After staying one night in a hostel in El Barrio Brasil in Santiago we met up with Sergio Juarez, a good friend that Eric and I met on our NOLS course a few years ago. Sergio is from Mexico and moved down to Santiago with his American wife Kara. They have a baby boy, Santi, who is just over a year old. Kara teaches science at an International school in Santiago and Sergio is a professional guide. He most recently was leading trips up Aconcagua but is now trying to only do local trips so that he can spend more time with his family. They live in a beautiful house in the hills outside of Santiago surrounded by trees and overlooking a small river in the backyard. It had been almost three years since Eric and I saw Sergio but as soon as we hopped into his green Nissan pickup truck it was as if we were back in Patagonia, laughing and carrying on like old times.
We came back to his house and made some delicious pizza, hung out, and when Kara got home from school we drove up the road ten minutes for a hike. Sergio put Santi in a special backpack built to carry babies and we walked along a river picking fresh blackberries. Santi fell asleep on the hike and was dreaming and drooling with blackberry juice smeared across his face as we admired the cacti and mountain views. At one point, Eric jumped about three feet straight into the air and screamed like a little girl. We turned around and saw a giant tarantula, or a pollito, scurrying across the trail. It was as big as my hand and had orange hairs all over its body. Sergio and Kara were not surprised as they said they see them around all the time, they have even found them in their bathroom before! With this, the three gringos were a bit unsettled but we got over it rather quickly with more great scenery and conversation. We hiked and talked for about an hour until we got to a gate that impeded our return to the car. Instead of a ten minute hike out we had to retrace our steps for about an hour. It was getting dark and Santi woke up from his nap, however, despite the dark and the coming cold he was content and starred wide-eyed the five experienced outdoorsmen stumbled through the dark looking for the trail. That night Eric cooked delicious Gado-gado pasta with fresh peppers and onions.
The next day we sat around in the morning. Eric and Jeremy tried to figure out their plans for the coming days while I played guitar and Santi ran around smiling and screaming. We drank lots of mate and hung around. Santi saw us all drinking mate and wanted to join. First he tried some cold mate and when we saw that he liked it so much we filled a gourd with water and let him drink out of the bombilla. Now he is a fiend and is chasing Sergio around for the mate right now. In the afternoon we hopped in the car and drove five minutes, walked for ten minutes, and arrived at some excellent rocks. After Sergio gave us a refresher course in belaying Sergio roped in and lead climbed to the top of the 5.10 route, setting it up for top roping. He flew up the rock with ease and style, as we in the business call: steaze. Once the route was set I threw on some shoes an barely made it up a fifth of the route before having to come down, my legs shaking and the veins in my arms stiff with blood. Jeremy gave it a try and got a bit higher than me before he had to come down as well. Unfortunately, Eric hurt his shoulder last year climbing and was not about to throw away eight months of physical therapy so he belayed us and watched, giving heckles and words of encouragement when necessary. After a few tries and many rest breaks in between, I made it to a nice ledge about halfway up the route, the farthest I was going to get this time around. We hiked out as it was getting dark and came back to Sergio's house. We started a fire on the grill, opened up a bottle of Chile's famous Carmenere and hung out, grilling amazing vegetables and steaks.
Today, Eric's twenty-first birthday, Sergio has been helping Jeremy and Eric get ready for their next adventure. They plan on summiting El Plomo, a mountain just outside Santiago at an altitude of 5400 meters, about 17800 ft. With their combined knowledge and Sergio's massive amounts of gear, they have been busy getting ready for a hard hike. While they went grocery shopping today I went to the Middlebury Abroad office in Santiago and met with Jeff Stevenson, the director. We chatted for a while and I told him that I would be staying at Sergio's again tonight as opposed to staying in the hotel. I want to spend another night here with Sergio and his family and tomorrow morning I will go to the hotel and meet up with the rest of the group before we get on the bus for Valparaiso, my final destination. Jeff said that we will be staying in a hostel for a few days for orientation and on Saturday I will move in with my family. Valpo is only a two hours away by bus and I will definitely be coming up to Santiago to hang out with Sergio and get outside for some adventures. Yesterday was my first time climbing outside on real rock and I am very excited to get outside more. With a friend like Sergio around, it would be crazy not to.
Sergio and I drove Eric and Jeremy to the drop off point at the base of El Plomo and I said good-bye to my compadres. The drive up was incredible, the narrowest switchbacks I have ever seen. After reaching the bases of all the ski mountains, including Valle Nevado, we jumped on a dirt road and zig-zagged up the mountain. I really want to see these mountains in the winter. Everything is above the tree line and up above the lifts there are giant bowls and chutes, all above 3500 meters. We got to the snowline and Sergio gave the boys some last minute advice and direction. It would have been great to get back out with Eric and Jeremy but unfortunately, reality calls; Its back to school for me. On second thought, it won't be any reality that I have experienced before. In any case, Sergio will pick them up on Thursday and hopefully they will get to summit, weather permitting. They will be studying in Montevideo, Uruguay, across the continent from Valpo and I will probably not see them for quite awhile. Eric will be down here for the year and hopefully we will be able to meet up in July for a few more adventures before I head back up north.
