For all my years at my employer I have travelled almost on a monthly basis to sites and meetings. Alas, until today, it has always been only to Botswana and South Africa. I have worked on projects in other countries but no visits to site have ever been forthcoming.
But now, I am flying to Harare tonight! It is still Southern Africa but it counts as a fresh stamp in my passport. I am feeling pretty excited for the trip. All the UK and first world country reviews on places like Zim only go on about the bad recent past and the typhoid and the fear of fresh vegetables. But, I have had the benefit of being friends with a few Zimbabwean people in Johannesburg and they are really special people. Every one of them are well spoken and have a worldly mind set and have an open and friendly attitude.
And so tomorrow I'll be wandering about a bit of Harare. It feels a tiny bit like going to see a place like ancient Rome. Highly functional in the past but maybe things are a bit rocky at present. However I won't really know until I get there. So here's to new (near by) adventure!
Tuesday, September 18, 2012
Saturday, July 14, 2012
Argentina adventure - Day 13 - Popping next door to Uruguay
We were up a the crack of dawn again to get a taxi across the city to the Buquebus terminal at the port. Like all border crossing activities, we had to be there at least an hour before departure. We checked in and had our passports stamped for leaving Argentina and entering Uruguay (which is done at the same desk) and we had our boarding passes torn in the correct places to board.
The rapid boat to Colonia takes one hour and is a huge people carrier. We estimate it could carry as much as a thousand people. Being such a huge ferry boat, there was very little swaying on the waves at first. The waters were a bit rougher later in the trip which was like being rocked gently to sleep. We departed about an hour late because there were so many people and cars going to Uruguay on a Saturday morning.
Once in Uruguay, we walked out of the port area and let our eyes behold the old school colonial style town. Unfortunately, the town is slightly larger than that. The port area is surrounded by car hire companies and bus and taxi services. We managed to find our way to the tourist information centre and pick up a free map of the town. We were pleased to establish that the old colonial style town was down the main avenue about 5 minutes walk away.
The architecture of the old town has both spanish and portuguese influences because the town has changed hands so many times in its 4 or 5 century history. There are massive carved wooden doors and pink and blue houses with white plaster details and cobblestone streets. Being winter and a sea side port area, it was very cold and windy and we soon had our warm winter jackets zipped up.
We decided to pay to climb one of the old lighthouses. They only allow 8 people up at a time because the stairs go up and up and up for so long and are so very narrow that the guards must radio between look out points to confirm if it is the turn for people to climb up or down. Climbing the stairs too quick makes you dizzy.
We got a windy vantage point to look at the old town and the nearby islands to the port. We took some pictures and then waited for the go ahead to climb back down down down again.
For lunch we followed or tour operators recommendation to go to the restaurant at the very end of the main street. It is rather disconcerting that because the Uruguayan peso exchanges at 4:1 to the Argentine peso and 2:1 to the rand, the price next to the meals are in the low hundreds. We however had a splendidly delicious lunch. I had ricotta ravioli in tomato cream sauce and Eben had four cheeses gnocchi. DELICIOUS!!
We eventually returned to the cold outside and turn back towards the port direction. We boarded the ferry and napped pretty much most of the way home.
Now we are dressing up for going to the Tango Show tonight. Tomorrow we are set to go to the Tigre Delta flea market (to spend our remaining pocket money) and then boarding the evening flight home. Woooo. Holiday isn't over yet.
The rapid boat to Colonia takes one hour and is a huge people carrier. We estimate it could carry as much as a thousand people. Being such a huge ferry boat, there was very little swaying on the waves at first. The waters were a bit rougher later in the trip which was like being rocked gently to sleep. We departed about an hour late because there were so many people and cars going to Uruguay on a Saturday morning.
Once in Uruguay, we walked out of the port area and let our eyes behold the old school colonial style town. Unfortunately, the town is slightly larger than that. The port area is surrounded by car hire companies and bus and taxi services. We managed to find our way to the tourist information centre and pick up a free map of the town. We were pleased to establish that the old colonial style town was down the main avenue about 5 minutes walk away.
The architecture of the old town has both spanish and portuguese influences because the town has changed hands so many times in its 4 or 5 century history. There are massive carved wooden doors and pink and blue houses with white plaster details and cobblestone streets. Being winter and a sea side port area, it was very cold and windy and we soon had our warm winter jackets zipped up.
We decided to pay to climb one of the old lighthouses. They only allow 8 people up at a time because the stairs go up and up and up for so long and are so very narrow that the guards must radio between look out points to confirm if it is the turn for people to climb up or down. Climbing the stairs too quick makes you dizzy.
We got a windy vantage point to look at the old town and the nearby islands to the port. We took some pictures and then waited for the go ahead to climb back down down down again.
For lunch we followed or tour operators recommendation to go to the restaurant at the very end of the main street. It is rather disconcerting that because the Uruguayan peso exchanges at 4:1 to the Argentine peso and 2:1 to the rand, the price next to the meals are in the low hundreds. We however had a splendidly delicious lunch. I had ricotta ravioli in tomato cream sauce and Eben had four cheeses gnocchi. DELICIOUS!!
We eventually returned to the cold outside and turn back towards the port direction. We boarded the ferry and napped pretty much most of the way home.
Now we are dressing up for going to the Tango Show tonight. Tomorrow we are set to go to the Tigre Delta flea market (to spend our remaining pocket money) and then boarding the evening flight home. Woooo. Holiday isn't over yet.
Argentina adventure - Day 12 - Back to the big city
Friday was a mostly unremarkable day. We packed up and then had a leisurely breakfast before waiting to go back to the airport at midday. We would have been back in Buenos Aires in time to freshen up and take a walk before dinner at a nice restaurant. Unfortunately for us, our flight was delayed by 3 hours. So we wandered the airport terminal for a while lusting after the semi precious stone curios then settled in for catching up on some reading. 120 pages of George R R Martin later, finally we left.
To complete our poor air travel experience, there was a child to howled for the entire 90 minute flight. I feel sorry for the mother who had to sit on the same bus from the airplane to the arrivals terminal for all the filthy looks she must have got.
The hotel we booked into is all hip and fun and has a high rating on TripAdvisor, which they jealously guard with hip friendly staff and a wide selection of hipster teas and lots and lots of free wifi. As we arrived so late, we decided to ask for the hotel restaurant menu... Which was priced in USD (gulp). But being past half past nine at night, we were in no mood to get our warm clothes on to go out again. So we got the two person beefsteak with egg and sweet red peppers. It was flippen delicious (we were pretty darned starving since it arrived at our door close to 11pm)
For our final full day of holiday, we have a trip across the river to Uruguay planned followed by the much recommended Tango Show!
To complete our poor air travel experience, there was a child to howled for the entire 90 minute flight. I feel sorry for the mother who had to sit on the same bus from the airplane to the arrivals terminal for all the filthy looks she must have got.
The hotel we booked into is all hip and fun and has a high rating on TripAdvisor, which they jealously guard with hip friendly staff and a wide selection of hipster teas and lots and lots of free wifi. As we arrived so late, we decided to ask for the hotel restaurant menu... Which was priced in USD (gulp). But being past half past nine at night, we were in no mood to get our warm clothes on to go out again. So we got the two person beefsteak with egg and sweet red peppers. It was flippen delicious (we were pretty darned starving since it arrived at our door close to 11pm)
For our final full day of holiday, we have a trip across the river to Uruguay planned followed by the much recommended Tango Show!
Thursday, July 12, 2012
Argentina adventure - Day 11 - Iguazu Falls - Argentina side.
We were up at the crack of dawn (well actually we overslept and had to gobble our breakfast in 5 minutes flat) to meet our pick up for the tour bus. The bus went and collected another 26 tourist and then we went to the national waterfall park.
The tour guide was very keen for us to hurry up and jump onto the early train to get out to the first site. We discovered later that hurrying was a good idea because within an hour that same train was carrying 5 times more people.
Our first stop was at the Devils Throat (yesterday we stood in front of the Devils Throat from the Brazilian side). We had to walk along about 1200m of walkways across to the river. The river is very very very wide. Like it took us a good 15 minute walk to cross it along the walkways. For us south africans, we were very amazed to see so much water in one place.
For reference, 1.7 cubic kilometres of water wash down the Iguazu Falls every second. I think, (i may need a reference here) that the water in South Africa is 52 cubic kilometres. Do the math as to how much water passes here in a minute... Again - we may be wrong on the capacity of water in SA.
The devils throat is a 270 degree circular pit part of the waterfall where the water rushes, nay, cascades, nay avalanches down into massive misty clouds. The sound in front of it is somewhat of a roar. There are flocks of birds that nest in the greenery on the waterfall wall and they zoom about in the mist - like little black arrows. Even as we approached the throat, we could see a mushroom cloud of misty rising up into the air.
After the Devils Throat, we boarded the train again and stopped off at the Upper gorge walk. Allong the 2.7km width of the waterfall is about 270 separate subwaterfalls separated by boulders and stuff. The upper gorge took us on a walk along the top of some of these waterfalls. We also got a great panoramic view of the islands and entire waterfall river gorge.
