We are sad our trip has come to a close yet look forward to what lies ahead. As a look-back on our trip, we made a summary of fun facts:
We spent 75 days in South America
Traveled approximately 25,826.17 miles
Visited 25 cities
Ate 15 (delicious) Argentine empanadas
Used up 5 rolls of campers toilet paper (personally bought for use on trek and public bathrooms)
Traveled through 6 countries that were celebrating their 200th Anniversary (Colombia, Peru, Ecuador, Chile, Bolivia, Argentina)
Obtained 20 new stamps in each of our passports
Spent 121.5 hours on bus rides
Met 5 couples who were moving to Australia after traveling South America for 3 months or more
Didn't shower a total of 12 nights (non consecutively!)
Visited 44 Oscar Niemeyer buildings
Ate 9 whole fish
Ching Jen did laundry 10 times, while Jon did laundry 4 times
The coldest temperature we were in was 14 degrees F and the hottest was 104 degrees F
For Jon, the average number of photos taken per day is 56, but he took 140 photos in Recoleta Cemetery alone!
We visited 14 markets and 34 churches
Our cheapest hostel cost USD$9.37 per person a night; our most expensive boarding was USD$76 per person a night (it was a hotel)
We ate 4 meals in a foodcourt
Encountered 22 different modes of transportation
Witnessed 24 panoramic views
Accidentally stepped in 3 dog poo piles (which is a good percentage considering Chile had a LOT of dog poo!)
Thanks for reading and coming along for the ride, we promise some photos later on!
Ciao/Hasta Luego,
Ching Jen and Jon
Thursday, October 28, 2010
Tuesday, October 26, 2010
Up, up, up, at the Belly Button of the World
October 12th we started to celebrate Ching Jen's birthday with travel
on 4 flights, through 3 countries, in 2 hemispheres, and ending at 1
secret garden. We flew from Ushuaia, Argentina through Buenos Aires
and then Cordoba. The next flight was from Cordoba to Panama City,
Panama and then backtracking on our connecting flight to Quito,
Ecuador. We arrived in Quito a bit delayed, which foiled our plan to
go straight from the airport to the equator. Instead we went to our
hostel, the Secret Garden, a really wonderful hostel on an eastern
hill above the old town. The hostel itself is a labyrinth of
buildings, to get to our room from the street you have to go enter, go
up 4 flights of stairs, cross through an apartment, and then go down 3
flights of stairs. The reception is at the very top, on the 5th floor
where there is a terrace and a restaurant with absolutely stunning
views of Quito. All of this I should say is at the elevation of 9350
feet.
Quito is a sprawling city built in a valley on the side of a still
active ash volcano. The city is very, very narrow, only about a 10 or
15 minute drive east to west and then about an 45 minute to an hour
long drive north to south. It is an incredibly scenic city with many
look out points and attractions that provide panoramas of the city,
valley and mountains. There are four main parts to Quito, the Old
Town and the New Town at the center and then the southern and northern
districts stretching from the center. The Old Town is by far the more
interesting and safer place to stay. It is the largest preserved
historic colonial area in the world with a realistic mix of
preservation, restoration, and revitalization.
We had only 36 hours in Quito so once we checked in we headed out to
see as much as we could. Our first stop was a little bit across the
old town to the Basilica del Voto Nacional, a HUGE gothic spired
church with a beautiful stained glass interior complete with a 20 foot
diameter rose window and local animal gargoyles. The church is
located on a hill at the northern end of the old town and from the
plaza outside we already had pretty amazing views of the city.
However, the roof and bell towers of the church are open to the
public, even in its run down, graffiti, almost ruinous state. We
ascended, first by elevator to the roof of the nave and then by iron
ladder up 4 stories within the stone structure. It was awesome
although a bit spooky because of the brooding architecture, the ladder
climbing, and the fact that we were already out of breath just to walk
around at this altitude.
From the basilica we walked up and down the roller coaster streets of
the Old Town toward La Merced, another church with an interior ceiling
painted carnation pink and artwork depicting erupting volcanoes and
fire-y landscapes of Quito. Sunset mass was just beginning so we just
peeked and walked around for a little while. Outside the streets were
flattening out a bit. They were also getting more and more crowded as
people were getting off work and doing their shopping. The sidewalks
in the Old Town are very very narrow and the vehicle traffic is fairly
heavy mixed with buses and light rail. Unfortunately the next stop on
our walking tour of the Old City, the Church of San Francisco was
closed for restoration, but we did poke our heads into the side
chapel, which was a blaze in gilded flourishes. Outside, the plaza is
a small oasis of sloping cobblestones amongst colonial arcades and
three storey buildings. The topography is so hilly in Quito that
anywhere the Spanish or developers since the 1500's wanted to build a
large building, they had to move earth to get enough area. Therefore,
the Church of San Francisco like many other buildings and churches has
a stair leading up to it and an entire street level arcade beneath it.
These spaces are now occupied by businesses and restaurants. Across
town we saw a different strategy at Santo Domingo where the church was
actually sunken below the plaza. The sun was beginning to set and we
wanted to make it up to another viewing spot so we worked our way back
through the streets of the Old Town to San Blas, the hill near our
hostel and then up a very steep flight of stairs. I guess flight of
stairs doesn't clearly describe it. It was a 20-storey building on
incline up hill. At the top though the view left us breathless. We
grabbed a seat at the edge of the balcony of Cafe Mosaico, a greekish
restaurant cantilevered out from the hillside. It was a wonderful
birthday dinner with the lights of Quito twinkling below us.
The next day, our last full day of the trip, we woke up and had a full
breakfast on the terrace of the hostel. The morning sun had already
burnt off most of the fog and the haze of pollution had not yet rolled
in to cloud the view of the distant hills. We left the hotel and
walked on foot to the Central Market. This was the most modern and
sterile market we saw of the whole trip. The previous market had been
destroyed in an earthquake so this one was constructed in the 1950's
with the intention that there would be a few fruit, vegetable, and
seafood vendors mixed with a larger number of butchers, and then a
majority of tiled stalls for restaurants. It was a bit of a
disappointment not to see the hub-bub of other South American markets.
