So one of the things on our bucket list for this trip was to see and maybe try the tango. And we did it the past 2 nights. Michelle got 6 tickets at Cafe Tortoni, a famous coffee house where many famous portenos (name BA residents call themselves because most immigrants arrived through the port here) and visitors to BA have hung out in the past. They also have a tango show. We treated May, Susie and Jose Luis to the show and dinner upstairs after the show. The musicians, a pianist, cellist, accordian player (they have another name for it), and bass player were terrific! There were maybe 5 male and 5 female dancers sort of showing/telling the history of tango, a dance developed in the brothels of La Boca, the port area where the immigrants all started. I think I´ve mentioned before this is a country of immigrants. It´s so startling to meet someone, like our guide yesterday on the bus who has the most striking light green eyes!! Most of the immigrants were Italians and Spanish. Then French, other Europeans, even Russians.
Anyway the tango show was enjoyed by all. We then had our 3rd bottle of wine at the end with just May and walked her back to her car and said good-bye! They were all leaving the next day for the weekend in Uruguay!
At our hostel they had a tour we signed up for last night where they took us to a different club for a 1 hour lesson that was such fun! The teacher was excellent - with about 30 of us in the big group but he got us all doing the 6 step box step, the figure 8 movement and then the ¨tango face pose!¨It was pretty funny! We had a hard time with the figure 8 as we had rubber soles and that doesn´t work so well! But we got our certificate for our first tango lesson!
Next we went upstairs to a small intimate dinner theatre where we were all seated around the stage for good viewing! And the dancers came out in the aisles to dance as well. We had salads, beef dinner and a wonderful pear in wine and lemon ice dessert! And the wine kept coming! The show began with dessert! There was an older singer sort of telling the story (of course, all in Spanish!) and 3 couples dancing. Plus the violinist, accordian player (both women), pianist and I forget the other musician! After having had the lesson, it was such fun to kind of recognize the steps (although they did it MUCH better, and in slinky dresses, with lots of lifts!!). We all thought this was a much better show and all inclusive deal than the previous night at the more famous touristy place! But it was fun to do both. My friend Pat (see the China part of this blog!) has a son Ray who has been a writer for Lonely Planet travel books. He runs a tango school on the Cape and we just saw a YouTube interview of him talking about the tango and how he got interested! I´ll have to check it out when I get home!!
Our last couple of days was spent shopping at handicraft markets for gifts, going on a way too long tour of the Casa de Rosada where the President works, and then an interesting tour this a.m. of the Teatre de Colon, the gorgeous recently renovated Opera House here said to be only surpassed by La Scala in Milan. I had done a tour of the Met in NY recently and hoped we´d get to see backstage and below stage where all the costumes, wigs, sets, etc. are constructed. But no luck! But what we did see was gorgeous - newly added gilt causing everything to glitter! There were two places where they left a spot on the wall to show what the color had changed over the years before the restoration, and a piece of the gilted trim. They were almost black!! It took almost 6 years to renovate, 4 years of which the Opera House was completely closed and many people lost their jobs, the guide said. Maria Callas, Placido Domingo, etc. have all performed here! When it opened in 1908, they were trying to make BA the Paris of SAmerica! So Italian, French and finally a Belgian architect designed and built this. The first two both died at 44, the second one killed by his wife´s lover, the butler!! So it was said the Opera House was cursed! The Belgian was 45 and single! So he finished it, and you can see the influence of all 3 designs. Instead of columns of all marble, the middle part was made of stucco, looking like marble, not to save money (BA was the wealthiest country in the world at this time as they had just figured out how to freeze the beef and send to Europe!) but it gave warmth to the building. Marble holds the cold, and you could feel the difference.
Also interesting in the boxes around the main floor, about 5 of them had black parts, where widows used to be able to come and hear, but not see, the opera. They had to be in mourning for 2 years but this let them get out, with a separate entrance so no one could see them coming or going. Our guide said the widowers were out in public finding another wife!! :)
That´s all from Buenos Aires! It´s been a great trip and I am ready to be home for awhile!!
Ciao!
Sunday, March 24, 2013
Friday, March 22, 2013
March 22, Around Buenos Aires
Today we did a 4 hour bus tour around the city. I would not like to have been the driver maneuvering this huge tour bus around the traffic in downtown. First we spent an hour picking up other tourists at a variety of hotels. We are just a few doors off the Avenida de Mayo, a main road in Centro. We are right near a huge obelisk that I read is decorated in jest with a red condom on AIDS Awareness Week! At one end is the Plaza de Mayo where yesterday we went to see the Madres de Mayo, grandmothers who had their sons or daughters kidnapped and probably killed during the military dictatorship from 1973 - 1982. And over 500 of their children´s babies were taken and given for adoption to other families. So the mothers, really grandmothers, march every Thursday. They were driven in a van, have become quite famous for their constant marching. There were lots of tourists and cameras there. They all wear white handkerchief/scarves and hold a sign. One of them spoke for awhile but have no idea what she said. Pins were being sold, as well as a table with lots of Pope Francis I memorabilia. I have heard that this pope was siding too much with the military and so was not popular here. But they all are singing his praises now that he´s the new pope and there is a yellow and white Vatican City flag flying near the obelisk and signs all over. We will go to the big cathedral on Sunday to catch part of the mass/celebration of his ascension.
So on the tour, things we saw, heard and observed:
La Recoleta area: This is where the unusual cemetery that we will see tomorrow, where Evita is buried, where many wealthy patrons have huge, elaborate mauseleums. Flowers are constantly put at her tomb even though she´s been dead for 60 years. She was the second wife of Peron, and was very popular for getting some rights for works and women. There is a museum about her nearby that used to be a women´s shelter started by her. She died at 33 of uterine cancer. He lost power soon after, in 53 I think, and then returned to power in 1973 for only a year before he was thrown out. He was a big fan of Mussolini´s and considered a Fascist. This is when the military took over for 10 years or so and caused so much murder and grief. The current president is Cristina someone who is the wife of a former president for 4 years, then she ran for 4 and was reelected last year.
Palermo: a beautiful area with gorgeous home, wide avenues and beautiful parks! Curiosity - many people here have big dogs and we saw several dogwalkers walking maybe 12 - 15 dogs at once in these parks! I asked if there was a pooper-scooper law and Juan Pablo our guide said yes but many don´t follow it! I can´t imagine!! BTW, I asked if Pope John Paul II had visited here and he said yes, in 1982, the year that he was born - hence, his name Juan Pablo or John Paul! He had the most interesting green eyes! People here are quite handsome, being such a mix of Spanish and Italian mostly, with Germany, French, other European, even some Russian - we passed a blue topped Russian church. This area also is where the embassies are - we passed Turkish, Spanish, French, Vatican, etc. Flags were flying but no guards outside like in Beijing.
We went through Centro again where the Pink Palace, or Casa de Rosada is at one end of the street - where the president works. She is helicoptered in and lands on the roof, because the traffic is so bad! We will peek in here on the weekend when parts of it are open to the public.This has the balcony where Evita spoke to the crowds! Want to watch that movie again after being here. At the other end of this street is Congress - sort of like our Pennsylvania Avenue. One of the wide boulevards here used to be the widest in the world, modeled on the Champs dÉlysees but now it´s been surpassed. They are doing a lot of construction/repair on it.
San Telmo: This area has lots of cobblestoned streets, funky restaurants and shopping. We walked around here yesterday.
LaBoca: This is where the first immigrants would come, near the port. Boca means mouth so it´s at the mouth of a very dirty river port that emptied into the La Plate. The houses were constructed out of scaps of tin and wood, and painted with leftover paint from their ships and boats. So they are multi-colored and many families live in one house. Originally the houses were nice, but then yellow fever hit and these families moved out north and immigrants took over. Here also is La Bombena or something like that - it means Chocolate Box! This is the football stadium of the most popular team here - La Boca Juniors. Its most famous player Maldona played here before in European teams. He starred in 1983 World Cup and is called a ¨god¨, number 10. He´s around 50 now and retired to Dubai, we were told! The new star is Tessi and I bought a blue and white shirt with his name and number 10 on it for Jackson! We walked for 20 minutes around the area but were cautioned to only come back here during the day between 12 and 5 or so as it´s very dangerous for tourists.
We ended at a recently renovated port area Puerto Madero with some upscale restaurants and shops where some of the tourists got off to shop. We met Sharon from Montana on the bus who is traveling on her own, turned 70 in September, and is meeting a group for 4 days of hiking with full backpacks! in Patagonia, then another group for another few days of hiking, ending in Ushuaia. She was pretty amazing and we were all impressed! She may join us for a tango lesson and show tomorrow evening before she heads off. We have met some amazing travelers on this trip. Make us feel like slugs!!! Another guy Ray from New Zealand but lives in Australia for the past 40 years (also turned 70 in Feb.) had spent 31 days on a ship in Antarctica, zodiac and helicoptering onto land to explore!! To the tune of $25,000!! Betty said the first book he ever read was about Antarctica and he had wanted to do this forever. He intends to go back!! He was sitting behind me so we chatted a bit.
There was this woman working with the guide who came around and took photos of each person and he said she´d have a ¨surprise¨for us later, which we knew meant a photo for us to buy! When she showed up at the end, for some reason she thought Ray and I were together so we were in a photo, just our heads photoshopped onto tango dancers! and also in La Boca uniforms!! Neither he nor I bought the pictures (nor Betty or Michelle!) and I told Ray I guess we were now broken up!! It was pretty funny!
Tonight tango show and dinner to thank Susie, Jose Luis, May and maybe Ida and Billy will join us! Should be a late night! Michelle got tickets at a famous coffe house/tango club La Tortoni! Should be fun!
Ciao! Ciao!