Pictures of my stay at Sergio's
If your interested…
Eric Harvey’ s blog
Jeremy Martin’s blog
Until Valpo...Chaio.
Wednesday, February 27, 2008
Tuesday, February 26, 2008
I really like pictures...
Well, unfortunately Blogspot has been giving me a lot of difficulty with uploading pictures straight to the blog. As I am an expert at averting difficulties, I have created a Picasa photo page where my pictures can be displayed. I have been a bit conservative as to when I have busted out the camera due to my paranoia of rain/theft/natural disaster/etc. However, here are some choice pictures and I will throw in links throughout my subsequent blogs. Without further adieu...
http://picasaweb.google.com/davidtoddsmall
http://picasaweb.google.com/davidtoddsmall
Sunday, February 24, 2008
Arrival In Santiago, Chile
Well I am now in my new home country. The last few days in Mendoza were slow and wonderful. On Friday Lizz, Eric, Sage, Jeremy, and I went on a wine tour. We visited two vineyards and one olive oil factory and got to taste all the goodies. We went to one large commercial vineyard and another smaller family run operation. We took tours of the facilities and learned how to taste wine, raising our levels of pretention a few more notches. That night the boys went out to dinner late, as everyone does in Argentina. We probably didn't get to the restaurant until midnight and stayed outside at the restaurant for a while observing the active nightlife of Mendoza. I really enjoyed Mendoza; definately my favorite city so far. It is a low-rise city with about a million people located at the foot of the Andes and surrounded by vineyards. The pace of life is slow and relaxed. Many times when we needed to find out information or visit a store, they were closed due to siesta. Despite the fact that we were frustrated at times by the desire of the Argentines to close up shop in the middle of the day to take a nap, there is something very charming about the whole custom. Something like this would never be possible in the United States because no one would sacrafice three or more hours of business during the day. It seems the Argentines aren't really concerned with making money and success like our megacapitalist society. They are simply busy enjoying themselves and feel that everyday day everyone should have a nap-time. It's like preschool really. However, it is a custom that I see threatened by the overwhelming business pressence of the west. A country cannot get ahead in the international business world if at every day at three o'clock everyone decided to go to bed for a few hours because they ate dinner at midnight the night before.
The next day Jeremy, Sage, and I hung out at the hostel while Eric and Lizz went for a day hike outside of Mendoza. We hung out by the pool and met some Australians who invited us to grill some steaks for lunch on the asado. We spent the rest of the day talking politics and travel, our main topics of discussion with everyone we seem to meet. That night I met some British girls and another Australian who invited us out to dinner with them. Seeing that Jeremy, Eric, and I had to wake up for a six-thirty bus taxi to the bus station, Jeremy and I stayed up with them making fun of the ridiculous things British people say. A few choice expressions: "ripping the piss out of someone," "taking the mick out of someone," "bad banter," amongst many others that have escaped my memory from lack of sleep and red wine.
Today we said good-bye to Lizz and Sage and hopped on the bus for our ride up and over the Andes. Lizz and Sage stayed in Mendoza because Lizz will head back to Brazil in a few days while Sage will come up over the Andes for orientation on Wednesday. I passed out for the first hour or so but I woke up to see Aconcagua, the highest peak in the Americas, right out of my window. The road from Mendoza to Santiago, Rt 60, is insane with countless switchbacks, breathtaking vistas, and scary roadside cliffs. At the border between Chile and Argentina we all had to get off the bus with our luggage and line up in a room where a dog jumped up on the table and sniffed everyone and their bags. The customs was one of the most inefficient systems I have ever seen at a border, but like all the other inefficiencies of South America, nobody but the Americans seem to mind. No one else here is in a rush, ever. We sat back and laughed with sleep deprived eyes and observed the multitude of mullets and pint-sized women. I don't know what it is here, but everyone is obsessed with the mullet. I have never seen so many styles of the mullet and there are quite a few that can look absolutely stunning on some women. I will never retract that statement as ridiculous as it may seem.
We have not seem much of the city tonight but tomorrow we will meet up with Eric and I's good friend, Sergio Juarez who lives here in the city with his wife and kid. We met Sergio a few years ago on our NOLS course and I cannot wait to see him. Until then we will do a bit exploring and try to compare Chile's Carmenare wine with Mendoza's Malbec now that we have such sophisticated palates.
The next day Jeremy, Sage, and I hung out at the hostel while Eric and Lizz went for a day hike outside of Mendoza. We hung out by the pool and met some Australians who invited us to grill some steaks for lunch on the asado. We spent the rest of the day talking politics and travel, our main topics of discussion with everyone we seem to meet. That night I met some British girls and another Australian who invited us out to dinner with them. Seeing that Jeremy, Eric, and I had to wake up for a six-thirty bus taxi to the bus station, Jeremy and I stayed up with them making fun of the ridiculous things British people say. A few choice expressions: "ripping the piss out of someone," "taking the mick out of someone," "bad banter," amongst many others that have escaped my memory from lack of sleep and red wine.
