Hola Chicos!
I´m writing you from sunny and sensational Chile! But I´m keeping this off the topic and you will hear all about Chile in a week´s time.. Sorry.
Let me tell you a bit about our recent adventures through Bariloche and Mendoza Argentina!!
Monday - Marina´s Birthday: Today was all about Marina as it should be and we didn´t really do anything challenging. Firstly to start the day with a little chocolate cake and milk and then the hair salon for a cut and a wee-bit of colouring (shooo, I´m not suppossed to say that)... :D That night we had a gorgeous meal of beef fondue. Chopped pieces of semi-cooked steak that we cooked in a delicous sauce on the table... by far the best meal we had in Argentina, and all topped off by a tasty bottle of Red...
Tuesday - Cerro Cathedral: Bariloche is all about hiking and finally we took our lazy selves by bus to the treking area. Surprisingly the area is a ski resort, albeit a closed one, the trails were still very nice. Hiking among evergreen trees and spectacular views over Gutierrez lake. If you like camping and outdoor activities, Argentina is certainly a good place to be. Another thing about Argentina, when you find restaurants the locals go to, you´re in for a treat. That night we found one, by recommendation from the traveller grapevine. Not only is the food better, but its bigger and cheaper. I guess like anywhere, but its especially true in Argentina. We each had a steak probably as big as this keyboard! Maybe thats stretching the truth, but they were huge! Speaking of stretching, our stomachs certainly did a bit after this dinner.
Wednesday - Bus Bingo: Yes, another long bus ride! This time about 17 hours heading to Mendoza. During the ride, the driver´s assistant starts a game of bingo. This was a perfect way to practice our Spanish numbers. We certainly felt like it was an Easyjet flight (for the Europeans) however they didn´t take a quid off everyone and the winnner took home a bottle of wine.
Thursday - Wineries and a Spanish School Party: The bus ride was absolutely worth it! Mendoza is the capital of wine in Argentina and its a gorgeous city. I think every steet is lined with as many trees as possible. Thanks to an earthquake in 1861 which leveled the city, they built numerous parks and widened the streets. What we have now is a gorgeous city with a lot of charm. Once we checked in to our hostel, we signed up for a tour of the local wineries. Very nice indeed and they are certainly proud of their wine, again probably the same in all countries that produce wine. That night we joined a party at Marina´s new Spanish school and met a lot of fun people.
Friday - Calle Villanueva: Mendoza is definately the party city of Argentina. At least from what we have seen so far. It absolutely tops Buenos Aires. That night we headed to Calle Villanueva which is the party street with the bars. If you recall in Asia we were very particular about eating the local food for ALL our meals. Well in Argentina, I don´t feel exactly the same. Not because we have weakened, but because the food here is all normal - pastas, steaks, pizza, etc. That being said, we haven´t strayed as far as I can remember, but this night we had Mexican - The one food I truly crave all the time! I¨m not sure if I mentioned it, but in Argentina, everything starts late! We usually have dinner around 10pm and as for locals it wouldn´t be strange having dinner (yes a full dinner) at midnight. I´m not talking about partyers, but retired couples, families - with children, EVERYONE! It certainly takes a bit of getting used to. If you want to go to a club; 2am is usually the time to get there.
Yes its sunday and I´m leaving off Saturday. Just to give you a background, while Marina is doing her studies in Mendoza, I´ll be in Chile for the week so your next Post will be all about this amazing country called Chile!
On the iterary for Chile is Santiago > Valparaiso > Vina Del Mar
Until next time,
Hasta Luego!
Dan and Marina
Sunday 30 January 2011
Saturday 22 January 2011
Week 28 - Argentina
Switzerland or Bariloche?
Birthday dinner, a little steak fondue, yum!
Como Esta Amigos!
I have some fantastic news! My sister Julie has just had a beautiful baby girl named Mia Elizabeth Brannam. Baby and mother are healthy and by now should be enjoying their new home which they moved into a month ago - time to relax now after all the chaos! Congrats Julie and Craig!
