Back to BA

After a rather comfortable overnight bus, I was back in BA. I checked back into the Hostel Inn Tango City in San Telmo to find that Michael had arrived the day before and was there as well. After a quick nap and shower, we set off to find some breakfast.

We were then off to do some shopping on Florida avenue (rather unsuccessful) and then to the cemetery. After wandering around picking out people we would come and read to if we lived in Buenos Aires, we said a quick hello to Evita and then moved on with our day. It was a long walk back to the hostel, and I needed a nap before heading out to meet up with my Irish friends who were back in BA as well.

After an amazing steak dinner, Michael, my Irish friends, and I headed out to the bar for drinks and some good music. I was shocked to find it was 7 am when we were finally going to bed, but I guess that´s how it´s done in BA.

Friday I was on a mission to buy a winter coat. I had been surprised about how cold it got in South America (even though it was the middle of winter) and I knew that BA could be my last chance at getting a real winter coat. It was back to Florida avenue and after a while BINGO! I had found a winter coat. I wore it out of the store and spent the rest of the day ecstatic about my purchase.

The next day we went down to La Boca, an area I hadn´t seen on my first trip to BA. The guide books tell you not to stray off the tourists path as it can get rather dodgy, however the tourist area is lovely and I would highly recommend a trip.

As we were walking there we walked by a futbol field that had a game going and went round to have a peak in. It turned out just to be a middle school game and we were rather disappointed that nobody yelled ¨GGGGGGGOOOOOOOOOAAAAAALLLLLLLLL¨when we saw a kid score.

From there it was the tourist street with more souvenirs. Michael was uninterested in the shopping and more taken with the architecture of the area. I insisted on schmoozing through just to have a look, as you just never know what you need while Michael took pictures of the brightly painted tin houses. We found a lovely restaurant/patio and sat down for some Torrontes and Chorizo. We were the first ones there, but after a couple more people showed up, a man in his late 60s brought his guitar down, plugged it into an amp and played to us for the rest of the afternoon. I was too in love with this man to leave, so we ended up closing the place down around sunset.

I had been looking forward to Sunday ever since I had decided to head back to BA. Sunday was the Feria de Matadores which is pretty much the best thing EVER and a total must if you find yourself in BA. Michael and I took the bus out for the 50 minute ride outside the city and once we arrived, I was stoked! Jess had bought some picture frames that I had been envious of and regretted not buying the first time around, so my first stop was to check them out. After wandering around the stalls for a while, we decided to get some lunch and got a delicious carne tamale, some locro, and an empanada as well as dos cops de vino tinto. There were a bunch of tables set up that you could stand and eat at and we shared space with a dad and his 4 kids. I tried to talk to the little girl, but she was too shy (or maybe it was just my very terrible spanish). I´m sure she went off and asked her dad what was wrong with the crazy lady trying to talk to her.

Once my picture frames were purchased and some more vino tinto was had along with a lomo sandwich, we were starting to walk home. We made a quick banos stop only to discover a meringue place which was awesome and so we stayed. It took a few glasses of vino tinto to get our feet warmed up, but we did our best to meringue with the locals. We danced for a bit and sat back down, but when the twist came on, I insisted we get back out there. Most of the other couples sat down, and the few that remained tried their best to meringue to it - but Michael and I were there to show them how it was done! We mashed potatoes and did the twist, much to the glee of everyone watching. Afterwards one guy was so enthralled he came over and hugged Michael. We ended up spending the evening there doing our best to hang with the locals.

Monday we walked through Puerto Madero (the swanky part of BA) and then had a lovely nature walk through the ecological park. Michael made fun of me as I insisted to check out what goods the vendors had on display - as if between all of our other shopping I had not seen everything already. The ecological park itself has a nice 1 hour walking loop that you can do. It´s an interesting mix of protected park with huge skyscrappers in the background, but still a nice change of scenery and it was nice to see some water.

Monday evening we met up with my Irish friends and at Guido´s, which is an amazing Italian restaurant. The boys decided to go off in search of a pool table while Finn and I tried to find a bar. It was a national holiday which for some reason caused all of the bars to be closed, so we ended up back at their house. Finn and I were hanging out for a while before the boys finally returned and we started our own dance party. Before I knew it, we were getting in a cab and it was 7 am again.

I had made plans with my Irish friends to go see a flea market with them, but by the time we got up and going and over to Palermo, the market had ended. We ended up wandering around Palermo some, stopped and had a nosh, and then it was time for a nap.

Michael and I went back up to Palermo that evening for every tourist´s must do - La Cabrera. After enjoying a couple of glasses while waiting for a table, we finally got seated. La Cabrera is one of the most famous steak houses in Buenos Aires and definitely amazing. We split the Bife de Chorizo and the lomo, as well as some proveleta to start. I insisted we end it with the chocolate volcano - which was - AMAZING!