So on the tour, things we saw, heard and observed:
La Recoleta area: This is where the unusual cemetery that we will see tomorrow, where Evita is buried, where many wealthy patrons have huge, elaborate mauseleums. Flowers are constantly put at her tomb even though she´s been dead for 60 years. She was the second wife of Peron, and was very popular for getting some rights for works and women. There is a museum about her nearby that used to be a women´s shelter started by her. She died at 33 of uterine cancer. He lost power soon after, in 53 I think, and then returned to power in 1973 for only a year before he was thrown out. He was a big fan of Mussolini´s and considered a Fascist. This is when the military took over for 10 years or so and caused so much murder and grief. The current president is Cristina someone who is the wife of a former president for 4 years, then she ran for 4 and was reelected last year.
Palermo: a beautiful area with gorgeous home, wide avenues and beautiful parks! Curiosity - many people here have big dogs and we saw several dogwalkers walking maybe 12 - 15 dogs at once in these parks! I asked if there was a pooper-scooper law and Juan Pablo our guide said yes but many don´t follow it! I can´t imagine!! BTW, I asked if Pope John Paul II had visited here and he said yes, in 1982, the year that he was born - hence, his name Juan Pablo or John Paul! He had the most interesting green eyes! People here are quite handsome, being such a mix of Spanish and Italian mostly, with Germany, French, other European, even some Russian - we passed a blue topped Russian church. This area also is where the embassies are - we passed Turkish, Spanish, French, Vatican, etc. Flags were flying but no guards outside like in Beijing.
We went through Centro again where the Pink Palace, or Casa de Rosada is at one end of the street - where the president works. She is helicoptered in and lands on the roof, because the traffic is so bad! We will peek in here on the weekend when parts of it are open to the public.This has the balcony where Evita spoke to the crowds! Want to watch that movie again after being here. At the other end of this street is Congress - sort of like our Pennsylvania Avenue. One of the wide boulevards here used to be the widest in the world, modeled on the Champs dÉlysees but now it´s been surpassed. They are doing a lot of construction/repair on it.
San Telmo: This area has lots of cobblestoned streets, funky restaurants and shopping. We walked around here yesterday.
LaBoca: This is where the first immigrants would come, near the port. Boca means mouth so it´s at the mouth of a very dirty river port that emptied into the La Plate. The houses were constructed out of scaps of tin and wood, and painted with leftover paint from their ships and boats. So they are multi-colored and many families live in one house. Originally the houses were nice, but then yellow fever hit and these families moved out north and immigrants took over. Here also is La Bombena or something like that - it means Chocolate Box! This is the football stadium of the most popular team here - La Boca Juniors. Its most famous player Maldona played here before in European teams. He starred in 1983 World Cup and is called a ¨god¨, number 10. He´s around 50 now and retired to Dubai, we were told! The new star is Tessi and I bought a blue and white shirt with his name and number 10 on it for Jackson! We walked for 20 minutes around the area but were cautioned to only come back here during the day between 12 and 5 or so as it´s very dangerous for tourists.
We ended at a recently renovated port area Puerto Madero with some upscale restaurants and shops where some of the tourists got off to shop. We met Sharon from Montana on the bus who is traveling on her own, turned 70 in September, and is meeting a group for 4 days of hiking with full backpacks! in Patagonia, then another group for another few days of hiking, ending in Ushuaia. She was pretty amazing and we were all impressed! She may join us for a tango lesson and show tomorrow evening before she heads off. We have met some amazing travelers on this trip. Make us feel like slugs!!! Another guy Ray from New Zealand but lives in Australia for the past 40 years (also turned 70 in Feb.) had spent 31 days on a ship in Antarctica, zodiac and helicoptering onto land to explore!! To the tune of $25,000!! Betty said the first book he ever read was about Antarctica and he had wanted to do this forever. He intends to go back!! He was sitting behind me so we chatted a bit.
There was this woman working with the guide who came around and took photos of each person and he said she´d have a ¨surprise¨for us later, which we knew meant a photo for us to buy! When she showed up at the end, for some reason she thought Ray and I were together so we were in a photo, just our heads photoshopped onto tango dancers! and also in La Boca uniforms!! Neither he nor I bought the pictures (nor Betty or Michelle!) and I told Ray I guess we were now broken up!! It was pretty funny!
Tonight tango show and dinner to thank Susie, Jose Luis, May and maybe Ida and Billy will join us! Should be a late night! Michelle got tickets at a famous coffe house/tango club La Tortoni! Should be fun!
Ciao! Ciao!
Amazing Iguassu Falls!
These falls are higher than Niagra and wider than Victoria Falls. After a 2 hour flight from BA, we arrived at the Hostel Inn in Iguassu City, a small town on the border with Brazil and Paraguay. We walked down a hill to the Iguassu and Parana river where you could see all three countries. We were walking with Irit, an Israeli woman who works in water engineering, who is traveling in SA for several months. She had been to Carnival in Rio but stayed on an island a bit aways from Rio as she is traveling by herself. But she got to see some of it. There were samba schools who enter contests after Carnival and then do a parade that she said was amazing!
The hostel was great, right in the center of town, but the room itself wasn´t so hot. Nice patio outside, swimming pool (didn´t see anyone in it), bar outside, computers and wifi. But the 6 bunkbeds in the room weren´t so comfortable - poor Michelle got a top bunk the first night, no ladder! And not great shower! The second night she got a bottom and a Korean guy took her top bunk. When I woke up during the night, he was putting his forearms on the two top bunks and swinging himself up to the bunk. I asked him in the a.m. if he was a gymnast. He said he couldn´t figure out how to get into the bed - he didn´t think of climbing up on the end - there was no ladder! - like Michelle had done! He was headed to Brazil.
So early we took a 9 a.m. bus out to the National Park to spend the day at the falls. Bus was 30 pesos and then 170 each to enter the park for a day, and we paid 150 p. for a boat ride under the falls later in the day. We walked along a forest path where we first encountered the coati - a raccoon like animal with very long tail and a snout pointy like an anteater. They can be very aggressive, can bite, and jump on your food so we gave them wide berth even though they looked cute! They tended to hang around food places.
The only other wild life we saw were huge black vultures circling over the falls to catch the drafts and a caiman, like an alligator, floating under a bridge and a gigantic catfish swimming nearby. Otherwise it was just tourists! We were lucky as we had a gorgeous mostly sunny day which helped later when we were soaking wet after our boat ride. It was rainy and cloudy the second day before our bus ride back to BA.
The park is well laid out and paved walks, with metal grid walkways actually OVER a lot of the smaller falls. So it was all around you! The sound of the roaring water, tons of it, crashing down on the huge rocks was deafening! And the walkway went on and on. We followed the suggestion of walking the upper falls pathway for maybe an hour, then the lower falls one until we came around noon to the steep path down to the boat dock. I donned my plastic pancho, which kept me drier than the others, they their jackets and then our life vests. We got on sort of a big zodiac with maybe 20 people and sat on the benches inside, rather than on the edge like down in Ushuaia. The boat took us near El Diablo, the devil falls, and then back out with the current. The driver told us to take pictures and lots of people posed on the steps with falls in the background. Then we were told to put away our cameras and the driver drove us further in, under the heavy mist, where we could not see too much! Then we rushed back out with the current and went to the other side of Isle San Martin kind of between the two major falls (you sometimes can hike around it but apparently the water was too high that day). Water just poured on us and only my lap and the top of my shirt didn´t get wet. Fortunately we had all worn sandals that day in anticipation of this as our hiking boots would STILL be wet!
Our last segment was the train ride up to the top and then a LOOONG walk on the metal bridges over the top of El Diablo to the end where the major part goes over. It was so full of mist and spray (we got soaked again) that you couldn´t really see where it fell to. Talk about roaring power! It was amazing just how they ever got this walkway built from rock outcropping to outcropping across this major river! Even if it hadn´t been larger than Niagra, it´s so worth seeing because you can get so close up below, above and in the Falls! Well done, Argentine! We heard this side was way more scenic than the Brazilian side. Some people had gone to both. We avoided Brazil because of another American-only reciprocity fee of $160 or so plus all the other hoops to go through to get a visa! We are the only ones who pay it because WE are the ones who charge such huge visas and restrictions (90 days tourist visas) to foreigners visiting US! So tit for tat! I don´t blame them! But had avoided the one in Chile (you only pay if you fly in internationally to Santiago - we had crossed by land into Arica) and paid the $160 one in Argentina. Up until last year we would have avoided it as we came in by boat to Ushuaia but they changed the rules and we were checked also when we came back in from Uruguay.
Food was very expensive out in the park so we had brought lunch (empanadas from the store around the corner from hostel) and we sat at the lower falls before the boat ride to eat - as I´m sure our lunches would have been soaked! Empanadas are like a pasty or meat pie rolled in dough. They are handy to carry and can have any kind of filling. Turns out in some papers that Portia, a friend who did an Overseas Adventure Travel (OAT) trip to Chile and Argentina, gave me, there is a recipe including the pastry part. I will try them! I had a carne (meat) one and a spinach and cheese one. I thought they were just a Chilean food specialty but they have them everywhere in SA. We bought them again for lunch before we left on the bus for BA.
Our second day in IF, we took a 3 peso bus out to an animal refuge right on the border of the National Park. It was 75 pesos for the guided tour as it´s a private place with no public funding. They rescue animals from street accidents or drop offs of pets people have kept and don´t want or rescued from animal smugglers. We had to wait around for an hour or so before the next tour so shopped in the little gift shop. There were some lovely butterfly magnets that I got for S. and J. We had seen some amazingly colorful butterflies in the park! One brilliant purple and red one landed on my foot! I think Michelle got a picture!
Our tractor and wagon came by to take our group further back where the walk started. Our guide spoke really good English and was very knowledgeable. We walked a paved and gravel walkway around many cages where she stopped at each one and explained about the animal(s) and where they had been rescued from. If they were raised by humans, or badly injured, like broken wings that couldn´t be repaired, they would stay in their center. But mostly they were trained to go back to the wild and be released. We got close up views of many birds of prey, variety of toucans, peccaries - a kind of wild pig, - monkeys - capuchin and some black howlers. One howler was living around OUTSIDE on top of their huge cage. She was free to come and go, as our guide pointed out, this was the jungle! At one point she came down to the railing and was following Michelle and startled her! Also some HUGE spiders outside of cages!! Eeuw! I´ll have nightmares about those! It was well worth the time and money.
