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End of the beginning

I have reached the end of my live trip blog. In the next two weeks I will be adding specifics of restaurants and hotels including addresses. Also advice to someone that would like to do something similar. 

I'm ready to get home but have really loved the countries we visited and the ones we saw in the distance from our bus window(a little Sarah Palin reference)
We both have places we would like to come back to visit but there are to many other countries on our list. I know we would have spent several more days in Santiago as we have really enjoyed our short time here. 

Our guardian, Christian, who was very concerned about us and our driver, Umberto, who was sure I would lose my purse to muggers at every turn will sleep easier after we leave tomorrow. 

It's 90 degrees here, I'm not looking forward to the cold.

Chow, hasta viernes(Friday in English)

Last Blog

Last Post. Enjoy the pictures. We are leaving for the states tomorrow. These are pictures of the market we went to this morning.

FOR MOM

Coca Cola Flags

pictures of Vina Del Mar

It was an awesome trip today. We took a boat and got closer to the Chile navy then most people. Here are some great pics of today. I will elaborate more later. I have limited time on the internet here so the kid has my blowdryer on a full time basis and I have to dramatically die every time he shots me. The hair is suffering a little but it´s worth it.

r

Note

Yesterday I went to our room to take a nap around 4. I do this so we can eat dinner with the adults at 10 p.m. The maid wasn't finished cleaning and her 5 year old son hadn't figured out how to use my blowdryer so we played cops and robbers with it and my curling iron while his mom finished cleaning. He is now my best friend and wants to play every time he sees me. We decided that Duncan was a bonito chihuahua and the weather is bueno in Santiago. I think he feels I should leave him either my blowdryer or the iPod when I go.

Tour day

I think we have hired a car to take us around for the day. I know he doesn't speak English so who knows where we will end up. I'll write later about this adventure. I forgot to say what was on our menu at lunch yesterday, fried guinnie pig(not sure of that spelling but you get the picture)

Santiago

Mom, two things for you. First of all everything is Coca Cola here. Here is an example. Also, this guy sang at our table at lunch today. He looked so much like Uncle Lyle in his perm stage of life we bought a CD and had to take a picture.

Pic with a view of Santiago, more later.

We did finally make it to Santiago. I have to make a note about Christian on the bus. He was across the aisle from us on the bus. He could speak very little english but we had a bonding moment when they had a Witney Houston video on the bus(long story).

When we got to Santiago he was very worried about us. He waited until we got our backpacks, took us to the money changing booth, to a taxi and lectured the driver for several minutes. He gave us both his home and mobile number to call if we had any problems. Really nice guy, when you have 5 hours with someone on a bus you become family. Also, Bob thinks I have ¨help me¨ pasted on my forehead.

These are some pics from our first day in Santiago.

Additions to bus ride learning

After riding a bus through the mountains that border Chile and Argentina, I have some more things that I have learned the hard way.

1. Don't try to use the bus bathroom while you are going through the mountains. It's like being in a blender combined with nasty liquids.

2. Don't remember your toilet paper after you have tripped over 20 suitcases and fell in two laps on your trek to the bathroom. People don't smile the second time around.

3. Take LOTS of toilet paper!(refer to 1)

4. Don't drink a coke before you get on the bus!(refer to 1 again)

5. When someone gets on at a stop when it's a nonstop bus don't offer one of the kids half your seat. When the border patrol comes in to take them off the bus they tend to regard you with suspision.

6. Don't choose this time to make the treck to the bathroom because the bus is stopped.  The might think you are hiding. I thought for awhile I might have to reveal my coconut rum in the drug dog sock.

Border crossing

The border crossing took 5 hours. It really wasn't unpleasent just kind of boring. The drug dog left my socks alone. The lady that got kicked off the bus hitched a ride with a pickup. She and her children were crying and a woman took them off the bus and appeared to pay the guys in the pickup to take them. Bob wouldn't let me wave goodbye. We went through several levels of security and finally we are on our way.

Leaving Argentina

We are on the bus leaving Mendoza for Santiago,Chile. We have not met anybody from the US since we left BA January 2nd. I don't know if they are ducking us or not. I don't think the bra thing at the falls became a national incident so I think I'm safe to say we are the minority tourist category.

Charlie, if you are reading this Mendoza was "el Magnifico"

We loved all of Argentina. The country was beautiful as well as the people. We learned quite a bit as travelers and here are just few of these things:

1. Don't assume bathrooms have TP. Carry your own in your purse at all times. I have a whole roll in my purse. If things get bad I'll start selling it piece by piece for pesos.

