Home Sweet Home

Our last day in Argentina was cold and rainy (the country must have known we were leaving). After a few last minute errands, and ordering in tons of empanadas both for lunch and to take on the plane with us, we got a visit from our friends Stella and Graciela, as well as Martin’s uncle Julio. We chatted with them as we finished putting a few things in suitcases and closing up things in the apartment until, all too soon, it was time to leave for the airport. After kisses to the doorman and our friends, we left the place we’d spent the majority of our past 7 months with tears in our eyes (ok, not martin’s, just mine).

After successfully checking in all 8 suitcases, and lugging all 8 carry-ons through immigration (thank goodness we had my mom and Julian with us!), we finally boarded our flight to Houston. Although the flight left on time and the service on board was great, it was a very bumpy flight, and we spent many of the 10 hours awake and trying to distract ourselves with movies. Fortunately, we landed safely and had no problems going through US immigration and customs (thank goodness because we packed a few wine bottles over the limit). We caught our connection to LA just in time, and after a quick flight, we walked in to the arms of Martin’s family. It was wonderful to be home.
Seven of our eight checked bags came through and the eighth bag came on the next flight, just 20 minutes later. What luck! We arrived home to Martin’s truck, decorated in red white and blue, and a small welcome home celebration with family and neighbors. Our second day home we spent in true San Clemente style – Mexican food, friends and the beach. And it gets even better – after leaving the beach we got slurpees, Martin took a nap, and then we went to Pizza Port for dinner – it’s good to be home.

Now we face the monumental task of unpacking, getting a cell phone for martin, car insurance for me and other such business. Not to mention finding ourselves some jobs. Although it’s a bit overwhelming, it is still so nice to be back. Thank you to everyone for the welcome home visits, phone calls and emails - we are very appreciative of all of your support and thoughtfulness. And a super thank you to all who visited us on our journey, it was great to include others in our experience. Also, thanks to everyone who has been reading our website, it gave us a great feeling knowing we were sharing our adventures with everyone at home. We are planning on keeping this website up with more stories about our adventures - now of the California type!

El Ultimo Canto

Our last two weeks here have of course, flown by, but you know…time flies only when you are having fun – and it’s been fun. Gracie’s dad was here about two weeks ago, he stayed at a super-cool old hotel built in the early 1900’s, with an antique elevator, very modern room and art gallery in the lobby. We spent some time in the rooftop garden of the hotel drinking champagne and chatting about the differences between life in Argentina and home. Mike enjoyed his time here walking up to La Biela in the mornings for coffee and people watching and one night we watched the sub-20 Argentinian national team of soccer players (athletes all under the age of 20) win the world cup (beating the Czech republic). We spent time at the Museo Nacional de Bellas Artes and the Recoleta Saturday Fair. Just before Mike left, Martin’s cousin Julian arrived (with a nice California summer tan, which we were very jealous of) and with him, we spent a very nice day with Martin and Julian’s uncle Julio and his family.

A few days after Julian arrived, Gracie’s mom flew in. So with our final two visitors, we visited the usual sights like Plaza de Mayo and Café Tortoni one last time. We also spent lots of time shopping in the Palermo Viejo neighborhood, mostly at our paper store, and sampling every flavor of Cadbury Chocolate (ask Julian about this). We spent one last wonderful day in Colonia where we had to say a final goodbye to our favorite singing waiter. And speaking of goodbyes, we have had dinner with a different family friend nearly every night for the past week, which has been wonderful. We had the best empanadas in the city at the home of Horacio, Maria Teresa and Josefina along with Dany, Luis and Claudia; and then a fantastic asado cooked by Jose-Luis and Laura, along with Maria Laura, Mariano, Sebastian and Paula. We visited Ceci and Nacho and their new puppy Timoteo, and had coffee with Gloria. All of these people, and others like Carlos and Marisa, Carmen and Herman, Hugo and Claudia, Giaconda, and Graciela and Estella, have all made this adventure a wonderful experience and we are so appreciative of their hospitality, help and friendship.