After the market we walked to a bus line that took us 12km outside of
town to the equator. It is funny to think that the equator, an
invisible line that circumvents the entire Earth is represented in a
single point at a single site here in Ecuador. We don't know what
other equator sites are like elsewhere in the world, but here in Quito
it is a touristy complex of artisan shops and restaurants and a
3-storey stone monument with an orange line going through it. We had
our fun jumping back and forth between north and south. Next door to
the Middle of the World complex is another museum where scientists
determined the actual equator to be. It is 240 meters away from the
line in the previous site. Here there are science experiments to
demonstrate the various phenomena. We watched water spiral clockwise
in the southern hemisphere and then spiral counter clockwise 6 feet
away in the northern hemisphere. On the line itself the water didn't
spiral at all. We also balanced an egg longways on the top of a nail,
observed sun dials and our own shadows for changes. It was
instructive, but again pretty touristy and also ironic to think that
tourists from all over the world, like ourselves, travel here to the
equator, a place that exists in the same way around the entire world.
While standing on the line one can look up at the street of houses
built right down the equator. It would be just as cool to visit the
neighbors house and walk from their living room to the kitchen
crossing the equator.
After the equator sites we took the bus into Quito's New Town to the
Teleferiqo, an aerial lift that travels 2500 meters up the side of the
Volcano to a lookout point 4100 meters in altitude. The total trip in
the gondola took about 30 minutes. Our ears were definitely popping.
The view of course was incredible. There were airplanes flying below
us. Clouds were blowing through beneath our feet. The land was
essentially a spring like tundra providing ideal conditions for
mountain biking and running. We walked around a bit checking out the
panoramic views. Before heading down we split a humita, a steamed
ground corn snack cooked in a leaf. From the base of the teleferiqo
we took a taxi across town to Bellavista, a hillside neighborhood
overlooking the airport. We went to the Chapel of Man, a non-profit
museum and foundation, established by the Ecuadorian artist Oswaldo
Guayasamin, dedicated to raising awareness about human rights abuses.
Guaysamin is a world famous artist whose portraits are known for
deeply emotional expressions and backstories. The work is sobering
and uplifting at the same time with subjects as diverse as indigenous
people in South America to victims of the Vietnam War, Bay of Pigs and
images of domestic violence. Sounds heavy, but there were many works
celebrating tender and heartfelt moments. After our visit, we enjoyed
an ice cream with a view of the modern part of Quito and airplanes
landing amidst the skyscrapers.
We headed downtown to the Old City as the sky was darkening and a
storm was fast approaching. We made it to the Plaza Grande, the main
square, to see the Cathedral and Government Palace in time before the
rain. For dinner we went to a local restaurant and had a shrimp dish
and a chicken dish served like an open burrito. Then we returned to
the hostel for a drink and relaxation on the terrace. At 3:30am the
next morning we met our cab for transport to the airport. Our flight
flew from Quito to Houston and then onward to Denver. Overall it was
a sad feeling to be heading "home." 75 days of travel and it felt
like we were just getting going.
on 4 flights, through 3 countries, in 2 hemispheres, and ending at 1
secret garden. We flew from Ushuaia, Argentina through Buenos Aires
and then Cordoba. The next flight was from Cordoba to Panama City,
Panama and then backtracking on our connecting flight to Quito,
Ecuador. We arrived in Quito a bit delayed, which foiled our plan to
go straight from the airport to the equator. Instead we went to our
hostel, the Secret Garden, a really wonderful hostel on an eastern
hill above the old town. The hostel itself is a labyrinth of
buildings, to get to our room from the street you have to go enter, go
up 4 flights of stairs, cross through an apartment, and then go down 3
flights of stairs. The reception is at the very top, on the 5th floor
where there is a terrace and a restaurant with absolutely stunning
views of Quito. All of this I should say is at the elevation of 9350
feet.
Quito is a sprawling city built in a valley on the side of a still
active ash volcano. The city is very, very narrow, only about a 10 or
15 minute drive east to west and then about an 45 minute to an hour
long drive north to south. It is an incredibly scenic city with many
look out points and attractions that provide panoramas of the city,
valley and mountains. There are four main parts to Quito, the Old
Town and the New Town at the center and then the southern and northern
districts stretching from the center. The Old Town is by far the more
interesting and safer place to stay. It is the largest preserved
historic colonial area in the world with a realistic mix of
preservation, restoration, and revitalization.
We had only 36 hours in Quito so once we checked in we headed out to
see as much as we could. Our first stop was a little bit across the
old town to the Basilica del Voto Nacional, a HUGE gothic spired
church with a beautiful stained glass interior complete with a 20 foot
diameter rose window and local animal gargoyles. The church is
located on a hill at the northern end of the old town and from the
plaza outside we already had pretty amazing views of the city.
However, the roof and bell towers of the church are open to the
public, even in its run down, graffiti, almost ruinous state. We
ascended, first by elevator to the roof of the nave and then by iron
ladder up 4 stories within the stone structure. It was awesome
although a bit spooky because of the brooding architecture, the ladder
climbing, and the fact that we were already out of breath just to walk
around at this altitude.
From the basilica we walked up and down the roller coaster streets of
the Old Town toward La Merced, another church with an interior ceiling
painted carnation pink and artwork depicting erupting volcanoes and
fire-y landscapes of Quito. Sunset mass was just beginning so we just
peeked and walked around for a little while. Outside the streets were
flattening out a bit. They were also getting more and more crowded as
people were getting off work and doing their shopping. The sidewalks
in the Old Town are very very narrow and the vehicle traffic is fairly
heavy mixed with buses and light rail. Unfortunately the next stop on
our walking tour of the Old City, the Church of San Francisco was
closed for restoration, but we did poke our heads into the side
chapel, which was a blaze in gilded flourishes. Outside, the plaza is
a small oasis of sloping cobblestones amongst colonial arcades and
three storey buildings. The topography is so hilly in Quito that
anywhere the Spanish or developers since the 1500's wanted to build a
large building, they had to move earth to get enough area. Therefore,
the Church of San Francisco like many other buildings and churches has
a stair leading up to it and an entire street level arcade beneath it.
