I got on a roll and decided to post our African Safari photos from 2012. Trust me, these are worth taking a peek at, especially if you like animal photos.
You can find them here .
I promise this is the last post.
Wednesday, 14 May 2014
Friday, 9 May 2014
Final photos and videos
Wednesday, 26 March 2014
Just in case anyone wants to see it....
I have posted the video from the Land Rover trip on YouTube. It includes most of the stuff up to the point where we get unstuck. After that, it was just too dark too video anything. You'll get the idea, though. You can find it here .
We're still sorting through photos. Once we're done, we'll post them all on Flickr.
We're still sorting through photos. Once we're done, we'll post them all on Flickr.
Thursday, 20 March 2014
Heading Home
Today is our last day in Buenos Aires. It's a big, exciting city with tons of things to do but we decided to take advantage of the nice weather and do as many outdoor activities as possible. So there has been a lot of walking, a little shopping and way more food than necessary. I feel as though we have spent the last 6 days eating our way around the city.
The beef is to die for but everything else has been excellent as well. The portions are enormous and the restaurants don't even open until 8PM so our meals have been late. Needless to say, we've been going to bed with full stomachs. I feel as though I've gained a pile of weight since we arrived in B.A. And I can feel my arteries hardening from all of the delicious red meat that I've consumed but the good news is that my clothes still fit.
Things are very affordable for us in B.A. It is a bit more expensive than the other places that we've visited but not by a lot. We've been getting around mainly by taxi because they cost so little. The drivers here are crazy! There is a lot of traffic, no stop signs at most intersections, people ignore the lines on the road and the traffic lights and cars drive inches away from each other. Some of the streets have 14 lanes going in each direction and cars routinely make turns from 3 lanes over. That is not a typo. Many of the streets are massively wide. So much so that on some streets, pedestrians need a few lights to make it all he way across the street. Apparently, traffic signals, where they exist, are just a recommendation. Drivers frequently just drive through red lights-even with police standing right there! It is chaos. You can see all kinds of cars with scrapes and dents so it is obvious that there is frequent contact. And pedestrians just walk out into traffic as though they are playing Chicken. You pretty much have to race across the streets when there is a small gap in traffic because you could stand on the curb until you are 80 years old waiting for traffic to stop and let you walk across.
Yesterday, we were in Puerto Madero. It was previously a port with dry docks and assorted industrial enterprises. Today, it is being revitalized and it has a series of boardwalks, parks, conservation areas, restaurants and condos. It's a really nice area with loads of parkland. We finished up there in rush hour and flagged down a taxi to take us home. Driving in rush hour was an experience in itself. That chaos that I mentioned previously times 10. Ay, Ay, Ay! I could never drive here. To make any headway, drivers are zig-zagging all over the road, kind of tunnelling their way through traffic. And the funny thing about it is that, as our taxi driver was driving all over the road, including driving on the wrong side of a double solid line, and cutting in front of anyone that he got close to, he was shaking his head and and gesturing to all of the other drivers!
Our entire trip has been wonderful. Our primary objectives were to:
- Escape winter - Mission accomplished. For most of our trip, we had even warmer weather than expected. And we only had 3 days of rain! Bonus!
- Trek in Patagonia - Mission accomplished. We had some really great trekking days.
- See beautiful scenery - I think that the scenery exceeded expectations. It was amazing everywhere that we went. And more diverse than expected between each location.
- have some cultural experiences and learn more about how people live here. - Check. We did a lot of really fun things such as attend the Boca Juniors game. It was great fun and gave us really good insight into the lives of ordinary Argentinians.
- practice our Spanish - Lost cause. But really the only goal that wasn't achieved.
We are both surprised at what we missed while we have been away. Surprisingly, TV hasn't been a concern for Gord. When we are in Toronto, the TV is on from morning until bedtime but, we didn't have a tv for most of the time and it wasn't missed. That's probably because a lot of days, we've been out all day and we just crash when we get back to our room. It has been difficult to adjust to the way that they eat. Nothing but carbs and sugar for breakfast. Too much bread. Cakes and pastries at every meal. Hardly any vegetables. Giant portions of meat. Late, late dinners. So we both miss eating what we normally eat and when we normally eat it. Gord is looking forward to pancakes, peanut butter sandwiches and pizza. I am looking forward to a vegetable omelette (without the ham and cheese) and a big salad with lots of vegetables (free of ham and cheese). Did I mention that I am off of ham and cheese for a while?
It isn't lost on us how lucky we are to have been able to take this trip and to do everything that we have done. It has been a really great experience and we will do it again, in a different destination, if we have the chance. And I would return here, too. There's lots to do and see and many things are inexpensive. We don't have a plan for another big trip yet and we'll probably wait for a while before we think too much about it. We at least need to sort through our photos from this trip first.
Signing off for now.
The beef is to die for but everything else has been excellent as well. The portions are enormous and the restaurants don't even open until 8PM so our meals have been late. Needless to say, we've been going to bed with full stomachs. I feel as though I've gained a pile of weight since we arrived in B.A. And I can feel my arteries hardening from all of the delicious red meat that I've consumed but the good news is that my clothes still fit.
Things are very affordable for us in B.A. It is a bit more expensive than the other places that we've visited but not by a lot. We've been getting around mainly by taxi because they cost so little. The drivers here are crazy! There is a lot of traffic, no stop signs at most intersections, people ignore the lines on the road and the traffic lights and cars drive inches away from each other. Some of the streets have 14 lanes going in each direction and cars routinely make turns from 3 lanes over. That is not a typo. Many of the streets are massively wide. So much so that on some streets, pedestrians need a few lights to make it all he way across the street. Apparently, traffic signals, where they exist, are just a recommendation. Drivers frequently just drive through red lights-even with police standing right there! It is chaos. You can see all kinds of cars with scrapes and dents so it is obvious that there is frequent contact. And pedestrians just walk out into traffic as though they are playing Chicken. You pretty much have to race across the streets when there is a small gap in traffic because you could stand on the curb until you are 80 years old waiting for traffic to stop and let you walk across.
Yesterday, we were in Puerto Madero. It was previously a port with dry docks and assorted industrial enterprises. Today, it is being revitalized and it has a series of boardwalks, parks, conservation areas, restaurants and condos. It's a really nice area with loads of parkland. We finished up there in rush hour and flagged down a taxi to take us home. Driving in rush hour was an experience in itself. That chaos that I mentioned previously times 10. Ay, Ay, Ay! I could never drive here. To make any headway, drivers are zig-zagging all over the road, kind of tunnelling their way through traffic. And the funny thing about it is that, as our taxi driver was driving all over the road, including driving on the wrong side of a double solid line, and cutting in front of anyone that he got close to, he was shaking his head and and gesturing to all of the other drivers!
Our entire trip has been wonderful. Our primary objectives were to:
- Escape winter - Mission accomplished. For most of our trip, we had even warmer weather than expected. And we only had 3 days of rain! Bonus!
- Trek in Patagonia - Mission accomplished. We had some really great trekking days.
- See beautiful scenery - I think that the scenery exceeded expectations. It was amazing everywhere that we went. And more diverse than expected between each location.
- have some cultural experiences and learn more about how people live here. - Check. We did a lot of really fun things such as attend the Boca Juniors game. It was great fun and gave us really good insight into the lives of ordinary Argentinians.
- practice our Spanish - Lost cause. But really the only goal that wasn't achieved.
We are both surprised at what we missed while we have been away. Surprisingly, TV hasn't been a concern for Gord. When we are in Toronto, the TV is on from morning until bedtime but, we didn't have a tv for most of the time and it wasn't missed. That's probably because a lot of days, we've been out all day and we just crash when we get back to our room. It has been difficult to adjust to the way that they eat. Nothing but carbs and sugar for breakfast. Too much bread. Cakes and pastries at every meal. Hardly any vegetables. Giant portions of meat. Late, late dinners. So we both miss eating what we normally eat and when we normally eat it. Gord is looking forward to pancakes, peanut butter sandwiches and pizza. I am looking forward to a vegetable omelette (without the ham and cheese) and a big salad with lots of vegetables (free of ham and cheese). Did I mention that I am off of ham and cheese for a while?
It isn't lost on us how lucky we are to have been able to take this trip and to do everything that we have done. It has been a really great experience and we will do it again, in a different destination, if we have the chance. And I would return here, too. There's lots to do and see and many things are inexpensive. We don't have a plan for another big trip yet and we'll probably wait for a while before we think too much about it. We at least need to sort through our photos from this trip first.
Signing off for now.
Wednesday, 19 March 2014
So we went to a soccer game.....
The most famous soccer team in Argentina, and one of the most successful club teams in the world is the Club Atlético Boca Juniors. They are also renowned for having the most rabid fans anywhere. When we found out that they were going to be playing at home during our visit to Buenos Aires, we decided to attend. Mostly as a cultural experience, since neither of us really likes soccer.
The stadium holds somewhere between 49,000 and 57,000, depending on who you talk to. Every game is completely sold out to season ticket holders, who are all club members. The only way to get a ticket is to buy one from a scalper (which is almost guaranteed to be counterfeit), or to get one from one of the reputable tour companies that specialize in this. They have deals with season ticket holders to buy their membership cards, which they then loan to clients like us at about a 50,000% markup.
Anyway, we got tickets to a Boca Juniors home game at La Bombonera stadium. It included pickup and dropoff, as well as a chaperone in and out of the stadium and also in the stands. Needless to say, the La Boca area is not the nicest, especially after dark. The process worked pretty well and we never felt ill at ease. It wasn't perfect, but more about that later.
We got to the game about an hour before kickoff, which was good, because we got a good look at the stadium and the pre-game activities.
The real experience started about 30 minutes before kickoff. At one end of the stadium is an area where the most rabid fans are. Once the area is just about full, in come the real crazies and the fun begins. There are about 200 of them in full attire, complete with flags, capes and a band.
The band starts to play, the fans start to sing and chant and the whole stadium joins in. And they don't stop. Ever. They keep going for the entire game, except for halftime. And it gets LOUD - REALLY LOUD. They all wave their arms in unison, take their shirts off and wave their shirts. All game long. These are true fans.
The unsettling part is when they do one of their chants/songs where everyone bounces in unison. The entire stadium bounces. I'm not kidding. Solid concrete bouncing up and down.
It's really hard to describe the feeling. We were sitting with a guy from England, and he'd never seen anything like it.
But it was fun. A lot of fun. Really glad we did it.
And they do all of this with no alcohol. The stadium is alcohol-free. There are also no away team supporters allowed at any Argentina league games. Too much violence in the past.
Final score was 1-1, but we weren't there to watch soccer. We were there to watch people.
Remember when I said the process wasn't perfect? We're ready to leave after the game and our group has re-formed (we didn't all sit together), but there's one missing. This guy looked for all the world like Malcolm McDowell in a Hawaiian shirt. And he's missing. In the nastiest area in the whole city and there isn't a cab that will come within 20 blocks after a game because of the traffic. I figure he's dead, for sure. And our leader's reaction? "Looks like I lost one.". Seriously?
So we start our walk back to our shuttle bus which is about 10 or 12 blocks away, and after about 8 blocks in this crowd of 50,000 people, we spot this Hawaiian shirt. It's Malcolm McDowell, waiting at a red light. The odds of us finding him are incalculable, but there he is, alive and well.
So we all make it back home, and all had a great time. Quite an experience.
Michele has promised to write a final summary from the airport tomorrow.
One more sleep.
P.S. The food in Buenos Aires is excellent.
The stadium holds somewhere between 49,000 and 57,000, depending on who you talk to. Every game is completely sold out to season ticket holders, who are all club members. The only way to get a ticket is to buy one from a scalper (which is almost guaranteed to be counterfeit), or to get one from one of the reputable tour companies that specialize in this. They have deals with season ticket holders to buy their membership cards, which they then loan to clients like us at about a 50,000% markup.
Anyway, we got tickets to a Boca Juniors home game at La Bombonera stadium. It included pickup and dropoff, as well as a chaperone in and out of the stadium and also in the stands. Needless to say, the La Boca area is not the nicest, especially after dark. The process worked pretty well and we never felt ill at ease. It wasn't perfect, but more about that later.
We got to the game about an hour before kickoff, which was good, because we got a good look at the stadium and the pre-game activities.
The real experience started about 30 minutes before kickoff. At one end of the stadium is an area where the most rabid fans are. Once the area is just about full, in come the real crazies and the fun begins. There are about 200 of them in full attire, complete with flags, capes and a band.
The band starts to play, the fans start to sing and chant and the whole stadium joins in. And they don't stop. Ever. They keep going for the entire game, except for halftime. And it gets LOUD - REALLY LOUD. They all wave their arms in unison, take their shirts off and wave their shirts. All game long. These are true fans.
The unsettling part is when they do one of their chants/songs where everyone bounces in unison. The entire stadium bounces. I'm not kidding. Solid concrete bouncing up and down.
It's really hard to describe the feeling. We were sitting with a guy from England, and he'd never seen anything like it.
But it was fun. A lot of fun. Really glad we did it.
And they do all of this with no alcohol. The stadium is alcohol-free. There are also no away team supporters allowed at any Argentina league games. Too much violence in the past.
Final score was 1-1, but we weren't there to watch soccer. We were there to watch people.
Remember when I said the process wasn't perfect? We're ready to leave after the game and our group has re-formed (we didn't all sit together), but there's one missing. This guy looked for all the world like Malcolm McDowell in a Hawaiian shirt. And he's missing. In the nastiest area in the whole city and there isn't a cab that will come within 20 blocks after a game because of the traffic. I figure he's dead, for sure. And our leader's reaction? "Looks like I lost one.". Seriously?
So we start our walk back to our shuttle bus which is about 10 or 12 blocks away, and after about 8 blocks in this crowd of 50,000 people, we spot this Hawaiian shirt. It's Malcolm McDowell, waiting at a red light. The odds of us finding him are incalculable, but there he is, alive and well.
So we all make it back home, and all had a great time. Quite an experience.
Michele has promised to write a final summary from the airport tomorrow.
One more sleep.
P.S. The food in Buenos Aires is excellent.
Saturday, 15 March 2014
Even though we were in Mendoza 1 1/2 weeks ago, I don't think that we did it justice by only telling the story of the day that didn't go as planned. So, the bottom line about Mendoza is that we didn't have enough time there to really see and do the highlights. It is a nice city (population of entire area is 1.5M) with a fantastic, large park akin to Central Park. We thought that Mendoza was all about wine so we only allowed 3 days there. Enough time for a couple of tours in the mountains and a day to visit some wineries and perhaps an olive oil estate. Our intel was bad because there are really lots of things to do around Mendoza that aren't wine-related. If we had known all of the things to do while we were planning the trip, we would have included a few more days. The "extended adventure day" got us home at 1:30 AM and we were all bagged so we decided to cut our wine tour for the next and last day in Mendoza down to one winery (but a really good one) and a nice lunch. So, it turned out that we should have planned for a few more days in Mendoza.
