El Calafate

As we were landing in El Calafate, Caroline and I were both a bit surprised by the terrain, which looked more like a desert than we were expecting. It's beautiful here with the mountains (which are a different texture and not covered in snow like in Ushuaia) and the pretty turquoise lakes. Our hostel has a gorgeous view of the lake and the mountains. And the infrastructure of the town looks so strange and temporary, constructed only recently (as the tourist industry grew) on dirt roads. I haven't seen any grass or lawns anywhere, and many of the buildings are A-frames with large wooden beams. Ushuaia was pretty too, but rather grey and overcast while we were there (as evidenced but the flat light in my photos); it looks clearer here. Tomorrow we're going on a trekking tour of the Glacier Perito Moreno. I'm a bit nervous about the cold - hope I don't freeze!

Travel Talk and Penguins

When travelling, I suppose you have to be prepared for at least the possibility of some things going wrong. For a couple days I seemed to be having a string of bad luck...I grabbed my sunglasses out of my bag and both arms had snapped off, I forgot a couple small things in one of our rooms, my laptop died, we had to pay surcharges for our baggages because they don't allow as much weight on domestic flights, and then we found out that our flight to Ushuaia had been cancelled.

The agent at the Iguazu airport was not very helpful, basically telling us that it wasn't his problem and that there were no flights to Ushuaia that day. We started to think we were going to have to cancel the Ushuaia leg of our trip. But when we got to Buenos Aires, we found a manager who was much more efficient and got us on a flight with a different airline later in the day and arranged a car to take us to the other airport (a bit confusing, having two airports so far from each other in Buenos Aires). Our flight was shorter than we expected, and in the end we only lost a few hours...whew! So our luck turned around and in any case, none of these annoyances seem as dire when you're travelling and relaxing and seeing all kinds of amazing things.

Our first night in Ushuaia Caroline and I found a really nice place for dinner, where we both had Fuegian trout that was well-prepared and tried a wine from a different area of Argentina, Neuquen, near Bariloche. I had some kind of stuffed pear with mint carrot coulis for dessert...really different!

Yesterday we hiked a bit in the Parque National Tierre del Fuego. The landscape there was really kind of curious...so many things appeared dead or dying, actually. There were many fallen trees. We found this one lake full of half-dead trees that made me feel like I'd stepped into a Tim Burton film.

Next we headed back into the town, where we took a long cruise around the Beagle Channel. We saw animals on little islands - sea lions, cormorants, and eventually...penguins! I have been wanting to see penguins for a long time, and these ones were pretty adorable. We weren't able to get terribly close to them, unfortunately (so no photo of me and a penguin like I´d hoped), but I'm not sure that human contact would be very beneficial for the penguins anyway. It was amusing enough to watch them waddle around.

Last night we tried a speciality in this region - King crab, or centolla in Spanish. They prepare it in a variety of ways (sort of like mussels) and I tried provencal, with garlic, spinach and parsley. It was really very tasty, but funny in that it comes in a bowl composed almost purely of crab, with no side accompaniments. That's one thing I haven't quite gotten used to here - dishes don't usually come with vegetables or grains on the side; you have to order that separately.

Oh, and a bit more about Iguazu. The first day we only had a couple hours at the falls and it poured, so we just did a shorter trail called the Upper Circuit. We were blessed with a gorgeous, sunny day for our second full day. First we did a longer trail called the Lower Circuit. The infrastructure at this place was insane - I don't know how they've managed to construct all those metal walkways. At some points you can get up really close to some (because there are many, many different waterfalls all grouped together) of the waterfalls - close enough to get soaked, in fact! Later we took a toy train up to another area to see what it supposed to be the most spectacular part, the Devil's Throat as they call it in English. Again, insanity. Biggest falls ever, I guess. Then we did a hike through a jungle-like area that ended at a small body of water with a smaller (in comparison) waterfall where we took a quick swim.