But we couldn’t leave without one last adventure. Although we had been planning on going to visit Iguazu falls since January, we left the actual booking of the trip to the very last minute (yes Annie, we know we are the worst procrastinators). It was so last minute that even the travel agent couldn’t book us a flight or hotel. But with a little magic on our part, we made it for a quick, yet incredible visit. Iguazu Falls, which is on the border of Argentina, Brazil and Paraguay is the largest waterfall in the world – over 2 miles long, made up of over 270 falls (Angel Falls in Venezuela is the tallest and Victoria Falls in South Africa is comparable in terms of water quantity). All of the water comes from rainfall from the Brazilian rainforest, and then travels down in two large rivers through the northeast section of Argentina, until joining together to form the Rio de la Plata, which Buenos Aires is built alongside, and then flowing out into the Atlantic ocean.

So we left the cold of Buenos Aires and headed into the jungle. Although this region also had recently experienced a cold snap (just the week before – good thing we procrastinated!) when we arrived it was beautiful balmy weather. We spent that afternoon around the little town of Puerto Iguazu and at our lovely hotel. We arrived at the national park early the next morning, boarded an old convertible truck and drove 8km through the rainforest until we reached a small dock a few kilometers down river from the falls. We put on raincoats and life jackets and climbed in to a little speedboat that took off up river, charging through rapids and making turns so sharp you could easily reach out and touch the water. And suddenly, we could see the waterfalls in front of us.

We stopped for a few minutes to take pictures of the crashing water, huge rainbows and clouds of little birds flying through the sprays of water. And then we were instructed to put our cameras away. And our boat charged directly towards the waterfalls. The driver pushed the boat against the current, as close to the base of the waterfall as we could possibly go. We were completely soaked and unable to see or hear anything as we were being completely pelted by the water. After a few more “showers” our boat took us back to the dock, and then over to a little island that also faces the falls, where we hiked just a bit to we could get another, this time drier, view. Once off the island, we hiked up alongside the falls, stopped for lunch, and then walked along the upper trail – on the top of the falls. Along this trail and during lunch, we were visited by many coati’s – fuzzy little raccoon-like animals that are native to the area. We also walked along a trail to see a different area of the waterfalls, named “La Garganta del Diablo” – translated: “The Devil’s Throat.” The trail is a long stretch of platforms suspended just a few feet over a seemingly very calm and expansive lake, until suddenly a great hole opens up and the water drops down so fast that enough mist rises to be seen from an airplane. It’s incredible.

After so much hiking, we were thrilled to begin our last excursion of the day – rafting through the back waters of the falls, where we enjoyed the quiet calmness of the waters, rustling of the palm tree leaves, and stillness of the caiman (animals like small alligators) sunning themselves on rocks – yes really. When this portion came to an end, we headed out of the park, and straight to the hotel for happy hour drinks and showers (the warm kind in the bathroom – not waterfall).
For more amazing Iguazu pictures, here is the link to the photo album:
http://picasaweb.google.com/martinswims/IguazuFalls

We flew back to Buenos Aires this morning and spent the afternoon packing up our little apartment. And although our apartment sure seems small, it’s amazing the amount of things it seems to hold. Despite an injured back, Martin used his amazing organizational skills and boundless patience to meticulously pack 5 suitcases and 4 backpacks. We took a break to have dinner with our friend Dany at our favorite restaurant here, La Fonda del Polo. And now, we are sitting in our bed here on our last night, amongst the suitcases, both excited that we will be home soon, but sad to be leaving. After so much saving and planning and dreaming and worrying in the time leading up to this past 7 months - it is strange that it is now over. And after spending the past 7 months meeting new people and traveling to beaches, cities, mountains and jungles, and all of the anxiety, laughter, problem solving, and picture taking that went with it – it is hard to imagine it being over. We were so incredibly fortunate to have this opportunity. We have learned so much through this experience – about new cultures, about our families, about each other and ourselves. We are very, very thankful to all of our friends and family who helped to make this adventure amazing, and we are so excited to see everyone at home again soon (including the staff at Las Golondrinas). Although we are a little nervous about finding new jobs, a new place to live, and starting over with our California lives, we see it as another adventure to look forward too, and write about. But looking back at these past 7 months, it really was, a great escape.