The Traveling Empanadas

¿Quieres papas fritas con esa? (Would you like fries with that?)

dontlosesleep — Mon, 09 Feb 2009 01:34:31 +0000

On a side note, we have visited a McDonald`s in each country we stayed with the exception of Ecuador. We go for the ice cream, air conditioning and dependably clean bathrooms. McDonald’s in South America is a nice place. Some offer free use of computers with internet with purchase and there`s a separate section called the McCafe, which resembles a Starbucks. It is interesting to see the regional differences. In Argentina, they only had Barbacoa (barbecue) sauce for the chicken nuggets, while Peru and Chile had Agridulce (sweet and sour). In Chile, they have a large ice cream cone with syrup known as the McColosso, unknown in the other countries we’ve visited. In Lima, we found a McSundae with pineapple sauce, and a double sized cone known as a Supercono. Eric thinks he might accidentally order a McPollo Jr. (versus a spicy chicken sandwich) and get a funny look when we get back to the US.

A day at the zoo

dontlosesleep — Mon, 09 Feb 2009 01:31:16 +0000

At the park entrance.

We visited the city zoo in Buenos Aires which was awesome. They sold packs of authorized animal food which we let us get personal with geese, fish, goats, antelope, different types of deer, elephants, giraffes, camels, etc. There were so many animals and it was a great way to spend a day.

Big, hungry koi fish begging for biscuits.Long-necked friends.

What`s black, white and red all over?

Mama baboon with baby on her back (a little fuzzy but very cute).

Goose catching a biscuit in its mouth.

Eric posing with the African elephants.

On posting

dontlosesleep — Mon, 09 Feb 2009 01:15:45 +0000

We apologize for the posts delay for we have found it difficult to find regular access to the internet with little technical difficulty (problems with blog upload, etc.). Right now we are awaiting an overnight bus from Nazca, Peru back to Lima, Peru. We`ve accumulated a tremendous backlog of photos so are selecting only a few to upload per city.

We`re rounding the end of our South American journey. It`s been truly amazing.

The Argentine Tango

dontlosesleep — Mon, 09 Feb 2009 01:07:55 +0000

After Ushuaia, we spent a couple of weeks in Buenos Aires where we enjoyed empanadas, delicious parrilla (barbecue), and tenedor libre (all you can eat buffet) for $6 per person. We also visited a couple of Latin American art museums, the Recoleta Cemetery (were Eva Duarte aka Eva Peron is interred in her family’s mausoleum) and watched a musical version of William Shakespeare´s play “Othello“ (from the creators of “Dracula,“ the musical). “Othello“ was entirely in Spanish and the actor who played Othello did so in blackface.

Argentine street tango.House of Congress - does it look familiar?

Giant tree in Plaza San Martin - they had great parks like this throughout.

Women and child feed pigeons - it`s a pasttime here in SA.

House of Congress - does it look familiar?

Man carving a wooden horse ornament.

``Brazos Gratis``, translates to ``Free Hugs``.

If I had a penguin

dontlosesleep — Sun, 18 Jan 2009 15:49:59 +0000

¨I´ve received a question from the Spanish man asking whether or not you can touch a penguin if it comes up to you. The answer is, no, you cannot touch the penguins. Their nervous systems are so sentive that the shock of your touching them could render the creature infertile for life.¨ - Our guide on our way to Isla Martillo.

Ushuaia is the southernmost city in Argentina and all of South America. It is known as El Fin del Mundo, or the End of the World. Many cruises to Antarctica depart from Ushuaia. Frankly, it´s cold, windy and overpriced. We paid $15 each per night to sleep in a 6-bed dorm room with people that snored, smelled or both. Thankfully, they had a comfortable kitchen. We cooked dishes such as gnocchi, corn, polenta, rice, and chicken soup and spent each night reading books over bottles of red or white Patagonian wine. The days were long and the sun wouldn´t fully set until past 11pm!

If you visit Ushuaia, skip the Glaciar Martial (one and a half hour long hike up a dry ski slope to see a block of ice covered in snow) and the Tierra del Fuego National Park (nice, but overpriced at $30 USD each including transportation). We do recommend the walk with the penguins. Eric and I have never seen penguins, and while expensive, seems to be one of the few things worth doing in the city.

