So Chris just recapped our first two months of traveling in the post below, and I guess I’ll recap what I’ve learned after seven days of Spanish courses. We go for three hours a day, Monday through Friday, and we’re into our second week. So far, I’ve logged 18 hours of classroom time and about 10 hours of studying at home. And this is what I’ve got:
culo: in most Spanish speaking countries this is the word for butt, but in Chile it is the derogatory/naughty word for butt. Use with caution.
Past tense:
Verb tenses made me hate Spanish and eventually quit it in high school. Learning it again isn’t helping me attain any new affection for this nonsense. Once upon a time in English class, I learned what the perfect preterit, indefinite preterit, and imperfect preterit were, but those days are long gone. Calling it preterito perfecto, preterito indefinido, preterito imperfecto, and preterito pluscuamperfecto (I swear to God, I am not making that last word up) does not help me learn it any better, no matter what the language is.
Chilenismos are dumb:
Chilenismos are little slang words that are only used in Chile. People here have a tendency to talk really really fast and then they throw in all these weird words that don’t exist anywhere else. Or they decide to conjugate verbs in a completely different way. It gets confusing. But I must say that I like one Chilenismo that describes ugly shoes worn around the house: chancletas.
Pronounced CHAN-KLE-TAS – it’s a good onomatopoeia; even if you have no idea what it means, looking at someone’s shoes and saying, “chancleta” gets the point across. The word just sounds bitchy. I would like sassy black girls in the states to start using that word immediately.
Putting the wrong emPHAsis on the wrong syLABle:
OK, so you have the words ‘mama’ and ‘papa’. I’m sure you’re like, “Duh. I know what those words mean.” But, you also have mama’ and papa’… please excuse my English keyboard, those are supposed to be accents over the last A’s. So when the accent is there, you pronounce it maMA and paPA. MaMA and paPA mean mother and father, while plain mama and papa mean breast and potato, respectively. So look out for that one.
It’s funny when your Spanish teachers don’t speak English and try to pronounce English words:
In our class, the Spanish language is butchered and raped approximately every five seconds by us students, so when our non-English speaking teachers try out an English word, it can be a nice entertaining break. My afternoon teacher Claudia always has issues with the word ‘corner’. She cannot say it. It always comes out, “Ka, ka, kaaarner?” It’s great.
I also like how everyone here calls Chris “Kareese” or simply “Kreese”. In El Bolson, the woman that ran our hostel called Chris, “Meesta Kreese”. Feel free to use that when he returns home.
So yes, I’m learning things. My Spanish has improved to the point where I can read it better and understand it a bit better. I still speak like a four year old with a massive head injury, but these are things that can be improved.
I am going to make dinner now… wait, Yo voy a hacer la cena ahora. YESSSSS!!!!!!!
Monday, March 31, 2008
Two Month Recap
We have now been on the road for two months. Here is a short recap of what we’ve gone through during that time.
Key stats: two months, three countries, travel by plane, bus, taxi, metro, boat, bicycle and car, finished one third of the trip and spent half of my money (for the math impaired out there - this is not a good thing), one stolen backpack, one lost soap holder, three illnesses, zero hospital visits, zero invitations to join some rich people on their yachts to tour the world.
Bus rides have been a huge part of our trip so far. In fact, we have spent 158.5 hours on various buses. That’s over six and a half full days or greater than 10% of our vacation. This only includes bus rides to get from one city to another. There have been additional bus time for things like rafting excursions. The main trips break down like this:
Rio de Janeiro to Buenos Aires 45 hours (3 hour delay due to broken AC)
Buenos Aires to Rio Gallegos 36 hours
Ushuaia to Puerto Natales 12 hours
Puerto Natales to El Calafate 5 hours
El Calafate to El Bolson 33 hours
El Bolson to Bariloche 2 hours
Bariloche to San Rafael 16 hours
San Rafael to Santiago 9.5 hours
This weekend we will take a bus out to Valparaiso and back from Santiago. This is about an hour each way. Then we actually get to fly again to get to our next destination. We will be taking more buses in the next countries we visit and from what I hear this is going to suck. The buses in Argentina and Chile are supposed to be really good and for the most part I would agree with that statement. From what I have heard about buses in Bolivia, Peru, etc I am not looking forward to verifying.
A lot of the new things I have experienced down here I like and would like to implement them in the states. These things include in no particular order:
Siesta time – While it can be annoying when everything is shut down at the same time, I’m sure there is a way to work this out.
Salsa as a condiment – This is a simple idea that just makes too much sense to not be happening worldwide. If I were running for president, this would be one of my campaign platforms - “salsa for everyone.”
Liter sized beers – Why serve someone a pint or twelve ounces when you can serve them about two and a half times that much?
Snacks with beer orders – Almost everywhere down here serves up a snack when you order a beer (peanuts, some sort of cheese crisp thing, a kind of chex mix snack, olives (disgusting), bread, potato chips, etc.)
What appears to be a complete void of lawyers – I say this because there seems to be a certain amount of lawlessness that can only be enjoyed in a society that doesn’t know the meaning of litigation. There is a lot more self-responsibility down here. e.g. - If you get hurt doing something stupid it’s your fault and no one else’s.
Empanadas – delicious…except when they have olives in them.
Inexpensive wine – Notice I write inexpensive and not cheap. We’ve had some pretty good wine for around a buck.
Ok, now on to some things I don’t like:
Mayonnaise – The most vile of all condiments is a crowd favorite down here. I know that it is big in the States, but it’s even bigger here and that just makes me sad.
No pepper on the table – There is salt and usually sugar, but no pepper. I just don’t get it.
Dirty toilet paper – Most of the sewer systems down here are too old to accommodate the flushing of toilet paper down the drain. So, you have to put your used t.p. in the trash can. Along with everyone else’s used toilet paper, this can make for an unpleasant smell and a precarious pile of poo-polluted rubbish.
Dog-doo on the sidewalks – Walking through almost every city/town in South America has been like navigating a minefield.
Not knowing what anyone is saying – Everyone keeps speaking some weird language down here. What’s up with that?
Mullets and faux-hawks – They’re everywhere and that makes me scared to get a haircut. I will probably wind up having to shave my head.
The plunging value of the US dollar – This was supposed to be a cheap place to spend a long vacation. I leave the country for two months and everything costs twice as much down here as it should relative to the dollar. What the hell are you guys doing back there?
Some things I’m still on the fence about. These include:
Pedestrians not having the right-of-way – It bothers me in Hawaii how the pedestrian has all but taken over the road. People just walk out into the street when cars are coming and that’s perfectly ok, because there are actually cross walks where there are no lights, signs or intersections. These people cause me a great deal of frustration and they would all be dead or crippled if they lived down here. Just look before you cross the street. It’s that simple. Or so it would seem…Down here you have to look both ways and then sprint because someone is lurking in their car waiting for you to step off the curb. Even if you have the green walk sign and are in the crosswalk at an intersection, you are lucky if you get a horn honk before someone tries to turn and run you over.
All right; I can only think of one thing to be on the fence about right now. I’ll let you know when I come up with some more. Anyone who is still reading this is probably pretty tired of hearing me ramble and rant anyway. So, hasta luego.
Key stats: two months, three countries, travel by plane, bus, taxi, metro, boat, bicycle and car, finished one third of the trip and spent half of my money (for the math impaired out there - this is not a good thing), one stolen backpack, one lost soap holder, three illnesses, zero hospital visits, zero invitations to join some rich people on their yachts to tour the world.
Bus rides have been a huge part of our trip so far. In fact, we have spent 158.5 hours on various buses. That’s over six and a half full days or greater than 10% of our vacation. This only includes bus rides to get from one city to another. There have been additional bus time for things like rafting excursions. The main trips break down like this:
Rio de Janeiro to Buenos Aires 45 hours (3 hour delay due to broken AC)
Buenos Aires to Rio Gallegos 36 hours
Ushuaia to Puerto Natales 12 hours
Puerto Natales to El Calafate 5 hours
El Calafate to El Bolson 33 hours
El Bolson to Bariloche 2 hours
Bariloche to San Rafael 16 hours
San Rafael to Santiago 9.5 hours
This weekend we will take a bus out to Valparaiso and back from Santiago. This is about an hour each way. Then we actually get to fly again to get to our next destination. We will be taking more buses in the next countries we visit and from what I hear this is going to suck. The buses in Argentina and Chile are supposed to be really good and for the most part I would agree with that statement. From what I have heard about buses in Bolivia, Peru, etc I am not looking forward to verifying.
A lot of the new things I have experienced down here I like and would like to implement them in the states. These things include in no particular order:
Siesta time – While it can be annoying when everything is shut down at the same time, I’m sure there is a way to work this out.
Salsa as a condiment – This is a simple idea that just makes too much sense to not be happening worldwide. If I were running for president, this would be one of my campaign platforms - “salsa for everyone.”
Liter sized beers – Why serve someone a pint or twelve ounces when you can serve them about two and a half times that much?
Snacks with beer orders – Almost everywhere down here serves up a snack when you order a beer (peanuts, some sort of cheese crisp thing, a kind of chex mix snack, olives (disgusting), bread, potato chips, etc.)
What appears to be a complete void of lawyers – I say this because there seems to be a certain amount of lawlessness that can only be enjoyed in a society that doesn’t know the meaning of litigation. There is a lot more self-responsibility down here. e.g. - If you get hurt doing something stupid it’s your fault and no one else’s.
Empanadas – delicious…except when they have olives in them.
Inexpensive wine – Notice I write inexpensive and not cheap. We’ve had some pretty good wine for around a buck.
Ok, now on to some things I don’t like:
Mayonnaise – The most vile of all condiments is a crowd favorite down here. I know that it is big in the States, but it’s even bigger here and that just makes me sad.
No pepper on the table – There is salt and usually sugar, but no pepper. I just don’t get it.
Dirty toilet paper – Most of the sewer systems down here are too old to accommodate the flushing of toilet paper down the drain. So, you have to put your used t.p. in the trash can. Along with everyone else’s used toilet paper, this can make for an unpleasant smell and a precarious pile of poo-polluted rubbish.
Dog-doo on the sidewalks – Walking through almost every city/town in South America has been like navigating a minefield.
Not knowing what anyone is saying – Everyone keeps speaking some weird language down here. What’s up with that?
Mullets and faux-hawks – They’re everywhere and that makes me scared to get a haircut. I will probably wind up having to shave my head.
The plunging value of the US dollar – This was supposed to be a cheap place to spend a long vacation. I leave the country for two months and everything costs twice as much down here as it should relative to the dollar. What the hell are you guys doing back there?
Some things I’m still on the fence about. These include:
Pedestrians not having the right-of-way – It bothers me in Hawaii how the pedestrian has all but taken over the road. People just walk out into the street when cars are coming and that’s perfectly ok, because there are actually cross walks where there are no lights, signs or intersections. These people cause me a great deal of frustration and they would all be dead or crippled if they lived down here. Just look before you cross the street. It’s that simple. Or so it would seem…Down here you have to look both ways and then sprint because someone is lurking in their car waiting for you to step off the curb. Even if you have the green walk sign and are in the crosswalk at an intersection, you are lucky if you get a horn honk before someone tries to turn and run you over.
All right; I can only think of one thing to be on the fence about right now. I’ll let you know when I come up with some more. Anyone who is still reading this is probably pretty tired of hearing me ramble and rant anyway. So, hasta luego.
Sunday, March 30, 2008
Fantislandia
We have been in Santiago for about a week now. So far it has been pretty uneventful. We’ve learned quite a bit in the short time we’ve had Spanish school. We lived with some crazy people that could probably tell you what life without electricity was like. I was laid up in bed for a couple of days sick (I think it had something to do with the food at the dirty old people’s house). Now Stef is sick with a head cold, but still able to get out and around.
Yesterday was probably our most exciting day so far. We went to Fantasilandia. It is an amusement park within the larger O’Higgins Park in Santiago. O’Higgins has a lot of empty space, a theater teaching center, an outdoor inline skating rink, an insect museum, an aquarium, some sort of indoor sports complex, and Fantasilandia.
