Travels and travails part two

With irate men staring on, and children sleeping blissfully, I had to wait until the bus "conductor" came back on board to tell me where we could go. He led me to the back of the bus, next to the toilet, but luckily, with three seats in a row.

At least for the next two stops. After Kai gets kicked out of his seat by an older, very heavy set man with few teeth, we spend the rest of the bus ride in two seats, next to the toilet, sweating, and hoping no one else comes to collect another seat.

No one did. Whew.

Luckily the rest of that day went smoothly.

In contrast, while the kids and I were traveling to Temuco, Rob was driving through a rain storm back to Bariloche. He stopped in Villa La Angostura, got a hotel, had the best lamb bbq of his life, got drunk with the chef and made it to Mendoza uneventfully the next day.

Kai on Argentina

I love Argentina. LOVE kai

travels and travails to mendoza

We made it safely to Mendoza, though we finally had our first travel challenge. we loved Bariloche and our rental car so much, we decided to travel through chile by car, rather than by bus and return to Bariloche, then fly from there.

Unfortunately, in the day and a half between when we made the decision, drove to Chile and found our next internet connection to book the flights, they were sold out. Crisis. Hotel reservations and wine tours would go to waste!

We decided to split up. kids and i took a bus to Temuco to catch our original flights from Temuco while Rob drove back to Bariloche to catch the only seat on a flight from there. We would reunite in Mendoza at a wine tasting. It sounds romantic, right?

Kids and I hop on the bus in our reserved front seats. They are thrilled. Five minutes into the bus ride the ticket guy comes by (buses here are more like Amtrak. I thought it was a direct bus ride, no stops, to Temuco. Wrong! We stopped no less than 15 times on the way). Bus ticket guy looks at our tickets, once, twice, three times, then goes to the front of the bus to consult with the driver. UGh. not looking good. He then informs me that our tickets are for Sunday. Luckily, he says no problem. I sit back, relaxing, but waiting for the other shoe to drop.

It does. Within 15 minutes, both kids are asleep and I love bus travel. Five minutes later, we stop and a whole crowd piles on to the bus, including three irate older men, insistently wanting their seats (i don´t blame them).

to be continued....

Pictures Random

Here are some shots from Angostura. The first is a mountain lake right next to the shortest river in the world - Rio Correntoso. It's the Lago (Frio) Correntoso behind us with great beaches and ski area in the distance. The next shot is one of the many rivers we stumbled on driving the lake district. No one around, we spent an afternoon here, looking for rocks, crawdads, fish and logs. The last picture is Rob and I on the boat trip out to the Arreyanes national park. It was a perfect day, the park is a forest - the only one like it in the world. There was one in Hiroshima, but that's obviously gone. It is supposedly the forest that inspired Walt Disney forest in Bambi.

Chile, land of beautiful cloud forests and german beers

Migrated from Agua Calientes to Valdivia today. Incredible scenery, very similar to Nor Cal except that the rolling hills were clear cut and replanted, you could see the tree lines that were planted w/ different varieties of timber. Once in Valdivia we checked out the fish market by the river. The kids were going nuts when the guys filleting the fish threw the guts over into the river and the sea lions fought over them. South American Sea lions are very different than ours, their heads are at least 2 feet wide, amazing creatures. We ended up finding a small cabin in a suberb, w/ a big play ground for the kids and a few german campers who had kids the same age. We also came across a great german brewery, labelled "Kunstmann". Say it quickly. Please. Or maybe it's only funny after the "pequeno" beers they serve in large, large glasses. some fantastic brews and sausages. Even better was the playground, within sight, but out of hearing range. Unfortunately we are only here for a few days, Chile is another trip~! We are off to Mendoza and will report back in a few days.

Ciao or Chow as in what we have been doing the last two weeks.

Rob Goes Fly Fishing and Eats more than He Catches

Incredible scenery, huge mountains, beautiful lakes and huge trout.....just not on the end of my rod. The local fishery boasts one of the most productive trout fisherys in the world. Huge Brown, rainbow, and brook trout inhabit the local streams and lakes. Unfortunatley the conditions were against us, drought conditions resulting in low water levels in the rivers, lake temps were up making the fish sluggish, and brillant water clarity so they could spot you a mile away. Regardless, I had an incredible time, landing on nice brook and improving my flyfishing skills, using streamers. Patagonia is windy, and the afternoon brought 15+ knot winds. I quickly realized that you need to alter your approach in these conditions when the wind caught my fly in implanted in into my cheek. Enclosed is a picture of huge brook that my guide caught. Also included are pictures of teh asada that he cooked for us at an abandoned rangers station. Smoked cheese and deer, w/ several different types of salami, followed up by huge bone in ribeyes and sausages......washed down by a beautiful cabernet, then back to fishing. I highly recommend this area for any of you flyfisherman.