Today we have some more time to explore to town of Ushuaia, and late this afternoon we have a short flight to El Calafate. I just got an e-mail saying that our flight time has been moved ahead by one hour and am hoping our air travel will go a little more smoothly this time.

El Fin Del Mundo

Wow. It was really dramatic and impressive landing in Ushuaia, the supposed southern most city in the world, yesterday. It's nestled amidst the Andes on a small island in the Tierra del Fuego region. During daylight, you can see the snow-covered mountain chains all around the city. From the air, the landing strip literally appeared to run off the island into the water. It's rather cold here, but the fresh air is refreshing after the heat and humidity of Iguazu, which was starting to make me a bit sick.

A bus is coming to pick us up in three minutes to take us to the Parque National Tierra del Fuego...so more later. Also, my laptop has mysteriously died, so updates may be fewer for the rest of the trip, unfortunately.

Tropical Showers

Today we flew in to the tropical heat of Puerto Iguazu. I traded my heels in for some hiking shoes, and we saw some (multiple) insane waterfalls in the midst of a thunderstorm.

So far we’ve found this town to be full of conflicting information. We found our way to the bus station, and everyone had a different story about what time the national park to the falls closed. We went anyway and made it in. We had trouble finding our way around though, and when we finally did noticed things like a sign for the train that said the maximum was 5 km one way and 7 km the other way.

But of course the waterfalls were spectacular. Waterfall after waterfall, all thundering and drowning out the actual thunder. We got caught in a downfall near the end and were a bit miserable waiting for the bus. Perhaps due to our utter exhaustion, we somehow managed to walk the same blocks four or five times in search of our hostel once we got back into town.

But a hot shower does wonders, and we found a great local restaurant called Aqua to replenish ourselves. We both tried variations on the local river fish, a white fish called surubi. It was delicious. For dessert we had fresh fruit with a kind of custard-like sauce, torrentes with wine. And of course, the ever-present glass of Malbec.

Lots has happened the last several days in BA, but I’ll have to write about that later once I’ve caught up on some sleep…

End of First Week...

Yesterday was my last day of Spanish classes – a bit sad because I was having a lot of fun in those classes and learning a lot. Maybe some day I’ll come back and find the same teacher. I think I would have needed something like six more weeks to really become fluent.

On Wednesday I went to visit the Recoleta cemetery, one of the famous sights of Buenos Aires. It’s really like a small village in there, with each small dwelling (not sure whether to call them houses or what) enclosing a casket. Very ornamental. My pictures will portray it better, if I can ever manage to upload them (the internet connections seem rather weak here).

That evening I ate my first Argentine steak. It was really good, unlike anything I’ve ever tried before (but then again, I don’t think I’ve ever ordered steak in a restaurant before so what do I know). Traditionally everything is served with mountains of fries here, but I had it with salad.

Like most nights, I was thinking of staying in and catching up on sleep, but ended up going along to the disco. What a place – it holds 2000 people and I think at some point they had to start turning people away because it was full. Needless to say, at the beginning of the evening (around midnight or later for a club) you could barely move, much less dance. They played typical dance club songs as we fought our way to the bar to try to get drinks and pushed away the men lying in wait who would try to grab you if you weren’t careful (not exactly my type of place, but something to experience once).

Thursday was a bit calmer. With the two girls I’ve spent the most time with here, I took the subte to Palermo. We stumbled upon a really nice restaurant where I ordered chicken a la thai that was nothing like that thai food I’ve ever tried. It was served with small round potatoes (potates noisettes) mixed in with the chicken, sauce, and herbs. Generally I’ve found that food is a bit plain here; Argentines don’t seem to be big fans of spice and I find myself adding a lot of salt and pepper to my food (maybe my taste buds are just used to being over saturated). But the food is generally really good. At the beginning of most meals they bring a basket full of bread, and it’s always a nice variety of different breads instead of just white baguette. The whole grain rolls are pretty tasty. As usual we sat there talking and finishing our wine for a long time; even the calm evenings of dinner and wine go on until 1 or 2 a.m. here.