We took a small 20 person boat to Isla Martillo, where there is a nature reserve and penguin colony. There was a lot of excitement when we arrived as we passed over a school of sardines. Gulls swarmed around the boat and penguins dove in the water for their share of the fish. The island is full of penguins and penguin nests with protective parents. Penguins are monogamous creatures, and mate for life. After being separated for months during migration periods, they can recognize each other´s song. However, when a male protecting a nest becomes very hungry, he allows his partner approximately 20 days to return before he will leave the nest in search of food or find the next passing female.

Sea lions on rocks in the Beagle Channel.

Flock of seagulls diving for sardines.

Penguins dotted the beach on Martillo Island.

Magellanic penguins (black and white) and gentoo penguin (gray). There are about 1,000 Magellanic nests and a small colony of 9 Gentoo nests).

The winds are so strong the trees look like flags.

Glacier Martial.

Wine in the Casablanca Valley

dontlosesleep — Sun, 18 Jan 2009 01:24:47 +0000

The day before we flew out of Santiago, we rented a car and drove 90 minutes west to Casablanca Valley, one of the major wine regions of Chile. Not knowing how to drive manual, renting a car was a bit of an ordeal and much more expensive than we anticipated, but it was well worth the effort.

It was a perfect day weather-wise, and we made it to most of the valley’s vineyards — Veramonte, Morande, Vina Mar, Indomita, William Cole, and Casas del Bosque — doing a tasting or buying a bottle at all but William Cole (they were busy entertaining a wine critic). Veramonte definitely won for cheapest wine tasting, at around $0.75 for nearly a full glass, but Morande was by far our favorite, and we ended up buying 5 bottles there; we would’ve bought more if we didn’t have so much travelling left in our journey (our packs were heavy as it was). After visiting 5 other wineries, we finally had a late lunch at 5pm in the restaurant of Casas del Bosque, where we bought a cold bottle of Sauvignon Blanc to go with our home-made turkey and avocado sandwiches. We then drove 30 minutes to Valparaiso, where we´d spent New Year´s, to pick up a few dresses at a boutique Tina really liked. We finally made it back to Santiago in time for evening rush hour, and spent an hour or so getting lost and stuck in traffic. Still, it was a great day.

The next morning we got up at before 5am to get ready for our morning flight to Ushuaia, Argentina. Eric managed to knock out all the electricity in the room when he plugged his ipod charger into a loosely wired outlet in the hotel room – fortunately, the hotel staff was able to fix it and we made it to the airport with plenty of time.

Heavenly wine and roses seem to whisper..

Wine vats at the Indomita winery.

Rows of grapevines.

Neat wine display at Viña Mar.

Go fish in Pucon

dontlosesleep — Sun, 18 Jan 2009 00:49:11 +0000

We spent some days in Pucon, a pretty tourist town in the south of Chile. There, we climbed Volcan Villarica and went on a fishing expedition. The climb up Volcan Villarica was not difficult, but a bit treacherous. If you aren´t careful, it´s easy to slip and fall down the mountain. We carried ice picks to steady our ascent. At the top, our noses and throats burned inhaling toxic fumes and we frequently turned away from the crater to drink in the fresh air. The descent was much more rapid than the five hour climb. We strapped on a protective tarp and slid down on our rears. Later that evening, we visited the thermal baths in Los Pozones.

The next day we went on a catch and release fishing expedition with a guide. It was raining lightly, but they say it´s better for catching fish. It was trout season, but salmon come in February and March. I caught about 16 fish while Eric caught 5. When Eric hooked a particularly small fish (think just born and looking for something to eat), he remarked to our guide ´es grande!´ (it´s big!). Our guide agreed, saying ´es un monstruo!´ (it´s a monster). We enjoyed Pucon very much.

We climbed Volcan Villarica single file.

We carried backpacks and icepicks, wore waterproof uniforms, heavy mountaineering boots and helmets.

The view from the crater.

View from the fishing raft.

Tina proudly displays her rainbow trout.

