Hola Amigos!
As you know, Ajay and I have been having an absolutely fantastic trip. The week I am about to describe however, for me, may have been the highlight of all highlights, primarily because of the actors involved. Last week, we spent 9 days in the area of Puerto Madryn and Peninsula Valdez. This region is located on the Atlantic Coast about a 20 hour drive south of Buenos Aires, so it is considered to be part of northern Patagonia. It is as vast as any other area of Patanogia. It is comprised of extremely long distances populated by little more than sheep and a few estancias (ranches). The landscape is arid steppe and desert. But then, there is the ocean...brimming, or shall I say swimming, with life.
Why do so many animals live here in the ocean, you may ask? We learned in the very well-done Ecocenter in Puerto Madryn that this region is where multiple ocean currents meet (sub-tropical meets sub-antartic), a large continental shelf exists before the deep abyss of the Atlantic begins, and there is an abundance of the -planktons (the smallest organisms in the ocean that many of the creatures higher on the food chain depend upon). Thus, we had the opportunity to meet many new friends who I´ll describe in a minute.
First however, a little bit about the journey to this area. We traveled from Bariloche (remember the Lake District?) to Puerto Madryn on a 12-hour overnight bus ride. It was one of Argetina´s finest with full bed seats, food service and movies. It is very common to take these luxury liner buses across the long distances of this country. It was all rather comfy until....the 10 o´clock movie. Unfortunately, each seat could not control its own audio. Therefore, despite the fact that the majority of the bus was trying to sleep and despite the 4 or 5 little kids on the bus (4 and 5 year olds), the steward put on a VERY violent and loud movie. We are talking torture scenes here. I of course complained to the steward how this was not only extremely disturbing to some of us and that it would have long-term negative effects on the children on the bus (who of course cried the whole night, no wonder?!). To no avail, the movie stayed on, and stayed on loudly. In fact, I think he turned it up! It was at least in Spanish, so with a blind fold and ear plugs, we were able to lightly drift off to sleep. But come on...! Ajay and I have seen enough Argentine TV (late in the evenings) to know there is NO shortage of Hugh Grant, Drew Barrymore, and Julia Roberts films. Ha!
Anyway, onto cheerier subjects...Once we arrived in Puerto Madryn (PM), we rented a car for the week. This is the fourth car we have rented on this trip. The distances are so vast and often times the buses infrequent, we determined early on this is the best way to see as much as you can for the best price. First we drove south to a tiny town called Gaiman, settled by the Welsh. In the Welsh tradition, tea houses are abundant. We checked in a hotel for the night, had afternoon tea here with an obscene amount of pastries and cakes, and headed out the next morning for our first exciting stop: Punta Tombo!
Punta Tombo is home to 350,000, I repeat, 350,000 Magellenic PENGUINS! As you may recall, in my vows at our wedding, I promised to be Ajay´s personal penguin for life. You see, penguins often mate for life; they leave each other sometimes for long periods of time but always do their best to find one another upon their return; and finally, they share in the care of their young. They are very industrious little creatures and can swim as fast as dolphins! There has been ongoing research of this penguin colony at Punta Tombo (the largest in South America) for over 20 years with scientists from all parts of the globe.
This place was incredible!!! There was a very clearly marked tourist walkway that is intended to be respectful of the penguins. However, the penguins could really care less about the tourists. So, they build their nests along the trail, cross the trail at their discretion and for the most part, ignore us. Both the males and females were here at this time because their babies were still young. Some penguins were still sitting on eggs. We saw one baby that had just been born. It was so powerful being this close to nature. Ajay and I smiled and laughed for the three straight hours we watched these guys. WOW!
After Punta Tombo, we traveled about 2.5 hours north to Peninsula Valdez. We stayed for three nights in a town of about 200 people called Puerto Piramides. We loved it there. This town is the only one town located on the Peninsula which has been declared and protected as a reserve. Until the 70´s, the town used to be the port where they would ship all of the seals that they killed for oil...I know, no blood for oil...sad, but true. Now however, things have changed! The town has become a whale watching mecca (the whale has become a national monument in Argentina) and a beach town, strangely enough.
The first day we spent in Puerto Piramides, we went whale watching. The Southern Right Whale (only known to this area of the world) visits the area from July to December for breeding, mating and raising of their calves. While we were there, most of the whales were making their way back to the Antartic for feeding. Fortunately, we saw two mamas and their babies. The one mama had a white calf (only 1 in 100 babies born are white). She didn´t want us to get too close so we moved on (the guides are very respectful of the whales). The other mama whale didn´t seem to care that we were there, so we got very close. She started doing the diving known to the Southern Right Whale where her tail fin was raised out of the water. The baby was also playing with the mama swimming on top of her and diving in the water. It was absolutely breathtaking. At one point, Ajay took a picture of me with my jaw dropped. These mammals weigh TONS and are truly majestic. In awe of nature, again.
A couple of the days we were in Puerto Piramides, we took hikes in the area, basically right out our front door. We hiked to a local sea lion colony about 3 miles from town. It was a small colony, and they were a bit in the distance but there was no mistaking the males intimidating one another in pursuit of their harem. Quite a drama to see unfold! We enjoyed all of their antics and the views while walking back to town.
Finally, we visited Estancia Rincon Chico, Ajay´s very special birthday extravanga. Estancias are sheep ranches that populate much of Patagonia. Many have opened their doors to tourists, and we had been wanting to visit one since we arrived here. So, of course, we chose this Estancia that owned 4,000 acres on the coast of Peninsula Valdez with its VERY OWN elephant seal colony. Scientists have been studying this colony for 30 years. It is protected despite it being on private land. The hotel at this estancia was lovely as were all of their pets: dogs, baby rheas (orphaned ostrich-like birds), ducks, horses, and sheep.
On Ajay´s birthday, we had a private tour with the Estancia´s guide. We walked for 5 hours along the beach AMONG the elephant seals. The beach master males get to be 3 tons and quite obnoxious. The females, young males, and pups (mostly who was on the beach while we were there) were precious and amazing. They were on the beach molting, raising their pups, and getting ready to return to sea where they spend 90% of their life. We were also surrounded by stone cliffs, bright blue-green sea, and a complete lack of development. I mean, seriously, what more could we ask for?!!!
Oh yes, then there was the fact that we were the only guests at the hotel on this day. We ate a gourmet meal in the dining room alone, and they made Ajay a CAKE for his birthday. I was so pleased, as you can imagine, that although we were in the middle of nowhere, Ajay probably had one of the best birthdays of his life.
We did lots of other activities during these 9 days, but I have already rambled on enough. We cannot wait to share our pictures with you all. And there is of course more to say about the challenges of all our animal friends, with the overfishing of their food supply.
Two more weeks...more to come.
Love,
Gina and Ajay
Wednesday, December 17, 2008
Sunday, December 14, 2008
Bellisimo Bariloche!
Hola de Patagonia! In our last update, we were travelling in the southern Patagonia regions of Argentina and Chile, more specifically El Calafate, El Chalten, and Puerto Natales. You probably recall that our friend Noah was traveling with us and left at the end of November to head back to the states. At that time, Ajay and I flew from El Calafate due north to the town of Bariloche in the Lake District of northern Patagonia (about a 2 hour flight for reference sake). We spent a week in this area: four nights in an absolutely lovely bed and breakfast in town that felt more like a chalet in the Swiss Alps and three nights in an apartment on the Peninsula which I´ll describe at length in a bit. Ajay came down with a five-day cold as soon as we arrived in Bariloche and when he finally recovered, I got sick. All this to say, we weren´t moving at lightning speed during our time here, but we made the most of it for sure.
Bariloche is a town of about 90,000 people and is couched among the rugged peaks of the Andes mountains and the majestic lakes of the lake district. It is also the host of one of the largest and most popular ski resorts in Argentina, Cerro Cathedral. I would describe the entire area as a cross between Summit County, Colorado and the San Juan Islands, Washington with a dash of Lake Tahoe. The town was orinally settled by Europeans especially by the Swiss. Hence Bariloche was clearly modeled off of a village in the Alps. The main square has lovely stone buildings, and there are numerous chocolaterias throughout the town. The town is also fairly exclusive despite its remote location (nothing for miles in all directions) with incredible homes built on the hills in town with absolutely stunning views of the surrounding lakes and mountains. Quite a site!
The town of Bariloche sits on the beginning of Peninsula Llao Llao (which in Argetine Spanish is pronounced shou shou, like thou thou). The Peninsula (about 30 KM in length) is full of trees, mountains, lakes, cabins, restaurants, shops, etc. The finest hotel in all of Argentina, the Llao Llao Hotel, is located at the end of the Peninsula with a sheer rock mountain as its backdrop and lakes nearby...one could use the word ¨stunning¨ to describe. There are also a lots of hiking on the Peninsula, bike rides, boat rides, and chair lifts to see the numerous panoramas throughout the region. The town of Bariloche is fairly hoppin´ and busy; the Peninsula in contrast is altogether different...it gives much more of a country feeling surrounded by nature and is quiet. Hence, we spent time in both places, although our activities didn´t differ all that much despite staying in town versus on the Peninsula.
Ajay and I, despite our colds, wanted to explore this area on foot and by bike. We did some spectacular hikes, one to the top of the ski area, another to the top of Mount Llao Llao at the end of the peninsula. We also rented mountain bikes for a couple of days. One day we rode what is called the Circuito Chico (or the short circuit). It was a 20 mile loop around the Peninsula (the only main road really). It was quite challenging as there were many hills, but the views of the lakes and mountains was really incredible. (Oh how I longed for my road bike!). The next day we rode out to the end of a peninsula, off the peninsula...you get the picture :-)!...Lots of water and mountains!
Two notable things to mention during our time here...one were the restaurants Naan and Il Gabbiano. Naan was in someone´s house (about 6 tables) that overlooked the town and lakes of Bariloche with a gourmet menu and a view of the sunset...Il Gabbiano was near our lakeside apt. on the Peninsula and is known as the best restaurant in the area...(yes Italian food is the norm in Argentina). We had a greek salad, salmom sushi italian style and rigatoni with a lamb ragout sauce. We won´t ever forget those meals.
