Last night in BA and Favorite Things

Tonight is our last night in Buenos Aires and it's so bittersweet because we're beyond excited to get to Europe, but we're so sad to leave this enchanting city.  It finally started really raining today.  I mean, there was a legit storm happening with lightning and LOUD thunder.  I missed filming the loud thunder, but here's some regular thunder.  Sorry, that's the best I could do because I wasn't about to stand by the open window all day!

We're all packed (more like overstuffed) and I went to the store and got snacks:

Bananas, apples, peanut butter and rice cakes (I'm trying to eat healthy on the road, okay?).  I also packed up our leftover stuff:

I got Aaron's powder coffee creamer (I wasn't about to throw it away, it was WAY expensive), my granola and the rest of our dulce de leche.  Yea, it looks kinda gross, but it'll be bomb on some rice cakes!  

I also made us 4 sandwiches each:

Mine have salami, egg and cheese and Aaron's have ham, egg and sausage (I tried to use up all the leftovers in the fridge).

We went out to a restaurant near the house for our last outing called La Pizarras Bistro.  It's the tiniest hole in the wall, but it was pretty busy.

The menus are on chalkboards around the restaurant.

I finally ordered a glass of wine.  It was a malbec called Festivo and it was about $6/glass, so it was a cheap-o.  Here he is opening my wine:

It was weird because I've never had red wine chilled, but it was cold.  It was very smooth, with no bitter notes at all, which I really liked.  I'm not a huge wine fan, but this wasn't bad, I must say.
They brought out bread and coffee butter.  Yup, coffee butter!  It just had a hint of coffee flavor and it was interesting and kinda magical:

For starters, we ordered smoked king prawns with corn stew and andine potatoes (about $10):

The corn stew was super impressive (yes, it had bits of popcorn in it, just added a crunch) and the shrimp was smoky and cooked perfectly.  We're off to a good start.
For our main course, we had suckling pig with carrot polenta, apple relish and lime yogurt (about $22..it was by far the most expensive thing on the menu, but we'd been wanting to try suckling pig for weeks!):

Wowwwwww!!  It was so yummy!  The flavor of the suckling pig is incredible, kinda crispy and fatty on the skin, super tender meat with a kinda smoky, but sweet flavor.  OMG delish!  The polenta was decent, the apple relish was perfect with the pig and the lime yogurt was surprisingly refreshing.  I loved this!  Aaron was impressed, but he wasn't falling out of his chair like I was.  One of the best meals we've had in Argentina.  Couldn't ask for a better last meal.

I forgot to do a favorite things: BA edition, so I'll do a quick one here.

We absolutely loved the steak here!  Whether at the grocery store or in a restaurant (shout-out to Don Julio's!), it's just great quality meat.  The pork was really excellent too!

Dulce de leche is another thing they do really well.  Can't go wrong just spreading it on everything!

My favorite restaurant was Sarkis, the Middle Eastern restaurant in South of Palermo.  I had moussaka and some sort of beef pie thing that makes my mouth water just thinking about it!
Aaron really like the hole-in-the-wall parilla we hit up near The Center.  He had a grilled chicken that was to die for.

The architecture is stunning.  The buildings here have a very old-world, French-type feel, but mixed in with some modern New York style skyscrapers.  There are monuments and statues scattered everywhere throughout the city and the greenery juxtaposed against the cityscape is just breathtaking.  It's really a beautiful city to behold.

Another thing that makes this city so great is the weather!  Even in the middle of winter, the weather is perfect.  Yes, it started pouring rain today, but it's been winter since we got here and this is the first time it's poured rain for more than 5 minutes.  It's been sunny and pleasant, with a nice breeze.  Best weather we've encountered so far, and we're expecting it to be rainy in Northern Europe and hot in Southern Europe, so this might be the best weather for awhile.

Our apartment was great!  Not only did it have a modern design, it was all very functional, which is good when you have a small space.  The other great thing about this apartment is the location.  Everything is within walking distance!  The grocery store is literally 20 steps from our front door.  The laundromat is about 30 steps, bakery and produce markets are maybe 50 (but all on our block), and the money exchange is directly across the street from us.  The Subway is around the corner, as well as restaurants and drug stores.  Anything we could need is right in front of us.  Perfect location.

My favorite tour/place we visited in BA was Recoleta Cemetery.  It was such a creepy, yet picturesque place, filled with historical significance and charm.  I'll never forget the feeling I had walking amongst the tombs (and peeking inside and seeing the coffins).

Our favorite trip outside of BA had to be Patagonia, of course!  Seeing the glacier was an amazing experience.  Absolutely unforgettable!

I think that about does it for my favorites in BA.  There were so many great things about this city, I hope to return someday.