On the way back we chatted with a French and Spanish speaking guy from our hostel who had been on the trip. He was 40 or so and traveling for a year and a half! He had been robbed his first day in BA. They did the spill-something-on-him-and-then-the-other-one-helps-clean-it-off - while they ran away with his whole backpack! We had read this scam in one of the guide books already. So we are walking around BA with very little! We have met so many people from everywhere traveling around for months at a time!! Americans just don´t do that much!
Our last adventure at IF was taking a supposed 17 hour bus ride back to BA leaving at 3:45 pm and arriving around 8 the next a.m. We upgraded our seats to upstairs with semi-coma reclining seats for sleeping! Ended up being very comfortable but we didn´t arrive until around 2 p.m. because about 3 hours out of BA at 8 a.m. the bus broke down and we waited for another one to cram into and finish the ride. Not worth the small savings above flying round trip! But who knew! And the scenery was just rolling farmland, not particularly interesting to view! But an experience, nontheless! We arrived and took a taxi to the Ritz Hostel to explore BA for 3 days! Ida and her family live so far out of BA it´s not practical to stay there and take the long train ride in. May´s wonderful husband Christian had delivered our extra luggage to the hostel and they were waiting here for us. We have a lovely 4 bedroom with high ceilings and private bath with balcony overlooking Avenida de Mayo! We will take a round the city 3 hour tour arranged by the hostel today. More later!
The hostel was great, right in the center of town, but the room itself wasn´t so hot. Nice patio outside, swimming pool (didn´t see anyone in it), bar outside, computers and wifi. But the 6 bunkbeds in the room weren´t so comfortable - poor Michelle got a top bunk the first night, no ladder! And not great shower! The second night she got a bottom and a Korean guy took her top bunk. When I woke up during the night, he was putting his forearms on the two top bunks and swinging himself up to the bunk. I asked him in the a.m. if he was a gymnast. He said he couldn´t figure out how to get into the bed - he didn´t think of climbing up on the end - there was no ladder! - like Michelle had done! He was headed to Brazil.
So early we took a 9 a.m. bus out to the National Park to spend the day at the falls. Bus was 30 pesos and then 170 each to enter the park for a day, and we paid 150 p. for a boat ride under the falls later in the day. We walked along a forest path where we first encountered the coati - a raccoon like animal with very long tail and a snout pointy like an anteater. They can be very aggressive, can bite, and jump on your food so we gave them wide berth even though they looked cute! They tended to hang around food places.
The only other wild life we saw were huge black vultures circling over the falls to catch the drafts and a caiman, like an alligator, floating under a bridge and a gigantic catfish swimming nearby. Otherwise it was just tourists! We were lucky as we had a gorgeous mostly sunny day which helped later when we were soaking wet after our boat ride. It was rainy and cloudy the second day before our bus ride back to BA.
The park is well laid out and paved walks, with metal grid walkways actually OVER a lot of the smaller falls. So it was all around you! The sound of the roaring water, tons of it, crashing down on the huge rocks was deafening! And the walkway went on and on. We followed the suggestion of walking the upper falls pathway for maybe an hour, then the lower falls one until we came around noon to the steep path down to the boat dock. I donned my plastic pancho, which kept me drier than the others, they their jackets and then our life vests. We got on sort of a big zodiac with maybe 20 people and sat on the benches inside, rather than on the edge like down in Ushuaia. The boat took us near El Diablo, the devil falls, and then back out with the current. The driver told us to take pictures and lots of people posed on the steps with falls in the background. Then we were told to put away our cameras and the driver drove us further in, under the heavy mist, where we could not see too much! Then we rushed back out with the current and went to the other side of Isle San Martin kind of between the two major falls (you sometimes can hike around it but apparently the water was too high that day). Water just poured on us and only my lap and the top of my shirt didn´t get wet. Fortunately we had all worn sandals that day in anticipation of this as our hiking boots would STILL be wet!
Our last segment was the train ride up to the top and then a LOOONG walk on the metal bridges over the top of El Diablo to the end where the major part goes over. It was so full of mist and spray (we got soaked again) that you couldn´t really see where it fell to. Talk about roaring power! It was amazing just how they ever got this walkway built from rock outcropping to outcropping across this major river! Even if it hadn´t been larger than Niagra, it´s so worth seeing because you can get so close up below, above and in the Falls! Well done, Argentine! We heard this side was way more scenic than the Brazilian side. Some people had gone to both. We avoided Brazil because of another American-only reciprocity fee of $160 or so plus all the other hoops to go through to get a visa! We are the only ones who pay it because WE are the ones who charge such huge visas and restrictions (90 days tourist visas) to foreigners visiting US! So tit for tat! I don´t blame them! But had avoided the one in Chile (you only pay if you fly in internationally to Santiago - we had crossed by land into Arica) and paid the $160 one in Argentina. Up until last year we would have avoided it as we came in by boat to Ushuaia but they changed the rules and we were checked also when we came back in from Uruguay.
Food was very expensive out in the park so we had brought lunch (empanadas from the store around the corner from hostel) and we sat at the lower falls before the boat ride to eat - as I´m sure our lunches would have been soaked! Empanadas are like a pasty or meat pie rolled in dough. They are handy to carry and can have any kind of filling. Turns out in some papers that Portia, a friend who did an Overseas Adventure Travel (OAT) trip to Chile and Argentina, gave me, there is a recipe including the pastry part. I will try them! I had a carne (meat) one and a spinach and cheese one. I thought they were just a Chilean food specialty but they have them everywhere in SA. We bought them again for lunch before we left on the bus for BA.
Our second day in IF, we took a 3 peso bus out to an animal refuge right on the border of the National Park. It was 75 pesos for the guided tour as it´s a private place with no public funding. They rescue animals from street accidents or drop offs of pets people have kept and don´t want or rescued from animal smugglers. We had to wait around for an hour or so before the next tour so shopped in the little gift shop. There were some lovely butterfly magnets that I got for S. and J. We had seen some amazingly colorful butterflies in the park! One brilliant purple and red one landed on my foot! I think Michelle got a picture!
Our tractor and wagon came by to take our group further back where the walk started. Our guide spoke really good English and was very knowledgeable. We walked a paved and gravel walkway around many cages where she stopped at each one and explained about the animal(s) and where they had been rescued from. If they were raised by humans, or badly injured, like broken wings that couldn´t be repaired, they would stay in their center. But mostly they were trained to go back to the wild and be released. We got close up views of many birds of prey, variety of toucans, peccaries - a kind of wild pig, - monkeys - capuchin and some black howlers. One howler was living around OUTSIDE on top of their huge cage. She was free to come and go, as our guide pointed out, this was the jungle! At one point she came down to the railing and was following Michelle and startled her! Also some HUGE spiders outside of cages!! Eeuw! I´ll have nightmares about those! It was well worth the time and money.
On the way back we chatted with a French and Spanish speaking guy from our hostel who had been on the trip. He was 40 or so and traveling for a year and a half! He had been robbed his first day in BA. They did the spill-something-on-him-and-then-the-other-one-helps-clean-it-off - while they ran away with his whole backpack! We had read this scam in one of the guide books already. So we are walking around BA with very little! We have met so many people from everywhere traveling around for months at a time!! Americans just don´t do that much!
Our last adventure at IF was taking a supposed 17 hour bus ride back to BA leaving at 3:45 pm and arriving around 8 the next a.m. We upgraded our seats to upstairs with semi-coma reclining seats for sleeping! Ended up being very comfortable but we didn´t arrive until around 2 p.m. because about 3 hours out of BA at 8 a.m. the bus broke down and we waited for another one to cram into and finish the ride. Not worth the small savings above flying round trip! But who knew! And the scenery was just rolling farmland, not particularly interesting to view! But an experience, nontheless! We arrived and took a taxi to the Ritz Hostel to explore BA for 3 days! Ida and her family live so far out of BA it´s not practical to stay there and take the long train ride in. May´s wonderful husband Christian had delivered our extra luggage to the hostel and they were waiting here for us. We have a lovely 4 bedroom with high ceilings and private bath with balcony overlooking Avenida de Mayo! We will take a round the city 3 hour tour arranged by the hostel today. More later!
Wednesday, March 20, 2013
March 14th, Kissing, Kissing, Kissing
Argentinians, or at least Ida´s family have this wonderful ritual of greeting and departing from everyone with a kiss on the right cheek. Not the two air kisses like Europeans, or the three kisses like the Moroccans, but a real kiss on the one cheek. So when we arrived at Ida´s even the children will give you a greeting as part of their manners. It¨s really lovely! I have never been kissed by so many handsome men in years!!
But back to our arrival (I typed all this at May´s on my iPad and the router must have disconnected and it was all lost!! Grrrr! Technology!)
On Thursday we said goodbye to picturesque Ushuaia and the lovely people - Gabriel, Tamara, etc. who run the Antarctica Hostel there - and took a taxi to the airport for our flight to Buenos Aires. Everything went smoothly although I was disappointed not to see much scenery of Patagonia on the way over - too many clouds. On arriving I got one of those luggage pushcarts as I had two bags, my backpack and was carrying a paper shopping bag with some wrapped chocolates I had bought for our hostess May and a little Easter egg for Ida, plus I had put my book and waterbottle in it. When we walked outside the baggage area with the cart, Michelle had texted me they were on their way to pick us up and we should cross the street to the Rio Plate side which we did, leaving the cart behind. We are standing there texting (they were stuck in traffic, a frequent occurrence in very crowded and crazy BA!) when I realized I had left the candy on the cart. I threw the phone at Betty (who doesn´t know how to text anyway!) and ran back across to the cart. Of course, the bag was gone! I frantically pantomimed to a couple of policemen nearby that I´d left something in it. They were pointing down the airport and said to go to security! I did an OJ run/fast walk down, down, down where they had been pointing, asking a couple of places along the way for security and they kept pointing keep going! The hallway finally ended in a narrow hall with an office on the side. There a woman was sitting on a bench with my bag beside her!!! I couldn´t believe someone hadn´t just walked off with it! We had been warned by SOOOO many people about how dangerous BA was, don´t leave sight of anything for a minute! thiefs grab and steal things in a blink! And there was my candy, safe and sound!! She checked I guess with security and gave me the bag.
