Where to begin? Buenos Aires has been a blast. We were able to see a wonderful concert with Matisyahu at the Grand Rex Theatre in downtown Buenos Aires. The venue was amazing and even though we were on the balcony we were able to see him as if we were really close up.
We left on Sunday for Iguazu Falls-- one of the most amazing natural sights I have seen in my life. We hopped aboard a 20-hour bus up north for 3 days of butterflys, hikes and one of the largest waterfalls in the world. We exited the Disneyland-like tram and were immediately surrounded by butterflys of every variety imaginable. They were EVERYWHERE! We started down a long platform bridge over immense amounts of river water going at a substantial pace but remaining relatively calm. We walked through the reeds, the trees and finally started hearing a loud roar and realized we were getting closer to our destination and a sight I´ve been dreaming about ever since I saw my friend Mike´s photos back in Mammoth. My feet couldn´t keep up with my excitement so I hurried over to the very top of Gargante de Diablo(the largest of the falls). You could feel the immense power of the waterfalls (cataratas) charging through your entire body. It was an exhilerating feeling. The shear power of the waterfall cannot be described. I felt like I was in a mini-monsoon with all the wind and spray that the waterfall picked up. We had to walk away a couple times and come back just for that awe inspiring first glimpse of heaven here on earth. We sat down before our jaunt back and suddenly realized that all of us were covered in butterflies. They would just chill on whatever piece of bright colored clothes you were wearing. YOu could pick them up and put them on your finger and they would just hang on (even with all the wind and spray picked up by the catarata). After our first glimpse of the top it was time to get the view so we took a beautifully scenic walk past the river below and finally lo and behold, we had an incredibly breathtaking view of the cataratas from both sides. The late afternoon sun was shining on the palm trees and glimmering on the water. I actually felt a tear come to my eye when I saw this. It was one of the most beautiful, peaceful and serene moments I´ve experienced. We came back that night, made some dinner in the cocina and ate with some girls we met from San Diego. At night we hung out with our friends from Calgary and listened to them play the guitar and sang along to everything from the Beatles to Jack Johnson. The next day we ventured out on a 6km hike to a catarata pool you could swim in. We hung out on a slanted rock basking in the sun and glorious majesty of God´s creation. Luckily we put on a lot of mosquito repellent because they were buzzing around us all day. Iguazu is very tropical and humid- a welcome change from the higher altitude we´ve been in Bolivia. Buenos Aires is just starting its rainy season so we´ve been enjoying some nice showers but the last day we were in Iguazu it absolutely poured. It reminded me of Hawaií with its warm rain storms that come and go. It can truly be raining in your front yard but not in your back yard. Tash and I said our ¨see you soons¨ to Anna who was off to Rio de Janeiro. We headed back to Buenos Aires last night and made it here by lunch time. We actually were fed dinner off the bus by the bus company in a bus station restaurant. It was very fancy but it was all carne de res (beef) so I ate the rice. The bus was virtually empty and the seats reclined back really far so it was a very comfortable bus ride. We actually got to see New Moon (La Luna Nueva) on the busride home. It was lovely. Here we are back in Buenos Aires and Tash will be here until Monday. We´ll get a tango show and dinner in tomorrow as our last hurrah in the beautiful Argentinian culture. I should be coming home around May 17th or so. School and jobs await. More to come soon...
Thursday, April 22, 2010
Friday, April 9, 2010
बूएनोस एरेस पोर फिन!