Secondly, we stayed in an apartment on the Peninsula in the lower level of an ultra modern home designed and built by Rodlfo and his partner. Our deck for the apartment was ON the lake. We woke up in the morning to a view that will be forever imprinted in our minds. Getting to the house was quite the adventure as well. Rodolfo was very careful to explain that in order to get up the rutted-out, steep, dirt driveway up to the main road, one had to put the car in first and go consistently speedy, while trying to maintain control of the car, not stall, and not shake the doors off the car. What an adventure!? Let´s just say it was better to have the mountain bikes while staying there...we ditched the rental car soonafter arriving.
Okay, I am at seven paragraphs, and we haven´t even gotten to Puerto Madryn yet which is one of the marine wildlife capitals of the world....Hmmm. Since I cannot let down my new whale, penguin and elephant seal friends, I will return and write more after you have all caught up and tell you all about them.
We miss you all. We only have two weeks left of travel so we are trying to savor every moment, but at the same time, we are getting excited to come home.
More soon,
Gina and Ajay
Bariloche is a town of about 90,000 people and is couched among the rugged peaks of the Andes mountains and the majestic lakes of the lake district. It is also the host of one of the largest and most popular ski resorts in Argentina, Cerro Cathedral. I would describe the entire area as a cross between Summit County, Colorado and the San Juan Islands, Washington with a dash of Lake Tahoe. The town was orinally settled by Europeans especially by the Swiss. Hence Bariloche was clearly modeled off of a village in the Alps. The main square has lovely stone buildings, and there are numerous chocolaterias throughout the town. The town is also fairly exclusive despite its remote location (nothing for miles in all directions) with incredible homes built on the hills in town with absolutely stunning views of the surrounding lakes and mountains. Quite a site!
The town of Bariloche sits on the beginning of Peninsula Llao Llao (which in Argetine Spanish is pronounced shou shou, like thou thou). The Peninsula (about 30 KM in length) is full of trees, mountains, lakes, cabins, restaurants, shops, etc. The finest hotel in all of Argentina, the Llao Llao Hotel, is located at the end of the Peninsula with a sheer rock mountain as its backdrop and lakes nearby...one could use the word ¨stunning¨ to describe. There are also a lots of hiking on the Peninsula, bike rides, boat rides, and chair lifts to see the numerous panoramas throughout the region. The town of Bariloche is fairly hoppin´ and busy; the Peninsula in contrast is altogether different...it gives much more of a country feeling surrounded by nature and is quiet. Hence, we spent time in both places, although our activities didn´t differ all that much despite staying in town versus on the Peninsula.
Ajay and I, despite our colds, wanted to explore this area on foot and by bike. We did some spectacular hikes, one to the top of the ski area, another to the top of Mount Llao Llao at the end of the peninsula. We also rented mountain bikes for a couple of days. One day we rode what is called the Circuito Chico (or the short circuit). It was a 20 mile loop around the Peninsula (the only main road really). It was quite challenging as there were many hills, but the views of the lakes and mountains was really incredible. (Oh how I longed for my road bike!). The next day we rode out to the end of a peninsula, off the peninsula...you get the picture :-)!...Lots of water and mountains!
Two notable things to mention during our time here...one were the restaurants Naan and Il Gabbiano. Naan was in someone´s house (about 6 tables) that overlooked the town and lakes of Bariloche with a gourmet menu and a view of the sunset...Il Gabbiano was near our lakeside apt. on the Peninsula and is known as the best restaurant in the area...(yes Italian food is the norm in Argentina). We had a greek salad, salmom sushi italian style and rigatoni with a lamb ragout sauce. We won´t ever forget those meals.
Secondly, we stayed in an apartment on the Peninsula in the lower level of an ultra modern home designed and built by Rodlfo and his partner. Our deck for the apartment was ON the lake. We woke up in the morning to a view that will be forever imprinted in our minds. Getting to the house was quite the adventure as well. Rodolfo was very careful to explain that in order to get up the rutted-out, steep, dirt driveway up to the main road, one had to put the car in first and go consistently speedy, while trying to maintain control of the car, not stall, and not shake the doors off the car. What an adventure!? Let´s just say it was better to have the mountain bikes while staying there...we ditched the rental car soonafter arriving.
Okay, I am at seven paragraphs, and we haven´t even gotten to Puerto Madryn yet which is one of the marine wildlife capitals of the world....Hmmm. Since I cannot let down my new whale, penguin and elephant seal friends, I will return and write more after you have all caught up and tell you all about them.
We miss you all. We only have two weeks left of travel so we are trying to savor every moment, but at the same time, we are getting excited to come home.
More soon,
Gina and Ajay
Thursday, December 4, 2008
Southern Patagonia: Glaciers, wind, and a guest
Hola! Greetings from Patagonia.
The last few weeks have been exciting and crazy, so i will try and catch everyone up....and thanks to Noah, we actually have some pictures to show: http://picasaweb.google.com/noah.kaufman/SouthAmerica2008
A few weeks ago we met Noah in Buenos Aires and then flew down to El Calafate, which is in far southern Patagonia. Most of Central Argentina is ranchland, so as we rose up out of Buenos Aires, we saw lots and lots of flat land. This continued for a few hours until we started to see the Andes in the distance and then as we got closer, we saw a huge rock like a fortress over the valley. We thought that this may be the legendary Fitz Roy peak, but weren´t quite sure until we saw the glaciers in the far distance. Although we claimed any piece of snow was a glacier, this seemed like a definite glacier. Then a lake emerged out of nowhere and we landed...in the middle of nowhere.
El Calafete is a town on a lake near a glacier. It is very harsh in the winter, so things are really open only 6 months of the year. Apparently it used to be quaint in the past, but now it´s main street is dominated by tourist agencies, souvenir shops, and a gawdy casino. So we settled into the city in our quaint posada, found a tour to the Moreno glacier for the next day, and went to dinner. The next morning we met Augustin and our tour to the Moreno glacier and set off. After driving for about an hour, we could see it in the distance and were amazed. Then we boarded a boat to get a closer look and our jaws dropped. The boat got us close, but until we got off the boat and walked on the balconies just across from the glacier, we werent able to appreciate the full glory.
When you walk on the balconies, you will first hear the glacier. Loud pops like gun shots and as you get closer you realize that this is the glacier moving. Large chunks of ice will break loose and cause mini-tidal waves in the water. We saw a 10 meter chunk break loose, caram off of the ice, and dive into the water and it really does make you feel small. These glaciers have been slowly moving for tens of thousands of years and their changes arent measured in our lifetimes but in series of lifetimes. But, then there are also amazing things that happen immediately. Apparently, every few years the glacier will damn the water connecting the lakes, the lake will push and push, and eventually the glacier will give in a tremendous explosion of water and sound. But I digress.....Anyway, we hiked around the balconies for a few hours and saw the glacier from hundreds of different angles and, personally, I was not ready to go when the bus was leaving. I am convinced that if we waited a few more minutes we would have seen a great explosion, but we had more work to do!
That evening we arranged a kayak tour, had a wonderful dinner at the restaurant down the street, and went to bed. That night we made the escapade to the hospital (see the previous post) so the next morning it was only Noah and I for the kayak tour with the immortal Milton! Milton was our kayak river guide and spoke like a sly Argentino and would occassionally spout strange phrases like, "You look like two boys having fun in the river!" Milton soon became a fixture of the trip and we would imitate him as often as possible and soon used his wisdom to develop our new catch phrase, "What would Milton do!" Anyway, after meeting Milton we hopped into his Land Cruiser with the kayaks, picked up a Columbian couple that would join us, and headed to La Leona. La Leona was reportedly a hiding location for Butch Cassidy and his gang but now it was just a small hotel, with a small cafe, and a pile of dirt near the river to load the kayaks. We put on a ridiculous amout of neoprene (the water was cold) and got into the kayaks and pushed off. The river connects Lago Viedma (lago means lake) and Lago Argentino and parallels RN40, which is the most famous highway in Argentina that runs the country from north to south. Unlike the rivers in Colorado, this river was empty. No other boats or rafts. Only sheep. Lots and lots of sheep. We saw a few condors viewing us as potential prey (I tried to point them towards Noah) and lots of old estancias (ranches) dotting the river. There was a decent current and a strong wind, so we had quite a workout. Well, the other reason we had a workout is that Noah and I decided to attack the small rapids and create obstacle courses in the river. We zig-zagged around giant boulders and tried a sophisticated maneuver under an overhang, but that one didnt end well. For some reason, after all of the playing around Noah and I could barely move our arms at the end. We tried to use our paddles as sails (unsuccessfully) and send out distress signals (unsuccessfully) but eventually caught up to Milton and ended the kayak trip.
We took a day to recover and give Gina a bit more healing time and then headed to El Chalten, which is a town of 500 nestled in the Andes about 30km from the Chiliean border to the West. El Chalten has wind. Lots and lots of wind. Not like a nice fall day with a breeze. We are talking wind. Gale force winds. And it is windy all of the time. So, every walk in town was a struggle against the wind and the dust. The town is surrounded by mountains with Fitz Roy being the king of those mountains. A giant spire into the sky that overlooks the entire town. The first full day was overcast, rainy, and a bit snowy so we saw no mountains but we did a beautiful hike up up to Lago Capri and got a brief look at a glacier to the west. Throughout this area there are countless trails and unlimited hiking. Fitz Roy is an amazing peak that just seems terrifying to attempt to climb. The next day we did an ice trek on the Viedma glacier. Viedma isnt as active as the Morena glacier and not as dramatic, but walking on a glacier gives you another level of appreciation of the glacier. These glaciers extend hundreds of meters below the surface and many kilometers back into the mountains. So, you are surrounded by ice and can see into each crack and crevice. The ice took on different colors from white to blue to black and all the shades in between. We were even given a glacier cocktail of Baileys and glacier ice!
