TravelingMel

March 24, 2008

Yesterday we pretty much got packed up, returned the rental car, flew to Buenos Aires, took a cab to the hotel and had food. That was about it. Henry met us at the airport in BA, which was a nice surprise.

A small side note: There is a super annoying song in the Evita movie that Madonna sings (it's not the one you are thinking of). I'll sing it to you now.
"I want to be in BA, Buenos Aires, big apple!"
What does the big apple have to do with Argentina? Why does this song have to come up several times during the movie? When will it vacate my brain?

Today was all about walking around BA (after a leisurely morning). We took a cab to the Japanese Gardens and enjoyed walking across bridges and looking at flowers. We admired statues and tried to keep Anders from swimming with the Koi.

Buenos Aires as viewed through the Jardin Japones

Japanese tourists

Pretty pink flowers

Samurai statue

Koi swarming and lurking in murky waters.

Henry and Anders hanging out on a bridge

Still on the bridge

Pagoda statue

Temple statue

Detail on the temple statue

Bird of paradise

Anders in awe of the gardens

Bang a gong

Anders smiles at the cascade

The cascade

From there we walked through the city a bit, past sprawling parks and the zoo (where we poached a peak of a huge condor). I know not all of BA is like this, but the part of the city we visited was beautiful with lots of greenspace and people recreating.

There is so much interesting and beautiful architecture in Buenos Aires, but this is the picture I took.

Sunbathers in a city park

Gandhi is but one of the busts of Nobel prize winners scattered throughout the park.

Angels in the rotunda

To get across a super busy street we took the underpass. It was Henry's job to get Anders down the marble staircase without waking him. It was my job to give instructions and take pictures.

Still walking down the stairs

Posters in the underpass

The botanical garden was what I really wanted to see, so we headed that way. The gardens are free and huge. There are plants and labels and statues everywhere--it was heaven. I coveted the greenhouses. I drooled over flowers.

Geranium at the botanical gardens

Where's my arm?

There are lots of statues in the gardens

See what I mean?

Grapevine lady

This is the greenhouse I want in our yard. Henry pointed out that it is bigger than our lot.

Anders plays with his snack pack on the pathway.

How do you get the food out of here?

Want some dried blueberries?

Statue garden

Scary boy

After our visit to the gardens we grabbed lunch and then headed back to the hotel. Anders took a bath and napped, I napped and showered. Then it was time to repack and head to the airport for Anders' and my 8:30 pm flight back home. Thank goodness that Argentina loves babies. We were moved to the front of every line (and there is a lot to ggo through to get out of that country). We probably would have missed our flight otherwise. Like Henry said, at least Anders' cuteness is starting to pay.

That's the trip. We had a great time. We had stress. We got to spend a little time with Henry and can't wait for him to get home on April 5th.

March 21, 2008

Today was much more pleasant than yesterday's cryfest. I only took one picture, so use your imagination. It will be a nice break because there are a lot of pictures coming up in the next post.

We started the day with a yummy buffet breakfast at our hotel--Hotel Huemel. Then to the lake to play with rocks. Anders picked up a rock, put it in his mouth to taste and threw it on the ground. Then repeated this procedure about twenty times. He never found a rock worth eating. However, there were many good candidates for throwing in the water.

After the rockstravaganza we walked up to the town center where there was an art fair/sale and a few folks carving sculptures with chainsaws. Santa Samana is a big deal here and Bariloche is a popular vacation spot for folks from Buenos Aires, so the city was much more crowded than last time we were here. Much more festive, too.

I enjoyed hot chocolate and shared a snack with Anders at a café (the hot cocoa comes with two packets of sugar. This has to be the most sugared up place I've ever been. People put it in their orange juice. It's the second ingredient in baby cereal...). Then we headed to the bus station.

Henry was waiting at the bus station (I actually don't know how he got there, but somehow he got from the fishing lodge to the station, but had about 2 hours before his bus left for Buenos Aires--no plane tickets available on Easter). We all headed to the hotel for a couple hours so Henry could shower, eat and hang out with us a bit before his 17-hour ride.

After Henry left, Anders and I messed around a little, watched a sitcom, and then went to the chocolate museum.

I'd been looking forward to the chocolate museum since the first time I read about it back in Montana. What the Foder's guidebook did not say was that you have to take a tour--no free roaming in the chocolate museum. And there is only one English tour a day--it left 45 minutes before we got there. The man at the desk thought the Spanish tour might be a little "advanced" for me. He did give Anders and Easter headband.

Anders in his Easter headband.

That was about it for the day. I packed up that evening and got ready for our flight to Buenos Aires the next day.

