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.
Wednesday, 26 March 2014
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.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)