There haven't been many disappointments on this trip but I am disappointed that we didn't see Aconcaqua while we were in Mendoza. Aconcaqua is the tallest mountain in The Americas and is on the list of mountains to climb for serious mountaineers. We were supposed to get to it on the now infamous day that we had to revise our plan but it didn't happen. Technically, we saw the mountain on our 1st day but the peak was covered in clouds so we just saw a part of the entire mountain. I'm not hung up on having missed Aconcagua since we did inadvertently trade that for another memorable experience.
After Mendoza, we were off to Salta. The city of Salta is nothing to write home about but it is the hub for travel around the province so we rented a car (SUV) and did a 5 day driving trip to see the area. It is very beautiful and much greener than further south. The people who live in Salta and Jujuy Provinces (which are directly south of Bolivia) are much more traditional and are largely indigenous. In this area, we really got to experience the very obvious difference in cultures between the south, middle and north. Something that really stood out to me is how simply the people in the north live. A lot of the adults (especially women) dress in some type of traditional/indigenous clothing. Their houses are very small (usually adobe) and they all have property on which they grow their own vegetables and raise animals for their own use. Outside of the cities, we've seen absolutely no large houses or any properties that would indicate afflence. It's like another world altogether up here and their lives bear no resemblance to the lives of people living in the cities.
We dropped off the rental car in Purma Marca and were picked up by a driver and guide to go to Tolar Grande. It is on a plain in the north western corner of Argentina on The Puna (Quechua word for desert) at an altitude of 11,800 feet, sandwiched between lines of The Andes. The town has a population of 350 people and looks just as I'd imagine a 1-horse town right out of a western movie set but without the horse. There are no services to speak of. It is not at all touristy and our hotel (the only one in town) had only 5 rooms. Breakfast at our hotel consisted only of coffee or tea and crackers and there are no stores or restaurants. Well, there was one restaurant but it only offered drinks and candy before 8:30 PM. So breakfasts were a health conscious combination of cookies, chocolate bars, apples and juice. It was a lucky coincidence that I bought a bunch of apples before we left Purma Marca because they were the only things with any nutritional value to be had. Ham and cheese would have been a luxury. They can't grow anything up there and absolutely everything gets trucked up once per week. It's got to be a tough life there. Almost everything about the last 3 days that we spent in the Puna was a new experience. Some of that was expected but the towns, our hotel, the meals, facilities, etc. were primitive far beyond what I imagined. The entire excursion was a unique experience.
The scenery has been spectacular everywhere that we've been, although the scenery has been different in each location. My biggest regret is that neither of our cameras have a polarizing filter so many of our photos aren't as colourful as what we actually saw. We both have terrific Nikon digital cameras that take high quality photos and have all sorts of great features (some of which I haven't even figured out) but there is no coupling to attach a polarizing filter. In spite of that short coming, we have taken a gazillion photos and will have a big job to cull and sort them when we get back to Toronto.
Now, the adventure part of the trip is over and we have arrived in Buenos Aires. We have 6 days to enjoy all that B.A. has to offer before we leave for home, and, unfortunately, winter weather. So I'm going to continue to enjoy the warm summer weather for the next 6 days. We rented a condo here and it's really nice. We have lots of space and a fantastic, outdoor patio. Once again, Gord did a great job at finding good accommodations for us.
And here's more on the continuing ham and cheese story.....While we were on our driving tour in The Puna on Thursday, we stopped for lunch at a restaurant and, having consumed a load of junk food for breakfast, I decided to order a vegetable omelette for lunch. I was asked if I wanted anything other than vegetables in my omelette and responded that I only wanted eggs and vegetables. So my vegetable omelette arrives and, of course it contains about 200 grams each of ham and cheese. Not a shred of plant matter to be found. Gord and I both cracked up. It was hilarious. And I am 100% certain that it had nothing to do with my Spanish language deficiency because our guide did the ordering and I watched the server write it down as ordered. I believe that there is now irrefutable evidence that ham and cheese is legally required to be included in all meals here. Those guys up in Tolar Grande are so far off of the grid that the authorities probably don't know that they are breaking the mandatory ham and cheese rules.
Did you know that potato chip bags explode at around 8,000 feet? Apparently, Gord and I are slow learners because we conducted that experiment twice.
As it turns out, the Mendoza off-road experience may not have been the most dangerous thing that we've done on this trip. We drove a recommended "scenic route" to get to Purma Marca and the road was in a cloud forest, on the side of some mountains and had a sharp, blind curve about every 200 feet (which makes the drive feel like you are continuously rocking back and forth and can be hypnotizing/sleep inducing so you have to really pay attention). To top that off, the road was only 4 meters wide so the lanes were not nearly as wide as the car. Of course there was almost no shoulder because of the sharp drop into the valley from the side of the road. Summary:
Fortunately, there wasn't much traffic ( probably because the road is only used by the stupid tourists) but it was the most tense "scenic drive" that I've ever been on and I didn't see any scenery. Thank God that's over!
Now for a laid back, un-adventuresome, danger-free walk to check out our Buenos Aires neighbourhood.
Hasta luego.
Week 6 photos can be found here .
There haven't been many disappointments on this trip but I am disappointed that we didn't see Aconcaqua while we were in Mendoza. Aconcaqua is the tallest mountain in The Americas and is on the list of mountains to climb for serious mountaineers. We were supposed to get to it on the now infamous day that we had to revise our plan but it didn't happen. Technically, we saw the mountain on our 1st day but the peak was covered in clouds so we just saw a part of the entire mountain. I'm not hung up on having missed Aconcagua since we did inadvertently trade that for another memorable experience.
After Mendoza, we were off to Salta. The city of Salta is nothing to write home about but it is the hub for travel around the province so we rented a car (SUV) and did a 5 day driving trip to see the area. It is very beautiful and much greener than further south. The people who live in Salta and Jujuy Provinces (which are directly south of Bolivia) are much more traditional and are largely indigenous. In this area, we really got to experience the very obvious difference in cultures between the south, middle and north. Something that really stood out to me is how simply the people in the north live. A lot of the adults (especially women) dress in some type of traditional/indigenous clothing. Their houses are very small (usually adobe) and they all have property on which they grow their own vegetables and raise animals for their own use. Outside of the cities, we've seen absolutely no large houses or any properties that would indicate afflence. It's like another world altogether up here and their lives bear no resemblance to the lives of people living in the cities.
We dropped off the rental car in Purma Marca and were picked up by a driver and guide to go to Tolar Grande. It is on a plain in the north western corner of Argentina on The Puna (Quechua word for desert) at an altitude of 11,800 feet, sandwiched between lines of The Andes. The town has a population of 350 people and looks just as I'd imagine a 1-horse town right out of a western movie set but without the horse. There are no services to speak of. It is not at all touristy and our hotel (the only one in town) had only 5 rooms. Breakfast at our hotel consisted only of coffee or tea and crackers and there are no stores or restaurants. Well, there was one restaurant but it only offered drinks and candy before 8:30 PM. So breakfasts were a health conscious combination of cookies, chocolate bars, apples and juice. It was a lucky coincidence that I bought a bunch of apples before we left Purma Marca because they were the only things with any nutritional value to be had. Ham and cheese would have been a luxury. They can't grow anything up there and absolutely everything gets trucked up once per week. It's got to be a tough life there. Almost everything about the last 3 days that we spent in the Puna was a new experience. Some of that was expected but the towns, our hotel, the meals, facilities, etc. were primitive far beyond what I imagined. The entire excursion was a unique experience.
The scenery has been spectacular everywhere that we've been, although the scenery has been different in each location. My biggest regret is that neither of our cameras have a polarizing filter so many of our photos aren't as colourful as what we actually saw. We both have terrific Nikon digital cameras that take high quality photos and have all sorts of great features (some of which I haven't even figured out) but there is no coupling to attach a polarizing filter. In spite of that short coming, we have taken a gazillion photos and will have a big job to cull and sort them when we get back to Toronto.
Now, the adventure part of the trip is over and we have arrived in Buenos Aires. We have 6 days to enjoy all that B.A. has to offer before we leave for home, and, unfortunately, winter weather. So I'm going to continue to enjoy the warm summer weather for the next 6 days. We rented a condo here and it's really nice. We have lots of space and a fantastic, outdoor patio. Once again, Gord did a great job at finding good accommodations for us.
And here's more on the continuing ham and cheese story.....While we were on our driving tour in The Puna on Thursday, we stopped for lunch at a restaurant and, having consumed a load of junk food for breakfast, I decided to order a vegetable omelette for lunch. I was asked if I wanted anything other than vegetables in my omelette and responded that I only wanted eggs and vegetables. So my vegetable omelette arrives and, of course it contains about 200 grams each of ham and cheese. Not a shred of plant matter to be found. Gord and I both cracked up. It was hilarious. And I am 100% certain that it had nothing to do with my Spanish language deficiency because our guide did the ordering and I watched the server write it down as ordered. I believe that there is now irrefutable evidence that ham and cheese is legally required to be included in all meals here. Those guys up in Tolar Grande are so far off of the grid that the authorities probably don't know that they are breaking the mandatory ham and cheese rules.
Did you know that potato chip bags explode at around 8,000 feet? Apparently, Gord and I are slow learners because we conducted that experiment twice.
As it turns out, the Mendoza off-road experience may not have been the most dangerous thing that we've done on this trip. We drove a recommended "scenic route" to get to Purma Marca and the road was in a cloud forest, on the side of some mountains and had a sharp, blind curve about every 200 feet (which makes the drive feel like you are continuously rocking back and forth and can be hypnotizing/sleep inducing so you have to really pay attention). To top that off, the road was only 4 meters wide so the lanes were not nearly as wide as the car. Of course there was almost no shoulder because of the sharp drop into the valley from the side of the road. Summary:
- Endless sharp, blind curves
- One lane each way that was about 3/4 of the width required to pass oncoming traffic
- Only a few feet of shoulder
- No real opportunity to pull over if your car had a problem ( truthfully, there were a couple of places but only a couple)
Fortunately, there wasn't much traffic ( probably because the road is only used by the stupid tourists) but it was the most tense "scenic drive" that I've ever been on and I didn't see any scenery. Thank God that's over!
Now for a laid back, un-adventuresome, danger-free walk to check out our Buenos Aires neighbourhood.
Hasta luego.
Week 6 photos can be found here .
Tuesday, 11 March 2014
Heading into the Puna
This will be the last post for a few days, as we are going to an area called the Puna, specifically a town called Tolar Grande. We will be so far off the grid, it may be hard to find out way back on to it.
We get picked up tomorrow morning (likely in another Land Rover - oh joy!) for 100 km of paved road driving, followed by 300 km of off-road. We don't arrive in Buenos Aires until late on the 13th, so the next post will likely be the 14th.
Just a few more random thoughts today:
Why is it that I pay $8,000 a year in city taxes, yet every little town in this country has better paved roads than Toronto? And here a teacher makes $300 a month to start, rising to $500 after 35 years.
And the government pays for all health care, all school - including university, and, interestingly - all churches.
I promise never to badmouth Rogers again.
What's with breakfast down here? Toast, Zucaritas, the ever-present ham and cheese, and a selection of pastries. If you like brownies for breakfast, this is the place for you. Personally, we're heading straight for the Pancake House when we get back.
Rented three different cars down here, drove a couple of thousand kilometers and got a flat tire exactly 20 feet from the driveway of our final destination. I guess that's good news / bad news, but it could have been a lot worse. But c'mon - 20 feet?
After packing and unpacking 18 times so far, it never gets easy or pleasant. Admittedly, Michele does 95% of it, but I feel for her. But those packing "cubes" that you can buy to separate your stuff really work great. We only have a couple, but we'll be investing in more.
If you have an Android phone or tablet, invest in a little USB SD card reader, plus a USB to mini-USB cable. Then you can upload all your photos and movies from your camera to your phone or tablet for backup at lightning speed. Then upload them to Flickr or some other photo sharing site. Just don't leave it on the bus, like I did. Luckily, I picked up a replacement set the next day. Costs about $15.
Most hotel rooms need more mirrors. And nonskid things for the shower.
We bought the best little travel power bar. It's by Monster, has 4 outlets and a 6 inch cord that folds over and plugs into one of the outlets for storage. Fantastic gizmo.
I'm the only person in Argentina that observes speed limits.
What I said earlier about cars stopping for pedestrians isn't true in all of the towns and cities. Sometimes it's the opposite. In Salta, you take your life in your hands crossing the road. One person I talked to had moved there three years ago, and had been hit by a car three times since.
If you own a farm here, no matter how big it is and no matter how far away it is from anywhere else, the government is bound by law to maintain the road to your ranch. Interesting.
I haven't missed watching TV at all.
I have eaten 6 apples. That will only be of interest to those who know my dietary choices.
Empanadas are the food of the gods.
The food has gotten much, much better. Except for breakfast, of course.
Another strange thing down here. In the shower, the hot is on the left and the cold is on the right. So far, so good. You turn them both counterclockwise to get the water to come on. Also good. But the third faucet, the one that directs the water to the showerhead, you have to turn clockwise. Every time. Weird.
You can't beat $3.00 for a litre of beer.
That's it for now. Back again on the 14th. Hopefully with some good photos.
Ciao. Everyone says that here. No idea why.
We get picked up tomorrow morning (likely in another Land Rover - oh joy!) for 100 km of paved road driving, followed by 300 km of off-road. We don't arrive in Buenos Aires until late on the 13th, so the next post will likely be the 14th.
Just a few more random thoughts today:
Why is it that I pay $8,000 a year in city taxes, yet every little town in this country has better paved roads than Toronto? And here a teacher makes $300 a month to start, rising to $500 after 35 years.
And the government pays for all health care, all school - including university, and, interestingly - all churches.
I promise never to badmouth Rogers again.
What's with breakfast down here? Toast, Zucaritas, the ever-present ham and cheese, and a selection of pastries. If you like brownies for breakfast, this is the place for you. Personally, we're heading straight for the Pancake House when we get back.
Rented three different cars down here, drove a couple of thousand kilometers and got a flat tire exactly 20 feet from the driveway of our final destination. I guess that's good news / bad news, but it could have been a lot worse. But c'mon - 20 feet?
After packing and unpacking 18 times so far, it never gets easy or pleasant. Admittedly, Michele does 95% of it, but I feel for her. But those packing "cubes" that you can buy to separate your stuff really work great. We only have a couple, but we'll be investing in more.
If you have an Android phone or tablet, invest in a little USB SD card reader, plus a USB to mini-USB cable. Then you can upload all your photos and movies from your camera to your phone or tablet for backup at lightning speed. Then upload them to Flickr or some other photo sharing site. Just don't leave it on the bus, like I did. Luckily, I picked up a replacement set the next day. Costs about $15.
Most hotel rooms need more mirrors. And nonskid things for the shower.
We bought the best little travel power bar. It's by Monster, has 4 outlets and a 6 inch cord that folds over and plugs into one of the outlets for storage. Fantastic gizmo.
I'm the only person in Argentina that observes speed limits.