Today we said good-bye to Lizz and Sage and hopped on the bus for our ride up and over the Andes. Lizz and Sage stayed in Mendoza because Lizz will head back to Brazil in a few days while Sage will come up over the Andes for orientation on Wednesday. I passed out for the first hour or so but I woke up to see Aconcagua, the highest peak in the Americas, right out of my window. The road from Mendoza to Santiago, Rt 60, is insane with countless switchbacks, breathtaking vistas, and scary roadside cliffs. At the border between Chile and Argentina we all had to get off the bus with our luggage and line up in a room where a dog jumped up on the table and sniffed everyone and their bags. The customs was one of the most inefficient systems I have ever seen at a border, but like all the other inefficiencies of South America, nobody but the Americans seem to mind. No one else here is in a rush, ever. We sat back and laughed with sleep deprived eyes and observed the multitude of mullets and pint-sized women. I don't know what it is here, but everyone is obsessed with the mullet. I have never seen so many styles of the mullet and there are quite a few that can look absolutely stunning on some women. I will never retract that statement as ridiculous as it may seem.
We have not seem much of the city tonight but tomorrow we will meet up with Eric and I's good friend, Sergio Juarez who lives here in the city with his wife and kid. We met Sergio a few years ago on our NOLS course and I cannot wait to see him. Until then we will do a bit exploring and try to compare Chile's Carmenare wine with Mendoza's Malbec now that we have such sophisticated palates.
Friday, February 22, 2008
Mendoza: The Andes with a Little Vino Tinto
The bus trip to Mendoza was easy and comfortable. Jeremy and I reclined in large leather seats and were served whiskey and steak while watching a western movie. When I woke up in the morning and groggily looked out my window my decision to leave the city was reaffirmed. Rows and rows of grapes went on forever and in the distane the giant snowcapped peaks of the second highest mountain range in the world, the Andes, erupted from the plains. Jeremy and I knew that we had to get into those mountains immediately.
The first day in Mendoza was spent rushing around and trying to get our backpacking gear and a ride organized. The hostel we stayed in, Itaka, was hot and crowded but the staff was great and we found time during the day to kick it and go for a swim in the small pool in the backyard. The next morning we caught a nine a.m. van out to the mountains which passed by some beautiful scenery. We drove through vineyards until we entered a desert that resembled the American southwest. The rocks are all red here, with cliffs showing the sedimentary layering of thousands of years of dry rock. The vegetation is all small with a few cacti poking out of the ground.
We took a long dirt road, full of switchbacks, up into the mountains and were dropped off at the Refugio San Antonio in the Vallecitos region. One of the guides who worked for the bus company, Laurena asked us what we were doing and if she could accompany us for a while on our hike. We also met a wonderfully eccentric Canadian man named Rafael who wanted to come along for a short gaunt. Rafael hails from British Columbia and gesticulates everything he says. He had just bought 30,000 dollars worth of land down the road from the refugio and wanted to walk around and check everything out. After hiking for about and hour and a half with our new friends, Laurena gave us some great advice about where to camp and where to hike the next day. The counsel was much needed and very welcomed by Jeremy and I. Since I have been in South America I have received wonderful and helpful advice from complete strangers that has really added to my experiences. I have no doubt that much of the success of this trip can be attributed to other´s sense of charity.
We left our friends and started hiking up into a glacial moraine. After a few hours we were convinced that it was getting late so we set up camp in this green valley. Our spot was beautiful with great views, flat ground, and a flowing snow melt stream right near by. As we were setting up camp we saw wild horses on a ridge next to us and huanacos (llamas) grazing near the stream. On the other side of our tent was a steep, rocky face leading up to impressive snow covered peaks. Most of the time our surroundings were sheilded from view by the thick clouds that rolled in from the valley but sometimes we would get openings that revieled the incredible faces of the Andes. We were camped at around 3400 meters and, feeling the altitude, I took a nap only to be woken up by a British man named Steve knocking on our tent. We chatted with Steve a bit as the clouds would open from time to time. Steve lives in Bariloche, Argentina and teaches skiing and sailing. Not a bad life.
I tossed and turned for most of the night with the craziest dreams. We had mate and oatmeal for breakfast and packed some day bags for our hike. We climbed for most of the day over ridges up into the moraine, deeper into the mountains. We hiked slow and steady as the air got thinner and thinner. It was very easy to get out of breath so you have to walk with a ¨rest step,¨ where you pause and put all your weight on your bones before moving on. We got up to above the snowline and stopped at a high base camp, at around 4200 meters, almost 14000 feet! It was so exciting to have each step be the highest I had ever been. From this height we could see glaciers coming down from the mountains and crevasses cracking through them as the ice falls into the valley. Jeremy has done some serious mountain climbing in Bolivia and Ecuador and was knowledgable company. We cruised down and had mate and pasta while relaxing. We heard thunder in the distance and began to bomb-proof our tent in the anticipation of a storm. It began to rain and hail and did not let up for much of the night. We had a few discussions on how to tell how far a storm is from you by counting the time between the lightning and the thunder, although we never figured it out. The closest it got was four seconds.