We enjoyed our hike and explored the town a bit and found some surprisingly good food. It is important to note that the staple of the patagonian diet is lamb. You can order lamb, lamb stew, lamb empanadas, smothered lamb, lamb soup, lamb pie, and probably lamb cupcakes. So, we had excellent lamb in this area and enjoyed staying in our little cabin that looked feeble, but was very strong and resilient against the pounding of the winds.
Then we left in Carito (the nickname of our little Fiat) to Torre Del Pain on RN40. Although, Carito isn´t a big car, he has a mighty heart and got us to the Chilean border in no time at all. We had a bit of an incident at the border in that we were found carrying contraband across the border --- yes, we tried to smuggle in apples! It was pretty harmless, but the border official confiscated our 4 apples and made us change our form to indicate that we we bringing apples across. After the brief border escapade, we cruised into Puerto Natales.
Puerto Natales is famous for two things: (1) Proximity to Torre Del Paine (2) The Mylodon. We were going to Torre Del Paine in a few days so we took a day to explore the Mylodon cave. This is a prehistoric giant sloth that created an international sensation in the late 1800´s when the bones and skin were found preserved and people that that there were 9 foot sloths walking around Patagonia. Alas, they are gone, but there is a giant cave where the bones were found that was surprisingly interesting. True to form we got a bit lost on the hiking trails, but this time were rewarded by a beautiful view of the region and the bays that flow down towards Antartica. I did fail in my quest to get a great cheesy Mylodon shirt, but the picture of Noah climbing the fake Mylodon statue was more than worth it.
Successfully seeing the Mylodon cave, we headed back to Puerto Natales with a slight detour to see the ¨beach¨of Puerto Natales (remember, we are pretty close to Antartica right now at the tip of the continent). After driving for a few kilometers on a very dusty road we were stopped by a herd of cattle. Everywhere. Two gauchos (cowboys) were slowing moving the herd, but they were not at all happy about our car or our presence. Gina was able to capture some live action photos while Noah kept us from crashing into them. Slightly later we saw beautiful mountain vistas with lambs grazing in front of them. Gina, attempting to take award winning photos, got out of the car to get better pictures. We aren´t exactly sure what happened but there was a lot of commotion by the lambs and Gina came back saying that they weren´t pleased at all.
With livestock adventures behind us, we headed to Torre Del Paine. Although none of us knew much about the park, it was supposed to be Chile´s greatest park. We were not disappointed. When approaching the park, you can see the Cuervos Del Paine (Horns) and a few large glaciers on either side of them. At our first stop, we were greeted by a pristine lake with floating icebergs, glaciers in the background, and greenery everywhere. Our second stop, had a thundering waterfall and direct views to the towering Cuervos above. Our final stop was our Hotel, but getting there was an adventure. About 1km prior to the Hotel, there is a tiny bridge and a sign that says that all passengers must exit the car to reduce the weight. A bit nervous, Noah and I exited and let Gina drive across the bridge (chivalry at its pinnacle). She screamed a few times but made it.
Our road trip was worth it. The Hotel is nestled under the Torres Del Paine in a beautiful pasture. Just minutes after arriving the gouchos stampeded the horses across the property as we stood slack-jawed. We settled in, had a bit of a hike, a decent meal, a few beers at the bar (while fighting the older tourists that have no manners!), and called it a night. The next morning was horseback riding!!
We woke up to lots and lots of rain, nearly called off the horse ride, and then decided to give it a go. We started harmless enough although my horse was a bit gassy and Gina´s had a bit of a wild streak. The gauchos and guide lead us off the property and we stayed at the base of the mountains. The clouds had started to lift, so hints of the Torres and neighboring peaks were visible. The lead us through creaks and streams and up and down fairly steap hills. Then they asked, "Do you want to gallup?" This seemed like a good idea, right? Horses gallup all the time. Although I looked at Gina and she was nervous and she has been riding horses for years. Apparently, galluping is sprinting really fast on the horse, aka -- Seabiscuit. Well, we got in a line, the gaucho took off and then the horses were following but still trotting until the gauchos in the back slapped the horses and then we took off. Noah was barely in his stirrups. Gina was out of hers, but she was flying past everyone. And I was too zapped on adreneline to know what I was doing. We did this a half dozen more times and soon we were all yelling gouchos and gouchas. What an experience!
Sadly, we had to leave Torre Del Paine and Chile that day and head back to El Calafete for our flights the next day. The roads were pretty dusty and difficult and tiring, but the border crossing was eventful again. This time we crossed at a very, very small town and couldn´t even find the border. When we did find it, there was a Chilean who wasn´t too interested in anything, but when we drove through the Argentine side (just a few kilometers down the road), it got fun. We pulled up and there were two people sitting outside with a dog. We got out of the car and heard screaming inside. I thought the worse. When we got into the border station, we discovered that we were disturbing a very intense game of ping-pong, hence the screaming. We all breathed a sigh of relief, laughed, and then off to Argentina.
One more night in El Calafete and then we parted with Noah. He was off to Buenos Aires for a night before heading home. We were off to Northern Patagonia and the town of Barriloche.
Ajay
The last few weeks have been exciting and crazy, so i will try and catch everyone up....and thanks to Noah, we actually have some pictures to show: http://picasaweb.google.com/noah.kaufman/SouthAmerica2008
A few weeks ago we met Noah in Buenos Aires and then flew down to El Calafate, which is in far southern Patagonia. Most of Central Argentina is ranchland, so as we rose up out of Buenos Aires, we saw lots and lots of flat land. This continued for a few hours until we started to see the Andes in the distance and then as we got closer, we saw a huge rock like a fortress over the valley. We thought that this may be the legendary Fitz Roy peak, but weren´t quite sure until we saw the glaciers in the far distance. Although we claimed any piece of snow was a glacier, this seemed like a definite glacier. Then a lake emerged out of nowhere and we landed...in the middle of nowhere.
El Calafete is a town on a lake near a glacier. It is very harsh in the winter, so things are really open only 6 months of the year. Apparently it used to be quaint in the past, but now it´s main street is dominated by tourist agencies, souvenir shops, and a gawdy casino. So we settled into the city in our quaint posada, found a tour to the Moreno glacier for the next day, and went to dinner. The next morning we met Augustin and our tour to the Moreno glacier and set off. After driving for about an hour, we could see it in the distance and were amazed. Then we boarded a boat to get a closer look and our jaws dropped. The boat got us close, but until we got off the boat and walked on the balconies just across from the glacier, we werent able to appreciate the full glory.
When you walk on the balconies, you will first hear the glacier. Loud pops like gun shots and as you get closer you realize that this is the glacier moving. Large chunks of ice will break loose and cause mini-tidal waves in the water. We saw a 10 meter chunk break loose, caram off of the ice, and dive into the water and it really does make you feel small. These glaciers have been slowly moving for tens of thousands of years and their changes arent measured in our lifetimes but in series of lifetimes. But, then there are also amazing things that happen immediately. Apparently, every few years the glacier will damn the water connecting the lakes, the lake will push and push, and eventually the glacier will give in a tremendous explosion of water and sound. But I digress.....Anyway, we hiked around the balconies for a few hours and saw the glacier from hundreds of different angles and, personally, I was not ready to go when the bus was leaving. I am convinced that if we waited a few more minutes we would have seen a great explosion, but we had more work to do!
That evening we arranged a kayak tour, had a wonderful dinner at the restaurant down the street, and went to bed. That night we made the escapade to the hospital (see the previous post) so the next morning it was only Noah and I for the kayak tour with the immortal Milton! Milton was our kayak river guide and spoke like a sly Argentino and would occassionally spout strange phrases like, "You look like two boys having fun in the river!" Milton soon became a fixture of the trip and we would imitate him as often as possible and soon used his wisdom to develop our new catch phrase, "What would Milton do!" Anyway, after meeting Milton we hopped into his Land Cruiser with the kayaks, picked up a Columbian couple that would join us, and headed to La Leona. La Leona was reportedly a hiding location for Butch Cassidy and his gang but now it was just a small hotel, with a small cafe, and a pile of dirt near the river to load the kayaks. We put on a ridiculous amout of neoprene (the water was cold) and got into the kayaks and pushed off. The river connects Lago Viedma (lago means lake) and Lago Argentino and parallels RN40, which is the most famous highway in Argentina that runs the country from north to south. Unlike the rivers in Colorado, this river was empty. No other boats or rafts. Only sheep. Lots and lots of sheep. We saw a few condors viewing us as potential prey (I tried to point them towards Noah) and lots of old estancias (ranches) dotting the river. There was a decent current and a strong wind, so we had quite a workout. Well, the other reason we had a workout is that Noah and I decided to attack the small rapids and create obstacle courses in the river. We zig-zagged around giant boulders and tried a sophisticated maneuver under an overhang, but that one didnt end well. For some reason, after all of the playing around Noah and I could barely move our arms at the end. We tried to use our paddles as sails (unsuccessfully) and send out distress signals (unsuccessfully) but eventually caught up to Milton and ended the kayak trip.
We took a day to recover and give Gina a bit more healing time and then headed to El Chalten, which is a town of 500 nestled in the Andes about 30km from the Chiliean border to the West. El Chalten has wind. Lots and lots of wind. Not like a nice fall day with a breeze. We are talking wind. Gale force winds. And it is windy all of the time. So, every walk in town was a struggle against the wind and the dust. The town is surrounded by mountains with Fitz Roy being the king of those mountains. A giant spire into the sky that overlooks the entire town. The first full day was overcast, rainy, and a bit snowy so we saw no mountains but we did a beautiful hike up up to Lago Capri and got a brief look at a glacier to the west. Throughout this area there are countless trails and unlimited hiking. Fitz Roy is an amazing peak that just seems terrifying to attempt to climb. The next day we did an ice trek on the Viedma glacier. Viedma isnt as active as the Morena glacier and not as dramatic, but walking on a glacier gives you another level of appreciation of the glacier. These glaciers extend hundreds of meters below the surface and many kilometers back into the mountains. So, you are surrounded by ice and can see into each crack and crevice. The ice took on different colors from white to blue to black and all the shades in between. We were even given a glacier cocktail of Baileys and glacier ice!