The skating rink was kind of weird because there were people of all ages dressed in very official looking singlets and taking their skating very seriously. They all looked like the speed skaters in the winter Olympics. This must be a really big deal here, but I can’t ever remember the Chileans dominating speed skating in the Olympics. Then again, I haven’t ever paid much attention to the Olympic sport of speed skating.
Fantasilandia itself is pretty small for an amusement park and cost around $14 to get in. Most of the people there seemed to be local and most were about 7 to 14 years old.
Most of the rides were like those found at carnivals, but there were a couple of small roller coasters and a log flume, which we did not partake in, because I didn’t want to get soaked.
This worked out well because we went on one ride called Top Spin that could best be described as some sort of German torture device. I say German because there was German writing on the sides, Aus-this and Ein-that. I don’t remember exactly. It was pretty typical for a carnival ride except for the fact that you were really secured into place well. A little too well, actually. A neck / shoulder restraint came down over your head. A t-bar closed in between your legs and there was a big bulb in the seat between your legs. It was a little faded, but I think the patented name for the safety restraint was “The Nutcracker”. Once you got in, you couldn’t move at all. And the torture was ready to start with your unwillingness to participate no longer a factor. The ride goes up in the air and spins around backwards and forwards, upside down and around. This goes on for a few minutes and then the ride stops at its top height and slowly starts to lower back down while you are facing the ground. Stef, who is not a fan of heights chose this moment to close her eyes. In retrospect, this was not such a great idea. About 10 or 15 feet above the ground the ride stops and while you are suspended there without the ability to move, except to turn your head slightly, a stream of dirty amusement park water is blasted at you. I turned my head slightly and took the brunt of it on the top of my head and also got a fair amount that made it look like I peed my pants. Stef didn’t get off so easy. With her eyes closed and mouth open because she was screaming, she wound up with a nice refreshing drink of Fantislandia. She was able to spit most of it out, and fortunately she was upside down when it happened, so gravity was on her side. But still, nobody wants that stuff in their mouth.
So that was our exciting Saturday in Santiago. We didn’t go out that night because Stef is kind of sick and I need to start watching my cash flow a little better. Today we are planning on going to Plaza de Armas, which is the oldest part of the city. We’ll probably just wander around and check out some museums or something. Then it’s back to school tomorrow. At the end of the week we plan on heading out to the coast for a few days before heading off to Paraguay.
Yesterday was probably our most exciting day so far. We went to Fantasilandia. It is an amusement park within the larger O’Higgins Park in Santiago. O’Higgins has a lot of empty space, a theater teaching center, an outdoor inline skating rink, an insect museum, an aquarium, some sort of indoor sports complex, and Fantasilandia.
The skating rink was kind of weird because there were people of all ages dressed in very official looking singlets and taking their skating very seriously. They all looked like the speed skaters in the winter Olympics. This must be a really big deal here, but I can’t ever remember the Chileans dominating speed skating in the Olympics. Then again, I haven’t ever paid much attention to the Olympic sport of speed skating.
Fantasilandia itself is pretty small for an amusement park and cost around $14 to get in. Most of the people there seemed to be local and most were about 7 to 14 years old.
Most of the rides were like those found at carnivals, but there were a couple of small roller coasters and a log flume, which we did not partake in, because I didn’t want to get soaked.
This worked out well because we went on one ride called Top Spin that could best be described as some sort of German torture device. I say German because there was German writing on the sides, Aus-this and Ein-that. I don’t remember exactly. It was pretty typical for a carnival ride except for the fact that you were really secured into place well. A little too well, actually. A neck / shoulder restraint came down over your head. A t-bar closed in between your legs and there was a big bulb in the seat between your legs. It was a little faded, but I think the patented name for the safety restraint was “The Nutcracker”. Once you got in, you couldn’t move at all. And the torture was ready to start with your unwillingness to participate no longer a factor. The ride goes up in the air and spins around backwards and forwards, upside down and around. This goes on for a few minutes and then the ride stops at its top height and slowly starts to lower back down while you are facing the ground. Stef, who is not a fan of heights chose this moment to close her eyes. In retrospect, this was not such a great idea. About 10 or 15 feet above the ground the ride stops and while you are suspended there without the ability to move, except to turn your head slightly, a stream of dirty amusement park water is blasted at you. I turned my head slightly and took the brunt of it on the top of my head and also got a fair amount that made it look like I peed my pants. Stef didn’t get off so easy. With her eyes closed and mouth open because she was screaming, she wound up with a nice refreshing drink of Fantislandia. She was able to spit most of it out, and fortunately she was upside down when it happened, so gravity was on her side. But still, nobody wants that stuff in their mouth.
So that was our exciting Saturday in Santiago. We didn’t go out that night because Stef is kind of sick and I need to start watching my cash flow a little better. Today we are planning on going to Plaza de Armas, which is the oldest part of the city. We’ll probably just wander around and check out some museums or something. Then it’s back to school tomorrow. At the end of the week we plan on heading out to the coast for a few days before heading off to Paraguay.
Thursday, March 27, 2008
T-Shirts
There are a lot of t-shirts down here that have English phrases on them that don’t make any sense or are funny for some other reason. They’re always written with some kind of sparkly lettering or bright colors with italics or some sort of weird font to attract the most attention. I doubt the people wearing them even know what they mean. Here is a quick list of some that we have seen. Most are from Argentina. A couple might have been in Chile.
“Pull up the Emotion Journey and Free Tales”
“You Still Love Him Do Him” (The Love was a heart symbol)
“Girl So Cute So Fun”
“Love to Fresh”
“Burn in Duff Homer” – It had a picture of an evil looking Homer in Hell-like flames pounding a Duff. There are a lot of Simpson t-shirts down here.
“What are you looking at why don’t you tell me boy?”
“Happy Anniversary Milkfed Mother” The silver letters formed the shape of a heart and the shirt was lime green.
“Get Ready to Jump” – This was worn by a kind-of slutty looking girl who was probably no older than 15. It had sparkly silver letters on a black shirt.
“Club
Discoteque
Think
Positiv
Feels” – This was a white shirt with pink letters, some of which were made out of polk-a-dots.
“motor oil” – This was written in grey cursive letters that were embroidered on a lime green shirt.
“Run Forrest” – This one had a picture of a condom with stick arms and legs running.
There are also a lot of shirts that just say something like “sexy” or “hot”, but they are worn by someone that is quite the opposite, but I guess that happens in the States too. When I see it down here, though, it makes me wonder if they know what the words on their shirt mean.
That’s all for now, but I’m sure there will be plenty more in the future. Hopefully we can even get some pics.
“Pull up the Emotion Journey and Free Tales”
“You Still Love Him Do Him” (The Love was a heart symbol)
“Girl So Cute So Fun”
“Love to Fresh”
“Burn in Duff Homer” – It had a picture of an evil looking Homer in Hell-like flames pounding a Duff. There are a lot of Simpson t-shirts down here.
“What are you looking at why don’t you tell me boy?”
“Happy Anniversary Milkfed Mother” The silver letters formed the shape of a heart and the shirt was lime green.
“Get Ready to Jump” – This was worn by a kind-of slutty looking girl who was probably no older than 15. It had sparkly silver letters on a black shirt.
“Club
Discoteque
Think
Positiv
Feels” – This was a white shirt with pink letters, some of which were made out of polk-a-dots.
“motor oil” – This was written in grey cursive letters that were embroidered on a lime green shirt.
“Run Forrest” – This one had a picture of a condom with stick arms and legs running.
There are also a lot of shirts that just say something like “sexy” or “hot”, but they are worn by someone that is quite the opposite, but I guess that happens in the States too. When I see it down here, though, it makes me wonder if they know what the words on their shirt mean.
That’s all for now, but I’m sure there will be plenty more in the future. Hopefully we can even get some pics.
Hablamos Espanol
Chris and I are wrapping up our first week in Santiago taking Spanish classes at Escuela Bellavista. The house with the old people was too much to handle, and we told the school we wanted to leave. On Tuesday, we got out.
After escaping from the crazy old people (“Ooooooo, you must take a da soup! Pepe he loooooooooove the soup! Everyday, Pepe he take the soup!”) we made it to a home that rents rooms by the week or month for various students. We now have our own room and share a kitchen and bathroom with a Chilean girl studying theatre and a Chinese guy studying Spanish. It’s not the best environment to practice more Spanish, but they have WiFi and the magical SAP button on the remote that changes the audio on the television from Spanish to English.
Chris was sick on Monday (and Sunday and part of Tuesday) suffering from the Chilean two-step, probably as a result of eating food that had been set out for some time off dirty plates at Señor Pepe and Señora Angelica’s house. He missed his first day of school and I went on without him. But he’s better now and we’re in the same Spanish class with about 4 other people.
We study for three hours a day with two separate teachers. The class is all in Spanish (our teachers don’t speak English very well) and it’s been a really worthwhile experience. Everyone in the class in their early to mid twenties and we all seem to be on about the same level... which is pretty basic but not completely retarded. We have a guy from Utah that’s living here with his half-Chilean son and ex-wife that fled the US after embezzling money, a guy from New Mexico that is a drum line teacher/coach and is able to teach via a webcam and MySpace to his students in Las Cruces, an English girl who is in Santiago for one year to teach English and needs to learn how to talk to her beginner students in Spanish, and a Swiss girl who is a librarian and here to visit some of her family from Italy that immigrated to Chile.
We spend time speaking to each other in Spanish, learning grammar, doing little exercises like pretending to order food at a restaurant, the professors mime a lot of things due to our inability to understand, and we have homework. Tomorrow we’re learning past tense… very exciting. I like going to school again and I like walking to the subway every morning with a purpose and a place to go. Tomorrow night we get to learn salsa, so that should be fun too.
This weekend we might try and take a bus to the coast to see some vineyards and the ocean. I finally was able to put up photos from San Rafael, so that’s on the photo page under Argentina. Enjoy!
After escaping from the crazy old people (“Ooooooo, you must take a da soup! Pepe he loooooooooove the soup! Everyday, Pepe he take the soup!”) we made it to a home that rents rooms by the week or month for various students. We now have our own room and share a kitchen and bathroom with a Chilean girl studying theatre and a Chinese guy studying Spanish. It’s not the best environment to practice more Spanish, but they have WiFi and the magical SAP button on the remote that changes the audio on the television from Spanish to English.
Chris was sick on Monday (and Sunday and part of Tuesday) suffering from the Chilean two-step, probably as a result of eating food that had been set out for some time off dirty plates at Señor Pepe and Señora Angelica’s house. He missed his first day of school and I went on without him. But he’s better now and we’re in the same Spanish class with about 4 other people.
We study for three hours a day with two separate teachers. The class is all in Spanish (our teachers don’t speak English very well) and it’s been a really worthwhile experience. Everyone in the class in their early to mid twenties and we all seem to be on about the same level... which is pretty basic but not completely retarded. We have a guy from Utah that’s living here with his half-Chilean son and ex-wife that fled the US after embezzling money, a guy from New Mexico that is a drum line teacher/coach and is able to teach via a webcam and MySpace to his students in Las Cruces, an English girl who is in Santiago for one year to teach English and needs to learn how to talk to her beginner students in Spanish, and a Swiss girl who is a librarian and here to visit some of her family from Italy that immigrated to Chile.
We spend time speaking to each other in Spanish, learning grammar, doing little exercises like pretending to order food at a restaurant, the professors mime a lot of things due to our inability to understand, and we have homework. Tomorrow we’re learning past tense… very exciting. I like going to school again and I like walking to the subway every morning with a purpose and a place to go. Tomorrow night we get to learn salsa, so that should be fun too.
This weekend we might try and take a bus to the coast to see some vineyards and the ocean. I finally was able to put up photos from San Rafael, so that’s on the photo page under Argentina. Enjoy!
Sunday, March 23, 2008
Happy Easter from the Land of the Old
Sorry for the big vomitous mass of blogs, but we’ve been without internet for awhile.
Chris and I arrived in Santiago yesterday after a 13 hour bus ride (including a stopover in Mendoza). We were tired and stinky but decided to take the Metro line (subway) to our new host family’s home. We are here to study Spanish for the next two weeks.
