold in the plaza. We were out for just a bit today because the weather here is getting colder, as winter is quickly stepping in.

We hope everyone had a wonderful weekend with family and friends. We miss you all.

What do a Jesuit, a Condor and a Volkswagen Gol have in common?

The province of Cordoba!!! - which is where we spent the final few days of our road trip.

We left Malargue and the Mendoza wine country for a day long drive with the Andes waving good-bye in the rearview mirror. Along the drive, which was one of the straightest roads, I’ve ever driven, we had a chance to see an impressive creature. We were one of the very few cars on the road, and ahead of us we saw something very large picking at some road kill. As we slowed down and got a bit closer, the road kill (a fox) took flight, in the claws of a huge eagle. It landed in a tree about 40 feet away and posed for our pictures, impatiently waiting for us to leave so that it could finish its lunch.

In the evening we arrived in Alta Gracia, a pretty little town just south of the bigger city of Cordoba. We spent the next day wandering around one of the Jesuit missions, the Tajamar, a 17th century dam used for irrigation purposes, and Villa Beatriz, the childhood home of Ernesto “Che” Guevara which is now a museum with many interesting photographs, letters and possessions of the famous revolutionary.

That night we made the short drive to Cordoba, which was quite a shock. Although it is the second largest city in Argentina, it seemed that the hectic traffic was 3 fold of the madness in Buenos Aires. We found a neat little hostel to stay at, which really was a relief to find and arrive at, but to our dismay they had no room. Crushed by the news and just looking for a place to crash, we stayed at the nearest and cheapest hotel we could find. Luckily, the next day, the hostel had room for us, where we felt much more at home with our fellow backpackers.

Instead of spending time in the downtown part of Cordoba the next day, we took advantage of our little Gol and headed for the mountaintops. Our destination was the newest of Argentina’s national parks – La Quebrada del Condorito, the Canyon of Little Condors. For the second time in a row, we were the only visitors to the national park for the day, which is a great feeling. The trip was simple: from the entrance of the park, walk to the lip of the gorge, where there is a small balcony built, and walk back, the only catch is that it’s a 10 km hike each way. The hike took about 2 hours to reach the balcony where we were supposed to see condors. Sadly, we saw no condors. So we sat down to have lunch and wait for some birds. There was a little one that joined us for lunch but no condors. Grace decided that maybe a little song to the condors may bring them out, and lo-and-behold, as she sang, condors began to soar! The canyon we were at is special in the way that it lies against the prevailing winds and with such steep walls, huge up-drafts are created, ideal for parent condors to teach their chicks how to fly. Since it is almost winter, chicks already know how to fly, so we only saw young adult and adult, male and female condors. They really are incredible, especially in their size – standing up, they can reach more than half of Grace’s height, and their wing span is about my height with my arms stretched above my head. (In the picture, it is that tiny little black and white speck - they were usually flying pretty far away from us. and when they were close, we were too awestruck to take pictures!). We also saw a variety of falcons and eagles; we watched these magnificent birds for well over an hour. When the clouds started to roll in we decided to head back. On a break during our hike back, I comfortably fell asleep sitting on a rock, my day was complete.

The next day was to be our last day of the road trip, and fittingly, one of the longest driving days. We took the morning pretty easy and visited some sights in Cordoba. Our main draw was the Jesuit block, where in the 1600’s they built a large university and church. The university still exists, now as the Univesidad Nacional de Cordoba, where students take classes in the same rooms as they did when the university was created. The university also houses the Jesuit Grand Library, which has some of the earliest books in South America, mostly books printed in Europe and brought over or written here by hand. There is a set of the first publication of a Spanish dictionary, a bible written in 8 different Arabic languages, and other religious and philosophical works all made in the 15th and 16th centuries (as well as much newer works). The church was just as an impressive sight. From the outside, it is one of the plainest churches in existence, but the inside is ornate to the max - everything is carved or covered in gold leaf.

After our visit to the Jesuit block it was time to start our trip home. From Cordoba it took us around 10 hours to get back to Buenos Aires… it was such a relief to be back in our apartment! It was a great feeling to be able to spread our selves out and know that we would be cooking our own meals again and showering in our own bathroom and sleeping in our own bed. However, this feeling will be short lived because in three days we are going back to Peru, but for now, we are enjoying the apartment and our routine life in Buenos Aires.

Our road trip lasted 29 days, on the 30th we returned the car. We drove a total of 7,750 km or 4,844 miles! We both loved every minute of it… for me the best was the 7 lakes drive in the south of Argentina and the Argentina/Chile border crossing drive where we climbed up and down the Andes. For Grace the best was the time we spent in Valparaiso, Chile. But both of us agree that our favorite day was the day before her birthday, in Bariloche, where we stayed at the super fancy hotel and spa, as a thoughtful gift from my sister (thanks Laura and Luke!).