These spaces are now occupied by businesses and restaurants. Across
town we saw a different strategy at Santo Domingo where the church was
actually sunken below the plaza. The sun was beginning to set and we
wanted to make it up to another viewing spot so we worked our way back
through the streets of the Old Town to San Blas, the hill near our
hostel and then up a very steep flight of stairs. I guess flight of
stairs doesn't clearly describe it. It was a 20-storey building on
incline up hill. At the top though the view left us breathless. We
grabbed a seat at the edge of the balcony of Cafe Mosaico, a greekish
restaurant cantilevered out from the hillside. It was a wonderful
birthday dinner with the lights of Quito twinkling below us.
The next day, our last full day of the trip, we woke up and had a full
breakfast on the terrace of the hostel. The morning sun had already
burnt off most of the fog and the haze of pollution had not yet rolled
in to cloud the view of the distant hills. We left the hotel and
walked on foot to the Central Market. This was the most modern and
sterile market we saw of the whole trip. The previous market had been
destroyed in an earthquake so this one was constructed in the 1950's
with the intention that there would be a few fruit, vegetable, and
seafood vendors mixed with a larger number of butchers, and then a
majority of tiled stalls for restaurants. It was a bit of a
disappointment not to see the hub-bub of other South American markets.
After the market we walked to a bus line that took us 12km outside of
town to the equator. It is funny to think that the equator, an
invisible line that circumvents the entire Earth is represented in a
single point at a single site here in Ecuador. We don't know what
other equator sites are like elsewhere in the world, but here in Quito
it is a touristy complex of artisan shops and restaurants and a
3-storey stone monument with an orange line going through it. We had
our fun jumping back and forth between north and south. Next door to
the Middle of the World complex is another museum where scientists
determined the actual equator to be. It is 240 meters away from the
line in the previous site. Here there are science experiments to
demonstrate the various phenomena. We watched water spiral clockwise
in the southern hemisphere and then spiral counter clockwise 6 feet
away in the northern hemisphere. On the line itself the water didn't
spiral at all. We also balanced an egg longways on the top of a nail,
observed sun dials and our own shadows for changes. It was
instructive, but again pretty touristy and also ironic to think that
tourists from all over the world, like ourselves, travel here to the
equator, a place that exists in the same way around the entire world.
While standing on the line one can look up at the street of houses
built right down the equator. It would be just as cool to visit the
neighbors house and walk from their living room to the kitchen
crossing the equator.
After the equator sites we took the bus into Quito's New Town to the
Teleferiqo, an aerial lift that travels 2500 meters up the side of the
Volcano to a lookout point 4100 meters in altitude. The total trip in
the gondola took about 30 minutes. Our ears were definitely popping.
The view of course was incredible. There were airplanes flying below
us. Clouds were blowing through beneath our feet. The land was
essentially a spring like tundra providing ideal conditions for
mountain biking and running. We walked around a bit checking out the
panoramic views. Before heading down we split a humita, a steamed
ground corn snack cooked in a leaf. From the base of the teleferiqo
we took a taxi across town to Bellavista, a hillside neighborhood
overlooking the airport. We went to the Chapel of Man, a non-profit
museum and foundation, established by the Ecuadorian artist Oswaldo
Guayasamin, dedicated to raising awareness about human rights abuses.
Guaysamin is a world famous artist whose portraits are known for
deeply emotional expressions and backstories. The work is sobering
and uplifting at the same time with subjects as diverse as indigenous
people in South America to victims of the Vietnam War, Bay of Pigs and
images of domestic violence. Sounds heavy, but there were many works
celebrating tender and heartfelt moments. After our visit, we enjoyed
an ice cream with a view of the modern part of Quito and airplanes
landing amidst the skyscrapers.
We headed downtown to the Old City as the sky was darkening and a
storm was fast approaching. We made it to the Plaza Grande, the main
square, to see the Cathedral and Government Palace in time before the
rain. For dinner we went to a local restaurant and had a shrimp dish
and a chicken dish served like an open burrito. Then we returned to
the hostel for a drink and relaxation on the terrace. At 3:30am the
next morning we met our cab for transport to the airport. Our flight
flew from Quito to Houston and then onward to Denver. Overall it was
a sad feeling to be heading "home." 75 days of travel and it felt
like we were just getting going.
Marching with Penguins at the End of the World
The night at the airport wasn't very comfortable and the floor was cold, but we were too excited to care much since we were headed to the end of the world. We arrived in Ushuaia and out of the airplane window saw the beautiful snow capped mountains. The airport was a neat small building built like any other ski cabin, lots of wood and a steep pitched roof. After settling in our hostel we quickly figured out our options for the day, we really wanted a tour of penguins and luckily there was one leaving in the afternoon. So we booked the tour and then went out to find some lunch at an Irish pub. Jon had a burger and Ching Jen had a toast sandwich. Little did she know that it would really be more like ordering four regular sized sandwiches because the slices of bread were about 8" by 8 ". The town was small, only several blocks long, and filled with souvenir shops, and they weren't open that early on a Sunday so we just window shopped. We headed to the pier to check in for our tour and look out at all the shipping vessels that are probably making their way around the tip of South America.