We found the place without too much trouble (it’s in a nice suburban neighborhood called Providencia), and waited at the door for our host family to answer. And waited. And waited. Finally, a little teeny tiny old man answered the door and let us into an apartment that was covered in photos of the Pope (the dead one). He explained he was napping and didn’t hear the door bell. He really doesn’t speak much English and smokes more than anyone I’ve ever seen. His name is Jose, but his nickname is Pepe… I like to call him Señor Pepe. After twenty or so minutes of awkward Spanish small talk, Señor Pepe’s wife Angelica came out to greet us. She’s pretty much deaf so she didn’t hear us for awhile. She speaks a little English but is also scatterbrained and has lots of Senior Moments, to put it in a nice way. They are both SUPER nice but holy cow, I can’t do this for two weeks.
They forget what they tell us repeatedly and Chris and I both know that their one son is in New York in a play called Dark Continent, they have 10 children, they are approximately 81 years old (each), they’ve visited New York and Miami, Angelica loves the country and is seriously upset they moved to Santiago (this happened about 30 or 40 years ago) but they had to because of the children and their education, she loves horses, Señor Pepe grew up in a winery, and it’s really a shame that Chris and I aren’t Catholic, married, or with children because really, our lives would be much happier if we were… especially if we were Catholic. We know all of this because this is what we were told, over and over, for about three hours yesterday. I guess repetition is a good way to learn Spanish, or to be converted to Catholicism.
This morning at breakfast we were brought out milk for our tea three times (even though we kept saying we didn’t want any), Angelica and Señor Pepe fought over who was supposed to bring us bread, I was told not to eat my eggs until the bread came because it was better that way, Chris had to open the milk container we didn’t want, Señor Pepe had some several smoke induced coughing fits, we were asked if we wanted scrambled eggs or fried, then asked again, then asked again for good measure, told to eat some fruit, and then the hot water for the tea was taken away and they disappeared, only to reappear later to take away some sugar. It’s so weird. Combine that with the fact that Chris accidentally walked in on Angelica in the bathroom that was supposed to be for our use, and cold boiled chicken, eggs, and potatoes for dinner on plates with crusted on food. And I honestly feel bad even talking about this, like I’m making fun of them or something, but this how it is and it’s really funny.
What’s not funny is that the house is really filthy and the smoking is seriously out of control. When we signed up for this program, we specified we didn’t want a house with cats because we are both allergic, we like to go out, and we don’t smoke. I don’t think the screening process is all that thorough. And it costs a lot more to stay here than it would to stay in a hostel so when I finally get around to meeting someone at this school, I think we’re going to put in for a transfer. Chris wants to sneak out in the middle of the night because he’s pretty sure when Angelica and Señor Pepe wake up the next morning, they’ll either forget we were ever here, or just think the two weeks are up. I told him he was a coward; he says that’s how the Colts got out of Baltimore.
Chris and I arrived in Santiago yesterday after a 13 hour bus ride (including a stopover in Mendoza). We were tired and stinky but decided to take the Metro line (subway) to our new host family’s home. We are here to study Spanish for the next two weeks.
We found the place without too much trouble (it’s in a nice suburban neighborhood called Providencia), and waited at the door for our host family to answer. And waited. And waited. Finally, a little teeny tiny old man answered the door and let us into an apartment that was covered in photos of the Pope (the dead one). He explained he was napping and didn’t hear the door bell. He really doesn’t speak much English and smokes more than anyone I’ve ever seen. His name is Jose, but his nickname is Pepe… I like to call him Señor Pepe. After twenty or so minutes of awkward Spanish small talk, Señor Pepe’s wife Angelica came out to greet us. She’s pretty much deaf so she didn’t hear us for awhile. She speaks a little English but is also scatterbrained and has lots of Senior Moments, to put it in a nice way. They are both SUPER nice but holy cow, I can’t do this for two weeks.
They forget what they tell us repeatedly and Chris and I both know that their one son is in New York in a play called Dark Continent, they have 10 children, they are approximately 81 years old (each), they’ve visited New York and Miami, Angelica loves the country and is seriously upset they moved to Santiago (this happened about 30 or 40 years ago) but they had to because of the children and their education, she loves horses, Señor Pepe grew up in a winery, and it’s really a shame that Chris and I aren’t Catholic, married, or with children because really, our lives would be much happier if we were… especially if we were Catholic. We know all of this because this is what we were told, over and over, for about three hours yesterday. I guess repetition is a good way to learn Spanish, or to be converted to Catholicism.
This morning at breakfast we were brought out milk for our tea three times (even though we kept saying we didn’t want any), Angelica and Señor Pepe fought over who was supposed to bring us bread, I was told not to eat my eggs until the bread came because it was better that way, Chris had to open the milk container we didn’t want, Señor Pepe had some several smoke induced coughing fits, we were asked if we wanted scrambled eggs or fried, then asked again, then asked again for good measure, told to eat some fruit, and then the hot water for the tea was taken away and they disappeared, only to reappear later to take away some sugar. It’s so weird. Combine that with the fact that Chris accidentally walked in on Angelica in the bathroom that was supposed to be for our use, and cold boiled chicken, eggs, and potatoes for dinner on plates with crusted on food. And I honestly feel bad even talking about this, like I’m making fun of them or something, but this how it is and it’s really funny.
What’s not funny is that the house is really filthy and the smoking is seriously out of control. When we signed up for this program, we specified we didn’t want a house with cats because we are both allergic, we like to go out, and we don’t smoke. I don’t think the screening process is all that thorough. And it costs a lot more to stay here than it would to stay in a hostel so when I finally get around to meeting someone at this school, I think we’re going to put in for a transfer. Chris wants to sneak out in the middle of the night because he’s pretty sure when Angelica and Señor Pepe wake up the next morning, they’ll either forget we were ever here, or just think the two weeks are up. I told him he was a coward; he says that’s how the Colts got out of Baltimore.
On Food
It’s almost time to leave Argentina, and Chris and I are ready to go. It’s been good, but we’re done with Patagonia and trekking, and traveling to towns where everything is pretty much the same. Plus, the food isn’t all that great out here. Whoever said that Argentina is known for their beef is a liar or an idiot because this place is the home of ham. Ham ham ham ham ham HAM! I hate ham.
But to be fair, the food here isn’t horrible, but it’s just not very good. Everything is pretty bland and everything contains the dreaded ham. Here’s a rundown of what we’ve been eating:
Pizza
The pizza places here have managed to copy Pizza Hut pan crust perfectly, every single place, all over the country; and that’s not a bad thing. Pizzas come with ham, cheese, whole olives with the pit, and hard boiled eggs. Of course there are other options, but that seems to be the general favorite.
Milanesa
Think of chicken fried steak. Now, put a few wedges of lemon on it, and squirt a bunch of mustard or mayonnaise on it. Yay, now you have milanesa. You also have the option of chicken or veal, and I like mine with a fried egg on top. Of course you can get the milanesa completa which comes with ham, cheese, and marinara sauce on top.
Migas
Remember in elementary school when it was Halloween and some kid would show up white bread and American cheese sandwiches cut into the shapes of pumpkins with a cookie cutter? Or maybe heart shapes on Valentine’s Day? That’s basically a miga sandwich, except its white bread with just the crusts cut off, and a very small slice of ham added to the cheese slice. You can get them toasted in some places and you can get other ingredients in them as well, like lettuce, tomato, or tuna. I don’t like them because they always retain the taste of the plastic container they were held in. On long bus rides, we always get migas.
Helado
They all scream for ice cream in Argentina. It’s cheap and good and there are some interesting flavors. The smallest cone with two big scoops of ice cream will run you about $1. I had one that was flavored with the local calafate berry and mixed with sheep’s milk instead of the moo-cow variety, it was good. We’ve gotten banana split flavor, fruit with chocolate, chocolate with almond, mint chocolate, strawberry, almond, and some flavors we couldn’t translate. This is the only type of food without a ham option.
Parillas
A parilla is a restaurant that carries all the flesh you can handle. Most people opt for the buffet. The salad bar consists of shredded carrots, sliced tomatoes, lettuce, Russian salad (potato salad), pickled rabbit (no joke), beets, hard boiled eggs, giant white beans in a vinegar sauce, eggplant in a vinegar sauce, etc. Then, when you’re done with that, the waiter will bring you meat, meat, and more meat. I’ve noticed that the meat and fish in Argentina comes with more of their animal features attached. You get fish tails and scales and sometimes heads, your shrimp have heads and eyes and legs and have not been de-veined. Shell fish is a gritty, sandy, awful mess. Pork, chicken, and beef come with the bones and gristle.
So for your parilla buffet expect roasted chicken and lamb (bones included), big gristly well done cuts of beef (I have yet to see anything medium or medium rare, even if you ask for it), several types of sausage, and of course, pork and HAM.
Superpanchos
The Argentine foot long hotdog. They also go for around $1 and Chris contends that the Costco Kosher dogs with a drink included are a much better deal. Superpanchos usually come boiled and have a sickly grey/pink color. The superpanchos have a variety of condiments including shoestring potato chips sprinkled on top. You can smother yours with mayonnaise, mayonnaise mixed with ketchup (salsa golf is the name), mayonnaise mixed with lemon juice, ketchup, or mustard. Of course, you can also get ham and cheese on your superpancho.
Pasta
A lot of Italians settled in Argentina and most Argentine people fancy themselves Italian, too bad their food isn’t even close. When you order pasta, you have a choice that usually includes spaghetti, ravioli, or gnocchi. Then, you choose what kind of sauce (they call it salsa) you want. The salsas are the typical tomato, meat sauce, cream, or pesto variety. But the killer is that you have to pay extra for the sauce. If the noodles are $4, the sauce will be about $3. I think that’s annoying.
Drinks
Bottled water always costs more than soda, which is troublesome for the girl who never drinks Coke or Pepsi. Coffee in a lot of places is like Nescafe, and if I drank coffee I think that would gross me out. Beer comes in liters, so when going out to a restaurant, it looks like everyone is kicking back with a 40 oz. Wine is good and cheap and plentiful. The submarino is steamed milk with a chocolate bar dunked in, and sugar on the side; basically a lazy person’s chocolate milk. Juice usually comes fresh squeezed and involves a lot of pomp in the presentation with whipped cream, sugar, wafers, and other little bits attached. Tea is also on every menu and people seem to enjoy it for most meals.
Vegetarian
The vegetarian options here are total BS. If you are a vegan just don’t even come here. For about 9 months, I was not eating dairy or eggs or most anything animal derived. There is no way that would work here. The vegetarian options are cheese, eggs, cream, milk, and fish. Basically, everything you already get, without the ham.
Fruits and Veggies
Not really a very popular food group in Argentina. You vegetables usually come as French fries (papas fritas) or as a wilty piece of lettuce with a sad little tomato. Most days, I feel like I’m getting scurvy.
BUT if you go to the grocery store, there are good plums, bananas, tomatoes, and avocados to be had.
Dinner starts around 10pm. Even little kids are up eating dinner this late. Everyone has a siesta in the afternoon. The stores and schools and offices close down for about 3 hours, and everyone heads home. I think this is pretty cool and probably makes everyone more productive in the afternoon, plus it’s a good way to catch up with the family and get some stuff done around the house, or to just take a nap.
I could go on, but I think I got all of the major stuff. So next time you’re in Argentina, order the above 5 or 6 things with pride, and realize that’s about all you’re going to get.
But to be fair, the food here isn’t horrible, but it’s just not very good. Everything is pretty bland and everything contains the dreaded ham. Here’s a rundown of what we’ve been eating:
Pizza
The pizza places here have managed to copy Pizza Hut pan crust perfectly, every single place, all over the country; and that’s not a bad thing. Pizzas come with ham, cheese, whole olives with the pit, and hard boiled eggs. Of course there are other options, but that seems to be the general favorite.
Milanesa
Think of chicken fried steak. Now, put a few wedges of lemon on it, and squirt a bunch of mustard or mayonnaise on it. Yay, now you have milanesa. You also have the option of chicken or veal, and I like mine with a fried egg on top. Of course you can get the milanesa completa which comes with ham, cheese, and marinara sauce on top.