What I said earlier about cars stopping for pedestrians isn't true in all of the towns and cities. Sometimes it's the opposite. In Salta, you take your life in your hands crossing the road. One person I talked to had moved there three years ago, and had been hit by a car three times since.
If you own a farm here, no matter how big it is and no matter how far away it is from anywhere else, the government is bound by law to maintain the road to your ranch. Interesting.
I haven't missed watching TV at all.
I have eaten 6 apples. That will only be of interest to those who know my dietary choices.
Empanadas are the food of the gods.
The food has gotten much, much better. Except for breakfast, of course.
Another strange thing down here. In the shower, the hot is on the left and the cold is on the right. So far, so good. You turn them both counterclockwise to get the water to come on. Also good. But the third faucet, the one that directs the water to the showerhead, you have to turn clockwise. Every time. Weird.
You can't beat $3.00 for a litre of beer.
That's it for now. Back again on the 14th. Hopefully with some good photos.
Ciao. Everyone says that here. No idea why.
Sunday, 9 March 2014
Saturday, 8 March 2014
Observations
We have now worked our way up Los Andes and are in the last province that we'll visit before we move on to Buenos Aires and then home. Every place that we've visited has been for the first time so we've noticed some things that seem different from home, and, in some cases, from what we remember of Buenos Aires. With the exception of Mendoza, we have spent all of our time in fairly small centres and most of our activities have been outdoors so we've had lots of new experiences. Besides that, after Gord's South American version of A Tale of Two Cities, I think some lighter news is in order. So here are some things that have stood out to us:
You already know that we've been in many places where we couldn't get WI FI. (Or, as they say in Spanish: Wee Fee). And sometimes when we could get it, the signal was so weak that we'd time out trying to open email or a web page. Really, they only places where we had dependable WI FI with a speed that we consider acceptable was in Bariloche, Mendoza and Salta (notably, the 3 large centres that we've visited). I can only guess that the people here depend on texting and, as far as internet access goes, that they don't know what they are missing.
For some inexplicable reason, Axl Rose/Guns'n Roses is very popular in the places that we have visited in Argentina. On a bus, the driver plays Axl Rose music, in a restaurant, more Axl Rose (lovely dinner music), in a shop, you guessed it, Axl Rose again. Go figure.
The portions served in restaurants are humongous. Most of the time, I only need half of what is served. Sometimes less than that. I don't know how Argentinians can pack away that much food. To top it off, they eat dinner at 10PM. People eat that late whether it's in a restaurant or in their home. We've had a 10PM dinner a few times but I just can't sleep after that. I don't think that I would ever be able to adapt to eating so much at so late in the day. So, you'd think that wouldn't be a problem because we can just eat earlier. Wrong! Most restaurants don't even open until 8 PM so, as a result, we spent more time that we expected looking for places to eat dinner. Fortunately, there are always a few places open that cater to tourists that are not Argentinian.
Sugary, carb-filled breakfasts are the norm. In all of our hotels, breakfast consists of croisants, cakes, cookies, cereals like Sugar Frosted Flakes (called Zucaritas! - little sugars) and sweetened, liquid yoghurt. What's with liquid yoghurt, anyway? Oh yes, and of course there is ham and cheese (the most consistently served food of all). In some hotels, they serve eggs but that's not often and, when they do, it's just for the gringos.
To give you an idea of how much ham and cheese is revered here, this is a sample sandwich menu in a small cafe:
Cheese sandwich
Ham and cheese sandwich
Ham sandwich
Ham, cheese and tomato sandwich
Ham, cheese tomato and lettuce sandwich
Of course they will have other things on the menu but if they only have a selection of 5 sandwiches, you can bank on the above options.
They also throw ham and cheese into other dishes as a surprise bonus. I ordered a mixed vegetable salad in 2 different places and they came to the table loaded with ham and cheese. They like their steak down here (and it tastes wonderful), but they certainly seem to prefer ham and cheese.
In and round Mendoza, if you want to sell your car, you fill a 2 litre plastic pop or water bottle with water and place it on the roof of your car. Then, you post your phone number in the window and wait for the inquiries on your car to come in. I suppose, the bottle standing on top of your car is more noticeable than just having a For Sale sign in the window. However, this provides a great opportunity to prank your friends. Just put the bottle on their roof and post their number in the car window and they should have some interesting phone conversations.
Car dealerships sell many different makes of cars. Every car dealership has different makes, but they all have a bunch. For example, there was a dealership across from our hotel in Salta that sold Chevy, Ford, Toyota, Mini, BMW, Audi and Volkwagen. I presume that this means the contracts between the manufacturers and the dealerships are different between North America and South America.
In the southern parts of Patagonia, there are no recycling programs. Now that we are used to recycling, I find it uncomfortable to throw plastic bottles, papers, and the like into the trash bin, but that's what they do so that's what we did, too. On the other hand, El Calafate and El Chalten have banned plastic bags completely, yet, everything else is trash.
Still on the topic of waste, I saw exactly zero public garbage bins in Patagonia and Mendoza. (There are waste bins in the public parks in Salta). In the national parks, there are signs that instruct you to take any trash with you when you leave the park but that seems to be the full extent of the trash collection. In Bariloche and Mendoza, businesses and residences have a metal rack in front of their properties and garbage trucks collect the trash from them every night. That's right. Everyone's garbage gets picked up every night.
There are very few highway signs to tell you the distance to towns and cities and even when to slow down for a curve. In and around San Martin de Los Andes, someone has decided that there are too many and all (every single sign that we saw) of the distance and directional signs has been used for target practice. Not just a few bullet holes. I mean shot to smithereens. Now I understand the pointlessness of installing road signs.
Argentina's economy is in dire straights again. They devalued their currency shortly before we started this trip and that resulted in everyone losing about 25% of their incomes and savings. People who have money to do so are buying $US at a big premium because they are afraid that their peso could be worth nothing. We have had people volunteer to trade pesos for $US because he government will not allow them to buy any foreign currency. Every person that we have met and talked to hates the current president and the general consensus is that she rigs the elections to stay in power. She is wealthy and her family owns a bunch of big businesses. As far as we can tell, everyone believes that "Queen Cristina" is totally corrupt and driving them all into destitution.
Bariloche is famous for having fantastic chocolate so, who better than someone like me who is somewhat ambivalent about chocolate to disprove those claims? I have failed. The chocolate is truly fantasic. I assume that the tradition of artesanal chocolate making came from the large contingent of Germans who settled in Bariloche but I'm not certain. Anyway, one of the good things about leaving Bariloche is that I can't get anymore chocolate. I'd weigh 300lbs. if I lived there.
On fashion, platform shoes are all the rage for women. Giant, clunky 2 or 3" platform shoes. They look like they weigh 10 lbs. each. Very elegant. And they come covered in glitter, sequins, fake animal skin - all kinds of hideous designs. Proving that real people actually do dress like Lady Ga Ga. Note: There is no evidence of this fashion trend in Salta (which is in the north west of Argentina) but we've seen it everywhere else that we've been so far.
More on women's fashions: leggings are everywhere (again, Salta is an exception). Skin tight, all colours, all imaginable patterns and worn by women of all sizes and ages. I mean all ages. I admit that I can't stop staring at 75 year old, overweight, toothless women wearing brightly coloured, floral, skin tight leggings. I wish that I'd photographed some of them to have evidence of how bizarre it is.
There have been no barbers in any of the places that we've visited so far. Hairdressers cut both men's a women's hair but, more often, men cut their own hair. It shows. There are a lot of bad haircuts. Hairdressers also don't take appointments so you show up and wait in line. They must wash, cut and dry hair a lot faster than hairdressers in Canada, otherwise, I'd be cutting my own hair, too.
People in Buenos Aires dress up a lot so I expect to see different fashion and hair trends when we get there.
When a male/female couple walk together, commonly, the man carries the woman's handbag, usually over his shoulder, and not looking at all uncomfortable.
Argentinian Spanish varies from region to region. I don't think in Spanish so I depend on being able to understand some key words, translate them, and then figure out the context of what is being said. However, I rely on being able to distinguish those key words. In Bariloche, San Martin and Mendoza, their manner of speaking is to attach every syllable in their statement together so, even though they are saying something that I should be able to understand, I have no idea what they are saying. To make it more difficult for me, they run sentences together, too.
Then we arrive in Salta, where they speak differently again. They don't blur the words and sentences together but they pronounce several letters and groups of letters differently from what I learned so I don't recognize words that I know when spoken Costa Rica style. I have concluded that my Spanish is hopeless and I now open almost every conversation by asking, in Spanish, if the other person speaks English. They seldom do and then comedy ensues.
Overall, the people in very location have been very friendly and accommodating and don't seem fussed when we struggle with Spanish. Many of them live very simply and seem to appreciate our business in their establishment and our interest in their country, of which they are very proud. Although we are careful about where we go at night, we have felt safe everywhere, with the possible exception of when we were waiting in the dark and in the clouds on top of that mountain in Gord's story. So far, so good.
Until next time.
You already know that we've been in many places where we couldn't get WI FI. (Or, as they say in Spanish: Wee Fee). And sometimes when we could get it, the signal was so weak that we'd time out trying to open email or a web page. Really, they only places where we had dependable WI FI with a speed that we consider acceptable was in Bariloche, Mendoza and Salta (notably, the 3 large centres that we've visited). I can only guess that the people here depend on texting and, as far as internet access goes, that they don't know what they are missing.
For some inexplicable reason, Axl Rose/Guns'n Roses is very popular in the places that we have visited in Argentina. On a bus, the driver plays Axl Rose music, in a restaurant, more Axl Rose (lovely dinner music), in a shop, you guessed it, Axl Rose again. Go figure.
The portions served in restaurants are humongous. Most of the time, I only need half of what is served. Sometimes less than that. I don't know how Argentinians can pack away that much food. To top it off, they eat dinner at 10PM. People eat that late whether it's in a restaurant or in their home. We've had a 10PM dinner a few times but I just can't sleep after that. I don't think that I would ever be able to adapt to eating so much at so late in the day. So, you'd think that wouldn't be a problem because we can just eat earlier. Wrong! Most restaurants don't even open until 8 PM so, as a result, we spent more time that we expected looking for places to eat dinner. Fortunately, there are always a few places open that cater to tourists that are not Argentinian.
Sugary, carb-filled breakfasts are the norm. In all of our hotels, breakfast consists of croisants, cakes, cookies, cereals like Sugar Frosted Flakes (called Zucaritas! - little sugars) and sweetened, liquid yoghurt. What's with liquid yoghurt, anyway? Oh yes, and of course there is ham and cheese (the most consistently served food of all). In some hotels, they serve eggs but that's not often and, when they do, it's just for the gringos.
To give you an idea of how much ham and cheese is revered here, this is a sample sandwich menu in a small cafe:
Cheese sandwich
Ham and cheese sandwich
Ham sandwich
Ham, cheese and tomato sandwich
Ham, cheese tomato and lettuce sandwich
Of course they will have other things on the menu but if they only have a selection of 5 sandwiches, you can bank on the above options.
They also throw ham and cheese into other dishes as a surprise bonus. I ordered a mixed vegetable salad in 2 different places and they came to the table loaded with ham and cheese. They like their steak down here (and it tastes wonderful), but they certainly seem to prefer ham and cheese.
In and round Mendoza, if you want to sell your car, you fill a 2 litre plastic pop or water bottle with water and place it on the roof of your car. Then, you post your phone number in the window and wait for the inquiries on your car to come in. I suppose, the bottle standing on top of your car is more noticeable than just having a For Sale sign in the window. However, this provides a great opportunity to prank your friends. Just put the bottle on their roof and post their number in the car window and they should have some interesting phone conversations.
Car dealerships sell many different makes of cars. Every car dealership has different makes, but they all have a bunch. For example, there was a dealership across from our hotel in Salta that sold Chevy, Ford, Toyota, Mini, BMW, Audi and Volkwagen. I presume that this means the contracts between the manufacturers and the dealerships are different between North America and South America.
In the southern parts of Patagonia, there are no recycling programs. Now that we are used to recycling, I find it uncomfortable to throw plastic bottles, papers, and the like into the trash bin, but that's what they do so that's what we did, too. On the other hand, El Calafate and El Chalten have banned plastic bags completely, yet, everything else is trash.
Still on the topic of waste, I saw exactly zero public garbage bins in Patagonia and Mendoza. (There are waste bins in the public parks in Salta). In the national parks, there are signs that instruct you to take any trash with you when you leave the park but that seems to be the full extent of the trash collection. In Bariloche and Mendoza, businesses and residences have a metal rack in front of their properties and garbage trucks collect the trash from them every night. That's right. Everyone's garbage gets picked up every night.
There are very few highway signs to tell you the distance to towns and cities and even when to slow down for a curve. In and around San Martin de Los Andes, someone has decided that there are too many and all (every single sign that we saw) of the distance and directional signs has been used for target practice. Not just a few bullet holes. I mean shot to smithereens. Now I understand the pointlessness of installing road signs.
Argentina's economy is in dire straights again. They devalued their currency shortly before we started this trip and that resulted in everyone losing about 25% of their incomes and savings. People who have money to do so are buying $US at a big premium because they are afraid that their peso could be worth nothing. We have had people volunteer to trade pesos for $US because he government will not allow them to buy any foreign currency. Every person that we have met and talked to hates the current president and the general consensus is that she rigs the elections to stay in power. She is wealthy and her family owns a bunch of big businesses. As far as we can tell, everyone believes that "Queen Cristina" is totally corrupt and driving them all into destitution.
Bariloche is famous for having fantastic chocolate so, who better than someone like me who is somewhat ambivalent about chocolate to disprove those claims? I have failed. The chocolate is truly fantasic. I assume that the tradition of artesanal chocolate making came from the large contingent of Germans who settled in Bariloche but I'm not certain. Anyway, one of the good things about leaving Bariloche is that I can't get anymore chocolate. I'd weigh 300lbs. if I lived there.
On fashion, platform shoes are all the rage for women. Giant, clunky 2 or 3" platform shoes. They look like they weigh 10 lbs. each. Very elegant. And they come covered in glitter, sequins, fake animal skin - all kinds of hideous designs. Proving that real people actually do dress like Lady Ga Ga. Note: There is no evidence of this fashion trend in Salta (which is in the north west of Argentina) but we've seen it everywhere else that we've been so far.
More on women's fashions: leggings are everywhere (again, Salta is an exception). Skin tight, all colours, all imaginable patterns and worn by women of all sizes and ages. I mean all ages. I admit that I can't stop staring at 75 year old, overweight, toothless women wearing brightly coloured, floral, skin tight leggings. I wish that I'd photographed some of them to have evidence of how bizarre it is.
There have been no barbers in any of the places that we've visited so far. Hairdressers cut both men's a women's hair but, more often, men cut their own hair. It shows. There are a lot of bad haircuts. Hairdressers also don't take appointments so you show up and wait in line. They must wash, cut and dry hair a lot faster than hairdressers in Canada, otherwise, I'd be cutting my own hair, too.
