Free ART wednesdays!!

Heather Andrew

Exploring BA

San Telmo Markets

Walking tour of BA

Japanese Gardens

and Sushi binging..

Recoleta Cemetary

Mate bar

Being the national drink of Argentina I have been keen to try Mate. We spied a Mate bar near our hostel and I was eager to give it another try as when we had it in Cordoba it was really bitter tasting.... the waiter did the preparation for me, as you can read in the article below there is a whole ritual involved in the preparation.
I bought a Mate at the markets and some Yerba Mate at the Mate bar.. it might be one of those acquired tastes as it really is quite bitter.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mate_(beverage)

The sizzle of sexy Buenos Aires

Well we arrived in BA during a downpour so we are not feeling the sizzle quite yet, but we are here!!!

BA is our final destination for the trip, we fly back to LA on June 2nd.

Sandy saw this great LA Times article about the city.
http://travel.latimes.com/articles/la-trw-buenosaires-18feb07

We also uploaded more photos from Cafayate, Cordoba and Mendoza
http://www.flickr.com/photos/nimbinferal/sets/72157600315398291/show/

The Vines

After sip n cycling our way around the Maipu valley we decided to head to a recommended wine bar http://www.vinesofmendoza.com/ to taste some more of the wines from this region. We did a 5 wine ¨flight" and the guy that gave the tasting used to own a wine shop in town so was a real wealth of knowledge not just on the wines but also Argentinian culture.

We returned the next night with a lovely couple we met at our hostel as they had a winemaker from a local Bodega giving a talk on the wine making process and of course we got to taste some more wine. It was a really informative discussion and we feel very educated on wine at this point.

Continuing our shopping streak in Mendoze, so Argentina is well known for it´s quality (and cheap) leather, and Heather managed to squeeze a leather jacket into her backpack (somehow?)... while I opted for a pair of trendy jeans, as denim is also rather inexpensive. Good thing we have only 1 more overnight bus ride as our backpacks are starting to get a bit porky.

Vino! Vino! Vino...Oh My!

We have spent the majority of our time here in Mendoza learning about WINE! We joined up with other hostelers to do a full day bike tour of 3 local wineries and a chocolate/liquor maker, which was great fun! We had a guide that led the 12 of us on the country roads of Maipu, the closest small town of wineries. We went to small boutique organic wineries, and big wineries that produce over 20 different varieties...and we tasted some divine and some not so divine wines! :D It is not harvest time here now, (it is late January to early March) so all the vineyards are dry and brown but they are still very lovely. We have now learned the whole process, from picking the grapes, to separating the skinds and seeds, to fermenting the grape sugar to alcohol, to pressing and filtering, and then to aging some in oak barrels. Fun fact: one american oak barrel costs the wineries $500 US dollars to buy, and one french oak barrel costs $2000 dollars! ..."barrel" meaning where certain wines are aged 6 months to multiple years in order to add flavor and merge textures....making them more complex! haha Look at all my wine knowledge! Aren´t you impressed?! :D
This is the first winery we visited on our bike day...it was a small, family run winery that has been around since 1898. There big award winner is a Malbec (which we bought), it is Mendoza´s most famous variety of wine. The Malbec grape grows well here because it is very dry all year round, only 9mm of rain a year...there is also a very cold winter. All of which are ideal growing conditions...

This was at one of the BIG wineries that produces over 20 different varieties of wine, including sparkling wine. It is very commericalized though with tons of photo ops, one of which we took advantage of! :D

At the last winery, I won a bottle of wine because I found the oldest bottle of wine they had in their private collection...this is the one I am holding, it is a 1971 San Felipe. They won´t drink any of these wines ever, they are just to collect and show off. Seems a bit unfortunate to me, to waste all this delicious wine...but hey, that is just me! :D lol

Mendoza

We have had a lot of fun walking around Mendoza with its plazas, sidewalk cafes, and shops. It is the winter solstice today, so the weather has been brisk but beautiful. The wine has been our main attraction here though, and what an attraction it is! It is absolutely fabulous! Here Andrew is sipping a local Malbec during our first sidewalk lunch. Yummy!There is a beautiful park in Mendoza too, which we found on our first day here. We arrived late afternoon, and the sunlight coming through the trees was just breath taking. It is very surreal experiencing such a "fall-like" place in the middle of June! :D lol I just could not help myself and decided I had to play with the leaves that covered the ground...

Feliz dia del Padre

Happy Fathers Day!! We spent father´s day wandering the empty streets of Cordoba, sipping Mate and shopping at some local arts and crafts street market..

the house of Che

Yesterday we were treated to a dreary londonesque winters day, good for lazing in bed (we have our own TV! in our room) and watching movies... today the sun is out and while the weather is crisp it´s nice to be outside walking around. Its a short bus ride to Alto Gracia one of the childhood towns of Ernesto Che Guevara. To honor him is a small museum in his former family home. His birthday was yesterday and the remnants of a party were still visible. The bike from his first trip through South America was there.. yes the Motorcylce diaries bike! wicked!
Most surprising thing I learnt today, this time last year Hugo Chavez and Fidel Castro were visiting the museum to honor Che. I was not aware of how deep his friendship with the Cuban dictator had been.