Migas
Remember in elementary school when it was Halloween and some kid would show up white bread and American cheese sandwiches cut into the shapes of pumpkins with a cookie cutter? Or maybe heart shapes on Valentine’s Day? That’s basically a miga sandwich, except its white bread with just the crusts cut off, and a very small slice of ham added to the cheese slice. You can get them toasted in some places and you can get other ingredients in them as well, like lettuce, tomato, or tuna. I don’t like them because they always retain the taste of the plastic container they were held in. On long bus rides, we always get migas.
Helado
They all scream for ice cream in Argentina. It’s cheap and good and there are some interesting flavors. The smallest cone with two big scoops of ice cream will run you about $1. I had one that was flavored with the local calafate berry and mixed with sheep’s milk instead of the moo-cow variety, it was good. We’ve gotten banana split flavor, fruit with chocolate, chocolate with almond, mint chocolate, strawberry, almond, and some flavors we couldn’t translate. This is the only type of food without a ham option.
Parillas
A parilla is a restaurant that carries all the flesh you can handle. Most people opt for the buffet. The salad bar consists of shredded carrots, sliced tomatoes, lettuce, Russian salad (potato salad), pickled rabbit (no joke), beets, hard boiled eggs, giant white beans in a vinegar sauce, eggplant in a vinegar sauce, etc. Then, when you’re done with that, the waiter will bring you meat, meat, and more meat. I’ve noticed that the meat and fish in Argentina comes with more of their animal features attached. You get fish tails and scales and sometimes heads, your shrimp have heads and eyes and legs and have not been de-veined. Shell fish is a gritty, sandy, awful mess. Pork, chicken, and beef come with the bones and gristle.
So for your parilla buffet expect roasted chicken and lamb (bones included), big gristly well done cuts of beef (I have yet to see anything medium or medium rare, even if you ask for it), several types of sausage, and of course, pork and HAM.
Superpanchos
The Argentine foot long hotdog. They also go for around $1 and Chris contends that the Costco Kosher dogs with a drink included are a much better deal. Superpanchos usually come boiled and have a sickly grey/pink color. The superpanchos have a variety of condiments including shoestring potato chips sprinkled on top. You can smother yours with mayonnaise, mayonnaise mixed with ketchup (salsa golf is the name), mayonnaise mixed with lemon juice, ketchup, or mustard. Of course, you can also get ham and cheese on your superpancho.
Pasta
A lot of Italians settled in Argentina and most Argentine people fancy themselves Italian, too bad their food isn’t even close. When you order pasta, you have a choice that usually includes spaghetti, ravioli, or gnocchi. Then, you choose what kind of sauce (they call it salsa) you want. The salsas are the typical tomato, meat sauce, cream, or pesto variety. But the killer is that you have to pay extra for the sauce. If the noodles are $4, the sauce will be about $3. I think that’s annoying.
Drinks
Bottled water always costs more than soda, which is troublesome for the girl who never drinks Coke or Pepsi. Coffee in a lot of places is like Nescafe, and if I drank coffee I think that would gross me out. Beer comes in liters, so when going out to a restaurant, it looks like everyone is kicking back with a 40 oz. Wine is good and cheap and plentiful. The submarino is steamed milk with a chocolate bar dunked in, and sugar on the side; basically a lazy person’s chocolate milk. Juice usually comes fresh squeezed and involves a lot of pomp in the presentation with whipped cream, sugar, wafers, and other little bits attached. Tea is also on every menu and people seem to enjoy it for most meals.
Vegetarian
The vegetarian options here are total BS. If you are a vegan just don’t even come here. For about 9 months, I was not eating dairy or eggs or most anything animal derived. There is no way that would work here. The vegetarian options are cheese, eggs, cream, milk, and fish. Basically, everything you already get, without the ham.
Fruits and Veggies
Not really a very popular food group in Argentina. You vegetables usually come as French fries (papas fritas) or as a wilty piece of lettuce with a sad little tomato. Most days, I feel like I’m getting scurvy.
BUT if you go to the grocery store, there are good plums, bananas, tomatoes, and avocados to be had.
Dinner starts around 10pm. Even little kids are up eating dinner this late. Everyone has a siesta in the afternoon. The stores and schools and offices close down for about 3 hours, and everyone heads home. I think this is pretty cool and probably makes everyone more productive in the afternoon, plus it’s a good way to catch up with the family and get some stuff done around the house, or to just take a nap.
I could go on, but I think I got all of the major stuff. So next time you’re in Argentina, order the above 5 or 6 things with pride, and realize that’s about all you’re going to get.
Don't Cry For Me Argentina
I figured I couldn’t leave Argentina without a quote from Evita, so there it is, stuck in the title.
We’re currently holed up in a small town south of Mendoza called San Rafael. I’m really glad that we came here because it’s not a very touristy town and I feel like we’re getting to see just a regular town… plus its super cheap. We found out about this place through our 4x4 guide in Ushuaia; he grew up in San Rafael. There are about 100,000 people here and it’s still warm (it was getting cold down south). They are known for their rafting and their bodegas (wineries).
Because we’re in a regular town, we decided it was a good place to go bowling. Actually, we just kind of stumbled on the bowling alley. It was about 5 lanes and attached to a movie theatre. Inside the bowling area there were also pool tables and air hockey and foos ball. Everything was pretty run down and Chris and I were the only people in there not born in the 1990’s, but we were also the only people allowed to drink beer while bowling, so there! Chris wanted me to make sure to mention that he beat me in both games of bowling and in our one game of air hockey. He rules, I suck. Blah blah blah.
Today, we rented bikes to ride to some of the bodegas. The first one had a tour starting up so we walked through a 30 minute tour completely in Spanish. Anytime our guide mentioned a number or type of wine or food, I understood, but for the most part, I had no idea what was going on. The tour guide was really nice and while we tasted some of their wine (all of this was free, by the way) he gave us the condensed English version of the tour. Turns out, we were at the oldest winery in the area, some people from France settled there in the 1860’s, and they also started up the town of San Rafael which quickly filled up with other immigrants from Europe. I bought a bottle of white wine for approx. $3.33 and we rode off to another bodega.
It’s interesting because these wineries are all pretty small so most of the wine never makes it out of the state, or the city. We took a wrong turn, and ended up at a really small bodega. One guy was standing outside and he took us into the fermentation and bottling area. He also did the tour in Spanish and spoke no English, so I really have no idea what was going on there. He did say it was a family run business and there were only 6 people who worked there. They’ve had the winery since 1933. While we were walking through the place, there were big open vats of wine fermenting, slippery small steps, low metal beams, and junk lying all over the place. Chris figured OSHA would have a field day in that place. The guide took us to try whatever wine we wanted, so we tried a Malbec (red), some type of white, and then a dessert wine. We bought the dessert wine for about $3.33 and rode off.
So that was our morning, and we wanted to visit more bodegas but we are in the land of the siesta, and everything closes from about 1 to 4:30ish. We stopped for lunch and then tried to return our bikes around 3:30 but they were also having siesta time so we had to wait until 5. Chris was upset because we had to pay for the time they were having siesta, and this cost us about $4 extra… it’s the principle of it.
Tomorrow, we hope to catch a city bus that will take us to the rafting area. Apparently, this is a big place for rafting. Easter is a big travel time for everyone here and this town (and every other town) is packed with tourists and travelers from around Argentina and the rest of South America. We had a really hard time getting a place to stay so we hope we can get a boat for rafting as well.
On Saturday at 4AM (!!!) we have a bus to catch to Mendoza, and then we change buses and head to Santiago, Chile. We start Spanish school on Monday and are living with one of the teachers and his family. Hopefully they’re normal.
We’re currently holed up in a small town south of Mendoza called San Rafael. I’m really glad that we came here because it’s not a very touristy town and I feel like we’re getting to see just a regular town… plus its super cheap. We found out about this place through our 4x4 guide in Ushuaia; he grew up in San Rafael. There are about 100,000 people here and it’s still warm (it was getting cold down south). They are known for their rafting and their bodegas (wineries).
Because we’re in a regular town, we decided it was a good place to go bowling. Actually, we just kind of stumbled on the bowling alley. It was about 5 lanes and attached to a movie theatre. Inside the bowling area there were also pool tables and air hockey and foos ball. Everything was pretty run down and Chris and I were the only people in there not born in the 1990’s, but we were also the only people allowed to drink beer while bowling, so there! Chris wanted me to make sure to mention that he beat me in both games of bowling and in our one game of air hockey. He rules, I suck. Blah blah blah.
Today, we rented bikes to ride to some of the bodegas. The first one had a tour starting up so we walked through a 30 minute tour completely in Spanish. Anytime our guide mentioned a number or type of wine or food, I understood, but for the most part, I had no idea what was going on. The tour guide was really nice and while we tasted some of their wine (all of this was free, by the way) he gave us the condensed English version of the tour. Turns out, we were at the oldest winery in the area, some people from France settled there in the 1860’s, and they also started up the town of San Rafael which quickly filled up with other immigrants from Europe. I bought a bottle of white wine for approx. $3.33 and we rode off to another bodega.
It’s interesting because these wineries are all pretty small so most of the wine never makes it out of the state, or the city. We took a wrong turn, and ended up at a really small bodega. One guy was standing outside and he took us into the fermentation and bottling area. He also did the tour in Spanish and spoke no English, so I really have no idea what was going on there. He did say it was a family run business and there were only 6 people who worked there. They’ve had the winery since 1933. While we were walking through the place, there were big open vats of wine fermenting, slippery small steps, low metal beams, and junk lying all over the place. Chris figured OSHA would have a field day in that place. The guide took us to try whatever wine we wanted, so we tried a Malbec (red), some type of white, and then a dessert wine. We bought the dessert wine for about $3.33 and rode off.
So that was our morning, and we wanted to visit more bodegas but we are in the land of the siesta, and everything closes from about 1 to 4:30ish. We stopped for lunch and then tried to return our bikes around 3:30 but they were also having siesta time so we had to wait until 5. Chris was upset because we had to pay for the time they were having siesta, and this cost us about $4 extra… it’s the principle of it.
Tomorrow, we hope to catch a city bus that will take us to the rafting area. Apparently, this is a big place for rafting. Easter is a big travel time for everyone here and this town (and every other town) is packed with tourists and travelers from around Argentina and the rest of South America. We had a really hard time getting a place to stay so we hope we can get a boat for rafting as well.
On Saturday at 4AM (!!!) we have a bus to catch to Mendoza, and then we change buses and head to Santiago, Chile. We start Spanish school on Monday and are living with one of the teachers and his family. Hopefully they’re normal.
Tuesday, March 18, 2008
The Search for Andres Frohman, Sausage King of Bariloche
We arrived in Bariloche on Saturday eager to spend the next two weeks in Spanish school and to explore our new town. The school had arranged a hostel for us to stay in for the first week and then we would be with a local family for a week. When we got to the hostel, we found out that we did not have a private room like we thought we would. Also, it seemed kind of dirty, but that might have just been because there were bloody boogers on the pillow and sheets of one of the available beds. We left our bags there and went to find another hostel.
Morgan, one of the guys we met trekking in Torres del Paine, had recommended a place called Freedom. He had also told us about a guy that sold sausage and steak sandwiches, for one and two dollars respectively, at the park. We found the hostel, but no sausages. The first two days were kind of cold and rainy and the first few restaurants we went to kind of sucked. On top of all this, no matter how many times we walked around the park, the Sausage King of Bariloche was nowhere to be seen. We decided we didn’t want to spend two weeks here and cancelled our plans for the Spanish school. (Now we are going to do that in Santiago, Chile starting next Monday.)
Yesterday, the crappy weather ended and we actually had some decent food for a good price. While I was having siesta time, (something that should be embraced worldwide and I plan to implement wherever I wind up after this trip), Stef went out and wandered around the town. She came back with reports of a chocolate museum, a chairlift, and the elusive sausage king. So we walked down to the chocolate museum. They didn’t have any more English tours for the day, so we skipped it. From what we could tell it was kind of like going to a brewery. They take you around and show you how different chocolates are made and tell you a little about the process. Unlike brewery tours in the US, this was something you had to pay for.
