Andes Tour

Day Spent Indoors

Not feeling so fine and dandy today, but am on the mend and will have more adventures to share tomorrow...

Dirt Bike Hero

Yesterday morning, our hostal owner greeted us with a warm "buenos dias" followed immediately with "Hace Friooooo" complete with pantomimed shivery arms.

Great.

After our equestrian adventure the previous afternoon, we took out some bikes with the intent to ride up to a lookout point above the city. This morning, a town seemingly too dry for clouds was an ominous gray, and even with three layers of clothing, the wind was bitingly cold.

Our gloved hands were bright red by the time we hit the dirt road that led ever upward, and the wind was howling over the hillside like something out of a horror flick. We pedalled on, past gate doors that swung spookily in the moaning gales, past cows that... well, there was really nothing menacing about the cows. The creepiness of the ride was enjoyably distracting from other discomforts (tip: dont ride horses, then bike. Rest That Area), and we certainly had the trail to ourselves. This was also my first real experience mountain biking, and I rode the brake hard, mindful that a face-full of rocky earth or a broken arm would require some pretty creative rewrites for Off Season.

At the end, or the middle to be exact, the lookout point was amazing and worth it. It was extra windy up top, as was to be expected, this hilltop is used as the launch point for paragliders. The ramp that they use is horrifying to behold, a few steps downward out into nothing. It ain't pretty.

The way back down the mountain was better (gravity and food fantasties easing the way) and we were glad we didn't wimp out under the chilly warning of that spooky wind. It was still howling when we rode past again, but almost all of the menace was lost.

The Beasts

Nestled in the windblown, sun-baked high sierras, La Cumbre is by far the driest place I have ever been. Everyone here has a dry cough, it's hella dusty, and I often speak in what could be described as "sexy Becky voice" (if you've heard it, you know it). But despite the aridness, it's a cute, friendly town.

And get this, last night, we went to a curry joint, and the food was spiced to the point of almost hot and it was tasty. Amazing! The place quickly filled up with cheek-kissing locals. Other major Argentinian cities should take the hint. Spice is Good! Do not fear spice.

But anyhoo, hung out with some real beasts today, as you can see from the photos. My horse and Young's horse were not on good terms, and I swear my horse is deliberately trying to look like a burro in this photo just to make me look bad. There was also a very curious dog that accompanied us the entire three hour journey. There were also some cows.

Hydration calls.

High Sierras

Left Cordoba for the high sierra town of La Cumbre earlier today via a bus so hot and stuffy that, had I the ability to do so, I would have removed my skin, upholstery be damned. Shaking a fever isn't the easiest thing in the dry dusty streets of Cordoba, but I have hope in fresh air.


But to recap, Cordoba was a pretty cool place. On the plus side, they've got loads of colonial architecture, some great museums (we visited both the Fine and Modern art museums) and a cathedral laced with striking statuary. On the negative, there's pizza to eat, and almost only pizza (it's a college town), a pedestrian mall that stretches endlessly lined with ice cream shops, clothing stores, and shoe vendors that repeat indistinguishably for blocks, so that after a few minutes of walking you begin to feel like Wile E. Coyote stuck before a loop background of things you don't want to buy.

Cordoba was also a focal point for Argentina's darkest time. The Memory Museum, located right around the corner from a colonial church, is housed in offices once used as detainment and torture cells for the countless (around 30 thousand) "desaparecidos" who lost their lives because they disagreed with the dictatorship that took power in 1976 and held power until 1983 (only forgoing rule because they lost a war and basically abdicated power). It was striking that something like that could have happened in the near past (though it continues to happen right now in Myanmar) in such a seemingly modern place, and also very sad to see the images and possessions of the lost. Many were students; young, idealistic and certainly not expecting to die for thinking differently.

Probably the coolest thing we did in Cordoba was catch a ballet. Our tickets were the price of an empanada, and though we were totally up in the nosebleed ring (euphemistically named "paradise"), it was heavenly to see the inside of El Teatro del Libertador San Martin, a gorgeous old theater with glamorous red velvet box seating. The ballets were danced with spirit, if not precision, accompanied by a great sounding orchestra. The clip is from Manuel de Fallas "Amor Bruja" and also has some singing. Check it!