We enjoyed our hike and explored the town a bit and found some surprisingly good food. It is important to note that the staple of the patagonian diet is lamb. You can order lamb, lamb stew, lamb empanadas, smothered lamb, lamb soup, lamb pie, and probably lamb cupcakes. So, we had excellent lamb in this area and enjoyed staying in our little cabin that looked feeble, but was very strong and resilient against the pounding of the winds.
Then we left in Carito (the nickname of our little Fiat) to Torre Del Pain on RN40. Although, Carito isn´t a big car, he has a mighty heart and got us to the Chilean border in no time at all. We had a bit of an incident at the border in that we were found carrying contraband across the border --- yes, we tried to smuggle in apples! It was pretty harmless, but the border official confiscated our 4 apples and made us change our form to indicate that we we bringing apples across. After the brief border escapade, we cruised into Puerto Natales.
Puerto Natales is famous for two things: (1) Proximity to Torre Del Paine (2) The Mylodon. We were going to Torre Del Paine in a few days so we took a day to explore the Mylodon cave. This is a prehistoric giant sloth that created an international sensation in the late 1800´s when the bones and skin were found preserved and people that that there were 9 foot sloths walking around Patagonia. Alas, they are gone, but there is a giant cave where the bones were found that was surprisingly interesting. True to form we got a bit lost on the hiking trails, but this time were rewarded by a beautiful view of the region and the bays that flow down towards Antartica. I did fail in my quest to get a great cheesy Mylodon shirt, but the picture of Noah climbing the fake Mylodon statue was more than worth it.
Successfully seeing the Mylodon cave, we headed back to Puerto Natales with a slight detour to see the ¨beach¨of Puerto Natales (remember, we are pretty close to Antartica right now at the tip of the continent). After driving for a few kilometers on a very dusty road we were stopped by a herd of cattle. Everywhere. Two gauchos (cowboys) were slowing moving the herd, but they were not at all happy about our car or our presence. Gina was able to capture some live action photos while Noah kept us from crashing into them. Slightly later we saw beautiful mountain vistas with lambs grazing in front of them. Gina, attempting to take award winning photos, got out of the car to get better pictures. We aren´t exactly sure what happened but there was a lot of commotion by the lambs and Gina came back saying that they weren´t pleased at all.
With livestock adventures behind us, we headed to Torre Del Paine. Although none of us knew much about the park, it was supposed to be Chile´s greatest park. We were not disappointed. When approaching the park, you can see the Cuervos Del Paine (Horns) and a few large glaciers on either side of them. At our first stop, we were greeted by a pristine lake with floating icebergs, glaciers in the background, and greenery everywhere. Our second stop, had a thundering waterfall and direct views to the towering Cuervos above. Our final stop was our Hotel, but getting there was an adventure. About 1km prior to the Hotel, there is a tiny bridge and a sign that says that all passengers must exit the car to reduce the weight. A bit nervous, Noah and I exited and let Gina drive across the bridge (chivalry at its pinnacle). She screamed a few times but made it.
Our road trip was worth it. The Hotel is nestled under the Torres Del Paine in a beautiful pasture. Just minutes after arriving the gouchos stampeded the horses across the property as we stood slack-jawed. We settled in, had a bit of a hike, a decent meal, a few beers at the bar (while fighting the older tourists that have no manners!), and called it a night. The next morning was horseback riding!!
We woke up to lots and lots of rain, nearly called off the horse ride, and then decided to give it a go. We started harmless enough although my horse was a bit gassy and Gina´s had a bit of a wild streak. The gauchos and guide lead us off the property and we stayed at the base of the mountains. The clouds had started to lift, so hints of the Torres and neighboring peaks were visible. The lead us through creaks and streams and up and down fairly steap hills. Then they asked, "Do you want to gallup?" This seemed like a good idea, right? Horses gallup all the time. Although I looked at Gina and she was nervous and she has been riding horses for years. Apparently, galluping is sprinting really fast on the horse, aka -- Seabiscuit. Well, we got in a line, the gaucho took off and then the horses were following but still trotting until the gauchos in the back slapped the horses and then we took off. Noah was barely in his stirrups. Gina was out of hers, but she was flying past everyone. And I was too zapped on adreneline to know what I was doing. We did this a half dozen more times and soon we were all yelling gouchos and gouchas. What an experience!
Sadly, we had to leave Torre Del Paine and Chile that day and head back to El Calafete for our flights the next day. The roads were pretty dusty and difficult and tiring, but the border crossing was eventful again. This time we crossed at a very, very small town and couldn´t even find the border. When we did find it, there was a Chilean who wasn´t too interested in anything, but when we drove through the Argentine side (just a few kilometers down the road), it got fun. We pulled up and there were two people sitting outside with a dog. We got out of the car and heard screaming inside. I thought the worse. When we got into the border station, we discovered that we were disturbing a very intense game of ping-pong, hence the screaming. We all breathed a sigh of relief, laughed, and then off to Argentina.
One more night in El Calafete and then we parted with Noah. He was off to Buenos Aires for a night before heading home. We were off to Northern Patagonia and the town of Barriloche.
Ajay
Saturday, November 22, 2008
Buenos Aires: Que incredible!
Dear Friends and Family,
Not sure if you have noticed, but we are a bit behind schedule with our blog...I am sure you are all suspended on the edges of your seat awaiting our next installment. Alas, here it is. A couple reasons have caused this delay. One, Noah arrived this past weekend, and we have had much ground to cover during his time here. I mean that literally. We are currently at the end of the earth, or so it feels. We are in a town of 500 people called El Chalten in Southern Patagonia, surrounded by mountains and feeling the harshness of the environment. 40-60 mile an hour gusty winds are a normal state of affairs from October through March. However, the natural beauty inspires one to look past the weather and focus on the ruggedness of the Andes and the spectacular sights and sounds of magnificient glaciers. But I digress, I am supposed to be reporting on Buenos Aires.
The other reason for our delay was a nasty stomach bug that I acquired somewhere along the way. It was bound to happen given my body´s sensitivity to such things. All took good care, even the emergency room where I wound up one night due to the cramping in my stomach which I was convinced was my appendix bursting, ha ha. Get this...a slight difference between the US and Argentina. The doctor saw me, was very thorough and helpful, gave me a shot (anti-spasmodic, which helped), and then, they didn´t charge me for the visit..nothing....Can you imagine? Meanwhile, Ajay and I heard two women giving birth in the next room, or maybe it was a woman giving birth to two babies. The nurse tried to explain, but it was late and our Spanish is far from perfect. Either way, I have a new found respect for all you moms out there :-).
I am feeling better now (thanks for your concern), so it is time to comment on the other city that never sleeps: Buenos Aires. If you took certain parts of New York, London, Paris, and Chicago and mixed them together, then added a little Santa Fe, New Mexico (arts, Spanish influence) and set such a city in South America with the policitical, revolutionary, activist environment so uniquely known to this part of the world, you would envision Buenos Aires. It is a very large city of 3 million in the city proper and 10 million with the surrounding area. Distinct neighborhoods dominant the city center, each with its own strength, challenge, and unique personality. There is an obvious emphasis on art, culture, history, design, music, and cuisine. There are people from all over the world who live here. The people who live here are called Los Portenos. They speak there own version of Spanish where the y sound (and ll) are pronounced as a cross between a j and a z...very passionate, and difficult to understand at first.
Ajay and I were in BA for 8 nights and rented an apartment. We were in a neighborhood called Recoleta that is very close to the city center and that people often compare to the Upper West Side in New York. The neighborhood boasts some of the city´s most luxurious residences, hotels and shops. Also, many of the finest art museums and cultural venues were in this area. Our apartment was on the 11th floor with a wonderful view of the city and sunsets, which happen around 10 pm here! Our building was typical of most in the hood, small marble lobby, door man, etc. Our apartment was very cute with all the comforts of home. It was a refreshing break from guest houses during our 5th week of travel. It was truly an amazing location to explore the city. We mostly walked (miles each day) and took taxi´s which were extremely affordable, unlike NYC.
The first day of our arrival, we went to an arts market (a true arts market without the ¨crap¨that Ajay refers to) in a park a block from our apartment. I was so grateful that I saved most of my shopping until BA. Wow. The market also offered live performances. We saw a quartet with electronic violins, kind of a classical mixed with Devotchka sound, if you will. We bought their cd for 5 bucks and listen to it when we can. We also saw a capoeira comedy troupe. We couldn´t understand half of what they were saying but it was a beautiful sunny day, sitting on the lawn of the park, and their body language alone was hysterical. What a wonderful introduction to the city?!
I can`t remember exactly what we did each day that followed. But I do remember overall. The city of BA offers so many museums full of art and history. Throughout the week, we went to the Museo de Arto Latinoamericano de BA, the Visual Art Museum, the Xul Shuler museum, the Eva Peron (Evita), the Benito Quinquuela Martin Museum, and several other art galleries and exhibitions including at the Cultural Center in our neighborhood. We had the gift of time and were so grateful to be able to leisurely saunter through these spaces contemplating the works, reading the history, and absorbing the culture.
Tango is another incredible cultural resource here in BA, where the dance was born. There is tango on what seems every street corner. Ajay and I took a lesson, it is quite a difficult dance! One night, we dressed up and went out to Bar Sur, which was one of the original tango bars back in the day when men and women would go to their neighborhood milonga (dance) to talk politics and news of the day, and tango. In Bar Sur, there were maybe 15 tables total crowded around a very intimate dance floor where we watched two different couples, a tango orchestra (piano, violin and accordian), and singer perform for FIVE hours straight! We also ordered a ¨cheese¨ board (of which I only ate the meat and bread), a common bar food in this part of the world. It was a lovely, special night out with my hubby.
Other highlights of our time in the city included eating in some lovely intimate gourmet restaurants both in our neighborhood and in Palermo (akin to NYC´s Greenwich Village). We could have a high quality dinner including appetizer, wine, dessert for maybe $20 a person...ridiculous. The service and food were remarkable.
Then there was the shopping...I will leave that for you all to view when I return with my BA leather collection (I know the cows are destroying the rainforests and killing our planet. It was a bit of an ethical dilemma having just been to the Amazon and seeing the deforestation by the cattle industry. I really should behave better).