This time I went outside and crossed the street to do a faster walk back to Betty, and by now I figured Michelle had arrived! As I neared, I saw our bags on the sidewalk with a woman´s back to me - turned out to be May, with Betty behind her. All was well, except Michelle had crossed over and was going down the airport looking for me! We texted her back and all was well!!!!
May is one of the two delightful cousins of Michelle´s that I had met 20 years ago at Mom´s 74th birthday bash in Sunset Beach, NC. She and her sister, Susie, had been traveling in US and visiting Zoe, her aunt and friend of mine from Norwalk, CT. They had joined us so they could see all of Robert's (my brother-in-law and Zoe´s brother) family who were down there for Grandma´s party.
To back up, Ida, Robert´s older sister, I think she´s now 83, married years ago in Tangier, Morocco where they all grew up, Paco who was from Argentinia. They lived for awhile in Tangier where Paco worked. They also lived for one year in Ireland, I think for the Arg. government, before returning to BA. They have 12 children (Paco died at 59 over 20 years ago). 10 are happily married, Billy the eldest lives in Ida´s big house and runs his business out of the dining room, Katy, a middle child, is a nun about 2 hours ride from BA, and all the rest live around here and come over for a huge dinner, usually outside with so many- Ida has 48 grandchildren and 15 greats! I saw at least one pregnant woman so another one soon!
Family seems to be number one here in BA and I had heard that families frequently get together on Sundays and here it was! I experienced it twice - once for Robert and Maria Laura´s 4 year old´s birthday party ´- Belisario (Beli) - where it was mobbed with kids, many cousins but some friends as well - and then the regular family get together last Sunday where we were greeted with all these kisses again! Everyone brings food: usually Ida makes a spaghetti sauce and they bring everything else. This time Billy, a vegetarian, had cooked a wonderful creamy chicken and rice dish and they kept bringing out all kinds of side dishes. We were a bit late getting back by ferry boat (rough 1.5 hr ride across the Plate on Colonia Express, a much smaller boat than the Busquebus huge catamaran we had come over on - then taxi to train station and another ride out to the suburbs. We waited to get picked up at the station by May and Susie´s husband to ride over to Ida´s.
We were told they had to hide food for us because whenever a dish was brought out, the crowd hovered and grabbed! There wouldn´t have been anything left for us, we were told, unless they had saved it hidden!! There must have been close to 50 family members there!! Fun!
Robert and Maria Laura with their son Beli and 2 year old daughter Felicitas (Feli), live in a house in Ida´s back yard. We stopped at Pato (Patrick)´s house newly built by him ´- he works in construction - and gorgeous - on our way home Thursday from the birthday party. We met their middle school son (got a kiss!) who was watching TV when we stopped by. His wife we didn´t meet until Sunday.
We also stopped by Susie´s where Michelle had been staying to pick up her luggage. She has 7 children - Sofi, her 28 year old who speaks excellent English (these are all now Michelle´s SECOND cousins! - while we were there. She is delightful! and we met her boyfriend of 3 or so years on Sunday at Ida´s. Her husband Jose Luis picked us up from the train on Sunday and we met him then. Their oldest, Jose Luis, we met Sunday (and will meet for tango when we return to BA) along with Pilar, his girlfriend. They demonstrated some tango steps for us!! He is a music conductor and she studies music.
I haven´t put all the names and faces together yet - Christopher, my nephew, who came here 2 years ago with his new wife Kendra, gave me a printed list, in order, with spouses and children to help. There is Ellen, Teri (Teri has the 11 children!), and Pablo and another handsome younger brother (I can´t remember the name right now) who joked around a lot with Michelle. They had seen her for a week and they certainly welcomed and treated her like family!!
Anyway, it was delightful to experience ¨family¨in Buenos Aires! Now we´re looking forward to staying downtown for our last 3 nights in BA and seeing some of the sites in the city, like La Boca, the port area where this country of immigrants had their ancestors land and then move out! Usually a rough, dangerous area at night but okay in the daytime and getting gentrified. This is where tango, originally a dance of the brothels, originated. At one time it was condemned by Kaiser Wilhelm and Pope Pius X!!!! My friend Pat from the Cape who I traveled to China with in 2011, has a son Ray who runs a tango group on Cape Cod!!! It´s become a ¨thing¨and is very popular in South Korea where Ray first learned! He was a travel writer for Lonely Planet at the time. Check out capecodtango.org! We just watched an interview of him on Cape Cod TV about their 2nd anniversary coming up in April and what the group does! It´s not like Dancing with the Stars. I´m anxious to see it this weekend- don´t think I´ll be able to try it as I have only sandals!!! Some of the family will join us as a thank you for hosting us! I´ll post pictures!!! Michelle did bring shoes so maybe she will get to dance at the milonga they call it!! Then we´ll watch a professional show!
Ciao, ciao for now from Iguazu Falls!!
But back to our arrival (I typed all this at May´s on my iPad and the router must have disconnected and it was all lost!! Grrrr! Technology!)
On Thursday we said goodbye to picturesque Ushuaia and the lovely people - Gabriel, Tamara, etc. who run the Antarctica Hostel there - and took a taxi to the airport for our flight to Buenos Aires. Everything went smoothly although I was disappointed not to see much scenery of Patagonia on the way over - too many clouds. On arriving I got one of those luggage pushcarts as I had two bags, my backpack and was carrying a paper shopping bag with some wrapped chocolates I had bought for our hostess May and a little Easter egg for Ida, plus I had put my book and waterbottle in it. When we walked outside the baggage area with the cart, Michelle had texted me they were on their way to pick us up and we should cross the street to the Rio Plate side which we did, leaving the cart behind. We are standing there texting (they were stuck in traffic, a frequent occurrence in very crowded and crazy BA!) when I realized I had left the candy on the cart. I threw the phone at Betty (who doesn´t know how to text anyway!) and ran back across to the cart. Of course, the bag was gone! I frantically pantomimed to a couple of policemen nearby that I´d left something in it. They were pointing down the airport and said to go to security! I did an OJ run/fast walk down, down, down where they had been pointing, asking a couple of places along the way for security and they kept pointing keep going! The hallway finally ended in a narrow hall with an office on the side. There a woman was sitting on a bench with my bag beside her!!! I couldn´t believe someone hadn´t just walked off with it! We had been warned by SOOOO many people about how dangerous BA was, don´t leave sight of anything for a minute! thiefs grab and steal things in a blink! And there was my candy, safe and sound!! She checked I guess with security and gave me the bag.
This time I went outside and crossed the street to do a faster walk back to Betty, and by now I figured Michelle had arrived! As I neared, I saw our bags on the sidewalk with a woman´s back to me - turned out to be May, with Betty behind her. All was well, except Michelle had crossed over and was going down the airport looking for me! We texted her back and all was well!!!!
May is one of the two delightful cousins of Michelle´s that I had met 20 years ago at Mom´s 74th birthday bash in Sunset Beach, NC. She and her sister, Susie, had been traveling in US and visiting Zoe, her aunt and friend of mine from Norwalk, CT. They had joined us so they could see all of Robert's (my brother-in-law and Zoe´s brother) family who were down there for Grandma´s party.
To back up, Ida, Robert´s older sister, I think she´s now 83, married years ago in Tangier, Morocco where they all grew up, Paco who was from Argentinia. They lived for awhile in Tangier where Paco worked. They also lived for one year in Ireland, I think for the Arg. government, before returning to BA. They have 12 children (Paco died at 59 over 20 years ago). 10 are happily married, Billy the eldest lives in Ida´s big house and runs his business out of the dining room, Katy, a middle child, is a nun about 2 hours ride from BA, and all the rest live around here and come over for a huge dinner, usually outside with so many- Ida has 48 grandchildren and 15 greats! I saw at least one pregnant woman so another one soon!
Family seems to be number one here in BA and I had heard that families frequently get together on Sundays and here it was! I experienced it twice - once for Robert and Maria Laura´s 4 year old´s birthday party ´- Belisario (Beli) - where it was mobbed with kids, many cousins but some friends as well - and then the regular family get together last Sunday where we were greeted with all these kisses again! Everyone brings food: usually Ida makes a spaghetti sauce and they bring everything else. This time Billy, a vegetarian, had cooked a wonderful creamy chicken and rice dish and they kept bringing out all kinds of side dishes. We were a bit late getting back by ferry boat (rough 1.5 hr ride across the Plate on Colonia Express, a much smaller boat than the Busquebus huge catamaran we had come over on - then taxi to train station and another ride out to the suburbs. We waited to get picked up at the station by May and Susie´s husband to ride over to Ida´s.
We were told they had to hide food for us because whenever a dish was brought out, the crowd hovered and grabbed! There wouldn´t have been anything left for us, we were told, unless they had saved it hidden!! There must have been close to 50 family members there!! Fun!
Robert and Maria Laura with their son Beli and 2 year old daughter Felicitas (Feli), live in a house in Ida´s back yard. We stopped at Pato (Patrick)´s house newly built by him ´- he works in construction - and gorgeous - on our way home Thursday from the birthday party. We met their middle school son (got a kiss!) who was watching TV when we stopped by. His wife we didn´t meet until Sunday.
We also stopped by Susie´s where Michelle had been staying to pick up her luggage. She has 7 children - Sofi, her 28 year old who speaks excellent English (these are all now Michelle´s SECOND cousins! - while we were there. She is delightful! and we met her boyfriend of 3 or so years on Sunday at Ida´s. Her husband Jose Luis picked us up from the train on Sunday and we met him then. Their oldest, Jose Luis, we met Sunday (and will meet for tango when we return to BA) along with Pilar, his girlfriend. They demonstrated some tango steps for us!! He is a music conductor and she studies music.
