Random thoughts on Argentina and backpacking

I've been traveling for only 2 weeks now so I haven't gotten that feeling yet.  I don't know what that feeling is supposed to be but I'm sure I'll know it when it comes.  The feeling of total freedom?  The feeling of enjoying every second of life? (I think I've managed to develop that pretty ok in the last 4 years.)  The feeling that my Spanish rocks? (Not so much compared to the other backpackers who have studied it intensely for the past 4 months in Buenos Aires. I like to think if I did that too, I would be dazzling people left and right) The feeling that  H.C Andersen made famous "To travel is to live"?  The feeling that I don't need to know what's going to happen next  (That's one's going to be a big challenge).  The feeling of "discovering my true self" uh... at 39?

Whatever it is, I'm looking forward to it when it comes. If it does.

Coins in Argentina are like gold here.  It's the only way to pay for the bus in Buenos Aires and at the supermarket, they always ask if you have a 50 centavo or a 1 peso piece.  It's not something you want to give up so easily in case you need it yourself but if you don't give them what they want, they will shortchange you on your return money.  The coins do go down to 5 centavos but they pretend  they don't have them so the always round up in their favor.

Argentinan Spanish is hard enough with the differnet pronunciation og "y" to a soft "jh" and I've been told it only gets worse in Chile.

Bariloche apparantly looks like Switzerland with the log cabin types houses, chocolate shops on every corner and the existence of cheese fondue (oh yes,  I'v found the chese fondue places pretty quickly) due to the Swiss immigrants of the late 19th century.  It is a bit strange to come all the way to South America and get a Europen feeling  (more so than the "European metropolitan feel" of Buenos Aires).  But chocolate and cheese...I'm not complaining.

Hostel life can be fun.  They arranged a pot luck dinner on Monday (it could easily have been Saturday with the party feeling they were trying to create).  We had traditional French food, Argentinian pizza, Romanian style polenta and of course, Tina's brownies.  With the lack of cocoa powder and the different chocolate as well as the tempermental oven they became "Bariloche brownies. " But they were a hit nonetheless.

Silvio/Mario/Nicolai from Romania

Argentina may be famous for its steaks but it IS the land of Dulce de Leche.  It's everywere.  Not only can you buy it pure, on it's own but it is also a strong persence in the local cookie/cake "Alfajor."  Not to mention, a yogurt flavor and of course an inside gooey surpise in an otherwise crispy churro.  It's like nougat or marzipan in Denmark.

There are a lot of homeless dogs in Bariloche.  But despite my many hours of experince watching Animal Planet´s various animal rescue/animal cops shows, I am semi happy to report that these dogs are fat and freindly.  The people here seem to care enough to feed them and be nice to them.  Thus some adopt areas/shops as their own.  They're not allowed inside but they do defende the property as if it was their own, at least from other homeless dogs.  Sadly the people don't seem to care enough to bring the long-haired ones to the vet to get shaved and I can only hope that some people do catch what dogs they can and get them fixed, like people have been known to do in the states.  I highly doubt it though.  

We heard a modern song in the bus the other day but otherwise it's an 80s theme all throughout.  Could be worse.  Could be country.

A few days ago, I took the funicular up to the top of Cerro Otto, a view worthy of being a good competitor to Cerro Campanario.  On the way up I had a nice couple from Buenos Aires with me to distract me from the death pod I had voluntarily stepped into.  On the way dowm all I had was myself..and the video function on my new camera. Ok, the video does not want to upload.  You're really missing out...

The requisite hot chcolate and dulce de leche filled churro at the rotating restuarant at the top of

Cerro Otto.

                               Cheese fondue!  Actually, I have had better but I'm glad we tried it.

                                            The drive out of Bariloche on the way to Mendoza.

Our hostel room in Mendoza.  This place is sweet.

Today we arrived in warm and sunny Mendoza and have already booked a winery tour for this afternoon. Boozy blog to follow...   

Finally, some shots of Buenos Aires and Bariloche

Here are a few random shots from Buenos Aires, Bariloche, and Buenos Aires again.  The computer only can choose one pic at a time so these 30 pics took over and hour to load.  But then I went back and decided to add a few more from Buenos Aires, so they are a bit out of order.  Plus I can't figure out how to right the ones that are sideways.  If only I could get my hands on a mac...;-)

Enjoy!

Me and Mafalda.  She's famous in Argentina. For me, it's just a matter of time...

Typical dog walker in Buenos Aires

Proof that I am a backpacker.  Yes?

