Ah, Quito!

I spent my first weekend in Quito exploring the Saturday markets in Otavalo and Cotacochi with a wonderful tour guide named Angel and two German couples. We then drove another two and one-half hours to the Mitad Del Mundo, otherwise known as the Equator. I went to both the historic equator monument (the one most Ecuadorians recognize and visit) and the more touristy, GPS-proven equator, located about 1/4 mile away. I passed the egg-balancing test and walked the line with my eyes closed. I saw authentic shrunken heads from the Amazon to top it off! It was pouring rain, but I managed to get a few photos anyway.

When I arrived in Quito, I initially only planned to spend one week at the Spanish school, but I ended up signing up for an extra 2 weeks of classes after only two days at the school!  My experience at Academia Latino America was amazing and I definitely recommend the Spanish program there.  My Spanish improved immensely (although I wonder if I will be able to keep it up...).  I must have talked a little too much on my first day at the school though, because the school placed me in a class with only one other student that had taken years of Spanish and who was also fluent in French.  For the first week, it was just the two of us and I struggled a lot to keep up.  In the second week, a girl from Switzerland appeared and joined us.  She was practically fluent...I was drowning to keep up but was loving every minute of it.  Finally, my last week, I was alone with one professor.  My last week was definitely slower paced, but I thoroughly enjoyed my one-on-one chats with the professor. It was intense, but in the end, I "passed" with an Intermedio Medio "degree."  I don´t feel I can use all of the grammar that I learned, but I hope to be able to practice a bit more before I return to the U.S.

Apparently April is the rainiest month in Quito and this proved to be accurate during my visit for sure.  The storms raced in almost every afternoon and slammed into the two volcanos looming over the city.  This produced huge storms with really violent thunder and lightening.  I think I may have a little hearing loss as a result of these afternoon storms!  The weather in general in Quito was colder and wetter than I expected.  I kept telling people that it was like August or September in Alaska.  It was probably a little warmer (it is on the equator after all)...But the strangest thing for me was that despite the rainy cold, the plants were 100% tropical - orchids and palm trees, the works...

Despite the rain, I managed to see a lot of the sights of Quito.  I took the city tour and got an overview of the city highlights.  I visited the Iglesio de la Compania de Jesus, the Iglesio de San Francisco and the Teleferico, all in the rain...

I had two free weekends between classes.  One weekend I spent visiting Cotopaxi with some of the other students.  We had blazing sun, then rain, then snow, then hail, and ended up back in the sun again by the end of the tour.  Just like summer in Alaska or Colorado!  The next weekend I took a road trip with two girls from Switzerland (Jasmin and Eveline) and one girl from Germany (Tanja).  We took a harrowing taxi ride to Papallacta to soak in the hot springs in a beautiful valley. 

The girls (the youngest was 18 and the oldest 27) and I also managed to get out on the town a few nights as well.  We were all very paranoid about being out in Quito after dark (and from the stories I´ve heard recently from other travelers, validly so...).  To avoid traveling alone, we would call one taxi and have the driver drive all over the city picking everyone up and then do the same in reverse at the end of the night.  It took a lot of Facebook messaging and was generally a real pain, but we had some fun times once we were out and about.

I loved Quito despite the danger and managed not to get robbed while I was there...I know it sounds strange, but I would still recommend a visit. 

Next up, Galapagos!

Ciao,
Kelly

Buenos Aires II

When Karl and I returned to Buenos Aires, we had certain goals in mind...We wanted to try some tango lessons and see some local, live music.  Well, we were in the right place!  We woke up late every day in our apartment, walked to the coffee shop on the corner (yes, it was Starbucks...), and scanned the local paper for the events of the day.  We found the apartment on AirBnB and the owner was great to work with...It was in a perfect location, in Palermo and near all of Buenos Aires´ wonderful parks.  There was only one drawback...The hot water didn´t work!  We managed despite the relative chill in the air by boiling water and adding cold water for amazingly satisfying "showers." 

We suceeded in locating a wonderful place (La Viruta) for Tango lessons one evening and despite the fact that the lesson was with 50 other people and conducted entirely in Spanish, we managed to figure out some of the basic tango steps and had a great time.   The venue was unique for sure...In the basement of the Slovenian consulate (or was it Croatia??). 

