New Pictures

So I posted some new pictures. Sorry there are only 4. But, shortly I hope to have some videos up so you can hear the sealions and a piece of ice breaking off the glacier. Check out the link below.

http://www.flickr.com/photos/70415300@N00/sets/72057594095407050/

[Update - The Flickr albums get updated so this no longer links to the original pictures.]

Just A Bit About Travlin'

*Above is a picture of Bariloche

There are certain things about America that you don’t realize you enjoy until they are gone. For example maintianing the ability to flush toilet paper down the toilet. I guess a more appropriate name for toilet paper in South America would be “throw it in a basket by the toilet so it can stink up the entire bathroom paper.” That or “not even really one-ply, super exfoliant paper.” Either way I miss good old Charmin and wathcing it dissapear down that tidy little hole. I also miss our over indulgant use of condiments. They have condiments here but, it is like pulling teeth to get them in some reastaurnts. Even when you do get them they never taste as good, or are in very short supply. Everyone in the homeland please eat something that requires ketchup for me and use way way too much.

You also learn things. Sure you get life lessons and personal inner discoveries but, here I am talking about the random crap you never would have even thought of. Did you know that there is a entire world of vernacular pertaining to busses? When buying a ticket you can purchase a ride ranging from comun to cama suite. Comun is the absolute pits. This is like a city bus except you get to slightly recline and the seats themselves are most similar to those found in an extremly cheap 1980’s Asian import automobile. Cama suite reclines fully into a laying position. This is for the ten-thousand dollar millionaire. It is for the people who can’t afford a plane ticket but, refuse to sit in a semi-vertical position. Then you have cama and semi-cama. These two choices are basically identical. The only key difference is that the cama seats are slightly wider and you each get your own armrest instead of movie theater style. We tend to travel semi-cama. This is probably because it is the cheapest mode we can bear. Well that and, since I sit by Erin, I am not subjected to a 10 hour game of “elbow joust” with a complete stranger, trying to sort out who will be “Armrest Alpha-Male.”

The other fun little lessons you learn involve hygiene. I now know what it feels like to smell like a homeless person. Maybe not 100% homeless because I have yet to rummage through the garbage but, semi-cama homeless. (That was a play on words. If you missed it please see paragraph 2 and re-read.) Man your clothes get more wears than they should. Combine that with showering being an infrequent luxury and you can imagine how good a 10 hour bus ride smells.

The final thing I learned that I would like to share with you is other travelers. This is going to be a dicey little paragraph so let me just state a few thing before we get on. 1. I am not anti semetic. 2. Isreal is a country not a religion. Now that that is cleared up, we have met many other travelers out here. Some are from England, Germany, Ireland, Denmark, Australia, and Holland but, a great majority are from Isreal. This has got to be the country with the most travelers in circulation. We have been on busses comprised of 90% Isreali passengers. I wonder how this is possible considering the entire country is around the size of Delaware. What I don’t understand is how Americans got stuck with the rap for being bad travelers. These cats are vastly superior in being ‘bad travelers’ They are super loud, and inconsiderate. Typically they act like high school students ripping down the adolecent highway, hormones at full bore. But, these are generalizations as we have met a couple travelers from Israel that have been quite enjoyable. One person from our stay in Puerto Madryn comes to mind. I never would have guessed that Israel would have the most tourists out and about. But, I say we take up a global petition to gracefully pass our torch as “the bad tourists” on.

Peninsula Valdes, Dogs, and Montezuma´s Revenge

Today we are set to leave Puerto Madryn. Wednesday we made it out to Peninsula Valdes for a close encounter with wild life. We rented a car and drove ourselves out as it was much cheaper than doing a tour. The peninsula it self was pretty nice. They keep the park very pristine. We saw: ostriches or emus, I am not sure which, smaller version of alpacas, armadillos, penguins, elephant seals, and sea lions. Of the later, if all works out, my friend sean will be hosting a short viedo in which you can hear the most bizzare noises the sea lions make. The big let down was no sighting of an Orca.

Shifting gears a bit, the first time I saw a dog standing on a roof of a car here in Puerto Madryn I thought ¨That is a crazy pet owner¨ After seeing it on a seperate occasion performed by a different pair, I realized that in Puerto Madryn the perfered transportation for dogs is car surfing. You never know what you are going to see in South America.

And finally the part you have all been waiting for.....Well, you knew it was going to happen. If you didn´t think it was going to happen you either, didn´t think about it, or have been lying to yourself. Yesterday we decided to just have a rest day and relax as all the days on the go sort of take thier toll. Man am I glad we did. Just about 5 p.m. Montezuma´s revenge struck me down. I don´t need to go into too many sorted deatails here but, I will say that I am now traveling one pair of knickers lighter. We have been trying to narrow down the cause. It is either the 48 hour old unrefrigerated empanadas, or the bus food, or the fish. I am not sure which one but, that doesn´t really matter does it.....