Finally we turned onto the Lower Gorge trail which took us to the very face of one of the waterfalls. By this time we had to elbow past plenty of tourists and other aspiring photographers. The gorge has lots of rainbows and mist and the jungle thrives on the damp atmosphere. All in all it made me think of Peter Pans tropical hide away. We took a moment to stand and look at the waterfall up close and get our faces washed in the mist.
When we finished the waterfall trail walks, we had about an hour and a half before meeting up with the group again to return to town. As we had no desire to jostle with the tourists or eat criminally expensive food, we decided to nap on the grass outside the Sheraton Hotel, which is for free.
However hunger did overtake our desire to save money and we stood in line to get empanadas. Actually we are disappointed we did not discover empanadas sooner on this trip. We had some in Ushuaia but i am sure they have been served all over. Empanadas are small deep fried pastries filled with meat or cheese or other savoury filling. Sort of like the south american equivalent of a samoosa. The nice bit is that so far they have always been priced less than 10 pesos each and so a couple of them make a pretty awesome reasonably priced lunch. We are going to try eat them for lunch again before we leave.
Tomorrow our airport transfer is midday so we haven't got much planned. Maybe a walk along the river and the Argentina tri-country border or else a visit downtown for tourism sake.
The tour guide was very keen for us to hurry up and jump onto the early train to get out to the first site. We discovered later that hurrying was a good idea because within an hour that same train was carrying 5 times more people.
Our first stop was at the Devils Throat (yesterday we stood in front of the Devils Throat from the Brazilian side). We had to walk along about 1200m of walkways across to the river. The river is very very very wide. Like it took us a good 15 minute walk to cross it along the walkways. For us south africans, we were very amazed to see so much water in one place.
For reference, 1.7 cubic kilometres of water wash down the Iguazu Falls every second. I think, (i may need a reference here) that the water in South Africa is 52 cubic kilometres. Do the math as to how much water passes here in a minute... Again - we may be wrong on the capacity of water in SA.
The devils throat is a 270 degree circular pit part of the waterfall where the water rushes, nay, cascades, nay avalanches down into massive misty clouds. The sound in front of it is somewhat of a roar. There are flocks of birds that nest in the greenery on the waterfall wall and they zoom about in the mist - like little black arrows. Even as we approached the throat, we could see a mushroom cloud of misty rising up into the air.
After the Devils Throat, we boarded the train again and stopped off at the Upper gorge walk. Allong the 2.7km width of the waterfall is about 270 separate subwaterfalls separated by boulders and stuff. The upper gorge took us on a walk along the top of some of these waterfalls. We also got a great panoramic view of the islands and entire waterfall river gorge.
Finally we turned onto the Lower Gorge trail which took us to the very face of one of the waterfalls. By this time we had to elbow past plenty of tourists and other aspiring photographers. The gorge has lots of rainbows and mist and the jungle thrives on the damp atmosphere. All in all it made me think of Peter Pans tropical hide away. We took a moment to stand and look at the waterfall up close and get our faces washed in the mist.
When we finished the waterfall trail walks, we had about an hour and a half before meeting up with the group again to return to town. As we had no desire to jostle with the tourists or eat criminally expensive food, we decided to nap on the grass outside the Sheraton Hotel, which is for free.
However hunger did overtake our desire to save money and we stood in line to get empanadas. Actually we are disappointed we did not discover empanadas sooner on this trip. We had some in Ushuaia but i am sure they have been served all over. Empanadas are small deep fried pastries filled with meat or cheese or other savoury filling. Sort of like the south american equivalent of a samoosa. The nice bit is that so far they have always been priced less than 10 pesos each and so a couple of them make a pretty awesome reasonably priced lunch. We are going to try eat them for lunch again before we leave.
Tomorrow our airport transfer is midday so we haven't got much planned. Maybe a walk along the river and the Argentina tri-country border or else a visit downtown for tourism sake.
Argentina adventure - Day 10 - Iguazu Falls and a short trip to Brazil
After our red-eye flight to the top of the country, we were collected by a super friendly tour guide and taken on and impromptu city tour on the way to our hotel.
Puerto Iguazu is on the border of Argentina with Paraguay and Brazil, and our hotel over looks the river intersection that is the meeting point of these three borders. So we were on the very southern-most tip of the country two days ago looking at Chile across the waters, and today we are at the very very northernmost tip doing the same.
We caught up on some sleep and then went to get some lunch. I ordered a cheese and tomato toasted sandwich, because I flippen LOVE toasted cheese and tomato. I can eat it for lunch every day. The waitress was not listening and bought us cheese and ham - which firstly was not what I ordered and secondly had gross ham on it and thirdly tasted like the tears and weeping of disappointment. Not Cool!!
Moving along, we were collected from the hotel again and taken through the town and across the Brazilian border post to go see the Brazilian side of the Iguazu Waterfalls. The border post wasn't much to write home on but it is kind of thrilling to tell your head you are in a new country. Sadly we only got our passports stamped for exiting and re-entering Argentina :(
Before we left the town, we collected. Few other tourists including two guys from Australia. We were very delighted to find two other english speaking tourists for the first time this trip. We exchanged south american tourism experiences for most of the rest of the trip.
Before we get onto talking about the waterfalls, lemme tell you about the Puerto Iguazu town. It has a kind of ramshackle small run down town appearance. And yet the hotels and shops are modern and shiny and new. But the houses look like they were abandoned in the jungle for a few years before anyone moved in. It is a town of contradictions because the Iguazu is a major tourist attraction.... So why does the town itself look like the poor step child of Parys and St Lucia towns?
Anyway, the Brazil side of Iguazu was mostly green and spaced out with lots of tourist shops along the road. From the national park we took a bus trip to the falls and then had a 1.2 km walk to the falls. The falls are quite simply enormous. A 2.7km long wriggling cascading line of water. The mist coming off the falling water obscures some of it from a distance. The path takes you right up to walk past the face of the water (okay like 100 m away, but still we were like right there). We bundled up in our rain coats and covered our electronics in plastic and went to stare at the face of the wall of water. Once we were tired of fighting for photo opportunities with the other tourists, we looked at the line for the panoramic elevator ride and took a walk up the pedestrian path instead. Finally we climbed on the bus and started the long ride back to the beginning.
On the ride back to the Argentina border post, we took some photos of the sunset in Brazil.
For dinner we tried Surubi which is the local fish which was rather tasty (a little like kingklip) and some of the local vegetables which, as best we could identify, seems to be mash potato dumplings, stewed bamboo and corn cake. We also tried the local white wine called Torrontino (I think). The local red wine is also really nice called Malbec.
When we got to our room we discovered that they had given us a free bottle of champagne (again). We have had three hotels now give us champagne which is a very nice gesture but I dunno why it always has to be extra brut. You can't complain when it is free stuff.
Tomorrow, more waterfalls. Wooooo...
Puerto Iguazu is on the border of Argentina with Paraguay and Brazil, and our hotel over looks the river intersection that is the meeting point of these three borders. So we were on the very southern-most tip of the country two days ago looking at Chile across the waters, and today we are at the very very northernmost tip doing the same.
We caught up on some sleep and then went to get some lunch. I ordered a cheese and tomato toasted sandwich, because I flippen LOVE toasted cheese and tomato. I can eat it for lunch every day. The waitress was not listening and bought us cheese and ham - which firstly was not what I ordered and secondly had gross ham on it and thirdly tasted like the tears and weeping of disappointment. Not Cool!!
Moving along, we were collected from the hotel again and taken through the town and across the Brazilian border post to go see the Brazilian side of the Iguazu Waterfalls. The border post wasn't much to write home on but it is kind of thrilling to tell your head you are in a new country. Sadly we only got our passports stamped for exiting and re-entering Argentina :(
Before we left the town, we collected. Few other tourists including two guys from Australia. We were very delighted to find two other english speaking tourists for the first time this trip. We exchanged south american tourism experiences for most of the rest of the trip.
Before we get onto talking about the waterfalls, lemme tell you about the Puerto Iguazu town. It has a kind of ramshackle small run down town appearance. And yet the hotels and shops are modern and shiny and new. But the houses look like they were abandoned in the jungle for a few years before anyone moved in. It is a town of contradictions because the Iguazu is a major tourist attraction.... So why does the town itself look like the poor step child of Parys and St Lucia towns?
Anyway, the Brazil side of Iguazu was mostly green and spaced out with lots of tourist shops along the road. From the national park we took a bus trip to the falls and then had a 1.2 km walk to the falls. The falls are quite simply enormous. A 2.7km long wriggling cascading line of water. The mist coming off the falling water obscures some of it from a distance. The path takes you right up to walk past the face of the water (okay like 100 m away, but still we were like right there). We bundled up in our rain coats and covered our electronics in plastic and went to stare at the face of the wall of water. Once we were tired of fighting for photo opportunities with the other tourists, we looked at the line for the panoramic elevator ride and took a walk up the pedestrian path instead. Finally we climbed on the bus and started the long ride back to the beginning.
On the ride back to the Argentina border post, we took some photos of the sunset in Brazil.
For dinner we tried Surubi which is the local fish which was rather tasty (a little like kingklip) and some of the local vegetables which, as best we could identify, seems to be mash potato dumplings, stewed bamboo and corn cake. We also tried the local white wine called Torrontino (I think). The local red wine is also really nice called Malbec.