Feliz Año Nuevo in Valparaiso and Viña del Mar

dontlosesleep — Wed, 14 Jan 2009 04:55:50 +0000

We spent New Years Eve in Viña del Mar and Valparaiso, Chile, a port town where they set off many fireworks for New Year´s visible from all over town. We sat on some rocks by the ocean and were able to see at least three groups of fireworks from 12am to 12:30am. Notably:

-We made a small child cry out of envy for some fruit we bought at the market: shiny green grapes and red cherries. We gave him a bunch of grapes.

-We rode up a hill in a funicular, which is basically a diagonal elevator (you might remember it from the movie ¨The Motorcycle Diaries¨).

-We found this amazing dress shop off of Cerro Concepcion, a hill on the western side of town, and did some late holiday shopping.

-A drunk guy followed us from the rocks at 1am and didn´t leave until Eric yelled at him.

-In our infinite wisdom, we decided it was fine not to book a hotel for New Year´s Eve since we´d be out most of the night and prices were astronomical. So we spent 5am to 7am in a 24 hour McDonald´s, which at the time was full of drunken teenagers.

-Some Chileans drank until well into late morning the following day.

-It was our two year anniversary, and the second New Year´s in a row we spent on a beach looking at fireworks.

Fireworks in Valparaiso.

Fire in the sky.

Half of Santiago was in Viña del Mar.

Double bicycle in Viña del Mar.

Cool sand sculptures.

Antofagasta: Chile´s Answer to Shangri La

dontlosesleep — Wed, 14 Jan 2009 04:31:39 +0000

On our bus ride from San Pedro de Atacama, Chile to La Serena, Chile, we drove through this little beach town called Antofagasta, which for some reason will reside in our minds as some kind of paradise or promised land. People crowded the beach and floating platforms not far from shore, beer bottles in hand, laughing children tricycled down sidewalks, ice cream cones in hand-after three days in the desert, this town seemed…perfect. While we didn´t actually get off the bus and enjoy these things, and so cannot vouch for them in their entirety, whenever things seem bleak (i.e. can´t find a hostel in Ushuaia), we speak wistfully of Antofagasta and what could have been.

We travelled past Antofagasta to La Serena, Chile, where Eric consulted a doctor for the stomach problems he´s been having. Dr. Raul prescribed a full spectrum antibiotic, which included a warning not to drink any alcohol for a week (annoying, given we were planning to drink some Chilean wine). The beach was pretty and they had a gigantic grocery store called the Hyper Lider. From La Serena, we rode a bus to a little town called Coquimbo. At the pier, we watched fishermen bring in a batch of conger eel, a family of sea lions or seals, and flocks of pelicans crowding the hull of a ship. There was a fish market that seemed to stretch for a mile, offering every type of seafood imaginable: shellfish, crabs, fish, squid, other sea life we were unable to identify.

Antofagasta at sunset.

Pelicans in Coquimbo with fisherman.

Un pescador (fisherman) pulling in the day´s haul, a load of conger eels.

Fish market in Coquimbo.

Seals or sea lions?

If you´re like me, you think pink flamingos are lawn ornaments

dontlosesleep — Tue, 06 Jan 2009 22:26:28 +0000

From La Paz, we took an overnight bus south to Uyuni, a middle of nowhere town which is the gate way to Salar de Uyuni, the world’s largest salt flats at over 4,000 square miles. After the 13 hour ride in what felt like being in an old shoebox (with no ventilation and some very smelly neighbors), we stumbled off the bus and negotiated a tour of the salt flats. The 3 day tour took us through the salt flats and Bolivian desert south to San Pedro de Atacama, in the desert of northern Chile. The highlights of the trip were driving through endless miles of salt, taking funny pictures in the salt formations, seeing several varieties of flamingos in multi-colored lagoons, sleeping in a hotel made out of salt, seeing strange rock formations carved by the strong desert winds, and hanging out with hundreds of llamas.

Playing around in the SalarA lake reflecting the surrounding mountains

Three of five species of flamingo are found in the Bolivian lagoons

Island shaped like a fish in the Salar

Beloved llamas at sunset near our salt hotel

Thermal bath at dawn

Stood on the wrong side of the geyser, ´cough cough´