For our tour, we had to take an hour and a half van ride out to a ranch, where they have a restaurant, but also a research center on penguins. We then took a bumpy ride on a zodiac out to Isla Martillo where the penguins have arrived to build their nests, lay their eggs and nurture their young. We stepped on to the island and the penguins immediately came towards us. They were adorable and too cute. They waddled, sticking out their chests and wings stuck out behind them, their head angled up in the air, and waddled/ran towards and past us. One came as close as three feet of us and we went crazy with the photos. There are two kinds of penguins on this island, one is just black and white, or the Magellanic penguin, and the other has an orange beak and feet, or the Gentoo penguins (they probably had a different name for them in Ushuaia). We took a walk around the island checking out their nesting areas. We learned that the Gentoo males, build a new nest each year out of pebbles, while the Magellanic males make one nest and maintain the same one each year by making a burrow under ground. The males wait for their female partner for life and they lay the egg, and wait about 45 days for the egg to hatch. Baby penguins stay with their parents for two months when they are then ready to be on their own. Male penguins must wait five years before they are of mating age and then they will build a nest and wait for a female to approach him and be his mate. We had a blast and could not get enough of the penguins and their waddling. We got back on the zodiac and the van and made a quick stop at a famous tree that is a hundred years old and has twisted branches. We was late when we got back, though the sunlight was still out, so we found dinner where Ching Jen had ravioli and Jon had beef milanese with cheese and tomato.
The next day we went to the Tierra del Fuego National Park. We caught a van to the park where it dropped us off at the beginning of a trail. It was a 3-hour trail along the coast, into the woodlands, and past several open fields and beaches. We had beautiful views of the snow capped mountains and the bay. It reminded us very much of our trip to Maine and our hike in Wolf's Neck Woods State Park. When we finished the trail, we took a break at the visitor center, where we had our ham and cheese sandwich with wild rabbits at our feet. We waited for the van to pick up up here and it took us back into town. We learned that it was a long weekend here in Ushuaia, with a federal holiday on Monday and a city holiday on Tuesday. The shops therefore, were only open for a few hours in the afternoon. We were just in time for the opening of many stores so we did a bit of shopping before heading back to the hostel. We spent the rest of the afternoon on the top floor of the hostel (the common room) with panoramic view of the bay. We sipped hot coffee and played Battleship and cards until the sun set at around 7:30pm. We went to a pub that was popular with the locals and Ching Jen had a steak with fries and Jon had 103 mussels. We did some packing when we got back to the hostel and we learned that there was a firework show at 11pm. We rushed upstairs to the common room and got front row seats to a great firework show in the bay. It was a special treat knowing that this was a pretty intimate firework show for the small town at the end of the world.
The next morning we walked around the neighborhood looking for a lake but never found it and had a quick lunch of Ching Jen's leftover steak (made into sandwiches) before heading to the airport. Ahead of us we have a long journey to Quito, Ecuador--24 hours of travel and four flights!
For our tour, we had to take an hour and a half van ride out to a ranch, where they have a restaurant, but also a research center on penguins. We then took a bumpy ride on a zodiac out to Isla Martillo where the penguins have arrived to build their nests, lay their eggs and nurture their young. We stepped on to the island and the penguins immediately came towards us. They were adorable and too cute. They waddled, sticking out their chests and wings stuck out behind them, their head angled up in the air, and waddled/ran towards and past us. One came as close as three feet of us and we went crazy with the photos. There are two kinds of penguins on this island, one is just black and white, or the Magellanic penguin, and the other has an orange beak and feet, or the Gentoo penguins (they probably had a different name for them in Ushuaia). We took a walk around the island checking out their nesting areas. We learned that the Gentoo males, build a new nest each year out of pebbles, while the Magellanic males make one nest and maintain the same one each year by making a burrow under ground. The males wait for their female partner for life and they lay the egg, and wait about 45 days for the egg to hatch. Baby penguins stay with their parents for two months when they are then ready to be on their own. Male penguins must wait five years before they are of mating age and then they will build a nest and wait for a female to approach him and be his mate. We had a blast and could not get enough of the penguins and their waddling. We got back on the zodiac and the van and made a quick stop at a famous tree that is a hundred years old and has twisted branches. We was late when we got back, though the sunlight was still out, so we found dinner where Ching Jen had ravioli and Jon had beef milanese with cheese and tomato.
The next day we went to the Tierra del Fuego National Park. We caught a van to the park where it dropped us off at the beginning of a trail. It was a 3-hour trail along the coast, into the woodlands, and past several open fields and beaches. We had beautiful views of the snow capped mountains and the bay. It reminded us very much of our trip to Maine and our hike in Wolf's Neck Woods State Park. When we finished the trail, we took a break at the visitor center, where we had our ham and cheese sandwich with wild rabbits at our feet. We waited for the van to pick up up here and it took us back into town. We learned that it was a long weekend here in Ushuaia, with a federal holiday on Monday and a city holiday on Tuesday. The shops therefore, were only open for a few hours in the afternoon. We were just in time for the opening of many stores so we did a bit of shopping before heading back to the hostel. We spent the rest of the afternoon on the top floor of the hostel (the common room) with panoramic view of the bay. We sipped hot coffee and played Battleship and cards until the sun set at around 7:30pm. We went to a pub that was popular with the locals and Ching Jen had a steak with fries and Jon had 103 mussels. We did some packing when we got back to the hostel and we learned that there was a firework show at 11pm. We rushed upstairs to the common room and got front row seats to a great firework show in the bay. It was a special treat knowing that this was a pretty intimate firework show for the small town at the end of the world.
The next morning we walked around the neighborhood looking for a lake but never found it and had a quick lunch of Ching Jen's leftover steak (made into sandwiches) before heading to the airport. Ahead of us we have a long journey to Quito, Ecuador--24 hours of travel and four flights!
Coney Island of Buenos Aires
After breakfast, we checked out, stored our bags, and headed out to Tigre, a small town an hour and a half from Buenos Aires. We read that many portenos (local Buenos Aires residents) love going to Tigre on the weekends, and this was indeed true. The train ride out to the town was packed with locals. And we quickly found out why. Tigre is where our ferry from Colonial del Sacramento dropped us off so it is a town with access to the river and the Delta de Parana. It is kayaking, rowing, boat house club town. And it is a serious hobby of those that come out here. All along the river there are docks with tracks leading to the boat clubs (that cross the road) so that moving the row boats from the boat house to the river and back is easily done. All day we saw people go up and down the river in kayaks, row boats and small speed boats.