March 20, 2008

This morning we packed up our stuff and headed out of Esquel and back to Bariloche. But, we didn't go the short way, oh no, we took the very long--and scenic--route. Anders was not happy.

We started out by heading south to Trevelin and then into Parque Nacional Los Alerces. I was looking for a specific trailhead, which we did not find, so we ended up driving, driving, driving on a bumpy dirt road.

You see these shrines around a lot. Henry was told they mark the place where travelers died of thirst (hence all the water bottles), but some of them are a stone's throw from a lake or river. My theory is that the tradition of the shrine started with dead thirsty travelers, but now anyone who dies on the road gets one. Like the white crosses here in the US.

We stopped at one little waterfall that was about a five minute walk from the road, had a snack and watched a little bird hop around.

Cascada Tio Mindo

fushia

Looking back at Cascada Tio Mindo as we head down the trail.

Small bird

Mountain view

Another mountain view

The same mountain, but closer.

Rio Arrayanas

Then back in the car until we got to the north end of the park and pulled over by a lake for lunch.

Lago Rivadavia

Lunching at the lake

Then there was some more driving. We left the park and headed towards to Cholila, but veered left just as we entered the very small town. At this point you really feel like you are out in the middle of nowhere. Clearly, it can't be that distant if a Montanan in a rental car is cruising through, but it feels far away from everything.

I hoped to check out the house that Butch Cassidy, the Sundance Kid and Etta James lived in during their time in Argentina, but the gate was locked and no one was around. I caught a glimpse of it from the road, though.

Entrance to the house that Butch Cassidy, the Sundance Kid and Etta James lived in.

Their house

Looking back at Los Alerces National Park from the hill above the Cassidy/Sundance/James house

The Cholila Valley

The night before I watched the Paul Newman/Robert Redford flick about Butch and the Hole in the Wall Gang and it was hilarious. I'd never seen it before. Unfortunately, it did not cover the time they were in Argentina, but it was still a great movie. And now I know why everyone is so crazy about Robert Redford. He was a hottie, holy cow. Seriously, that is one good looking man.

Not too far past the house we met with the military police at a checkpoint at the Chubut-Rio Negro border. They checked my license, my car paperwork, walked around the car a couple times writing stuff down and then sent me on my way.

Then we hit pavement! What a relief after all those hours on a dirt road. The rest of the day was just driving and crying, so I won't bore you. We got to Bariloche and our hotel (no cabaña since it was Santa Semana--Easter week--and everything was booked) and Anders ran around like a one year old that had been strapped in a car seat all day.

March 19, 2008

This morning we set out for the Museo Lituano Olgbrum, the Lithuanian Museum. Apparently a lot of Lithuanians settled in this area of Argentina (there are about 8 Lithuanian families here, now). Apparently, Lithuanains open their museums at 5pm, so we dinked around Esquel for a while then went back to the cabaña for lunch and a nap. (Apparently, Anders does not eat peas today, although he gobbled them up last night.)

After naptime we headed into town for pizza and a Fanta. Whenever I’m out of the country I like to drink Fanta; I don’t know why—I never drink it at home. Maybe it’s the glass bottles. Then back to the Museo Olgbrum.

One interesting thing I discovered is that the clock in the rental car is an hour late. So, we showed up 45 minutes before they opened. It took me 2.5 weeks to discover this, so you can see we haven’t been on much of a time schedule. Or maybe the time changed, I think we sprang forward in the U.S.

There are lots of fun things to do outside the Museo, however. There are beautiful walkways lined with lavender (Big H gave me some lavender the summer before last and I was so excited, but I think I planted it too late or something, because it didn’t take. I’m hoping to try again this year, especially after this visit). As we walked down the paths the aroma of lavender wafted into our noses—it was wonderful.

Anders walks through lavender

Anders enjoyed the swings, slide and a little playhouse. He would stand inside the house, poke his head out at me and laugh uproariously. He thought it was hysterical when I peaked in the window at him. He couldn’t get over how funny it was when I stuck my arm in and tried to tickle him. I almost couldn’t get him out.

Swinging his cares away on the handmade swing set

The gardens--there is a lot going on there...

One of Anders' favorite play things--the sprinkler

Bird on a stick

Yucking it up in the play house

You can't keep a man from his castle.

Eventually, the museum opened. It’s really four small rooms thematically displayed with Lithuanian items. The woman who owns the place (with her husband) gave us a personal tour—in Castillano. (Castillano is basically Spanish with a “jzsh” sound in lieu of the typical Spanish “y” and “ll”. My Spanish is pretty poor anyway, but throw in that lispy noise and I can barely understand anything.)

She spent an hour with Anders and me explaining the different items and the lifestyle of the Lithuanian people here and in Lithuania. Anders liked when she played the accordion. I was actually fairly impressed by how much I got out of it—I guess it helps when there are so many props.