More on the life of Che..
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Che_Guevara

shop till you drop in Cordoba

We managed to fit a city tour on a NY city red double decker in amongst our shopping expeditions. Designer denim and all assortments of leather goods fill the shop windows. Decked out in our new threads we hit the town to experience the (in)famous nightlife only to end up on a darkened dancefloor with the power out, a surefire way to end the night early.

Quebrada de Cafayate

We took an afternoon tour into another world.. large red monoliths towering overhead.

Massive natural amphitheatres made from solid rock that slowly pushed through the earths surface.. layer cakes of copper formed green rocks.. red martian landscapes.

Thankfully our re-entry was smooth.

Sip N Cycle in Cafayate

After the amazingnessness that is Iguazu Falls we boarded a 20+hr bus ride to Tucaman. I must confess folks it has been a while since our last loooong overnight bus ride.. leaving at 10:45AM with an arrival time of 8:30AM.. joyous! NOT!

I managed to contract a full on head, chest achy feverish cold on the busride to add to the 20hr nightmare.. a few tylenol later and some other cold/flu drugs i was feeling vaguely human.. we arrived to Tucaman and sat around sipping coffee for 6hrs until our bus to Cafayate.. a few books read later we finally boarded.. I finished Marching Powder.. one of the best books I have read in recent times.

Onto Cafayate..
we arrived at around 9pm, the sky is filled with a million stars.. we had weaved our way upwards past hills covered in cactii and with the Andes as a an ever beautiful backdrop. Arriving into the quaint little pueblo of Cafayate we were greeted by a tout that for once seemed like a nice hombre.. we followed him to an amazing hostel, TV, Kitchen, free internet.. free wine tours.. whoah! almost too good to be true after 1.5 days of travel funk that we had to wash off in the HOT showers.. at dinner we had to eat off the kids menu as it was the only vege options and a glass of wine here is cheaper than a glass of OJ.. yes i was trying to behave and recover from my illness.. while Heather dived into the local wines. Friday.. tucked into our free breaky at the hostel followed by a short jaunt around the central plaza.. secured bikes for the day and a map of the wineries.. time to get our sip n cycle on !.. bodega uno (first winery).. muy bien! we enjoyed a few tastings, bought a bottle... discovered that due to our late start most everything was shutting up for lunch.. (as is the way in these siesta ridden countries).. what to do? hmmm..
how about sit on the balcony of our hostel, soak up the sun, drink some local vino and eat a tasty homemade lunch.. todo bien!
the afternoon consistented of biking to a few more wineries, purchasing a few more bottles of vino and then another long sit on our balcony spent contemplating how much we are diggin on Argentina about now..

Argentina set on Flickr http://www.flickr.com/photos/nimbinferal/sets/72157600315398291/

Please Stay Off the Animals...

Iguassu Falls! Wow, words cannot even begin to describe the immensity and power of these waterfalls. For those who do not know, these particular falls span three countries, Brazil, Argentina and Paraguay. We started on the Brazil side of things and we were awe struck. The Brazil side allows for this spectacular panoramic view of the entire falls from across the river...multiple levels, falling onto multiple levels and pooling together at some points to form the hardest rushing water I have ever seen. At the end there is even a catwalk where you can literally go out almost underneath the falls, and get soaked with the mist. I got some great pics of Andrew doing just that, it was literally such a rush to be so close to so much rushing water...

Then today we went to the Argentina side to see a different perspective. On this side you walk on catwalks through the jungle to come out to different view points along the falls...some with distant views of the falls, and some with "up close and personal" ones. Today we could practially touch, what we only saw from a distance yesterday. I think we were a bit more impressed yesterday though but that was probably because we had no idea what to expect. Regardless, these past few days were awesome! It has been awhile since we have done a nature oriented activity and we were lovin´it!

Now it is back on the bus for a 20 hour ride to Tucuman! Whoopie...lol :D

Samba in Lapa...