Lastly, I will mention the neighborhood of La Boca, because it deserves mention. This is the port area of the city where all of the houses are brightly colored b-c in the old days folks would use left over paint from the ships to paint their homes. It is an impoverished part of the city, but has a character of its own and was worth checking out. The other notable part of this hood is that the La Boca Juniors stadium is located there. This is BA´s soccer team on which Maradona got his start. The area of the city blasts their theme song and displays statutes of Maradona in front of stores. It is pretty classic!
Needless to say, Ajay and I LOVED Buenos Aires. I could go on and on describing the jewels in that city, just as one could go on and on discovering them...(like the book store, voted 2nd best in the world, that is housed in an old opera house / theater with the stage as a coffee shop and the political protest that marched through the cultural center on the free museum night). We of course kept fantasizing about living there, but the air pollution alone is enough of a deterrant at this point.
Hope you are all well. The next chapter will be written when we head to Bariloche, after Noah heads back to the US around the 28th of October. Happy Thanksgiving!!!!!!
Not sure if you have noticed, but we are a bit behind schedule with our blog...I am sure you are all suspended on the edges of your seat awaiting our next installment. Alas, here it is. A couple reasons have caused this delay. One, Noah arrived this past weekend, and we have had much ground to cover during his time here. I mean that literally. We are currently at the end of the earth, or so it feels. We are in a town of 500 people called El Chalten in Southern Patagonia, surrounded by mountains and feeling the harshness of the environment. 40-60 mile an hour gusty winds are a normal state of affairs from October through March. However, the natural beauty inspires one to look past the weather and focus on the ruggedness of the Andes and the spectacular sights and sounds of magnificient glaciers. But I digress, I am supposed to be reporting on Buenos Aires.
The other reason for our delay was a nasty stomach bug that I acquired somewhere along the way. It was bound to happen given my body´s sensitivity to such things. All took good care, even the emergency room where I wound up one night due to the cramping in my stomach which I was convinced was my appendix bursting, ha ha. Get this...a slight difference between the US and Argentina. The doctor saw me, was very thorough and helpful, gave me a shot (anti-spasmodic, which helped), and then, they didn´t charge me for the visit..nothing....Can you imagine? Meanwhile, Ajay and I heard two women giving birth in the next room, or maybe it was a woman giving birth to two babies. The nurse tried to explain, but it was late and our Spanish is far from perfect. Either way, I have a new found respect for all you moms out there :-).
I am feeling better now (thanks for your concern), so it is time to comment on the other city that never sleeps: Buenos Aires. If you took certain parts of New York, London, Paris, and Chicago and mixed them together, then added a little Santa Fe, New Mexico (arts, Spanish influence) and set such a city in South America with the policitical, revolutionary, activist environment so uniquely known to this part of the world, you would envision Buenos Aires. It is a very large city of 3 million in the city proper and 10 million with the surrounding area. Distinct neighborhoods dominant the city center, each with its own strength, challenge, and unique personality. There is an obvious emphasis on art, culture, history, design, music, and cuisine. There are people from all over the world who live here. The people who live here are called Los Portenos. They speak there own version of Spanish where the y sound (and ll) are pronounced as a cross between a j and a z...very passionate, and difficult to understand at first.
Ajay and I were in BA for 8 nights and rented an apartment. We were in a neighborhood called Recoleta that is very close to the city center and that people often compare to the Upper West Side in New York. The neighborhood boasts some of the city´s most luxurious residences, hotels and shops. Also, many of the finest art museums and cultural venues were in this area. Our apartment was on the 11th floor with a wonderful view of the city and sunsets, which happen around 10 pm here! Our building was typical of most in the hood, small marble lobby, door man, etc. Our apartment was very cute with all the comforts of home. It was a refreshing break from guest houses during our 5th week of travel. It was truly an amazing location to explore the city. We mostly walked (miles each day) and took taxi´s which were extremely affordable, unlike NYC.
The first day of our arrival, we went to an arts market (a true arts market without the ¨crap¨that Ajay refers to) in a park a block from our apartment. I was so grateful that I saved most of my shopping until BA. Wow. The market also offered live performances. We saw a quartet with electronic violins, kind of a classical mixed with Devotchka sound, if you will. We bought their cd for 5 bucks and listen to it when we can. We also saw a capoeira comedy troupe. We couldn´t understand half of what they were saying but it was a beautiful sunny day, sitting on the lawn of the park, and their body language alone was hysterical. What a wonderful introduction to the city?!
I can`t remember exactly what we did each day that followed. But I do remember overall. The city of BA offers so many museums full of art and history. Throughout the week, we went to the Museo de Arto Latinoamericano de BA, the Visual Art Museum, the Xul Shuler museum, the Eva Peron (Evita), the Benito Quinquuela Martin Museum, and several other art galleries and exhibitions including at the Cultural Center in our neighborhood. We had the gift of time and were so grateful to be able to leisurely saunter through these spaces contemplating the works, reading the history, and absorbing the culture.
Tango is another incredible cultural resource here in BA, where the dance was born. There is tango on what seems every street corner. Ajay and I took a lesson, it is quite a difficult dance! One night, we dressed up and went out to Bar Sur, which was one of the original tango bars back in the day when men and women would go to their neighborhood milonga (dance) to talk politics and news of the day, and tango. In Bar Sur, there were maybe 15 tables total crowded around a very intimate dance floor where we watched two different couples, a tango orchestra (piano, violin and accordian), and singer perform for FIVE hours straight! We also ordered a ¨cheese¨ board (of which I only ate the meat and bread), a common bar food in this part of the world. It was a lovely, special night out with my hubby.
Other highlights of our time in the city included eating in some lovely intimate gourmet restaurants both in our neighborhood and in Palermo (akin to NYC´s Greenwich Village). We could have a high quality dinner including appetizer, wine, dessert for maybe $20 a person...ridiculous. The service and food were remarkable.
Then there was the shopping...I will leave that for you all to view when I return with my BA leather collection (I know the cows are destroying the rainforests and killing our planet. It was a bit of an ethical dilemma having just been to the Amazon and seeing the deforestation by the cattle industry. I really should behave better).
Lastly, I will mention the neighborhood of La Boca, because it deserves mention. This is the port area of the city where all of the houses are brightly colored b-c in the old days folks would use left over paint from the ships to paint their homes. It is an impoverished part of the city, but has a character of its own and was worth checking out. The other notable part of this hood is that the La Boca Juniors stadium is located there. This is BA´s soccer team on which Maradona got his start. The area of the city blasts their theme song and displays statutes of Maradona in front of stores. It is pretty classic!
Needless to say, Ajay and I LOVED Buenos Aires. I could go on and on describing the jewels in that city, just as one could go on and on discovering them...(like the book store, voted 2nd best in the world, that is housed in an old opera house / theater with the stage as a coffee shop and the political protest that marched through the cultural center on the free museum night). We of course kept fantasizing about living there, but the air pollution alone is enough of a deterrant at this point.
Hope you are all well. The next chapter will be written when we head to Bariloche, after Noah heads back to the US around the 28th of October. Happy Thanksgiving!!!!!!
Monday, November 10, 2008
That´s a lot of water!! --- Iguassu and Curitiba
Buenos Dias!
We are now in Buenos Aires and can start speaking Spanish!! This is actually excellent news because at least we can communicate a bit. In Brazil, we were on little islands of our own without knowing Portuguese. Anyway, this post will cover Curitiba and Iguassu Falls and Gina is writing another one about our overall observations about Brazil, so you will get two posts for the price of one.
Curitiba
This is a city that is south of Sao Paulo just about 100 kms inland from the water and is at about 3000 feet in altitude. Its well-known in the world because it has acclaim as one of the best planned cities in the West, which is actually true (i never trust those proclaimations!) There are parks every few blocks, public transportation everwhere, pedestrian streets, and public art on most corners in the city. The city has a beautiful historic district with a Sunday arts fair that covers most of the historic district. I have learned that they use the term "Art Fair" pretty loosely as there is a lot of crap that is sold under the guise of art, although one can never get too much of beer cans turned into clocks. Anyway, Curitiba is not the normal stop on the tourist trips in Brazil, but we thought it could be fun to see how a real city in Brazil acts and it would be good to be in a place with CNN to watch the election (yahoo!!!)
We spent a lot of time doing some of the touristy things around town and saw a really unusual museum called the Oscar Neimeyer museum. Imagine a normal builiding, but in front of it is a pond with a 5 story tower coming out of it. At the top of the tower is a giant glass room shaped like an eye --- that was the museum. A little creepy, but very striking and a great place to display contemporary art. On the other end of town, their contemporary art museum is a bit odd also as you just walk in the open doors. No real security. No bag check. No admission. Just walk into a gallery and see some off-the-wall art from the state of Paraná. Some of the art was beyond offbeat and indecipherable, but there was some other pieces that were pretty amazing.
And dont worry....we did have our share of misadventures in the well-planned city. Despite the abundance of maps and buses, we managed to go on a death march for italian food even though it is available on every corner of the city. There is a zone of the city where a lot of the original Italians immigrated and there are supposed to be lots of old buildings and amazing food. So, we looked at the map, saw it was no farther than the distance we walked earlier in the day, convinced ourselves this was a good idea and set off. We walked for a bit and really enjoyed the early evening. People were coming home from work or were off to the gym and we were keeping a brisk pace off to ItalyLand! After a few hills and a mile or two, we thought we should be getting close as our trusty Tourist Map indicated. Now, it is important to say that this isnt a real map but a tourist map, meaning that there are big cartoons of the key tourist locations superimposed on the map where one should go. Also, I get the feeling that they only showed a few of the roads and didnt pay attention to silly details like scale. Soon we realized that the map underestimated the distance we needed to travel. After another mile we got to the big Italian gates that show the entrance to the area and were joyful. Soon we realized this was still pretty far from where we need to go, so we started to make little deals with ourselves. One more hill and we will be able to see our goal. Well, after a few hills we decided to catch the bus.