I haven´t put all the names and faces together yet - Christopher, my nephew, who came here 2 years ago with his new wife Kendra, gave me a printed list, in order, with spouses and children to help. There is Ellen, Teri (Teri has the 11 children!), and Pablo and another handsome younger brother (I can´t remember the name right now) who joked around a lot with Michelle. They had seen her for a week and they certainly welcomed and treated her like family!!
Anyway, it was delightful to experience ¨family¨in Buenos Aires! Now we´re looking forward to staying downtown for our last 3 nights in BA and seeing some of the sites in the city, like La Boca, the port area where this country of immigrants had their ancestors land and then move out! Usually a rough, dangerous area at night but okay in the daytime and getting gentrified. This is where tango, originally a dance of the brothels, originated. At one time it was condemned by Kaiser Wilhelm and Pope Pius X!!!! My friend Pat from the Cape who I traveled to China with in 2011, has a son Ray who runs a tango group on Cape Cod!!! It´s become a ¨thing¨and is very popular in South Korea where Ray first learned! He was a travel writer for Lonely Planet at the time. Check out capecodtango.org! We just watched an interview of him on Cape Cod TV about their 2nd anniversary coming up in April and what the group does! It´s not like Dancing with the Stars. I´m anxious to see it this weekend- don´t think I´ll be able to try it as I have only sandals!!! Some of the family will join us as a thank you for hosting us! I´ll post pictures!!! Michelle did bring shoes so maybe she will get to dance at the milonga they call it!! Then we´ll watch a professional show!
Ciao, ciao for now from Iguazu Falls!!
Friday, March 15, 2013
March 15, Ides of March, from Colonia, Uruguay!
Another country, another stamp in my passport!! :)
Yesterday Betty and I left the wonderful town at the End of the World (to quote the new Argentinian Pope Francis I!), Ushuaia! We had a delightful time there, riding a long bus ride out to a 20,000 acre estacion (ranch) that has been in the same family since 1886 or so. It failed as a sheep/cattle ranch in the 80s I guess and is now used as a tourist site and a jumping off point to take a boat for 15 minutes out to a small island where 7000 Magellanic penguins, and some Gentoo penguins, and one lone King penguin (they don´t know why he showed up there this year!) were nesting. About 20 of us went around the island, trying to avoid the permanent nests there. The eggs were laid in October and hatched a couple of months later and now the babies were beginning to look like the adults. The adults were guarding the nests and molting, they couldn´t go into the sea until they were through molting and then they would swim out into the Atlantic and go north to warmer waters for the winter. They were very noisy with their loud honking. the guide said they honk to claim territory, complain, call their mate, just about anything, they honk! The pairs mate up and come back to the same nest every year. The males come first and clean up the nest and make it attractive. Then the females arrive and lay the eggs and they take turns guarding the nest while the other gets food. Skulking around are the skua, a gull like bird that preys on eggs and small babies or sick penguins. Up on the heights were turkey vultures hovering around for the same thing. It was amazing to get so close to them and you wanted to reach out and touch! But we were warned it´s not allowed!!
After the boat trip we went to the small maritime museum that houses skeletons of many of the sea animals in the area, that wash up on the beach. I was pleased to see one of a leopard seal, a very ferocious predator that has no one that preys on them! We had seen a video of one ripping apart right at the shore some sea lions for lunch! They can be over 3 meters long!!
We got taken by the guide in the back where workers and scientists were scrubbing skulls and bones and numbering and boxing them. An American scientist was back there, a woman of 70+ who had married into the family and lived on the ranch for over 50 years! she is supervising 6 doctoral students who are working on various projects relating to bones. One interesting project is with the teeth! I didn´t know teeth have rings similar to trees that can tell you all kinds of things like what they ate, how much they ate in a season, etc. They had a big tooth dissected to show! Interesting!
We came back to the hostel and met up with Ron, from Manchester, NH, who had hiked up to a nearby glacier for 6+ hours and had a great time! The mountains around there were gorgeous on a sunny day! Lots of skiing in the winter! Gabriel at the Antarctica Hostel and the other staff were so helpful! They let us do our laundry washing and then we took it down the street to dry it so we both have clean underwear!!!
The next day Ron left for home (he had spent 4 weeks trying without success to learn Spanish in immersion program in Costa Rica and then led a Appalachian Hiking Club group of 12 hiking through Patagonia, then spent 2 days in Ush. and now was headed home. He´s going to work for 2 months volunteering with the Masai in Kenya in the fall! Interesting people you meet!). We left later for our flight to Buenos Aires. It was about 2.5 hours and nice scenery along the way.
I had bought some chocolates, a specialty in Ushuaia apparently - they said it keeps them warm in the winter months! - to give to May and something small for Ida. I was carrying it in a paper bag along with my water and a book! When I left the cart with our luggage when we got outside the baggage area, to cross the street to wait for Michelle and May who were on their way to pick us up, I realized in a panic I had left the bag with chocolates! I went running back across to the airport, frantically asked a policeman in sign language and he indicated I should keep going down the airport to the police!! After at least a 15 minute walk/run down the full length, feeling it was hopeless, I ended up in a small hallway with an office at the end. There a woman policeman sat with my bag next to her! I couldn´t believe someone didn´t just walk off with it!!! Now I grabbed it and hustled another 15 minutes back to Betty who I´d left with my phone (I´d been texting Michelle so we´d meet up!) and the luggage! There she was standing with May and Michelle had chased off after me. So I texted her to come back! How did we operate without cell phones!!?
It should have only been less than an hour´s drive out to Ida´s, but a stop at WalMart to get a birthday present for 4 year old Belli (and one for 2 year old Elli his sister) and LOTS of traffic and congestion later, we finally arrived at Belli´s birthday at Grandma Ida´s house. Talk about overwhelming family and children!!! Marie who lives in a house behind Ida had done all the many cake-baking and decorating for the party, maybe 40 little ones, some friends but mostly cousins of the birthday boy, were enjoying the blowup slides! And I met many of Ida´s 12 children and their spouses! May and Susie I had met in 1994 when they came to Sunset Beach in NC to my mother´s 74th birthday week party! And Ida, my brother-in-law Robert´s sister who is 83 I had met at Rob and then Christopher´s weddings out in Oregon. It was delightful to see them again!
We toured Ida´s house, from 1917, where she raised these 12 children, most of whom still live around her. One Katy is a nun a couple of hours away. Everyone was very excited about the newly elected Pope Francis I from Buenos Aires and some family members knew his brother and other relatives. We then left about 7 and stopped at another brother Pato´s house, a newly built home by him that was just gorgeous, brick, very spacious and Spanish hacienda style with a big yard and pool. Then we stopped also at Susie´s and met her daughter Sofi, a delightful 28 year old with excellent English. And then finally to May´s for dinner around 10 p.m. I could never get used to the hours here! Christian, her attorney husband, came in around 11::00 p.m. for his dinner so we visited and finally went to bed about midnight!!
May took us to the train in the am and we made the 12:45 pm ferry to Colonia, Uruguay. We needed to clear customs in both countries before boarding and ended up meeting, after a 1 hour crossing of the Rio Plata, very wide river dividing the countries, Mitch, an American from Long Beach, CA, who´s traveling for almost a year while deciding on his Ph.D. program in Philosophy when he returns. We are sharing a 4 bed dorm with him, and spent a delightful evening sharing travel stories (with me doing WAY too much story-telling!) during walk around the historic little Portugese/Spanish town here, then dinner, with lots of laughs and then more wine and mate, this thick tea everyone drinks all day, and some music (I bought the CD) from a lovely woman singer from BA.
Off to bed and then another relaxing day in Uruguay before returning to Ida´s on Sunday for the WHOLE family get-together! Ciao!
Tuesday, March 12, 2013
March 12, Saying Goodbye to Australis
I'm writing this entry out of order but I'll straighten it out later. I'm currently in Antarctica! Well, really the Antarctica Hostel in Ushuaia, Argentina, but I'm going to count it as my sixth continent anyway! Yesterday we circled around Cape Horn (it was too rough to land because of easterly, instead of the usual westerly winds so we went around). It was less than 1000 km over open ocean to Ant. It's 2 days of rough waters going and then returning. It's just not worth the huge expense. We saw penguins, seals. Whales, sea lions - that's close enough for me!
I want to write about Mikel (Johannsen) one of our fellow passengers on our 4 day cruise. From Punta Arenas, Chile,to here. He sat at our table for a meal and Betty especially spent some chatting with him. He is in his 40s I would guess and is a truck driver in Sweden, traveling alone around SA. Tomorrow he will take a seven hour bus back to PA, spend one night there and then begin his long flight to Santiago, then to Toronto and home to Sweden.
Betty and I unloaded our stuff at the hostel this am and then took a bus out to Tierra del Fuego National Park to hike around on a gorgeous sunny day. The place is surrounded with snow-capped peaks! On our way back through town we stopped at this Irish pub for some pub grub and a be. and there was Mikel finishing up some dinner. So we asked him to join us.
We had a chance to ask him a lot of questions about Sweden. Things we learned: free health care for all, free child care and schooling through university, Free nursing home care for elderly, they actually PAY you for each child you have, I'mguessing through a tax deduction. Everyone gets 5weeks paid vacation yearly. Of course, their tax rate is pretty high!
But then he started talking about the vacations he takes! He's been twice to South Africa,Namibia, Botswana. In SA he went down in the ocean in a cage that was baited for sharks!!!! He loved it and did it another time. He'd like to get a job for awhile doing that! he also went on camping -safari trip there with a company called Nomads where they camped out!