Now it's time for bed, since we have to wake up early tomorrow (around 9am), say bye to our landlord, Mauricio, and head to the airport (about a 45 minute cab ride).  Our first flight is at 1pm going to Bogota, Columbia (about 6 and a half hours), where we will have a layover for about 6 hours.  Then we have a 10 and a half hour plane ride to Barcelona, Spain, where we have another layover for about 8 hours.  Then we finally head to Dublin, Ireland (about 2 and a half hours).  We should arrive in Dublin at midnight on July 1.  It's going to be a long couple of days!  Now you know why I packed so much food!  Food is so overpriced and gross on flights and at airports, so you might as well bring your own.  We're prepared with snacks, e-books (Aaron has an actual book) and iPods, so it shouldn't be too bad.  The hardest part will by trying to stay hydrated because planes are very dehydrating.  Hydration is basically the key to avoiding jet-lag.  That and only sleeping at night.  The time in Dublin is 4 hours ahead of BA, so that's 8 hours ahead of Pacific Standard Time.  I'll try to keep in touch if I find free internet (long shot), but if not, we will see you in Dublin on Wednesday!

Lastly, I found this online and thought of Aaron:

We're setting the world on fire, babe!

Getting Ready for Europe!

In a couple days, we will be departing Buenos Aires for Dublin, Ireland and then backpacking through Europe for about a month.  As fun and off-the-cuff as it sounds, it actually takes a lot of preparation and research to backpack through Europe on a budget in the middle of summer.

First thing we did was buy a Eurail pass.  A Eurail pass is a train (and ferry) pass that allows you to travel from country to country in Europe with ease.  There are 28 countries participating (basically all of the EU) and you can freely travel through any of them.  Here are the routes:

The EU (European Union) was created so people, goods, services, etc. can freely travel through European countries without hassle (no customs or immigration).  Although each country has completely different languages and cultures, all countries have the same basic regulations, laws and currency.  This makes it really easy and convenient for tourists like us to travel between countries.  Yay!

It seems simple, but there are quite a few different options when buying a Eurail pass.  You can purchase a one country pass, a 2 country pass, a 4 country pass or an unlimited pass.  Let's say you choose the 4 country pass.  You pick your 4 countries and think it's all good and you can travel back and forth, at your leisure.  WRONG!  They have a 5 days in 2 months pass, 6 days in 2 months pass, 8 days in 2 months or 10 days in 2 months, meaning you only have that many actual travel days.  Let's say I get the 5 days in 2 months pass.  That means in 2 months, I can only be on a train 5 of those days.  I can take as many trains as I want on those 5 days, BUT I only get those 5 days to travel.  Are you as disappointed as I am?  Yea, it's stupid!  Basically, unless you have your entire trip planned out and know exactly which countries you're visiting and make sure you can do all train-travel in a certain number of days, you're screwed.

Since we didn't want to be screwed and didn't want to have to plan everything right now (we wanted to be able to leave some things to chance), we opted for the unlimited, meaning unlimited number of countries and unlimited number of travel days within one month.  Yes, it was crazy expensive (almost $2,000 for the two of us), but it includes most of our travel expenses for the month, so it had to be done.

Next up: lodging.  We're going the hostel route.  It's going to be hard to live in hostels for a month, but we're on a budget!  Not only are hostels NOT that cheap in Europe, but during summer (peak season) they're even more pricey.  We're talking $30/person/night just for a bed in a dorm at the absolute cheapest.  AND most are already booked months in advance, so it's slim pickings at this point.  This last minute, on a whim, vagabond backpacking through Europe thing is turning out to be anything but chill.  

I also had to book us a flight from Dublin to Amsterdam (our next stop).  This was before I knew the Eurail also had ferries (I kinda screwed that up).  The website I was recommended (from an actual European we met in Uruguay) was called SkyScanner (they even have an app).  It's like Kayak or Expedia (only European), where they price compare with different websites and airlines to get you the cheapest price.  I was able to get us a flight for $100 each (not bad!).

So far our schedule looks like this:

Leave Buenos Aires June 29

Layovers in Columbia and Spain

Arrive in Dublin July 1

Arrive in Amsterdam July 5

*Start using the Eurail!*

Arrive in Berlin July 9
Arrive in Paris July 12
Arrive in Nice July 16
We will probably leave Nice for Milan July 18, HOWEVER it will be Aaron's birthday, so I'll let him decide what he wants to do for his special day.
After Milan, we will go through all of Italy before settling in Barcelona.  We also want to go to Portugal before our Eurail passes expire.
Whew!  Here's a map in case you want to visualize where everything is:

 

After our month of backpacking, we will settle in Barcelona, Spain.  We booked our apartment in the neighborhood of Gracia.  Here's a map of Barcelona, separated by neighborhood, with Gracia in red at the top.