If you're not part of the water culture, you're then in Tigre for the amusement park filled with roller coasters and up-turning rides, or you're there for the market. After walking along the river for a little bit, we followed the crowds away from the river, not quite sure where we were going. We figured there must be something to see since a lot of people were headed in the same direction. we arrived at the Mercado de Frutas, but no longer only sells fruits and vegetables. The mercado took over number warehouses along the docks and turned them into artisan markets. You can find practically anything for you home here, from rattan furniture, kitchen and bath ware, to decorative elements like dried and fake flowers and wall decorations. There are also a lot of other kinds of crafts and gourmet food items. We wandered a bit before we got hungry so we at our leftover cheese, bread, crackers and pickled vegetables before hitting the rest of the shops. It seemed like it would never end! We found a gift or two and then it was the afternoon so we took a break and had an ice cream snack before heading back to the river and walked along the other side. We watched the rowers and was still amazed at how strong the boating culture is. We sort of equated Tigre as the same idea as going to Coney Island for the day on the weekend.
We headed back to Buenos Aires and noted that passengers rely heavily on the people who sell goods. There are a number of people, usually men who walk up and down subway cars and train cars selling all sorts of goods to the passengers, anything from socks, candy, stickers to portable sewing machines and thumb drives. The seller makes a presentation to the passengers, describing the good he is selling and describes the good qualities of it, how it is used and why you need it. Then he passes it out to those who are interested in examining it closely and then makes a second round to collect money or collect the good if someone decides not to purchase it. We found this fascinating. This is actually a competitive business we decided. Each seller has to decide what to sell, how to sell it and based on the prices of each item, determined that it was pretty lucrative. The sellers all know each other and even are friends with the train operators. They seem to have a courtesy culture where if one seller is in one car peddling his goods, another seller won't try to sell his good at the same time.
When we got back to Buenos Aires we found a place for dinner in the Barrio Norte/Palermo neighborhood. Ching Jen had a delicious casserole of rice, mushrooms and cheese and Jon had six different kinds of empanadas. We went back to the hostel to gather our bags and headed to the airport. We have to spend the night at the airport since we have an early flight to Ushuaia.
If you're not part of the water culture, you're then in Tigre for the amusement park filled with roller coasters and up-turning rides, or you're there for the market. After walking along the river for a little bit, we followed the crowds away from the river, not quite sure where we were going. We figured there must be something to see since a lot of people were headed in the same direction. we arrived at the Mercado de Frutas, but no longer only sells fruits and vegetables. The mercado took over number warehouses along the docks and turned them into artisan markets. You can find practically anything for you home here, from rattan furniture, kitchen and bath ware, to decorative elements like dried and fake flowers and wall decorations. There are also a lot of other kinds of crafts and gourmet food items. We wandered a bit before we got hungry so we at our leftover cheese, bread, crackers and pickled vegetables before hitting the rest of the shops. It seemed like it would never end! We found a gift or two and then it was the afternoon so we took a break and had an ice cream snack before heading back to the river and walked along the other side. We watched the rowers and was still amazed at how strong the boating culture is. We sort of equated Tigre as the same idea as going to Coney Island for the day on the weekend.
We headed back to Buenos Aires and noted that passengers rely heavily on the people who sell goods. There are a number of people, usually men who walk up and down subway cars and train cars selling all sorts of goods to the passengers, anything from socks, candy, stickers to portable sewing machines and thumb drives. The seller makes a presentation to the passengers, describing the good he is selling and describes the good qualities of it, how it is used and why you need it. Then he passes it out to those who are interested in examining it closely and then makes a second round to collect money or collect the good if someone decides not to purchase it. We found this fascinating. This is actually a competitive business we decided. Each seller has to decide what to sell, how to sell it and based on the prices of each item, determined that it was pretty lucrative. The sellers all know each other and even are friends with the train operators. They seem to have a courtesy culture where if one seller is in one car peddling his goods, another seller won't try to sell his good at the same time.
When we got back to Buenos Aires we found a place for dinner in the Barrio Norte/Palermo neighborhood. Ching Jen had a delicious casserole of rice, mushrooms and cheese and Jon had six different kinds of empanadas. We went back to the hostel to gather our bags and headed to the airport. We have to spend the night at the airport since we have an early flight to Ushuaia.
Dante Fanatics and Symbolism
The next day we retraced some of our steps from the previous day: first, we went back to Plaza de Mayo and checked out Catedral Metropolitana. The Catedral contains the tomb of liberator Jose de San Martin and is flanked by two living guards--we were surprised to see actual persons guarding a tomb in a church-it must be a worthy expense! We checked out Casa Rosada again, but determined that it was indeed true that tours of the building were not available. We walked by a random lunch place that had a few select items and random cowboy paraphernalia. We went in and Jon ordered a choripan (chorizo sandwich) and Ching Jen had beef milanese. The owner was very friendly and asked us how we enjoyed our food. After we said we liked it, he elaborated and said that his restaurant is popular with policemen, somehow implying that his food must not be bad if policemen like it.