The first room had a printing press, which was used to print the Lithuanian newspaper when the immigrants first arrived. There was also a machine that had a label very similar to “guillotine”, but I think something was lost in translation. It did look a bit like a guillotine, but I think it was used to cut reams of paper.

The next room had clothes, a record player, the aforementioned accordion, and things you would find around the home. The third room was filled with pictures of the couple’s trip to Lithuania, the Lithuanian President at the museum presenting the couple with a metal, money, maps and posters of Lithuanian today. The fourth room had a bunch of amber and amber jewelry (I was glad I already understood the process of how amber is created, because I missed most of her explanation) and we got to look a insects frozen in time in the amber with a magnifying glass. Plus, there were shells, rocks and geodes, ostensibly all from Lithuania.

Next we walked next door to their small chacra orgánica (organic farm) and admired the rabbits, ducks, turkeys, pheasants, chickens, compost pile, garden and greenhouse. And of course, it all ended with a trip to the gift shop.

The original museum building

Cabañas for rent at on the museo grounds

March 18, 2008

I feel a million times better today. Yesterday was rough, but I’m back in the game now.

Today we drove up a steep dirt road towards La Hoya—a little ski area 13km outside of Esquel. From there you can take a chairlift up 2,624 feet. I wasn’t convinced we’d take the lift up, we’ve already done that a couple other times in Bariloche, but I thought I’d see if we could get any good views on the drive up.

Also, and maybe the main reason for heading this direction, is that I read there are guanacos in the area and I really want to see some of these, fuzzy llama-like animals.

The views on the drive up were outstanding. You’ll have to take my word for it since Anders was crashed out the whole time. Well, he had been awake for 2 hours already. Actually you don’t have to take anyone’s word for it since I took pictures.

Driving up the gravel road and gazing at the mountains

The sun lights the top of a mountain while thistles sway in the foreground

Yet, another scenic view

As we got higher the trees phases out and the mountains got rockier

Anders anticipates the views at the end of the road.

High peaks ring the other side of the valley. Esquel sits in the valley.

I pulled over at a few miradores (viewpoints) to gaze at mountain ranges both close and far. And one spot I looked at the hillside above the car and there was a guanaco looking back at me. I was thrilled. It was still kind of far away and all by itself, but I was still psyched to see it. Now, to find out where the rheas live…

A guanaco eyes us from the hillside...

...then hightails it around the bend...

...and it picks up the pace.

After watching the guanaco until it walked out of view, I drove the rest of the way to the ski area. It was closed, so that pretty much solved my dilemma of deciding whether or not to ride to the top.

La Hoya ski area

A small arroyo near the ski area.

Another look at the arroyo

Anders appreciates the arroyo

I’d noticed a few trailheads on the way up and figured we’d check out the one at the Curva de Guanancos. It seemed like and opportune place to look for more guanacos.

A promising sign in our search for guanacos

We didn’t see any more mammals, although there was a woodpecker (Magellanic?), a few chucaos and some other small birds. Plus a bunch of flies—but no wasps, which was a blessing considering how many of those stinging insects there seems to be in Patagonia.

The trail started out through some two-needled pines (Henry told me—according to Mike—that the government pays farmers to plant non-native pines on the their land. I don’t know if this was the same pine or not) and paralleled a little arroyo. Craggy outcrops plunged out of the hillsides and buff grasses, thorny olive-colored plants and other shrubs blanked the landscape.

thistle at the trailhead

Pollinating the thistle

Rocky view from the trail

More rocky views from the trail

Two-needled pine

Where the trail crossed the creek we got off the trail and walked a little downstream to find a good lunch spot. Anders threw rocks in the water and I checked out all the water-loving plants hiding among the boulders.

An interesting plant

Anders takes a snack break

The creek tumbles down some rocks and under a log

Moss covers a rock

Water droplets on moss

monkey flower

Playing with rocks by the arroyo

A cute little white flower

Red-orange lichen on a rock

A hardy plant grows from rock

Lichen and an insect nest

Water spills over a rock and black lichen

Red flower

After our lunch break and some time throwing rocks in the creek we headed back down the trail to the car.

Scenery on the hike out

On the trail through a scree slope

Orange flower

View of Esquel on the drive out.

We didn’t see any more guanacos, but it was a lovely day anyway. Back in Esquel I stopped to buy a ticket for the Old Patagonian Express—a train that runs from Esquel to El Maíten to the north. It’s pretty touristy, I think, but you can take a day trip on these vintage railroad cars. Apparently, however, it doesn’t run on Wednesdays even though Foder’s says it does. So, I have to decide it I want to stay another day to do it.