2. Split one meal. We always forgot this and got a huge amount of food. When the average tab for 2 huge meals was less than $20 American including a bottle of good wine it was hard to remember.

3. We didn't feel that we were ever taken advantage of because of language difficulties. The Argentine people love their country and want you to love it as well.

4. Directo bus does not mean nonstop, it means pick up Aunt Sally at one corner and take her to the next town. At this point Aunt Sallys pig needs to go on the bus to a "farm" visit. I think the pig was lucky because he only rode for 5 hours. Non stop is the key. Except for the 25 hour trip with aunt sallys pig, which I am naming the "directo" bus from hell, things went pretty well.

5. We are very wasteful, spoiled culture and I plan on contributing to this with full throttle when I get back.

6. I want to come back. After I come home,see Duncan, sleep in my own bed, and flush my own stool at least 1000 times. The I want to come back.

On to Chile....5 days

Dakar Again

Dakar race caught up with us here in Mendoza yesterday. The cars and trucks are showing some wear. It was really exciting all over again. http://www.dakar.com/

Wine Snobs?

We decided to get an early start this morning. We were doing a wine tour in the afternoon and would be visiting several wineries and an olive oil processing place. Being the smart, independent travelers we are we took the bus to a nearby town and walked to a little winery. We got a private tour and tasting with a very nice girl named Dawn. In this tasting we really learned how to taste and enjoy wine. We also learned that you need to decant your wine for at least 12 hours before you drink it. I really didn´t know that. I guess TJ Swan easy nights could have tasted better in my younger days had we decanted it. So we patted ourselves on the back all the way back to Mendoza that we visited a little known winery on our own and got a private tour and tasting.

We pitched the bicycle tour when we realized the high temps and the mileage combined with wine tasting might be a disater. So we went on a van to visit the wineries. The first thing we discovered is that we were on a spanish speaking tour but would have english tours at the bodegas. We tasted at the first winery and learned that this one was exported to the States. We also tasted really great olive oil and sun dried tomatos at the second place. Those of you that know the sundried tomato story will get a laugh out of that.

All of a sudden things started looking familier. We pulled into the driveway and we realized that we were once again at our little private winery that no one(except the 5 tour vans parked there) knew about. We get out of the van and Bob was trying to hide from Dawn but couldn´t do this as he is the tallest person in Mendoza. She greeted us and really confused our spanish speaking guide. After we got it all sorted out we skipped the tour and did the tasting all over again. When we got back on the van our spanish tour guide told everyone the story in spanish and they all got a big laugh. I heard Loco and USA several times.

Next, we went to this guys house and tried his homemade stuff. The coconut rum was out of this world. I am bringing some home if I have to smuggle it in my drug dog sock. Bob also got some liquor called Russian Death. So on our way home the tour guide still made some jokes at our expense and everyone laughed again. We were the first ones to leave the van for our hotel dropoff so I took a bow. They all laughed, kissed us goodbye and said Chow. I´m getting really good at the kissing thing. We didn´t buy any wine here as it won´t go in the backpack very well and most of it is exported. The same with the olive oil. Russian Death is not exported so it will be somewhere in Bob´s backpack.

Tomorrow is only an 8 hour bus ride to Santiago. I am charging up the ipod and off we go. I can´t believe I´m okay with 8 hours I definantly have bus butt.

The Best Hosts Ever

We got to Mendoza this morning. We decided to go to La Escondida B&B because Frommers recommended them. When we got there they were very nice and told us to wait a minute. In about 5 minutes they came out and said they had no rooms but were arranging a room down the street. They offered us breakfast while they did this and had a friend drive us to the other B&B but said that we could come back and eat or use their pool at any point. That is service!!! The other place is very nice and closer to the city center. The Dakar race has caught up with us again so we will check that out and do a bicycle tour of the wineries tomorrow.

Bus Rides

I haven´t told about the bus rides so far because the one in the middle of the three was really bad. BUT, we had a good experience the last time so I will talk about it. The first ride was 18 hours from BA to Iguazu was very nice. A direct bus with pillow, blankets and wine. What more can you ask for. The second 27 hour bus ride from Iguazu to Salta was awful. Seats worse than an airplane and we stopped at every town and intersection. I´m sure we picked up a pig at one point. The only thing available to drink was Sprite when offered. NOT GOOD!!!!!!

The latest 21 hour bus from Salta to Mendoza was comfortable and interesting. We rode for quite a while and were stopped by the drug police complete with a dog. The dog sniffed at my socks for a long time. I know that weren´t fresh but let´s not point it out. The DEA guy got a laugh out of that. Then we were on our way only to be turned back at the major highway. This is when we took the detour from ¨hell.¨ Of couse, they served dinner during this.