Hello from the Argentinian Lake District!
The past week has included lots of excellent hiking and long bus rides! When I last wrote you, we were just leaving Calafate for Chalten. So our route has been,
Calafate > Chalten > Esquel > Bariloche
It does seem that Argentina is progressing as a country and taking a step into the 1st world, however there are some funny instances that put them back into the Nepal category. Our bus ride to Chalten was a great example. What should have been a three hour bus ride was much longer. Despite the delay, which happens everywhere, we stopped in the middle of no where, and were told the people going to Chalten should get out and wait for another bus. The 15 passenger who were going to Chalten were not to impressed, as Argentina is not the safest of countries and no one wanted to wait on the side of the road at 9:30pm. Then it seems he changed his mind or his Spanish was very poor and everybody had to change buses. As the new one approached, all passengers from the other bus traded places with us. I´m sure there was a good reason, but funny nonetheless. The real drama was finding accommodation in Chalten. As all places were booked up I hated to look at Marina thinking we would have to sleep in the bus station. So as you would expect in this situation... it starts raining, just to make matters worse! Luckily after 1 hour + of searching the tiny village, we found a hotel with a reservation that was just cancelled - it was nearly midnight!
Possibly another point on how they are progressing; in my last post I commented on the prices which have significantly risen. Well they are not just raising the local prices, but also the price of natural gas. As Chile is a major customer to Argentina they have not been too impressed with this and in a form of protest has closed the boarder. Lucky for us, we were planning to go down there to see a few national parks, but decided not too. Most travellers were stuck in the red cross shelters for several days. I´ve heard from travellers food was outrageously expensive, $15 for a very small box of cerial. Apparently all is now resolved, atleast with the boarders.....
Tuesday - Laguna Torre (Lake Torre): Chalten or El Chalten as its sometimes is called is an excellent location for a few days hiking. This morning we bought our lunch to bring a long and hiked to Lake Torre. Attached is a large glacier which blew glacial temperature winds knocking us off the path! Literally several times I would have one foot on the ground stepping and it would push me 1-2 meters away (3-6 feet)!!! I know I know, I´m trying to eat more Argentinian steaks!! After a good 8 hours hiking we were back in town and went for a delicious steak dinner with a fun Austrian couple enjoying the Argentinian beer - Quilmas.
Wednesday - Glacier hiking: We had planned to go to climb and walk on the glacier, but after arriving there about 3 hour later, the winds were even worse than the day before, thus cancelling our plans. Turning it into a positive, we found a gorgeous trail back to the town which took about six hours via several stunning lakes and with views of the surrounding Fitzroy mountains. Back in Chalten we enjoyed some Argentinian Wine and had a pizza before retiring to our room very exhausted.
Thursday - relaxing: Chalten does not have much to do besides trekking so if your exhausted and want a day off, there isn´t a whole lot to do. Nonetheless, we found a few short trails in the morning and hiked to about 1pm. We had a nice steak dinner that night and quite a bit of wine which helped put us straight to sleep as we boarded our night bus for Esquel.
Friday - Argentinian buses: They sure play cheesy movies, but at least they are in English! This bus ride was 23 hours in total with a few stops the longest being 2 hours. Once we arrived in Esquel at 9pm, we found our hostel. Now we were booking a head having learned our lessons, but unfortunately this one was on the corner of town as our guide book didn´t have a map of the place.
Saturday - Cerro de la Cruz: Having rested our legs, we had two hikes today. The best and first one was to Cerro de la Cruz which is a tall mountain next to Esquel. Not really that tall, just over 1000 meters (3200 feet). This took us about three hours and after a nice pizza in town, we were ready to hike to Laguna La Zeta. The path, which also was occupied by cars was very dusty and after seeing a family hitchhike there, we did the same. Being a very small town, we weren´t too worried and it was only about 4km (2.5 miles) each way.