Yesterday on my way to school I stumbled upon the most beautiful bookstore I’ve ever seen. Seriously, it was heaven in there. It used to be an old opera house. I have to go back and take some photos and buy some books (even if I can’t read them yet). I’m thinking I’ll buy a Argentina novel in Spanish to use as a goal for the next year (meaning the goal is to be able to read it a year from now). Or maybe some Borges poetry.

After class a friend and I jumped in a taxi to go to the MALBA (the Museo de Arte Latinoamericano de Buenos Aires). There was some really interesting contemporary (read: experimental) Argentine art there, though unfortunately we were too late for the performance artist on the top floor. I love being able to visit the art museums here, because it’s not something I often take the time for at home.

After the museum we stopped at an empanada shop and I ordered my first carne picante (spice meat) empanada, fresh out of the oven. I learned the hard way that they’re really hot inside and quite messy, but it was really good all the same.

We stayed out dancing until the wee, wee hours of this morning, and so it’s a little slow-going today. I may need another espresso (yeah, I’ve been fueled by espresso and mate this week), because there’s so much to see today and it’s nice and sunny out.

Photos

I'm slowly trying to upload my stream of photos here and an occasional more polished one here. Most of the internet access I've found here is quite slow though, so it's very slow going...

Conspiracy Theory

Buenos Aires has some definite quirks. For example, right now there's a shortage of coins in the city. I’ve heard rumours about why this is (involving a discovery of illegal barrels full of coins), but suffice to say that it’s very difficult to find change for the bus (or el collectivo, as it’s called in Buenos Aires). The collectivos only take change that you put into a machine once you get on, so if you can’t find any change (and really, you can't just change it at the corner store) you’re basically out of luck.

There’s also the fake money to look out for. One night I tried to pay a taxi driver and he wouldn’t accept two of my 10 peso bills, telling me they were fakes. Since then I’ve learned to hold bills up to the light to look for the watermark of the head.

Most of the time the streets feel reasonably safe, but we were warned that once a week or so you have to look out for (and stay away from) the fights that break out between rival gangs who’ve come from the areas outside Buenos Aires to pick through the garbage in the city. The cartoneros, as they're called, make their living recycling this garbage.

There's something very fascinating about this city, gritty and charming as it is. I think I'd need much longer than two weeks here to even begin to grasp the history and politics and complexity of it...

Ticking Time

Paradoxically, time here is passing very quickly despite the relaxed pace of life (and for me, vacation) – I can already feel my vacation time slipping through my fingers. We didn’t make it to the tango show the other night (maybe another time). I went out with a couple other girls and we were having trouble finding somewhere to eat, so eventually we jumped in a cab and told the driver to take us to Palermo Hollywood. We found a resto vraiment sympa, as I’d say in French, though it really could have been a restaurant in Montreal or somewhere in Europe. I had grilled trout (trucha) and vegetables, and we shared a nice bottle of Argentinian wine.

I guess we adapted to the Argentinian/travelling pace of life very quickly, because we must have sat there for a few hours talking and nursing our wine. There’s a standard set of questions among travellers: where are you from, where did you come from before this, and where are you going next? I’ve heard people complain that you often don’t get beyond that when meeting other travellers, that you don’t really talk about home or reveal anything of yourself, but this night we did, talking about home and where we are in our lives. A complimentary glass of champagne (para la casa, chicas) rounded off the evening.

On Tuesday I set out by myself for the first time, explored a bit and sat in a café until I had to go to school. After class, a group of us headed to the Museo Nacional de Bellas Artes. It was a mix of older and more modern Argentinian art. I got so involved in discussing the artwork with a new friend that we didn’t make it to the end of the exhibit before they closed.