That is a whole interesting part. First they serve these really sweet cookies with tea. Then they service ham loaf and finally we get to beef with mushroom. By that time I´m done.

The sights along the road were very interesting this time because it was raining and sometimes hailing. There were people riding bicycles holding umbrellas. There was a Gaucho on a horse sitting inside a bus shelter. At the end of this was a beautiful double rainbow. I´m not ready to get on a bus anytime soon but it hasn´t been that bad and we have seen so much of this beautiful country.

Salta Tour

I didn´t talk about what happened on our tour yesterday due to time constraints. We took a van into Salta province. The guide told me that we were in an area similar to the Grand Canyon. Since I haven´t seen the Grand Canyon I´m at a disadvantage.

As I said earlier, we took an english speaking tour. One would think we would meet up with some people from the USA. Not so, there were people from Germany,Australia,Japan and Argentina on our tour. We were the lone USA people. This was very interesting to meet people from everywhere. The people from Germany and Australia are following the blog now. I found out the couple from Germany are going on to the falls. I told her to pay very good attention to my blog on Iguazu.

We first went to the goat farm(refer to goats gone wild), we bought some goat cheese. Then we went to a place that used to be a waterfall. Pictures are somewhere on here. They called it the amphitheatre. It was really beautiful and there was a music trio playing in it. At this stop there was a guy selling llama salami. I bought this before I saw the llama on the prior post. It is really good salami and we will have it for our next bus marathon today.

We went up into the mountains and it was beautiful. Check out the new pictures.

I haven´t talked about protest yet but there always seems to be a protest about something everywhere we go. Yesterday we got stopped on the road on the way back to Salta because there was a protest fire blocking the road. I have a couple of pictures. One of the protest blocking the road through the bus window and one in Salta last night.

Pictures from Salta Tour

Little did this llama know but we just bought salami

local color

Salami guy

We ate goat last night. I feel a little bad but it was good.

Amphitheatre. AWESOME

Salta Province Tour (goats and Llamas gone wild)

Pictures from our tour of Salta Province

My college friends will remember my blind date

An example of how much wine we have drank

Goats gone wild(on a milking machine)

Little kids wanting affection. One insisted that I scratch behind his ears. If I didn´t he would nip at my hand and present his ear until I did.

Salta ¨tourists¨

We are doing something new today. We are taking a tour that is in ENGLISH. We have not done both together since we got to Argentina. We had to get up early today so I sat the alarm on my Ipod. We got up before it went off. It went off in the elevator and I thought the elevator was broken. Then when we were at breakfast I mention to Bob that the noise was still around. This is when I realized the Ipod alarm was going off in my purse. I think I need a loooong sleep!

The Falls

Group PictureBob pointing out something???

THE FALLS

The Falls we went under

One Group Picture

Us before shirt removal for me.

Picture Day(New Years Eve and Dakar Race)

Daker cars

Bob with Race Girl

Bob getting the prized poster that we are carrying everywhere

New Year´s on the roof of Lela De La Troy

Iguazu Falls

We took an overnight bus to Iguazu Falls. We arrived at 7 a.m. and by 8 a.m. we were on our way to the falls. I will start by saying this was the most amazing and beautiful sight I have ever seen. When I put the pictures on you will understand. No USB at the Hostel we are staying at so they will be another day.

Now, for the funny part. We got on a boat right when we got to the park. I noticed people had rain gear on but I didn´t know why. Then I hear the ranger telling people that they should take everything off that they didn´t want to get wet because we would be going in to the falls. IMAGINE MY SURPRISE. So I took off my watch and tennis shoes and put them in this bag they gave us. When we sat down in the boat we had to put life jackets on. I looked around and realized that most women didn´t have their shirt on, they were just wearing a bra on top. SO, i said ¨when in Rome do like the Romans¨, took my shirt off and put it into the bag.

Have you ever had that dream that your in school in class and you realize that you don´t have your pants on and if you don´t move noone will notice. I lived it....

I started looking around and noticed 2 things
1. These women had swimsuits on.
2. There was a guy video taping the whole thing.

The boat started and I couldn´t change back at that point. So, I´m rolling along in the boat with my shorts and a bra on covered partially by a life jacket. When we get close to the falls people started handing their camera to the captain and going up to the front of the boat for pictures. I stayed right where I was.