Sunday - Gorgeous, but touristy Bariloche! We arrived here about midday and checked in to our quaint B and B. We mostly just walked around seeing the town. Bariloche is a mountain town which is one of the main ski resorts of South America. It certainly has European Ski resort prices. For a lengthy travel, we have actual cooked our own evening meals for the first time in 7 months; once in Esquel and this night in Bariloche. Pints of beer for $8 and steaks for $18, not quite the South America we expected, but I hear its better in the north and especially once we leave Argentina.
Whats next for us, well the big day is today, Monday the 24th (Marina´s birthday). We are in Bariloche for 3 days and then head up to Mendoza - wine country! Party, Party!
Adios,
Dan & Marina
Birthday dinner, a little steak fondue, yum!
Como Esta Amigos!
I have some fantastic news! My sister Julie has just had a beautiful baby girl named Mia Elizabeth Brannam. Baby and mother are healthy and by now should be enjoying their new home which they moved into a month ago - time to relax now after all the chaos! Congrats Julie and Craig!
Hello from the Argentinian Lake District!
The past week has included lots of excellent hiking and long bus rides! When I last wrote you, we were just leaving Calafate for Chalten. So our route has been,
Calafate > Chalten > Esquel > Bariloche
It does seem that Argentina is progressing as a country and taking a step into the 1st world, however there are some funny instances that put them back into the Nepal category. Our bus ride to Chalten was a great example. What should have been a three hour bus ride was much longer. Despite the delay, which happens everywhere, we stopped in the middle of no where, and were told the people going to Chalten should get out and wait for another bus. The 15 passenger who were going to Chalten were not to impressed, as Argentina is not the safest of countries and no one wanted to wait on the side of the road at 9:30pm. Then it seems he changed his mind or his Spanish was very poor and everybody had to change buses. As the new one approached, all passengers from the other bus traded places with us. I´m sure there was a good reason, but funny nonetheless. The real drama was finding accommodation in Chalten. As all places were booked up I hated to look at Marina thinking we would have to sleep in the bus station. So as you would expect in this situation... it starts raining, just to make matters worse! Luckily after 1 hour + of searching the tiny village, we found a hotel with a reservation that was just cancelled - it was nearly midnight!
Possibly another point on how they are progressing; in my last post I commented on the prices which have significantly risen. Well they are not just raising the local prices, but also the price of natural gas. As Chile is a major customer to Argentina they have not been too impressed with this and in a form of protest has closed the boarder. Lucky for us, we were planning to go down there to see a few national parks, but decided not too. Most travellers were stuck in the red cross shelters for several days. I´ve heard from travellers food was outrageously expensive, $15 for a very small box of cerial. Apparently all is now resolved, atleast with the boarders.....
Tuesday - Laguna Torre (Lake Torre): Chalten or El Chalten as its sometimes is called is an excellent location for a few days hiking. This morning we bought our lunch to bring a long and hiked to Lake Torre. Attached is a large glacier which blew glacial temperature winds knocking us off the path! Literally several times I would have one foot on the ground stepping and it would push me 1-2 meters away (3-6 feet)!!! I know I know, I´m trying to eat more Argentinian steaks!! After a good 8 hours hiking we were back in town and went for a delicious steak dinner with a fun Austrian couple enjoying the Argentinian beer - Quilmas.
Wednesday - Glacier hiking: We had planned to go to climb and walk on the glacier, but after arriving there about 3 hour later, the winds were even worse than the day before, thus cancelling our plans. Turning it into a positive, we found a gorgeous trail back to the town which took about six hours via several stunning lakes and with views of the surrounding Fitzroy mountains. Back in Chalten we enjoyed some Argentinian Wine and had a pizza before retiring to our room very exhausted.
Thursday - relaxing: Chalten does not have much to do besides trekking so if your exhausted and want a day off, there isn´t a whole lot to do. Nonetheless, we found a few short trails in the morning and hiked to about 1pm. We had a nice steak dinner that night and quite a bit of wine which helped put us straight to sleep as we boarded our night bus for Esquel.