Staying Alive

After a brush with a sudden onset fever in which I turned as hot as the surface of the sun, I thought I might be riding in this kickass hearse pretty soon. Bof! I am very slow to die.

Saw many things today despite my diminished state, and will report on all, including the great $2.50 ballet we caught tonight. Also, much fabulous progress has been made on the Off Season Kickstarter page. With any luck we will be launching shortly...

In which I fail to buy apples.

I offer today a few image from the wine and bikes tour. The first, taken on the way to the first winery, or "bodega" as they are called here. Bodegas to me previously meant the place to run in to pick up beer, or milk, or emergency dish soap. But here, it just means wine.

Other than syrah, malbec, and cab. sauv., it was possible to stop at olive oil production houses. Here, you can see Young hitting the bottle pretty hard. We learned two interesting facts here: the first, that most of the oil in olive oil comes out of the pit. Second, that you can tell that your extra virgin olive oil is the real stuff by putting it in the fridge. If it's legit, it will solidify into yellow goop, then melt clearish again when room temp. Facts are Great!

So, quick and humbling anecdote about the complication of foreign countries. Yesterday, I wanted to purchase two apples. My intentions clear and my heart pure, I went to the check out, and waited (other purchase included large CROPPERS p-nuts, the Best, and Young had selected something called "Pritty Lemon"
to drink). I present my apples, and the cashier explained that I would have to bag and weigh them back at the produce section. Okay. With seven people lined up for the single lane, I dashed to the weighing machine, and was stymied. My button choices were a keypad with numbers, and "F" a "G" probably a few other letters and some colored buttons. What?! I mashed the keypad and the paper roll spit out a few blank inches. Defeated, I replaced the apples and returned to the front. As the other customers gave me the evil eye, the cashier nicely offered to help me, but it was too late, for the apples and for my self-confidence. Sniff.

Anyway, I am not thwarted. Someday soon, apples will be mine.

A furious burst of activity.

Hola chicos,

I write this from one helluva of disinfectant-laced hostel in the city of Cordoba. What's it like? Dunno. We just rolled in on another overnight bus and one half of the team is crashed out. Understandably so, as the past two days have been insane.

So two days ago, we checked out the Andes. The mountainside was very desertous, and many of the cliff sides appeared "painted" because of the different rocks a-happening therein. As we climbed higher in the mini-van, things got a little snowy, which was cool enough, until our guide quite surprisingly announced that we would now be taking the 2 hour hike up to see the "Highest Mountain in the Americas" (note: may Not in fact be highest, "facts" get a little whimsical down here), which is also the 36th Highest peak in the world. Take THAT peak 37!!

Generally, I'm a fan of hiking, not having been forewarned about any hiking, we were rocking our comfy but practically treadless sneakers, not the best for negotiating icy slush. But anyhoo, no toes were lost, and we had some fun trying to to face-plant.

Yesterday, we finally got a chance to grab some bikes and explore the vineyards that surround Mendoza. The biking wasn't exactly idyllic, (think big trucks whoosing past, sending furious dirt tornadoes whirling into eyes/nose/mouth) but in the moments when the streets were calm, the elm-lined streets were lovely. So, in fact, was the wine. Will post pics from that day's adventure and dish on Cordoba later. But right now, I've got some bus-stolen sleep to recover.

Andes Still Not Made of Candies

It's been a long and strange day here in Mendoza. We took a tour to see this side of the Andes (more video and pics to follow) and it was gorgeous and amazing, but I'm beginning to think that I've got a better handle on this whole magical realist phenomenon after being here for a few weeks.

More on that later. Tomorrow a.m., we have a self-guided, (i.e., potentially disastrous) bike tour of the local vineyards. Later, another overnight bus trip. Hopefully, somewhere in between, there will be time to dish on today's (and tomorrow's) events.

P.S.- How much does that cloud look like a UFO?

Mendozin'

Hey, Happy weekend to everyone out there.