When we got to our room we discovered that they had given us a free bottle of champagne (again). We have had three hotels now give us champagne which is a very nice gesture but I dunno why it always has to be extra brut. You can't complain when it is free stuff.
Tomorrow, more waterfalls. Wooooo...
Wednesday, July 11, 2012
Argentina adventure - Day 9 - nothing to see here
And on the ninth day, nothing much happened worth talking about, so let us not discuss it.
In the late afternoon we climbed on a long horrible crowded flight back to the big city of Buenos Aires. (Eben has finally had his inevitable token bad flying experience with the standard package of claustrophobia, long waiting times and funny smells)
We stopped off at the hotel for 4 hours of sleep and we are now back at the domestic airport ready to depart for Misiones province to see the Iguazu Falls. We have noticed that the people here in the city are way friendlier than down south - maybe it is the cold weather that makes them so mean.
I think we are scheduled to see one side of the falls today and so we have a nicely busy day ahead. Whoot! It is always nice going to bed at night on holiday knowing you earned it.
In the late afternoon we climbed on a long horrible crowded flight back to the big city of Buenos Aires. (Eben has finally had his inevitable token bad flying experience with the standard package of claustrophobia, long waiting times and funny smells)
We stopped off at the hotel for 4 hours of sleep and we are now back at the domestic airport ready to depart for Misiones province to see the Iguazu Falls. We have noticed that the people here in the city are way friendlier than down south - maybe it is the cold weather that makes them so mean.
I think we are scheduled to see one side of the falls today and so we have a nicely busy day ahead. Whoot! It is always nice going to bed at night on holiday knowing you earned it.
Monday, July 9, 2012
Argentina adventure - Day 8 - breaking the rules in Ushuaia
Today we broke all the rules for being tourists. We went back to the hotel late yesterday afternoon and didn't leave until after lunch today. We had half a free day and did not go explore the town. Instead we sat around reading in the hotel lounge. Then this afternoon we went on a boat trip and stayed inside most of the time to stay warm and so took less photos. Finally we went and ate dinner at an irish pub and had hamburgers instead of trying more of the local cuisine. What can I say, rules are there to be broken.
But, it was actually a nice do-nothing day. The kind of rare day that comes around maybe once a year. We weren't thinking about work or planning overtime. We didn't have house cleaning or dirty dishes to do. No wedding or honeymoon planning to do. We had no where to be and no pending business waiting for our attention. After months of rushing everywhere doing everything, i will cherish this half day of completely guilt free doing sweet nothing. (we spent a solid hour laughing at buzz feed)
But eventually, we did put on our well worn warm sub-polar jackets and boots and headed out to the port. We collected our tickets and paid the maritime tax to access the port area. The boat took us out through the Beagle Channel past a few islands populated by sea lions and cormorants and white antarctic birds that spend winter in Ushuaia before going south for summer again. We went all the way out to the Los Lobos Island and round it before turning back. The island has a kind of lighthouse. A german cruise ship beached itself there long ago and so the beacon is there for visibility. We could see the Chilean part of Tierra del Fuego in the near distance on the other side of the Beagle Channel.
There was a friendly Spanish couple sitting at the same table as us and we enjoyed exchanging travel stories with them.
After the cruise we returned to downtown Ushuaia and went to the Irish Pub we saw yesterday. Eben was seeking a Guinness but it was a little expensive so he settled for a german beer (still breaking the rules but a new beer to Eben's palate so the opportunity for new things was not entirely lost)
We were very excited today to see some snow falling and we are hoping to see some more landing tomorrow. Our airport transfer is only later tomorrow afternoon. We won't take another lazy day but we may just go wander the city for a while if we can find any other interesting activities within our budget. This place is has trade friendly tax laws in order to encourage economic activity in the province and so things are a bit cheaper here. Can you say Shopping Spree?!
After tomorrow we can pack away our well worn some what understandably odorous winter thermals and snow gear away. We will be off to warm up in the jungle! (from the far south to the far north we go!)
But, it was actually a nice do-nothing day. The kind of rare day that comes around maybe once a year. We weren't thinking about work or planning overtime. We didn't have house cleaning or dirty dishes to do. No wedding or honeymoon planning to do. We had no where to be and no pending business waiting for our attention. After months of rushing everywhere doing everything, i will cherish this half day of completely guilt free doing sweet nothing. (we spent a solid hour laughing at buzz feed)
But eventually, we did put on our well worn warm sub-polar jackets and boots and headed out to the port. We collected our tickets and paid the maritime tax to access the port area. The boat took us out through the Beagle Channel past a few islands populated by sea lions and cormorants and white antarctic birds that spend winter in Ushuaia before going south for summer again. We went all the way out to the Los Lobos Island and round it before turning back. The island has a kind of lighthouse. A german cruise ship beached itself there long ago and so the beacon is there for visibility. We could see the Chilean part of Tierra del Fuego in the near distance on the other side of the Beagle Channel.
There was a friendly Spanish couple sitting at the same table as us and we enjoyed exchanging travel stories with them.
After the cruise we returned to downtown Ushuaia and went to the Irish Pub we saw yesterday. Eben was seeking a Guinness but it was a little expensive so he settled for a german beer (still breaking the rules but a new beer to Eben's palate so the opportunity for new things was not entirely lost)
We were very excited today to see some snow falling and we are hoping to see some more landing tomorrow. Our airport transfer is only later tomorrow afternoon. We won't take another lazy day but we may just go wander the city for a while if we can find any other interesting activities within our budget. This place is has trade friendly tax laws in order to encourage economic activity in the province and so things are a bit cheaper here. Can you say Shopping Spree?!
After tomorrow we can pack away our well worn some what understandably odorous winter thermals and snow gear away. We will be off to warm up in the jungle! (from the far south to the far north we go!)
Sunday, July 8, 2012
Argentina adventure - Midway and homesick
Yesterday, on our quiet day in Calafate, both Eben and I were independently feelng very homesick. It is all fun to be away from home and exploring a new culture, but after a while all you want to do is cook some comfort food in your own kitchen out of familiar ingredients and eat it in your own couch in your own home.
The constant struggle to communicate gets tough and the cold gets tiresome. (I am convinced in some casesvthat the locals don't want to communicate in English rather than not knowing the language) I guess we are fortunate that at least we have each other to hold onto when the times get too far out of our comfort zone. Eben won't judge if I need to cry myself to sleep to let off some stress.
It is also hard that everything is more expensive than being at home. There is little risk of running low on money in an emergency kinda way (because we plan our holidays properly) but it has been surprising how much we have had to spend on just getting food and daily basics accomplished.
The big confession here is that we are having a wonderful fun once-in-a-lifetime memorable holiday, but right now we are both longing for home and our friends and family. I am sure we will be equally sad and happy to leave for home in a week. In my past experience, the homesickness doesn't last and the novelty of the country comes back. There is also a risk that if we focus too much on missing home, we will miss out on enjoying our short time here. In our defence it has been a dramatic few weeks. For now we'll take an afternoon off and hide in our cosy hotel room for a while and ignore the strange world outside. (we are on honeymoon after all.)
The constant struggle to communicate gets tough and the cold gets tiresome. (I am convinced in some casesvthat the locals don't want to communicate in English rather than not knowing the language) I guess we are fortunate that at least we have each other to hold onto when the times get too far out of our comfort zone. Eben won't judge if I need to cry myself to sleep to let off some stress.
It is also hard that everything is more expensive than being at home. There is little risk of running low on money in an emergency kinda way (because we plan our holidays properly) but it has been surprising how much we have had to spend on just getting food and daily basics accomplished.
The big confession here is that we are having a wonderful fun once-in-a-lifetime memorable holiday, but right now we are both longing for home and our friends and family. I am sure we will be equally sad and happy to leave for home in a week. In my past experience, the homesickness doesn't last and the novelty of the country comes back. There is also a risk that if we focus too much on missing home, we will miss out on enjoying our short time here. In our defence it has been a dramatic few weeks. For now we'll take an afternoon off and hide in our cosy hotel room for a while and ignore the strange world outside. (we are on honeymoon after all.)
Argentina adventure - Day 7 - Ushuaia
We had a restless night because we couldn't figure out how to get the heater to work and were just slightly too cold to sleep comfortably.
We had a great view of the late sunrise over the mountains and harbour before meeting up with our tour guide and bus for today. We were taken to the National Park of Tierra del Fuego. The first stop was at the train station to take a ride on the Southernmost Train in the World. This is the old train that was used to transport prisoners to jail when Ushuaia province was still mainly a penal colony. The train has only recently been remodeled as a tourism destination.
The train trip was through the quiet heavily snowed upon forests of the area. It was mucho-romantic. We didn't take many photos but spent a lot of time staring out of the window at the white scenery. We also saw some shaggy horses trudging through the snowy paths as well as a wood pecker.
After the train ride, we drove further into the park and took a look at the frozen lakes. We could see some of the mountains on the other side, which is the Chile side of Tierra del Fuego. (we were like 1km over the water from another new country)
After an awesome homemade style mug of hot chocolate and a browse through teh gift shop, we turned the bus around and left the park. We must commend the bus driver for navigating the rather large bus safely and carefully along the snowy roads. He drove like a man writing calligraphy with a brick - with surprising precision for such a large device.