People in Buenos Aires dress up a lot so I expect to see different fashion and hair trends when we get there.
When a male/female couple walk together, commonly, the man carries the woman's handbag, usually over his shoulder, and not looking at all uncomfortable.
Argentinian Spanish varies from region to region. I don't think in Spanish so I depend on being able to understand some key words, translate them, and then figure out the context of what is being said. However, I rely on being able to distinguish those key words. In Bariloche, San Martin and Mendoza, their manner of speaking is to attach every syllable in their statement together so, even though they are saying something that I should be able to understand, I have no idea what they are saying. To make it more difficult for me, they run sentences together, too.
Then we arrive in Salta, where they speak differently again. They don't blur the words and sentences together but they pronounce several letters and groups of letters differently from what I learned so I don't recognize words that I know when spoken Costa Rica style. I have concluded that my Spanish is hopeless and I now open almost every conversation by asking, in Spanish, if the other person speaks English. They seldom do and then comedy ensues.
Overall, the people in very location have been very friendly and accommodating and don't seem fussed when we struggle with Spanish. Many of them live very simply and seem to appreciate our business in their establishment and our interest in their country, of which they are very proud. Although we are careful about where we go at night, we have felt safe everywhere, with the possible exception of when we were waiting in the dark and in the clouds on top of that mountain in Gord's story. So far, so good.
Until next time.
Friday, 7 March 2014
It was the best of times. It was the worst of times.
With apologies to Charles Dickens, it's days like this that make me wish I had grandchildren. Before you get too excited, my reasoning is that then I would have someone to tell this story to for the next 25 years or so. Read on to find out why.
The day began like any other day on the trip. We were picked up at the hotel by our driver/guide for the day, Juan Cruz Dominguez. We had Juan Cruz (he uses both names) for the previous two days and liked him a lot. As a driver, it would be tough to find someone with better credentials.
Michele had asked him if he had any other jobs aside from being a driver/guide for Kahuak, which is the company that our tours were booked through. He said he was a driving instructor. That was true, but a massive understatement. He instructs the Argentinian armed forces in all manner of off-road driving skills and techniques for all of their vehicles in all types of terrain and hazardous conditions. Not exactly your basic driver's ed. kind of guy. As well, he consults for the Argentinian portion of the Dakar rally and helps design and set up the course. And is the head guy for the Land Rover club of Mendoza. In short, this guy knows how to drive.
Anyway, he picks us up in his 1998 Land Rover Defender because the road we're scheduled to take that day is gravel and rocks, so it's a better vehicle for that than his regular passenger car. But it's just a regular road travelled by many tourists every day. It's very scenic and is called "the way of 365 curves". For the non-car people, the Land Rover Defender will basically kick any other vehicle's butt off-road. It's a monster of a truck and his has all the gear - extra tires, 10 spot lights, 10,000 pound winch with 50 metres of cable.
So, off we go. The first 50 clicks or so are on paved road and not particularly impressive. Then we hit the gravel and start our upward climb. Good scenery, lots of turns. I stopped counting at 38. We arrive at the Hotel Villavicencio, which was closed in 1978, but was a luxury spa when in operation. After a short look around, it's back in the car for more twists and turns. We haven't gone far when we encounter another motorist on his way down the mountain. He tells Juan Cruz that there has been an avalanche up higher and that the road is impassable. Bad news. We don't know how bad yet, but that's coming.
Juan Cruz says he has a Plan B. Great, you might think. This is the part of the movie where it gets dark, a door slams, a wolf howls and eerie organ music plays. But we are happy to go along.
His Land Rover club friends are taking two guests from the Buenos Aires club on an off-road day trip as a special treat, since the terrain around Mendoza is much more challenging than what they are used to. (Red flag #1). Juan Cruz says that we will take the same road and we will love it as it is spectacular. Yay! Let's go off-roading!
So we backtrack for a while until we reach the new road. I use "road" in the very broadest sense of the word. "Goat track" would also work, but let's go with "road". We drive, climb, turn, climb, drive and turn some more. True to his word, it is exciting and spectacular. Driving right along the edge of cliffs that drop away into the valleys below. We are loving it. We eventually meet up with the four other Land Rovers, including the Buenos Aires people.
I should note that our trip was to include an Argentian BBQ lunch at a local ranch. The original plan was to eat at 1 P.M., but with the change in plans, now it was going to be more like 3:30 P.M. The other four vehicles were going to have their own "asado", which is what they call a BBQ, but now they decided to come to the ranch with us. (Red flag #2).
Now we have a convoy of five headed for the ranch, over some tougher ground. All of the vehicles are in constant contact via VHF radios. They alert each other of problem areas on the road and if anyone is having difficulty. After a while, we all stop because one of the vehicles has a flat. (Red flag #3). These rocks are razor sharp and will shred tires easily. The tire gets fixed and we are on our way. Juan Cruz notes that we are moving slower than normally, because of the inexperience of the Buenos Aires people. (Red flag #4).
We climb higher and slower, into the clouds above 10,000 feet on much worse terrain until we are above the snow line. Along the way, we had to stop for a while and Juan Cruz had to pull one of the other vehicles up a steep hill covered in scree, as it just couldn't make it up on its own. No problem for Juan Cruz, though. (Red Flag #5).
The Buenos Aires people slow us down some more when they get stuck, but it's not a big deal. (Red Flag #6).
I should add that the other group shared some of their salami, cheese and bread with us since we were getting hungry by now and had no food. Thank you.
By now, we're at 10,800 feet, visibility is about 150 feet and it's cold. The "trail" has become snow covered in spots and is hard to find at times. (Red Flag #7).
We spot a herd of guanacos running alongside of us and off into the clouds. We drive on. Then, out of the clouds appears a herd of wild horses. Juan Cruz says that no one ever gets to see these horses. Then, they vanish into the clouds. (Premonition #1).
Now we get to the good part. Get some popcorn and settle in.
It's almost 5:00 P.M. and we are only 6 km. from the ranch according to Juan Cruz. Visibility has worsened, the ground is slippery, the snow is deepening and the road is almost impossible to see. We are the lead vehicle, and Juan Cruz is clearly the team leader. We approach one slippery, snowy patch and he stops. He says to us that some of the others will have trouble with this section. He radios them to stop and hold their positions. We start to back up slowly, but the Defender begins to slip sideways down the mountain. Our wheels are all locked, but we continue to slide slowly down. Finally, we come to rest about 10 feet down the mountain and off the trail. And we can't move. Any attempt to move starts us sliding down again. Juan Cruz starts to get out and says: "Don't worry. This is not a problem for us." Really?
At this point, we (Michele and I) are only moderately concerned, as there are four other vehicles and lots of equipment to unstick a stuck vehicle. Then we get out and look back to see four other stuck Land Rovers. (Red Flags #8,9,10,11,12).
So, to recap, no visibility, over 10,000 feeet up, snow, slippery mud, cold, and all the vehicles are stuck. Being stuck is usually not too big an issue for these guys. They just hook up a cable and/or winch and pull each other up. Or, they attach the cable to a tree or a big rock and winch themselves out. Did I mention that there are no trees or big rocks up there? Well, there are not. And in order to pull each other out, you need to have: a) at least one vehicle that can get to solid ground, and b) enough cable to reach the other vehicles. It also really helps if that vehicle is heavier than the ones it's trying to pull out. We had: c) none of the above.
Before total despair had a chance to set in, one of the guys managed to free himself and get to higher ground. I'm going to condense the next two hours worth of activity into a few sentences. One by one, everyone was pulled or winched up to a flat plateau. Cables were added to cables, people got very cold and muddy, but it all worked out. Now everyone is safe, and we can all retrace our steps and go home.
Or so we thought. Juan Cruz decided we should forge ahead because we were so close to the ranch and it was all dry and downhill from there. Plus, we had BBQ waiting for us. So, on we go. Very, very slowly. Through mud and snow, slipping, getting stuck, then unstuck we make it to the top of a rise where we stop and wait for the others. It's now 8 P.M. The others take 30 minutes more to catch up.
I like to think that I have a pretty good command of the English language, but words cannot truly express what went through our minds next. You would have had to seen the fear in our eyes. We're on the top of a hill with a very steep downslope on ground that you can barely stand or walk on it's so slippery. At the bottom of the hill is a steep, snow covered upslope that disappears into the clouds and darkness. Juan Cruz gets out and walks the trail to see what to do. Clearly to us, the decision is to turn around. He comes back and says that if he drives UP the hill at an angle, then straight down so he doesn't slide sideways, he should be able to make it up the upslope.
Have you ever been so nervous/anxious/scared that you start to shake uncontrollably? Well, we can now say that we have. Michele and I bail out of the truck and tell him we're walking. He's not too crazy about that idea, but he has no say in the matter. We tell him we'll wait at the top of the next rise if he makes it. Off we go into the clouds and increasing darkness. We get to the top and it's getting very dark and very cold. We stand back to back in case of pumas. I'm not kidding. And we wait. And wait. And wait. Now, this doesn't seem like the best decision.
Then we can hear the drone of the turbo diesel in the distance, but geting closer. Then we see his lights, coming straight down the hill on the other side of the valley. He reaches the bottom, then begins the slow climb up to where we are. And, son of a bitch, he makes it. We get back in the truck and on we go. The whole ordeal took about 20 minutes.
A short while later we reach a point where the trail is no longer visible. The snow is a foot and a half deep in places. We stop to wait for the others. But they don't come. Finally, one radios that he can't get up the hill. Juan Cruz says that the guy didn't follow his instructions and got stuck. So we go back to the top of the hill and turn on all of our lights to give the guy something to aim for. Juan Cruz talks him through it and he makes it up. We head back to the snowfield to search for the trail.
By now it's pitch black. Juan Cruz takes his GPS and a head lamp and walks into the darkness in search of the trail. 10 minutes pass. Then 20. Then 30. A couple of the other trucks have finally reached our location. Just as I get out to talk to the other drivers (who speak no English) to see what we should do, Juan Cruz's head lamp appears. He has been gone for 40 minutes. He gets in the truck and can't understand why we were worried. "I'm a mountain man!" he says. "You're completely nuts!" I think to myself.
10 minutes later, the last two trucks appear. Juan Cruz says that the trail is actually only six feet to the left of where we are, and it's all downhill and easy from here. We're off again. It's around 10 P.M.
Surprisingly, he wasn't just trying to keep our spirits up. The trail is better and easier to see. Once it gets dark, the clouds disappear and the spotlights work great. It's on to the ranch, where they are still willing to feed us. We decide it's too late. Just take us home.
But we're still a long way from home (and the ranch, as it turned out). The trail is now what they would have called a "dry wash" in the old cowboy movies. Basically, it's a dried up river bed. We're feeling better until Juan Cruz tells us that we're not homefree yet. WTF?? He says there is one more very technical part left to negotiate. We get there, and it looks impossible. Between two boulders that seem to be closer together than the truck's width, then a three foot drop. But, they have a guy get out and navigate each truck through, an inch at a time, until we all make it.
The rest is easy all the way to the ranch. We get lost twice, but manage to find the trail eventually. By the time we reach the ranch turnoff, it's 11:30. Six and a half hours to go six kilometres. After the ranch, we get on maintained and asphalt roads all the way home. We get home at 1:30 A.M.
The moral of the story? I wish I could think of one. How about: Enjoy life while you can because you never know when you might get eaten by a puma while waiting in the dark at 10,800 feet for a Land Rover that you got out of because you were too nervous to be in it since it had a good chance of sliding off a mountain. Too wordy? Maybe, but it's all I've got.
Oh, and I've got videos to prove most of this. And I forgot to mention the tarantula. Another day.
On a brighter note, new Week 5 Photos can be found here .
The day began like any other day on the trip. We were picked up at the hotel by our driver/guide for the day, Juan Cruz Dominguez. We had Juan Cruz (he uses both names) for the previous two days and liked him a lot. As a driver, it would be tough to find someone with better credentials.
Michele had asked him if he had any other jobs aside from being a driver/guide for Kahuak, which is the company that our tours were booked through. He said he was a driving instructor. That was true, but a massive understatement. He instructs the Argentinian armed forces in all manner of off-road driving skills and techniques for all of their vehicles in all types of terrain and hazardous conditions. Not exactly your basic driver's ed. kind of guy. As well, he consults for the Argentinian portion of the Dakar rally and helps design and set up the course. And is the head guy for the Land Rover club of Mendoza. In short, this guy knows how to drive.
Anyway, he picks us up in his 1998 Land Rover Defender because the road we're scheduled to take that day is gravel and rocks, so it's a better vehicle for that than his regular passenger car. But it's just a regular road travelled by many tourists every day. It's very scenic and is called "the way of 365 curves". For the non-car people, the Land Rover Defender will basically kick any other vehicle's butt off-road. It's a monster of a truck and his has all the gear - extra tires, 10 spot lights, 10,000 pound winch with 50 metres of cable.
So, off we go. The first 50 clicks or so are on paved road and not particularly impressive. Then we hit the gravel and start our upward climb. Good scenery, lots of turns. I stopped counting at 38. We arrive at the Hotel Villavicencio, which was closed in 1978, but was a luxury spa when in operation. After a short look around, it's back in the car for more twists and turns. We haven't gone far when we encounter another motorist on his way down the mountain. He tells Juan Cruz that there has been an avalanche up higher and that the road is impassable. Bad news. We don't know how bad yet, but that's coming.
Juan Cruz says he has a Plan B. Great, you might think. This is the part of the movie where it gets dark, a door slams, a wolf howls and eerie organ music plays. But we are happy to go along.
His Land Rover club friends are taking two guests from the Buenos Aires club on an off-road day trip as a special treat, since the terrain around Mendoza is much more challenging than what they are used to. (Red flag #1). Juan Cruz says that we will take the same road and we will love it as it is spectacular. Yay! Let's go off-roading!
So we backtrack for a while until we reach the new road. I use "road" in the very broadest sense of the word. "Goat track" would also work, but let's go with "road". We drive, climb, turn, climb, drive and turn some more. True to his word, it is exciting and spectacular. Driving right along the edge of cliffs that drop away into the valleys below. We are loving it. We eventually meet up with the four other Land Rovers, including the Buenos Aires people.
I should note that our trip was to include an Argentian BBQ lunch at a local ranch. The original plan was to eat at 1 P.M., but with the change in plans, now it was going to be more like 3:30 P.M. The other four vehicles were going to have their own "asado", which is what they call a BBQ, but now they decided to come to the ranch with us. (Red flag #2).
Now we have a convoy of five headed for the ranch, over some tougher ground. All of the vehicles are in constant contact via VHF radios. They alert each other of problem areas on the road and if anyone is having difficulty. After a while, we all stop because one of the vehicles has a flat. (Red flag #3). These rocks are razor sharp and will shred tires easily. The tire gets fixed and we are on our way. Juan Cruz notes that we are moving slower than normally, because of the inexperience of the Buenos Aires people. (Red flag #4).