In the middle of our sleepless night, when the rain and hail had stopped Jeremy went outside to pee and told me I had to see something. To our right and left the peaks were all covered with fresh snow. Below us, in the valley, a huge dark cloud sat, bolts of lightning exploding from all sides. As we admired the storm from a distance I looked up to the full moon. ¨I is just me or is the moon disapearing?¨ I said to Jeremy. Sure enough, slowly the moon began to go dark as we stumbled upon a lunar eclipse. We sat out, shivering as the sky got darker and darker swigging whiskey. Soon the sky was full of stars and the moon was only a sliver. We saw shooting stars, the milky way, and the southern cross. We waited out until the moon completely disapeared and the clouds rolled in again.
The next day we hiked out and took a bus back into Mendoza. Here we met up with Eric, Sage, and Lizz again and we will spend some days in town before we split up on our seperate ways. I have only five days left until school orientation begins and although my travels have been full of adventure it will be nice to settle down in a house with a family.
The first day in Mendoza was spent rushing around and trying to get our backpacking gear and a ride organized. The hostel we stayed in, Itaka, was hot and crowded but the staff was great and we found time during the day to kick it and go for a swim in the small pool in the backyard. The next morning we caught a nine a.m. van out to the mountains which passed by some beautiful scenery. We drove through vineyards until we entered a desert that resembled the American southwest. The rocks are all red here, with cliffs showing the sedimentary layering of thousands of years of dry rock. The vegetation is all small with a few cacti poking out of the ground.
We took a long dirt road, full of switchbacks, up into the mountains and were dropped off at the Refugio San Antonio in the Vallecitos region. One of the guides who worked for the bus company, Laurena asked us what we were doing and if she could accompany us for a while on our hike. We also met a wonderfully eccentric Canadian man named Rafael who wanted to come along for a short gaunt. Rafael hails from British Columbia and gesticulates everything he says. He had just bought 30,000 dollars worth of land down the road from the refugio and wanted to walk around and check everything out. After hiking for about and hour and a half with our new friends, Laurena gave us some great advice about where to camp and where to hike the next day. The counsel was much needed and very welcomed by Jeremy and I. Since I have been in South America I have received wonderful and helpful advice from complete strangers that has really added to my experiences. I have no doubt that much of the success of this trip can be attributed to other´s sense of charity.
We left our friends and started hiking up into a glacial moraine. After a few hours we were convinced that it was getting late so we set up camp in this green valley. Our spot was beautiful with great views, flat ground, and a flowing snow melt stream right near by. As we were setting up camp we saw wild horses on a ridge next to us and huanacos (llamas) grazing near the stream. On the other side of our tent was a steep, rocky face leading up to impressive snow covered peaks. Most of the time our surroundings were sheilded from view by the thick clouds that rolled in from the valley but sometimes we would get openings that revieled the incredible faces of the Andes. We were camped at around 3400 meters and, feeling the altitude, I took a nap only to be woken up by a British man named Steve knocking on our tent. We chatted with Steve a bit as the clouds would open from time to time. Steve lives in Bariloche, Argentina and teaches skiing and sailing. Not a bad life.
I tossed and turned for most of the night with the craziest dreams. We had mate and oatmeal for breakfast and packed some day bags for our hike. We climbed for most of the day over ridges up into the moraine, deeper into the mountains. We hiked slow and steady as the air got thinner and thinner. It was very easy to get out of breath so you have to walk with a ¨rest step,¨ where you pause and put all your weight on your bones before moving on. We got up to above the snowline and stopped at a high base camp, at around 4200 meters, almost 14000 feet! It was so exciting to have each step be the highest I had ever been. From this height we could see glaciers coming down from the mountains and crevasses cracking through them as the ice falls into the valley. Jeremy has done some serious mountain climbing in Bolivia and Ecuador and was knowledgable company. We cruised down and had mate and pasta while relaxing. We heard thunder in the distance and began to bomb-proof our tent in the anticipation of a storm. It began to rain and hail and did not let up for much of the night. We had a few discussions on how to tell how far a storm is from you by counting the time between the lightning and the thunder, although we never figured it out. The closest it got was four seconds.
In the middle of our sleepless night, when the rain and hail had stopped Jeremy went outside to pee and told me I had to see something. To our right and left the peaks were all covered with fresh snow. Below us, in the valley, a huge dark cloud sat, bolts of lightning exploding from all sides. As we admired the storm from a distance I looked up to the full moon. ¨I is just me or is the moon disapearing?¨ I said to Jeremy. Sure enough, slowly the moon began to go dark as we stumbled upon a lunar eclipse. We sat out, shivering as the sky got darker and darker swigging whiskey. Soon the sky was full of stars and the moon was only a sliver. We saw shooting stars, the milky way, and the southern cross. We waited out until the moon completely disapeared and the clouds rolled in again.