Wednesday Michael went off to book bus tickets to leave, and I went to hang out with my Irish friends and to finally see the flea market. It was a gorgeous day and we enjoyed walking around in the sunshine looking at everything on offer. I went back to the hostel to say good bye to Michael, who was off to meet up with some friends in Rosario. I had a final dinner with my Irish friends and then we found an excellent jazz club with live music.

The next day was my final on Florida avenue to pick up a few extra things I needed (somehow my pajama pants went missing in Santiago and I was also looking for some new flip flops). After a quick lunch it was off to the airport and to Ecuador. I was sad to be leaving Argentina, but happy to have so many fond memories.

Ecuador

After much hemming and hawing in Buenos Aires, I finally left to go up to Quito to begin my slow desent down through Ecuador Peru and hopefully over to Bolivia.

I didn´t get to my hostel until 1:30 in the morning which felt more like 3:30 am to my still Buenos Aires oriented body. I collapsed into bed and enjoyed being able to lie in until 10 am the next day without a worry. I am staying in the New City side of Quito, otherwise known as gringo city - and for good reasons. I´m staying right in the center at Crossroads hostel, located at Foch and Juan Leon Mera. There are restaurants as far as the eye can see as well as travel agency after travel agency.

After a quick breakfast, I began my quest for a reasonably priced trip to the Galapagos as well as some ideas on trips out to the Amazon. Well after about the 8th travel brochure prominently featuring anacondas, I begin to realize that perhaps the Amazon was not for me. ¨Do you have any trips to the Amazon that don´t include snakes?¨I innocently asked one of the travel agents. The look on his face was priceless and spoke volumes more than his ¨Well, it is the Amazon . . . but don´t worry, the snakes won´t hurt you.¨

With dreams of the Amazon dashed, I was able to focus on trips to the Galapagos. Unfortunately, this is high season so most trips were booked, but I was able to find a somewhat reasonably priced land trip that left in a few days. With my trip booked, I went and had a relaxing lunch and spent more time exploring around the new city.

The next day it was shopping, shopping, shopping! After calling my parents to wish my father a Happy Father´s Day, I was on the bus to Otavalo. A rather long 2.5 hours later and I was finally there. I headed first to the vegetable market to be consumed by produce. Amazing looking eggplant, tomatoes, and corn were everywhere for sale. From there I headed over to the artisians market which contained more alpaca products than any one city should ever have. There were also the typical silver crafts as well as some great paintings and pottery. I lunched nearby and then hit the market again. Silly me, I had forgotten to bring a sweater and I knew as the sun start to set it would get cold. I looked around at sweaters, ponchos and scarfs and finally decided on a soft green poncho. It was unlike any other sweater I had bought, and I thought it would be nice to have an extra layer for when I head into Peru.

Before it got dark, I went over to the bus stop and somehow scored the seat next to the driver. I was a little concerned that it would be a horrifying ride, but actually it wasn´t scarry at all. It was also very interesting to watch the interaction between the driver and the guy who hangs out the bus getting people on and off of it. it was quite a symbiosis they had going with each of them communicating with each other through very little talking. 2.5 hours later I was back in Quito and not too long after that, back at the hostel.

My last full day in Quito was spent in the old city. One of my friend´s had given me the name of a family friend who was living in Quito, so I met up with Linda for lunch and then she gave me a lovely walking tour of the old city. We walked around for a while until it started to pour. There is a huge cathedral that we only got to see from a distance, but she explained that it had all the different animals from the galapagos sculted around it.

The next morning I was off early for a trip to the galapagos!

Where Is My Passport Crazy Lady!

Salt Flats or One Flat Tire After Another

Panchamama bus up the coast of Chile aka Chair in the middle of the desert

Santiago, I´m in Love

Wine and Cheese Plates - I Love Mendoza

BA with Jess

I´m behind so I´m putting in placeholders.

Glorious Iguazu

It took a mere moment of me stepping off the plane in Iguazu for me to be in love. I headed to Los Troncos and was immediately committed to staying for a long time. It was gloriously warm in Iguazu. I was back to wearing a tank top, capris, and flip flops during the day. After getting an orientation of the hostel, I set off to explore the town of Iguazu.

There wasn´t much to see, but you can walk up to a look out point where you can see Paraguay and Brazil. The town itself has a few clothing stores, several bars and restaurants, and that´s about it. I bought a bottle of wine and came back to lounge in my lovely Adirondack chair, read a book, and sip a glass of wine. This was bliss. And best of all, when I was ready to go to bed, I could turn on an actual heater!

