Buenos Aires! My time in South America had officially begun. I got in around 7 am, checked into my hostel in San Telmo, took a quick siesta and shower, and was ready to begin exploring the city. I walked to the downtown area and took a detour a block off the main street. I was instantly inundated with deals from every restaurant on the block, for $25 pesos (US 7.50) , you could have a beverage of your choice, entree, and dessert. I walked into the first one that had a decent amount of people, sat down, and ordered the beef with agua sin gas. Holy Cow! They had given me a piece of steak approximately the size of my head. I dug in and it was delicious. The inside was a lovely shade of pink with the outside perfectly cooked. After my enormous lunch I walked up to Palermo, which was quite a haul. Jess was coming on Saturday and wanted to stay up there so I walked around the neighborhood to check it out.
There was tons of shopping in Palermo and on the way to the neighborhood. It looked cute so I check into the hostel for Friday evening. Woot!
The next morning I moved up to Palermo and explored more of BA. I walked down to the cemetery and saw Eva Peron's tomb and took a walk through some of the gardens. There was an artist market at Catadral, and then another crafts market in Palermo a few blocks north of the hostel. I sat and had dinner at one of the restaurants along Honduras. I ordered the house wine which was only $3 US and then was shocked to find I had ordered the whole bottle! As to be expected, it wasn't the best wine I'd ever had, but 1/2 way through the bottle it didn't matter.
The next morning I woke up surprised to find that Jess hadn't come yet. After I checked my email, Jess had written that her plane had been canceled and she wouldn't be arriving until late in the afternoon. I took the morning to go get a mani/pedi at one of the salons I'd seen. About 10 minutes into the mani/pedi it became clear they didn't do many, as it was the most thorough and intense mani/pedi I'd received in a while. About 1 hour in they managed to find an english elle from May 2006 for me to read, and 1 hour after that I finally left the salon. Back at the hostel still no Jess, so I wandered around several of the Saturday crafts markets in the area (including one where I bought a mug with a girl salting a slug).
Finally at about 6 pm Jess was in - unfortunately her luggage was MIA. She spent some time trying to find someone at LAN who was helpful and eventually we gave up and went and got some dinner in the hood.
Monday, May 18, 2009
Maiden Voyage
After a long day of travel, I finally arrived in Jamaica to be immediately surrounded by my SF homies. It was just like being back in SF only way way better. It was Emily's 30th birthday party and the festivities were underway.
The others had gotten in early in the afternoon and they quickly got up me up to speed. Our pied a terre was a quick 15 minute jaunt to the beach, Gloria, our personal chef, had made delicious jerk chicken for dinner, and best of all . . . Brian had brought a suitcase full of beach toys. Awesome!
As soon as Brian was up the next morning we put the raft into the pool. The raft was all of 2 feet shorter than the pool so there wasn't much ground to cover. After we went round for a spin, and others humored me and let me take them for a spin too, Brian and I began to plan our maiden voyage. The plan was to take the snorkeling gear and the raft down to the ocean. We'd paddle out and then take turns snorkeling around while the other person stayed in the raft.
Once we had our stuff down at the water, the ocean was a bit choppier than expected. Undeterred we said our goodbyes, walked the raft out as far as we could and hopped in. The voyage was underway!
Brian and I paddled as hard as we could and got a decent way out. He took a quick dip and then I got out to swim around. As soon as I was in the water, the surf took Brian and the raft back to shore. Our voyage hadn't lasted long - but it was fun. The lifeguard let us store the raft at the beach and we went back up to the house to immediately plot tomorrow's adventure. We agreed that going in the morning would have less waves and allow us to get further. Brian also created an anchor to keep the raft in place.
Day 2 was far more successful. We were able to get the raft out further and drop anchor. we donned our snorkel gear and began the fish hunt. Only there were no fish! After swimming around for 20 minutes Brian finally found a few. Brian went in and Ethan and I swam a bit further by the rocks and found a variety of fish, including some small angel fish.
The rest of the time was spent lounging on beach chairs and catching up with everyone. It was a very relaxing 5 days and a very happy birthday for Emily.
Friday, May 8, 2009
Fun In the Sun Part 2
Well it was Adios to my parents and Hola to Playas del Coco. The bus dropped me off downtown and it was not long before a friendly Austrian guy picked me up to show me a room I could rent for $15 a night. My flops were made for walking - particularly to the beach, so in a matter of moments I was back out the door and down at La Playa.
It was a blistering hot day, but the ocean was cool and as long as I kept hoping in every 20 minutes, it was a delightful time. On my way home I stopped at Johnny´s and ordered the meat of the day. It was certainly an odd cut of cow in a soup with a bunch of vegetables. I didn´t recognize much of my meal, but it was all delicious.
The next day was more of the same and the day after I signed up to go diving in the morning. The water was quite chilly and the visibility was a disappointing 20 feet, but we saw the largest white tipped shark I´d ever seen plus a couple of sting rays which were gorgeous. I also befriended the two other divers. Dana (one of the divers) and I rented bikes and biked the 3 km down to Ocotal. We were not particularly impressed, but it was nice to see a different beach.
The next day I worked diligently on my tan and then hung out with Carrie whom I´d met diving the day before. She had found an awesome deal on a hotel room. It was a hotel that was currently closed, but since she knew someone who knew someone we could have a 2 bedroom, 2 bath room for $50 a night.
The next morning was dive time again! We saw the shark from two days ago and then went to a new dive site, where it was a sting ray convention. It was amazing watching all of them glide through the water and I was surprised about how close they would let us come!
Thursday Carrie and I took it easy. We did some souvenir shopping in the morning and then went to Hermosa beach for the afternoon. Our evening ended with us hanging out with the band that had played at the pizza place we went to. It was an early morning (3:30 am) when I hopped on the bus to the airport and said Adios to Costa Rica.
It was a blistering hot day, but the ocean was cool and as long as I kept hoping in every 20 minutes, it was a delightful time. On my way home I stopped at Johnny´s and ordered the meat of the day. It was certainly an odd cut of cow in a soup with a bunch of vegetables. I didn´t recognize much of my meal, but it was all delicious.
The next day was more of the same and the day after I signed up to go diving in the morning. The water was quite chilly and the visibility was a disappointing 20 feet, but we saw the largest white tipped shark I´d ever seen plus a couple of sting rays which were gorgeous. I also befriended the two other divers. Dana (one of the divers) and I rented bikes and biked the 3 km down to Ocotal. We were not particularly impressed, but it was nice to see a different beach.
The next day I worked diligently on my tan and then hung out with Carrie whom I´d met diving the day before. She had found an awesome deal on a hotel room. It was a hotel that was currently closed, but since she knew someone who knew someone we could have a 2 bedroom, 2 bath room for $50 a night.
The next morning was dive time again! We saw the shark from two days ago and then went to a new dive site, where it was a sting ray convention. It was amazing watching all of them glide through the water and I was surprised about how close they would let us come!
Thursday Carrie and I took it easy. We did some souvenir shopping in the morning and then went to Hermosa beach for the afternoon. Our evening ended with us hanging out with the band that had played at the pizza place we went to. It was an early morning (3:30 am) when I hopped on the bus to the airport and said Adios to Costa Rica.
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