He's been to Alaska twice, went out to see the bears like Betty and I did, drove with his brother from Seattle to Dawson City , then back down to San Francisco for a several week trip. He loves natures s wildlife and made Betty and Ifeel like slugs in comparison. He booked this 4 day boat trip at the last minute in Punta Arenas and paid half of what we did and had a cabin all to himself! So interesting what people are doing that we've run into.
All for today!
I want to write about Mikel (Johannsen) one of our fellow passengers on our 4 day cruise. From Punta Arenas, Chile,to here. He sat at our table for a meal and Betty especially spent some chatting with him. He is in his 40s I would guess and is a truck driver in Sweden, traveling alone around SA. Tomorrow he will take a seven hour bus back to PA, spend one night there and then begin his long flight to Santiago, then to Toronto and home to Sweden.
Betty and I unloaded our stuff at the hostel this am and then took a bus out to Tierra del Fuego National Park to hike around on a gorgeous sunny day. The place is surrounded with snow-capped peaks! On our way back through town we stopped at this Irish pub for some pub grub and a be. and there was Mikel finishing up some dinner. So we asked him to join us.
We had a chance to ask him a lot of questions about Sweden. Things we learned: free health care for all, free child care and schooling through university, Free nursing home care for elderly, they actually PAY you for each child you have, I'mguessing through a tax deduction. Everyone gets 5weeks paid vacation yearly. Of course, their tax rate is pretty high!
But then he started talking about the vacations he takes! He's been twice to South Africa,Namibia, Botswana. In SA he went down in the ocean in a cage that was baited for sharks!!!! He loved it and did it another time. He'd like to get a job for awhile doing that! he also went on camping -safari trip there with a company called Nomads where they camped out!
He's been to Alaska twice, went out to see the bears like Betty and I did, drove with his brother from Seattle to Dawson City , then back down to San Francisco for a several week trip. He loves natures s wildlife and made Betty and Ifeel like slugs in comparison. He booked this 4 day boat trip at the last minute in Punta Arenas and paid half of what we did and had a cabin all to himself! So interesting what people are doing that we've run into.
All for today!
Saturday, March 9, 2013
March 9, First day aboard ship
Along with about 60 others, we board the Chilean vessel Australis Friday evening in time to sail about 8 p.m. Our cabin was perfect, on 1st deck with a huge window to give us a great view and hearing the slapping of the waves to lull us to sleep each night. We were mostly in inner passageways so it was pretty smooth sailing. Only one evening about 2 a.m. We were told it might get rougher when we were out in more open water. I did notice when I got up during the night there was a lot more wave slapping, but I went right back to sleep.
Our first launching onto the 4 zodiac boats was to go whale watching. Humpback whales were summering in this area before soon heading up the Pacific coast to Columbia for the winter. there was one mother with her cal and several others. I wasn't quick enough to get pictures when they would flash their flukes but there was a slideshow at the end of the trip that the crew would email to everyone that had great shots of all we'd seen. The crew was very explicit and careful in their instructions about how to get in and out of the boats and everyone boarded and disembarked safely. It reminded me of our rafting trip on the Colorado River a couple of years ago with Tom, Rosemary. Bev, Larry and Betty, although it was NEVER as rough as we experienced on that trip. I remember on that trip getting bounced to the floor of the zodiac and decided it was a good idea to STAY there and I did! We just had a rope to hang onto but it wasn´t rough riding around and soon I could let go and take photos.
We came pretty close to some whales and it seemed closer than when I´m working on the Dolphin Fleet in Provincetown on the Cape because we were so low in the water! One of the crew got some great shots of the tail flukes (like a fingerprint on a whale) and they were able to call out the name of the whale they´ve given to identify them. I was never quick enough with my camera to get a good shot.
There were dolphins swimming all around, various birds flying overhead and sea lions and fur seals swimming near shore. We were out for a couple of hours and then they took us back for the next group to come out. There were only 4 Zodiacs for the whole boat so we had to do two shifts. Always to greet us when we came back was hot chocolate and whiskey if we wanted it! The only time I tried the whiskey was our next day when we landed at Pia Glacier and walked around. At the end, they had shots of the whiskey in glacier ice!! I HAD to try that! I remember Shelley Gill, a children´s author from Homer, Alaska, who frequently works with whales, etc., calling it ¨Christ Ice" because it was 2000 years old! I thought it was hilarious! It certainly warmed our insides!
There is a whole section of the Beagle Channel where there are glaciers: I learned there are "hanging" ones that look suspended on a huge rock, "marine" glaciers that calve right into the sea - so you can really sense the whole thing is moving, and the ones in between, can´t remember the name, that end with a moraine of scraped rocks at the bottom before the water. We saw one, I think it was Garibaldi glacier, that had a central moraine, where two glaciers each push from the sides and you can see a gravel stripe in the middle where stone is pushed up. We were also told the glacier isn´t actually touching the rocks underneath but a layer of melted water flows under, probably from the friction of the glacier pushing! At Pia Glacier, we got off and walked up high for a view and then sat down right across from where pieces were calving - unfortunately didn´t get to see any gigantic icebergs break off but it was cool to sit there!
Back at the ship, we cruised through Glacier Alley - Romanche, French, Italian, Dutch glaciers with appropriate drinks and food being served as we passed (this ship is top drawer!!! :) like cheese and beer for the Dutch, champagne, wine, etc. It was fun!
People on the boat: first and foremost were the two German couples who were our tablemates for most of the meals. We had spotted these two tall, I thought they were Scandanavian when we saw them waiting at the Australis office in Punta Arenas, Chile, Germans from Munich - Jutta and Willy. She was an elementary teacher, now retired, and he was a businessman of some sort. He had been widowed when his daughter was 12 and he raised her and now has a granddaughter. She married him 3 years ago, her first marriage, and they enjoyed the granddaughter together!
The other couple was in their 30s, Sebastian, a lawyer, and Martina, a secretary from Bavaria. They joked a lot about how Bavarians think they are B. first and German second! And better than other Germans! Their language is even slightly different and sometimes not understandable to other Germans. They were married last September and seemed very tender with each other! It was cute to watch! The slideshow at the end showed them kissing on the beach and everyone sighed!!! Sebastian especially had excellent English and we had lots of discussions about the law in Germany and US (his job, criminal law, is VERY different than a lawyer in US. Not all this jury trial, two judges and one other person serve as judge/jury in most cases)., differences is what the government provides for people (free health care, retirement, education from6 mos. on, etc.) and their high taxes. He had a really funny quirky sense of humor. I told him after all the wine we drank (the waiters just kept refilling the glasses as we ate and talked, especially that first elegant dinner!) I felt I began to understand their German!!! We had buffet breakfasts and lunch that were amazing! especially the elegant desserts at the lunches! Then we would order at lunch for our served dinner - usually either fish or meat dish. Patricio was our wonderful waiter each time! We all had envelopes in our room at the end to leave one tip - suggested $15/day/person - to leave for everyone in a box at reception, so we did that! Service was wonderful! But there were only 63 or so passengers and 45 crew!! It wasn´t full this trip which was lucky for us!
Another entry later!
Our first launching onto the 4 zodiac boats was to go whale watching. Humpback whales were summering in this area before soon heading up the Pacific coast to Columbia for the winter. there was one mother with her cal and several others. I wasn't quick enough to get pictures when they would flash their flukes but there was a slideshow at the end of the trip that the crew would email to everyone that had great shots of all we'd seen. The crew was very explicit and careful in their instructions about how to get in and out of the boats and everyone boarded and disembarked safely. It reminded me of our rafting trip on the Colorado River a couple of years ago with Tom, Rosemary. Bev, Larry and Betty, although it was NEVER as rough as we experienced on that trip. I remember on that trip getting bounced to the floor of the zodiac and decided it was a good idea to STAY there and I did! We just had a rope to hang onto but it wasn´t rough riding around and soon I could let go and take photos.
We came pretty close to some whales and it seemed closer than when I´m working on the Dolphin Fleet in Provincetown on the Cape because we were so low in the water! One of the crew got some great shots of the tail flukes (like a fingerprint on a whale) and they were able to call out the name of the whale they´ve given to identify them. I was never quick enough with my camera to get a good shot.
There were dolphins swimming all around, various birds flying overhead and sea lions and fur seals swimming near shore. We were out for a couple of hours and then they took us back for the next group to come out. There were only 4 Zodiacs for the whole boat so we had to do two shifts. Always to greet us when we came back was hot chocolate and whiskey if we wanted it! The only time I tried the whiskey was our next day when we landed at Pia Glacier and walked around. At the end, they had shots of the whiskey in glacier ice!! I HAD to try that! I remember Shelley Gill, a children´s author from Homer, Alaska, who frequently works with whales, etc., calling it ¨Christ Ice" because it was 2000 years old! I thought it was hilarious! It certainly warmed our insides!
There is a whole section of the Beagle Channel where there are glaciers: I learned there are "hanging" ones that look suspended on a huge rock, "marine" glaciers that calve right into the sea - so you can really sense the whole thing is moving, and the ones in between, can´t remember the name, that end with a moraine of scraped rocks at the bottom before the water. We saw one, I think it was Garibaldi glacier, that had a central moraine, where two glaciers each push from the sides and you can see a gravel stripe in the middle where stone is pushed up. We were also told the glacier isn´t actually touching the rocks underneath but a layer of melted water flows under, probably from the friction of the glacier pushing! At Pia Glacier, we got off and walked up high for a view and then sat down right across from where pieces were calving - unfortunately didn´t get to see any gigantic icebergs break off but it was cool to sit there!
Back at the ship, we cruised through Glacier Alley - Romanche, French, Italian, Dutch glaciers with appropriate drinks and food being served as we passed (this ship is top drawer!!! :) like cheese and beer for the Dutch, champagne, wine, etc. It was fun!
People on the boat: first and foremost were the two German couples who were our tablemates for most of the meals. We had spotted these two tall, I thought they were Scandanavian when we saw them waiting at the Australis office in Punta Arenas, Chile, Germans from Munich - Jutta and Willy. She was an elementary teacher, now retired, and he was a businessman of some sort. He had been widowed when his daughter was 12 and he raised her and now has a granddaughter. She married him 3 years ago, her first marriage, and they enjoyed the granddaughter together!