After lunch we walked down Avenida de Mayo to Palacio Barolo, an office building dedicated to Dante. We had to wait for the tour of the building so we walked to the other end of Avenida de Mayo where the Plaza & Palacio del Congreso resides. The Palacio is inspired by the U.S. Capitol building in Washington D.C., and it really looks similar! All of a sudden, a sweeping rain storm came right over our head and we ran for cover. We waited for the downpour to pass before it was time to head back to the Palacio Barolo. The architects and owner of the building were major Dante fanatics and built the building with lots of Dante symbolism. The lobby represents Hell-with dragon and snake lamp fixtures and 9 domes to represent the 9 hells. On the floor, rosettes in gold represent fire. The owner intended for Dante's ashes to be placed in the center of the building, but complications with the Italian government prevented this to occur. There are 7 old style elevators with iron cages and manual sliding doors. On the 4th floor, we looked down into the lobby from a circular balcony. Here, floors 1-14 represent Purgatory and there are only rounded corners everywhere we looked. The circular balcony represents pi or 3.14. This is derived from the fact that there are 22 floors (representing the 22 verses in Divine Comedy) and when divided by the number of elevators in the building (7) you get 3.14! We went up to the 14th floor and walked up to Heaven. We were in a round tower with small balconies that provided us with a panoramic view of the city. We climbed a few flights up to the lighthouse. It's glass enclosed and has a rotating light (the lamp had a mirror in it that reflected things upside down--it was very LOST feeling). We learned that there is a corresponding building and lighthouse tower in Montevideo which we missed somehow. On certain evenings, the two towers communicate with each other. After the tour we found a spot to have some tea before walking to the Obelisco at the end of Avenida 9 de Julio. It looks much like the Washington Monument.
In the evening we found a restaurant had had a live music show. First for dinner, Ching Jen had an empanada and a traditional stew dish (cazuela) if corn and mashed pumpkin, while Jon had a different stew with beef, fresh tomatoes, sun dried tomatoes and eggs cracked directly into the stew to cook. The band that played consisted of 1 singer, 4 guitarists and 1 drummer. They were a folk song band, having learned the folk songs from a master, some songs taking as long as 2 years to learn. It was great to have some traditional foods along with traditional live music making it a good night of culture and food.
The next day we didn't really have an agenda so we decided to go to Recoleta Cemetery again where Jon took more photos of mausoleum doors and sketched. We then had a picnic near Avenida Santa Fe of bread, cheese, olive oil and pickled vegetables before doing some shopping on Ave. Santa Fe. For dinner we went back to San Telmo and had chicken and mashed potatoes and a Spanish omelet.
After lunch we walked down Avenida de Mayo to Palacio Barolo, an office building dedicated to Dante. We had to wait for the tour of the building so we walked to the other end of Avenida de Mayo where the Plaza & Palacio del Congreso resides. The Palacio is inspired by the U.S. Capitol building in Washington D.C., and it really looks similar! All of a sudden, a sweeping rain storm came right over our head and we ran for cover. We waited for the downpour to pass before it was time to head back to the Palacio Barolo. The architects and owner of the building were major Dante fanatics and built the building with lots of Dante symbolism. The lobby represents Hell-with dragon and snake lamp fixtures and 9 domes to represent the 9 hells. On the floor, rosettes in gold represent fire. The owner intended for Dante's ashes to be placed in the center of the building, but complications with the Italian government prevented this to occur. There are 7 old style elevators with iron cages and manual sliding doors. On the 4th floor, we looked down into the lobby from a circular balcony. Here, floors 1-14 represent Purgatory and there are only rounded corners everywhere we looked. The circular balcony represents pi or 3.14. This is derived from the fact that there are 22 floors (representing the 22 verses in Divine Comedy) and when divided by the number of elevators in the building (7) you get 3.14! We went up to the 14th floor and walked up to Heaven. We were in a round tower with small balconies that provided us with a panoramic view of the city. We climbed a few flights up to the lighthouse. It's glass enclosed and has a rotating light (the lamp had a mirror in it that reflected things upside down--it was very LOST feeling). We learned that there is a corresponding building and lighthouse tower in Montevideo which we missed somehow. On certain evenings, the two towers communicate with each other. After the tour we found a spot to have some tea before walking to the Obelisco at the end of Avenida 9 de Julio. It looks much like the Washington Monument.
In the evening we found a restaurant had had a live music show. First for dinner, Ching Jen had an empanada and a traditional stew dish (cazuela) if corn and mashed pumpkin, while Jon had a different stew with beef, fresh tomatoes, sun dried tomatoes and eggs cracked directly into the stew to cook. The band that played consisted of 1 singer, 4 guitarists and 1 drummer. They were a folk song band, having learned the folk songs from a master, some songs taking as long as 2 years to learn. It was great to have some traditional foods along with traditional live music making it a good night of culture and food.
The next day we didn't really have an agenda so we decided to go to Recoleta Cemetery again where Jon took more photos of mausoleum doors and sketched. We then had a picnic near Avenida Santa Fe of bread, cheese, olive oil and pickled vegetables before doing some shopping on Ave. Santa Fe. For dinner we went back to San Telmo and had chicken and mashed potatoes and a Spanish omelet.
Saturday, October 16, 2010
Empanadas, Empanadas
This morning we walked to the old port area, Puerto Madero, which is now completely renovated turning industrial warehouses into loft spaces and a place to go for shopping and eating. The Catholic University even transformed a number of the warehouses for their facilities. Here also lies a bridge by Santiago Calatrava, a Spanish architect. It's a sleek, thin, white bridge with one pylon keeping the bridge suspended. We crossed over the bridge and past the other side of shops and restaurants filled with people milling about, a very evident sign that the port revitalization is a success. Just past the port is the Ecological Reserve, Costanera Sur, which is right next to the river. We took a short walk into the reserve and found a place to sit under the shade. We had brought our own food to picnic: prosciutto and cheese sandwich and 1/2 a roast chicken. We noticed that there were a lot of people who seemed to be on their lunch break, running, but in their work clothes. We wondered how long their lunch break is and if they shower before going back to work. We hung out playing cards before walking the rest of the pathway around the reserve, past marshes, ponds and a beach.
Upon exiting the park, we realized how close we were to San Telmo, the neighborhood of the street fair we went to on Sunday. It was nice to be back in the neighborhood when it wasn't crowded with tourists. We stopped at an ice cream parlour, Freddo, for a quick snack before headed back up to Florida street to buy a few items from those street vendors. We bought groceries on the way home and made another round of pesto pasta with canned veggies and hotdogs.