Another night we took a taxi to a bar that we found in the paper that was supposed to be playing traditional Argentinian music, but when the taxi dropped us off, the place was closed and the entire street was abandoned.  I was a bit nervous (it was kind of late), but we walked around the corner and stumbled across a huge shopping complex.  We didn´t want to waste the night so we decided to go to the movies.  Going to the cinema in Argentina (well, at least in Buenos Aires) is a unique experience...We had assigned seats and seating times.  I felt like I was at the airport, not at the movies! 

Not to be detered, Karl and I returned the next night to the music venue that was closed the night before (we misread the day of the week...oops!).  This time the place was open, but no one was in the restaurant/bar when we arrived and the music was supposed to start fifteen minutes later...Well, in an hour and a half, the band actually started playing (Argentina time!).  Apparently this place is not on the usual tourist circuit...The promoter of the event was so excited that he let us watch the band rehearse before the event and introduced us to all of the band members and their families/agents.  The music was fantastic as well.  Such a great night!

Karl and I did managed to get out during the day for a few of the days that we were in Buenos Aires and visited the beautiful Teatro Colon in the center of the city and the Jardin Japones near our apartment in Palermo.

After 5 days in Buenos Aires, I said goodbye to Karl and boarded the plane for Quito...

Iguazu Falls

Karl and I continued our adventure by flying to Iguazu Falls from Bariloche. We almost missed the flight because we were busy playing a Spanish word game on my iTouch and getting really competitive about it...Luckily, they paged us! Oops..

Ahh, Iguazu...All 270 waterfalls sit on the borders of Argentina, Brazil and Paraguay. The Iguazu Falls aren't the largest in the world (Victoria Falls in South Africa apparently is the largest) nor do they produce the largest volume in the world (Niagra Falls), but they have been named one of the "Seven Wonders of the World" by somebody...Anyway, I don't care if they are or aren't the biggest in the world, they were amazing!

Karl and I exhausted ourselves by walking the entire park (Argentine side) in one day. We walked the upper and lower loops, took the boat to Isla San Martin, and then the train and footbridge to the famous Gargante del Diablo (Devil's Throat). We could hardly even hold a conversation by the end of the day...

We weren't able to secure a visa for Brazil, so we returned to the Argentine side of the falls for a second day of fun. We decided to relax by the pool at our youth hostel (yes, the hostel had a pool!). We waited until an hour before sunset and returned to the Devil's Throat to take in the view, the spray and the sun one more time.

It was expensive and a bit difficult to get there, but Iguazu Falls was definitely worth it!

Next up, Buenos Aires Dos...

Ciao,
Kelly

Action!

Karl and I arrived in Mendoza after a 14-hour night bus ride from Buenos Aires. The bus station in Buenos Aires was crazy and our bus was an hour late leaving the station, but after that semi-rough start, the ride to Mendoza was a real treat.