My cat is with me always...

Dramatic finish with random Swedish guy.  I wanted to get more shots but he looked at this one and said "it's fine" and walked away. He didn't understand my need for photographic perfection. Or I just annoyed him...

Yeah, I can't figure out how to right the pic on this blog...  This certifies that I attempted to dance tango.

The first good wine of the trip



Professional tango dancers



My biz class style super suite cama seat on the bus from Buenos Aires to Bariloche

Buenos Aires outskirts

Cowl and pizza.  It's cold in Bariloche!

Tang for Kristin...



Danish cheese in Argentina



Somebody needs to translate this to the homeless dogs that run around the whole city.  They do seem to be relatively well taken care of, for homeless dogs

Typical building in Bariloche

Cerro Campanario, Bariloche



Cerro Campanario, again



Cerro Campanario, again

Lupin.  Yes, the walk up did look a bit like Juneau, Alaska

The view from our hostel in Bariloche

Another view from our hostel

Buenos Aires.  Reminds me of a wine we drink in DK

No comment

My hostel in Buenos Aires

Downtown Buenos Aires.  Looks like downtown New York.

My BA hostel pals

A liter of beer and a half dozen eggs

Entrance to the cemetary

Tomb of Eva Perron Duarte's family



First of what will be many random kitty shots



More tombs

The girls learning tango

Another view from Cerro Campanario,  Reminded me of the Caribbean.

The stranger I slept next to...

...was not amused when he sat down next to me and I told him "this is my first time!" Perhaps it was my broken Spanish.  Perhaps he really didn't care and was hoping I wouln't say anything more on the 21 hour bus trip that awaited us from Buenos Aries to Bariloche.  I got over it and was not offended when he pulled the curtain between us for the rest of the journey.  I had enough to amuse me without talking to him:  a selection of 14 movies on the private TV screen, music, my own books and my iPhone selelction of movies, which I have been carefully rationing.  Who am I kidding? I can watch Finding Nemo again and again.

It was Thanksgiving and I had started the day with a tour of the Teatre Colòn, a beautiful European style building in Buenos Aires.  Yes, it was cool to see the architecture of the lobby areas but what I really wanted to walk around backstage and ask my arsenal of nerdy insider theatre quiestions.  But it wasn't meant to be.

A taxi ride in style and comfort to the bus station and I was on my way to Bariloche.  A 21 hour bus ride sounds daunting but, again, I paid for comfort and style.  I didn't go hungry with all the bready options. Didn't get terribly bored with all the movies options either.

Arrival to Bariloche was one hour early so I had to sit and wait (im)patiently for Michael to arrive.  He did, early, and all was well.

Today I would like to say that I hiked in the Andes Mountains but Michael says that's not quite correct.  But we did walk 30 minutes almost straight up a very steep mountain (Cerro Campanario) to the top where we could get a view of "one of the 6 most beautiful views of the world."  Quote not yet cited.  The second I started lamenting about not having seen any wildlife, a beautiful little hawk came flying by and tried to balance himself on top of a pine tree right in front of us.

I also spotted some peculiar scat on the way down but Michael guessed it was just horse manure.  It could have been a vegetariam puma.  You never know...

More pictures to follow tomorrow when I get on a better (faster) computer.

Thanksgiving on a bus

Not all backpackers are dirty hippies.  Some are loud young Americans who think everyone wants to hear about their travels as if they are the first people ever to discover how incredibly amazing Mendoza is or how crappy La Paz really is.  However, so far they are all harmless and some offer a good caricature of themselves and entertainment for the cool backpackers (yes, myself included).

The last day and a half was spent with one such cool backpacker.  After sussing each other out at the pool table the night before, we decided we were compatible for a day out on the town.  Kathryn and I made our way up to Cementerio de la Recoleta where we quickly found Eva Peron´s family´s gravesite.  Just follow the crowd and usually you´ll find something you want to find.  This maze of mausoleums was represented by modern sleek black marble as well as old, orante, patinated, algae-covered tombs complete with cobwebs and old locks and chains.  Some were well maintained and some were well forgotten.  Most had a plaque from friends and colleagues remembering their dearly departed on the one-year anniversary of their death  It would have been a perfect place for a Haunted Halloween.

The rest of the day and half was filled with finding and petting and taking pictures of kitties, making sure Mini-Bear was well represented in her pictures (think-the gnome in "Amalie"), shopping for elctronics and local pastries (we´re in Dulce de Leche country now!), and wandering the streets and ports of Buenos Aires.