We were dropped off downtown near the port and the taxi stand and were given directions to the museum district for the afternoon. We walked to the museums but the entrance fee was 70 Pesos so we decided to not go in and save some money.
We saw a nice looking pizza pasta restaurant and went in. Despite the dual language menu on the wall outside, the waitress would only give s the Spanish menus. We ordered drinks and went outside to decide what we wanted to order to eat. The Manager came out after 5 minutes and poured a flurry of angry spanish words on us because the kitchen was supposed to close in a short while. Her angry outburst was so unexpected that I was about to respond in my own tongue and storm off to a place with better manners. An english speaking waiter intervened (as well as Eben) and we were soon seated again and ordering some empanadas and king crab ravioli.
Despite the flippen rude lady, i am glad we stuck around. The food was really really delicious and for once we did not feel like we had been ripped off.
We then took a post lunch stroll across the downtown before taking a taxi back to the hotel. We are now relaxing in our warm room doing some surreptitious laundry to dry on the heated towel rack and enjoy the views of the city in the remaining daylight.
According to the weather report, Ushuaia is about the same temperatures as Calafate. But as it is a still dry cold, it settles into your bones and remains there until you sit in front of a fire or a heater. Still no great wild winds yet. Maybe it is too cold at this time of year for the wind to get the energy to blow about. After Calafate and Ushuaia, I think it is safe to say that Eben and I have had our lust for snowy weather satisfied for a long time.
Tomorrow we will be taking a boat ride across the Beagle Channel - i expect it will be sitting-in-the-freezer cold, again, but we are hoping it is another great adventure.
We had a great view of the late sunrise over the mountains and harbour before meeting up with our tour guide and bus for today. We were taken to the National Park of Tierra del Fuego. The first stop was at the train station to take a ride on the Southernmost Train in the World. This is the old train that was used to transport prisoners to jail when Ushuaia province was still mainly a penal colony. The train has only recently been remodeled as a tourism destination.
The train trip was through the quiet heavily snowed upon forests of the area. It was mucho-romantic. We didn't take many photos but spent a lot of time staring out of the window at the white scenery. We also saw some shaggy horses trudging through the snowy paths as well as a wood pecker.
After the train ride, we drove further into the park and took a look at the frozen lakes. We could see some of the mountains on the other side, which is the Chile side of Tierra del Fuego. (we were like 1km over the water from another new country)
After an awesome homemade style mug of hot chocolate and a browse through teh gift shop, we turned the bus around and left the park. We must commend the bus driver for navigating the rather large bus safely and carefully along the snowy roads. He drove like a man writing calligraphy with a brick - with surprising precision for such a large device.
We were dropped off downtown near the port and the taxi stand and were given directions to the museum district for the afternoon. We walked to the museums but the entrance fee was 70 Pesos so we decided to not go in and save some money.
We saw a nice looking pizza pasta restaurant and went in. Despite the dual language menu on the wall outside, the waitress would only give s the Spanish menus. We ordered drinks and went outside to decide what we wanted to order to eat. The Manager came out after 5 minutes and poured a flurry of angry spanish words on us because the kitchen was supposed to close in a short while. Her angry outburst was so unexpected that I was about to respond in my own tongue and storm off to a place with better manners. An english speaking waiter intervened (as well as Eben) and we were soon seated again and ordering some empanadas and king crab ravioli.
Despite the flippen rude lady, i am glad we stuck around. The food was really really delicious and for once we did not feel like we had been ripped off.
We then took a post lunch stroll across the downtown before taking a taxi back to the hotel. We are now relaxing in our warm room doing some surreptitious laundry to dry on the heated towel rack and enjoy the views of the city in the remaining daylight.
According to the weather report, Ushuaia is about the same temperatures as Calafate. But as it is a still dry cold, it settles into your bones and remains there until you sit in front of a fire or a heater. Still no great wild winds yet. Maybe it is too cold at this time of year for the wind to get the energy to blow about. After Calafate and Ushuaia, I think it is safe to say that Eben and I have had our lust for snowy weather satisfied for a long time.
Tomorrow we will be taking a boat ride across the Beagle Channel - i expect it will be sitting-in-the-freezer cold, again, but we are hoping it is another great adventure.
Saturday, July 7, 2012
Argentina adventure - Day 6 - Good bye Calafate, Hello End of the World
On our last day in Calafate, we had no tours booked so we decided to take it easy after a busy few days. We had a late breakfast and then took a long walk around the town.
First we walked down to the lake and watched them setting up for the winter ice festival. They had big blocks of ice ready for what we assume to be an ice carving competition. Then we went onto the lake and tried some non-skating. (ie walking on the snow covered ice without falling on our butts). We returned to the town for something warm to drink and were served what seemed like a triple espresso. (we ordered "dos cafe")
After two hours of walking we couldn't feel our ears or noses so we returned to the hotel lounge to relax and catch up on the times. We weren't much in the mood for spending more money.
Our airport transfer arrived later this afternoon and we said our good byes to the pretty snowy town. Our flight to Ushuaia was slightly delayed in departing and it was pitch dark by the time we took off. The view was entirely dark for the entire flight but as we descended to the town we were treated to a show of flying through the icy snowy clouds streaking past in white sparkly lines. Neither of us have flown through snow clouds before. It is a pretty awesome show to behold - like glitter in a fan.
Welcome to Ushuaia - the end of the world. :)
We met up with our tour guide and on the short walk to the van, the fabled wind zoomed past to dishevel our hair and throw some icy droplets in our face. The tour guide did however inform us that the wind is much worse in summer. Hmmm... How much worse can it be?
Ushuaia is much bigger than Calafate. It resembles more of a shipping town than a quaint tourist village. The snow drifts here are much higher than the previous place. Like from ankle height to man height. Our hotel was on a long winding path up a steep hill. The driver had to work hard to get the van up the icy slope safely but the reward was all in the view. From our hotel we have a spectacular view over the town and the Beagle Channel. (the second part we'll confirm tomorrow)
While we were settling into the room, there was a tentative knock at the door. The hotel sent us a bottle of champagne. Way awesome :) (I may have mentioned to the lady at reception that we had been married one week today)
Our hotel room also has an awesome view of the city and channel :)
Tomorrow we are going into the national park and maybe a trip on The End of the World train. Let us hope for our luck on good weather to continue. For now, let the wind and the rain and the snow let loose, We have champagne and a great view of it all!
First we walked down to the lake and watched them setting up for the winter ice festival. They had big blocks of ice ready for what we assume to be an ice carving competition. Then we went onto the lake and tried some non-skating. (ie walking on the snow covered ice without falling on our butts). We returned to the town for something warm to drink and were served what seemed like a triple espresso. (we ordered "dos cafe")
After two hours of walking we couldn't feel our ears or noses so we returned to the hotel lounge to relax and catch up on the times. We weren't much in the mood for spending more money.
Our airport transfer arrived later this afternoon and we said our good byes to the pretty snowy town. Our flight to Ushuaia was slightly delayed in departing and it was pitch dark by the time we took off. The view was entirely dark for the entire flight but as we descended to the town we were treated to a show of flying through the icy snowy clouds streaking past in white sparkly lines. Neither of us have flown through snow clouds before. It is a pretty awesome show to behold - like glitter in a fan.
Welcome to Ushuaia - the end of the world. :)
We met up with our tour guide and on the short walk to the van, the fabled wind zoomed past to dishevel our hair and throw some icy droplets in our face. The tour guide did however inform us that the wind is much worse in summer. Hmmm... How much worse can it be?
Ushuaia is much bigger than Calafate. It resembles more of a shipping town than a quaint tourist village. The snow drifts here are much higher than the previous place. Like from ankle height to man height. Our hotel was on a long winding path up a steep hill. The driver had to work hard to get the van up the icy slope safely but the reward was all in the view. From our hotel we have a spectacular view over the town and the Beagle Channel. (the second part we'll confirm tomorrow)
While we were settling into the room, there was a tentative knock at the door. The hotel sent us a bottle of champagne. Way awesome :) (I may have mentioned to the lady at reception that we had been married one week today)
Our hotel room also has an awesome view of the city and channel :)
Tomorrow we are going into the national park and maybe a trip on The End of the World train. Let us hope for our luck on good weather to continue. For now, let the wind and the rain and the snow let loose, We have champagne and a great view of it all!
Friday, July 6, 2012
Argentina adventure - Day 5 - Lago Argentina Cruise
(apologies for the late post, it was a long day and we got distracted with a post-glacier-viewing-nap and dinner)
It seems we have been very very fortunate with the weather, having the first sunny day in a while yesterday to explore the Los Glaciares park yesterday. However, as I know well from living in Joburg, a clear sunny day means an icy cold night. It was -10degrees when we left this morning to go on our cruise on the Lago Argentina.
We snoozed on the way across because it was only 7:30am and still dark (sunrise is at 9:30am here). Once there we took our tickets and boarded and snagged some reasonable seats. As we taxied out of the dock area we got to see the early fingers of sunrise.