The other couple was in their 30s, Sebastian, a lawyer, and Martina, a secretary from Bavaria. They joked a lot about how Bavarians think they are B. first and German second! And better than other Germans! Their language is even slightly different and sometimes not understandable to other Germans. They were married last September and seemed very tender with each other! It was cute to watch! The slideshow at the end showed them kissing on the beach and everyone sighed!!! Sebastian especially had excellent English and we had lots of discussions about the law in Germany and US (his job, criminal law, is VERY different than a lawyer in US. Not all this jury trial, two judges and one other person serve as judge/jury in most cases)., differences is what the government provides for people (free health care, retirement, education from6 mos. on, etc.) and their high taxes. He had a really funny quirky sense of humor. I told him after all the wine we drank (the waiters just kept refilling the glasses as we ate and talked, especially that first elegant dinner!) I felt I began to understand their German!!! We had buffet breakfasts and lunch that were amazing! especially the elegant desserts at the lunches! Then we would order at lunch for our served dinner - usually either fish or meat dish. Patricio was our wonderful waiter each time! We all had envelopes in our room at the end to leave one tip - suggested $15/day/person - to leave for everyone in a box at reception, so we did that! Service was wonderful! But there were only 63 or so passengers and 45 crew!! It wasn´t full this trip which was lucky for us!
Another entry later!
Thursday, March 7, 2013
The Unexpectedness of Travel
Today was a rainy and dreary day. I had to buy a postcard of the gorgeous volcano and waterfall as it was too cloudy to see it. Andreas our hostel owner and tour guide suggested a talk in a forest to see these 1000 year old trees and then go to the fish market because this wouldn't depend on the weather. I wasn't too enthusiastic but off we went.He brought rain ponchos that a fisherman had left for us but turned out we didn't need them.
father stopping for water for us, we bumped through the countryside of farms and germanlooking architecture to a park. We walked a kind of boardwalk trail through a forest filled with these now preserved trees. People used to make shingles and window frames of the wood because it repels water. It's very light and soft and doesn't hold much weight. But now they are endangered, and GIGANTIC,soaring into the air. they are a kind of evergreen called Alecia or something like that.
After our walk, we drove to the industrial port of PUerta Montt but down near the fishing port where we could shop a bit.WeranintoNils who had met us at the airport yesterday with Andreas.He is visiting with his Chilean wife Mary who is from PM. they joined us in this funky little two long table restaurant that they said was the best after we had walked through the fish market. Therewereguys scooping insides out of sea urchin-looking animals with their bare hands. Hige salmon, whole, smoked and filleted we there along with clams, huge mussels and other seafood.
At the restaurant this jolly older waitress seemed to know them all, Andreas said he brings a lot of tours there so she gave us a good price. She was always smiling. apparently her husband was in the back doing the cooking. Andreas warned me against ordering the salmon as it was farm-raised and not hood,filled with chemicals he said. We had some other fish that was big boned, fried and delicious! White wine came in small glasses,not wine glasses. Nils said they used to not be able to sell wine so you could order "tea" or "coffee" which meant white or red wine! Nils had this huge serving of mussels, chicken, pork, and potatoes. It overlooked the boats coming in. Nils and Mary live in Hamelin,as in the Pied Piper of, near Hanover, Germany.He works with disabled adults and she works in a retirement home there. He spoke English quite well and she not at all.
We rested back at Casa Azulejo and then walked downtown for olovely chocolate mousse and on for me and brownie and wine for Betty in a little bistro. Turned out to be a pleasant, relaxing day after all.
Tomorrow we'll be on our cruise around Cape Horn!
father stopping for water for us, we bumped through the countryside of farms and germanlooking architecture to a park. We walked a kind of boardwalk trail through a forest filled with these now preserved trees. People used to make shingles and window frames of the wood because it repels water. It's very light and soft and doesn't hold much weight. But now they are endangered, and GIGANTIC,soaring into the air. they are a kind of evergreen called Alecia or something like that.
After our walk, we drove to the industrial port of PUerta Montt but down near the fishing port where we could shop a bit.WeranintoNils who had met us at the airport yesterday with Andreas.He is visiting with his Chilean wife Mary who is from PM. they joined us in this funky little two long table restaurant that they said was the best after we had walked through the fish market. Therewereguys scooping insides out of sea urchin-looking animals with their bare hands. Hige salmon, whole, smoked and filleted we there along with clams, huge mussels and other seafood.
At the restaurant this jolly older waitress seemed to know them all, Andreas said he brings a lot of tours there so she gave us a good price. She was always smiling. apparently her husband was in the back doing the cooking. Andreas warned me against ordering the salmon as it was farm-raised and not hood,filled with chemicals he said. We had some other fish that was big boned, fried and delicious! White wine came in small glasses,not wine glasses. Nils said they used to not be able to sell wine so you could order "tea" or "coffee" which meant white or red wine! Nils had this huge serving of mussels, chicken, pork, and potatoes. It overlooked the boats coming in. Nils and Mary live in Hamelin,as in the Pied Piper of, near Hanover, Germany.He works with disabled adults and she works in a retirement home there. He spoke English quite well and she not at all.
We rested back at Casa Azulejo and then walked downtown for olovely chocolate mousse and on for me and brownie and wine for Betty in a little bistro. Turned out to be a pleasant, relaxing day after all.
Tomorrow we'll be on our cruise around Cape Horn!
March 5th and 6th Peru and traveling to Chile
DIED AND GONE TO GERMANY
It´s the weirdest thing! We´re still in Chile but no more adobe-brick buildings, dusty streets. Everything is made of wood, the hills are rolling and filled with trees and lakes around! And many speak German, including Andreas, our host, and Nils, his friend, who picked us up yesterday at the airport. Germans were encouraged to move here in the 1800's and given land to farm. And they stayed! It´s also cool like Germany was last August, even cooler as it turns to fall here. It´s also cloudy and we have yet to see the gorgeous glacier covered volcano at the edge of this lake that is the reason we came here! Andreas said we might not see it as it is supposed to rain and be cloudy and we leave tomorrow for Punta Arenas and our 4 day cruise through the Straits of Magellan!
Oh, well, back up! When last I left off, we were headed to Arequipa in Peru by bus from Puno. We arrived and taxied to Pirwe which had a huge room for us, nice shower with an outside patio upstairs for breakfast. The host, however, was pretty lazy and seemed to be always sleeping. We had to ask at 8 the next morning when breakfast was and he kind of threw it on the table. We had one day there until our night bus to Tacna. so we walked down to the truly most beautiful Plaza des Armas we´ve seen! The cathedral was on one side with big archways extending over the street on either side. It was filled with pigeons and people at all hours, flowers and trees as well. We walked around and found a tourist agency and bought tickets for the bus tour around the city. Of the 9 or so stops, we skipped over about 3 of them, one the poorly English speaking young girl said they were filming a movie in the museum. Another was a horse ride stop that both Betty and I skipped and stayed on the bus. One was a reconstructed hacienda from a rich family and we were going to skip it (we had to pay extra) but then decided to walk through. They do weddings there and it was lovely and gave you an idea of how the Spanish lived when they took over!
Otherwise it was a pretty uneventful drive through dusty city streets for several hours. There were a couple of stops at high points to take photos and buy stuff and once in awhile we got a glimpse of the volcanoes surrounding the city. We headed back to our hostel to pick up our things and get a taxi ride to the bus station. I had gotten cold on the bus and didn´t have my jacket with me and couldn´t remember where I´d put it. I asked the guy at the desk if I could look in the room and he pulled out a bag with both Betty´s and my jackets!! If I hadn´t asked, I´m sure he would have just let us go off without them!! The jerk! They had been hung in our closet, big mistake!!!!
I forgot, at the travel agency we had bought our sleeper bus tickets to Tacna and she was to deliver them at 8 pm at the hostel, which she did. But the company we wanted was full, so she switched bus companies, which we hoped was okay. Our taxi dropped us at the bus station, crowded, people yelling out something we couldn´t understand, I think advertising buses. We tried to find our bus company sign and told to just wait!! No one spoke English. We figured out this time how to pay our tax and get it put on our ticket, that you need to do when leaving a station. Last time they had checked our luggage and taken it to the bus. This time she said just go through the gate, finally, and we found someone riding the same bus who showed us where to go!! Very stressful!! We got on and instead of the upper berths like we expected we were downstairs. But the seats were very wide and comfortable and I actually slept a few hours I think. The movie kept running loudly (Spiderman in Spanish!) and we had to cover our eyes but otherwise it was okay! The lights came on and I thought we had arrived about 3:30 am but it turned out to be some kind of province border stop, and we had another hour to go. We stumbled out and into the station at 4:30 a.m. and sat until daylight. We had met a couple who said to just walk across the street to the international bus station and find a collectivo, car or bus to cross the border to Arica, Chile. Lots of taxis and guys were hovering outside so we wait until daylight and then did just that. We again paid a fee and walked through the gate to where cars and buses were waiting. We rode with this guy in a big car and 3 other riders the 40 or so km. to the border, got out and walked inside to have everything stamped and checked, and then got back in the car to the Chile border house, did the same thing and then on to Arica, through the Atacama desert with big empty sand dunes on both sides! Weird country! It reminded me of when Doug and the monks and I had stayed in Tijuana and crossed the border with his friend! We felt like drug runners, jumping out of the car, mingling with the crowd of students and workers crossing the border, and then jumping back in the car!!
But for all my worries about this part of the trip, it went just like the books and people had said!
At the bus station Betty found someone to call Sunny Days hostel and Russ the friendly New Zealander told us to just walk there so we did. He was outside to greet us and it was a lovely spacious home and friendly information! He fed us breakfast and then we laid down for a rest to catch up! In the afternoon we walked down toward the beach, which was quite ugly and industrial looking so we went back later. We walked into town and there wasn´t much to see. I think it´s some kind of mining going on in the town as there was an odor sort of sulphuric smelling. There was a pedestrian street with some shops and we stopped for a snack/lunch. But we headed back, did go to the beach so Betty could put her feet in the water but it was a non-eventful town!