Next, it was off to a sort of traditional Argentina restaurant for some parilla in an area of the Palermo neighbourhood called Las Canitas. I intended to eat beef (when in Rome do like the Romans do, right?) but kind of chickened out and ordered salmon a la parilla (typical of me – some day I really am going to eat a streak!), of course accompanied by more Argentinian wine. Though Buenos Aires is definitely one of the more expensive travel destinations in South America, eating out is still maybe about half the price it would be at home in Montreal. We had a large table of people, and several of us continued on to a nearby bar afterwards. The conversation varied from previous travels and strange experiences to music and literature (I’ve met a couple of other aspiring writers here, though unfortunately none of us are writing in the same language and so it’s a bit difficult to exchange writing).

Cafe Culture

One of my favourite things to do, in any city, is to go sit in a café by myself to read, write, think, and linger over a coffee. Buenos Aires is a great city for that because there are cute, cozy cafes on every corner. No matter what time of day, they seem to be always full of people, either sitting by themselves with a book or chatting with friends. Coffee is served European-style, espresso accompanied by a small glass of agua con gaz and a small sweet. And so far it’s very tasty, better than what I’ve been drinking at home. No one seems to mind if you sit there for hours--it's all very relaxed and they only bring the bill when you ask for it.

I can definitely see the European influence that is usually the first thing anyone says about Buenos Aires. Yesterday, sitting in a Parisian-style brasserie café, there was something very familiar about sitting there with my botella de agua con gaz (I had ordered a coffee but he told me “no tienen agua” – we don’t have water – and that they couldn’t make coffee, and something about the reaction of a woman who came in after me told me that this was not an unusual occurrence).

I'm slowly improving my Spanish and try to practice whenever I can. I've caught on to the Argentinian pronunciation (the "ll" and "y" are pronounced "sh," unlike in other Spanish-speaking countries) and am slowly learning to understand people. This week I have classes from 2:00-6:00 p.m. every day. It's a small group of six students, and I lucked out and got an excellent teacher. Let's see how far I get by the end of the week...

First days in BA...

The flight over was long, as expected – fourteen hours of flying time and, with connections and travel time, almost twenty-four hours door-to-door. I had arranged for an airport transfer with the Spanish school where I’m taking lessons for the week, and started to realize what I’d gotten myself into while trying to communicate with the driver in my broken Spanish. He dropped me off in front of a barred-up front door and I got a little nervous until I heard a friendly voice at the other end of the buzzer saying my name.

While I waited downstairs, several girls came through the door and everyone greeted me with “Hola” and kissed me on the cheek. At first, in my confused state (didn't sleep much on the plane), I wondered if everyone around here was so friendly, but later discovered that the whole building was full of students from the Spanish school, so everyone knows and greets everyone. They all seemed to know a new girl was arriving on the first floor.

Since then I’ve been living in “l’auberge espagnol” and have met dozens of other students, mostly from Holland, Germany, England, and the U.S. In my flat (for the week) I have two roommates, a girl from Israel and a guy from Holland. (So far no other Canadians, though.) Our flat is a meeting place of sorts, and so there are always people sitting around in the common room and people to go out with. Most of the students are a bit younger than me; many have just graduated from college and are taking several months to travel in South America before starting their careers. It’s a bit unheard of to study for only a week like I’m doing; on average people seem to be studying for about four to eight weeks, and then travelling. I wish I could have done something like that.

As I’ve mentioned, I’m not so good at packing. I was sitting in the Toronto airport when I realized that I’d forgotten to bring extra pairs of contact lenses. Luckily for me, I texted Caroline, who happens to be coming to join in a week, and she happened to be at Lisa’s, who lives around the corner from me and happens to have a key to my airport. I really need to learn how to pack in advance.