Despite being within peeping distance of a very imposing mountain range known as the ANDES, Mendoza is t-shirt warm even in the middle of winter. It's a nice town, distinctive for it's huge irrigation canals that line every street, designed to handle the water that melts from the mountains every spring (otherwise, its very desert-like). These ditches, though functional, would never fly in the U.S., (LAWSUIT!) and I've noticed it tends to discourage stroller usage by the post-partum set. These ladies arm-carry, and they've got guns like Popeye.

We decided to spend the day checking out the town, and we traversed it in various patterns until exhaustion set in. There wasn't all that much to see, though we did have some fun at the local aquarium. (sea world, it is not.) The title pic demonstrates that cayman (click link for AMAZINGLY detailed photo) tend to disrespect turtles by using them as pillows.


The rest of the exhibit was mostly fishies (including the really ugly mugger above, a resident of the amazon that will, according to the informational posting, occasionally snatch monkeys from trees as a snack). We also found Nemo and pitied a poor "rescued" sea turtle who seemed more than a little depressed.

We're headed into those ANDES tomorrow, so should have some hot pics later.

Bye Bye B-A, Hola Mendoza

We passed our last day in BA hitting some sights that we previously missed, like the huge photo-sensitive aluminum and steel "Generic Flower" sculpture (rendered goldenish in this photo, it is actually silvery and amazingly reflective). At 60 feet tall, its massive, and to make it additionally cool, it slowly opens and closes in response to sunrise and sunset.


After staring at the world's largest corsage, we visited the Ice Palace, which is no longer icy (though it remains palatial) and now serves as an exhibition space. We saw some art, including these fluffy fellas (one of them clearly surprised to be photographed) and the beautiful dangling lanterns.

At sunset, we hoisted our giant duffles out of our shambly digs and headed to the bus station for our overnight bus to Mendoza. At the urging of many guidebooks, we spent the extra ten bucks and booked the Super Executive Suites, which meant that our seats reclined to FLAT. Oh yeah. We also booked the very front seats on the top of a double-decker bus, so we could watch the many close encounters the bus had with pedestrians, as well cringe in horror at the driver's constant desire to pass on single-laned highways. There was also a meal involved, which was hilariously impossible to eat, as the food was determined to descend lapward on the sloping insta-tray. Trying to stab at a chicken cutlet with one hand while securing the dish with the other seemed not worth it. And in truth, it wasn't. But I did sleep, awaking in terror of imminent death only occasionally, and now we are here in sunny Mendoza and none the worse for it. Word has it, it's wine country. I can't yet confirm or deny that fact, but I can show you what Mendoza looks like from space. Textured!

Things get Nautical

Another slow start yesterday after the unwelcome return of the yowling hound (really testing my animal-lovingness), but after we finally did make it out, things got strangely...nautical.

BA is located on the Rio Plata river delta. The water is indeed, slightly silvery-brownish, and as is the case for many deltas, is not particularly beautiful to behold. Despite this aesthetic shortcoming, (and much like in our recently departed neighborhood of Williamsburg, Brooklyn) developers here spotted a chance for some waterfront revitalization. The waterfront area, known as the Puerto Madero, is experiencing a resurgence complete with high rise condos and fancy restaurants (including such fine American standards as TGI Fridays and HOOTERS). These fancy enticements may attract the well-heeled locals, but Team Curious had our attention drawn elsewhere...


To This Friggin' Frigate! Check it!

Behold the Fragata President Sarmiento, a training ship used in the early 20th century. The idea behind it was rather brilliant: send out a shipful of young, strapping Argentinians every year or so and let them see the world, while simultaneously enhancing the reputation of the nation (or at least its young men) worldwide. If these sailor fellas were anything like their contemporaries, they were not hurting for charm.


The ship is packed with boaty lore: guns, torpedoes, uniforms, and the requisite cork board demonstrating different knots. But you can also venture down into the engine room and behold the gears of aqueous propulsion (Got a little cramped down there for my taste).


After regaining our land legs, the seafaring theme continued at Cafe Tortoni, which is a former haunt of BA's literati (Borges, Lorca) and old timey scenesters ( like Tango King Carlos Gardel), but which is now a tourist trap along the lines of NYC's Russian Tea Room.