Friday - Argentinian buses: They sure play cheesy movies, but at least they are in English! This bus ride was 23 hours in total with a few stops the longest being 2 hours. Once we arrived in Esquel at 9pm, we found our hostel. Now we were booking a head having learned our lessons, but unfortunately this one was on the corner of town as our guide book didn´t have a map of the place.
Saturday - Cerro de la Cruz: Having rested our legs, we had two hikes today. The best and first one was to Cerro de la Cruz which is a tall mountain next to Esquel. Not really that tall, just over 1000 meters (3200 feet). This took us about three hours and after a nice pizza in town, we were ready to hike to Laguna La Zeta. The path, which also was occupied by cars was very dusty and after seeing a family hitchhike there, we did the same. Being a very small town, we weren´t too worried and it was only about 4km (2.5 miles) each way.
Sunday - Gorgeous, but touristy Bariloche! We arrived here about midday and checked in to our quaint B and B. We mostly just walked around seeing the town. Bariloche is a mountain town which is one of the main ski resorts of South America. It certainly has European Ski resort prices. For a lengthy travel, we have actual cooked our own evening meals for the first time in 7 months; once in Esquel and this night in Bariloche. Pints of beer for $8 and steaks for $18, not quite the South America we expected, but I hear its better in the north and especially once we leave Argentina.
Whats next for us, well the big day is today, Monday the 24th (Marina´s birthday). We are in Bariloche for 3 days and then head up to Mendoza - wine country! Party, Party!
Adios,
Dan & Marina
Monday 17 January 2011
Week 27 - Argentina
Sea Elephants reeee-laxing
Sea Lions having fun!
El Penguinos
Enjoying Argentina´s finest product
Now thats a big piece of ice!
Buenos Tardes Amigos!
Well this past week in Argentina has been quite challenging, and also very rewarding in travel experiences. The bad part, as I returned from Uruguay, I learned Marina´s locker at the hostel had been broken into so we spent the next few days working on replacement items. I didn´t expect to finish our 18 months unscathed, so hopefully this is the only and last major incident - knock on wood.
Despite the loss of cash, everything in Argentina is expensive - not just by South American standards, but even compared to a place like Japan. The Argentinean’s will not admit this, even though their salaries are still based on the old prices. We had to pull teeth to find out, but the price has more than doubled in the past 18 months, so I´m told. The great news is wine is cheap and it’s delicious! I expect they keep this affordable in order to prevent a revolution from happening - remember this is the birth place of Che Guevara.
A few funny things about South America that take some getting used to; Firstly, I should not state my country of origin as - America, which is seemingly easier than saying the United States in any other part of the world. Here, they say, we are American too; you are from Estados Unidos (United States). They also do not refer to our music and food as Western, but Northern - it makes sense, but one of those things I just didn’t think about before this trip.
Falkland Islands, don´t you mean the Mar Argenino -Islas Malvinas. This is a bitter subject and I was told by our guide not to bring this up with other locals, however he was an educated person and open to discuss it. The seem to forget how they lost the war less than 30 years ago and still consider it part of Argentina, despite the locals there speaking English and having British passports. I´m not sure if it’s that they were destroyed in war by the British or some kind of local propaganda. Despite this, I was able to enter free to Argentina with my British passport, but if I used the American one, I would have had to pay $140.
So what have we been up to: Buenos Aires > Puerto Madryn > El Calafate
Monday to Wednesday - sorting problems: Marina was very upset as I returned having lost some important possessions (nothing irreplaceable) and we spent the next few days resolving this issue. She is fine and well and back in good spirits. That Monday night we went out for a big fat steak dinner and good wine to take the edge off. On Tuesday we left for a 20 hour bus ride south to Puerto Madryn.
Thursday - Peninsula Valdes: We purchased a 12 hour tour to see the amazing wildlife at Peninsula Valdes. Our first stop was a sea lion colony containing at least 500 of these beasts along with many young. This was the perfect time to see them as many mothers were giving birth and strangely it was also mating season (the females wait a whopping six days before starting the process all over). Given the cubs are about as bit as a Labrador, I am shocked how the moms survive!! It was an amazing site as we literally saw babies who were maybe 5 minutes old - from a distance. Grossly, the seagulls came in for the "unnecessary bits". The sounds were like lions for the tough alpha males and like goats for the babies. Next we saw a small colony of penguins and lastly we saw a large group of Elephant seals, which seem to appear dead unless you watch for 5+ minutes.