I am finally in Buenos Aires! After a 26 hour bus ride I am here and it is everything I thought it could be and more. Of course, I am only human and after so much travel I came down with a nasty cough and cold and was completely out of commission yesterday. I feel much better today after a full day and night´s rest and even applied for a job today with Berlitz language institute and went for a run around the city center. I started my run off in the morning, climbed a tree and did some yoga in the park. I was finishing up my little yoga session with my IPOD blaring when a man with a bunch of dogs walked by and said something really loud to me. I couldn´t hear it on account of my ipod but I think he thought there was something wrong with me because I was lying down in the park. I just told him Estoy practicando yoga and caught my breath (he really scared me--hehe). I continued my run and finally made it home in one piece. I´m so happy to be in a place where I can excercise again. What a thing of beauty! I´m planning on finding a job teaching English at a language institute and a part-time job teaching yoga or pilates. I really miss teaching and I´m so glad that I´ll have the opportunity again. I´ve thorougly enjoyed traveling about but I´m ready to be busy and productive again. At home I always have 3 jobs and go to school so not having that has made me a little stir-crazy in my head. I think after a year of 12 hour days at UCI and student teaching at the high school I deserved a bit of a break. Anyways, today Noel and I went to the only Marriott in Argentina (a partner hotel of the Ritz Carlton where I work) and found out that we can get rooms for $59. Not bad. I´ll look into that later when I make some money. We explored the banquet rooms and gave it the once over. I was impressed. The hotel is over 100 years old and in the heart of the center of town. We also went into a mall that is the equivilant of South Coast Plaza in Orange County. Wé´re talking lots of dough here. I love Buenos Aires but ít´s a bit hard to get used to the sticker shock after Bolivia. I´m definitely happy to pay extra for modern conveniences like hot showers and toilet paper (how civilized!). On our walk home this evening we decided to stop off at an outdoor cafe (how Parisian as my mother would say) and have a cappucino. After a few minutes we were greeted with a fireworks display. We made our way over to the central plaza and found they were having a huge rally to pass a Ley de Medios (Law of the middle class). I asked someone what it was all about and they said that over 80% of the population is middle class and they are trying to get the courts to pass a fair tax act for them. It reminds me of back home except their rallies were extremely well attended with people drumming, babies holding banner and grandmas holding Che Guevara flags. Everyone who was anyone in Buenos Aires was there tonight. It was wonderful to see such a public and peaceful outcry. I am sitting back at my lovely hostal looking for jobs on every possible internet avenue and reveling in my day. I´m thankful for my rejuvinated health and know that it´s a sign that I need to keep working out and drinking lots of water. After today´s run and yoga sesh I feel renewed and happy again. I will keep you posted on the job and apartment hunt. Hope all is well at home! Don´t forget to FOLLOW THAT LLAMA now that it has an official residence- La ciudad de Buenos Aires!
Sunday, April 4, 2010
हैप्पी एअस्टर फ्रॉम Argentina
First of all Happy Easter to all my friends and family. I feel as if it has been an eternity since I´ve written. I was really hoping the wifi would work today so I could get in touch with my family but alas it is down, even in the high tech country of Argentina. After a 12-hour bus ride today, Anna and I decided to make Tash´s and my mom´s favorite dish for Easter- mashed potatoes! We went to an actual super market and bought all the fixings plus a secret amazing ingredient (my favorite food ever!) pesto! We made a ratitoulle and mashed potato dish that was out of this world! I´m nice and full and ready to write all about the tantos adventuras I´ve been on in the past week.
After Sucre, we made our way to Potosi, Bolivia where we made our way down into the depths of the silver mines at a very high altitude (4,300 metros approxicamente). We donned all the gear the miners wear including the hard hat and light and proceeded to descended into a totally different world- one that proceeded to be very cold then stiflingly hot from one moment to the next. What harsh conditions the miners work in. Just climbing down, walking around and taking it all in was quite the chore for me. After all was said and done our tour group decided to buy some TNT and set it off. We had 4 minutes before the bomb went off so of course our guide proceeded to hand off the TNT to each of us for an exciting but unnerving phot opp. Man, was it loud when it finally went off!!!!
Potosi was on our way to our grand adventure in Uyuni, Bolivia. We took a 3-day guided jeep tour through the amazing desert of Uyuni which proved to be one of the most memorable parts of our trip so far. We started off in the small town of Uyuni where everyone swore there was no water (there was). We booked a tour, found a guide, and proceedeed to entrust our lives to our guide Elias as we embarked on an epic journey through the Salar de Uyuni.
The first place we came to know was known as the place where trains go to die. Picture rust and debree dating back to the 1950s. We ran around the train cemetery, walked on top of dilapidated trains and climbed inside of strange debris. It was definitely a trip... After we finished our first tour it was time to see the infamous salts flats of Uyuni. We drove and drove and drove into the desert when we finally arrived into a sea of pure white salt surrounded by majestic mountains. We took some amazing if not silly pictures using depth perception of us standing on pringles cans and people´s hands. I´ve never felt such beauty in a place that could be construed as so empty. I suppose within the emptiness the beauty of the place was fully realized for me. If you took off your sunglasses you were invaded with pure white glaring salt for an eternity of pure white inspiration.