Farewell Villa La Angostura, and we've just learned how to pronounce you

Sitting in a cafe (again). It's a bit surreal as Sublime is playing in the background and the kids are playing Battleship. You would think we were in the US, until the perfect cappucino arrives, in three different colors, with perfect foam, chocolate shavings and some crazy dulce de lece whipping cream.

Mia is asking for ice cream. Apparently, it's a cultural thing to eat ice cream every day. It seems to be the way they wash down the midday meal. Mia thinks she was Argentinian in her last life and has adapted to the ice cream every day quite nicely.

Kids are practically fluent as they say por favor and gracias without a hesitation. Of course, they don't know any other words, except helado (ice cream). There is less english spoken than I anticipated, so Rob and I are pretty comical cobbling together spanish sentences. Rob has finally realized that people don't address each other as "amigo" like they do at taco shops in San Diego.
After five days in Villa La Angostura, we finally learned that they pronounce Villa like Vi-sha. No wonder everyone looked at us funny when we told them where were staying.

We met our home exchange hosts yesterday. They have two cabins on their property and arrived yesterday and treated us to an amazing and authentic asada. Otherwise known as a fancy all day bbq meat feast. They are truly the nicest people in the world. We spent several hours getting to know each other over various cuts of steak and saugage, Quilmes (the local beer) and bread. Dan (our host) showed Rob the techniques for the parrilla (Argentina style bbq) and Rob is already trying to figure out where he can put one in our backyard...

Bariloche

Hi All,

Here's our cabin, yard, and view in Villa La Angostura. It's heavenly. Love the home exchange. At a cafe with a large beer and hyper children right now so will have to send more later.

In short, we LOVE it here and don't want to leave. Everyone is muy tranquillo and it looks and feels a lot like Tahoe in early Sept. with perfect weather and no people.

Rob went flyfishing for a day and kids and I have explored the beaches.

Life is good.

Finally back on in Bariloche

Hi everyone,

We've had a fabulous time in Bariloche/Villa La Angostura. it's the northern tip of Patagonia and a lot like Tahoe in September. Perfect weather, glacial lakes and mountains and very few people.

Wireless access is tougher to come by, so sorry we haven't written in awhile.

We all immediately decompressed when we arrived at our cabin (god bless Home Exchanges). IT's heavenly. See the pictures.

Rob went fly fishing for a whole day, kids and I explored the beaches, we went to the ski area and rode a chairlift to the top.

Other than that, we've been muy tranquillo and bbq'd lots of $4 steaks. we've all been very happy here and it's difficult to leave.

In fact, I sit here in a cafe on the lake (10 steps from the water) with a very large, cold beer, while the kids and rob are braving the cold water.

Life is good.

We don't want to leave but head to Chile in two days.

Buenos Aires Day tres

Day Three was fantastic. It is also the 10th anniversary of when Rob and I met. Happy St. Patrick's Day.

Jen hired URC, Urban Running Club to lead her on a personalized 10k run through the city. Her guide listed the historical facts and points of interest in the city while she panted and sweat through the humidity. It was fantastic.

Family trip to the zoo: Much better than Recoleta cemetary for us. We should have known the children would be more interested in the live animals than dead people. However, note to self, one does not need to search the metropolis to find large zoo animals, as children were equally entertained by the flock of pigeons, ample capybaras (i.e. large Argentinian rat), ducks, mice, and stray cats that roam the zoo.

The zoo just celebrated it's 120th anniversary. We don't think they've updated the cages since then. You can feed the animals and get remarkably close to several. The liability in this country is a far cry from the US, but it made for a wonderfully intimate experience for us visiting. Not to mention, it was a relaxing atmosphere in the middle of a big, bustling city.

Lunch at Voulezvous. Excelente!

La Dorita

Thank you, Jordan, for the recommendation. Loved it.

Family B.A. Highlights

Summary of Buenos Aires

Kai: My highlights are the subway, (subte), riding in taxis instead of walking. Staples (yes, it is the one and same office supply chain store), the zoo, finding "Captain Underpants" in english in the bookstore, the bodee (aka the bum cleaner) and the playground inside the restaurants.