Friday - Punto Tombo: Again we purchased a full day tour to take us to see the world´s second largest penguin colony which was about 200km away. The largest is in Antarctica. This colony was amazing and had somewhere between 500,000 - 1 Million Magellenic penguins. Such a site as most families had two babies who were just getting ready to go out into the wild. They were shedding their grey fur in preparation for the trip to the sea which would be only a few weeks away. The penguins live in holes on land (one family per hole) and at one point I could see maybe 5000 penguins in one glance! They were clumsy and cute creatures. I just wanted to pick one up, but apparently their beaks can be vicious!
Saturday to Sunday - 24 hour bus: At least they are comfortable! Luckily they show movies in English, but most are VERY cheesy flicks that would not make network TV.
Monday - Perito Moreno: Today we went to see a huge 60 meter high glacier just outside a small town called El Calafate. What an amazing display! We also took a cruise to see the glacier up close. This beast was shedding ice causing loud thunderous noises dropping tons of ice into the sea creating large waves. Now before all you global warming people say ahh-haa, apparently this is one of the few glaciers of the world which is actually growing. Forget the politics, if you haven´t seen a glacier like this, you must!
So what’s next on our tour; we are up to El Chalten later today and we will have three days of trekking there around the mountains and possibly glacier. Then we are off to Bariloche which is dubbed the Switzerland of Argentina. There we will party hard for Marina´s 26th birthday. You all need to remind her of how terribly old she is.. ;)
Hasta Lavista,
Marina and Daniel
Sea Lions having fun!
El Penguinos
Enjoying Argentina´s finest product
Now thats a big piece of ice!
Buenos Tardes Amigos!
Well this past week in Argentina has been quite challenging, and also very rewarding in travel experiences. The bad part, as I returned from Uruguay, I learned Marina´s locker at the hostel had been broken into so we spent the next few days working on replacement items. I didn´t expect to finish our 18 months unscathed, so hopefully this is the only and last major incident - knock on wood.
Despite the loss of cash, everything in Argentina is expensive - not just by South American standards, but even compared to a place like Japan. The Argentinean’s will not admit this, even though their salaries are still based on the old prices. We had to pull teeth to find out, but the price has more than doubled in the past 18 months, so I´m told. The great news is wine is cheap and it’s delicious! I expect they keep this affordable in order to prevent a revolution from happening - remember this is the birth place of Che Guevara.
A few funny things about South America that take some getting used to; Firstly, I should not state my country of origin as - America, which is seemingly easier than saying the United States in any other part of the world. Here, they say, we are American too; you are from Estados Unidos (United States). They also do not refer to our music and food as Western, but Northern - it makes sense, but one of those things I just didn’t think about before this trip.
Falkland Islands, don´t you mean the Mar Argenino -Islas Malvinas. This is a bitter subject and I was told by our guide not to bring this up with other locals, however he was an educated person and open to discuss it. The seem to forget how they lost the war less than 30 years ago and still consider it part of Argentina, despite the locals there speaking English and having British passports. I´m not sure if it’s that they were destroyed in war by the British or some kind of local propaganda. Despite this, I was able to enter free to Argentina with my British passport, but if I used the American one, I would have had to pay $140.
So what have we been up to: Buenos Aires > Puerto Madryn > El Calafate
Monday to Wednesday - sorting problems: Marina was very upset as I returned having lost some important possessions (nothing irreplaceable) and we spent the next few days resolving this issue. She is fine and well and back in good spirits. That Monday night we went out for a big fat steak dinner and good wine to take the edge off. On Tuesday we left for a 20 hour bus ride south to Puerto Madryn.