We climb higher and slower, into the clouds above 10,000 feet on much worse terrain until we are above the snow line. Along the way, we had to stop for a while and Juan Cruz had to pull one of the other vehicles up a steep hill covered in scree, as it just couldn't make it up on its own. No problem for Juan Cruz, though. (Red Flag #5).
The Buenos Aires people slow us down some more when they get stuck, but it's not a big deal. (Red Flag #6).
I should add that the other group shared some of their salami, cheese and bread with us since we were getting hungry by now and had no food. Thank you.
By now, we're at 10,800 feet, visibility is about 150 feet and it's cold. The "trail" has become snow covered in spots and is hard to find at times. (Red Flag #7).
We spot a herd of guanacos running alongside of us and off into the clouds. We drive on. Then, out of the clouds appears a herd of wild horses. Juan Cruz says that no one ever gets to see these horses. Then, they vanish into the clouds. (Premonition #1).
Now we get to the good part. Get some popcorn and settle in.
It's almost 5:00 P.M. and we are only 6 km. from the ranch according to Juan Cruz. Visibility has worsened, the ground is slippery, the snow is deepening and the road is almost impossible to see. We are the lead vehicle, and Juan Cruz is clearly the team leader. We approach one slippery, snowy patch and he stops. He says to us that some of the others will have trouble with this section. He radios them to stop and hold their positions. We start to back up slowly, but the Defender begins to slip sideways down the mountain. Our wheels are all locked, but we continue to slide slowly down. Finally, we come to rest about 10 feet down the mountain and off the trail. And we can't move. Any attempt to move starts us sliding down again. Juan Cruz starts to get out and says: "Don't worry. This is not a problem for us." Really?
At this point, we (Michele and I) are only moderately concerned, as there are four other vehicles and lots of equipment to unstick a stuck vehicle. Then we get out and look back to see four other stuck Land Rovers. (Red Flags #8,9,10,11,12).
So, to recap, no visibility, over 10,000 feeet up, snow, slippery mud, cold, and all the vehicles are stuck. Being stuck is usually not too big an issue for these guys. They just hook up a cable and/or winch and pull each other up. Or, they attach the cable to a tree or a big rock and winch themselves out. Did I mention that there are no trees or big rocks up there? Well, there are not. And in order to pull each other out, you need to have: a) at least one vehicle that can get to solid ground, and b) enough cable to reach the other vehicles. It also really helps if that vehicle is heavier than the ones it's trying to pull out. We had: c) none of the above.
Before total despair had a chance to set in, one of the guys managed to free himself and get to higher ground. I'm going to condense the next two hours worth of activity into a few sentences. One by one, everyone was pulled or winched up to a flat plateau. Cables were added to cables, people got very cold and muddy, but it all worked out. Now everyone is safe, and we can all retrace our steps and go home.
Or so we thought. Juan Cruz decided we should forge ahead because we were so close to the ranch and it was all dry and downhill from there. Plus, we had BBQ waiting for us. So, on we go. Very, very slowly. Through mud and snow, slipping, getting stuck, then unstuck we make it to the top of a rise where we stop and wait for the others. It's now 8 P.M. The others take 30 minutes more to catch up.
I like to think that I have a pretty good command of the English language, but words cannot truly express what went through our minds next. You would have had to seen the fear in our eyes. We're on the top of a hill with a very steep downslope on ground that you can barely stand or walk on it's so slippery. At the bottom of the hill is a steep, snow covered upslope that disappears into the clouds and darkness. Juan Cruz gets out and walks the trail to see what to do. Clearly to us, the decision is to turn around. He comes back and says that if he drives UP the hill at an angle, then straight down so he doesn't slide sideways, he should be able to make it up the upslope.
Have you ever been so nervous/anxious/scared that you start to shake uncontrollably? Well, we can now say that we have. Michele and I bail out of the truck and tell him we're walking. He's not too crazy about that idea, but he has no say in the matter. We tell him we'll wait at the top of the next rise if he makes it. Off we go into the clouds and increasing darkness. We get to the top and it's getting very dark and very cold. We stand back to back in case of pumas. I'm not kidding. And we wait. And wait. And wait. Now, this doesn't seem like the best decision.
Then we can hear the drone of the turbo diesel in the distance, but geting closer. Then we see his lights, coming straight down the hill on the other side of the valley. He reaches the bottom, then begins the slow climb up to where we are. And, son of a bitch, he makes it. We get back in the truck and on we go. The whole ordeal took about 20 minutes.
A short while later we reach a point where the trail is no longer visible. The snow is a foot and a half deep in places. We stop to wait for the others. But they don't come. Finally, one radios that he can't get up the hill. Juan Cruz says that the guy didn't follow his instructions and got stuck. So we go back to the top of the hill and turn on all of our lights to give the guy something to aim for. Juan Cruz talks him through it and he makes it up. We head back to the snowfield to search for the trail.
By now it's pitch black. Juan Cruz takes his GPS and a head lamp and walks into the darkness in search of the trail. 10 minutes pass. Then 20. Then 30. A couple of the other trucks have finally reached our location. Just as I get out to talk to the other drivers (who speak no English) to see what we should do, Juan Cruz's head lamp appears. He has been gone for 40 minutes. He gets in the truck and can't understand why we were worried. "I'm a mountain man!" he says. "You're completely nuts!" I think to myself.
10 minutes later, the last two trucks appear. Juan Cruz says that the trail is actually only six feet to the left of where we are, and it's all downhill and easy from here. We're off again. It's around 10 P.M.
Surprisingly, he wasn't just trying to keep our spirits up. The trail is better and easier to see. Once it gets dark, the clouds disappear and the spotlights work great. It's on to the ranch, where they are still willing to feed us. We decide it's too late. Just take us home.
But we're still a long way from home (and the ranch, as it turned out). The trail is now what they would have called a "dry wash" in the old cowboy movies. Basically, it's a dried up river bed. We're feeling better until Juan Cruz tells us that we're not homefree yet. WTF?? He says there is one more very technical part left to negotiate. We get there, and it looks impossible. Between two boulders that seem to be closer together than the truck's width, then a three foot drop. But, they have a guy get out and navigate each truck through, an inch at a time, until we all make it.
The rest is easy all the way to the ranch. We get lost twice, but manage to find the trail eventually. By the time we reach the ranch turnoff, it's 11:30. Six and a half hours to go six kilometres. After the ranch, we get on maintained and asphalt roads all the way home. We get home at 1:30 A.M.
The moral of the story? I wish I could think of one. How about: Enjoy life while you can because you never know when you might get eaten by a puma while waiting in the dark at 10,800 feet for a Land Rover that you got out of because you were too nervous to be in it since it had a good chance of sliding off a mountain. Too wordy? Maybe, but it's all I've got.
Oh, and I've got videos to prove most of this. And I forgot to mention the tarantula. Another day.
On a brighter note, new Week 5 Photos can be found here .
Monday, 3 March 2014
Farewell to Patagonia
We left Bariloche yesterday and have moved on to Mendoza. We originally booked a direct flight from Bariloche to Mendoza but Aerolineas Argentinas cancelled the direct flight so we had to detour all the way across the country to Buenos Aires and then fly all the way back across the country again to get to Mendoza. WHEW! are now on our way back west to Mendoza. Our flight left Bariloche late so we only had 30 minutes between the 2 flights. Literally, we got off of the plane, walked into the terminal, went up the stairs and got into the boarding line for Flight #2.
Anyway, we made it to Mendoza as scheduled but our bags did not. There were 3 more flights from B.A. to Mendoza so, no worries, we figured that the bags would show up in a few hours. But when they didn't arrive by 9, we decided to go and buy toiletries before the stores closed at 10. So, off we went to get toothbrushes, toothpaste, lotions., deodorant, sunscreen, etc. There must be a Murphy's Law for lost baggage because, as luck would have it, when we returned to the hotel with our bag of loot, there were our wayward bags. So now we have enough toiletries to stay down for a couple of extra months. HUMMMM.......
Bariloche was our last destination in Patagonia. We were blessed with fantastic weather for the entire time (22 days) that we were in Patagonia. It rained for 1 day in Torres del Paine but the rest of the time, we had clear skies and warm temperatures. Of course, it was cooler down south, but it was warmer than usual for down there and it has gotten warmer as we travelled north. In Bariloche and San Martin, it was like our weather is in June or September. Mendoza is hot but it rained before we arrived yesterday and overnight. I guess it has to rain for a few days over the 7 weeks that we're down here.
Bariloche was very nice. The city itself is a bit run down and sprawling. It seems as though they have no city plan. It's also an actual city so there are lots of people around and it's a very popular destination for Argentinians. Most of the tourists there were from other places in Argentina. The traffic issues and large numbers of people weren't a concern for us because the condo that we rented was in a perfect location to get out to the lakes, mountains and outdoor activities. Our condo was also only a 10 minute walk from the tourist area of the city, where many of the shops and restaurants are. So we weren't affected by the traffic issues. And the area around Bariloche was gorgeous!
San Martin de Los Andes was also very nice. The town is smaller and prettier than Bariloche and there are also many outdoor activities nearby. In both places, we did some hiking and drove some sightseeing routes. We didn't have a fixed schedule but we made good use of our time.
The trekking portion of the trip was in Patagonia so, we may have hiked our last trail - at least the last trail of any duration. On one hand, I'd like to do more, but I think that my back has had enough for now and I'm looking forward to the things that we've planned for in the rest of our destinations. I would definitely consider returning to the Bariloche area in the future. As far as outdoor activities go, there are loads of things to do.
On Friday, we walked to the town centre to buy some groceries and so that Gord could get his haircut. We were just planning to run a few errands and do some people watching so we left our cameras at home. We have had them with us constantly for the whole trip and just left them behind for a hour or 2.....Little did we know that there would be a parade and a festival in the town centre. So we have no photos to share but, I can tell you that the parade was very entertaining. The festival is the Bariloche version of Rio's Carnival. There were no floats or vehicles of any sort. Just "bands" and "dancers". With one exception, the bands are nothing more than a bunch of guys with drums but rather than to march down the street, they stomp, sway, and slide from side to side. Each band is accompanied by "dancers", some of whom do samba-ish moves and most of whom do some type of simultaneous, back-wrenching stomp-kick-jump-twist move that is exhausting to watch. And they don't just march up the street. They stop and perform several times in each block so one band and dancer group takes about 20 minutes to get through 1 block! And then there are the costumes! There was enough lamé, sequins, feathers, fringes and G-strings for any of the finest Gay Pride parades but without any apparent gay pride. Coming across local celebrations like this is such a treat and so much fun to experience and I regret not having my camera on hand to record it. C'est la vie.
Before I wind this post up, I want to make a Rice Report. Gord finally got his rice yesterday. we had a great dinner in a nearby Parilla and Gord had curry chicken with rice. That should end the whining about rice. There has actually been rice all along. Risotto, paella and some (admittedly not a lot) of meat dishes with rice as a side. The problem is more with the palette of a 9 year old boy than with the reported rice shortage. Anyway, the crisis has ended.
That's all from me for now.
Anyway, we made it to Mendoza as scheduled but our bags did not. There were 3 more flights from B.A. to Mendoza so, no worries, we figured that the bags would show up in a few hours. But when they didn't arrive by 9, we decided to go and buy toiletries before the stores closed at 10. So, off we went to get toothbrushes, toothpaste, lotions., deodorant, sunscreen, etc. There must be a Murphy's Law for lost baggage because, as luck would have it, when we returned to the hotel with our bag of loot, there were our wayward bags. So now we have enough toiletries to stay down for a couple of extra months. HUMMMM.......
Bariloche was our last destination in Patagonia. We were blessed with fantastic weather for the entire time (22 days) that we were in Patagonia. It rained for 1 day in Torres del Paine but the rest of the time, we had clear skies and warm temperatures. Of course, it was cooler down south, but it was warmer than usual for down there and it has gotten warmer as we travelled north. In Bariloche and San Martin, it was like our weather is in June or September. Mendoza is hot but it rained before we arrived yesterday and overnight. I guess it has to rain for a few days over the 7 weeks that we're down here.
Bariloche was very nice. The city itself is a bit run down and sprawling. It seems as though they have no city plan. It's also an actual city so there are lots of people around and it's a very popular destination for Argentinians. Most of the tourists there were from other places in Argentina. The traffic issues and large numbers of people weren't a concern for us because the condo that we rented was in a perfect location to get out to the lakes, mountains and outdoor activities. Our condo was also only a 10 minute walk from the tourist area of the city, where many of the shops and restaurants are. So we weren't affected by the traffic issues. And the area around Bariloche was gorgeous!
San Martin de Los Andes was also very nice. The town is smaller and prettier than Bariloche and there are also many outdoor activities nearby. In both places, we did some hiking and drove some sightseeing routes. We didn't have a fixed schedule but we made good use of our time.
The trekking portion of the trip was in Patagonia so, we may have hiked our last trail - at least the last trail of any duration. On one hand, I'd like to do more, but I think that my back has had enough for now and I'm looking forward to the things that we've planned for in the rest of our destinations. I would definitely consider returning to the Bariloche area in the future. As far as outdoor activities go, there are loads of things to do.
On Friday, we walked to the town centre to buy some groceries and so that Gord could get his haircut. We were just planning to run a few errands and do some people watching so we left our cameras at home. We have had them with us constantly for the whole trip and just left them behind for a hour or 2.....Little did we know that there would be a parade and a festival in the town centre. So we have no photos to share but, I can tell you that the parade was very entertaining. The festival is the Bariloche version of Rio's Carnival. There were no floats or vehicles of any sort. Just "bands" and "dancers". With one exception, the bands are nothing more than a bunch of guys with drums but rather than to march down the street, they stomp, sway, and slide from side to side. Each band is accompanied by "dancers", some of whom do samba-ish moves and most of whom do some type of simultaneous, back-wrenching stomp-kick-jump-twist move that is exhausting to watch. And they don't just march up the street. They stop and perform several times in each block so one band and dancer group takes about 20 minutes to get through 1 block! And then there are the costumes! There was enough lamé, sequins, feathers, fringes and G-strings for any of the finest Gay Pride parades but without any apparent gay pride. Coming across local celebrations like this is such a treat and so much fun to experience and I regret not having my camera on hand to record it. C'est la vie.
Before I wind this post up, I want to make a Rice Report. Gord finally got his rice yesterday. we had a great dinner in a nearby Parilla and Gord had curry chicken with rice. That should end the whining about rice. There has actually been rice all along. Risotto, paella and some (admittedly not a lot) of meat dishes with rice as a side. The problem is more with the palette of a 9 year old boy than with the reported rice shortage. Anyway, the crisis has ended.
That's all from me for now.
Friday, 28 February 2014
Taking it easy
We are in San Martin de los Andes, which is the prettiest place we've been so far. Whoever called Bariloche the Switzerland of Argentina, hasn't been here. Everything here looks like it was ported directly from the Alps. Beautiful buildings, trees, flowers, everything. Very quiet, yet busy. Super weather as well. Did a couple of hikes yesterday and today, but only about three hours each. Got lost on one of them. The rest of the time was sightseeing or sitting at the beach or in our (beautiful) hotel.