Ten minutes on the bus and we reached our destination and there really wasnt much there. One very large Italian restaurant and a few pizza places. We laughed a bit and decided to try the large Italian restaurant. We have a routine when we enter a restaurante to first ask for a menu, compare notes on what we understand, and then either enter or leave. This restaurant had no menu. They said they serve traditional style. You just sit and food comes. We thought we understood the price (which was reasonable) so we took our seats and waited. Immediately 5-6 small dishes come out with potato salad, two types of chicken wings, gizzards (or something like it), salad, and one or two other items. We thought to ourselves, "We did good!". Then the food started coming. The waiter arrived with some spaggheti and put a portion on our plates. Pretty mediocre. Next came gnocchi. Really oily. Next came ravioli. Pretty mediocre. And so on, and so on. We looked around and there were lots of families and little playground in the back. At that point we realized that we walked 3-4 miles and took a bus to go to the Brazilian equivalent of Sizzler meets Olive Garden!
Luckily we found a few really good places to eat in town, so it was not such a catastrophe. We stumbled upon great some great Natural Foods places, which are like salad bars with more food and are very, very good. We also found a unique spot in the historic district that looks a lot like a beer cellar, but has phenomenal pizzas and pasta. We ate there on election night so we could be ready for a long night of watching. Brazil is 3 hours ahead of the east coast, so the earliest results didnt come in until after 10 (thank you Kentucky). CNN International was showing our good friend Wolf and the Situation Room, but they went to local commercials and there were only 3. So by the end of the night we had all of the commercials memorized. Anyway at around 2:00, Obama was declared the winner and it was well after 3:00 before the end of his acceptance speech. Perhaps it was that we were tired and exhausted, but Gina and I teared up more than once watching the victory. The next day we took a flight to Iguassu for the next phase of our trip.
Iguassu (or Iguazú)
The next day we boarded a plane to Foz de Iguassu, which is the Brazilian town closest to the falls. In the air, we got a brief glimpse of the falls when we saw a large amount of mist coming from an enormous hole in the rain forest. The next morning we took the bus to the falls and were amazed. You start to walk down a footpath towards the falls and when you turn a corner, they are there. It is unbelievable! Apparently when Eleanor Roosevelt went to the falls she immediately exclaimed, "Poor Niagra" and that is the truth. Igassu puts out 15 times the amount of water as Niagra and has over 270 waterfalls. Imagine an enormous canyon that bows out with a bend in a river, like we have a lot of places in Colorado. Now put a waterfall through every place in the canyon. Then take the Mississippi River and put it on top of the canyon, increase its speed, and let it come crushing through. That will give you a brief insight into Iguassu. Gina and I said over and over again that we had never seen anything like it and no pictures can really do it justice.
The Brazilian side doesnt really have much of the falls, but great panaromas so you can see the breadth of the falls. It does have a walkway that allows you to get close to the Boca del Diablo (mouth of the devil), which is a waterfall in which water comes from 3 sides and crashes together. The platform is a major soaking spot and you can really only see one side of the waterfall, but is still an amazing flow of water.
The Argentian side has most of the waterfalls, lots of trails going over and under the falls, and most of the Gargantua del Diablo. When we first arrived in Argentina (after a quick border crossing in a taxi), we went straight there. You get off a train and then walk on steel catwalks that cross seemingly endless rivers. Those catwalks go for about a quarter mile until you see mist rising from beyond the rivers. When you get close, you see that the river was flowing but then the earth seems to have fallend down and in the middle is the enormous waterfall. Water flows from all sides and then slams together throughout the fall. It is amazing and terrifying at the same time. At the intersections of these collisions, huge explosions of water erupt from the surface and then, through all that mist, a rainbow is formed. We sat for a while and watched this waterfall with true amazement. You can try to look at pictures but unless you are there and you can see the falls, hear the crashing, feel the vibrations, and absorb the entire scene, it is impossible to understand. What is truly amazing is the infrastructure around the falls that allows you to discretely get within a few feet of the drop. When you look down, your feet are mere inches from the water and that gives amazing perspective.
The next day in Argentina we explored the trails throught the rest of the falls. There are hundreds of falls, but the trails take you to at least a dozen. You first hike above them, then below them and get to see each from a variety of angles. You also start to appreciate how enormous this is. Everywhere you turn this is a waterfall. Across every clearing, there is a waterfall. Its scary and inspiring.
We did a longer hike later in the day and then went to recover back at our hotel. We explored the city of Puerto Iguazú and had a large meal, which gave us our first exposure to the Argentine parilla, which is a mixed grill of lots and lots of meat. This seems to be a theme here.
Anyway, we woke up, flew to Buenos Aires and are now in this beautiful city. Our apartment is great, the weather is nice, and all is well. Im sure we will have more tales to tell before we leave here.
We are now in Buenos Aires and can start speaking Spanish!! This is actually excellent news because at least we can communicate a bit. In Brazil, we were on little islands of our own without knowing Portuguese. Anyway, this post will cover Curitiba and Iguassu Falls and Gina is writing another one about our overall observations about Brazil, so you will get two posts for the price of one.
Curitiba
This is a city that is south of Sao Paulo just about 100 kms inland from the water and is at about 3000 feet in altitude. Its well-known in the world because it has acclaim as one of the best planned cities in the West, which is actually true (i never trust those proclaimations!) There are parks every few blocks, public transportation everwhere, pedestrian streets, and public art on most corners in the city. The city has a beautiful historic district with a Sunday arts fair that covers most of the historic district. I have learned that they use the term "Art Fair" pretty loosely as there is a lot of crap that is sold under the guise of art, although one can never get too much of beer cans turned into clocks. Anyway, Curitiba is not the normal stop on the tourist trips in Brazil, but we thought it could be fun to see how a real city in Brazil acts and it would be good to be in a place with CNN to watch the election (yahoo!!!)
We spent a lot of time doing some of the touristy things around town and saw a really unusual museum called the Oscar Neimeyer museum. Imagine a normal builiding, but in front of it is a pond with a 5 story tower coming out of it. At the top of the tower is a giant glass room shaped like an eye --- that was the museum. A little creepy, but very striking and a great place to display contemporary art. On the other end of town, their contemporary art museum is a bit odd also as you just walk in the open doors. No real security. No bag check. No admission. Just walk into a gallery and see some off-the-wall art from the state of Paraná. Some of the art was beyond offbeat and indecipherable, but there was some other pieces that were pretty amazing.
And dont worry....we did have our share of misadventures in the well-planned city. Despite the abundance of maps and buses, we managed to go on a death march for italian food even though it is available on every corner of the city. There is a zone of the city where a lot of the original Italians immigrated and there are supposed to be lots of old buildings and amazing food. So, we looked at the map, saw it was no farther than the distance we walked earlier in the day, convinced ourselves this was a good idea and set off. We walked for a bit and really enjoyed the early evening. People were coming home from work or were off to the gym and we were keeping a brisk pace off to ItalyLand! After a few hills and a mile or two, we thought we should be getting close as our trusty Tourist Map indicated. Now, it is important to say that this isnt a real map but a tourist map, meaning that there are big cartoons of the key tourist locations superimposed on the map where one should go. Also, I get the feeling that they only showed a few of the roads and didnt pay attention to silly details like scale. Soon we realized that the map underestimated the distance we needed to travel. After another mile we got to the big Italian gates that show the entrance to the area and were joyful. Soon we realized this was still pretty far from where we need to go, so we started to make little deals with ourselves. One more hill and we will be able to see our goal. Well, after a few hills we decided to catch the bus.
Ten minutes on the bus and we reached our destination and there really wasnt much there. One very large Italian restaurant and a few pizza places. We laughed a bit and decided to try the large Italian restaurant. We have a routine when we enter a restaurante to first ask for a menu, compare notes on what we understand, and then either enter or leave. This restaurant had no menu. They said they serve traditional style. You just sit and food comes. We thought we understood the price (which was reasonable) so we took our seats and waited. Immediately 5-6 small dishes come out with potato salad, two types of chicken wings, gizzards (or something like it), salad, and one or two other items. We thought to ourselves, "We did good!". Then the food started coming. The waiter arrived with some spaggheti and put a portion on our plates. Pretty mediocre. Next came gnocchi. Really oily. Next came ravioli. Pretty mediocre. And so on, and so on. We looked around and there were lots of families and little playground in the back. At that point we realized that we walked 3-4 miles and took a bus to go to the Brazilian equivalent of Sizzler meets Olive Garden!
Luckily we found a few really good places to eat in town, so it was not such a catastrophe. We stumbled upon great some great Natural Foods places, which are like salad bars with more food and are very, very good. We also found a unique spot in the historic district that looks a lot like a beer cellar, but has phenomenal pizzas and pasta. We ate there on election night so we could be ready for a long night of watching. Brazil is 3 hours ahead of the east coast, so the earliest results didnt come in until after 10 (thank you Kentucky). CNN International was showing our good friend Wolf and the Situation Room, but they went to local commercials and there were only 3. So by the end of the night we had all of the commercials memorized. Anyway at around 2:00, Obama was declared the winner and it was well after 3:00 before the end of his acceptance speech. Perhaps it was that we were tired and exhausted, but Gina and I teared up more than once watching the victory. The next day we took a flight to Iguassu for the next phase of our trip.
Iguassu (or Iguazú)
The next day we boarded a plane to Foz de Iguassu, which is the Brazilian town closest to the falls. In the air, we got a brief glimpse of the falls when we saw a large amount of mist coming from an enormous hole in the rain forest. The next morning we took the bus to the falls and were amazed. You start to walk down a footpath towards the falls and when you turn a corner, they are there. It is unbelievable! Apparently when Eleanor Roosevelt went to the falls she immediately exclaimed, "Poor Niagra" and that is the truth. Igassu puts out 15 times the amount of water as Niagra and has over 270 waterfalls. Imagine an enormous canyon that bows out with a bend in a river, like we have a lot of places in Colorado. Now put a waterfall through every place in the canyon. Then take the Mississippi River and put it on top of the canyon, increase its speed, and let it come crushing through. That will give you a brief insight into Iguassu. Gina and I said over and over again that we had never seen anything like it and no pictures can really do it justice.