After a full afternoon of salt hotels, salt tables and mirrored images of rain water against a pristine backdrop we left the salt flats and entered desert that stretched for miles upon end. We finally made it to our refugio in the middle of no where, where we were greeted with tea, galletas (cookies) and a lovely staff. The refugio was made entirely out of salt--we´re talking about the walls, the dinner table and even our bed frames--todo hecho de sal (all made out of salt!!).
The next day we woke at the reasonable hora (hour) of 7 am and made our way to see the lagunas (lakes) and flamencos (flamingos) of Uyuni. We saw lakes made out of salt and lakes that looked like they were made of salt but were actually borax. I wish I could tell you more about the chemical compounds that made up the pink stuff that flamingos eat to give them their color but alas, that is not my forte. About half way through our day we arrived at the Arbol de Piedra (Tree of Stone) which I expected to be some sort of petrified forest, but ended up being a volcanic rock that looked just like a tree. We spent about 2 hours scrambling up rocks that looked like gorillas and other crazy things from my whacky overactive imagination. After a full day of volcanoes, flamingos and purely amazing topography we made our way from the Laguna Colorado to our hostal at 4,500 metros.
The next day we had to get up at la madrugada (before dawn-4:30am) so we could see geysers at sunrise. They were muy impresionante but I was pretty used to volcanic activity after living in both Hawai´i and Mammoth Mountain, not to mention very tired. After our early morning drive we made it to the aguas termales (mineral waters) next to a beautiful borax infused lake at sunrise. We hung out in the water and enjoyed the last part of Bolivia before we made it to the Chilean border at about 11am... We thanked our guide, said good bye to our new Swedish friends and got on a bus to Chile. By noon we in the town of San Pedro de Altacama and down to 2,000 metros. Right away the topography changed drastically into the driest desert in the WORLD (even drier than the Sahara--no joke). We asked our driver what the skinny llamas were eating to stay alive (sobrevivir) and found out that they were eating tiny microscopic plants that were virtually invisible to the human eye. How did the llamas find these so called plants anyways?
We found ourselves a nice hostal after walking along with our gigantic backpacks for about an hour and finally took a shower...How do spell relief...S O A P!!! We decided to have a bite to eat in the center when we were accosted by Rodrigo with an offer of sand boarding. It was a cheap price and an exciting offer so despite our fatigue we decided to try sand boarding (snowboarding´s distant cousin without the chairlift). It ended up being a blast even though we were taken to a place called Valle de la muerte (Death Valley) which was excrutiatingly hot. I took to it pretty well given my snowboarding background but soon found that sand can be pretty unforgiving when you face plant into it! Wow!
We finished up our 1 day excursion into Chile and made our way this morning into Argentina via a 12-hour bus ride... Happy Easter to all! It was by far the most comfortable (thank you semi-cama) and sweet smelling bus ride I have been on thus far. It really made me happy to be back in civilization again. So we are finally in Argentina and I couldn´t be happier. We fell back today when I felt like we should have sprung forward (I forget my life or continent was flipped upside down as it were) so we got an hour less of sleep when we could have had one more. I am ridiculously tired but had to get this out before all I´ve seen fell into the ether of my memory and collapsed. I will report back more soon. Teaching in Buenos Aires here I come! Miss you all and to all a Happy Easter and good night!
After Sucre, we made our way to Potosi, Bolivia where we made our way down into the depths of the silver mines at a very high altitude (4,300 metros approxicamente). We donned all the gear the miners wear including the hard hat and light and proceeded to descended into a totally different world- one that proceeded to be very cold then stiflingly hot from one moment to the next. What harsh conditions the miners work in. Just climbing down, walking around and taking it all in was quite the chore for me. After all was said and done our tour group decided to buy some TNT and set it off. We had 4 minutes before the bomb went off so of course our guide proceeded to hand off the TNT to each of us for an exciting but unnerving phot opp. Man, was it loud when it finally went off!!!!