Next, we rode the chairlift up to a lookout and had a couple of Irish coffees. Actually, we ordered Irish coffees. We were served coffee with cognac in it. The café offered a nice view of the lake and mountains, which can be seen in the pictures for Bariloche. Also pictured are the gnomes of the magical gnome forest. This forest was part of the adventure park that included the chairlift, gnome forest, toboggan gigante, a non-functioning water-slide and a tiny gift shop or museum. I couldn’t tell which it was. The highlight was a ride on the toboggan gigante, which is kind of like a bobsled course, but a lot slower. Admission to the adventure park was 10 pesos or a little over $3.
After our awesome adventure park date, we went to buy sausage sandwiches to tide us over until dinner. The Sausage King of Bariloche turned out to not be exactly that. He sold hamburgers and steaks. So I guess Abe Frohman doesn’t have to worry just yet.
We went out for St. Patty’s Day, but there wasn’t much going on here for that. There are three Irish pubs in town, only one of which had much going on. We did have some Guinness, some sort of “Irish” stew, and of course cochebomba irlandes (Irish Carbombs). Plus we had two free green beers because we wore green clothes.
Today we are taking yet another long bus ride. This one is only about 15 hours, so maybe it won’t be so bad. We are going to San Rafael, hopefully for whitewater rafting and winery tours. After a few days there we will take another bus to Santiago, Chile for Spanish school. Right now it is time to go buy some chocolate, sandwiches and vino for the bus.
Morgan, one of the guys we met trekking in Torres del Paine, had recommended a place called Freedom. He had also told us about a guy that sold sausage and steak sandwiches, for one and two dollars respectively, at the park. We found the hostel, but no sausages. The first two days were kind of cold and rainy and the first few restaurants we went to kind of sucked. On top of all this, no matter how many times we walked around the park, the Sausage King of Bariloche was nowhere to be seen. We decided we didn’t want to spend two weeks here and cancelled our plans for the Spanish school. (Now we are going to do that in Santiago, Chile starting next Monday.)
Yesterday, the crappy weather ended and we actually had some decent food for a good price. While I was having siesta time, (something that should be embraced worldwide and I plan to implement wherever I wind up after this trip), Stef went out and wandered around the town. She came back with reports of a chocolate museum, a chairlift, and the elusive sausage king. So we walked down to the chocolate museum. They didn’t have any more English tours for the day, so we skipped it. From what we could tell it was kind of like going to a brewery. They take you around and show you how different chocolates are made and tell you a little about the process. Unlike brewery tours in the US, this was something you had to pay for.
Next, we rode the chairlift up to a lookout and had a couple of Irish coffees. Actually, we ordered Irish coffees. We were served coffee with cognac in it. The café offered a nice view of the lake and mountains, which can be seen in the pictures for Bariloche. Also pictured are the gnomes of the magical gnome forest. This forest was part of the adventure park that included the chairlift, gnome forest, toboggan gigante, a non-functioning water-slide and a tiny gift shop or museum. I couldn’t tell which it was. The highlight was a ride on the toboggan gigante, which is kind of like a bobsled course, but a lot slower. Admission to the adventure park was 10 pesos or a little over $3.
After our awesome adventure park date, we went to buy sausage sandwiches to tide us over until dinner. The Sausage King of Bariloche turned out to not be exactly that. He sold hamburgers and steaks. So I guess Abe Frohman doesn’t have to worry just yet.
We went out for St. Patty’s Day, but there wasn’t much going on here for that. There are three Irish pubs in town, only one of which had much going on. We did have some Guinness, some sort of “Irish” stew, and of course cochebomba irlandes (Irish Carbombs). Plus we had two free green beers because we wore green clothes.
Today we are taking yet another long bus ride. This one is only about 15 hours, so maybe it won’t be so bad. We are going to San Rafael, hopefully for whitewater rafting and winery tours. After a few days there we will take another bus to Santiago, Chile for Spanish school. Right now it is time to go buy some chocolate, sandwiches and vino for the bus.
Thursday, March 13, 2008
Bus ride through the 7th Circle of Hell
I’m writing this post from a nice little hostel called Hostel Altos del Sur nestled in the woods above a town in Argentina called El Bolson. We have a hammock out front, and are pretty much surrounded by trees, a few barking dogs, and nature stuff. El Bolson literally means “big bag”, and the town sits in the middle of a valley surrounded by piney trees and higher up, the Andes Mountains; mountains that appear to have snow all year long. Hippies came here in the 1970’s the build their utopia, and now their utopia consists of a touristy (but clean) main street and the same old hippies selling their hippy crap at the tri-weekly Hippy Fair. I think I’ll go back on Saturday and buy some cheap jewelry, and I cannot resist not having another fresh made waffle, topped with garden grown strawberries and boysenberries and fresh cream. It was delish. They also brew their own beers so Chris needs to get on that.
Anyway, it’s quiet here and that’s nice. And it’s really quiet here at 6:30AM when your bus drops you off about 3 hours late and the hostel is closed and you have to sit in the eating area until 8AM, waiting for someone to come in and open the place up.
If you ever want to make someone really really hate you, may I suggest a 35+ hour bus ride together from El Calafate to El Bolson, Argentina. You will be greeted by the historic Route 40, which is not paved, and constantly under construction, but not enough construction to actually pave the thing. The scenery can be nicely described as Nothing. No towns, no rivers, no people, a few emus, and a while lot of Nothing. Make it extra special by going with a company called Tasqa, as you will get seats that don’t recline, food stops at places with no food, one stale ham and cheese sandwich offered by the bus steward for the ENTIRE trip, a 3 hour layover that was never announced, one lone dinner stop at midnight, and general lateness and ass hat-ery. By the end, we were grumpy, stinky, starving, and so nasty to each other. If we’d gone a few hours further to the town of Bariloche, only one of us would have made it off the bus with all limbs intact.
I told Chris that if I ever get sent to hell, it will be that bus ride for all eternity, filled with people I can’t stand.
And in the midst of all that junk, our bus steward was so genuinely pumped and happy about his job. It was actually really great and funny and tragic at the same time. Because we spent the majority of the trip going about 15 mph, and there was a lot of random breaking, the bus steward would occasionally bust through the dividing door between him and the driver and us passengers, to point out places we might want to take a picture of. By the way, the entire trip, it looked like we were driving through the backcountry dirt roads of Arizona or New Mexico, and not the pretty parts. I have no idea what he wanted us to take a picture of, unless he was just a huge fan of dirt and shrubs. Another time, the bus braked for an armadillo to cross the road, and the steward hopped out of the bus (again, an easy thing to do when you are only going about 15 mph at top speed) and grabbed the armadillo. He then brought it on the bus for people to look at, and then hopped back off, and tossed the armadillo out. The armadillo didn’t look too impressed.
I’m also convinced they only took us to places where their cousins or friends or some other acquaintance lived. These places weren’t even rest stops, they were just random people’s home where you could use the bathroom and buy snacks they had made. One house had a baby cow and a baby alpaca that would just wander in and out of the kitchen. I have a picture of the alpaca, so look for it in the picture section soon.
It was ridiculous.
So back to nice and quiet El Bolson and my nice and quiet hostel that is playing an album right now by Mika; which is excellent. Chris is having siesta time now and tomorrow we will do a little hike out of the town to some overlook and to a cave that looks like it has a face carved into it. I guess it was done by a glacier, so I’ll probably have to squint my eyes and tilt my head a little to discern the face. There is a Red Hot Chili Pepper tribute band playing in El Bolson tonight and I half want to go, just to see if they know English or are singing everything phonetically. But after not much sleep on Hell Bus, we might just stay in tonight.
On Saturday, we are going to take a two (!!! Yay!!!) hour bus ride to the ski town of Bariloche. They are known for their Swiss style architecture, Swiss style chocolate, and microbrews. We’re going to be there for two weeks because we’ve decided to go to Spanish school for the next month. We will do two weeks in Bariloche (one week in a hostel and one week with a host family) and then two weeks in Mendoza (both weeks with another host family). The school is called La Montaña, and class sizes are 4 people maximum; they include housing and breakfast and dinner and school supplies/texts in the tuition. For one month, it will cost us $1134 each. We’ve been spending that much (actually more) just traveling so we thought we’d throw in Spanish lessons as well. The school also has three to five arranged activities each week that range from white water rafting, to tango classes, to movies, to dinners, to volunteering, etc. I’m looking forward to this and going back to school. We have four or five hours of class each day, Monday through Friday.
I think Chris is excited because he will finally be able to tell people off, like bus drivers that make you wait three hours for no reason in some random town.
Anyway, it’s quiet here and that’s nice. And it’s really quiet here at 6:30AM when your bus drops you off about 3 hours late and the hostel is closed and you have to sit in the eating area until 8AM, waiting for someone to come in and open the place up.
If you ever want to make someone really really hate you, may I suggest a 35+ hour bus ride together from El Calafate to El Bolson, Argentina. You will be greeted by the historic Route 40, which is not paved, and constantly under construction, but not enough construction to actually pave the thing. The scenery can be nicely described as Nothing. No towns, no rivers, no people, a few emus, and a while lot of Nothing. Make it extra special by going with a company called Tasqa, as you will get seats that don’t recline, food stops at places with no food, one stale ham and cheese sandwich offered by the bus steward for the ENTIRE trip, a 3 hour layover that was never announced, one lone dinner stop at midnight, and general lateness and ass hat-ery. By the end, we were grumpy, stinky, starving, and so nasty to each other. If we’d gone a few hours further to the town of Bariloche, only one of us would have made it off the bus with all limbs intact.
I told Chris that if I ever get sent to hell, it will be that bus ride for all eternity, filled with people I can’t stand.
And in the midst of all that junk, our bus steward was so genuinely pumped and happy about his job. It was actually really great and funny and tragic at the same time. Because we spent the majority of the trip going about 15 mph, and there was a lot of random breaking, the bus steward would occasionally bust through the dividing door between him and the driver and us passengers, to point out places we might want to take a picture of. By the way, the entire trip, it looked like we were driving through the backcountry dirt roads of Arizona or New Mexico, and not the pretty parts. I have no idea what he wanted us to take a picture of, unless he was just a huge fan of dirt and shrubs. Another time, the bus braked for an armadillo to cross the road, and the steward hopped out of the bus (again, an easy thing to do when you are only going about 15 mph at top speed) and grabbed the armadillo. He then brought it on the bus for people to look at, and then hopped back off, and tossed the armadillo out. The armadillo didn’t look too impressed.
I’m also convinced they only took us to places where their cousins or friends or some other acquaintance lived. These places weren’t even rest stops, they were just random people’s home where you could use the bathroom and buy snacks they had made. One house had a baby cow and a baby alpaca that would just wander in and out of the kitchen. I have a picture of the alpaca, so look for it in the picture section soon.
It was ridiculous.
So back to nice and quiet El Bolson and my nice and quiet hostel that is playing an album right now by Mika; which is excellent. Chris is having siesta time now and tomorrow we will do a little hike out of the town to some overlook and to a cave that looks like it has a face carved into it. I guess it was done by a glacier, so I’ll probably have to squint my eyes and tilt my head a little to discern the face. There is a Red Hot Chili Pepper tribute band playing in El Bolson tonight and I half want to go, just to see if they know English or are singing everything phonetically. But after not much sleep on Hell Bus, we might just stay in tonight.
On Saturday, we are going to take a two (!!! Yay!!!) hour bus ride to the ski town of Bariloche. They are known for their Swiss style architecture, Swiss style chocolate, and microbrews. We’re going to be there for two weeks because we’ve decided to go to Spanish school for the next month. We will do two weeks in Bariloche (one week in a hostel and one week with a host family) and then two weeks in Mendoza (both weeks with another host family). The school is called La Montaña, and class sizes are 4 people maximum; they include housing and breakfast and dinner and school supplies/texts in the tuition. For one month, it will cost us $1134 each. We’ve been spending that much (actually more) just traveling so we thought we’d throw in Spanish lessons as well. The school also has three to five arranged activities each week that range from white water rafting, to tango classes, to movies, to dinners, to volunteering, etc. I’m looking forward to this and going back to school. We have four or five hours of class each day, Monday through Friday.