Everyone at our hostel hungout at this corner store at the end of the block where our hostel was...it was hilarious. It felt like we were in NY or something... so we would hangout their in the street for awhile drinking our Skol cheap, shitty beer until about 1:00am when it was proper time to go out (yes they START their evenings at 1:00am) This past friday night we met Carlos and Rodriguez these two local brasilians who were just rad... they totally came up to us because they heard us all speaking english and were asking us how we were enjoying Brasil, how it compared to the US, UK and Aus....it was loads of fun to be able to ask real locals questions instead of the local info booth or whatever. Soon Carlos started talking about dancing, he has taken lessons for 3 years...and then we started talking about this neighborhood called Lapa. Apparently every friday night Lapa has this big street party, and boy they were not kidding. They nicely agreed to take us there, it was so great to get into a taxi with someone who spoke portuguese who could tell them not to rip us off! (seriously he had to tell him not to double charge us) ...anyways we got to Lapa and it was like a mini carnival, music, dancing, tons of people drinking and partying in the streets...it was crazy! Then we made our way to this samba club and they took us inside... OMG! It was the most fun we have had on a night out in ages! No sooner had we walked in, Carlos was wisking us girls onto the dancefloor teaching us the moves! He was a great dancer... Andrew and I even attempted it, after some instruction from Carlos..we had loads of fun! It was exactly the kind of Rio experienc we wanted to have!

Girl from Ipanema...

We arrived in Rio last week, and I cannot believe we just left this morning, it went by in a BLINK. Were we really even there? lol :D
I hate to admit we did not do many touristy things there, mostly because the weather was pretty shite. We did make it to Santa Tereza which is this quaint neighborhood up in the hills that you get to by cable car, but other than that we just shopped, went to the beach, and partied like it was 1999! lol
We could not afford to stay in a private room in Rio, so we had to do the dorm thing...for the first time! Yikes! It actually was not as bad as I had imagined, that being said though here are my thoughts as a first timer...picture a room with 5 sets of bunk beds, 10 people total, 8 of which are boys...then picture everyones backpack that is filled to the gills, exploding as soon as they unzip it...so what you get are these piles of everyone`s stuff around their bunk that slowly start creeping their way into the middle of the room, so that sometimes you are wading through someones dirty clothing to get to your bunk...seriously I am not kidding. Then imagine everyone`s differing schedule for going out and returning at all hours of the night...and I do mean ALL hours! Luckily in this respect we had some pretty considerate people, it seems people just came in and passed out in their clothes, I do not think we were woken up once by people coming home at 5:00am! ...maybe because one of the nights we were coming home at 5:00am! We did meet some fun people though...crazy kids! :D

Sandy in Salvador...

We had a great time hanging with Sandy in Salvador for ten days...it was nice to have such a long time to enjoy the city, so we did not feel rushed to do the maximum amount of things per day. Most afternoons we spent lounging on Sandy´s veranda looking out over the city, reading, eating sweets scrounged from breakfast and hanging in her hammock. :D
We did do some sight seeing and shopping though...Sandy was the all time best barganer too! If they said 20, she said 10 and she would not quit until she got the price she wanted. She was awe inspiring, and got us deals on lots of cool stuff!
Some of the highlights during the week she was with us...
Getting a private tour one day with this amazing local guy Dixon who took us to the Bonfim church, and Forte de Barra...then onto all these beautiful beaches up North...Hanging at one of those beaches to have fried fish and beers...Finding this wonderful Jewlery shop called Scala and getting some custom made pieces, even Andrew had a very cool ring made...wandering around Pelhourino listening to music...going to a Capoeira school and seeing a show of the best performers...Seeing a folkloric/dinner show at this old sugar plantation, and watching a group of asian tourists drink and entire bottle of Johnny Walker in 30 mins lol...Shopping at Mercado Modelo, where we ate the best shrimp moqueca (their local dish made from coconut milk and palm oil)...Eating sting ray at a restaurant entirely by accident and loving it...Finding this great local italian restaurant Al Carmo that had the best pasta and was just about the only place we could order a decent glass of wine...Going to a Candomble ceremnoy that was totally crazy.
Just another word about that, Candomble is the religion practiced by about 30% of the population of Salvador. It is a religion that goes back to the 1800s when the slave trade was still going on. It a mix of catholocism and the religion the afro-brasilians practiced when they were in Africa, before coming to Salvador. This way it would appear to the slave owners that they were practicing catholocism when they were really praying and worshiping their own dietes. Pretty smart actually...We soon found out though that it is a complicated religion to understand, Dixon our tour guide tried to explain it but we decided to go to a ceremony and see for ourselves. So one night we drove into the local neighborhood and to this particular house, and what we saw was fascinating. First of all this particular sect of Candomble only has ceremonies once a year...they last for an entire month (happening every Saturday night) since they are so rare they are PACKED with people. Not only the practicers but all the other neighborhood people who want to watch. We arrive at this house and this entire room is packed with people wearing white, dancing in a circle to drums and chanting. The women are wearing traditional outfits with full skirts and lace, even head scarves. Once in awhile you will notice a person stop dancing and put their head down, they have become possessed by the spirits Dixon tells us. That is what the ceremony is about, calling on the spirit saints who reside over us, who protect us and teach us...calling on them to show us they exist, and they do this by possessing certain practicers who are sensitive to such things. It was a trip to watch... and something I do not think any of us will forget.
It was hard to say goodbye to mom, we had such a fun time hanging out...but knowing we will see her in a month helped us get through! :D