Mia: My highlights are putting my head out the window of the taxi like a dog while the driver yells at me in spanish, feeding all the animals at the zoo, the chocolate that mommy and daddy feed me when I'm too tired to walk, quiet time in the apartment with my pillow.

Rob: My highlights are steak 1, steak 2, steak 3, steak 4, fried cheese, $1.75 stella litres, feeding the hippo at the zoo. Malbec 1, 2, 3, and 4 with my wife and the bodee (again , the bum cleaner)

Jen: My highlights are playing "go fish" with my family at the restaurants, all the meals, the restaurant with the playground where Rob and I had a romantic dinner and pretended we didn't have children, my hour long run with my personal Argentine guide/triathlete/ironMAN.

Buenos Aires, Day Dos

Today, we made it to the Recoleta cemetary. It was about an 8 block walk that took us a mere 3 hours to complete. We ran low on energy immediately and needed an m&m and yogurt fix. We finally made it to the outside wall of the cemetary on a sugar rush that promptly crashed before we reached the entrance.

Luckily, there were several restaurants that could accommodate us. We sat at a table on the sidewalk of a delightful restaurant, playing "go, fish" and eating empanadas. Well, all of us except Mia. After an hour of fun, followed by a 20 min temper tantrum, we ended up at McDonald's, three doors down (still right outside the cemetary wall). Mia was satiated with chicken-ish nuggets, fries and ice cream. Rob and Jen were ready to hit the bottle and throw in the towel without ever seeing the inside of the cemetary. Kai was disgusted altogether with the junk food that Mia was consuming.

Finally, we made it in the cemetary, after purchasing a map and making all sorts of donations to unknown charities.

It was a unique experience. A visit that was well worth the effort. Kai and I had lengthy discussions about death, heaven, and souls. He finally asked if we could not talk about it anymore.

Cats were all over the place, lounging on tombs. Mia loved the kitties, wanted to take one home. When she got tired, it was the only way we could keep her going. Rob would spot a "kitty" and Mia would take off after it.

Oh, and we saw Eva Peron's place of rest as well.

We're home now. The exhausted kids were rejuvenated the minute we returned to the apartment, while Rob and I collapsed on the couch with glazed eyes, trying to muster the energy to find a babysitting service. He's asleep while I write this and the kids are sprinting in circles.

1st steak experience

Rob:

Our first dinner/steak experience here was amazing, which started at 10 pm , which down here is like going out for the "blue hair special at 5 pm).......I think I might bring the restaurants concept back home. As you walk into Payuca, you are greeted w/ the brillant aroma's of beef , chicken and sausage, which u see grilling on an open fire immediately to your left. Huge slabs of beef, up to 2 feet are sloooowwwllly cooking to perfection while small, stout little blood sausages slow drip juice and make beautiful crackling noise's. The hostess brings you upstairs to another seating area next to a play ground! Yes parents, an upscale restaurant w/ a playground, with an arcade w/ the likes of Ms. Pacman and Gallaga.....(rob stay out, it is for the children only), a huge seaworld like jumpy w/ thousands of plastic balls, arts, crafts, and finally a childsize phoosball table(I had visions of Alasdair hogging up the table, bumping kids and screaming victory chants at them while schooling the poor little things at fuseball). Jen and I had a nice quiet dinner while the kids went nuts. We started off the night w/ local beers and a beautiful mixed green salad. We opted to try two different cuts of meat, the flank steak and a large slab of beef tenderloin fillet. Both were incredible, with a hint of game but nothing like the free range beef we buy in the US. The fillet was extremely juicy and cooked to perfection. The Flank was a different cut then we are accustomed to back home. It was delicious, especially when dipped into the various salsa's and chimmichurri sauces. We also had papas fritas that were to die for.....Steak and french fries...what else do we need? Dinner was washed down w/a La Linda 07 Cab, very nice but a lot different than the Napa Cab's we are accustomed to. The kids had delicioius pumpkin/cheese ravioli's with a red sauce. Back home this meal would have been $150+++ , we snuck out for $80 - we weren't allowed to tip.....with left overs which I am enjoying for breakfast at 1 pm..........until our next meal........just remember, "It ain't easy....being Cheesey!"

Buenos Aires, Day Uno

Jen: Our apartment is great. Bars, restaurants, subway and grocery stores all within a block distance. Kids were so happy they didn't want to leave the apartment. After a long afternoon nap, we made it out for dinner. As the excellent navigator that I am, we walked 10 blocks in the wrong direction, then had to catch a cab to our restaurant.