The next day we first went to MALBA, Museo de Arte Latinoamericano de Buenos Aires, the leading contemporary art museum in South America. There was a fun video installation of a fly buzzing and the attempt to swat it. After the museum, we went back to the hostel to eat our leftovers. We came back to find that all the long term students who are staying at our hostel also come back to the hostel to eat their lunch. Our leftovers weren't enough for a full meal so we decided to go on an empanada tour. We had found a New York Times article, written in 2000 about empanadas in Buenos Aires. Conveniently, two of the places mentioned were located in Palermo. First we wandered in Palermo Viejo, popular with young people and has the feel of the Lower East Side in New York. We found the empanada location, but it had been replaced by a cafe. So we went in search of the other location, but when we reached it, the restaurant space was up for sale. So we ended up at a bar and ordered drinks and carne empanadas, which were very delicious. Something about the pastry makes it so good, oh, that would be butter! We then wandered to Palermo SoHo, also a hip place for food and nightlife. We found another bar that served empanadas and ordered another round. It had been drizzling all throughout the day so we decided we would see a movie at a cinema. Jon agreed to watch Eat, Love, Pray featuring Julia Roberts and this was very exciting for Ching Jen. We had a snack before going to the theater. In Buenos Aires, they give you seat assignments and ushers escort you to your seat. It was an enjoyable movie with many gorgeous shots in Italy, India and Indonesia.
Upon exiting the park, we realized how close we were to San Telmo, the neighborhood of the street fair we went to on Sunday. It was nice to be back in the neighborhood when it wasn't crowded with tourists. We stopped at an ice cream parlour, Freddo, for a quick snack before headed back up to Florida street to buy a few items from those street vendors. We bought groceries on the way home and made another round of pesto pasta with canned veggies and hotdogs.
The next day we first went to MALBA, Museo de Arte Latinoamericano de Buenos Aires, the leading contemporary art museum in South America. There was a fun video installation of a fly buzzing and the attempt to swat it. After the museum, we went back to the hostel to eat our leftovers. We came back to find that all the long term students who are staying at our hostel also come back to the hostel to eat their lunch. Our leftovers weren't enough for a full meal so we decided to go on an empanada tour. We had found a New York Times article, written in 2000 about empanadas in Buenos Aires. Conveniently, two of the places mentioned were located in Palermo. First we wandered in Palermo Viejo, popular with young people and has the feel of the Lower East Side in New York. We found the empanada location, but it had been replaced by a cafe. So we went in search of the other location, but when we reached it, the restaurant space was up for sale. So we ended up at a bar and ordered drinks and carne empanadas, which were very delicious. Something about the pastry makes it so good, oh, that would be butter! We then wandered to Palermo SoHo, also a hip place for food and nightlife. We found another bar that served empanadas and ordered another round. It had been drizzling all throughout the day so we decided we would see a movie at a cinema. Jon agreed to watch Eat, Love, Pray featuring Julia Roberts and this was very exciting for Ching Jen. We had a snack before going to the theater. In Buenos Aires, they give you seat assignments and ushers escort you to your seat. It was an enjoyable movie with many gorgeous shots in Italy, India and Indonesia.
Tangoed in Buenos Aires
Our first day in Buenos Aires was a Sunday, which is perfect timing for the giant antique fair and street Tango in San Telmo, an old colonial neighborhood. We arrived in San Telmo at the top of Defensa a cobbled street that is closed to car traffic for vendors and pedestrians. The vendors are a mix of hippie artisans, craftspeople, and antique dealers. Many many of the shops in San Telmo are antique shops and as we learned throughout our stay in BsAs, the portenos love to shop and collect. It was fun and fascinating to wander the booths and stores - stamps, gaucho gear, post cards, lamps, silverware, furniture, knives, glass bottles, sinks, jewelry, clothing, typewriters, old appliances, costumes, music, books and more. Disappointingly either it was an off Sunday or a case of overhyped tourism because we didn't find much street tango. There were a couple of really great musical acts, but inky one group of dancers. Like a lot of things in BsAs increasing tourism is institutionalizing some of what was natural culture and also raising prices. In the last year and a half the prices in Argentina have increased by about 75% in most cases. Still it is pretty inexpensive.
If this sounds like a downer it wasn't the neighborhood was packed with locals and tourists enjoying the fair and the atmosphere. We wandered for a couple hours before finding a seat around 3pm at an infamous restaurant and have our first steak in Argentina.
After lynch we decided we still had time to head down to La Boca, the old port and heart of Tango and culture. We walked down past the stadium for Boca Juniors one of the most popular futbol clubs. People were in the streets drinking and gathering for a game. We arrived at La Boca and El Caminito just as the sunwas getting low in the sky. The buildings in La Boca are a mosaic of corrugated facades painted in a rainbow of colored patches. Traditionally, the buildings were painting with the leftover paint from ships, hence the colors. El Caminito is a short diagonal street famous for impromptu tango and artists. It was beautiful in the sunlight, but desert of any tango performers. We did look in on some dancing and music at a few restaurants. They were a couple different styles - a more relaxed comical folk style, the more serious, dark and sensual dance, and a kind of flamenco fusion. We walked around snapping a bunch of photos and checking out the tourist shops. At the old port we did a bit of people watching and then went into a contemporary art museum for a rooftop view of the neighborhood.
We left the area just before the game started, which is a good thing as things can become pretty rowdy. Back up in San Telmo we went grocery shopping and returned to our hostel in Palermo to cook dinner.
The following day we left the hostel and walked through our neighborhood of Palermo Alto. It's a pretty chic area of doorman buildings and overpriced pizza places. We walked to an area connected by a number of parks. In one was a huge steel flower about three stories tall. It blooms mechanically each day. Across from that was a huge furniture and interiors design store that we treated a but like a museum. Outside we had arrived in Recoleta, a wealthy area of more apartment buildings, designer shopping, and outdoor cafes. The heart of Recoleta is the cemetery. We knew we would take a long while touring the cemetery so we went to find some empanadas for our hungry stomachs. We went to El Sanguino a famous restaurant of empanadas and northern argentinean food. The empanadas- corn and spicy meat were super delicious.