Thursday - Peninsula Valdes: We purchased a 12 hour tour to see the amazing wildlife at Peninsula Valdes. Our first stop was a sea lion colony containing at least 500 of these beasts along with many young. This was the perfect time to see them as many mothers were giving birth and strangely it was also mating season (the females wait a whopping six days before starting the process all over). Given the cubs are about as bit as a Labrador, I am shocked how the moms survive!! It was an amazing site as we literally saw babies who were maybe 5 minutes old - from a distance. Grossly, the seagulls came in for the "unnecessary bits". The sounds were like lions for the tough alpha males and like goats for the babies. Next we saw a small colony of penguins and lastly we saw a large group of Elephant seals, which seem to appear dead unless you watch for 5+ minutes.
Friday - Punto Tombo: Again we purchased a full day tour to take us to see the world´s second largest penguin colony which was about 200km away. The largest is in Antarctica. This colony was amazing and had somewhere between 500,000 - 1 Million Magellenic penguins. Such a site as most families had two babies who were just getting ready to go out into the wild. They were shedding their grey fur in preparation for the trip to the sea which would be only a few weeks away. The penguins live in holes on land (one family per hole) and at one point I could see maybe 5000 penguins in one glance! They were clumsy and cute creatures. I just wanted to pick one up, but apparently their beaks can be vicious!
Saturday to Sunday - 24 hour bus: At least they are comfortable! Luckily they show movies in English, but most are VERY cheesy flicks that would not make network TV.
Monday - Perito Moreno: Today we went to see a huge 60 meter high glacier just outside a small town called El Calafate. What an amazing display! We also took a cruise to see the glacier up close. This beast was shedding ice causing loud thunderous noises dropping tons of ice into the sea creating large waves. Now before all you global warming people say ahh-haa, apparently this is one of the few glaciers of the world which is actually growing. Forget the politics, if you haven´t seen a glacier like this, you must!
So what’s next on our tour; we are up to El Chalten later today and we will have three days of trekking there around the mountains and possibly glacier. Then we are off to Bariloche which is dubbed the Switzerland of Argentina. There we will party hard for Marina´s 26th birthday. You all need to remind her of how terribly old she is.. ;)
Hasta Lavista,
Marina and Daniel
Monday 10 January 2011
Week 26 - Argentina & Uruguay
Gothic Buenos Aires
Yum Yum
Did I see a ghost??
Hola Amigos! Que Pasa!
I’m writing you from sunny Uruguay! As its January we have come for the South American Summer and it couldn’t be a better time.
Happy New Years to you all! We had a nice few days in London and now have been in South America for a week and loving it!
Let me first tell you about the food - my favorite topic! If you’re not a culinary adventurer - you will especially love Argentina and Uruguay’s food. Many great meat dishes (steaks are unbelievable) and they have pretty decent pizza and pasta. For us, this was a dream after 6 months of constant Asian food, back to the roots! The Italian immigrants brought this food over and now it’s intertwined with everyday food, just as in America. As far as the steaks go, both countries are/were gaucho (cowboy) country so they know how to do it! However, the rumor of $5 steaks is a myth, you can get a great steak for about $12-15 if you know where to go, but many place are excellent; so not a bad deal. BBQ is a way of life in these two places and you will see people BBQ-ing on the street in front of their homes.
Let me tell you about Uruguay mostly as we have a few weeks in Argentina still and today is the last day here. Uruguay is approximately the size of North Dakota so by South American standards it’s not very big. There are about 3 million people. Montevideo is a nice quaint city, but as you would expect, not too big in size. The city seems very safe (along with Buenos Aires). Whilst I was told by a local in Montevideo that some areas at night are not completely safe, I have found the city to be no trouble at all - everywhere in the day time and the center at night; despite the 7am fights outside the bar area. That being said, the same thing happens in America and Europe and I can only imagine if London pubs were allowed to stay open until dawn :D
Spanish is not necessary here, but sure is handy and as knowing the language in any country, really allows you to get to know the locals far better. So I’ll be racking in my brain for the Spanish I learned in high school and Marina is doing better and taking classes!