The atmosphere still carries some classy weight, and when, in keeping with the day's theme, I ordered a "submarino", a steaming cup of milk into which you drop a bar of chocolate, we were delighted that the chocolate was indeed shaped like a it's underwater namesake. Shnell! Shnell!

BA Free Tour

Wanted to take a minute to give a quick shout out to BAFreeTour, a really cool little outfit that we stumbled across on Trip Advisor. We took advantage of both free tours offered by the group, a City tour that covers historical and government sites, and the aristocratic tour, which hits the upscale neighborhood of Recoleto.


Both tours were great, and I'd highly recommend them to English speaking visitors. The friendly guides work only for tips, and its obvious they have a genuine enthusiasm for their city.

Should you make it to BA, checkity-check it out.

Hair Boutique

What is this SALSA GOLF?!!

It looks like this blog is going to touch on the matter of food pretty often, so I might as well put this out there: I like sauces. I like just about all of em, from mayonnaise, to sambal olek, to sriracha, to satay to whatever. If it's sauce, Gimme it!

Which leads to the unsettling matter of Salsa Golf. In Argentina, it arrives at the table in a little packet, nestled between the mayo and the ketchup. The label offers no clues to its intended usage, featuring a limpid chicken breast, salad and a little jump roping child. What is this Salsa Golf?!! What is it for?!!




Rip open the corner (struggle, you may) and an orangey goo emerges. It has no odor. It's taste... equally elusive. Two independent experts stated the following to describe the Salsa Golf "flavor":

Taster One: Tastes like ...plastic. Maybe slightly fruity. It's bad.
Taster Two: I taste nothing. There's no flavor here. It's like mayo but with even less flavor. Who would do this?!!

Who indeed? An exhaustive search of the most trusted and vetted websites around (wikipedia. ahem.) unveiled a diabolical "fact." Turns out the dude who "developed" salsa golf was a NOBEL PEACE PRIZE winner for (wait for it...) Chemistry.

And how did this incomprehensible, practically undetectable condiment come to be? Turns out this science mastermind one day took it upon himself to mix a little ketchup into his mayo, added a squirt of lemon and BAM! SALSA GOLF. ( Note: tasters, particularly Taster 2, enjoy the combination of ketchup and mayo. Salsa golf, mysteriously, turns this pleasing pairing into something terrible).

Just as Alfred Nobel came up with his peace prize as a way to make up for paving the way for plastic explosives, I think Professor Salsa Golf should have created a system to ensure that no bland and terrible sauce ever again makes it to the mass market. The world, its people, and its french fries, have already suffered enough.

It's a Holiday.

Yesterday was a Holiday in BA, the celebration of the death of San Martin, one of the country's great hero fellas. This led to a lot of people lounging about outside, many of them deftly manuevering spherical rubber balls with their feet in an athletic manner. Puzzling indeed, but I'll get to the bottom of that mystery someday.

In the meantime, I had my own mysteries to settle, such as how to reclaim my stolen email account (a matter still open and pending), and where the devil to find some cheap grub on a day where almost everything was closed. Having eaten empanadas for both lunch, and unexpectedly, dinner the day before, that was outta the question. What we later ate however, only led to more mystery (to be covered in next post).

It's also Tango Month here, which means there's lots of tango related happenings. We popped to the city center to check out a "free class", which took place in a ridiculously crowded lobby, so crowded that the students were limited to practicing walking in a circle, first forwards, then backwards. I don't cotton to slow circle walking, so we rolled back to the apartment, where I got to skype with one of my favorite people.

Overall, a mysterious day with occasional delights.

Lazy Sunday

Hoo boy, I got nothing to offer today but a bunch of random pics, including the surreal b&w above taken at this mansion-turned bar, Milion, last evening.

It's lazy Sunday, BA.

Spent most of yesterday rolling around the city shooting bits of footage for the soon to be live OFF SEASON Kickstarter page. Hell yeah. Turns out that shooting a video w. your creative partner when you are in two separate continents can be done, although perhaps not easily done. But files containing the footage of a shivery, runny-nosed and occasionally leaping Liz have been beamed across the satellites and will be mixed in w. footage of Katie, and from it a wee film will be born. Love these modern times.