First stop was the Uppsala Glacier and we took lots of photos of the icebergs seen on the way. I have a new appreciation for the multi hued spectrum that is all known as the colour blue. After some sailing, they allowed us onto the deck outside. Again, the wind coming off the ice was bitterly cold and soon we were wrapping up all exposed sections of skin. The Uppsala glacier is enormous. It is difficult to take in the whole thing from 600m away where we stopped. As the ferry was inching closer to the glacier face, we were able to see the nose of the boat cutting through the ice. As the ferry was gathering speed, the cutting ice was being flicked up on board where Eben and I were standing.
After we promenaded the length of the Uppsala glacier, we left and turned towards the next finger of the lake to look at the Spegazzinni glacier which was my favourite of the day. It is a much smaller glacier but the cascading slope of the glacier above the slope is a really awesome sight to behold. Eben and I stood at the front of the boat as it was moving towards this glacier and the wind chill factor at that speed was brutally cold. So cold as to give you brain freeze from the outside. We took our pictures and hurried back inside to regain feeling in our eyebrows and noses.
Finally we went to the Perito Moreno Glacier and were able to get close to the (longer) south face of the ice. Again, a breathtaking sight to behold with tall blue spires of ice 60m into the sky. (the brochures call the Glaciers "Gods Chisels")
Unfortunately we did not get to see any of the glaciers carving today :(
We finally turned back to the docks after 7 hours out on the water and took the tour bus back to the hotel. Tonight we indulged in another regional delicacy of Patagonian Lamb which lived up to its reputation :) delicious and flavourful. (and understandably high in fat for a creature that nibbles plants in the snow all day)
Unfortunately, this being a tourism economy town, everything seems to be inescapably priced for milking tourists. Having a taxi driver drive an extra 500m around the block to the restaurant so that the price of the cab is 20 pesos and 40 cents leaves a bitter taste in your mouth. (driver scores a bigger tip because you cant easily make change for that) Similarly, the restaurants all seem to charge a tourism fee on your bill but make sure the specify that a tip is still required (this tourism charge may just be the rules)
Tomorrow we have our final day free to enjoy the town before flying out much later in the day. Might find time to visit a chocolate factory! Right now we are repacking our bags in preparation for tomorrows flight and watching Jurassic Park on tv (with Spanish subtitles).
It seems we have been very very fortunate with the weather, having the first sunny day in a while yesterday to explore the Los Glaciares park yesterday. However, as I know well from living in Joburg, a clear sunny day means an icy cold night. It was -10degrees when we left this morning to go on our cruise on the Lago Argentina.
We snoozed on the way across because it was only 7:30am and still dark (sunrise is at 9:30am here). Once there we took our tickets and boarded and snagged some reasonable seats. As we taxied out of the dock area we got to see the early fingers of sunrise.
First stop was the Uppsala Glacier and we took lots of photos of the icebergs seen on the way. I have a new appreciation for the multi hued spectrum that is all known as the colour blue. After some sailing, they allowed us onto the deck outside. Again, the wind coming off the ice was bitterly cold and soon we were wrapping up all exposed sections of skin. The Uppsala glacier is enormous. It is difficult to take in the whole thing from 600m away where we stopped. As the ferry was inching closer to the glacier face, we were able to see the nose of the boat cutting through the ice. As the ferry was gathering speed, the cutting ice was being flicked up on board where Eben and I were standing.
After we promenaded the length of the Uppsala glacier, we left and turned towards the next finger of the lake to look at the Spegazzinni glacier which was my favourite of the day. It is a much smaller glacier but the cascading slope of the glacier above the slope is a really awesome sight to behold. Eben and I stood at the front of the boat as it was moving towards this glacier and the wind chill factor at that speed was brutally cold. So cold as to give you brain freeze from the outside. We took our pictures and hurried back inside to regain feeling in our eyebrows and noses.
Finally we went to the Perito Moreno Glacier and were able to get close to the (longer) south face of the ice. Again, a breathtaking sight to behold with tall blue spires of ice 60m into the sky. (the brochures call the Glaciers "Gods Chisels")
Unfortunately we did not get to see any of the glaciers carving today :(
We finally turned back to the docks after 7 hours out on the water and took the tour bus back to the hotel. Tonight we indulged in another regional delicacy of Patagonian Lamb which lived up to its reputation :) delicious and flavourful. (and understandably high in fat for a creature that nibbles plants in the snow all day)
Unfortunately, this being a tourism economy town, everything seems to be inescapably priced for milking tourists. Having a taxi driver drive an extra 500m around the block to the restaurant so that the price of the cab is 20 pesos and 40 cents leaves a bitter taste in your mouth. (driver scores a bigger tip because you cant easily make change for that) Similarly, the restaurants all seem to charge a tourism fee on your bill but make sure the specify that a tip is still required (this tourism charge may just be the rules)
Tomorrow we have our final day free to enjoy the town before flying out much later in the day. Might find time to visit a chocolate factory! Right now we are repacking our bags in preparation for tomorrows flight and watching Jurassic Park on tv (with Spanish subtitles).
Thursday, July 5, 2012
Argentina adventure - Day 4 - Perito Moreno Glacier
We travelled out to the Los Glaciares National Park and drove out to the face of the Perito Moreno Glacier. On the drive out the tour guide gave us a very interesting overview of the history of the area. Mr Moreno was a land surveyor that settled the border dispute between Chile and Argentina. Perito is a term of respect. El Calfate is named after the berries that grow here.
Amusingly, the guide referred to the sailors that settled in the Patagonia area from the time of Magellan exploration as "the pirates". "the pirates" settled here to farm sheep and this was a farming community until very recently when tourism bloomed. We were lucky enough to see some very woolly sheep nibbling on the scrubby bushes on our drive across.
We were dropped off at the area of the glacier and were left to walk the catwalks. A whole extensive walkway has been established through the Patagonian forest and down to the face of the glacier. The design is pretty tourist friendly with the walkways made with super foot gripping steel grids and stairs and hand rails.
We took some time to be silly and squash the snow through the grid making snow ice blocks. Then threw a few snow balls at each other. Then jumped through a few snow drifts and had fun kicking the fine powder about. Then with wet trousers and damp gloves, we proceeded down the stairs through the forest to the glacier
Despite the very pleasant sunny skies, the moment the wind blows from the glacier direction, the temperature of the air plummets. Very soon we were wrapped up fully with only our noses peeking out - there fore most of our photos show us as a blue and a pink snowman with red nose tips. We turned back to the main parking lot halfway through to go collect our packed lunch from the bus and behind us hear the loud cracking crashing noise of the glacier carving. We sprinted back but alas, the action was over. After lunch we returned along another path and saw a little bit of ice falling off the glacier front.
The glacier is a minty blue and the clinking icebergs below make a pretty noise and look very picturesque when the sun shines through them. The top of the glacier looks like it is white with deep blue stripes while the front has brown earthy streaks in it. All in all, I came away thinking about ice cream and chocolate and clear blue candy peppermints.
The forest itself made us think about movies like Narnia. The trees had mantles of snow and the branches and twigs were weighed down with their own handfuls of snow. (yes, i had fun taking the snow off and watching the branches spring back into the air). We were fortunate to be here at this time of the year as the weather, despite the chill is quite cheerful but the Park was not over crowded.
We took a brisk walk back up and up and up the stairs and walkway and cracked a nice sweat by the time we returned to the bus. We had time to purchase a few postcards and a fluffy sheep ornament for my collection.
It is apparent from the drive back that the snow is beginning to melt. It may snow here again but according to the tour guide, the snow is usually all cleared by August. Irrespective, Eben and I have seen touched and played with more snow today then we have in our entire lives.
Tomorrow we will be going by boat to see the Upsala glacier which is much bigger than the P.Moreno glacier. We have high hopes of filming some spectacular glacier carving. Right now, Eben and I are again exhausted from the extent of walking done today. We are eating the best of what ever looks tasty (which is most everything) but maybe with all this walking, I'll still fit into my wedding dress when I get back! Tonight we may try the patagonian lamb.
PS The crunching noise of snow underfoot is as satisfying as walking on bubble wrap.
Amusingly, the guide referred to the sailors that settled in the Patagonia area from the time of Magellan exploration as "the pirates". "the pirates" settled here to farm sheep and this was a farming community until very recently when tourism bloomed. We were lucky enough to see some very woolly sheep nibbling on the scrubby bushes on our drive across.
We were dropped off at the area of the glacier and were left to walk the catwalks. A whole extensive walkway has been established through the Patagonian forest and down to the face of the glacier. The design is pretty tourist friendly with the walkways made with super foot gripping steel grids and stairs and hand rails.
We took some time to be silly and squash the snow through the grid making snow ice blocks. Then threw a few snow balls at each other. Then jumped through a few snow drifts and had fun kicking the fine powder about. Then with wet trousers and damp gloves, we proceeded down the stairs through the forest to the glacier
Despite the very pleasant sunny skies, the moment the wind blows from the glacier direction, the temperature of the air plummets. Very soon we were wrapped up fully with only our noses peeking out - there fore most of our photos show us as a blue and a pink snowman with red nose tips. We turned back to the main parking lot halfway through to go collect our packed lunch from the bus and behind us hear the loud cracking crashing noise of the glacier carving. We sprinted back but alas, the action was over. After lunch we returned along another path and saw a little bit of ice falling off the glacier front.