More later! Breakfast is on!
Monday, March 4, 2013
March 3rd and 4th, Puno to Ariquipa
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Sunday, March 3, 2013
March 2, On Tequile island and back to Puno
After a lovely breakfast from Emmy, some kind of grain pancake but delicious and again coca tea, we headed down to the port to meet up with the group and Clever for our ride to another island. Tequile is another communal island where one family was selected at a restaurant to cook our lunch. It was about an hour ride to the next one, again a stationary, not floating, island. Our boat was going to meet us on the other side. So UPPPPP we went!! Finally the nice Argentinean man showed me to walk zigzag as being easier and it was. At the top it was pretty level to the Plaza des Armes. We went to the one in Puno today and every Sunday, in every town and village there is a military/patriotic assembly. There were chairs set up for the dignitaries today, I´m assuming the mayor of Puno and generals. All around the plaza were squads of different military and police. One was an all women squad. There was saluting of each squad, marching around the square and raising the Puno and Peruvian flag. We stopped in for a second breakfast (some protein this time!) and a Peruvian woman in there who spoke English told us it is different troops each week. It´s done to keep up Peruvian patriotism. Lots of crowds were on the steps watching. She said now the army is all voluntary but used to be one year mandatory at 18. She said Peruvian women do vote (on the islands they said only married women do). She said many Peruvian women are standing up for their rights and in this machismo society (her words) the men don´t like it. So every night on the news someone is beaten or murdered! The Minister of Women is working to correct this. Anyway back on Tequile, here ONLY the men do the knitting and boys are taught starting at age 5. The women only do the weaving. A red hat indicates married man, each family designs their own pattern so there are 800 patterns on this island. While he is living for 2 years with his future wife before marriage, he must knit his red hat and design his family pattern to show he is worthy. Single men or widowers after three years wear red and white hat. Little girls wear a woven cute hat until 5 and then they wear black shawls for the rest of their life, over their heads. Single girls have big pompoms on the end of the shawls and married women have smaller and not so colorful pompoms. Again the church here is open only once a year for the priest from Puno. They seemed to grow a lot of corn on this island. We visited the obligatory shop where each family has a number and display and prices are fixed. It´s supposed to be the best quality weaving and knitting but we didn´t buy anything. The men also wear a waist belt of two layers. The top one the wife weaves for him with the history of Tequile and presents at the wedding. The underneath one is woven from the women´s long hair that she cuts off when marrying and weaves with alpaca yarn into a very strong belt used sort of as a truss to help with heavy farm work. Clever talked to an 85 year old man whose wife had recently died and expressed his condolences. The man showed him the belt he had on and said "She´s still with me!" I thought that was kind of cool. Then there was the 550 steps down to the boat!! Sweet Maddy lingered back with me so I wasn't the last one down. The boat ride for 2.5 hrs. back to Puna was lovely, chatting and sunning on the upper deck. We took a group picture at the pier and a driver took us each to our hotel. Betty and I went out. I got my sunglasses fixed for 4 soles. We had delicious pizza and cerveza and found someone who would do our laundry and she delivered it all done at 9 am. That was Betty´s birthday present!!! Got to Facetime with Kerry and briefly with Jackson and Sarah, playing the recorders Nana had bought them LOUDLY!! Jason said thanks to Nana!!! We head to Arequipa on the 3 p.m. bus and then need to figure how to get over the Chilean border to Arica. Ciao! (they seem to all say this rather than other phrases) |
March 1, Off to the islands on Lago Titicaca
Then there was Eli, a doctoral candidate in paleontology, studying in Lima, from Paris, with his visiting girlfriend, Sandrene, who is a chemist for L´Óreal. He said (she spoke almost no English and seemed very shy, although gorgeous reddish hair and creamy skin - must be all those LÓreal products!) that she had yearly contracts so had a nice apartment in Paris (VERY expensive he said for something even tiny!) so I´m assuming he lives with her, said they´d been together a year. He asked if we´d seen sloths in the jungle - we had, just one hanging by one arm from a tree - and said he was doing his doctoral studies on an extinct sloth, land based, gorilla size! I asked what he might do for a job when he was finished and he laughed! Hadn´t a clue! Thought he might do a post-doc stint in Lima! Very nice and helpful!!
On to the second island Amantani, that was a stationary one with terraces for farming. It´s a real communal society with a president who doesn´t get paid a salary, works for a year, and someone else does his farming. The tourist visitors are rotated among 500+ families so maybe our host family hadn´t had visitors in over a year. The ladies were waiting at the dock for us and we were matched up! We went with Emmy 45 and her daughter Jenny 6. It turns out Clever the guide was also staying at their farm. Then we started climbing up and up!! We´d left everything but a small backpack at the hostel in Puna but still with the altitude I was huffing and puffing and resting a lot! We finally arrived and shown our lovely room with 4 beds, heavy alpaca blankets - so heavy you could hardly turn over under them! Made me wonder how in the world they EVER have sex under this!
First thing Emmy did was bring out her huge bundle of all her knitting. She was knitting all the time we saw her, even walking around, except when we saw her cook. I hate feeling the pressure to buy stuff!! And carry stuff! It was time for lunch so we went outside their courtyard (where the bathroom was -it was huge, very modern, but no shower water! But the toilet flushed! Fortunately I had my headlamp for our during the night visits. There was a plastic chamber pot in the room but we both opted for going outside. When I went out at 2 am the moon was shining, and the stars were incredible in a place where there is no electricity! Actually they had a solar panel on the roof and had a small fluorescent in the bedroom, bathroom and kitchen. When I went out again at 5 am the sky in the east was rosy and the birds were making an incredible racket. One couple said they had a rooster crowing at 4 am but we didn´t hear it!)The kitchen was a separate building tinier than the bathroom, with a woodburning stove reminiscent of colonial times. Emmy prepared delicious soup, then a plate of rice, potatoes. Only vegetarian pretty much on this island. There are like 40 different kinds of potatoes. We were to bring a gift for our family so we had bought a bag of rice and lentils from the grocery store, neither of which they grow there. We had the usual coca tea (really helps with the altitude). We met Emilio, 50, the father in the family, and Madelay, the 14 year old daughter. I asked Clever later privately why the families were so small, since they were all Catholic. He said recently the last 2 years of high school students were taught about all that. I was surprised! On the next island he said couples meet and marry around 20 but are encouraged to live together for 2 years before the wedding! These clans are so isolated in the past that they each developed variations in the cultures.Clever took us to the Plaza de Armes where the church was (a priest only comes once a year from Puno - for weddings, baptisms, etc.) so it was closed. He was leading them on a 3 hour hike to the top of the mountain but I passed. I walked around the village, over to the west side to find a spot to view the sunset and watch the couples coming home from the fields carrying bundles of firewood (eucalyptus leaves), maybe potatoes, and their tools. Very peaceful and bucolic! No vehicles anywhere in sight, although Clever said the boat we were riding on was made on this island.By dark many locals were gathering in the Plaza to visit, a lady was grilling potatoes I guess, and people came by. Finally the hiking group showed up exhausted and I was glad I had passed.Back to Emmy´s for dinner around 7:30 of again a delicious vegetable soup, more rice, potatoes, etc. with lots of cooked vegetables. And then a good night´s sleep.More later!Clever was our Peruvian guide and he took us to the boat at the port. He said we had to sit inside until we were well away from the coast guard who didn´t want us to sit on top. So he gave us information about these amazing reeds-tatora - that are used for everything from eating the inside (very pleasant tasting, sort of like celery - kids were munching on them) to building their floating islands, to making boats that we took a ride in. Apparently they date back hundreds of years getting away from warring natives like the Incas, so they floated out on this highest navigable lake in the world, second in size only to Lake Maracaibo in Venezuela. Their first occupation is fishing, then hunting (ducks, etc), then egg gathering - they only take one egg from a nest of maybe 8+, then
Friday, March 1, 2013
March 1st, Some thoughts on Peru
These are just random things I want to remember or mention. NEVER miss the opportunity to grab extra napkins, sections of TP here as most of the time you will find none where you land. The hostels are fine. But places we´ve stopped on the tours, restaurants, often aren´t well equipped. The worst was yesterday when we stopped for a few minutes at the highest point to take pictures of the glaciers, you go and then a guy follows you in and throws a bucket of water in so it will flush!! I passed on that! Then I desperately had to use the little emergency one on the bus (several people had used it) where you shut the door, can´t stand up, and THERE´S NO LIGHT! That was fun but necessary!! :) Peruvian people seem really poor! Much more so than in Ecuador. It reminds me of China in some small towns, or Mexico where every tourist stop has SOOO many tables and hawkers selling the same stuff. And it´s uncomfortable to even look because they seem so desperate to sell you something! Yesterday I heard that lovely Peruvian flute ploaying and stopped to look. I thought Doug might really enjoy learning to play it and maybe it would fit in with their chanting somehow. Anyway, I asked the guy how much, he said 50 soles, professional. Then I looked at the cheaper looking one with the llama on it and asked him to play it. I could heaqr the difference. I walked away. Then he kept coming down, 45, 40. I had offered 30 and he finally followed me to the bus and took 30. Oh, he tried to sell it to me for 30 without the woven case, but I said no, thanks. So I was happy with my purchase! Have bought 2 CDs from musicians playing in restaurants where we were. There was a lovely buffet yesterday on the way here, and they played Guantanamera. I could just picture Rob ert playihng and singing it! Anyway, when he came around, I bought it and had Betty take our picture together! He was charming! There were little girls out by several llamas and we also posed with them. The older girl with the bucket for soles wouldn´t smile and seemedf annoyed that people took to the littler ones who were just having fun. Gotta go to breakfast!! |
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