And now for some food porn, because if there are two things we do here, its walk for hours, and eat. This image is of the awesome spread at an actual authentic (and damned tasty) Korean Restaurant, Bi Won, that we were lucky to find. They had SPICES! And sticky white rice, and my, how we ate. It was epic, friends.

And this is another rarity: the Argentinian Salad. This one is extra crazy, because it contains CANDIED ALMONDS. That's right, it's a salad that contains Candy. Just when I thought I couldn't love this place more, that happens. Gracias, Portenos.

BA Punk Rock

Yesterday was overall a gloomy, drizzly and overall unworkable day for doing much of anything. We managed to salvage the day by checking out a show at a punk club, Salon Pueyrredon, where we saw a pretty fantastic set by Los Bombarderos. I couldn't tell you what their politics are or decipher many of their lyrics, so if they had a message good or bad, I missed it. All I know was that dude was rocking an outrageous cape and superhero panty ensemble complete with eyemask, and the the set was very tight and offered a lot of thrilling rhythm changes and plenty of enthusiasm. The club itself felt like it could have been in Brooklyn, except for all the smoking. I was kicking myself for not bringing the digital camera to record some of the music. I vow to do so in the future.

That being said, today ought to be a gorgeous day, and I've got to assemble some footage for our soon to be posted Kickstarter page. Landmarks, here I come.

Clubland

We stayed up nice and late last night, visiting Club Niceto and shaking it SA style. Unexpected Cowboys in latex chaps greeted us at the door, and things only got stranger from then on.

There was some sort of ongoing stage show involving a rotund drag queen getting improbably molested by the cowboys and cowgirls (something for everyone here), and there was also an impressive live B-Boy breakdancing show (many flips, headspins, and windmill kicking action).

The scene was great. The beats kept rolling, never getting too repetitive or slowing down. The place was packed by three, and unlike in some U.S. and other international clubs (I'm looking at you St. Lucia), nobody was trying to ride your pony uninvited. The only hassles were the occasional danger of cigarette burns and all the broken glass on the ground (why they use actual glass, I cannot understand).

Overall, super fun night.

Food Odditiy

Oooh, so its been a week in BA and we've finally found all the good things to eat, while overcoming some unexpected obstacles.

Obstacle one is the strangeness of coffee. Coffee culture is a big deal here. It's formalized in a sense, as as in Italy, there are coffees that are only consumed in the morning (not that we've really experienced this concept of morning, dining at midnight has that effect) and no one would dream of carrying a cuppa out of a cafe and onto the street. Ideally, you take an hour to sip it, sometimes more. Anyhoo. Turns out, 95% of the ground coffee sold in stores already has sugar in it. The packaging clearly states this, but we overlooked it, and have been drinking double sugared rather awful coffee for the last week. We wised up and bought a bag w. out the sugar (about three times as expensive) and all is well.

Not that we aren't eating sugar. Dulce de leche enrobed in various pastry has become an afternoon staple. We've also found inexpensive "mexican" and wonder of wonders... chicken shwarma (or shwarma de pozsho, as they would say here.) Our bottle of El Yucateo habanero sauce is certainly the best thing we packed, and sad will be the day when it runs dry, as cuisine here is spice averse, but right now we've finally gotten the food situation under control.

Incidently, we've had no troubles finding delicious wine. Some things are easy.

BA Landmark Beauty Shots

Took these with the iphone's Hipstamatic feature. Badass!

Nice Necropolis

We popped in to see the lively residents of the Cemeterio de Recoleta today. It was interesting to see the amount of thought and creativity put into all the different mausoleums. Some were melancholy, with lamenting statues or grim black marble facades, while others seemed more personalized (Oye, Tio! We will miss you!). Some were deteriorating from lack of care, revealing crumbling coffins within arm's reach. Others had fresh flowers within their locked doors. We did visit Eva Peron's crypt, but it was one of the less striking tombs in the place.

It was creepy, particularly the narrower passages, and part of me couldn't help but think what a great venue it would be for one of those hidden camera shows where actors grab at people and shrieking ensues. But overall, it was a peaceful way to spend a few hours enjoying the sunlight on one's face, and a poignant reminder that these pleasant days above ground are fleeting indeed. . .