A Gol (and flamingos) in the Mist

There was traffic on Ruta 40 this morning – a large herd of goats was crossing the road. It was far more interesting than traffic in LA. At the moment, we are in Malargue, which is a tiny little town about 3 hours south of Mendoza. It is ¨pre-cordillera¨ which means it is desert-ish with the Andes looming on the horizon. We had quite an adventurous day here yesterday.

We first explored the ¨Caverna de las Brujas¨ (Cavern of the Witches) which is a gigantic system of subterranean caves complete with stalagmites and stalactites. Equipped with helmets with headlamps, our guide took us crawling on hands and knees and climbing up steep walls to the very deepest part. There was a wall full of crystals that shined with our lights. And when we all turned off our lights, the crystals continued to reflect the light for just a second...and then it was pitch blackness. I only knew I was blinking when I felt my eyelids move.

Once we were back into the daylight, we hopped into the gol and drove (rally argentina style) and drove an hour further to the largest lake in this part of the desert ¨Laguna de Llancabcelo¨. According to the park rangers logbook, we were the only visitors for the day, so I practiced my stick-shift driving for a little bit (Martin was a great teacher). When we reached the main part of the lake, which is famed as a bird sanctuary, we were a little disappointed to see only a few swans. It was beautiful though, a deep blue with the darkness of the Andes behind it. As we were leaving, we stopped on the side of the road and walked though a cattle pasture to a lagoon on a smaller part of the lake. We saw more white swans, black-necked swans and black ducks. All of a sudden, we saw a flock of birds flying overhead. They looked pink which I figured was from the sunset. But as they flew closer, they appeared bigger, and pinker, and we realized they were flamingos!!!!! They flew right in front of us and noisily landed on the lake. It was amazing. As we drove away, we saw one of the best sunsets we have seen here (probably in honor of mother´s day).

Before arriving in Malargue, we a day in San Rafael, a smaller city a little to the north. In order to blend in with the local folks we rented bikes (San Rafael has the largest number of bicyclists in the country). We road a little ways out of town intending to visit some wineries, but ended up visiting an olive oil factory instead. It was neat, and tasty!

Truth be told, it was better we visited the olive oil factory in San Rafael because the previous day, we drank a lot of wine. We spent the day in the vineyards of Mendoza visiting both large and small wineries. Although they don´t let you taste as many different wines as they do at the California wineries, you do get a tour of their facilities including the machines that mash up the grapes, the tanks they filter and ferment the wine in, the gigantic wooden barrels they store the wine in, and lastly, the bottling, corking and labeling area. We should have taken better notes. Our two favorites were a small artesenal winery which only makes 250 bottles per batch, and a larger winery (who´s wine we buy from the market occasionally) that makes thousands of bottles a day. We also stopped by a family-run place that makes home-made chocolates and liquors (including dulce de leche). This was definitely one of the highlights of the day.

There are lots of great photos!!

http://picasaweb.google.es/martinswims/MendozaMalargue

Gol versus the Volcano

We are so proud of our little Gol - it has crossed the Andes not just once, but twice since our last post!!
We left San Martin de Los Andes and drove for about an hour on a highway, and then another hour along a dirt road to the border of Chile. It was a foggy and drizzly day, but just after Martin said sadly, "I guess we won´t get to see Volcano Lanin" the clouds parted and the sun was up in a clear, bright blue sky - only interrupted by the giant cone-shaped volcano completely covered in snow. It was quite an amazing sight. After crossing into Chile, we drove down the Andes (rally argentina style) through forests of red and yellow trees, and small farming villages with pigs wandering around the side of the road. We then hopped onto the pan-americana, a.k.a. the 5 freeway - the same one that passes right through San Clemente, California (and apparently goes all the way to Alaska). We drove north through Chile´s main agricultural area - which is actually quite similar to California - orchards of oranges, lemons and avocados, and lots of vineyards as well, and stayed the night in a small town. The next day, we continued north, passing through Santiago, then west to the coast to the city of Valparaiso.