I think Chris is excited because he will finally be able to tell people off, like bus drivers that make you wait three hours for no reason in some random town.
On Israelis
On our six weeks that we’ve had through South America, Chris and I have had the opportunity to speak with English, Australian, Swiss, Belgian, Dutch, French, German, Swedish, Finnish, American, Canadian, Scottish, Irish, Japanese, South African, and Israeli people who are also traveling… well, there are more, but those are the ones that speak English. And out of all of those different groups of people, I’d say the largest collection of people I’ve seen are from Israel. They’re bonkers for Argentina and Chile.
If you’re from Israel, you are required to spend two years in the military. Everyone has to do this; men and women. So you graduate from the Israeli equivalent of high school, and you go into the Army. When you’re done, you then pick college, a career, or for a lot of them, you take some time to travel.
When young people choose their long backpacker trips, they usually go for the cheap places and the last main, big cheap places are Southeast Asia and South and Central America. In Southeast Asia there are several Muslim majority countries that won’t let Israelis in, countries like Malaysia and Indonesia. They took the same route as pretty much every other country in the Middle East and won’t let ‘em in. When I went to Dubai a few years ago, I was told that if I had a stamp in my passport indicating I had visited Israel, I would not be allowed in the country. An obvious Goya girl like me, and even I wouldn’t be let in.
But here in South America, they’re all about the Jews (well, at least the ones that didn’t flee to here from Germany after some unsavory incidents 50+ years ago). And the Israelis are all about Patagonia. Our buses and hostel and trails and campsites have been overrun. There are restaurants and laundry mats in small towns that have no English signs or menus but do have them written in Israeli (it took me about a week to realize it wasn’t just a bunch of random squiggles and lines). Everyone I’ve chatted with so far is lovely, and the only thing I don’t understand is their affinity towards wearing Tevas and socks.
So, I guess I came to South America for the time being, to learn about Israelis. I still don’t know much, but I did hear a story about one that was held up at knife point in Buenos Aires. He too had a knife and pulled it on the would-be assailant. Both guys stared each other down for awhile, and the Argentine finally bolted. According to the guy that told me the story, “who really wants to mess with an Israeli, fresh out of the military, with a knife?” I guess the Argentine didn’t.
If you’re from Israel, you are required to spend two years in the military. Everyone has to do this; men and women. So you graduate from the Israeli equivalent of high school, and you go into the Army. When you’re done, you then pick college, a career, or for a lot of them, you take some time to travel.
When young people choose their long backpacker trips, they usually go for the cheap places and the last main, big cheap places are Southeast Asia and South and Central America. In Southeast Asia there are several Muslim majority countries that won’t let Israelis in, countries like Malaysia and Indonesia. They took the same route as pretty much every other country in the Middle East and won’t let ‘em in. When I went to Dubai a few years ago, I was told that if I had a stamp in my passport indicating I had visited Israel, I would not be allowed in the country. An obvious Goya girl like me, and even I wouldn’t be let in.
But here in South America, they’re all about the Jews (well, at least the ones that didn’t flee to here from Germany after some unsavory incidents 50+ years ago). And the Israelis are all about Patagonia. Our buses and hostel and trails and campsites have been overrun. There are restaurants and laundry mats in small towns that have no English signs or menus but do have them written in Israeli (it took me about a week to realize it wasn’t just a bunch of random squiggles and lines). Everyone I’ve chatted with so far is lovely, and the only thing I don’t understand is their affinity towards wearing Tevas and socks.
So, I guess I came to South America for the time being, to learn about Israelis. I still don’t know much, but I did hear a story about one that was held up at knife point in Buenos Aires. He too had a knife and pulled it on the would-be assailant. Both guys stared each other down for awhile, and the Argentine finally bolted. According to the guy that told me the story, “who really wants to mess with an Israeli, fresh out of the military, with a knife?” I guess the Argentine didn’t.
Tuesday, March 11, 2008
Glaciers and Grocery Stores
We left Puerto Natales a few days ago for El Calafate. The bus ride was about six hours long. A couple of those hours were spent on dirt/gravel roads going about 20 mph. This was the first town we had arrived in without arranging for a place to stay beforehand. We wondered around for a little bit checking out some decent looking hostels that were either full or out of our price-range. We eventually settled on one that cost $10 a night per person. I think it probably should have cost about $5 per night.
El Calafate is a tourist town that seems to be here just for access to the glacier national park where Perito Moreno is located. It is very similar to any other tourist town we have been to and not much different from those in the States. There is one main street with restaurants, bars and over-priced souvenir stores and that’s about it.
The first day we just hung out in town and tried out some local liquors. We had some drinks made from the calafate berry that weren’t very good and some locally made vodka that was pretty good. We also had some Argentine grappa, which surprisingly was kind of all right. The grappa I’ve had in the past tasted like an old leather shoe sole. The stuff we had here was much more pleasant.
The second day in El Calafate would have been our last, but the bus we’re taking out of town leaves at 8 pm. That’s the same time we got back from the glacier Perito Moreno. Perito Moreno is on of the only advancing glaciers in the world and it is much larger than the glaciers we saw in Torres del Paine. Because it is moving so much more, you can hear it creak and moan and you can see a lot of chunks break off. Some chunks are quite big and send out waves spreading across the lake. The big chunks usually break off at some point after I’ve been staring at the glacier through the viewfinder on my camera and then get bored and start messing with the camera settings. I did catch a couple of pieces crashing down and they are in the El Calafate photo section.
Aside from the glacier trip, the most interesting thing we’ve done in El Calafate was go to the supermercado (grocery store) to buy a beer. We grabbed a liter of Quilmes and took it to the cashier. As she started to ring it up, the cashier said something in Spanish that was met with blank stares from us. She then said something else that got the same result. A few seconds later, another woman working at the store came and took our Quilmes Cristal away. She returned with a bottle of Iguana beer. This would have been a very puzzling turn of events if the guy behind us in line hadn’t informed us in English of what was going on. Apparently, the first bottle we tried to buy was a returnable bottle. I guess the lady was telling us that we had to return it after we were done and when she couldn’t get that through to us, she had someone go get a non-returnable bottle. They didn’t have any non-returnables in Quilmes, so we wound up with the Iguana. I didn’t mind drinking the Iguana beer, but it did cost twice as much as the Cristal.
Tonight we head out on another long bus ride (30 hours). We arrive in El Bolson at 4:30 am and hopefully there will be someone to let us into our hostel. I’m sure the other people in our eight-person dorm will be pleased with our arrival and 4:30 am wake up service. El Bolson is a small town that was formed when a bunch of hippies tried to start some sort of utopia society in the ‘70’s. It should be less touristy than the places we’ve been going and we’ve heard that it is a nice place to spend a couple of days. From there we head on to Bariloche, which is a ski resort town where we might spend some time studying Spanish.
El Calafate is a tourist town that seems to be here just for access to the glacier national park where Perito Moreno is located. It is very similar to any other tourist town we have been to and not much different from those in the States. There is one main street with restaurants, bars and over-priced souvenir stores and that’s about it.
The first day we just hung out in town and tried out some local liquors. We had some drinks made from the calafate berry that weren’t very good and some locally made vodka that was pretty good. We also had some Argentine grappa, which surprisingly was kind of all right. The grappa I’ve had in the past tasted like an old leather shoe sole. The stuff we had here was much more pleasant.
The second day in El Calafate would have been our last, but the bus we’re taking out of town leaves at 8 pm. That’s the same time we got back from the glacier Perito Moreno. Perito Moreno is on of the only advancing glaciers in the world and it is much larger than the glaciers we saw in Torres del Paine. Because it is moving so much more, you can hear it creak and moan and you can see a lot of chunks break off. Some chunks are quite big and send out waves spreading across the lake. The big chunks usually break off at some point after I’ve been staring at the glacier through the viewfinder on my camera and then get bored and start messing with the camera settings. I did catch a couple of pieces crashing down and they are in the El Calafate photo section.
Aside from the glacier trip, the most interesting thing we’ve done in El Calafate was go to the supermercado (grocery store) to buy a beer. We grabbed a liter of Quilmes and took it to the cashier. As she started to ring it up, the cashier said something in Spanish that was met with blank stares from us. She then said something else that got the same result. A few seconds later, another woman working at the store came and took our Quilmes Cristal away. She returned with a bottle of Iguana beer. This would have been a very puzzling turn of events if the guy behind us in line hadn’t informed us in English of what was going on. Apparently, the first bottle we tried to buy was a returnable bottle. I guess the lady was telling us that we had to return it after we were done and when she couldn’t get that through to us, she had someone go get a non-returnable bottle. They didn’t have any non-returnables in Quilmes, so we wound up with the Iguana. I didn’t mind drinking the Iguana beer, but it did cost twice as much as the Cristal.
Tonight we head out on another long bus ride (30 hours). We arrive in El Bolson at 4:30 am and hopefully there will be someone to let us into our hostel. I’m sure the other people in our eight-person dorm will be pleased with our arrival and 4:30 am wake up service. El Bolson is a small town that was formed when a bunch of hippies tried to start some sort of utopia society in the ‘70’s. It should be less touristy than the places we’ve been going and we’ve heard that it is a nice place to spend a couple of days. From there we head on to Bariloche, which is a ski resort town where we might spend some time studying Spanish.
Sunday, March 9, 2008
Much Like Pimpin', Trekkin' Ain't Easy
On Saturday, we went to a talk about trekking through Torres del Paine. It’s a national park here in Chile. We thought there might be some day trips that we could take to see glaciers or something. About 10 minutes into the talk, I realized that the only way we were going to see anything cool was to spend a lot of money on a paid tour or to go on a camping trip. Knowing that there were better glaciers to be seen in upcoming towns on our trip, I didn’t want to spend a bunch of money to see these. And, knowing that Stefani hated camping, I quit paying attention to the guy almost right off the bat. To my surprise, the first thing Stef asked me after the talk was, “Do you want to do that five day thing on the ‘W’?” This was shocking to me, but a pleasant surprise. We went to the talk again on Sunday to take better notes.
Monday – Day 1.
We caught the bus from Puerto Natales to Torres del Paine at 7:30 am. After a two hour bus ride, an hour wait for a ferry and a short trip across a long lake we were ready to begin our voyage.
Usually, I think of solitude when I think of camping out in the middle of the wilderness. The ‘W’ at Torres del Paine was anything but. On the first day we passed around 40 people. I kind of lost track somewhere in the 20’s. Most of the people we saw only briefly, though, as we passed on the long, long trail to our campsite. The pack I carried weighed around 40 pounds and we went 15 km (That’s 9 miles to you and me Russ) in about five hours. I seriously thought I wasn’t going to make it towards the end of the first day. It seemed like we would never stop going uphill. I have to admit that Stef was a champ that day and totally kicked my butt going up the mountain. I guess I should have taken some spin classes with her because my legs were dead the last hundred meters up that mountain.
We set up camp, ate some delicious instant pasta alfredo with a mix of boxed vegetables and then went to sit and watch the glacier during sunset. The glacier was quite magnificent with blue and white jagged rows going back for several miles. We had hoped to see a chunk break off, but it didn’t happen before it got dark, so we went back to our tent to catch some sleep before starting off the next day. About 10 minutes after we left the glacier we heard a few thunderous crashes that we knew were chunks falling off of the glacier. Icebergs floating in front of the glacier the next day served as evidence of the scene we had missed the previous night.
Tuesday – Day 2.
After 15 km the first day, we stepped it up to over 22 on the second day. The pack was a little lighter, but my legs and back were a lot more tired. Never-the-less, we made better time the second day and set up camp with hopes of staying there for two nights with a day of rest before our next long hike. We hung out with our new Scandinavian friends, drank a little bit of crappy box wine and took a muscle relaxer and/or pain killer to help with the soreness/back-spasms/knee problems/shoulder problems that tend to occur when trying to hike over and around mountains with no experience.
Wednesday – Day 3.