The Brazilian side doesnt really have much of the falls, but great panaromas so you can see the breadth of the falls. It does have a walkway that allows you to get close to the Boca del Diablo (mouth of the devil), which is a waterfall in which water comes from 3 sides and crashes together. The platform is a major soaking spot and you can really only see one side of the waterfall, but is still an amazing flow of water.
The Argentian side has most of the waterfalls, lots of trails going over and under the falls, and most of the Gargantua del Diablo. When we first arrived in Argentina (after a quick border crossing in a taxi), we went straight there. You get off a train and then walk on steel catwalks that cross seemingly endless rivers. Those catwalks go for about a quarter mile until you see mist rising from beyond the rivers. When you get close, you see that the river was flowing but then the earth seems to have fallend down and in the middle is the enormous waterfall. Water flows from all sides and then slams together throughout the fall. It is amazing and terrifying at the same time. At the intersections of these collisions, huge explosions of water erupt from the surface and then, through all that mist, a rainbow is formed. We sat for a while and watched this waterfall with true amazement. You can try to look at pictures but unless you are there and you can see the falls, hear the crashing, feel the vibrations, and absorb the entire scene, it is impossible to understand. What is truly amazing is the infrastructure around the falls that allows you to discretely get within a few feet of the drop. When you look down, your feet are mere inches from the water and that gives amazing perspective.
The next day in Argentina we explored the trails throught the rest of the falls. There are hundreds of falls, but the trails take you to at least a dozen. You first hike above them, then below them and get to see each from a variety of angles. You also start to appreciate how enormous this is. Everywhere you turn this is a waterfall. Across every clearing, there is a waterfall. Its scary and inspiring.
We did a longer hike later in the day and then went to recover back at our hotel. We explored the city of Puerto Iguazú and had a large meal, which gave us our first exposure to the Argentine parilla, which is a mixed grill of lots and lots of meat. This seems to be a theme here.
Anyway, we woke up, flew to Buenos Aires and are now in this beautiful city. Our apartment is great, the weather is nice, and all is well. Im sure we will have more tales to tell before we leave here.
Have your cake and eat it too! Reflections on Traveling in Brazil.
Ajay and I are now in Buenos Aires after spending 4 weeks traveling in Brazil. We both felt that there were details to share about traveling in Brazil that we didn´t incorporate into our other blogs...so a special edition. It will be most helpful to those of you considering a visit, but hopefully will be entertaining for those traveling vicariously. It was certainly entertaining for us!
Language
We learned very early on during our connection in the Sao Paulo airport where we arrived from the States that no one in Brazil speaks English. Now of course, we realized that we were in a different country with Portuguese being the primary language. However one would imagine with a tourist industry as vibrant as Brazil´s with the Amazon, Carnival and Rio, Salvador, Iguacu Falls, etc. that over time, folks would see it in their industry´s best interest to learn even a little. Not so...it was pretty evident when no one in the airport spoke any English, the bookstores only sold Port. books (of which we quickly bought a phrase book), and the announcements to major tourist destinations were only in Portuguese. Such as life! However, we were curious about this phenomenon. Typically, as you know, in major tourist destinations, folks tend to speak a little English just to help out the lost tourists. We learned that there are 200 million people who speak Port in the world, and a majority of them live in Brazil. It is an enormous country, kind of like the US. So, folks here really don´t need to speak any other languages. In fact, a majority of folks here don´t need to leave Brazil. They have beaches, mountains, wetlands, cities, country, etc. As for Ajay and I, we figured out the most important words like thank you, good morning, where is the bathroom, and how much does that cost. It worked.
Spring Weather in the Southern Hemisphere
We weren´t sure what to expect given we are in the Southern Hemisphere, and the seasons are opposite. Brazil is also such a huge country with so many different geographic regions, that the weather was anybody´s best guess. During our time in Brazil, we were in hot, humid, sunny areas like Salvador; moist, rainy, hot environments like the Amazon; cool, cloudy, rainy environments like Florianopolis; cool, dry and rainy moutain cities like Curitiba; and hot, rainy, moist regions like Iguacu Falls...The key to Spring down South is that October showers bring January flowers! The weather overall has been fairly pleasant, and we have adapted. The rain has not stopped us from enjoying our trip. The good news that there are many fewer tourists right now bc it is still low season partly due to the weather!
Food
It is quite obvious that Brazilians love life. There always seems to be a reason and time to stop and eat cake! Most importantly however, cake is served as a part of breakfast in Brazil. It is FABULOUS. It isn´t super sweet cake like wedding7birthday cake in the States , rather, it is just right...moist, sweet icing, small pieces...very yummy. Beer is the alcoholic beverage of choice. The beers are served very, very cold (according to Ajay) in 650 ml bottles with individual foam coolers (kind of like a beer koozie for a wine bottle). Ajay got a kick out of this. At any given time, it is common to see Brazilians sitting around in groups of two or four with small glasses sharing these large beers, once again, enjoying life. The juices were also very nice. One could buy fresh, tasty juices at any restaurant or with any meal. A nice option for those of us who don´t drink beer. The rest of the food in Brazil doesn´t deserve too much attention...it was pretty bad overall (lot of hamburgers, pizza, fish with bones, beef, fried food, ugh). Granted, we didn´t go to Rio where I am sure it is better.
Music and Culture
There is no better place if you love music than Brazil, and specifically Salvador. We couldn´t believe how accessible and affordable music and the arts (museums, theater, dance) seemed throughout Brazil. It appears to be part of the fabric of life much more so than in the US. We did see a lot of music during our time here but the theatre was lost on us due to the language. There are so many different types of music in this country it is quite amazing. Brazil basically ROCKS!
Fashion
As I mentioned before, it is obvious that Brazilians love life, and furthermore, that the men love women. Women also seem to take a lot of pride in their appearance and their style. Overall, it seems to be a sensual culture. I was mesmerized by it all. Let´s start with the bikini and lingere phenomenon. It is everywhere, and it is, shall we say, revealing? Then there are the jeans...super tight, spandex-like. And to my surprise, Brazilian women, in general, are not super thin, rather voluptuous. So, put two and two together, and you have well, I´ll let you draw your own conclusion. From my perspective, I am envious that women seem to feel good about themselves to wear a thong, for example, without the perfect body. There is definitely a level of acceptance here that we don´t have in the States.
Overall, Ajay and I both greatly enjoyed our time in Brazil. The country has so much to offer and is quite complex both geographically, politically, culturally, etc. To be honest, I wasn´t nearly as excited to travel in Brazil as I was to head to Argentina and Chile. To my surprise, I learned a ton, was never at a loss for things to do, and was constantly in awe of the culture and the natural environment...one really couldn´t ask for more! Okay, I am sure that I now sound like a travel brochure.
Disclaimer: For those of you who may be Brazilian or who are related to a Brazilian, please know that I have made some generalizations here that may or may not be true. They are solely based on our observations during our very limited stay, without knowing the language.
Language
We learned very early on during our connection in the Sao Paulo airport where we arrived from the States that no one in Brazil speaks English. Now of course, we realized that we were in a different country with Portuguese being the primary language. However one would imagine with a tourist industry as vibrant as Brazil´s with the Amazon, Carnival and Rio, Salvador, Iguacu Falls, etc. that over time, folks would see it in their industry´s best interest to learn even a little. Not so...it was pretty evident when no one in the airport spoke any English, the bookstores only sold Port. books (of which we quickly bought a phrase book), and the announcements to major tourist destinations were only in Portuguese. Such as life! However, we were curious about this phenomenon. Typically, as you know, in major tourist destinations, folks tend to speak a little English just to help out the lost tourists. We learned that there are 200 million people who speak Port in the world, and a majority of them live in Brazil. It is an enormous country, kind of like the US. So, folks here really don´t need to speak any other languages. In fact, a majority of folks here don´t need to leave Brazil. They have beaches, mountains, wetlands, cities, country, etc. As for Ajay and I, we figured out the most important words like thank you, good morning, where is the bathroom, and how much does that cost. It worked.
Spring Weather in the Southern Hemisphere
We weren´t sure what to expect given we are in the Southern Hemisphere, and the seasons are opposite. Brazil is also such a huge country with so many different geographic regions, that the weather was anybody´s best guess. During our time in Brazil, we were in hot, humid, sunny areas like Salvador; moist, rainy, hot environments like the Amazon; cool, cloudy, rainy environments like Florianopolis; cool, dry and rainy moutain cities like Curitiba; and hot, rainy, moist regions like Iguacu Falls...The key to Spring down South is that October showers bring January flowers! The weather overall has been fairly pleasant, and we have adapted. The rain has not stopped us from enjoying our trip. The good news that there are many fewer tourists right now bc it is still low season partly due to the weather!
Food
It is quite obvious that Brazilians love life. There always seems to be a reason and time to stop and eat cake! Most importantly however, cake is served as a part of breakfast in Brazil. It is FABULOUS. It isn´t super sweet cake like wedding7birthday cake in the States , rather, it is just right...moist, sweet icing, small pieces...very yummy. Beer is the alcoholic beverage of choice. The beers are served very, very cold (according to Ajay) in 650 ml bottles with individual foam coolers (kind of like a beer koozie for a wine bottle). Ajay got a kick out of this. At any given time, it is common to see Brazilians sitting around in groups of two or four with small glasses sharing these large beers, once again, enjoying life. The juices were also very nice. One could buy fresh, tasty juices at any restaurant or with any meal. A nice option for those of us who don´t drink beer. The rest of the food in Brazil doesn´t deserve too much attention...it was pretty bad overall (lot of hamburgers, pizza, fish with bones, beef, fried food, ugh). Granted, we didn´t go to Rio where I am sure it is better.
Music and Culture
There is no better place if you love music than Brazil, and specifically Salvador. We couldn´t believe how accessible and affordable music and the arts (museums, theater, dance) seemed throughout Brazil. It appears to be part of the fabric of life much more so than in the US. We did see a lot of music during our time here but the theatre was lost on us due to the language. There are so many different types of music in this country it is quite amazing. Brazil basically ROCKS!