Valpariaso is actually quite a big city, right on the Pacific. It contains one of Chiles main shipping ports. You can tell by the ornate details on the buildings and mansions over-looking the ocean that it was once a very wealthy city, but it is now a bit run down. From the shore, it´s width is only about 3 blocks before it becomes steep hills - covered in orange, mint green, purple, yellow and blue houses, small shops and cafes. The main commercial center of the city is on the flat part near the water, leaving the narrow, cobblestone streets that twist up though the hills relatively quiet (and exciting for Martin to drive on). To get up and down these hills, if one is a bit weary from the stairs, in the early 1900´s the city built elevators for public use along the hill sides. They are like box cars that hold about 4 to 6 people each. They are pulled up or down along tracks by the weight of an opposite traveling cart. We stayed at a small hostel up in the hills and quickly made friends with many of the other travelers staying there. We met people from Austria, Canada, England, Germany, Switzerland, Australia and France and we would all sit together in the mornings to have breakfast and swap travel stories and advice. A group of us also went out to dinner one night for a Chilean specialty that is called Chorillan - a pile of french fries covered in scrambled eggs, onions, roasted pork, and to our delight - spicy chile sauce! We spent our first full day wandering around the city with our new friend Toto, from Germany, admiring the immense amount of art that adorns nearly every wall in the city. Some were publicly commissioned murals, some were private artists decorating the outsides of their homes and shops, and others were illegally placed stencils and drawings. Along with paint, many were also made from mosaics of colored tiles and broken mirror pieces - making them sparkle in the sun. Our second day in Valparaiso we spent visiting 2 of Pablo Neruda´s three houses. One high up on a hill in the heart of the city, and the other about an hour south in a smaller village right on the beach. The house on the beach, in Isla Negra, houses many of Pablo Nerudas collections including: boats in glass bottles, masks from all over the world, the feet of antique pianos, bugs, bottles, sea shells, plates with hot air balloons on them, porcelain roosters, the sculptures of women they put on the fronts of ships, and more. It was such an interesting, and beautiful house and we learned a lot about the poet, who himself was quite unique.

With our friend Toto squished in the back seat, we left Valparaiso and made our way through the curvy and steep roads through the Andes (this time with much more of a desert landscape than when we crossed further south). Immediately after crossing the Argentinian border, we stopped to see Cerro Aconcagua - the highest peak in all of the Americas - at 6962 meters. We also stopped by the small cemetery near it for the many climbers who have attempted to reach its peak since the late 1800s but never made it, or did make it but never all the way home. Also near there is the Puente del Inca, a bridge over a small river that was naturally formed from sediment left by warm sulfuric water. The bright orange stone streaked with green lines sparkled in the sun, and water continues to drip from it. It was quite a strange sight amidst the bare red mountains.
For more pictures of Chile, Valparaiso and our southern and northen border crossings, go here:
http://picasaweb.google.com/martinswims/Chile

We arrived late last night in the city of Mendoza and have already had our first bottle of wine with lunch. We plan to spend today exploring the city, and tomorrow exploring the wineries!

A Gol named Geof

We have a tendency to stay put when we find a place we like - remember our first trip to San Clemente del Tuyu? A trip planned for 2 days and we stayed for 2 weeks. We have started to follow suit again here in San Martin de los Andes. This is such a beautiful town on the shores of Lake Lacar, like Bariloche but without a scent of city life. The town is surrounded by mountains painted in colors for fall. We are staying just a bit out town at the cabins of our friends Carlos and Marisa, who own the campground in San Clemente. Sadly they are not here right now, they are in Europe with friends and visiting family. However, their German Shepherds are here and every morning they come and knock on our door to come out and play.

One of the best parts of our little road trip is that we are not in tourist season right now. Here in Argentina, tourist season is a very drastic change from non-tourist season. And so, when we go places, we are usually the only one´s there. Yesterday for example, we drove about an hour north to another lake which is fairly inaccessible, only by a single lane dirt road. We drove along the edge of the lake on an even tinnier dirt road until it ended after about 2 hours of driving. There we did a short one hour hike to the foot of a big water fall. The scenery was so quite with grey clouds looming over all of the surrounding mountian tops, and during all of this, all we ran into was wild horses, cows, birds, sheep and one cat and a kitten... not a single person.

To get here to San Martin from Bariloche, we drove the Ruta de Siete Lagos (7 lakes). Instead of driving the larger highway, there is a double lane dirt road which winds through the mountains and for a while passes the shores of 7 or 8 mountian lakes. It only takes about 3 hours to drive, but we made a whole day out of it. We would stop often and walk around and take pictures, we would bring our delicious chocolates from Bariloche and our mate with us and have impromptu picnics. For lunch we made a slight side trip from the traditional route to a very small town called Villa Traful. By very small we mean, inhabitants less than 25. We ate lunch at the only place that was open. They had a large menu, but the super friendly lady who worked there had to tell us what they had made that day, since we were probably about 25% of their business for the day... it was delicious! A wonderful homemade lasagna and a very tender milanesa sandwich. It was a great day all around.

Now our plan from here, is tomorrow to cross over the Andes and at the foothills of the volcano Lanin into Chile. There we will drive north for a couple of days stoppping in small towns and then cross back into Argentina at the level of Mendoza, the wine country. Instead of crossing over the Andes there, we will drive almost to the tops of the mountains and there there is a tunnel through the peaks of the mountains. We are definitely excited for this... and the wine!

Here are some more of our pictures from our road trip so far:

http://picasaweb.google.com/martinswims/SieteLagosBarilocheSanMartin