The next two days I spent at the Argentinian side of the falls. The first day I walked all over the falls. It was breath taking in it´s beauty. I did the ride #2 which takes straight into the mouth of one of the falls. Magically everyone else on the trip had ponchos with them just for this experience, but not yours truly! I got drenched and the water coming down was take your breath away cold. Nonetheless, I wouldn´t have missed the experience. Afterwards I went over to San Martin island to have a little picnic and to dry off in the sun for a bit.

From there I went over to Devil´s point, the highlight of the falls. It was amazing to just stare at all of the water gushing out. It had rained in Brazil a few days before, so the hydroelectric damn had opened and let out a bunch of water which allowed for pretty high levels at the falls.

The second day I went back to the Argentinian side to do the Marculo hike. It´s a rather flat 4 km hike through the woods. The signs indicate that there could be snakes, but thankfully I saw none. You arrive at a nice little waterfall that is very tranquil. Only a very small portion of the people who come to falls do this extra hike, so I would highly recommend it if you have the time.

In the evening, though, was the best experience of all. I had specifically timed my arrival to coincide with the full moon. They do special walks two days before, the day of, and two days after the full moon where you can see the falls at night. The sight was truley spectacular. It was impossible to capture with your camera (although all of us tried!) Someone had told me the falls look like they have more water at night and I totally concurred. I went to bed quite a peace with the universe.

The next two days were mine to do nothing. After running around Chile, Bolivia, and Salta, I was looking forward to a little R &R. I had meant to spent the day by the pool, but it was quite overcast. I gave it my best shot for several hours, but eventually gave up and headed back to my porch and beloved Adirondack chair. The following day was pouring rain, so I spent it catching up some more reading and emails.

All and all it was a very restorative time in Iguazu, almost a vacation within a vacation and I was in the perfect mindset to get back into the hubbub that is BA.

Hola Argentina, Í´ve missed you!

After a long day two days of buses, buses, and more buses (4 in total). I finally made it to Salta. On the first bus out of Uyuani I befriended an Irish couple and after taking a much needed shower, I set off with them to find some dinner. They had gotten a recommendation from their hostel for a parrilla that was supposed to have the best steak in town - so off we went!

We got to the parrilla and it was packed full of locals - an excellent sign. We ordered our first liter of vino tinto and began scanning the menu. Ahhh it was great to be back in Argentina - land of huge slabs of meat for less than 10 bucks. I ordered steak and we split a side of salad and garlic fries as well as the copious amount of side that come with eating at a parrilla. It was delicious and after a few more liters of wine we were best friends with Fernando, our waiter, and had made promises to come back again before we left. If you find yourself in Salta, Monumental is a must. There are two that are across the street from each other. Go to the less swanky one with all the locals. Order the bife de chorizo and the papas provencal.

The next day I slept in and enjoyed the first day in ages with no nothing to do. I took a stroll around town to orient myself and spent some time walking around the plaza. Salta is an adorable city and it felt great to back in an urban environment. I walked down the pedestrian area and did some window shopping and then managed to make myself understood in an electronics store enough to be able to buy an adaptor. I also visited several tour agencies to see about prices in heading to Iguazu. The long and short of it being that for an extra $55 US I can take a plane that is only 2.5 hours instead of the 23 hour bus. I left booking tickets for another day, did some more shopping, and generally enjoyed the slow pace of a day with nothing important to do.

On the following day, I got directions from the guy at the hostel and took the number 7 bus to the end of the line to go hiking in San Lorenzo. You pay only 12 pesos to go to the park and there is a set 1 kilometer walk you can do. However, with my hand drawn map from the guy at the hostel I was able to hike up to the top of the mountain and get some amazing views of Salta. I had a nice picnic up at the top and then slowly made my way back down and into town. It took up most of the afternoon, so I went over to see my Irish friends. We hung out for a while at the hostel and then went back to Monumental. Our original Fornando wasn´t there but we had a new Fornando and the same excellent food. After dinner we headed over to a pool hall around the corner and spent the rest of the evening playing pool. Finally at 3 am the bar closed and we grabed a taxi home.

My last day in Salta was spent wishing a happy birthday to my Mom, buying plane tickets to Iguazu and then a huge lunch at a parrilla place the Irish couple had found a few days ago. After we had two bottles of wine and enormous brandys, it was nap time for me! I woke up in time to walk around the park for a while before meeting my friends again. We had decided enough was enough with meat and went out for sushi. It was a lovely change from meat, meat, meat, and then it was back to the pool hall to make more friends and spend the evening chatting with them.

The next morning I was up early to head to the airport. Adios Salta and Hola Iguazu.