Potosi was on our way to our grand adventure in Uyuni, Bolivia. We took a 3-day guided jeep tour through the amazing desert of Uyuni which proved to be one of the most memorable parts of our trip so far. We started off in the small town of Uyuni where everyone swore there was no water (there was). We booked a tour, found a guide, and proceedeed to entrust our lives to our guide Elias as we embarked on an epic journey through the Salar de Uyuni.
The first place we came to know was known as the place where trains go to die. Picture rust and debree dating back to the 1950s. We ran around the train cemetery, walked on top of dilapidated trains and climbed inside of strange debris. It was definitely a trip... After we finished our first tour it was time to see the infamous salts flats of Uyuni. We drove and drove and drove into the desert when we finally arrived into a sea of pure white salt surrounded by majestic mountains. We took some amazing if not silly pictures using depth perception of us standing on pringles cans and people´s hands. I´ve never felt such beauty in a place that could be construed as so empty. I suppose within the emptiness the beauty of the place was fully realized for me. If you took off your sunglasses you were invaded with pure white glaring salt for an eternity of pure white inspiration.
After a full afternoon of salt hotels, salt tables and mirrored images of rain water against a pristine backdrop we left the salt flats and entered desert that stretched for miles upon end. We finally made it to our refugio in the middle of no where, where we were greeted with tea, galletas (cookies) and a lovely staff. The refugio was made entirely out of salt--we´re talking about the walls, the dinner table and even our bed frames--todo hecho de sal (all made out of salt!!).
The next day we woke at the reasonable hora (hour) of 7 am and made our way to see the lagunas (lakes) and flamencos (flamingos) of Uyuni. We saw lakes made out of salt and lakes that looked like they were made of salt but were actually borax. I wish I could tell you more about the chemical compounds that made up the pink stuff that flamingos eat to give them their color but alas, that is not my forte. About half way through our day we arrived at the Arbol de Piedra (Tree of Stone) which I expected to be some sort of petrified forest, but ended up being a volcanic rock that looked just like a tree. We spent about 2 hours scrambling up rocks that looked like gorillas and other crazy things from my whacky overactive imagination. After a full day of volcanoes, flamingos and purely amazing topography we made our way from the Laguna Colorado to our hostal at 4,500 metros.
The next day we had to get up at la madrugada (before dawn-4:30am) so we could see geysers at sunrise. They were muy impresionante but I was pretty used to volcanic activity after living in both Hawai´i and Mammoth Mountain, not to mention very tired. After our early morning drive we made it to the aguas termales (mineral waters) next to a beautiful borax infused lake at sunrise. We hung out in the water and enjoyed the last part of Bolivia before we made it to the Chilean border at about 11am... We thanked our guide, said good bye to our new Swedish friends and got on a bus to Chile. By noon we in the town of San Pedro de Altacama and down to 2,000 metros. Right away the topography changed drastically into the driest desert in the WORLD (even drier than the Sahara--no joke). We asked our driver what the skinny llamas were eating to stay alive (sobrevivir) and found out that they were eating tiny microscopic plants that were virtually invisible to the human eye. How did the llamas find these so called plants anyways?
We found ourselves a nice hostal after walking along with our gigantic backpacks for about an hour and finally took a shower...How do spell relief...S O A P!!! We decided to have a bite to eat in the center when we were accosted by Rodrigo with an offer of sand boarding. It was a cheap price and an exciting offer so despite our fatigue we decided to try sand boarding (snowboarding´s distant cousin without the chairlift). It ended up being a blast even though we were taken to a place called Valle de la muerte (Death Valley) which was excrutiatingly hot. I took to it pretty well given my snowboarding background but soon found that sand can be pretty unforgiving when you face plant into it! Wow!
We finished up our 1 day excursion into Chile and made our way this morning into Argentina via a 12-hour bus ride... Happy Easter to all! It was by far the most comfortable (thank you semi-cama) and sweet smelling bus ride I have been on thus far. It really made me happy to be back in civilization again. So we are finally in Argentina and I couldn´t be happier. We fell back today when I felt like we should have sprung forward (I forget my life or continent was flipped upside down as it were) so we got an hour less of sleep when we could have had one more. I am ridiculously tired but had to get this out before all I´ve seen fell into the ether of my memory and collapsed. I will report back more soon. Teaching in Buenos Aires here I come! Miss you all and to all a Happy Easter and good night!
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