We're about ten minutes outside of town, and up a hillside. Great views from everywhere in the place. Huge room, fantastic sitting areas. It's called Casona Delalto. Highly recommended, but you must have a car.
I found rice on the menu where we had lunch today, but I wanted a steak, and they wouldn't let me have rice with steak. It had to be potatoes. The guy must have been the Rice Nazi. "No rice for you!" So, still no rice. Lunch was good today. A break from the ham and cheese sandwiches that you get in every lunch box when you're hiking. Actually, yesterday we almost had pastrami and cheese wraps for lunch. Why almost? Here's another Gord Hiking Tip: When you stop to picnic in an area clearly marked "precaución área chaqueta amarilla !", which means "caution yellow jacket area !", it might be a good idea not to unwrap your cheese and lunch meat there. Unless, of course you want to be surrounded by every hungry yellow jacket for miles around.
This little Chevy is turning out to be not such a bad car after all. Lots of zip, and it handles the gravel roads well. Most of the cars here are Fiats, Renaults and Peugeots, with the odd Volkswagen thrown in. Must be the European influence. I'm guessing this is where most of the Germans that fled after WWII ended up.
There are no barbers in Argentina. Who knew? Men get their hair cut in women's hair salons or cut it themselves.
At the Copa, Copacabana - just listening to a little Manilow on Direct TV. Did I mention that I am loving not having any traffic controls? No lights, no stop signs, nada. Everyone just pays attention and is courteous. Slow down, and if no one is coming, then go. And pedestrians always have the right of way.
Back to Bariloche tomorrow.
We're about ten minutes outside of town, and up a hillside. Great views from everywhere in the place. Huge room, fantastic sitting areas. It's called Casona Delalto. Highly recommended, but you must have a car.
I found rice on the menu where we had lunch today, but I wanted a steak, and they wouldn't let me have rice with steak. It had to be potatoes. The guy must have been the Rice Nazi. "No rice for you!" So, still no rice. Lunch was good today. A break from the ham and cheese sandwiches that you get in every lunch box when you're hiking. Actually, yesterday we almost had pastrami and cheese wraps for lunch. Why almost? Here's another Gord Hiking Tip: When you stop to picnic in an area clearly marked "precaución área chaqueta amarilla !", which means "caution yellow jacket area !", it might be a good idea not to unwrap your cheese and lunch meat there. Unless, of course you want to be surrounded by every hungry yellow jacket for miles around.
This little Chevy is turning out to be not such a bad car after all. Lots of zip, and it handles the gravel roads well. Most of the cars here are Fiats, Renaults and Peugeots, with the odd Volkswagen thrown in. Must be the European influence. I'm guessing this is where most of the Germans that fled after WWII ended up.
There are no barbers in Argentina. Who knew? Men get their hair cut in women's hair salons or cut it themselves.
At the Copa, Copacabana - just listening to a little Manilow on Direct TV. Did I mention that I am loving not having any traffic controls? No lights, no stop signs, nada. Everyone just pays attention and is courteous. Slow down, and if no one is coming, then go. And pedestrians always have the right of way.
Back to Bariloche tomorrow.
Monday, 24 February 2014
Mid-point of the trip
I can't belive that we're already into Week 4 and are pretty close to midway in the trip. Where has the time gone? For sure, no moss has grown on us. We've managed to pack a lot into our time so far and we've had very full days. We have rented an apartment in San Carlos de Bariloche for the week so that we have extra space, a kitchen and laundry facilites. The idea being that we'd slow down for a few days near the midpoint of the trip, which we have done. It is totally against my nature and the evil voice in my head keeps saying "let's go, let's go, let's go, let's go. But I promised Gord some downtime and we fire up the jets again on Tuesday when we head to San Martin de los Andes. We even watched the Men's Gold Medal Hockey Game this morning before we went out. GO CANADA GO!
Our apartment is very nice. It's a small, 2 bedroom condo that has a great balcony overlooking the lake and we're abut 10 minutes walk from the main dining, shopping, things to see area. We have rented a car so we can get around easily and we've done some self-guided trips and short hikes. More of the same tomorrow. The area is absolutely gorgeous. It's in the Lake District of Argentina and there is one lake after another, surrounded by mountains. It's a pretty big place (population around 100,000) so there is a lot to do. Way too many things for the short time that we are here. I feel like I'm scouting for a future trip back. There are loads of trails for all levels of trekking and lots of watersports. In the spirit of keeping things low-key, we're spending more time doing driving tours than hiking. On Tuesday, when we go to San Martin, we get to leave most of our gear in the apartment until we return on Friday.
We're just a few blocks away from an area that is chock-full of brew pubs. They close the streets in the evening and the pubs put tables in the streets. There is a bandstand at the end of one street and we've seen a band there for the past 2 nights. Pretty decent bands. The band last night drew a really big crowd who all knew the music and were singing and dancing in the street. It was worth being there just to watch the crowd. Here, and at some other social events that we've seen in South America, the crowds consist of people of all ages and everyone parties together. If they have kids, they bring their kids. It seems strange to me to see dozens of kids around 5 and 6 years old standing, running and playing in the street at 10PM amongst hundreds of adults who are attending a rock concert, many of whom are drinking beer and alcohol and are very much into the music. The open drinking in the streets is also foreign to me. It must be legal because it is common and there are no attempts to hide it. They sell beer in 1 litre bottles so even the large number of people drinking from giant beer bottles is amusing to me. It is all very matter of fact and I haven't seen any sign of trouble.
Backtracking to earlier this week, we went from El Chalten to El Calafate. El Calafate was probably my least favourite place so far. It wasn't bad - just not as wonderful as the other places and I think that one of the reasons was that our hotel was 1/2 way to Timbuktu and we had to take a shuttle into town. It wasn't a bad hotel and it had really nice views but I prefer to be where the action is. The town itself reminded me of Banff. Not the same demographic and nowhere near the number of people and buses, but the Main Street with the shops and restaurants was very much like Banff was when I was last there (quite a while ago).
We did a couple of special things there. First, we took a boat to a place called Estancia Cristina, which was once a ranch but the National Park was created around it so it was converted to a hotel. It is most definitely not a place that you'd stumble upon. We had to take a 2 hour boat trip to get there and it is well and truly in the middle of nowhere. However, just one mountain over, are the ice fields of Los Andes so we took a trip (in a 4 X 4) to the Upsalla Glacier, where several glaciers converge in the icefields and we hiked back through a canyon called Fossil Canyon. The hike was excellent and the canyon was loaded with fossils. We only got to see what was along the trail but it was very impressive. Mostly shells and small bones as well as imprints of small sea creatures in the rocks. If that was in Canada, I doubt that we'd be able to hike that trail. The other special thing that we did while we were in El Calafate was to visit the Perito Moreno Glacier. Not the biggest glacier but definitely the most imposing. We did an ice trek on it, too. It was shorter and less difficult than the trek on Viedma Glacier but still lots of fun.
You know that your Spanish language skills need work when you order an Enchilada in a Mexican restaurant and you get lasagna. I'm still wondering why they serve lasagna in a Mexican restaurant. I ate it anyway. Aside from the Mexican lasagna experience, I'm not finding the food quite as bad as Gord has reported. Certainly, we've had some unmemorable meals but thay haven't all been bad. For me, the lousy food was in Chile. Also, anything in the realm of fast food is a waste of calories. I think that Gord is just missing some familiar components of his limited diet, like carbs. Maybe he's missing my cooking.........No, that can't be it.
When we're out on day long treks and tours, we end up eating a lot of boxed lunches, some of which haven't been great. Frankly, I am tired of eating sandwiches, especially ham and cheese, which is apparently the national sandwich of both Chile and Argentina. That's my biggest beef. I am tired of sandwiches but there are few options when you live in a hotel and have to pack lunch in the morning.
Lesson for the day: When you leave 2 pairs of perfectly good hiking boots stationed by the door and head out for the day wearing runners, do not later decide that a hike up a steep goat trail is a good thing to do. Getting back down that trail was quite a challenge without proper footwear. And, stupidly, as we were going up the trail, I kept thinking how difficult it was going to be coming down but, for some inexplicable reason, it didn't occur to me to turn back. DUH! Thankfully, we made it back without incident and can continue our adventures tomorrow.
Time for my beauty rest. Hasta luego.
New Week 4 photos can be seen here .
Our apartment is very nice. It's a small, 2 bedroom condo that has a great balcony overlooking the lake and we're abut 10 minutes walk from the main dining, shopping, things to see area. We have rented a car so we can get around easily and we've done some self-guided trips and short hikes. More of the same tomorrow. The area is absolutely gorgeous. It's in the Lake District of Argentina and there is one lake after another, surrounded by mountains. It's a pretty big place (population around 100,000) so there is a lot to do. Way too many things for the short time that we are here. I feel like I'm scouting for a future trip back. There are loads of trails for all levels of trekking and lots of watersports. In the spirit of keeping things low-key, we're spending more time doing driving tours than hiking. On Tuesday, when we go to San Martin, we get to leave most of our gear in the apartment until we return on Friday.
We're just a few blocks away from an area that is chock-full of brew pubs. They close the streets in the evening and the pubs put tables in the streets. There is a bandstand at the end of one street and we've seen a band there for the past 2 nights. Pretty decent bands. The band last night drew a really big crowd who all knew the music and were singing and dancing in the street. It was worth being there just to watch the crowd. Here, and at some other social events that we've seen in South America, the crowds consist of people of all ages and everyone parties together. If they have kids, they bring their kids. It seems strange to me to see dozens of kids around 5 and 6 years old standing, running and playing in the street at 10PM amongst hundreds of adults who are attending a rock concert, many of whom are drinking beer and alcohol and are very much into the music. The open drinking in the streets is also foreign to me. It must be legal because it is common and there are no attempts to hide it. They sell beer in 1 litre bottles so even the large number of people drinking from giant beer bottles is amusing to me. It is all very matter of fact and I haven't seen any sign of trouble.
Backtracking to earlier this week, we went from El Chalten to El Calafate. El Calafate was probably my least favourite place so far. It wasn't bad - just not as wonderful as the other places and I think that one of the reasons was that our hotel was 1/2 way to Timbuktu and we had to take a shuttle into town. It wasn't a bad hotel and it had really nice views but I prefer to be where the action is. The town itself reminded me of Banff. Not the same demographic and nowhere near the number of people and buses, but the Main Street with the shops and restaurants was very much like Banff was when I was last there (quite a while ago).
We did a couple of special things there. First, we took a boat to a place called Estancia Cristina, which was once a ranch but the National Park was created around it so it was converted to a hotel. It is most definitely not a place that you'd stumble upon. We had to take a 2 hour boat trip to get there and it is well and truly in the middle of nowhere. However, just one mountain over, are the ice fields of Los Andes so we took a trip (in a 4 X 4) to the Upsalla Glacier, where several glaciers converge in the icefields and we hiked back through a canyon called Fossil Canyon. The hike was excellent and the canyon was loaded with fossils. We only got to see what was along the trail but it was very impressive. Mostly shells and small bones as well as imprints of small sea creatures in the rocks. If that was in Canada, I doubt that we'd be able to hike that trail. The other special thing that we did while we were in El Calafate was to visit the Perito Moreno Glacier. Not the biggest glacier but definitely the most imposing. We did an ice trek on it, too. It was shorter and less difficult than the trek on Viedma Glacier but still lots of fun.
You know that your Spanish language skills need work when you order an Enchilada in a Mexican restaurant and you get lasagna. I'm still wondering why they serve lasagna in a Mexican restaurant. I ate it anyway. Aside from the Mexican lasagna experience, I'm not finding the food quite as bad as Gord has reported. Certainly, we've had some unmemorable meals but thay haven't all been bad. For me, the lousy food was in Chile. Also, anything in the realm of fast food is a waste of calories. I think that Gord is just missing some familiar components of his limited diet, like carbs. Maybe he's missing my cooking.........No, that can't be it.
When we're out on day long treks and tours, we end up eating a lot of boxed lunches, some of which haven't been great. Frankly, I am tired of eating sandwiches, especially ham and cheese, which is apparently the national sandwich of both Chile and Argentina. That's my biggest beef. I am tired of sandwiches but there are few options when you live in a hotel and have to pack lunch in the morning.
Lesson for the day: When you leave 2 pairs of perfectly good hiking boots stationed by the door and head out for the day wearing runners, do not later decide that a hike up a steep goat trail is a good thing to do. Getting back down that trail was quite a challenge without proper footwear. And, stupidly, as we were going up the trail, I kept thinking how difficult it was going to be coming down but, for some inexplicable reason, it didn't occur to me to turn back. DUH! Thankfully, we made it back without incident and can continue our adventures tomorrow.
Time for my beauty rest. Hasta luego.
New Week 4 photos can be seen here .
Sunday, 23 February 2014
We have arrived in Bariloche
Michele has promised to write something tomorrow, so you're stuck with me again. Here goes:
Two guys go into a bar - well, not exactly. The two of us get into a boat and sit with two strangers. We start into the "where are you from" routine, which usually always ends with the Rob Ford punchline. Guess where they're from? Winterthur !!! The guy's dad worked for Winterthur for 20 years. What are the odds? (Apologies to those reading this who didn't work with us, since I'm sure you won't appreciate the coincidence.)
Size doesn't matter - if you're a glacier. We visited (and walked on) the Perito Moreno glacier, which is only the 3rd largest in Argentina, but is by far the most impressive.
BTW, Canada and the U.S. are the only two countries that pronounce it glay-see-ur. All others pronounce it glah-see-ur.
Southern Argentina has the biggest and fattest dogs you've ever seen. They are everywhere. And very well behaved.
Finally had a good Argentinean steak. Yum! Also a pretty decent burger. Still not any good pizzas, so I've given up trying. And still no rice.
We're now in Bariloche, which is like heaven. It was around 25C today, with little wind. No more layering and toques. This is the Switzerland of Argentina. Mountains, lakes, A-frame chalets, etc. And really cheap. The guy in front of us at the supermarket bought two bottles of local wine - 1.125 L each. Total price for both - $3.38 CDN. A litre of Hiram Walker whisky is $4.69 CDN. It's a wonder the whole country isn't stinking drunk 24/7. I had two pints of artisanal beer with dinner tonight for $2.60 CDN.
We have good Wi-Fi here also. About one third the speed of Rogers at home, but 50 times faster than what we've been getting.
Here's a hiking/trekking tip: Find the guy/girl with the nicest butt, and walk behind them. If you have to be staring at a butt all day, it might as well be a cute one.
Congratulations to the Canadian Olympic curlers for showing everyone how it should be done.
And thanks to J. Fox for the free Chile and Argentina offline maps on Google Play. Unbelievably useful. Way more detailed than Google Maps. We use them all the time on my tablet.
We rented some POS Chevy Classic for the week. Somewhere, my dad is not happy, but it couldn't be helped.
More photos and commentary from Michele tomorrow.