We went under the falls and got really wet, it was lots of fun and I would do it again in a minute(with a swimsuit on). At the end of the falls I took my life jacket off to put my shirt on again and the captain pointed at me and said no leave the vest on, so the whole boat got a shot of me in my bra. So, at the end of the boat ride the video guy offered everyone a DVD for $30 american. I offered them 10 american not to buy it.

So we have seen the falls and will get on a bus at 4 a.m. to go to Salta and will arrive at 7a.m. the next day. I will leave my shirt on for the bus ride. I think that would be prudent.

New Years Day

I will talk about New Years Day because I want to put pictures on with the eve discussion. And no internet was open today.
When we were eating lunch yesterday we noticed a bunch of people with tshirts on that said Dakar on them. We figured out that it's an international offroad race that is held in South Africa but due to threats from al-qaeda it was moved to Argentina.
www.Dakar.com

They had a big expo in our neighborhood. When I put the pictures on you'll see the scope of this race.

We get on a bus for an overnight trip tomorrow so it will be a few days before the pics show up.

Tomorrow with sadness, we will leave Buenos Aires. We will take a 17 hour bus ride to the falls. We will then take a 15 hour bus to Salta. A 10 hour bus to Mendoza and on to Santiago, Chile and back to the Us. All this will happen in the next 12 days.

I'm doing this post on my Ipod so will add more when my keyboard isn't less than the size of a credit card.

Happy New Year

I am taking the day off as a tourist. We are going to a terrace at a restaurant to watch the fireworks.

Happy New Year!!!!!

Hey Governor Sebelius..Kansas really does have good wine!!!

Last night we decided to go to a restaurant called Kansas. I´m not sure what we expected but what we got was really nice. The restaurant faced a horse racing track and had a really nice view. It also had a big circular bar that overlooked the whole restaurant. Since the wait to get in was long we decided to sit at the bar.

This is when we discovered that their house wine was named Kansas. Of course, we had to try it. It was also the cheapest on the menu($10.00 american) and had a layer of dust on it when they brought it out. Bobs theory is that they let the wine age. My theory, it is only ordered when someone from Kansas comes in.

It was really good. Before the Governor made the statement about Kansas not really having good wine she should have visited this restaurant. We kept the bottle just in case she needs proof.

Picture Time

Another Service...Cafe´ Cart

closeup at the Natural gas station

Leticia and her Mom. We met her at the Christmas Eve party and she very nicely wanted us to join them at a New Year´s party. It was already booked so we couldn´t but we ate there and it was a really good buffet where we tried all kinds of different foods. I drew the line at eating carpincho(refer to my blog all rat no cow). Thanks for leading us to that wonderful restaurant Leticia. Happy New Year!!!

Total Tourist

we have been total tourist this weekend. We went to the MALBA museum of art and, of course, the Evita Museum. Both museums didn´t have any english at all so we spent quite a bit of time just trying to figure out what we were looking at. Eva Perron had some really nice clothes and shoes that I could understand.

Sunday we decided to go to Feria De Matadore. We decided to take a taxi because it was pretty far away from a subway stop. The taxi driver let us out in a scary part of town and there was no fair going on. We walked around burnt out and wrecked cars all up and down the street and finally asked someone where it was. He pointed at the sign that said De Matadore but there was no fair. So, we dicided they must be off for holiday. We, once again, were in a part of town with no taxis and I was getting pretty worried. All of a sudden I heard a bus come round the corner, it was our old friend bus 126. We decided the bus barn was a better choice then where we were so we flagged it down. This bus 126 took us to the San Thelmo fair so we felt pretty lucky.

I was a crazy tourist at this fair. Found a thimble for Hankie and a shot glass for Mike and a cowhide purse(yes, I´m sure it is cowhide) for me. I also bought a hippie skirt with a stain already on it.

Then I found the 20 way dress girl. She was demonstrating all the ways you could wear this piecs of cloth with a hole in it and two ties. I WAS AMAZED!!! I think my friend Ann will remember our 10 way dresses we bought in the Bahamas. This one did 20 ways because it can be a shirt too. I was on the fence until she said it came with a DVD. I was sold. So now I have a 20 way dress with a DVD in spanish to show me how to wear it.(Bob pointed out that little problem)

Also, Bob´s sister Earlene is going to love what we got her. No, the 20 way dress is all mine. So now my backpack is really full.

The Menu Challange

The service in restaurants is very good but different. In the US
everything is geared towards getting your meal and getting you out
quickly.
It is quite the opposite here. They want you to hang around and enjoy
the food.

When you sit at your table you have to ask for a menu. They will not
bother you until you close the menu. Once it is closed and on the
table they are there very quickly to take your order .

Sounds easy right???