After sleeping for around eleven hours and taking our time we decided to pack up and head on down the trail to a campsite a little closer to our final destination. It was a pay site, but we felt it would be best to cut the length of our hike down for the next day. It was a good choice to head down to the pay site. There was no way we could have gone any further than we did. At this point we were both feeling the burn of carrying too much crap over tough terrain, but at least our clothes smelled like the inside of a locker room at the end of a long season. We actually cheated on the third day, because the pay site had had bathrooms with showers and we partook.
Thursday – Day 4.
Once we put our stinky clothes back on, the showers we had taken the night before faded into non-existence. We were immediately hit with an 800 meter climb that was as steep as anything we had come across. We were on our way to Camp Torres, where we would spend the night before climbing to a lookout point before sunrise for the climatic conclusion of our trek. Watching the sunrise onto the Towers was supposed to be incredible. We decided to hike up to the lookout point in the daylight before we attempted it in darkness. It was a difficult climb and Stef had enough about halfway up. I continued on my own and finally made it to the lookout. I was rewarded with a view of the the towers, a glacier and some waterfalls flowing into a lake over 2000 feet above sea-level. The descent, like the climb, was not easy. There were loose rocks and me being tired and sloppy didn’t help.
We ate our last instant pasta dinner and went to sleep knowing that we were almost done. We heard one mistaken trekker and several mice throughout the night trying to get into our tent/backpacks. This attempted intrusion seemed to be amplified by the side-effects from the combination of painkillers and relatively empty stomachs.
Friday – Day 5, The last day.
I woke up at 5:30 and saw more stars than I had seen in many probably ten years. The hike up to the lookout point was a lot different then it was in the daytime. I completely missed the marked route, but got up there without too much trouble. I hung out and watched the sunrise, took some pictures and then headed back down the mountain. Nobody else was leaving, but it was cold, I had to go number one (and halfway down the mountain it was numero dos) and it was light out, so I didn’t think that the show was going to get any better. I was about ten minutes down the mountain when I passed someone looking up at the towers that exclaimed, “wow!” I turned to look back at the towers and saw them glowing an incredible orange. I guess I should have waited a little longer. We had perfect weather for four days and even got a perfect view for the sunrise at the towers. How could I miss the best part. Oh well, I just made my way down the mountain. Long story short, I got back and had no regrets about missing the after-sunrise effect because I made it to the bathroom in time with about two seconds to spare. We broke camp and booked down to our bus stop and wound up waiting for a few hours, had some of the best, most expensive beers we had ever had and then headed back to Puerto Natales.
Monday – Day 1.
We caught the bus from Puerto Natales to Torres del Paine at 7:30 am. After a two hour bus ride, an hour wait for a ferry and a short trip across a long lake we were ready to begin our voyage.
Usually, I think of solitude when I think of camping out in the middle of the wilderness. The ‘W’ at Torres del Paine was anything but. On the first day we passed around 40 people. I kind of lost track somewhere in the 20’s. Most of the people we saw only briefly, though, as we passed on the long, long trail to our campsite. The pack I carried weighed around 40 pounds and we went 15 km (That’s 9 miles to you and me Russ) in about five hours. I seriously thought I wasn’t going to make it towards the end of the first day. It seemed like we would never stop going uphill. I have to admit that Stef was a champ that day and totally kicked my butt going up the mountain. I guess I should have taken some spin classes with her because my legs were dead the last hundred meters up that mountain.
We set up camp, ate some delicious instant pasta alfredo with a mix of boxed vegetables and then went to sit and watch the glacier during sunset. The glacier was quite magnificent with blue and white jagged rows going back for several miles. We had hoped to see a chunk break off, but it didn’t happen before it got dark, so we went back to our tent to catch some sleep before starting off the next day. About 10 minutes after we left the glacier we heard a few thunderous crashes that we knew were chunks falling off of the glacier. Icebergs floating in front of the glacier the next day served as evidence of the scene we had missed the previous night.
Tuesday – Day 2.
After 15 km the first day, we stepped it up to over 22 on the second day. The pack was a little lighter, but my legs and back were a lot more tired. Never-the-less, we made better time the second day and set up camp with hopes of staying there for two nights with a day of rest before our next long hike. We hung out with our new Scandinavian friends, drank a little bit of crappy box wine and took a muscle relaxer and/or pain killer to help with the soreness/back-spasms/knee problems/shoulder problems that tend to occur when trying to hike over and around mountains with no experience.
Wednesday – Day 3.
After sleeping for around eleven hours and taking our time we decided to pack up and head on down the trail to a campsite a little closer to our final destination. It was a pay site, but we felt it would be best to cut the length of our hike down for the next day. It was a good choice to head down to the pay site. There was no way we could have gone any further than we did. At this point we were both feeling the burn of carrying too much crap over tough terrain, but at least our clothes smelled like the inside of a locker room at the end of a long season. We actually cheated on the third day, because the pay site had had bathrooms with showers and we partook.
Thursday – Day 4.
Once we put our stinky clothes back on, the showers we had taken the night before faded into non-existence. We were immediately hit with an 800 meter climb that was as steep as anything we had come across. We were on our way to Camp Torres, where we would spend the night before climbing to a lookout point before sunrise for the climatic conclusion of our trek. Watching the sunrise onto the Towers was supposed to be incredible. We decided to hike up to the lookout point in the daylight before we attempted it in darkness. It was a difficult climb and Stef had enough about halfway up. I continued on my own and finally made it to the lookout. I was rewarded with a view of the the towers, a glacier and some waterfalls flowing into a lake over 2000 feet above sea-level. The descent, like the climb, was not easy. There were loose rocks and me being tired and sloppy didn’t help.
We ate our last instant pasta dinner and went to sleep knowing that we were almost done. We heard one mistaken trekker and several mice throughout the night trying to get into our tent/backpacks. This attempted intrusion seemed to be amplified by the side-effects from the combination of painkillers and relatively empty stomachs.
Friday – Day 5, The last day.
I woke up at 5:30 and saw more stars than I had seen in many probably ten years. The hike up to the lookout point was a lot different then it was in the daytime. I completely missed the marked route, but got up there without too much trouble. I hung out and watched the sunrise, took some pictures and then headed back down the mountain. Nobody else was leaving, but it was cold, I had to go number one (and halfway down the mountain it was numero dos) and it was light out, so I didn’t think that the show was going to get any better. I was about ten minutes down the mountain when I passed someone looking up at the towers that exclaimed, “wow!” I turned to look back at the towers and saw them glowing an incredible orange. I guess I should have waited a little longer. We had perfect weather for four days and even got a perfect view for the sunrise at the towers. How could I miss the best part. Oh well, I just made my way down the mountain. Long story short, I got back and had no regrets about missing the after-sunrise effect because I made it to the bathroom in time with about two seconds to spare. We broke camp and booked down to our bus stop and wound up waiting for a few hours, had some of the best, most expensive beers we had ever had and then headed back to Puerto Natales.
Saturday, March 8, 2008
The Dreaded W
For some strange reason, I thought it would be a good idea to spend five days on a mountain, camping and hiking through a national park in Chile. Chris couldn’t believe it, but I figured it was something I should try. We spent last Sunday renting supplies (tent, sleeping bags, sleeping pads, stove, fuel, etc.) and getting ready to leave for Monday morning by bus.
The hike was through Torres del Paine National Park. The route is known as the W because you go up one mountain, back down, into a valley, and back up and down another mountain, making the shape of a W… and then some.
So I kept a little journal for each day, and here it goes:
Day One
Time spent hiking: 4 hour 40 minutes
Ground covered: 15 km
We took a ferry boat across a lake and hiked up to Glacier Grey. I saw my first iceberg today. Met an American from San Diego on the trail (Morgan) and a Swede (Bjorn) and a Swiss (Tim) at camp, all of whom had been on the trail for at least 3 days.
Things I love:
my new Mountain Hard Wear orange polyester/moisture wicking shirt
my hiking shoes (thanks dad and Cabelas and Merrell)
eating any kind of dinner, even crap pasta out of a package and canned veggies
Things I hate:
buggy campsites
pit toilets
Day Two
Time: 6:10
Distance: 22 km
Hiked back down the mountain from Grey and across a valley into Campo Italiano.
Things I love:
packaged pasta dinners with canned white beans added
wine in a box (like a big juice box, but better)
a small mouse hanging from a piece of wheat and trying to eat it at the same time
listening to glaciers crack and fall into the lake at night
drinking pure glacier water
Things I hate:
loud old people on day hikes, blocking the path, and smelling fresh and clean with trekking poles they will never really use
loud old people that ride horses on the trail instead of walking
horse poop on the trail
when my feet and hands get swollen (sausage fingers) from hiking
walking 22 km with a heavy backpack
the 50lb midget*
* the 50 lb midget first made an appearance on Day One about 30 minutes before we were done trekking. When I get tired, it feels like a 50 lb midget has jumped onto the back of my backpack for a ride. He follows me through the forest and jumps on when I least want him.
Day Three
Time 5:10
Distance: 17 km
We decided to skip the middle part of the W (Valle Frances) in order to gain more ground. This way, we will get to the top of the other side of the W (Torres) on Day Four with less ground to cover in one day. I’m sore and tired. Park is now known as Torres del PAINe in my ass. Bjorn and Tim from the previous night were at our camp last night and we had hot chocolate, it was great.
Things I love:
hot chocolate (even with powdered milk)
being done hiking for the day
green parrots roosting in trees by the campsite
packaged pasta dinners (still taste good!)
a shower
Things I hate:
crossing major rivers with no bridges and trying to hop on rocks with a big backpack
wet hiking shoes as a result of not hopping correctly on above mentioned rocks
stinky clothes worn three days straight
mosquitoes – they are EVERYWHERE and yet only on me
Day Four
Time 2:10
Distance 13 km
My knees are swollen, achy, and stiff. I have mosquito bites all over my face and neck. By skipping Valle Frances on Day Three, we didn’t have too far to go today. We set up camp around 2:30pm and headed up to see the Towers. They are big granite rocks that light up when the sun rises. I made it about half way up a bunch of boulders and quit. I’m done. Tomorrow, I should get up pre-dawn to see them, but I doubt I will. The walk back to the bus is almost all downhill and that will be a killer on my knees so I’m opting out of the Towers. I told Chris to take good pics.
Things I love:
being done tomorrow and the prospect of a real shower and a good meal with fresh veggies
sleeping next to running water, I like the sound
clean underwear
Chris getting me a walking stick
Things I hate:
swollen and stiff knees
heavy pack
long hiking trips
Day Five
Time 2:00
Distance 10 km
Chris got up at 5:30a and took the hour hike up the boulders to see the Towers at sunrise. I stayed in my sleeping bag. Last night, mice (or something) were trying to get into the tent so I didn’t sleep well. After sunrise, we booked it down the mountain. I hobbled a bit but the walking stick helped, it also helped give me some blisters on my hands. We made it down so quickly that we had to wait over 2 hours for the bus to take us back into town.
I’m done and I doubt I’ll do this anytime soon.
Total distance in five days: approx. 77 km, about 47 miles
The hike was through Torres del Paine National Park. The route is known as the W because you go up one mountain, back down, into a valley, and back up and down another mountain, making the shape of a W… and then some.
So I kept a little journal for each day, and here it goes:
Day One
Time spent hiking: 4 hour 40 minutes
Ground covered: 15 km
We took a ferry boat across a lake and hiked up to Glacier Grey. I saw my first iceberg today. Met an American from San Diego on the trail (Morgan) and a Swede (Bjorn) and a Swiss (Tim) at camp, all of whom had been on the trail for at least 3 days.
Things I love:
my new Mountain Hard Wear orange polyester/moisture wicking shirt
my hiking shoes (thanks dad and Cabelas and Merrell)
eating any kind of dinner, even crap pasta out of a package and canned veggies
Things I hate:
buggy campsites
pit toilets
Day Two
Time: 6:10
Distance: 22 km
Hiked back down the mountain from Grey and across a valley into Campo Italiano.