Last night was an evening of tango.  Free lesson with dinner and a show.  There were about 35 people for the lesson so needless to say, we learned one step and one dramatic finish move before we were shuffled into the Vegas-Burlesque-Show-Style room for the dinner and show portion. My first steak in Argentina was just ok and the show was fun.  I think maybe catching tango-dancing buskers might be more authentic but I´m glad to have the experience.

Today I will follow the advice of two FB friends and eat what is supposed to be the most amzing pizza in the world. I´ll also try to get inside the Teatro Colòn before heading off to Bariloche where tomorrow I will finally get to see Michael after almost two months...

Buenos Aires

The best thing I can say about Buenos Aires right now is that it´s sunny and warm.  I just don´t know much else yet.

The 12 hour flight from Madrid involved 100 % fewer tears than flight nr. 1 of the day. So right there, it´s a good start.  I started with a pretty good (read, for airline food) ghocci and then promptly fell asleep.  I think I managed to doze restlessly for about 4 hours and managed to go a whole 6 before looking at the clock (ok, only two of theose were awake hours).  I kept myself entertained with Raiders of the Lost Ark and Monsters Inc as the flight only showed 4 movies and I was otherwise engaged for all of them.

I found the shuttle bus guy pretty easliy after finding my backpack without incident and had a pleasant if limited conversation in Spanish with the driver on the way to the hostel.  On the outside, the hostel is not much to speak of, but this is my first hostel experience so how do I supposed to know?

Nap time.  Looking forward to exploring the city later.

Madrid

Needless to say my morning was filled with ansgt.  Is that an English word?  I can´t tell the difference anymore between the two languages (now it´s time to stretch the hofteboejer...).

After a lovely send off with phone calls and a nice beer and lots of hugs with sweet Anne-Sophie at the airport, the anxiety took over and the crying ensued.  It didn´t get much better after take off.  But the nice flight attendant who took care of me mentioned to the pilots that I was scared and they invited me to the cockpit to hang out.  I´ve sat up there before but never quite realized how much the view looks like a very tall cruise ship sailing on a sea of calm but white capped waves (really trying not the make a titanic reference here).  They were making jokes about not getting along and drinking on the job.  But not tastelss like you might think. :-)

They liked me so much  they invited me to join them in the cockpit for the landing.  Despite being so freaked out about flying, it was freaking awesome!

I even got to film the landing but none of you will ever see it cause my camera disappeared somewhere in the rush to pick up my stuff after landing, in between the cleaning crew came in.  I filed a claim with lost and found but I don´t plan on ever seeing it again.  Which sucks.  But that´s just a good excuse to find a better one in Buenos Aires.

The day before departure...

...was supposed to be filled with sleeping late, making cookies for the trip and helping the cats adjust to their new home for the next 5.5 months.  Instead I had to run by the mechanic, stop by the doctor, get a battery for my watch so I'm not pulling out my phone every time I need to know what time it is (will I REALLY need to know what time it is?), pick up a battery for my scale so I know how many kilos my backpack is (it has to be under 20, which is good cause if you know my back...), finish packing all the bits and bobs (meds for all possible purposes, books, chargers, miners light etc...) as well as face the fact that although I did a 2nd round of clothes elimination this morning, I may have to dump out the backpack again and go for round three.  And still deal with unhappy cats. And make cookies...

Yes, I'm getting excited and trying not to think about the flight (got 11 movies on my phone for distraction, now I just hope that I can charge it on the plane) but it is a wee bit stressful.  I was reminded this week by a very wise and insightful woman that this is probably the only chance in my life that I will ever get a full 5.5 months off of work to just relax and enjoy life.  So I shouldn't try to organize any fitness classes in the hostels.  Crap, how did she know I was thinking that? :-)

With a little luck and good plane vibes, my next update will come on Saturday from sunny Buenos Aires.

And thanks to all the well-wishers I have said goodbye to this week.  It really means a lot to feel such love and support.

One week before departure

I think Blogspot ( a.k.a.  Blogger) has won, although I'm still a total nerd when it comes to blogging, even the very basics.  Hopefully I'll figure it out soon.

One week to go until the big departure of the trip of a lifetime.  I'll land in Buenos Aires next Saturday, where soon after I'll meet Michael in Bariloche. Then we're off to Chile, Bolivia, hopefully the Galapagos Islands, Peru, Australia, New Zealand and finally a road trip across the states.  I'm freaking out a bit but I also getting freaking excited.