New Itinerary Addition

My brother landed a job in Japan! Big congratulations and kudos to Brian. I don´t have all the details as when we will be visiting him but, Japan is the newest addition to our travel plans.

Rosario

Well after an 18 hour bus ride to Puerto Iguazu, and a 16 hour bus ride 2 days later from San Ignacio to Rosario, I can´t say that I am excited about the 24 hours of pending bus rides. Yep, tomorrow we are going to take a 4 hour bus from Rosario to Buenos Aires where we will take a 20 hour bus ride to Puerto Madryn. That doesn´t even account for the time we will have to wait in B.A. for our next bus. But, enough about the finer points of our transient lifestyle.

Rosario turned out to be tons of fun thanks to our most hospitable tour guide. Mark took us on a walking tour of the city that provided more depth than we could have ever hoped to enjoy on our own. The high point was dinner at a fabulous parilla, or steak house. Mark took us to dinner at an upscale parilla that we otherwise could not have possibly set foot in. One thing that I plan on bringing back to the states is a fried potato dish we had there. It is thinly sliced potatoes, deep fried and then coverd in a heavy cream. It may sound wierd but, it is so awesomely delicious it is worth the trip to Rosario alone. And, once you taste the meat and dessert well...

All our hats are off to Mark. Not only did he take us to the best dinner we have had yet and show us around the city he let us use his washing machine, he bought us lunches, coffee, and beer as well. So a giant thanks to Mark!

As I said up next is Puerto Madryn which starts our adventures in Pategonia. I don´t currently remember the names of all the cities we plan to hit but, our adventures should include penguins, sealions, and possible whales.
This is one of the views from our day at the falls in Puerto Iguazu.

Traveling Crazy

We are now on the traveling war path. As of Monday we started an intense travel plan to see everything on our list in time to met our freind Yari in Lima on May 2nd. We have already been to Puerto Iguazu and visited the Igauzu falls. (Look those up on the internet. They are absolutely amazing.) I am writing this from San Ignacio where we visited the Jesuit ruins of San Ignacio Mini. Next we are headed for Rosario to check out Che´s house and hopefuly pick up our care packages. Then we work our way through Patagonia, during the begining of the rainy season :( , and wind up in the lake district of Chile. If everything goes according to plan the longest we will stay in anyone place without a busride is 2-3 days! Oh well we are going to see a ton and have a blast just in time to relax in Peru with our friend.

Lets play a game!

Can you name these cuts of meat?









Please click on the comments link on the bottom right of this post and add your guesses....and be glad I didn't post the one that looked like a dog.

Buenos Aires: What's Transpired

On our first day here in the city we ran into a Communist Rally taking place in the middle of a major intersection. There were officers of the law everywhere, orchestrated in to neat little rows, easily visible in their finest neon orange vests. This was a relatively intense introduction to Argentina, especially given that we awoke in Uruguay at 4 a.m. to catch the ferry over. All in all, the scenario was rather surreal.

We walk even more in this city than anywhere we have previously stayed. Everyday we lose some tread grinding our way through the myriad of towering buildings wearing nothing more than our finest flip-flops. I have often considered switching to my shoes. Given I have rolled my ankle on 2 occasions in the decayed part of the sidewalks, and the fact that there is no shortage of fecal debris, shoes seem the superior footwear. Somehow continually the sandals win out. We have all stepped in poo, every single one of us. But, the sidewalks themselves are rather nice. Though a bit small, they are typically made of nice stone, tiles, or fun concrete designs. The majority of the curbs also appear to be composed of pure granite. So fashion point Argentina!

The mass transit here is awesome. I love the subway system. The trains are cheap and easy to catch. The busses are like a rollercoaster ride. It is a great boost of adrenaline. And even walking proves an easy task, due to an abundance of maps providing smooth navigation.

Well I will write more later out of time…..

Argentina: Buenos Aires

My first impression of Argentina is shazzam! Buenos Aires is awesome. This city is huge and bustling. The streets are gigantic, the people dressy flashy, the ladies are beautiful, and so far the food has been dramatically better than Uruguay. The people use some different words in passing that I need to catch up on. It seems that parting here ends with “hasta luego” vs. the “caio” in Uruguay. Other than that the people seem equally friendly. The city itself seems like NYC. There are towering buildings everywhere. Unfortunately though, the runoff from the ac window units showers down like rain on you.

Uruguay: The Recap

So, here is my impression of Uruguay in hindsight. The people are overwhelming friendly. They maintain a laid back attitude that makes it easy for even the non Spanish speaker to feel right at home. Overall the cities and towns are what you would expect from a non world superpower; the sidewalks small, the exhaust fumes terrible, the roads beat up. And of course, the street dog population was in full force.