So far in South America; Buenos Aires > Montevideo > Colonia de Sacramento
Monday - South America, yeah baby!: We arrived in Buenos Aires in the morning and decided to stay in San Telmo a nice fun area a few kilometers south of the exact center. My favorite thing about Buenos Aires is just walking the streets! Everywhere is lovely and with it being warm and sunny, the tree lined streets and excellent architecture reminds be of being in Spain or Italy.
Tuesday - Embassy runs: Paraguay was a dream; Marina obtained her visa in a day. Chile is work in progress and she should have this to pick up in about two weeks along our path in Argentina. Uruguay however was a pain, as they wanted 3 weeks to approve and we didn’t have the time, she has decided to stay in Buenos Aires and take a week of Spanish classes, while I go to Uruguay for the weekend. Hopefully this will be the only problem we have, but as she was dying to do Spanish, it worked out. For Aruba and Trinidad & Tobago, great news; T&T now allow Russians to enter visa-less and Aruba is fine as Marina has a British residency visa - woo hoo. That was our day :D
Wednesday - Palermo: We went out Wednesday night in Palermo. It has been a bit tough to adjust, Argentineans, love to eat VERY late, I mean 10-12pm! As we are trying to adjust, it was so nice to enjoy eating in the alfresco restaurants, in Palermo (a suburb of Buenos Aires) during summertime even the bars are all outdoor so it has a great vibe! Most bars sell beer by the liter; that’s a quart if you’re in America!!
Thursday - Recoleta & Camille: During the day, we walked Recoleta with its amazing cemetery, probably the nicest I’ve seen besides Cemetare duPere Lachaise, the home of Jim Morrison!! Camille is a brightly painted neighborhood in the south which is perfect for strolling, shopping, or having a beer and watching tango dancers (all outside of course as this is Buenos Aires). Later that night after we had huge juicy steaks, I caught the bus for Uruguay.
Friday - Montevideo life: The sites in Montevideo do not occupy much of your time and again like BA, it just seems to be about being there! Museums are tiny and do not require much time. Luckily I had stayed in a great hostel and met a lot of fun people who like wine and going out.
Saturday - Mercado del Puerto: This market is a carnivore’s dream! They have little restaurants kind of like bars where they cook in the middle and you sit around them, grilling all kinds of meats! The smell alone is worth the price of the ticket to Uruguay! I had a nice slab of meat which was wrapped around veggies and one of my childhood favorites, peppercini peppers! If you like nightlife, weekends are excellent in Montevideo. Most places do not close before dawn and some even stay open later!
Sunday - Sleepy Colonia: Uruguay’s only UNESCO world heritage site is the town of Colonia de Sacramento. I’m not sure why; after seeing world heritage sites in India that were pretty awesome, this is a bit of a let down, but the town is nice and possibly romantic, but not for me without Marina unfortunately... I mostly just walked around, climbed a sort of lighthouse and relaxed after a late night.
So what’s next - well now it gets exciting so don’t miss next week’s blog. We are heading to the far south of Argentina to Puerto Madryn and El Calafate!
Hasta Luego,
Dan and Marina
Yum Yum
Did I see a ghost??
Hola Amigos! Que Pasa!
I’m writing you from sunny Uruguay! As its January we have come for the South American Summer and it couldn’t be a better time.
Happy New Years to you all! We had a nice few days in London and now have been in South America for a week and loving it!
Let me first tell you about the food - my favorite topic! If you’re not a culinary adventurer - you will especially love Argentina and Uruguay’s food. Many great meat dishes (steaks are unbelievable) and they have pretty decent pizza and pasta. For us, this was a dream after 6 months of constant Asian food, back to the roots! The Italian immigrants brought this food over and now it’s intertwined with everyday food, just as in America. As far as the steaks go, both countries are/were gaucho (cowboy) country so they know how to do it! However, the rumor of $5 steaks is a myth, you can get a great steak for about $12-15 if you know where to go, but many place are excellent; so not a bad deal. BBQ is a way of life in these two places and you will see people BBQ-ing on the street in front of their homes.