The glacier is a minty blue and the clinking icebergs below make a pretty noise and look very picturesque when the sun shines through them. The top of the glacier looks like it is white with deep blue stripes while the front has brown earthy streaks in it. All in all, I came away thinking about ice cream and chocolate and clear blue candy peppermints.
The forest itself made us think about movies like Narnia. The trees had mantles of snow and the branches and twigs were weighed down with their own handfuls of snow. (yes, i had fun taking the snow off and watching the branches spring back into the air). We were fortunate to be here at this time of the year as the weather, despite the chill is quite cheerful but the Park was not over crowded.
We took a brisk walk back up and up and up the stairs and walkway and cracked a nice sweat by the time we returned to the bus. We had time to purchase a few postcards and a fluffy sheep ornament for my collection.
It is apparent from the drive back that the snow is beginning to melt. It may snow here again but according to the tour guide, the snow is usually all cleared by August. Irrespective, Eben and I have seen touched and played with more snow today then we have in our entire lives.
Tomorrow we will be going by boat to see the Upsala glacier which is much bigger than the P.Moreno glacier. We have high hopes of filming some spectacular glacier carving. Right now, Eben and I are again exhausted from the extent of walking done today. We are eating the best of what ever looks tasty (which is most everything) but maybe with all this walking, I'll still fit into my wedding dress when I get back! Tonight we may try the patagonian lamb.
PS The crunching noise of snow underfoot is as satisfying as walking on bubble wrap.
Argentina adventure - Day 3 and 4 - More El Calafate
So after admiring our room and the white snowy scenes outside, we decided to go walk about the town and find some lunch.
We stepped outside and immediately realised that despite our superior snow weather boots, our experience in navigating snowy icy sidewalks is somewhat lacking.
Lesson - white dry powder good, clear shiny ice bad.
Now while the cold snowy weather is very romantic from the window seat in the warm hotel room, some of the romance cools outside where you can't hold hands in case you slip and pull both down, you can't walk side by side because it is easier to walk in each others footsteps, you can't hear each other because you are so bundled up and you can't turn your neck because the keep warm layers are tight. But we still got a few nice photos of the scenery. We then decided to pop into he supermarket and get some lunch snacks and make our way to the pick up point for the bus to the Glariarium. After back tracking and walking around the block we found the bus. (I slipped on the ice on the way and bruised my bum)
The Glaciarium was an excellent choice for our first day in EC because it gave a very extensive and detailed explanation on the science of glaciers and the history of the area and other glaciology topics. Now today and tomorrow while we visit the actual glaciers, we can appreciate what the tour guide is telling us. Knowledge is power!
We took the bus back to the town and we trooped back to our wam hotel room.
Last night we tried a delicacy of the area which was trout and mash potato. Mmmm good.
This morning we are waiting for our tour operator to collect us and we are going on to the Lago Argentina. Sounds fun, but cold wet fun brrrr...
We stepped outside and immediately realised that despite our superior snow weather boots, our experience in navigating snowy icy sidewalks is somewhat lacking.
Lesson - white dry powder good, clear shiny ice bad.
Now while the cold snowy weather is very romantic from the window seat in the warm hotel room, some of the romance cools outside where you can't hold hands in case you slip and pull both down, you can't walk side by side because it is easier to walk in each others footsteps, you can't hear each other because you are so bundled up and you can't turn your neck because the keep warm layers are tight. But we still got a few nice photos of the scenery. We then decided to pop into he supermarket and get some lunch snacks and make our way to the pick up point for the bus to the Glariarium. After back tracking and walking around the block we found the bus. (I slipped on the ice on the way and bruised my bum)
The Glaciarium was an excellent choice for our first day in EC because it gave a very extensive and detailed explanation on the science of glaciers and the history of the area and other glaciology topics. Now today and tomorrow while we visit the actual glaciers, we can appreciate what the tour guide is telling us. Knowledge is power!
We took the bus back to the town and we trooped back to our wam hotel room.
Last night we tried a delicacy of the area which was trout and mash potato. Mmmm good.
This morning we are waiting for our tour operator to collect us and we are going on to the Lago Argentina. Sounds fun, but cold wet fun brrrr...
Wednesday, July 4, 2012
Argentina adventure - Day 3 - El Calafate
Our flight from BA to EC was half empty which was great because we could stretch out and have a nap.
The sun was still only rising when we were descending and we could look at the mountains sprinkled with fine snow. We could also see the ice-cliffed Lago Argentina and a few blue icebergs bobbing around.
We landed and wandered through the airport trying to quickly put on zip up and tuck in our warm clothes before hitting the -2 degree air outside.
Our super friendly tour coordinator for this town met us and gave us the run down of our days here in EC on the drive from the airport to the hotel. At first you tend to think you are in a desert with scrubby bushes and white sand, but no, that is soft snow not sand Frances!
The town itself is on the shore of the Lago Argentina and looks like something out of a postcard. The houses are round stone and mortar with wooden facades. There are pine trees and the roads are white with hard packed down snow-ice. We even saw a typical snowy town fluffy dog hanging about outside one of the shops.
Aside from the freezing temperature outside, this quiet snowy place is very very romantic. :)
Our flight was supposed to be later today and was moved to the morning so we have a free day now. We'll head out just now for a walk to the pick up point to go to the Glacierium (kinda "Glacier Museum") for the rest of our day. Ill have to try not to slip too often on the icy sidewalks. Maybe visit a chocolate factory too. (who would think chocolate would be an attraction in a glacier tourism town?)
Tomorrow, we visit the glaciers! (so happy right now!)
The sun was still only rising when we were descending and we could look at the mountains sprinkled with fine snow. We could also see the ice-cliffed Lago Argentina and a few blue icebergs bobbing around.
We landed and wandered through the airport trying to quickly put on zip up and tuck in our warm clothes before hitting the -2 degree air outside.
Our super friendly tour coordinator for this town met us and gave us the run down of our days here in EC on the drive from the airport to the hotel. At first you tend to think you are in a desert with scrubby bushes and white sand, but no, that is soft snow not sand Frances!
The town itself is on the shore of the Lago Argentina and looks like something out of a postcard. The houses are round stone and mortar with wooden facades. There are pine trees and the roads are white with hard packed down snow-ice. We even saw a typical snowy town fluffy dog hanging about outside one of the shops.
Aside from the freezing temperature outside, this quiet snowy place is very very romantic. :)
Our flight was supposed to be later today and was moved to the morning so we have a free day now. We'll head out just now for a walk to the pick up point to go to the Glacierium (kinda "Glacier Museum") for the rest of our day. Ill have to try not to slip too often on the icy sidewalks. Maybe visit a chocolate factory too. (who would think chocolate would be an attraction in a glacier tourism town?)
Tomorrow, we visit the glaciers! (so happy right now!)
Argentina adventure - Day 2 and a half - ballet and very little sleep
We had a short nap and then dressed up and found our taxi to go to the Colon Theatre. The taxi was pretty reasonably priced which kept our days budget nicely in check.
At the Colon theatre we stood around and ignored the stares of the very well dressed locals at our jeans and bright warm jackets approach. Once the crowd started moving, we waved our tickets under the nose of a few guards until they pointed us in the correct direction to our door. We did not buy the expensive tickets and so the door steward said to us "join the queue to take the elevator to the fifth floor.. Or you can take the stairs (snigger)"... We looked at the stairs go up and up and up and took the elevator instead.
We finally got the correct entrance to the "nose-bleeds" seats and took our places in the steep dark close rows. And then noticed the massive room we were in.
Wow.
The Colon Theatre is something out of a movie. Glittering lights and a huge chandelier and Gold gilding and curly patterns on the plaster, paintings of scenes and famous actors, opera boxes with individual privacy curtains (a mild R1000 per seat).
The place was completed in 1908 and my assumption is that the economy of Argentina was doing very well at that time to build such an ornate theatre. The outside even has tall roman columns and marble stairs and fancy pants window grills.
After everyone was squashed into the cheap seats and everyone else glided into their expensive seats and the prohibited surreptitious photographs taken, the orchestra warmed up and La Sulphide - the ballet began.
We were very very impressed. The costumes were amazing and the dancers, world class. We enjoyed the first act of the show very very much besides our cramped and tired legs... But by the second act I was feeling the stuffy air and the warmth of my many layers and my eyes started to flicker closed. i confess I did not follow much of the second act. But i understand the dancing was on par with the excellence of the first act. Culminating with the tragic end of the hero and the wood nymph and the victory of the wicked witch.
After the show, feeling very cultured, we wandered from the theatre and flagged a taxi. Back at our room we kinda fell into bed and left the packing for the morning.
After 3 hours of sleep, we leaped out of bed and ran around crazy throwing our stuff into our luggage and checking and rechecking for things lost and trying to figure out how much to wear for potentially climbing off the flight in -5 degree weather.
Now we are at our boarding gate and hour early after a snack of AR$25 coffee and AR$5 croissant. We are hoping to see the Andes mountains as we fly towards El Calafate. And perhaps some of the glaciers that we will be visiting tomorrow.
Our flight was moved from this afternoon to this morning so I think we have a free half day once we arrive... Or else half a day to figure out what rather quite very really really really cold actually means.