Back at the cemetery we first went into the church, a beautiful spanish colonial structure. Then we entered and all the buildup was totally worth it. The cemetery dates from the mid-19th century. It is the final resting place for many of BsAs's well connected families- immigrants from Italy, Spain, England, France, and Portugal. The entire site is like a city with the mausoleums lined up side by side down "streets". There are instances in the plan where the streets intersect to form plazas. The cemetery is landscaped with wispy trees like from a Van Gogh painting. All together its a completely amazing architectural site. The mausoleums are each unique- mini gothic, neo classical, neo Egyptian, baroque, and even very modern styles. The tombs are multiple stories above and below ground and through the doors- many of them glass it is possible to see stacks of coffins and rows of urns. We spent a long time walking up and down nearly every row and photographing (maybe a couple hundred. Hehe...) We did play ultimate tourist and check out the tomb of Eva Peron, but hers is just one of a number of mausoleums of significant Argentines and world figures.
Following the cemetery we returned to El Sanguino for more food, it was so good. This time we had tamales and a lentil casserole with sausage. Recharged and rested we started walking down Avenida Alvear, a kind of mashup between upper 5th avenue fancy residences and Madision Avenue shopping. Heading east we entered the neighborhood of Retiro, with even more lavish residences, flowered balconies, embassies in former palaces and mansions, and 5 star hotels. At the far end or Retiro is Plaza San Martin, a conglomerate of three squares. Around the plaza were two competing former palaces. When we say palace we mean extremely large elegant mansions for very wealthy non-royal families. Also on the plaza is a replica guiding if Big Ben, go figure. At this point we decided to walk down Florida, a bustling pedestrian mall to Cafe Tortoni for dinner and a tango show. The tango show was okay. It was essentially a sampling of different styles, but the dancing was maybe two minutes at the most each time. This is one of those instances where the cafe was known to have authentic inexpensive shows cast with dancers from the next-door school, but once the word got out it has become a scripted commercial dinner show.
If this sounds like a downer it wasn't the neighborhood was packed with locals and tourists enjoying the fair and the atmosphere. We wandered for a couple hours before finding a seat around 3pm at an infamous restaurant and have our first steak in Argentina.
After lynch we decided we still had time to head down to La Boca, the old port and heart of Tango and culture. We walked down past the stadium for Boca Juniors one of the most popular futbol clubs. People were in the streets drinking and gathering for a game. We arrived at La Boca and El Caminito just as the sunwas getting low in the sky. The buildings in La Boca are a mosaic of corrugated facades painted in a rainbow of colored patches. Traditionally, the buildings were painting with the leftover paint from ships, hence the colors. El Caminito is a short diagonal street famous for impromptu tango and artists. It was beautiful in the sunlight, but desert of any tango performers. We did look in on some dancing and music at a few restaurants. They were a couple different styles - a more relaxed comical folk style, the more serious, dark and sensual dance, and a kind of flamenco fusion. We walked around snapping a bunch of photos and checking out the tourist shops. At the old port we did a bit of people watching and then went into a contemporary art museum for a rooftop view of the neighborhood.
We left the area just before the game started, which is a good thing as things can become pretty rowdy. Back up in San Telmo we went grocery shopping and returned to our hostel in Palermo to cook dinner.
The following day we left the hostel and walked through our neighborhood of Palermo Alto. It's a pretty chic area of doorman buildings and overpriced pizza places. We walked to an area connected by a number of parks. In one was a huge steel flower about three stories tall. It blooms mechanically each day. Across from that was a huge furniture and interiors design store that we treated a but like a museum. Outside we had arrived in Recoleta, a wealthy area of more apartment buildings, designer shopping, and outdoor cafes. The heart of Recoleta is the cemetery. We knew we would take a long while touring the cemetery so we went to find some empanadas for our hungry stomachs. We went to El Sanguino a famous restaurant of empanadas and northern argentinean food. The empanadas- corn and spicy meat were super delicious.
Back at the cemetery we first went into the church, a beautiful spanish colonial structure. Then we entered and all the buildup was totally worth it. The cemetery dates from the mid-19th century. It is the final resting place for many of BsAs's well connected families- immigrants from Italy, Spain, England, France, and Portugal. The entire site is like a city with the mausoleums lined up side by side down "streets". There are instances in the plan where the streets intersect to form plazas. The cemetery is landscaped with wispy trees like from a Van Gogh painting. All together its a completely amazing architectural site. The mausoleums are each unique- mini gothic, neo classical, neo Egyptian, baroque, and even very modern styles. The tombs are multiple stories above and below ground and through the doors- many of them glass it is possible to see stacks of coffins and rows of urns. We spent a long time walking up and down nearly every row and photographing (maybe a couple hundred. Hehe...) We did play ultimate tourist and check out the tomb of Eva Peron, but hers is just one of a number of mausoleums of significant Argentines and world figures.
Following the cemetery we returned to El Sanguino for more food, it was so good. This time we had tamales and a lentil casserole with sausage. Recharged and rested we started walking down Avenida Alvear, a kind of mashup between upper 5th avenue fancy residences and Madision Avenue shopping. Heading east we entered the neighborhood of Retiro, with even more lavish residences, flowered balconies, embassies in former palaces and mansions, and 5 star hotels. At the far end or Retiro is Plaza San Martin, a conglomerate of three squares. Around the plaza were two competing former palaces. When we say palace we mean extremely large elegant mansions for very wealthy non-royal families. Also on the plaza is a replica guiding if Big Ben, go figure. At this point we decided to walk down Florida, a bustling pedestrian mall to Cafe Tortoni for dinner and a tango show. The tango show was okay. It was essentially a sampling of different styles, but the dancing was maybe two minutes at the most each time. This is one of those instances where the cafe was known to have authentic inexpensive shows cast with dancers from the next-door school, but once the word got out it has become a scripted commercial dinner show.
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