Remember, that all the menus are in Spanish. It takes a while but
usually I can figure something out. So, I close the menu, the waiter
is walking towards me. Wait....I can't pronounce what I want so I
open the menu to point it out. I look up and he's gone. This is
really tricky timing.

Today, we went to a bookstore called El Anteneo in our neighborhood.
Marianna recommended we go there because it is in a restored theatre.
It was beautiful. They left the boxes and stage in place. Google it,
it's worth a look.

Ok, back to the story. The coffee shop was on the stage. So I sat
down to order cafe' (coffee). The waitress said "no coffee." Hey,
I'm in a coffee shop surely there is coffee somewhere, so I asked for
a menu. She brings it and there is every style of cafe' known to man
on it. I close the menu, she is almost at my table, I open it to
point at coffee, she's gone. I do this twice and am tempted to do it
a few more times to prove my theory but I really want coffee.

I close the menu and let her get to my table. I say "UNO momento,"
grab her arm and open the menu all at once.

"NO CAFE" she says as I point to every coffee on the menu. So I gave
up and drank a beer. While I drank that beer this waitress served
coffee drinks to everyone around me.

That's what I get for winning the menu game.

My Dirty Secret

,

I have a secret that I have even kept from Bob until this trip. I like to read the gossip blog http://www.perezhilton.com/. As men say, they only read Playboy for the articles, I like to read this blog because every once in a while he releases a political scandel quite a bit earlier then the major news networks. I knew about John Edwards about a month before it broke. Bob kept telling me it wasn´t true but we all know how that turned out.

Anyway, he was at the same restaurant we were at the other night. I got to meet him and got a picture. He was very gracious to this crazy girl from Kansas that interupted his meal.

Christmas and Odds and Ends

A small note about the gas station by our house. I have walked by it many times and only now just noticed. It´s natural gas!!!

Christmas Eve picture. The lady in this picture came to introduce herself and said ¨I cry and cry for your country for a long time and now I rejoice.¨ Then she said ¨Obama!!¨

Another picture of the Christmas eve party.

It's Christmas

We went to a restaurant Christmas party tonight. It was good wine and good food but sedate
and we were happy because we were together and it was a very good
Christmas Eve for 100 dollars. We had 2 bottles of wine, a great meal
and this really strange plate with icky fruitcake on it 30 minutes
after a really great desert course.

So we were ready to leave and all of a sudden the cheesy cover kareoke band
started counting down to midnight and everything changed. It was like
the best new years party ever. Everyone in the restaurant introduced
themselves, wanted to know where we were from and then toasted the
only US people in the restaurant.

We danced with them and toasted and kissed everyone on the right and
left, exchanged e-mails and came home. One of the best Christmas Eves
ever!!!

Now we are on our patio watching fireworks

Weather

I forgot to say one thing in my recent post. It's going to be 90
degrees on Christmas Eve here. I have a feeling I'm getting no
sympathy from the ice people!

Felize Navidad

The German Club Event

Marianna, our volunteer guide from Cicerones( http://www.cicerones.org.ar/index_en.html)invited us to a tour with the German Club. We went to several museums and had dinner at a German Restaurant. It was quite a bit of fun because we got to meet Marianna´s friend(Marianna on left, friend on right) and quite a few other people. Marianna got the photo of me before they told her ¨no pictures¨ , that is a true friend to take that risk.

Marianna´s friend told me a story about the flowers above. They are called horntensia. The legend is that if you have a single daughter and you have these flowers in your garden she will never marry. Marianna didn´t know this story and knows now why she is single. Both these girls are single, smart and beautiful. Someone will realize this soon.

Also, I´ve been using the term ¨Noche Bueno¨ thinking this meant Merry Christmas. Marianna gave me a funny look when I toasted using this phrase. She said this means Christmas Eve. So, I´ve been going around saying Christmas Eve to everyone. I wondered why I was getting confused looks. The guys at the bus barn already thought we were crazy that probobly sealed the deal.

Well, anyway, Noche Bueno, Feliz Navidad or whatever. Just have a very Merry Christmas!!

Services

There are all kinds of services here. These are the things we take for granted. The way of doing them is a little different. I hope Christa is following this blog so she can show Jeremy the recycling program here. It involves independent contractors with carts. They rip open the trash bags and look for paper and plastic products. There seems to be no color coding here. Dog walkers are a big thing here. The walkers usually have at least 6 dogs and they are very orderly. I think most of my dogs would have been kicked out of this program. I also included a meter reader. There are also sushi delivery motercycles and coffee carts. If I can snap a photo I will include those later.

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