The next day we hiked out and took a bus back into Mendoza. Here we met up with Eric, Sage, and Lizz again and we will spend some days in town before we split up on our seperate ways. I have only five days left until school orientation begins and although my travels have been full of adventure it will be nice to settle down in a house with a family.
Sunday, February 17, 2008
Montevideo and Buenos Aires
So it has been a while since my last post but I will try to sum up the past few days of travel and adventure. Doing a blog is a bit difficult because, although it is a great source of public reflection, it is difficult to manage. I have had many experiences that have stimulated thought, from the favelas in Brazil to the people of Uruguay to the massiveness of Buenos Aires, but it is hard to express everything in a blog when all that has only taken place within a short period of time.
Despite this...
After arriving in Montevideo, Uruguay we traveled into La Ciudad Vieja and grabbed four spots in a great hostel. Hostel life has been really fun and the first night the hostel had an asado, a large BBQ. There was a patio on the roof of the hostel, overlooking the busy city streets where many travelers in the hostel gathered for some serious steak and wine. The company at the table was so diverse. Sitting around me were Argentines, Norwegians, Swedes, Spaniards, Irish,
Brazilians, and probably more. Everyone was speaking in different languages, some sentences composed of multiple tongues, dialects, and hand gestures. Eric and I ended up staying up there until three talking politics, customs, anything and everthing with a Norwegian girl and an Irish guy. Everyone here has been asking us about the election in the United States and our opinions on the matter. I have been surprised by the amount of interest but I have really relished the opportunity to give someone a view of America that they might not have had otherwise.
Montevideo is a very relaxed and often overlooked city. The pace of life is slow and the weather iss warm and beautiful. We dropped off Eric´s bags at his host family´s house and sat with them, talking about our travels and school life. It was great to meet Eric´s family and really made me excited to meet mine in a few weeks.
We met a Norwegian named Tom our second day and found an incredible indoor market. There were about twenty different restaurants within the building all with giant exposed grills. The cuts of meat were so tempting and the smells so scintilating that we sat down immediately and ordered a huge portion of meat, vegetables, wine, and beer. We ate to our hearts clogged and the Chimichurri sauce ran empty.
We crossed the Rio de la Plata to Buenos Aires where we have been the past few days. We met up with our friend, Jeremy Martin, at a hostel in the Recoleta neighborhood. This city is huge and reminds me a bit of New York. One thing that we have noticed is the amount of beautiful women here. I have never seen such a gathering of talent in one space. The women of Brazil were stunning, of course, but the Argentines are more my speed. We went out to dinner with some friends of Jeremy´s that he met at the hostel. Jorge and Andres were from Brasilia and we all enjoyed another cheap dinner with great wine and meat. That night we went to Maya´s georgeous apartment in Recoleta for a party before going to a bar in Palermo. Lizz and Eric met Maya and Lucy, two Porteñas, while traveling in the northeast of Brazil in January. They were great hosts in the city and very generous, as all of our acquaintances have been.
The next day we were kicked out of our hostel, rudely woken up at ten (after we went to bed at five) and were told that our bed´s were filled, but not by us. If you are in Buenos Aires I do not recommend the Hostel Recoleta because, although it is a beautiful, converted mansion, the staff is horrendous. A blessing in disguise, we packed up our things and made about twenty phone calls to different hostels around the city with no luck. Eventually I called the Hotel España and we managed to get two beautiful private rooms for about fifteen U.S. dollars a night per person; not bad at all. We spend the day walking through the city. While we were walking through Puerto Madero we saw a Hooters and we couldn´t resist. We laughed and took pictures with the Hooter´s girls and drank Mohitos and beer with our less-than-great wings. That night we went out to Lucy´s house for dinner where we hung out and practiced our Spanish, learning a bit about the politics and people of Argentina.
Today we walked around the city a bit more and found a great outdoor market in San Telmo. Tonight Jeremy and I will get on an overnight bus for Mendoza. I have been in the city for my entire time down here and I decided that I wanted to take it slower for a few days. Mendoza is a beautiful region full of mountains and vineyards in the western part of the country; everyone who I have spoken to about it says it is amazing and I am very excited to get there. Lizz, Sage, and Eric will come Tuesday night and arrive Wednesday morning, giving Jeremy and I some time to chill out and maybe even go backpacking. Our plans are very loose but I am not worried, I am sure we will keep ourselves occupied.
Despite this...
After arriving in Montevideo, Uruguay we traveled into La Ciudad Vieja and grabbed four spots in a great hostel. Hostel life has been really fun and the first night the hostel had an asado, a large BBQ. There was a patio on the roof of the hostel, overlooking the busy city streets where many travelers in the hostel gathered for some serious steak and wine. The company at the table was so diverse. Sitting around me were Argentines, Norwegians, Swedes, Spaniards, Irish,
Brazilians, and probably more. Everyone was speaking in different languages, some sentences composed of multiple tongues, dialects, and hand gestures. Eric and I ended up staying up there until three talking politics, customs, anything and everthing with a Norwegian girl and an Irish guy. Everyone here has been asking us about the election in the United States and our opinions on the matter. I have been surprised by the amount of interest but I have really relished the opportunity to give someone a view of America that they might not have had otherwise.