At the Colon theatre we stood around and ignored the stares of the very well dressed locals at our jeans and bright warm jackets approach. Once the crowd started moving, we waved our tickets under the nose of a few guards until they pointed us in the correct direction to our door. We did not buy the expensive tickets and so the door steward said to us "join the queue to take the elevator to the fifth floor.. Or you can take the stairs (snigger)"... We looked at the stairs go up and up and up and took the elevator instead.
We finally got the correct entrance to the "nose-bleeds" seats and took our places in the steep dark close rows. And then noticed the massive room we were in.
Wow.
The Colon Theatre is something out of a movie. Glittering lights and a huge chandelier and Gold gilding and curly patterns on the plaster, paintings of scenes and famous actors, opera boxes with individual privacy curtains (a mild R1000 per seat).
The place was completed in 1908 and my assumption is that the economy of Argentina was doing very well at that time to build such an ornate theatre. The outside even has tall roman columns and marble stairs and fancy pants window grills.
After everyone was squashed into the cheap seats and everyone else glided into their expensive seats and the prohibited surreptitious photographs taken, the orchestra warmed up and La Sulphide - the ballet began.
We were very very impressed. The costumes were amazing and the dancers, world class. We enjoyed the first act of the show very very much besides our cramped and tired legs... But by the second act I was feeling the stuffy air and the warmth of my many layers and my eyes started to flicker closed. i confess I did not follow much of the second act. But i understand the dancing was on par with the excellence of the first act. Culminating with the tragic end of the hero and the wood nymph and the victory of the wicked witch.
After the show, feeling very cultured, we wandered from the theatre and flagged a taxi. Back at our room we kinda fell into bed and left the packing for the morning.
After 3 hours of sleep, we leaped out of bed and ran around crazy throwing our stuff into our luggage and checking and rechecking for things lost and trying to figure out how much to wear for potentially climbing off the flight in -5 degree weather.
Now we are at our boarding gate and hour early after a snack of AR$25 coffee and AR$5 croissant. We are hoping to see the Andes mountains as we fly towards El Calafate. And perhaps some of the glaciers that we will be visiting tomorrow.
Our flight was moved from this afternoon to this morning so I think we have a free half day once we arrive... Or else half a day to figure out what rather quite very really really really cold actually means.
Tuesday, July 3, 2012
Argentina adventure - Day 2 - walking self tour of Buenos Aires
We slept in a little this morning because it was rather cold outside and I couldn't decide if I was still sick or not. i decided eventually that my desire for breakfast was stronger than the feeling of blocked sinuses so we got our act together.
After breakfast we set off for the district of Palermo to go see the Japanese Gardens and some museums. We set off towards the great Obelisk and when we finally got there I checked the map and realised we were sort of setting off in the wrong direction. Fortunately we were close to the central station of the subway so we jumped on the Green line and took the crowded subway to our desired location.
We went first to the Evita Museum but sadly it was closed. ( to the best of our understanding of the security guards spanish). So we continued on to the Parks and the Japanese Gardens. We saw some of the famed dog walkers with some rather interesting pedigree dogs in tow including poodles, huskies and that dog from the plascon ad. We took a few photos of the statues on the way and eventually found the entrance to the Japanese gardens.
The gardens were very pretty with red bridges and a big bell and little huts and a lake and many fat slow koi fish. A worthwhile spend of 16 pesos all in all.
After the gardens we decided to set off to find the museo de aeronautica but when we were half way there, the road was beginning to look like a highway so we turned around. We also stopped off to look at the Planetarium which had some impressive meteorites outside.
So we returned to the Plaza Italia to take the subway back to our side of town. Thus time it was lunch time so we had to stand the entire trip. i was glad MrT is ultra security conscious and had our backpack padlocked in the squashed train. there was a band playing very festive music on the train and trying to sell their CDs. Entertainment and a fresh appreciation for space and air all for 2.5Pesos.
Once we got off at our stop (having walked about 10km so far today) we decided to go try some Argentine Beef at a recommended restaurant 8 blocks away. So we walked some more. The restaurant was further than described and we were very thankful for the quick delivery of cokes to our table. The rump steak however was less impressive and was the consistency and softness of stewing beef. Perhaps the chef had an off day or the stock of the good meat was low or else in South Africa we really have it good. At least the place a pretty good all you can eat salad bar. We finished with a glass of red wine and a dulce du leche (?) pancake which was really really tasty.
Then we set off for the long long walk home. Our aching tired legs complained but soon got warm and we were striding along with the afternoon commuter pedestrian traffic.
Now we are back in our rooms and feeling exhausted. We will be ordering a taxi to take us to and back from the Ballet tonight. We must have walked 15 km today and that is enough exercise for two desk bound lumps like us.
I will say that I am grateful that BA is mostly flat terrain. It reminds me a lot of a Western European city with green tidy parks and tall pretty trees and lots of public transport and fashionable boutiques and statues. We are yet to feel like we are in a South American cliched place. BA is too manicured and pretty in sections and too dirty and graffitied in others.
Funny tho, like South Africa, these Argentinians are not afraid to express displeasure with their government. There was a protest going on just up the road yesterday. They were beating on drums and letting off firecrackers and dancing and singing... Just like home, but in Spanish.
Tomorrow we set off for El Calafate in the dark hours of the morning. Go look up the weather awaiting us and then decide if you are jealous. I am off to nap then repack my bags for the flight.
After breakfast we set off for the district of Palermo to go see the Japanese Gardens and some museums. We set off towards the great Obelisk and when we finally got there I checked the map and realised we were sort of setting off in the wrong direction. Fortunately we were close to the central station of the subway so we jumped on the Green line and took the crowded subway to our desired location.
We went first to the Evita Museum but sadly it was closed. ( to the best of our understanding of the security guards spanish). So we continued on to the Parks and the Japanese Gardens. We saw some of the famed dog walkers with some rather interesting pedigree dogs in tow including poodles, huskies and that dog from the plascon ad. We took a few photos of the statues on the way and eventually found the entrance to the Japanese gardens.
The gardens were very pretty with red bridges and a big bell and little huts and a lake and many fat slow koi fish. A worthwhile spend of 16 pesos all in all.
After the gardens we decided to set off to find the museo de aeronautica but when we were half way there, the road was beginning to look like a highway so we turned around. We also stopped off to look at the Planetarium which had some impressive meteorites outside.
So we returned to the Plaza Italia to take the subway back to our side of town. Thus time it was lunch time so we had to stand the entire trip. i was glad MrT is ultra security conscious and had our backpack padlocked in the squashed train. there was a band playing very festive music on the train and trying to sell their CDs. Entertainment and a fresh appreciation for space and air all for 2.5Pesos.
Once we got off at our stop (having walked about 10km so far today) we decided to go try some Argentine Beef at a recommended restaurant 8 blocks away. So we walked some more. The restaurant was further than described and we were very thankful for the quick delivery of cokes to our table. The rump steak however was less impressive and was the consistency and softness of stewing beef. Perhaps the chef had an off day or the stock of the good meat was low or else in South Africa we really have it good. At least the place a pretty good all you can eat salad bar. We finished with a glass of red wine and a dulce du leche (?) pancake which was really really tasty.
Then we set off for the long long walk home. Our aching tired legs complained but soon got warm and we were striding along with the afternoon commuter pedestrian traffic.
Now we are back in our rooms and feeling exhausted. We will be ordering a taxi to take us to and back from the Ballet tonight. We must have walked 15 km today and that is enough exercise for two desk bound lumps like us.
I will say that I am grateful that BA is mostly flat terrain. It reminds me a lot of a Western European city with green tidy parks and tall pretty trees and lots of public transport and fashionable boutiques and statues. We are yet to feel like we are in a South American cliched place. BA is too manicured and pretty in sections and too dirty and graffitied in others.
Funny tho, like South Africa, these Argentinians are not afraid to express displeasure with their government. There was a protest going on just up the road yesterday. They were beating on drums and letting off firecrackers and dancing and singing... Just like home, but in Spanish.
Tomorrow we set off for El Calafate in the dark hours of the morning. Go look up the weather awaiting us and then decide if you are jealous. I am off to nap then repack my bags for the flight.
Monday, July 2, 2012
Argentina adventure - Day 1 - Buenos Aires
This morning we went down to explore the breakfast buffet and arrived at the dining room at the same time as the tour of teenagers. So we had to wait a while for our coffee and croissants.
Our tour guide for the City tour was waiting at the reception and surprisingly pronounced our names correct. We jumped on the bus and snagged the front row seats for best visibility as the bus lumbered through the Monday morning traffic to collect the other tour attendees from their hotels.
A small aside on Traffic in Buenos Aires. There is a lot of pedastrian traffic on the pavements. Inevitably the people behind you are walking fast and the people in front of you are walking slow. It is close on impossible to walk side by side with some one. And quite easy to get separated from your beloved by a crowd of other people moving at the same pace as you. Driving on the other hand, is worse and only to be attempted by the locals and the completely hyperactive insane.
But back to the city tour... The rest of the people on the tour were south american and mostly from Brasilia and so we were the only non-Spanish speakers. The tour guide spoke mostly in Spanish and then repeated the summarised version in English. We drove past a whole Bunch of gardens and monuments and statues and outdoor sculptures in northern BA. Finally we stopped at the government houses - where the presidents office is. It is called the Pink Palace because of the mix of red and white stone used to plaster the building long ago. i thought it was a rather amusing coincidence that the current president is Female and her office building is called the Pink Palace... The tour guide, alas, did not.