On the positive side the ocean was lovely. The water was warm and for the most part gentle. The beaches were pleasant and filled with families playing games. The helado (ice cream) was fantastic and cheap. The landscapes on bus rides were so green and tranquil that it was almost mesmerizing.

In conclusion, Uruguay will always remain in my mind the land of: Bland food and terrible haircuts. Pretty much every male sports the ever fashionable 1980’s “mullet.” The ladies thin their hair out and make it look wispy and balding. It is a place where import cars with zero demand find residence. Sort of like a misfit island for terrible reject imports. They drive Renaults, Fiats, and my favorite, Peugeots.

Of the places we visited, Colonia Del Sacramento was my favorite. The charm and ambiance of the city made for a peaceful romantic stay. The streets are cobblestone and lined with mature trees. You can walk anywhere in town. The history is ever present. If I was to make a trip back to Uruguay this would be a destination on my itinerary.

New Pictures Posted

We saw this bike on the main drag here in Colonia.







I have uploaded more pictures to Flickr. Check em out at the below address:


http://www.flickr.com/photos/70415300@N00/sets/72057594074944905/

[Update - The Flickr albums get updated so this no longer links to the original pictures.]

Colonia Del Sacramento

Colonia is by far my favorite city in Uruguay to date. It has the most charm and is rich in history. We spent one whole day in museums. While most of them were not up to snuff as far as the title of museum would go, some of them were really neat. We saw dinosaur fossils, butterfly collections, old muskets, and beautiful wood work. The tile museum was totally bogus! A stupid museum dedicated to tile. What a joke!

The streets are cobble stoned here and have the same tree lined setup as Montevideo. The canopy overhead provides pleasant shade and a nice breeze comes in from off the water. http://www.guiacolonia.com.uy/casareal/mapacolonia.htm here is a map of Colonia. We are staying on Manuel Lobo (near the bottom of the map) between Lavalleja and Suarez. Today we went on a walk that spaned over 10 k and went blocks off the top of this map.

There is a nice feel in this place. The theme or motto here is Patrimonio Mundial, which means World Heritage. They are very proud of their history. This was originally a Portuguese port founded in 1680 as a means for illegally smuggling goods into Spanish controlled Buenos Aires. They fought over for the next 100 years. Spanish had control for a few years around 1777 until they had to give it back after a treaty. You can denote the Portuguese sections of town by the smaller houses with tile roofing and low doors and windows. Another clue are the streets which have drainage in the middle.

Well that is all for now it has been too long on the internet.

Punta Del Diablo

The bus ride into Punta Del Diablo was amazingly beautiful. There were rolling green hills and vast open spaces framed by larger hills on the horizon. Rarely a fence or power line interrupted vast views of wildlife and nature.

Punta Del Diablo on the other hand was a bit different. This is quite literally a fishing village. It seems to swell with a bustling population around carnival and transform into quite the travel destination. Shacks line the beach and cluster together to make little neighbourhoods at the end of sand cul-de-sacs. Every house has a sing in the window displaying for rent. Somehow it was more expensive in this town than La Paloma. ( I think it may be carnival related) We were again meet with tranquil and easy going people that didn´t mind my total disregard for Spanish rules of grammar.

We mostly hung out on the beach with a funky little bar that played music. It was a pretty cool beach and reminded me of Rocky Point during Spring break. Not really as many people but, definitely a spot to be seen. The bar has a web site. http://www.bitacorabar.com/ I checked it out. It has some pictures and will overall give you a feel for Punta Del Diablo during Carnival.

We also found the ´torta frita´ in Diablo. This is by far and away my favourite food in Uruguay. It is like a cross between Indian fry bread and doughnuts. They only serve it on rainy or cold days though so you have to wait for it.

La Paloma: Wrap Up

So here are the last bits about La Paloma. We never did get out and get mussels for dinner. The ocean current was just too strong. Instead, Richard bought tons of fish (the box of fish in the picture above) for just under $9 U.S. and smoked it for us. Richard was truly a super nice cat. Thing is….he smoked the fish for 3 hours in an old 1950´s refrigerator using pinecones and plywood for the fire. My God did that fish have the most peculiar taste. This whole process didn't even start quickly though. The previous 3 hours Ryan and Richard spent scaling and filleting all the fish. There were so many flies buzzing around by the time they were done that it sounded like bees had infested the neighborhood. But, at 1 a.m. we feasted to our hearts content on delicious hobo fish.

All in all La Paloma was a nice place to visit. It was super laid back and sported green lawns and thatched roofs. It is a nice place for a vacation but, I wouldn´t recommend travelling 28 hours just to see it.