The long distance buses here are fantastic! If you buy the "cama class" tickets, the seats recline fully and come with blankets, pillows, dinner, dessert, and an aperatif to help you sleep. I loved the ride and was actually a little sad when we arrived in Mendoza and had to get off of the bus...
We decided to stay in a youth hostel in Mendoza instead of a hotel. The youth hostels in Argentina tend to be a bit more expensive than the budget hotels, but come with a tourist desk where you can book anything from local tours to your next domestic bus or airline ticket, a couple of internet terminals, a kitchen and free breakfast (and sometimes free dinner too). I enjoy the energy and the international feel of the hostels as well.
Minutes after we arrived at the hostel, Karl and I booked a wine tour. Why wait, right?! Two hours later we were on the wine wagon touring vineyards in the Maipu area, about 40 minutes from Mendoza´s town center. We first stopped at the Don Arturo bodega. The bodega is a small, family winery that imports 20% of its wine to the United States and Europe and sells 80% of its product at the winery. Not surprisingly, we enjoyed the high-end, french oak barrelled malbec varietal wine the best and bought a bottle of one of their special reserve wines, produced specifically for Don Arturo´s daughter´s wedding. Unlike the wineries I´ve toured in the U.S. and Australia, the wineries I´ve visited in Argentina (Cafayate and Mendoza) grow, process and sell their wine on the same property and give full tours of most of the areas of the winery (including their high end wine cellars) for free or for a small fee of 10 pesos. All of the tours were fascinating and demonstrated how much of wine-making is actually an art. In stark contrast to the Don Arturo winery, we stopped next at an ultra-modern and somewhat sterile winery named Vistandes. Vistandes imports 80% of its wine to upscale restaurants primarily in the U.S.
After a day at the wineries and spending the night before on a bus, I collapsed into bed at the hostel...
So, just in case you were wondering why I titled this entry, Action!...The next day, Karl and I hopped on another tour bus, hiked a mountain about 30 minutes out of town and then spent the afternoon rappelling back down the mountain with a bunch of young 20-somethings. Karl impressed the crowd when he bounded down the 40 foot rock face in his harness. However, not be outdone, the guide ran face-first down the rock carrying a stray puppy that had followed us down to the rappeling wall and found itself stuck! To top off the day, we spent the rest of the afternoon soaking in a hot springs pool overlooking a river valley.
We weren´t overly impressed with the surrounds of the city of Mendoza so the next morning we joined a bike-wine tour set up again by the youth hostel. We jumped on our bikes after touring the Familia Cecchin winery. This organic winery was founded in the 1920s and has been pesticide free and has practiced organic and traditional growing, harvesting and processing from its inception. As you tell, I loved the place! The 100% organic malbec we tasted was by far my favorite! Unfortunately, because it is 100% organic, it doesn´t travel well and it doesn´t hold up well over time, so we didn´t buy any souvenir bottles...Supposedly, the Familia Cecchin winery sells to restaurants in San Francisco and is bottled under the Twigs label in the U.S. I´m looking forward to finding it upon my return. We peddled on the busy road to a couple more wineries and then spent the rest of the day recovering. At 9 pm that night, Karl and I boarded another bus to Bariloche. While we were wandering around the bus terminal before we left for Bariloche, we ran into a couple from San Francisco (most people Karl and I have met on this trip so far are from San Francisco) that we had gone to the River Plate soccer match with in Buenos Aires. Small world?!
Ah, Bariloche...I loved Bariloche! In fact, I´d love to try to come back and work in the area someday (retirement?). I may have loved it so much because it reminds me of Colorado, Lake Tahoe and other ski towns in the Western U.S. Bariloche, with its Cerro Catedral, is a major ski destination in winter and apparently also draws quite a crowd in the summer as well. We managed to avoid the crowds by coming in Fall. The weather was perfect, with just a little Fall chill in the air.
The youth hostel we stayed in has to have one of the world´s best hostel views. We had a 5-star view of the lake with a 5-star deck to match. Heaven on earth! However, Karl and I managed to tear ourselves away from the view each day to enjoy the outdoor activities in the area. We hiked to a viewing spot at the top of Cerro Campanario, equipped with hot chocolate and medialunes. Karl and I enjoyed the view with Julie (Dragomaner that we met up with at the hostel in Bariloche). She left the next morning, but luckily we met up with her again in Iguazu (another entry)!
Karl and I were on a roll so we hopped on a local bus the next morning with our backpacks, sleeping bags, food and water and hit the trail to one of the mountain huts in the Cerro Catedral range. After about 4 hours of hiking, we dropped our packs at Refugio Frey and inquired about spending the night. When we checked in town, the park service told us that because it was the off-season, the huts wouldn´t be crowded. Karl and I saw only day-hikers coming down the mountain all afternoon so we expected to see just a few people at the refugio. To our surprise, the area was buzzing with rock climbers! The refugio was larger than it appeared and we all managed to squeeze onto the log benches for a hot meal of cream soup, bread and pasta. Karl and I even bought a bottle of red wine that we shared with a very appreciative French lad. It was a cozy night and reminded me just how much I enjoy being in the mountains...
Karl and I summited the pass above Refugio Frey the next morning and then headed back to town. We had a fly-fishing date early the next morning that we didn´t want to miss!
Our guide fetched us from the hostel at 8:30 am the next morning and we were off to fish the River Limay, just outside of Bariloche. The trip was simply decedent! I felt like a real high roller. Our guide was very patient with us and Karl even managed to catch 4 beautiful rainbow trout. I spent most of the day casting off the boat but not catching...In fact, my left wrist and arm were so sore that night that I had to eat dinner right-handed!
I really enjoyed my time in sunny Mendoza and Bariloche and hope to return to both areas someday...Next up, Iguazu Falls.
Ciao,
Kelly

Night Life

I cannot walk through the suburbs in the solitude of the night without thinking that the night pleases us because it suppresses idle details, just as our memory does. -Jorge Luis Borges

I spent last week in Buenos Aires and was continually amazed by its size, its diversity, its volume and its night life. I am not a night owl by nature, but when in Buenos Aires, you simply have to stay up late just for the experience. A couple of nights ago, I was in a taxi at 2:30 in the morning and stuck in rush hour traffic! The streets were packed, along with all of the restaurants and bars the taxi passed on the way back to my hotel.