Montevideo is a very relaxed and often overlooked city. The pace of life is slow and the weather iss warm and beautiful. We dropped off Eric´s bags at his host family´s house and sat with them, talking about our travels and school life. It was great to meet Eric´s family and really made me excited to meet mine in a few weeks.
We met a Norwegian named Tom our second day and found an incredible indoor market. There were about twenty different restaurants within the building all with giant exposed grills. The cuts of meat were so tempting and the smells so scintilating that we sat down immediately and ordered a huge portion of meat, vegetables, wine, and beer. We ate to our hearts clogged and the Chimichurri sauce ran empty.
We crossed the Rio de la Plata to Buenos Aires where we have been the past few days. We met up with our friend, Jeremy Martin, at a hostel in the Recoleta neighborhood. This city is huge and reminds me a bit of New York. One thing that we have noticed is the amount of beautiful women here. I have never seen such a gathering of talent in one space. The women of Brazil were stunning, of course, but the Argentines are more my speed. We went out to dinner with some friends of Jeremy´s that he met at the hostel. Jorge and Andres were from Brasilia and we all enjoyed another cheap dinner with great wine and meat. That night we went to Maya´s georgeous apartment in Recoleta for a party before going to a bar in Palermo. Lizz and Eric met Maya and Lucy, two Porteñas, while traveling in the northeast of Brazil in January. They were great hosts in the city and very generous, as all of our acquaintances have been.
The next day we were kicked out of our hostel, rudely woken up at ten (after we went to bed at five) and were told that our bed´s were filled, but not by us. If you are in Buenos Aires I do not recommend the Hostel Recoleta because, although it is a beautiful, converted mansion, the staff is horrendous. A blessing in disguise, we packed up our things and made about twenty phone calls to different hostels around the city with no luck. Eventually I called the Hotel España and we managed to get two beautiful private rooms for about fifteen U.S. dollars a night per person; not bad at all. We spend the day walking through the city. While we were walking through Puerto Madero we saw a Hooters and we couldn´t resist. We laughed and took pictures with the Hooter´s girls and drank Mohitos and beer with our less-than-great wings. That night we went out to Lucy´s house for dinner where we hung out and practiced our Spanish, learning a bit about the politics and people of Argentina.
Today we walked around the city a bit more and found a great outdoor market in San Telmo. Tonight Jeremy and I will get on an overnight bus for Mendoza. I have been in the city for my entire time down here and I decided that I wanted to take it slower for a few days. Mendoza is a beautiful region full of mountains and vineyards in the western part of the country; everyone who I have spoken to about it says it is amazing and I am very excited to get there. Lizz, Sage, and Eric will come Tuesday night and arrive Wednesday morning, giving Jeremy and I some time to chill out and maybe even go backpacking. Our plans are very loose but I am not worried, I am sure we will keep ourselves occupied.
Wednesday, February 13, 2008
More Pictures from Rio
Sage and I at the Sambodromo on our first night
One of the Samba schools 
Another float, just one of many in each school
Celhao, me and Eric at the beach in Niteroi
Me, Eric, Sage, Lizz, Ana Laura, and Celhao on our last day in Rio
Tuesday, February 12, 2008
Florianopolis
After Carnival I thought Rio would be tame. However, that is not how this city works. We spent the next few days relaxing and taking in the city. We went to a marketplace downtown and stopped by a museum. The museum is famous because it was the house if Getulio Vargas, one of the most renowned Brazilian presidents. Vargas was in power for many years as a dictator and was known as the president of the poor. He was loved by all the people and after his dictatorship he was elected a few years later as president. When he feared that his beloved country would fall into the hands of the military he killed himself, in this museum, in the name of the people and democracy. His house was preserved perfectly and they even had the gun, the bullet, and his blood stained shirt on display.
We also went to the top of Pão de Açucar. This large mountain comes right out of the mouth of the harbor with shear cliffs dropping straight to the water. You get to the top via two gondolas, rewarding us with incredible views of the city. In the distance you could see Christo, the giant stature that overlooks the city. We also had the oportunity to take in a day at the beach. We took the bus with two of the people we were staying with, Celhao and Ana Laura to Itacoatiara in Niterói. The beach was gorgeous with large waves coming into the beach between large cliffs. Brazil is full of beautiful people. I was stunned to look around and not see one mildly unattractive person. We body surfed and drank out of cold, sweet coconuts. I got a nice sunburn but the pain was worth it having come from Vermont.
