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.

Holy Cow!

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.