Let me tell you about Uruguay mostly as we have a few weeks in Argentina still and today is the last day here. Uruguay is approximately the size of North Dakota so by South American standards it’s not very big. There are about 3 million people. Montevideo is a nice quaint city, but as you would expect, not too big in size. The city seems very safe (along with Buenos Aires). Whilst I was told by a local in Montevideo that some areas at night are not completely safe, I have found the city to be no trouble at all - everywhere in the day time and the center at night; despite the 7am fights outside the bar area. That being said, the same thing happens in America and Europe and I can only imagine if London pubs were allowed to stay open until dawn :D
Spanish is not necessary here, but sure is handy and as knowing the language in any country, really allows you to get to know the locals far better. So I’ll be racking in my brain for the Spanish I learned in high school and Marina is doing better and taking classes!
So far in South America; Buenos Aires > Montevideo > Colonia de Sacramento
Monday - South America, yeah baby!: We arrived in Buenos Aires in the morning and decided to stay in San Telmo a nice fun area a few kilometers south of the exact center. My favorite thing about Buenos Aires is just walking the streets! Everywhere is lovely and with it being warm and sunny, the tree lined streets and excellent architecture reminds be of being in Spain or Italy.
Tuesday - Embassy runs: Paraguay was a dream; Marina obtained her visa in a day. Chile is work in progress and she should have this to pick up in about two weeks along our path in Argentina. Uruguay however was a pain, as they wanted 3 weeks to approve and we didn’t have the time, she has decided to stay in Buenos Aires and take a week of Spanish classes, while I go to Uruguay for the weekend. Hopefully this will be the only problem we have, but as she was dying to do Spanish, it worked out. For Aruba and Trinidad & Tobago, great news; T&T now allow Russians to enter visa-less and Aruba is fine as Marina has a British residency visa - woo hoo. That was our day :D
Wednesday - Palermo: We went out Wednesday night in Palermo. It has been a bit tough to adjust, Argentineans, love to eat VERY late, I mean 10-12pm! As we are trying to adjust, it was so nice to enjoy eating in the alfresco restaurants, in Palermo (a suburb of Buenos Aires) during summertime even the bars are all outdoor so it has a great vibe! Most bars sell beer by the liter; that’s a quart if you’re in America!!
Thursday - Recoleta & Camille: During the day, we walked Recoleta with its amazing cemetery, probably the nicest I’ve seen besides Cemetare duPere Lachaise, the home of Jim Morrison!! Camille is a brightly painted neighborhood in the south which is perfect for strolling, shopping, or having a beer and watching tango dancers (all outside of course as this is Buenos Aires). Later that night after we had huge juicy steaks, I caught the bus for Uruguay.
Friday - Montevideo life: The sites in Montevideo do not occupy much of your time and again like BA, it just seems to be about being there! Museums are tiny and do not require much time. Luckily I had stayed in a great hostel and met a lot of fun people who like wine and going out.
Saturday - Mercado del Puerto: This market is a carnivore’s dream! They have little restaurants kind of like bars where they cook in the middle and you sit around them, grilling all kinds of meats! The smell alone is worth the price of the ticket to Uruguay! I had a nice slab of meat which was wrapped around veggies and one of my childhood favorites, peppercini peppers! If you like nightlife, weekends are excellent in Montevideo. Most places do not close before dawn and some even stay open later!
Sunday - Sleepy Colonia: Uruguay’s only UNESCO world heritage site is the town of Colonia de Sacramento. I’m not sure why; after seeing world heritage sites in India that were pretty awesome, this is a bit of a let down, but the town is nice and possibly romantic, but not for me without Marina unfortunately... I mostly just walked around, climbed a sort of lighthouse and relaxed after a late night.
So what’s next - well now it gets exciting so don’t miss next week’s blog. We are heading to the far south of Argentina to Puerto Madryn and El Calafate!
Hasta Luego,
Dan and Marina
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