That night we took at 3:40 am flight out of Rio to Florianopolis, an island in the south. The island is a popular getaway for many Brazilians and Argentines, with 42 beautiful beaches and a lively nightlife. We spent yesterday at the most famous beach, Joaquina, where Brazil hosts its national surfing competition. I rented a surfboard and tried my luck at the waves only to be destroyed. Despite only getting up a few times on the short board, I had a blast in the warm seas.
Today we get on a 20 hour bus for Montevideo, Uruguay and from there we will take a ferry to Buenos Aires, Argentina. I am looking forward to practicing my Spanish but I am reluctant to leave this stunning country.
We also went to the top of Pão de Açucar. This large mountain comes right out of the mouth of the harbor with shear cliffs dropping straight to the water. You get to the top via two gondolas, rewarding us with incredible views of the city. In the distance you could see Christo, the giant stature that overlooks the city. We also had the oportunity to take in a day at the beach. We took the bus with two of the people we were staying with, Celhao and Ana Laura to Itacoatiara in Niterói. The beach was gorgeous with large waves coming into the beach between large cliffs. Brazil is full of beautiful people. I was stunned to look around and not see one mildly unattractive person. We body surfed and drank out of cold, sweet coconuts. I got a nice sunburn but the pain was worth it having come from Vermont.
That night we took at 3:40 am flight out of Rio to Florianopolis, an island in the south. The island is a popular getaway for many Brazilians and Argentines, with 42 beautiful beaches and a lively nightlife. We spent yesterday at the most famous beach, Joaquina, where Brazil hosts its national surfing competition. I rented a surfboard and tried my luck at the waves only to be destroyed. Despite only getting up a few times on the short board, I had a blast in the warm seas.
Today we get on a 20 hour bus for Montevideo, Uruguay and from there we will take a ferry to Buenos Aires, Argentina. I am looking forward to practicing my Spanish but I am reluctant to leave this stunning country.
Photos from Rio de Janeiro
Here we have Eric and I drinking Caipirinhas on top of Pão de Açucar with Copacabana Beach in the background.
Ipenema Beach is past those buildings. We stayed on top of Pão de Açucar for most of the sunset but it started to rain. 
Lizz, Sage, and I pointing at the giant statue of Christo which is situated on top of that giant mountain overlooking Rio. You can see a tiny part of Rio´s harbor which is absolutley gigantic and impressive. The mountains come right out of the water here and the city is built within this maze of water and mountain. Thursday, February 7, 2008
Brazil: In the streets at Carnival
Every time I told someone that I was coming to Carnival in Rio de Janeiro I got the same response: “That’s going to be ridiculous!” Unfortunately, this is one of the most vague statements. What does “ridiculous” even mean? Most of the people who said this to me had never been to Carnival, much less to Brazil; how did they know that Carnival would be “ridiculous?” The day before my flight I went to the dentist to have three cavities filled. With my mouth full of hands and metal devices the dental hygienist told me that she had been to Carnival when she was sixteen. I managed to ask, “How was it?” with a strange gargling noise. In a thick South American accent her response was, “Wooo woooo woooo.” Looking back, this was the best description and the best way to sum up my first few days in Brazil.
There are a few ways to enjoy Carnival. One of the biggest events is the Samba parade at the Sambadromo, a giant stadium that resembles a street in the middle of Rio. Different neighborhoods in Rio form Samba schools and practice throughout the year for Carnival. They create elaborate costumes, build giant floats, and write songs all about one theme. On the night of the Samba parade thousands of people in each school perform in the Sambadromo for a gigantic audience. We went to the first night of the parades, my first night in Rio, to the B class schools. This parade is much cheaper and is frequented by locals as opposed to the mostly tourist crowd on Sunday night. We only stayed until about one in the morning and only saw three schools, even though the parade goes until six a.m. I was exhausted after about 35 hours of traveling and a full day in the streets of Rio.
Lizz Heron-Sweet has been studying here in Rio for the past semester. Actually, she has studied in Niterói, which is across the bay from Rio de Janeiro. Through her history class last semester she met Vanessa, who is graciously letting us stay in her apartment in Niterói for a few days in Rio. Also living here is her boyfriend Renan, Ana Laura, and her boyfriend Celhao. Eric Harvey, Sage Sipchen, Lizz, and me have a room to ourselves and with two mattresses and a few sleeping pads where we have been very comfortable. It is great to be staying with locals down here and it is has really shaped our experiences. Every day of Carnival we went out with our friends and they showed us all the good spots. All around Rio during Carnival there are street parties called blocos. At each bloco there is a truck full of speakers with a band playing on top. They trucks drive slowly down the streets and blast music as a large crowd dances and sings all around, following the truck on its route. People sell beer, caipirinhas, costumes, and street food to partiers. There is always a bloco happening somewhere during Carnival: morning, afternoon, evening, and night. It wasn’t hard to find one.