Yesterday we went to San Telmo, an artistic and bohemian sort of neighbourhood that’s famous for its Sunday markets. There were lots of homemade crafts, mate gourds, tango souvenirs, etc. We stopped at a restaurant and I tried a tortilla espagnol con chorizo (sort of a Spanish omelette with potatoes and sausage) – very different from anything I would eat at home and tasty, but definitely not something I could eat every day. (Those who know me well, or knew me in my vegan days, may have been shocked to see my eating sausage! I still don’t know if I could stomach a whole sausage intact, but mixed into a tortilla it's a bit more palpable.) Washed down with a mini bottle of Argentine red wine from the region, San Telmo malbec.

Later in the evening (and I do mean later – people don’t seem to go to bars here until after midnight, clubs not until 3 a.m., and regularly arrive home as the sun is coming up) a group of us headed to a plaza in Palermo that is full of bars. We sat outside even though it was cold (it’s Spring here, but only slightly warmer than it was in Montreal when I left).

Today was my first Spanish class. After a placement test, I was put into 1B (one up from the first level, 1A). We read a poem by Pablo Neruda, a self portrait, and then tried to write our own poetic self portrait. Mine was obviously rather rudimentary. I realized how much Spanish grammar I’ve forgotten when asked to conjugate verbs in the preterito imperfecto and indefinido. Ow. I’m hoping the learning goes fast this week.

It's a holiday today in Argentina and so rather quiet. I tried to go to the Evita museum with a couple girls from class, but it was closed. So we've wandered and are hanging out in a cafe. Tonight we're hoping to catch a tango show, but we'll see. Seems like it's en vogue to go with the flow here, no worries...

Time Zone Travel

During a past trip to Mexico we somehow ended up in a strange time warp where we never figured out exactly what the correct local time was (we thought we knew but halfway through the trip the clocks told us otherwise) and how it differed from the time at home. Later we figured this had to do with daylight savings time. This time I figured I’d be prepared and now have to write it here before I forget.

When I first arrive in Buenos Aires, it will be one hour ahead of Montreal. (It will be funny to travel so far – a 14-hour flight – and only have one hour of time difference.) On October 19th, Buenos Aires springs forward an hour and will be two hours ahead of Montreal. On November 2nd, Montreal falls back an hour and will be three hours behind Buenos Aires. Whew – research done and time confusion avoided.

I am a notoriously last-minute packer and this time is no different. It's 10:30 pm - I'm leaving tomorrow and have yet to drag my suitcase out of the closet.

The Countdown Begins...

I’m leaving for Argentina in five days. Roughly, the plan for the month is to do big city cultural things in Buenos Aires, see the supposedly better-than-Niagara falls and a bit of jungle in Iguazu, hang out with the penguins in that southern-most city in the world called Ushuaia, climb a glacier in El Calafate, trek up Fitz Roy from El Chalten, bike around to the bodegas and sample some delicious wine in Mendoza, recover at a relaxing estancia somewhere in the Pampas, and head back to Buenos Aires to celebrate my 28th birthday with one last fiesta before the flight back to Canada.

Crazy? Why yes! But you’re talking about the same two girls who, once upon a time, during a 10-day trip to Peru managed to: paraglide off the cliffs of Miraflores, eat ceviche, drink Pisco Sours, try the best restaurant, buy new underwear because our luggage got lost, and see the art gallery and the old town in Lima; drink the special tea and acclimatize, mountain bike through the Sacred Valley, see the Pisac ruins and market, eat alpalca steak, and buy alpalca shawls in Cusco; and embark on a five-day trek through the Andes to Machu Piccu. During the trek we made due with our less-than-optimal (non-existent) trekking equipment and survived the cold (we definitely weren’t expecting that snow at the peak and were continually surprised by the children who appeared out of nowhere in bare feet) by drinking mulled wine and practicing our Spanish and card playing with our lovely guide, who believe it or not was named Socrates. We camped under eucalyptus trees and passed through several small villages on our way, and in comparison Machu Piccu was somehow almost anti-climatic with its uber-touristy atmosphere. But still magical. The whole thing was an amazing experience. Here’s to hoping my second time in South America is equally as memorable.