Every day I explored a new neighborhood but I didn´t even scratch the surface of the place. Some of my favorites were Palermo and San Telmo. I am pretty sure that I had the best steak of my life in a random bar with a Cuban band playing at Plaza Dorrego in San Telmo. It really is that kind of city!

In Buenos Aires I had to say good-bye to the Dragoman folks as they were continuing their journey to Rio and at the same time, welcomed Karl to Argentina. We all went to a tango show at the famous Cafe Tortoni and Karl brought out flaming absinthe at the bar after the show. Powerful stuff!

I´ve been spending most of my trip trying to enjoy the local cuisine of the area (although I have to admit that I did not try the guinea pig in Bolivia). However, in Buenos Aires I broke down and went to some foreign restaurants, including a hare krishna vegan restaurant and a Mexican restaurant.

One of the main highlights of my time in Buenos Aires had to be the soccer match between River Plate versus Dom Merlo. The fans danced, jumped and chanted for the entire two hours. It was amazing! The stands were literally writhing...

The two teams with amazing fans in Buenos Aires are River Plate and Boca Juniors. On my first night in town, a few of the Dragoman folks and I tried to get scalped tickets outside of the Boca Juniors stadium. Two of the guys got tickets and the other four of us ladies were left outside to listen to the roar of the stadium. The ladies took a cab back to the center and watch the match on TV, feeling pretty "green" that the guys got into the game. We found out later that night though that they got part way in and their "escort" with the game tickets disappeared into the crowd and they were each relieved of their $50...However, Julie, Felix, Karl and I were undetered and bought the "tourist tickets" at a higher price but with transportation and two guides to get us in and out of the stadium safely.

On our last night in the city, Karl and I splurged and went to the famous Las Lilas restaurant on the river in Puerto Madero. It was simply the best food I´ve had on my trip so far and definitely the best presentation of any place I´ve been so far (including Atlantis in the Bahamas, Patrick!). It was a great experience and well worth the expense.

After struggling a bit with finding out how to get a bus ticket and hostel in Mendoza, Karl and I finally got ourselves organized and hopped on an overnight bus to Mendoza last night. More on Mendoza in my next entry...

Ciao,

Kelly

Wine, Beef and Horses

The last 10 days of my trip have been all about wine, beef and horses...Our drive to Salta Rafting from Salta was luckily a short and beautiful one. We arrived at the river mid-afternoon and took much needed naps in our tents after our big night in Salta the night before. The cooking group for the day prepared a wonderful camp meal and we all enjoyed it with a glass (or two) of Sangria.

The next day we had another relaxing morning and then spent the afternoon rafting the fast flowing Class III river right outside our camp. The raft guides hosted an Argentinian "asado" that evening and we giggled at the photos taken of all of us on the river earlier in the day (I´m still hoping to get them from one of the other folks in my raft so I can add them to the blog...).

Everyone hated leaving such a beautiful place the very next morning, but we were on our way to Cafayate and wine tasting. Cafayate was truly hot when we arrived at the campsite and everyone felt a bit wilted during our winery tours at two of the local wineries. The wine we tasted was marvelous though and "lifted our spirits" quite a bit. The local grape varietals were Torrontes, a white varietal, and Terrat, a red varietal. We learned about using egg whites to "clean" white wine and bone marrow for organic reds (veggies watch out!). Each tour took us through the entire wine-making process step by step, from vine separation to the special cellars set aside for the most expensive wines on the property. It was a fascinating tour and much more complete than any tour I have been on in the U.S. or Australia.

Early the next morning we packed up our tents and my cooking group and I fumbled through preparing breakfast before jumping back on "Amber" for hot, dusty and sweaty ride to Estancia, a cattle and horse ranch near Rio Ceballos, Argentina.

The Estancia ranch really was an amazing oasis. Some of us camped in the fields in front of our host Kevin´s house and others stayed in the dorm attached to the main house. Kevin´s family has owned the ranch since the late 1500s and he has been hosting Dragoman groups for almost 30 years. He has 120 horses on the ranch. They were the most beautiful horses I´ve ever seen! We spent the first evening drinking Kevin´s special "Estancia Reserve" wine and the next two days riding horses on the property. It was truly relaxing.