One of my favorite blocos was on the main avenues, Rio Blanco. This street, somewhat similar to a Broadway or 5th avenue was full of people on Sunday night drinking and dancing. People of all ages come out to the blocos, we saw a wide-eyed baby dancing on top of a parked car with the help of her father; smiling ear to ear as she bobbed back and forth to the pulsing samba. We watched as four samba schools went by, all in costumes with their own drum section amplified through a truck full of speakers. We waited for our favorite school to go by and then we followed them down the street. After this bloco we went to Lapa, a favorite party area, for a large outdoor concert where we danced until four or five.
During the days of Carnival we mostly slept. We lived in cycles: twelve hours of partying followed by twelve hours of sleeping. Vanessa said that she wished that they could have Carnival three times a year; she was upset that it was ending so soon. I had different feelings, I was exhausted and it was good to a have some easy days of rest and relaxation after a turbulent start to my long trip. Yesterday we made our way to Santa Teresa, the Montmarte of Rio, to visit my roommate from school Angela Evancie who was living there for January. We hung out, talked, and ate pizza while listening to Brazilian folk music.
I am extremely grateful for the friends that we have made here. Having Vanessa, Renan, Ana Laura, and Celhao showing us around the city for Carnival has made the experience so much more than what I was expecting. Vanessa speaks very good English and she has taught me a lot about the culture and the history of Rio. Despite the language barrier we have still managed to become close friends with the others, sharing many laughs as we try to teach them English and as we mutilate words in Portuguese.
It’s good to see the city without a million drunk people in the streets; for a few days I had no other impression of the city. Now people are back to work and on with their lives, recharging again for next year’s Carnival. Hopefully in the next few days we plan on doing more touristy things. I may bring out my camera and post some photos if I get the chance.
There are a few ways to enjoy Carnival. One of the biggest events is the Samba parade at the Sambadromo, a giant stadium that resembles a street in the middle of Rio. Different neighborhoods in Rio form Samba schools and practice throughout the year for Carnival. They create elaborate costumes, build giant floats, and write songs all about one theme. On the night of the Samba parade thousands of people in each school perform in the Sambadromo for a gigantic audience. We went to the first night of the parades, my first night in Rio, to the B class schools. This parade is much cheaper and is frequented by locals as opposed to the mostly tourist crowd on Sunday night. We only stayed until about one in the morning and only saw three schools, even though the parade goes until six a.m. I was exhausted after about 35 hours of traveling and a full day in the streets of Rio.
Lizz Heron-Sweet has been studying here in Rio for the past semester. Actually, she has studied in Niterói, which is across the bay from Rio de Janeiro. Through her history class last semester she met Vanessa, who is graciously letting us stay in her apartment in Niterói for a few days in Rio. Also living here is her boyfriend Renan, Ana Laura, and her boyfriend Celhao. Eric Harvey, Sage Sipchen, Lizz, and me have a room to ourselves and with two mattresses and a few sleeping pads where we have been very comfortable. It is great to be staying with locals down here and it is has really shaped our experiences. Every day of Carnival we went out with our friends and they showed us all the good spots. All around Rio during Carnival there are street parties called blocos. At each bloco there is a truck full of speakers with a band playing on top. They trucks drive slowly down the streets and blast music as a large crowd dances and sings all around, following the truck on its route. People sell beer, caipirinhas, costumes, and street food to partiers. There is always a bloco happening somewhere during Carnival: morning, afternoon, evening, and night. It wasn’t hard to find one.
One of my favorite blocos was on the main avenues, Rio Blanco. This street, somewhat similar to a Broadway or 5th avenue was full of people on Sunday night drinking and dancing. People of all ages come out to the blocos, we saw a wide-eyed baby dancing on top of a parked car with the help of her father; smiling ear to ear as she bobbed back and forth to the pulsing samba. We watched as four samba schools went by, all in costumes with their own drum section amplified through a truck full of speakers. We waited for our favorite school to go by and then we followed them down the street. After this bloco we went to Lapa, a favorite party area, for a large outdoor concert where we danced until four or five.
During the days of Carnival we mostly slept. We lived in cycles: twelve hours of partying followed by twelve hours of sleeping. Vanessa said that she wished that they could have Carnival three times a year; she was upset that it was ending so soon. I had different feelings, I was exhausted and it was good to a have some easy days of rest and relaxation after a turbulent start to my long trip. Yesterday we made our way to Santa Teresa, the Montmarte of Rio, to visit my roommate from school Angela Evancie who was living there for January. We hung out, talked, and ate pizza while listening to Brazilian folk music.
I am extremely grateful for the friends that we have made here. Having Vanessa, Renan, Ana Laura, and Celhao showing us around the city for Carnival has made the experience so much more than what I was expecting. Vanessa speaks very good English and she has taught me a lot about the culture and the history of Rio. Despite the language barrier we have still managed to become close friends with the others, sharing many laughs as we try to teach them English and as we mutilate words in Portuguese.
It’s good to see the city without a million drunk people in the streets; for a few days I had no other impression of the city. Now people are back to work and on with their lives, recharging again for next year’s Carnival. Hopefully in the next few days we plan on doing more touristy things. I may bring out my camera and post some photos if I get the chance.
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