In the same area we also wandered through the Cathedral Metropolitan - which is the biggest in the city and took photos of the old city hall.
Then we jumped back on the bus (it was surprisingly very cold today) and drove onwards to La Boca which had many touristy photo opportunities and finally to the local soccer stadium. As you can see these two places made no impression on me and hence I write little of it. We stopped of in La Boca and bought two coffees and a bottle of water and were charged 50 Pesos for our patronage which amounts to about R100 so I am a little jaded on the whole tourist area thing.
After the tour we were dropped off back near the hotel and decided to go look for a bite of lunch to eat. We walked to a place called The Coffee Shop and had A cup of very strong brasilian coffee and a quiche. (MrHusband had a sandwich kinda thing). We picked up a vibe that the locals aren't too keen on British people and so we usually talk to the waitresses in Afrikaans until they ask for English please. Lots of pointing and gesturing usually works too. however, talking as often as possible in Afrikaans is helping me improve a lot. A Win for the New Bosman Family I think.
After lunch we returned to the hotel to meet our travel agents representitive who exchanged our USD's into Pesos and gave us our updated itinerary and vouchers. Since we have a mostly free day tomorrow, He also offered to escort us to the opera house to book for a show. (tomorrow is the ballet instead but eh, here's some culture none the less) while we were out, striding across the city, he gave us a walking tour of the area including Florida road which is a long pedastrian street and a mall with a beautiful ceiling painting and some recommendations of resturants to eat Argentine Beef and find good quality curios. Finally he showed us how to use the underground and we took a train back to the hotel.
We emerged from the steps from our stations stop feeling very empowered and independent and ready to take on the city... And promptly got lost. Fortunately we traced back our steps and figured out where we were supposed to go to get to our hotel.
This afternoon on our second impromtu city tour we walked a pretty long long way at quick pace and so MrT and I are pretty tired out again. We feel all old and cold and grumpy. We had a short nap and then caved and went to Burger King for dinner. (i can hear all the tourism experts weeping "they went all the way to Argentina to eat Burger King!!! Disgraceful!!") but at least it was close by.
Now we are taking our tired old legs to bed and ready to face our free day tomorrow where we will be visiting (by that I mean walking and walking and walking) some museums, the Gallileo planetarium, the Japanese gardens and perhaps the old Port. And hopefully Hopefully kick my new sniffle - sneezing - blocked nose by morning.
Our tour guide for the City tour was waiting at the reception and surprisingly pronounced our names correct. We jumped on the bus and snagged the front row seats for best visibility as the bus lumbered through the Monday morning traffic to collect the other tour attendees from their hotels.
A small aside on Traffic in Buenos Aires. There is a lot of pedastrian traffic on the pavements. Inevitably the people behind you are walking fast and the people in front of you are walking slow. It is close on impossible to walk side by side with some one. And quite easy to get separated from your beloved by a crowd of other people moving at the same pace as you. Driving on the other hand, is worse and only to be attempted by the locals and the completely hyperactive insane.
But back to the city tour... The rest of the people on the tour were south american and mostly from Brasilia and so we were the only non-Spanish speakers. The tour guide spoke mostly in Spanish and then repeated the summarised version in English. We drove past a whole Bunch of gardens and monuments and statues and outdoor sculptures in northern BA. Finally we stopped at the government houses - where the presidents office is. It is called the Pink Palace because of the mix of red and white stone used to plaster the building long ago. i thought it was a rather amusing coincidence that the current president is Female and her office building is called the Pink Palace... The tour guide, alas, did not.
In the same area we also wandered through the Cathedral Metropolitan - which is the biggest in the city and took photos of the old city hall.
Then we jumped back on the bus (it was surprisingly very cold today) and drove onwards to La Boca which had many touristy photo opportunities and finally to the local soccer stadium. As you can see these two places made no impression on me and hence I write little of it. We stopped of in La Boca and bought two coffees and a bottle of water and were charged 50 Pesos for our patronage which amounts to about R100 so I am a little jaded on the whole tourist area thing.
After the tour we were dropped off back near the hotel and decided to go look for a bite of lunch to eat. We walked to a place called The Coffee Shop and had A cup of very strong brasilian coffee and a quiche. (MrHusband had a sandwich kinda thing). We picked up a vibe that the locals aren't too keen on British people and so we usually talk to the waitresses in Afrikaans until they ask for English please. Lots of pointing and gesturing usually works too. however, talking as often as possible in Afrikaans is helping me improve a lot. A Win for the New Bosman Family I think.
After lunch we returned to the hotel to meet our travel agents representitive who exchanged our USD's into Pesos and gave us our updated itinerary and vouchers. Since we have a mostly free day tomorrow, He also offered to escort us to the opera house to book for a show. (tomorrow is the ballet instead but eh, here's some culture none the less) while we were out, striding across the city, he gave us a walking tour of the area including Florida road which is a long pedastrian street and a mall with a beautiful ceiling painting and some recommendations of resturants to eat Argentine Beef and find good quality curios. Finally he showed us how to use the underground and we took a train back to the hotel.
We emerged from the steps from our stations stop feeling very empowered and independent and ready to take on the city... And promptly got lost. Fortunately we traced back our steps and figured out where we were supposed to go to get to our hotel.
This afternoon on our second impromtu city tour we walked a pretty long long way at quick pace and so MrT and I are pretty tired out again. We feel all old and cold and grumpy. We had a short nap and then caved and went to Burger King for dinner. (i can hear all the tourism experts weeping "they went all the way to Argentina to eat Burger King!!! Disgraceful!!") but at least it was close by.
Now we are taking our tired old legs to bed and ready to face our free day tomorrow where we will be visiting (by that I mean walking and walking and walking) some museums, the Gallileo planetarium, the Japanese gardens and perhaps the old Port. And hopefully Hopefully kick my new sniffle - sneezing - blocked nose by morning.
Sunday, July 1, 2012
Argentina adventure - trans-Atlantic
We made it to OR Tambo in good time to book in early and have breakfast. We made it to our departure gate but boarding was delayed first because the food wasnt ready. Once boarded, we had a further delay as 5 people failed to appear at the boarding gate and their luggage was to be removed. (their loss!)
There were several families who boarded with us and to our dismay - a family with a toddler was seated next to us. This wasn't so bad at first until the family pulled out their whole entire packed lunch to eat which smelt like armpit. In addition, we are convinced they forgot to includea nappy bag in their hand luggage.
For the first time ever in my travelling experience (which is 100% post9-11) someone was smoking on our flight. The air hostesses ran around sniffing the air for the culprit and finally figured out it was the lady sitting in front of us who had barred herself into the loo for her "fresh" air. She spoke only Spanish and so they had a stern word with her husband and made hand signals about handcuffing her for the remaining 8 hours of the flight for endangering us.
12 and a half hours later.... The air was smelling very brown and our legs were itching for a long run. But I discovered Downton Abbey on the entertainment and it is mynew favourite show.
Buenos Aires was hiding under cloud for the entire descent but finally the misty city emerged into view. We met up with our travel organiser, swapped some dollars for pesos and went off through some crazy Sunday highway traffic to the hotel.
It my be only 9pm Argentina time, but it is past 2am for our SA timed brains. So we pause the adventure here to get some hard earned sleep!
Tomorrow, Buenos Aires City Tour!!
There were several families who boarded with us and to our dismay - a family with a toddler was seated next to us. This wasn't so bad at first until the family pulled out their whole entire packed lunch to eat which smelt like armpit. In addition, we are convinced they forgot to includea nappy bag in their hand luggage.
For the first time ever in my travelling experience (which is 100% post9-11) someone was smoking on our flight. The air hostesses ran around sniffing the air for the culprit and finally figured out it was the lady sitting in front of us who had barred herself into the loo for her "fresh" air. She spoke only Spanish and so they had a stern word with her husband and made hand signals about handcuffing her for the remaining 8 hours of the flight for endangering us.
12 and a half hours later.... The air was smelling very brown and our legs were itching for a long run. But I discovered Downton Abbey on the entertainment and it is mynew favourite show.
Buenos Aires was hiding under cloud for the entire descent but finally the misty city emerged into view. We met up with our travel organiser, swapped some dollars for pesos and went off through some crazy Sunday highway traffic to the hotel.
It my be only 9pm Argentina time, but it is past 2am for our SA timed brains. So we pause the adventure here to get some hard earned sleep!
Tomorrow, Buenos Aires City Tour!!
Saturday, June 30, 2012
At the first day of July, the new adventure begins.
Monday, June 18, 2012
Countdown - less than 2 weeks to lift off
Mostly this post is to test that my mobile blogging for MrsFrankiesTravels is working but in the moments that I forget how stressed and worried and scared and intimidated and awed that I am that I am getting married in less than two weeks, I feel a thrill of excitement that I'll be exploring Argentina really really soon.
One big new adventure ahead - with snow and glaciers and jungles and tango dancing! My passport is ready and so I say bring on the fun times!
One big new adventure ahead - with snow and glaciers and jungles and tango dancing! My passport is ready and so I say bring on the fun times!
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