Two guys go into a bar - well, not exactly. The two of us get into a boat and sit with two strangers. We start into the "where are you from" routine, which usually always ends with the Rob Ford punchline. Guess where they're from? Winterthur !!! The guy's dad worked for Winterthur for 20 years. What are the odds? (Apologies to those reading this who didn't work with us, since I'm sure you won't appreciate the coincidence.)
Size doesn't matter - if you're a glacier. We visited (and walked on) the Perito Moreno glacier, which is only the 3rd largest in Argentina, but is by far the most impressive.
BTW, Canada and the U.S. are the only two countries that pronounce it glay-see-ur. All others pronounce it glah-see-ur.
Southern Argentina has the biggest and fattest dogs you've ever seen. They are everywhere. And very well behaved.
Finally had a good Argentinean steak. Yum! Also a pretty decent burger. Still not any good pizzas, so I've given up trying. And still no rice.
We're now in Bariloche, which is like heaven. It was around 25C today, with little wind. No more layering and toques. This is the Switzerland of Argentina. Mountains, lakes, A-frame chalets, etc. And really cheap. The guy in front of us at the supermarket bought two bottles of local wine - 1.125 L each. Total price for both - $3.38 CDN. A litre of Hiram Walker whisky is $4.69 CDN. It's a wonder the whole country isn't stinking drunk 24/7. I had two pints of artisanal beer with dinner tonight for $2.60 CDN.
We have good Wi-Fi here also. About one third the speed of Rogers at home, but 50 times faster than what we've been getting.
Here's a hiking/trekking tip: Find the guy/girl with the nicest butt, and walk behind them. If you have to be staring at a butt all day, it might as well be a cute one.
Congratulations to the Canadian Olympic curlers for showing everyone how it should be done.
And thanks to J. Fox for the free Chile and Argentina offline maps on Google Play. Unbelievably useful. Way more detailed than Google Maps. We use them all the time on my tablet.
We rented some POS Chevy Classic for the week. Somewhere, my dad is not happy, but it couldn't be helped.
More photos and commentary from Michele tomorrow.
Wednesday, 19 February 2014
Musings from Estancia Cristina
Here's how all conversations start down here:
Us: Do you speak English?
Them: Yes.
Us: Where are you from?
Them: We're from _____. (Usually England, Australia, U.S.A. or Germany)
Them: Where are you from?
Us: We're from Canada.
Them: Whereabouts in Canada?
Us: Toronto.
Them: Oh, you've got that crazy crack-smoking mayor !
Us: Yup.
Do you think that condors sit around hoping their friends will die, so that they can have dinner?
After being here for two and a half weeks now, it's becoming obvious that all food (with the possible exception of empanadas and bottled water) is better back home.
How is it possible to consistently make bread that instantly removes all moisture from your mouth? They have mastered the art here.
No one here serves rice. Never. What's up with that? It took me 50 years before I would eat rice. Now that I want it, I can't get it.
Our last hiking guide was a psychologist, today's was an architect. Maybe being a cab-driving doctor in Toronto isn't so bad after all.
What do Maple Leaf fans do when the Olympics are on?
Twice we have dropped into a cafe or restaurant, and watched the Canadian women curl on ESPN. Weird.
It's funny how quickly you can accept wearing previously-warn clothes.
Tilley underwear is indispensable when travelling.
Shaving daily is highly overrated.
I wish Joannie Rochette hadn't backtracked on her statements about Patrick Chan. She got it right the first time.
Us: Do you speak English?
Them: Yes.
Us: Where are you from?
Them: We're from _____. (Usually England, Australia, U.S.A. or Germany)
Them: Where are you from?
Us: We're from Canada.
Them: Whereabouts in Canada?
Us: Toronto.
Them: Oh, you've got that crazy crack-smoking mayor !
Us: Yup.
Do you think that condors sit around hoping their friends will die, so that they can have dinner?
After being here for two and a half weeks now, it's becoming obvious that all food (with the possible exception of empanadas and bottled water) is better back home.
How is it possible to consistently make bread that instantly removes all moisture from your mouth? They have mastered the art here.
No one here serves rice. Never. What's up with that? It took me 50 years before I would eat rice. Now that I want it, I can't get it.
Our last hiking guide was a psychologist, today's was an architect. Maybe being a cab-driving doctor in Toronto isn't so bad after all.
What do Maple Leaf fans do when the Olympics are on?
Twice we have dropped into a cafe or restaurant, and watched the Canadian women curl on ESPN. Weird.
It's funny how quickly you can accept wearing previously-warn clothes.
Tilley underwear is indispensable when travelling.
Shaving daily is highly overrated.
I wish Joannie Rochette hadn't backtracked on her statements about Patrick Chan. She got it right the first time.
Monday, 17 February 2014
Update from El Chalten
El Chalten is the trekking capital of Argenina and the whole town is all about trekking. In the off-season, only 1000 people live here but it's a beehive of activity right now and everyone is either trekking or mountain climbing or ice climbing. The trekkers are from all over the world and range from young back-packers to seniors' walking clubs. I didn't realize that there was such a large trekking culture. Live and learn, I suppose.
On Friday and Saturday, I did a couple of full day treks. They were both great but I was totally bagged on Saturday night.
We did an ice-trek on the Viedma Glacier today. We had to take a bus and a boat to get there. They pulled the boat up to the rocks (no dock or pier at all - just the rocks) we all clambered off the boat onto the rocks; and the trekking began. After climbing over the rocks for about 30 minutes, we reached the glacier, strapped on some crampons and off we went. It was really fun. Hard work, though. I had imagined that it would be fairly flat but there was hardly a time that we were on a flat surface. We went up and down hills, through valleys, into ice tunnels, alongside crevasses. It was really great fun and I'm really glad that we did it. We were on the glacier for about 3 hours and the time raced by. That is sure to be one of the highlights of this trip.
Our day of ice-trekking was quite a bit shorter today than the last couple of days so we ended up wandering around town and we stopped for dinner in a bar/restaurant that had Olympic coverage on th TV so we got to watch some of today's highlights, including some curling. Yes, they are showing curling highlights on Spanish ESPN. GO CANADA GO! Sunday is football (soccer) day in Argentina an I think that the other people in the place wanted to watch football but they very kindly left the Olympic coverage on for us.
We haven't seen a lot of the Olympics but we have managed to keep up with the medal standings and the curling standings. We've also been following the weather in Canada so that we can feel good about not being there. I'm not hoping for bad weather back home but it's nice to be reminded how much better it is here.
Tomorrow is our last day in El Chalten. Then we're off to El Calafate. As much as I like it here, it's the 1st major stop where I feel satisfied with the amount of time that we've had.
Gord is recovering from his cold but he very generously decided to share so I now have a cold. Curses! The schedule is packed for the next 4 days so there isn't a good opportunity for a down day. I will try to soldier on and hope that it passes quickly.
Some new photos can be seen here .
Cheers!
On Friday and Saturday, I did a couple of full day treks. They were both great but I was totally bagged on Saturday night.
We did an ice-trek on the Viedma Glacier today. We had to take a bus and a boat to get there. They pulled the boat up to the rocks (no dock or pier at all - just the rocks) we all clambered off the boat onto the rocks; and the trekking began. After climbing over the rocks for about 30 minutes, we reached the glacier, strapped on some crampons and off we went. It was really fun. Hard work, though. I had imagined that it would be fairly flat but there was hardly a time that we were on a flat surface. We went up and down hills, through valleys, into ice tunnels, alongside crevasses. It was really great fun and I'm really glad that we did it. We were on the glacier for about 3 hours and the time raced by. That is sure to be one of the highlights of this trip.
Our day of ice-trekking was quite a bit shorter today than the last couple of days so we ended up wandering around town and we stopped for dinner in a bar/restaurant that had Olympic coverage on th TV so we got to watch some of today's highlights, including some curling. Yes, they are showing curling highlights on Spanish ESPN. GO CANADA GO! Sunday is football (soccer) day in Argentina an I think that the other people in the place wanted to watch football but they very kindly left the Olympic coverage on for us.
We haven't seen a lot of the Olympics but we have managed to keep up with the medal standings and the curling standings. We've also been following the weather in Canada so that we can feel good about not being there. I'm not hoping for bad weather back home but it's nice to be reminded how much better it is here.
Tomorrow is our last day in El Chalten. Then we're off to El Calafate. As much as I like it here, it's the 1st major stop where I feel satisfied with the amount of time that we've had.
Gord is recovering from his cold but he very generously decided to share so I now have a cold. Curses! The schedule is packed for the next 4 days so there isn't a good opportunity for a down day. I will try to soldier on and hope that it passes quickly.
Some new photos can be seen here .
Cheers!
Sunday, 16 February 2014
A day of rest....for me
But not for Michele - she's off on another hike. I'm trying to shake a cold before it turns into something worse, so I'm resting and checking out the town of El Chalten.
Don't ever complain about your WiFi speeds, please. At home, the speed test gives a result of 18.59. Here, I'm getting .12. That's not a typo, it's 150 times slower. Yikes. Just took 45 minutes to upload 12 photos to Flickr.
Give thanks to living in Canada. Never really thought about it before, but no one really cares if you leave. Here, there are always two border checkpoints. One for leaving the country and then another for entering the next country.
Whoever invented hiking has obviously never seen a helicopter or an ATV. I'm just saying.
Went horseback riding, and it was good. A little scary coming down the mountain on a wet, slippery, rocky trail, but the horse seemed to figure it out. I assume he had a vested interest in not falling off the mountain either. Had a palomino that looked just like Trigger, so I figured I was Roy Rogers until the guide said I had the "Barbie" horse - I assume because of the blonde hair. Took a lot of the machismo out of it.
We're in El Chalten and experiencing what seem to be record temperatures. Went out hiking yesterday with a T-shirt, long sleeved shirt, windshirt and jacket. Got up to about 22C, windless and cloudless. Needless to say, we were overdressed for a 20 km hike up and down a mountain.
On the way down, we encountered a French woman who had fallen on the trail (on her face) and apparently broken her arm. Our guide had a radio and was able to radio the park patrol to come and get her and stretcher her out (about an hour each way). We heard today that she was treated locally and was on her way home to France. Lucky for her that we were there, because no one else seemed to have a radio.
Our guide is also a psychologist. Go figure.
Off to find somewhere to eat for dinner now. Tomorrow we hike for 3 hours on a glacier, in crampons.
The link to new photos is here .
Don't ever complain about your WiFi speeds, please. At home, the speed test gives a result of 18.59. Here, I'm getting .12. That's not a typo, it's 150 times slower. Yikes. Just took 45 minutes to upload 12 photos to Flickr.
Give thanks to living in Canada. Never really thought about it before, but no one really cares if you leave. Here, there are always two border checkpoints. One for leaving the country and then another for entering the next country.
Whoever invented hiking has obviously never seen a helicopter or an ATV. I'm just saying.
Went horseback riding, and it was good. A little scary coming down the mountain on a wet, slippery, rocky trail, but the horse seemed to figure it out. I assume he had a vested interest in not falling off the mountain either. Had a palomino that looked just like Trigger, so I figured I was Roy Rogers until the guide said I had the "Barbie" horse - I assume because of the blonde hair. Took a lot of the machismo out of it.
We're in El Chalten and experiencing what seem to be record temperatures. Went out hiking yesterday with a T-shirt, long sleeved shirt, windshirt and jacket. Got up to about 22C, windless and cloudless. Needless to say, we were overdressed for a 20 km hike up and down a mountain.
On the way down, we encountered a French woman who had fallen on the trail (on her face) and apparently broken her arm. Our guide had a radio and was able to radio the park patrol to come and get her and stretcher her out (about an hour each way). We heard today that she was treated locally and was on her way home to France. Lucky for her that we were there, because no one else seemed to have a radio.
Our guide is also a psychologist. Go figure.
Off to find somewhere to eat for dinner now. Tomorrow we hike for 3 hours on a glacier, in crampons.
The link to new photos is here .
Saturday, 15 February 2014
Just got to El Chalten
Today is a travel day for us. 13 hours from departure to arrival in El Chalten. We left the Hotel Las Torres in Torres del Paine (Blue Towers) Park this morning and were driven for 2.5 hours, until we'd been through both the Chilean and Argentinian immigration depots. Then we switched vans and were driven to El Calafate. The driver of the Argentinian van picked up a friend at the same time that he picked us up and he drove us all quite far out of the way to drop the other guy off. Then, to make up lost time, he drove at lightning speed while winding down through the mountain passes. I have no idea how fast he was going but that's a good thing because I may have had a stroke if I could have seen the speedometer. It's a long enough day of travel without adding in the fearing for your life bits.
Somehow, and thank God, we made it to El Calafate on time at 2PM. We had 4 hours to kill before our bus to El Chalten departed so I decided to find a laundromat and get our laundry done. It costs a fortune to get laundry done in San Pedro de Atacama ($5USD for a pair of pyjamas - I kid you not!) and at Los Torres (even more costly than in San Pedro) so I've only been getting socks washed and have been washing underwear in the sink. (That Tilley, quick dry underwear is worth owning). I just couldn't bring myself to pay those ridiculous laundry fees so I figured that I'd do our laundry while we waited for our bus. You know, make use of the time that would otherwise be wasted hanging around until the bus arrived. The best laid plans..... Siesta is from 1-4PM so most of the businesses, including the town's 3 laundry operations were closed. AARRRGGGGG! But somehow, things eventually work out. We arrived at our hostel in El Chalten, where they offered to do all of our laundry for the equivalent of $5 USD. YAY!
So, about Torres del Paine....The park is beautiful and the hotel was fantastic. Our hotel is at the base of a magnificent mountain and there are quite a number of trails right outside. It looks rustic and unimpressive from the outside but it really was very nice. We took a guided tour to see the towers (the iconic peaks that are the centre-piece and namesake of the park) one day, starting on horseback. Yes, not only did Gord agree to get on a horse again but he actually seemed to enjoy it this time. We rode up the trail for 2 hours, which is about 1/2 way to the towers, and then we walked the rest of the way. The trail is steep and difficult and it was made worse by rain. So when we got close to the towers, all of the people that were coming down told us that they couldn't see anything up there and it was really slippery so we decided to turn around before hiking up the final gruelling section of he trail. Riding the horses down the steep and now slippery trail was quite an experience, too. Enough so that a couple of people in our group were on a horse for both the 1st and the last times on the same day. In the end, we didn't get up to the base of Los Torres but we had some great views of it from other, more distant vantage points.
Luckily, the weather improved after that one day of rain so we did some other interesting hikes and day trips. I can't say enough about how beautiful the area is and how fresh and clean the air is.
The only real surprise was our total inability to communicate with the outside world. Claims that there is WI FI at the hotel, or anywhere else in the park, were overstated. As far as I know, WI FI was completely unavailable except for about 10 minutes on our 3rd day. When we found out that the WI FI was up, we ran back to our room to get the ipad and tablet and, by the time we got back to the lobby, where "the service is always much better", it was down again.
Oy ve! I give them credit for finally having it back on our 4th day. The truth of the matter is that it wasn't a huge inconvenience for us; it seemed to be big deal for some other people, though.....