Fashion
As I mentioned before, it is obvious that Brazilians love life, and furthermore, that the men love women. Women also seem to take a lot of pride in their appearance and their style. Overall, it seems to be a sensual culture. I was mesmerized by it all. Let´s start with the bikini and lingere phenomenon. It is everywhere, and it is, shall we say, revealing? Then there are the jeans...super tight, spandex-like. And to my surprise, Brazilian women, in general, are not super thin, rather voluptuous. So, put two and two together, and you have well, I´ll let you draw your own conclusion. From my perspective, I am envious that women seem to feel good about themselves to wear a thong, for example, without the perfect body. There is definitely a level of acceptance here that we don´t have in the States.
Overall, Ajay and I both greatly enjoyed our time in Brazil. The country has so much to offer and is quite complex both geographically, politically, culturally, etc. To be honest, I wasn´t nearly as excited to travel in Brazil as I was to head to Argentina and Chile. To my surprise, I learned a ton, was never at a loss for things to do, and was constantly in awe of the culture and the natural environment...one really couldn´t ask for more! Okay, I am sure that I now sound like a travel brochure.
Disclaimer: For those of you who may be Brazilian or who are related to a Brazilian, please know that I have made some generalizations here that may or may not be true. They are solely based on our observations during our very limited stay, without knowing the language.
Friday, October 31, 2008
In Santa Catarina!
Boa tarde!
We left off in Manaus getting ready to fly to Florianopolis on Saturday and we´ve been here all week. Floripa (as they call it) is a small island off the coast of Brazil in the far south. We are actually surprising close to Uruguay, but don´t tell anybody that. Our week has been pretty mellow, but that´s exactly what we needed. Our first two weeks were pretty insane but now we are living some island life, which generally means slowing down the pace a bit. Lots of little things happened so this post is a bit long, but hopefully gives a good view of our week.
Anyway, down to details:
We left off in Manaus getting ready to fly to Florianopolis on Saturday and we´ve been here all week. Floripa (as they call it) is a small island off the coast of Brazil in the far south. We are actually surprising close to Uruguay, but don´t tell anybody that. Our week has been pretty mellow, but that´s exactly what we needed. Our first two weeks were pretty insane but now we are living some island life, which generally means slowing down the pace a bit. Lots of little things happened so this post is a bit long, but hopefully gives a good view of our week.
Anyway, down to details:
- We traveled all day Saturday and arrived after midnight in Florianopolis. We were pretty exhausted and weren´t in the most optimistic spirits, so the island just looked like a blur of strip malls and ridiculous billboards. Our taxi driver (who actually was the dad of the girl working at our pousada) spoke little English and just pointed every so often at something when we asked questions.....we soon stopped asking questions. After about an hour we arrived in Santinho and things were looking a bit up. Our pousada was small but quaint and just a flew blocks from the beach. So we settled in and crashed
- Next day we started exploring and made our first big hiking mistake of the trip. There is a hill to the south of us along the beach and we thought that may make a nice morning climb, so we asked around and people agreed that this was a good hike and off we went. At first it was easy with a gentle slope and well paved, but that changed quickly! We found ourselves on a steep slope covered in mud and entering a deep fog created by the clouds. Although none of the path would be described as dangerous on its own, the sum total was definitely not something that anyone would describe as a "nice morning walk". After trudging our way to the top we found zero view as the clouds had rolled in, so we laughed a bit, peeked under a break in the clouds, confirmed that there, in fact, could be a view here, and turned back. Now, steep and muddy going up is not fun but steep and muddy going down is excruciatingly not fun. We spent a lot of time on all fours walking like Gollum from Lord of the Rings (there are very few English books here so i read what I can) and trying not to slip. We encountered a rather large tarantula that wasnt in a big hurry to get out of our way and we made it down. Survived it!
- After being a bit fatigued by the hike we took the bus into town and explored a bit. We wanted to do some grocery shopping as our room had a kitchen and we were anxious to do a few nights away from restaurants. Grocery shopping is actually fun in a foreign country and we were excited at the prices of fruit and bread (very cheap!) and dismayed at the price of mustard and pasta sauce (very expensive). We got our set of ingredients and a bottle of wine and headed back to the bus stop....and then it started raining. Not a light, quaint Denver rain, but a real rain. Downpour. Not really having an alternate plan we got soaked and looked pretty ridiculous. We decided to walk a block and wait under a cover only to watch our bus go past just as we left our post. Undettered we waddled back to our spot and waited through the rain (still looking ridiculous). Now here comes our second big mistake of the trip: We didn´t exactly know where we were supposed to get off. So, Gina and I tried to find the familiar in the fast moving landscape and decided at some point that this looked familiar enough and got off the bus....about 1km too early. Its still raining and we got off the bus early. Needless to say, we were even more soaked by the time we got back.
- The next day looked a bit gloomy again so we decided to go for another hike, which we thought was an easier hike to Mozambique beach which is a calm, deserted beach just beyond ours. This was the location of our 3rd big mistake of the trip. We headed off on what looked to be an easy hike but soon found that we had to climb over some pretty serious rocks and mud and streams to get to the beach. There was only one casualty and that was my precious BioWillie trucker cap. The cap jumped off of my head at a high point on the trail and was unreachable. We had a moment of silence and continued on and eventually landed at the beautiful Mozambique beach. This place is a postcard. Enormous boulders sitting on pristine sand and nobody else around for miles; it was perfect. We were pretty determined not to go back the way we came, so when we saw a couple appear from the sand dunes 50 yards down the beach, we asked them if there was a way through the dunes to town. "20 minutes. Straight path,"(in Portuguese) was the guidance we received that would send us to our 4th big mistake and by far our biggest. We eagerly headed towards the sand dunes, which are gigantic mounds of sand that cover a lot of the inland in the northern part of the island. We walked and compared them to the Great Sand Dunes and were pretty optimistic as the scenery was so striking. Soon we realized that we were pretty far away from the beach and there was no town or road in sight. After a while we found a high spot and saw that we were a considerable distance from any structure except a random ropes course up on a cliff (yes, it was weird). So we kept on trucking and eventually saw a Hotel sign in the faint distance. At this point we were very thirsty (ran out of water) and a bit tired from Mistake 3 today and Mistakes 1 & 2 from yesterday, but we kept on going until we got close enough to the sign to realize that this was the sign for a hotel in Ingleses. This confused us tremendously as Ingleses is a town north-west of our pousada and we started the day by heading south-east. Regardless we strolled into town and plopped on the main road just about 100 yards away from the infamous bus stop from the previous night. We laughed it off, found a great place to eat (although the town was in the midst of a blackout) and concluded the evening
- Luckily the trip went very smoothly from here on out. We visited the main city of Florianopolis, which is about a 40 minute bus ride from our hotel and found a very quaint city along the water that was bustling with activity. The main pedestrian mall had a mix of colonial and 1960´s archictecture and the main square had an enormous tree whose limbs stretched across most of the square. I think the limbs had got a bit tired over the years and they had poles to support the limbs but it seemed to work as the square now had a canopy across most of it consisting of a single tree.
- Most of Wednesday was cancelled due to rain. This was a good thing as we were pretty tired and we needed a day of hanging out, reading, and taking stock of our time here so far. Eventually the rain started to clear so we arranged for a car rental and drove to some of the northwest towns. Our first stop was a tiny little fishing village with a single church and a coast that looked across the bay to the main land. The church was bathed in white, blue, and orange, so we were compelled to take lots of pictures of doors, windows, and stairs as the colors were magnificent. After departing that village we drove to Jureré and Praia Forte farther north. Jureré appears to be where all of the wealthy either live or have second houses as it looked a lot like Cherry Creek, but with an ocean. Praia Forte, on the other hand, is a very tiny beach at the foot of an old Portuguese fort. To get there you need to drive up and over this headland on a road that is much steeper than anything we have in the mountains. Gina got to drive over it and I drove back. I can honestly say that neither of us looked too strong driving over these roads. Anyway, we explored the fort for a bit and it was remarkable. It looked just like a fort you would find in Scotland that was transplanted down to the Brazilian coast. Strange, but striking.
- We awoke on Thursday with a major task at hand: Voting! Our ballots arrived the previous night (thanks again Mom for sending them on!!) and now we braved the post office to send them. Apparently, in Brazil there is no such thing as guaranteed mail so although we needed the ballots to arrive in 4 days, the oddly cheery postal worker continued to repeat (in portuguese), "they may arrive in 3-5 days". We forked over the money (close to $25USD), sent another package with stuff we bought, forked over more money, and then left. Today we explored the east coast and first saw the Projecto Tomar in Barra du Lagoa. Projecto Tomar is a Brazilian project to support the sea turtle population along the coast and they had half a dozen different species there with a lot of background on how far they have come in protecting the turtles since the early 90´s. Apparently, the 80´s were even worse for the turtles than they were to music lovers around the world. Anyway, after the turtles, we went to lunch in a great little town on the large inner lake in the island and then to Joáquin beach for sandboarding! I was excited and imagined carving turns in the dunes, but you pretty much have to go straight on a Brazilian sandboard. They are constructructed by taking laquered plywood and screwing on two straps. Very little curves and no edges. So after a few attempts at making turns, I did like everyone else and went straight and then climbed back up. Gina got a board that you could sit on (much like a sled) and we found that we could get going pretty fast with both of us on that board, although the sand in the face leaves a lot to be desired. After conquering the sand, we turned our little car back home, went through a bit of road rage (story to be told later), and hit the showers to try and remove the sand. That is the downside of sandboarding over snowboarding. Snow melts and turns to water. Sand just sticks to you and never leaves!
That brings us to today. Today was the first really sunny day so we took a long walk on the beach in the morning and then hung out on the beach in the afternoon. The water was cold, but refreshing but the ocean was truly beautiful today.
Well, tomorrow we are off to Curitiba for a few days and then to Iguazu Falls before entering Argentina. Brazil has definitely been a treat as have the beaches, but now its time we head inland and up to the moutains for a bit.
Ajay and Gina
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