Things I love:
packaged pasta dinners with canned white beans added
wine in a box (like a big juice box, but better)
a small mouse hanging from a piece of wheat and trying to eat it at the same time
listening to glaciers crack and fall into the lake at night
drinking pure glacier water
Things I hate:
loud old people on day hikes, blocking the path, and smelling fresh and clean with trekking poles they will never really use
loud old people that ride horses on the trail instead of walking
horse poop on the trail
when my feet and hands get swollen (sausage fingers) from hiking
walking 22 km with a heavy backpack
the 50lb midget*
* the 50 lb midget first made an appearance on Day One about 30 minutes before we were done trekking. When I get tired, it feels like a 50 lb midget has jumped onto the back of my backpack for a ride. He follows me through the forest and jumps on when I least want him.
Day Three
Time 5:10
Distance: 17 km
We decided to skip the middle part of the W (Valle Frances) in order to gain more ground. This way, we will get to the top of the other side of the W (Torres) on Day Four with less ground to cover in one day. I’m sore and tired. Park is now known as Torres del PAINe in my ass. Bjorn and Tim from the previous night were at our camp last night and we had hot chocolate, it was great.
Things I love:
hot chocolate (even with powdered milk)
being done hiking for the day
green parrots roosting in trees by the campsite
packaged pasta dinners (still taste good!)
a shower
Things I hate:
crossing major rivers with no bridges and trying to hop on rocks with a big backpack
wet hiking shoes as a result of not hopping correctly on above mentioned rocks
stinky clothes worn three days straight
mosquitoes – they are EVERYWHERE and yet only on me
Day Four
Time 2:10
Distance 13 km
My knees are swollen, achy, and stiff. I have mosquito bites all over my face and neck. By skipping Valle Frances on Day Three, we didn’t have too far to go today. We set up camp around 2:30pm and headed up to see the Towers. They are big granite rocks that light up when the sun rises. I made it about half way up a bunch of boulders and quit. I’m done. Tomorrow, I should get up pre-dawn to see them, but I doubt I will. The walk back to the bus is almost all downhill and that will be a killer on my knees so I’m opting out of the Towers. I told Chris to take good pics.
Things I love:
being done tomorrow and the prospect of a real shower and a good meal with fresh veggies
sleeping next to running water, I like the sound
clean underwear
Chris getting me a walking stick
Things I hate:
swollen and stiff knees
heavy pack
long hiking trips
Day Five
Time 2:00
Distance 10 km
Chris got up at 5:30a and took the hour hike up the boulders to see the Towers at sunrise. I stayed in my sleeping bag. Last night, mice (or something) were trying to get into the tent so I didn’t sleep well. After sunrise, we booked it down the mountain. I hobbled a bit but the walking stick helped, it also helped give me some blisters on my hands. We made it down so quickly that we had to wait over 2 hours for the bus to take us back into town.
I’m done and I doubt I’ll do this anytime soon.
Total distance in five days: approx. 77 km, about 47 miles
Sunday, March 2, 2008
Camping
We’ve been in Puerto Natales for a couple of days. There’s great food here and you get salsa on the side with your meals. More places need to practice that. Our hostel is really nice. This is the first time we’ve had our own bathroom and they actually have a decent breakfast here. We’ll be leaving this all behind tomorrow as we head out to the national park for a five day camping trip. All of our food will be in powdered or dehydrated form.
I’m okay with all of this and surprisingly, Stefani is too. Or, so she says. We will actually be passing by refugios, which are kind of like little lodges, about once a day. So, it’s not like we will be completely out on our own. We will get to see some really cool stuff, though from what I have heard. The glaciers here are supposed to be spectacular with icebergs and geographical features that can’t be found in too many places.
It’s getting late and we have a hard day ahead of us tomorrow. We get out of the woods on Friday and should have more stuff up that night or Saturday.
I’m okay with all of this and surprisingly, Stefani is too. Or, so she says. We will actually be passing by refugios, which are kind of like little lodges, about once a day. So, it’s not like we will be completely out on our own. We will get to see some really cool stuff, though from what I have heard. The glaciers here are supposed to be spectacular with icebergs and geographical features that can’t be found in too many places.
It’s getting late and we have a hard day ahead of us tomorrow. We get out of the woods on Friday and should have more stuff up that night or Saturday.
Saturday, March 1, 2008
Things I learned in Argentina...
A few little tidbits I picked up on the way...
1. All toilet paper goes in the little trash bin next to the toilet, not in the toilet. The water pressure isn´t that great, so you can´t put TP in the toilet. Now imagine what gets into that trash bin and having to look at it while you´re in there.
2. According to our 4x4 tour guide Sebastian: if you´re corrupt, go into government. If you´re not, but you really like politics, still do not go into government. You cannot do the job, unless you´re corrupt.
3. When riding the bus cross country, it is completely acceptable for the bus driving to dump all garbage on the side of the road. They also dump out the bathroom tank on the side of the road. Good times. Also, only go Number One on the bus. If you spend too much time in the bathroom, the attendant will come by and yell at you. I was waiting one night to brush my teeth and the attendant was banging on the door telling a woman, "Senora, no po po". It was funny.
4. I am so afraid of getting sick on this trip. I´ve met two British girls that have had to go to hospital in Brazil and Peru (one for an intestinal infection/parasite and another for typhoid fever). They both described lovely doctors and nurses but dirty, bloody, awful facilities. One girl saw a woman walk in and literally start to give birth while standing up on the floor, with blood everywhere. Gross.
5. I´ve met quite a few British and one French married couple in their late twenties and early thirties who are in the midst of their around the world trips. This is a pretty common thing now and I think more people in the US need to do this. One British girl told me the most entertaining/horrifying story about getting food poisoning at base camp in Everest. Skip the next paragraph, if you don´t want to know...
They were camping at the base camp, in the midst of a blizzard. Their guide was cooking with her bare hands, while also moving yak poop with her bare hands. So, obviously, the girl got sick from about every hole in her body. There was no toilet, and she had to go in the pitch black, in a blizzard, behind a rock ALL NIGHT LONG. This same couple also hiked through the jungle in Malaysia in waist deep water by themselves and got lost there. There were leeches and giant bugs. Their trip is hopefully a bit different than ours.
Anyway, that´s what I learned, and here´s what I observed after half a day in Ushuaia and 15 hours on a bus to Puerto Natales...
3 pink flamingos on a lake in Patagonia
1 glacier
2 countries
7 penguins
50+ emus
1 Irish girl pounding a liter of beer at 5:20A before boarding a bus
And that´s me!
1. All toilet paper goes in the little trash bin next to the toilet, not in the toilet. The water pressure isn´t that great, so you can´t put TP in the toilet. Now imagine what gets into that trash bin and having to look at it while you´re in there.
2. According to our 4x4 tour guide Sebastian: if you´re corrupt, go into government. If you´re not, but you really like politics, still do not go into government. You cannot do the job, unless you´re corrupt.
3. When riding the bus cross country, it is completely acceptable for the bus driving to dump all garbage on the side of the road. They also dump out the bathroom tank on the side of the road. Good times. Also, only go Number One on the bus. If you spend too much time in the bathroom, the attendant will come by and yell at you. I was waiting one night to brush my teeth and the attendant was banging on the door telling a woman, "Senora, no po po". It was funny.
4. I am so afraid of getting sick on this trip. I´ve met two British girls that have had to go to hospital in Brazil and Peru (one for an intestinal infection/parasite and another for typhoid fever). They both described lovely doctors and nurses but dirty, bloody, awful facilities. One girl saw a woman walk in and literally start to give birth while standing up on the floor, with blood everywhere. Gross.
5. I´ve met quite a few British and one French married couple in their late twenties and early thirties who are in the midst of their around the world trips. This is a pretty common thing now and I think more people in the US need to do this. One British girl told me the most entertaining/horrifying story about getting food poisoning at base camp in Everest. Skip the next paragraph, if you don´t want to know...
They were camping at the base camp, in the midst of a blizzard. Their guide was cooking with her bare hands, while also moving yak poop with her bare hands. So, obviously, the girl got sick from about every hole in her body. There was no toilet, and she had to go in the pitch black, in a blizzard, behind a rock ALL NIGHT LONG. This same couple also hiked through the jungle in Malaysia in waist deep water by themselves and got lost there. There were leeches and giant bugs. Their trip is hopefully a bit different than ours.
Anyway, that´s what I learned, and here´s what I observed after half a day in Ushuaia and 15 hours on a bus to Puerto Natales...
3 pink flamingos on a lake in Patagonia
1 glacier
2 countries
7 penguins
50+ emus
1 Irish girl pounding a liter of beer at 5:20A before boarding a bus
And that´s me!
Chile is chilly
A ha! A decent internet connection! This is exciting. Chris and I are currently in Puerto Natales, Chile. Yesterday, we took a 15 hour bus ride from Ushuaia to Punta Arenas, Chile and then changed buses and now we´re in Puerto Natales. We thought we were clever getting in the front of the bus, but it turned out we had zero leg room so our knees are sore today. Boarder crossings were rumored to be hour long affairs, but we managed to get into Chile pretty easily. We even got a little ferry trip out of the deal, as Ushuaia is on a large island and we needed to get back to the main continent.
So far, everyone has been very helpful and we really like this town. On our bus in, a guy that spoke zero english called his friend in town to give us directions for our bed and breakfast so we wouldn´t waste a taxi ride. For dinner last night, we had hot fresh rolls with homemade salsa and butter. We ordered a bottle of Chilean wine. Chris had salmon cooked in butter and a mixed salad with tomatos, lettuce, and some of the best avocado I have ever had. I had a grilled white fish with two fried eggs on top, grilled onions, and a side of french fries. The total (with tip) was 14,300 pesos, which is approx. $32 US. So not as cheap as we had hoped but def. very good for all that great food.
The exchange rate right now is approx. 460 pesos to the dollar. When I took money out of the ATM yesterday, the balance said I was a multi millionaire. Probably the only time I´ll get that.
This town is close to a national park that has a lot of glaciers. On our last full day in Ushuaia, Chris and I hiked to the top of one of the galciers close to town. It was kind of hard for me with lots of mud and it was really steep on the way up. Apparently, that glacier is big pile of crap compared to the ones that are up here. There are refugios (little hostel type places) in the parks and Chris and I might stay there and hike through the park. I´ve done more hiking here than I have ever done in my life and I´m honestly not all that excited about it. But I am enjoying the exercise so it´s not all bad. We had a meeting at a hostel today that can help us book a place to stay there and arrange buses and boats to the park, so hopefully we can get up there on Monday. I can FINALLY upload my pics from Ushuaia, so take a look at those. Chris got all of his us as well. In the future, we´ll combine out pics into one link for each place, but for now, they are a bit seperate.
We really appreciate everyone checking in.
So far, everyone has been very helpful and we really like this town. On our bus in, a guy that spoke zero english called his friend in town to give us directions for our bed and breakfast so we wouldn´t waste a taxi ride. For dinner last night, we had hot fresh rolls with homemade salsa and butter. We ordered a bottle of Chilean wine. Chris had salmon cooked in butter and a mixed salad with tomatos, lettuce, and some of the best avocado I have ever had. I had a grilled white fish with two fried eggs on top, grilled onions, and a side of french fries. The total (with tip) was 14,300 pesos, which is approx. $32 US. So not as cheap as we had hoped but def. very good for all that great food.
The exchange rate right now is approx. 460 pesos to the dollar. When I took money out of the ATM yesterday, the balance said I was a multi millionaire. Probably the only time I´ll get that.
This town is close to a national park that has a lot of glaciers. On our last full day in Ushuaia, Chris and I hiked to the top of one of the galciers close to town. It was kind of hard for me with lots of mud and it was really steep on the way up. Apparently, that glacier is big pile of crap compared to the ones that are up here. There are refugios (little hostel type places) in the parks and Chris and I might stay there and hike through the park. I´ve done more hiking here than I have ever done in my life and I´m honestly not all that excited about it. But I am enjoying the exercise so it´s not all bad. We had a meeting at a hostel today that can help us book a place to stay there and arrange buses and boats to the park, so hopefully we can get up there on Monday. I can FINALLY upload my pics from Ushuaia, so take a look at those. Chris got all of his us as well. In the future, we´ll combine out pics into one link for each place, but for now, they are a bit seperate.
We really appreciate everyone checking in.
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