On the shuttle between Punta Arenas and Los Torres, we were with 5 other people from the U.S., Australia and England. We all hit it off and spent lots of time together while we were there. I think that our time together will make some of our Torres del Paine memories really special.
So, here we are in Argentina now. It's much warmer here than it was on the east side of the mountains - and a lot less windy. I think that's just because of a brief, unseasonable warm spell but I'll take it even for just a few days. It was windy everywhere we went in Chile. Funny story: 2 days ago, I was walking along a trail at a high point and in a gale force wind. A gust came from behind me and blew me forward about 20 feet before I was deposited face 1st on the ground. No damage to me and no photo evidence of my graceful landing.
Gord has come down with a cold so he's feeling under the weather. It sucks to fell poorly when you are away from home. Hopefully, he feels better soon and, in the meantime, I hope that he keeps his germs to himself! More on that next time.
Somehow, and thank God, we made it to El Calafate on time at 2PM. We had 4 hours to kill before our bus to El Chalten departed so I decided to find a laundromat and get our laundry done. It costs a fortune to get laundry done in San Pedro de Atacama ($5USD for a pair of pyjamas - I kid you not!) and at Los Torres (even more costly than in San Pedro) so I've only been getting socks washed and have been washing underwear in the sink. (That Tilley, quick dry underwear is worth owning). I just couldn't bring myself to pay those ridiculous laundry fees so I figured that I'd do our laundry while we waited for our bus. You know, make use of the time that would otherwise be wasted hanging around until the bus arrived. The best laid plans..... Siesta is from 1-4PM so most of the businesses, including the town's 3 laundry operations were closed. AARRRGGGGG! But somehow, things eventually work out. We arrived at our hostel in El Chalten, where they offered to do all of our laundry for the equivalent of $5 USD. YAY!
So, about Torres del Paine....The park is beautiful and the hotel was fantastic. Our hotel is at the base of a magnificent mountain and there are quite a number of trails right outside. It looks rustic and unimpressive from the outside but it really was very nice. We took a guided tour to see the towers (the iconic peaks that are the centre-piece and namesake of the park) one day, starting on horseback. Yes, not only did Gord agree to get on a horse again but he actually seemed to enjoy it this time. We rode up the trail for 2 hours, which is about 1/2 way to the towers, and then we walked the rest of the way. The trail is steep and difficult and it was made worse by rain. So when we got close to the towers, all of the people that were coming down told us that they couldn't see anything up there and it was really slippery so we decided to turn around before hiking up the final gruelling section of he trail. Riding the horses down the steep and now slippery trail was quite an experience, too. Enough so that a couple of people in our group were on a horse for both the 1st and the last times on the same day. In the end, we didn't get up to the base of Los Torres but we had some great views of it from other, more distant vantage points.
Luckily, the weather improved after that one day of rain so we did some other interesting hikes and day trips. I can't say enough about how beautiful the area is and how fresh and clean the air is.
The only real surprise was our total inability to communicate with the outside world. Claims that there is WI FI at the hotel, or anywhere else in the park, were overstated. As far as I know, WI FI was completely unavailable except for about 10 minutes on our 3rd day. When we found out that the WI FI was up, we ran back to our room to get the ipad and tablet and, by the time we got back to the lobby, where "the service is always much better", it was down again.
Oy ve! I give them credit for finally having it back on our 4th day. The truth of the matter is that it wasn't a huge inconvenience for us; it seemed to be big deal for some other people, though.....
On the shuttle between Punta Arenas and Los Torres, we were with 5 other people from the U.S., Australia and England. We all hit it off and spent lots of time together while we were there. I think that our time together will make some of our Torres del Paine memories really special.
So, here we are in Argentina now. It's much warmer here than it was on the east side of the mountains - and a lot less windy. I think that's just because of a brief, unseasonable warm spell but I'll take it even for just a few days. It was windy everywhere we went in Chile. Funny story: 2 days ago, I was walking along a trail at a high point and in a gale force wind. A gust came from behind me and blew me forward about 20 feet before I was deposited face 1st on the ground. No damage to me and no photo evidence of my graceful landing.
Gord has come down with a cold so he's feeling under the weather. It sucks to fell poorly when you are away from home. Hopefully, he feels better soon and, in the meantime, I hope that he keeps his germs to himself! More on that next time.
Thursday, 13 February 2014
.....And we're back.
But only momentarily. We've been off the grid for a few days, since the hotel we're staying at in Torres Del Paine relies on a satellite feed for their telephone and internet access. It can easily get disrupted by weather, and such has been the case. Now their server is down, but the manager's office has access. Fortunately, they have a common use PC that connected to the manager's Wi-Fi feed at one time and they didn't delete it, nor did they do a good job at protecting the password. So here we are, at least for a while. We'll post something tonight if we can keep the connection.
Sunday, 9 February 2014
Greetings from Punta Arenas
It's already the end of Week 1 and it's been jam-packed, exhausting and awesome. We started out with couple of 1/2 days in Santiago that we spent walking, people watching, checking out the markets and street entertainment. We've been to Santiago before and we hit the highlights back then so we were happy just to check out the plazas, markets and pedestrian streets, of which there are many. We arrived in Calama by Monday evening and had recovered from the overnight flight from Toronto.
We toured the world's largest open pit copper mine, which is the key to the existence of Calama. Everything there is king size. I felt like I was in a cartoon. The mine is 1200 meters deep and trucks as big as our house are being loaded by equipment that dwarfs the trucks! Most of what we saw was so big that I couldn't fit it into a photo. It was an interesting experience, for sure.
Then we were off to San Pedro de Atacama in the Atacama Desert, on the high plateau of Los Andes. The actual town of San Pedro is just a tourist trap and we only spent enough time there to have a couple of meals and exchange some money. The main attraction for us was the desert and we were not disappointed. Of course, the scenery was spectacular and varied quite a lot from place to place. We hit some aptly named places like La Valle de la Luna ( Valley of the Moon) and Valle de la Muerte (Valley of Death), which reminded both of us of the backdrop for some scenes in Star Trek tv shows We also visited several massive salt lakes and salt flats and places with lots and lots of sand - massive sand dunes 300 feet high, all with Los Andes as a backdrop.
A number of places that we went to were over 4000 meters. Jogging not recommended. We climbed a couple of massive sand dunes and even going at a slow pace, you get winded. It gets windy and cold up there, too. My face has been thoroughly sand-blasted and any time that I spent on my hair in the morning was pretty much wasted.
The most memorable thing for me was the salt lake in Tebinquiche. It looks like a vast field of snow and ice on a plateau beneath the mountains. We could walk right out onto the lake and the water was only about an inch deep but I still had visions of falling through the non-existent ice. There were almost no people around and we had a picnic lunch sitting beside the lake. There were no other people there and it felt totally isolated and it was absolutely silent. No wind, no rustling of grass or trees (there aren't any grass or trees) no traffic, no birds, no animals and no other people. I don't think I've ever experienced silence like that before.
And then Gord reached into his bag of Doritos......
We could have spent an extra day or 2 there. We didn't have time to do all of the things that we had on our list. One of the things that I wanted to do was sand-boarding. We saw someone doing it. You have to climb up the sand dune with board in tow in order to get to the top. It's a long way up and a tough climb through the sand. Having climbed a few big dunes already, I can appreciate the amount of energy that it takes to make it uop to the top so I think that I probably would only have done a couple of runs anyway. Alison, my chiropractor will be happy to learn that I missed the opportunity to wipe out in yet another way.
We spent today travelling south to Punta Arenas in Patagonia. It's the start of our 3 weeks in Patagonia, which was the original premise for this trip. (Patagonia is on the long list of places on my Bucket List). We just overnight in Punta Arenas and on Sunday morning, we go to Torres del Paine. The adventure continues......
Here's the link to the photos of the trip.
We toured the world's largest open pit copper mine, which is the key to the existence of Calama. Everything there is king size. I felt like I was in a cartoon. The mine is 1200 meters deep and trucks as big as our house are being loaded by equipment that dwarfs the trucks! Most of what we saw was so big that I couldn't fit it into a photo. It was an interesting experience, for sure.
Then we were off to San Pedro de Atacama in the Atacama Desert, on the high plateau of Los Andes. The actual town of San Pedro is just a tourist trap and we only spent enough time there to have a couple of meals and exchange some money. The main attraction for us was the desert and we were not disappointed. Of course, the scenery was spectacular and varied quite a lot from place to place. We hit some aptly named places like La Valle de la Luna ( Valley of the Moon) and Valle de la Muerte (Valley of Death), which reminded both of us of the backdrop for some scenes in Star Trek tv shows We also visited several massive salt lakes and salt flats and places with lots and lots of sand - massive sand dunes 300 feet high, all with Los Andes as a backdrop.
A number of places that we went to were over 4000 meters. Jogging not recommended. We climbed a couple of massive sand dunes and even going at a slow pace, you get winded. It gets windy and cold up there, too. My face has been thoroughly sand-blasted and any time that I spent on my hair in the morning was pretty much wasted.
The most memorable thing for me was the salt lake in Tebinquiche. It looks like a vast field of snow and ice on a plateau beneath the mountains. We could walk right out onto the lake and the water was only about an inch deep but I still had visions of falling through the non-existent ice. There were almost no people around and we had a picnic lunch sitting beside the lake. There were no other people there and it felt totally isolated and it was absolutely silent. No wind, no rustling of grass or trees (there aren't any grass or trees) no traffic, no birds, no animals and no other people. I don't think I've ever experienced silence like that before.
And then Gord reached into his bag of Doritos......
We could have spent an extra day or 2 there. We didn't have time to do all of the things that we had on our list. One of the things that I wanted to do was sand-boarding. We saw someone doing it. You have to climb up the sand dune with board in tow in order to get to the top. It's a long way up and a tough climb through the sand. Having climbed a few big dunes already, I can appreciate the amount of energy that it takes to make it uop to the top so I think that I probably would only have done a couple of runs anyway. Alison, my chiropractor will be happy to learn that I missed the opportunity to wipe out in yet another way.
We spent today travelling south to Punta Arenas in Patagonia. It's the start of our 3 weeks in Patagonia, which was the original premise for this trip. (Patagonia is on the long list of places on my Bucket List). We just overnight in Punta Arenas and on Sunday morning, we go to Torres del Paine. The adventure continues......
Here's the link to the photos of the trip.
Friday, 7 February 2014
Random thoughts
- If you buy new glasses and go to the trouble of ordering special sunglasses from the U.S. because they are the only ones that will fit, it's a good idea not to leave them in your desk at home.
- Chileans don't eat Chilean sea bass. It's not on the menu anywhere.
- Tourist Spanglish works great in tourist resorts and areas. Not so much in little out of the way villages.
- But the Google Translate app is fantastic.
- Santiago is the hot dog capital of the world. Not the good smokies or sausages, but the old fashioned Maple Leaf Weiner tube steak. There are at least 2 hot dog emporiums on every block. One of them is ranked 49 out of 1,223 restaurants on Santiago by TripAdvisor. And it deserves the ranking. The toppings.…...
- If a sand dune has drifted across the highway and you have to hit it at speed to get through it, it's a good idea to have you your window closed. Trust me on this one.
- There are no car washes in San Pedro de Atacama. See above.
- If you buy an apple in Chile, cross into Bolivia, and bring the same apple back into Chile, they will confiscate it at customs. Those customs people must love fruit.
- If you're in a food court in a mall in Chile, and you just know your Spanglish isn't going to work, so you order a "numero dos" combo and point to the picture of what you want to make it easy, it will still take 10 minutes to get your point across. And all you wanted was a hot dog and fries with Diet Coke. Which they call Coca Cola Light and it tastes like Dr. Pepper.
Thursday, 6 February 2014
Day 4
Apologies for no Day 3 post, but we were on an astronomical tour and didn't get home until 1:30 A.M. Likewise, today was packed full and we're just getting ready to crash for an early morning tour.
In short, Monday we went to the Chuquicamata mine in Calama, drove to San Pedro de Atacama, then went on the astronomical tour. Today we did a self-drive tour that included the Altiplanicas lagoons.
We'll fill in the blanks on the next post, which could be tomorrow, but maybe not until Friday when we get some downtime. And get a chance to go through some photos.
In short, Monday we went to the Chuquicamata mine in Calama, drove to San Pedro de Atacama, then went on the astronomical tour. Today we did a self-drive tour that included the Altiplanicas lagoons.
We'll fill in the blanks on the next post, which could be tomorrow, but maybe not until Friday when we get some downtime. And get a chance to go through some photos.
Tuesday, 4 February 2014
Day 2
Hola from Calama, Chile! We arrived here around 5:30 on a flight from Santiago. Didn't see much on the way in but desert, desert and more desert. The activities start in earnest tomorrow with a trip to the Chiquicamata mine, the largest open pit copper mine in the world. From there we drive to San Pedro de Atacama for a late night astronomy tour.
The flight to Santiago was uneventful, albeit 90 minutes late. The hardest thing was trying to find somewhere to eat on a Sunday. Apparently it's just not done. The Hotel Panamericano was quite acceptable and ideally located for a 1 night stay. Right in the midst of many historical buildings and pedestrian walkways that are very vibrant.
Couldn't post yesterday because the wifi at the hotel was very weak. We could receive email, but not send. Quite odd.
Starting tomorrow, you may see posts from two different authors. T. Turquoise is Gord and Michele will post under her own name.
Saturday, 1 February 2014
T minus 1 day - 1 more sleep!
It seems that there is a problem with the link to our itinerary when you are using an iPad or other tablet. They can't handle the length of the text in the link. If you are having a problem, try clicking here instead. It's just a screenshot, but you'll get the idea.
Our first glitch occurred yesterday when it was discovered that the car we had rented for exploring the Atacama Desert had been mistakenly rented for March, not February. Fortunately, we caught it before we left and had time to rectify the problem. When we asked Avis to change the dates, they informed us that the rate had gone from $81 to $820. !!!!! Needless to say, we found a different solution. Interestingly, the rate today for the same car at Avis has dropped to $556. Just bizarre.
Wednesday, 29 January 2014
T minus 4 days
Welcome, virtual travellers!
This is the first post of what we hope will be many, of our upcoming trip to Chile and Argentina. Our adventure begins February 1st and ends with our return home on March 20th. There will be 16 different stops along the way as we make our way from Santiago, Chile to Buenos Aires, Argentina. Travel will be by air, bus, boat and car.
All plans have been finalized and we are just double-checking everything, crossing Ts and dotting Is.
Click here for a link to a map of our planned itinerary.
This is the first post of what we hope will be many, of our upcoming trip to Chile and Argentina. Our adventure begins February 1st and ends with our return home on March 20th. There will be 16 different stops along the way as we make our way from Santiago, Chile to Buenos Aires, Argentina. Travel will be by air, bus, boat and car.
All plans have been finalized and we are just double-checking everything, crossing Ts and dotting Is.
Click here for a link to a map of our planned itinerary.
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