It was a very short drive into Cordoba, Argentina from Rio Ceballos and I spent most of the day shopping for clothes to wear in Buenos Aires and trying to cool off in cafes with Fiona and Julie. After 7 days of camping, I was happy to have a bed in the Aldea Hostel even though it was probably one of the warmest nights I have ever experienced. Cordoba was hot, hot, hot! Despite the heat, Cordoba was a charming city (Argentina´s second largest) and after finding out that a few folks from Summit County, Colorado were either living or visiting Cordoba at the same time, I was really disappointed that we left at 5am the next morning for Buenos Aires....I also couldn´t believe that I was nearing the conclusion of my month-long travels with the Dragoman group and my two new amigas, Fiona and Julie!

Bolivia

After thoroughly enjoying La Paz, our group traveled off-road to the tiny village of Livichuco on the altiplano of Bolivia. We stayed in the community center, toured the village with the "presidente" and listened and danced to the village band. We ended up watching the band the morning that we were scheduled to leave, because the night before was carnaval in the town some kilometers away and our interpreter informed us after dinner, "I have bad news, the band is drunk...¨

Early in the morning on the day we left I went on my first run of the trip (at 13,500 feet) with our Dragoman guide, Ivan. It was cold and windy, but I enjoyed every minute of that run. The scenery was incredible. We were nestled between two huge peaks, with a beautiful river running through the valley. Ivan and I crossed the river and ran to the next village and back. Amazing!

After Livichuco, we drove to Potosi. Potosi is a mining town at 4200 meters and claims to be the highest city in the world. The air was thin, but the sun was shining and everyone was happy to be warm for the first time in many days. The mountain looming above the town, Cerro Rico, has been mined since the days of the Spanish conquistadors. I elected not to visit the mines, as the conditions are fairly dangerous, even for visitors. Instead, I wandered up and down the steep streets shopping with some of the other travelers in the group. I even attempted a run and got lost, spending much more time running up Potosiś hills than I would have liked!

I was so excited about our next stop...Salar de Uyuni! Uyuni was one of the main reasons I booked this trip and it did not disappoint. Salar de Uyuni is a huge salt flat. When you look across the flats (with sunglasses as the glare is incredible), it looks like you can see into infinity. After a hot, dusty ride at high speeds, the group piled out and took ¨mind-bending"photos of the flats...We then visited a train ¨cemetery¨ and traveled back, exhausted, to the town of Uyuni.

The next morning in Uyuni, I saw my first Andean flamingos! There are 3 different species of flamingos in the Andes, and according our guide, only 5 species in the world. After that first morning, on our way through the Bolivian desert, we saw 1000s more of those amazing birds...

The journey across the Bolivian desert of the altiplano took 2 dusty, driving days. The views were incredible and we topped 5020 meters at one point. A lot of people on the truck were sick from the altitude and everyone was happy when we dropped down to the tiny village of Villa Mar (middle of nowhere). We visited the Valle de Rocas and stopped off at a hot springs on the way (where I left my watch!). We spent one night in Villa Mar and were on the road again by 5 am the next day for another long day on the road to Chile.

We crossed the Chilean border in the evening and stumbled out of the truck into San Pedro, Chile. After everyone set up their tents for the night, we ventured out into the town to find dinner. The town was small and dusty but lively and set up for tourists. It was a welcome change to the very basic villages and accomodations we had been experiencing. I ate Chilean salmon and drank delicious red wine that night. The salmon cannot compare to Alaskan salmon, but I enjoyed eating my first ¨fancy¨ meal since Cusco.

Later that night, 3 of us decided to stay up late and took a star-gazing tour that lasted until 1am (after getting up at 4am that morning). San Pedro is located on the edge of the Atacama desert, the driest desert on earth and an incredibly good place to observe the stars. The English tour was not available so the 3 of us attended the Spanish version. Amazingly, I understood enough to make the experience enjoyable. We found the Southern cross, discussed the differences in the view of the sky in Alaska versus Chile, and saw the rings around Saturn through the powerful telescopes at the observatory.

Again, we piled onto ¨Amber¨ early, early the next morning for another long drive...This time to Argentina. After an incredibly long journey through ever-changing landscapes, we arrived late last night in Salta, Argentina. The differences between Salta and the places we visited in Bolivia are stark. Salta is a bustling and completely modern city (although this computer is rather ancient and slow...). Today, everyone has been going crazy buying clothes and sunscreen and other supplies that we have not seen in quite a while. I have just enjoyed watching people on the street and taking in city life from a cafe table.

Tomorrow we are traveling to a camping spot about 100 kilometers from Salta for 2 days of white water rafting.

Ciao for now,
Kelly