It's supposed to be beautiful, with lots of trendy, young places to hang.  Here are some pictures of our neighborhood (sorry they're fuzzy):

Here's our apartment (still fuzzy):

It's really small, but clean and bright and fully equipped.  Yes, it's 2 twin beds, but we can push them together.  I can't wait to settle in!  In case you were wondering, all this was for the low, low price of $1600/30 days.  Yes, pricey and yes, this was the cheapest one I could find that wasn't in the boonies.

So, this is what Europe is looking like so far.  It's going to require a lot of work and it's probably going to be a stressful and crazy month (we have to schlep all our luggage across the continent!), but it'll also be amazing and filled with excitement!  We are ready!

Living in Buenos Aires

I know I've said it before, but living in BA has been such a culture shock, having come from the jungle life of Costa Rica.  It's hard to pinpoint exactly what sets this place apart from other big cities, but I'll try to describe a few of the things I've noticed that are unique.  Here goes nothing, in no particular order:

1.  First of all, the weather is perfect!  For it being the middle of winter, I've barely even needed a jacket at all!  Sunny days and breezy nights, with the occasional 10-minutes of rain once a week.  The fact there is no crazy humidity is huge!  We're gonna miss the weather here for sure!

2.  There is much better plumbing here than in Costa Rica.  We can actually flush our toilet paper!  Woo! Hoo!  However, in most establishments, they still ask you not to.  I'll let you in on a little secret: I flush mine anyway!

3.  Lots of places, buses and streets are named after dates.  The famous "widest street in the world" is called "9 de Julio" (July 9th).  Lots of buses have date names (I found an August 7th the other day, woop woop!).  It's really confusing and weird, but what can I say, Argentinians like their dates.

4.  People drive like maniacs here!  I guess that's not different than the rest of this part of the world, but it's crazy because there are so many cars here, I don't know how there aren't more accidents.  People are constantly passing each other and street lines mean nothing.  You can drive in the middle of two lanes or two cars can drive next to each other in the same lane, it's chaos.
Not only does everyone drive like they're blindfolded, but cab drivers don't even know places in their own city!  If you name a business or location without street names, the cab drivers usually have no idea where it is.  It's insane!  Half a cab driver's job is to know the city they're driving!  Here they only know street names.  Aaron and I had the hardest time getting to the movie theater the first time because multiple cab drivers had no idea what Cinemark was, even though it's the only theater in our neighborhood and everyone goes there!  I'm sorry, it's just inexcusable.

5.  If you thought driving was bad, parking is the worst!  To get in and out of tight spaces, you can literally bump the cars around you to get in/out.  You can hit other cars to get a parking space!  Madness.  This is how people park here:

You have no choice but to whack the car in front of you to get out!  Once we actually saw a guy going forward and back, hitting both cars around him until he had enough room to squeeze out.  Our jaws were on the floor and no one even batted an eyelash.

6.  The Blue Market makes US dollars a hot commodity.  ATM's don't give out USD, the only way to get any is to go to an ATM in Uruguay (or another neighboring country), or to bring them with you from home.  Trust me, if you can, it's worth it to do just that.  BUT don't be too flashy with your USD because it could make you a target.  There are cambio (exchange) shops and people on the street shouting "cambio!" and believe it or not, those are usually safe places to exchange.  Don't walk around flashing your USD or try to spend it anywhere because that's like wearing a sign on your forehead saying "ROB ME!"

7.  The food here is interesting in that it's completely UNINTERESTING.  There's a huge cafe culture here, with a cafe on every corner and each one has the SAME food: pizzas, pastas, steak, burgers, sandwiches, pastries, coffee and wine.  Most of the time, none of the food is done well.  In my opinion, cafes are good for taking a break with a coffee and a small snack.  We haven't had ANY remarkable food in a cafe.  Even most restaurants are the same.  I've had to really research to find restaurants serving something different.  I guess Argentinians know what they like and want to see the same stuff everywhere.  Not to say they don't have good food, the steak and pork quality here is amazing.  Even the meat we buy in the grocery store is some of the best we've ever tasted.  Aaron also loves the dulce du leche and we've heard the wine is top notch (I haven't tried any yet, we're not wine people).  My favorite restaurant since we've left home has been Sarkis, the Middle Eastern restaurant South of Palermo.  Aaron's favorite food was the grilled chicken he got from the hole in the wall BBQ joint in The Center.  So, I guess you just have to know what to look for when choosing a restaurant.  Expensive and fancy doesn't necessarily mean better here.
Interesting fact: all restaurants charge a service fee (for silverware and bread).  It's totally lame, but it's usually only a couple extra bucks per person.
Tip here is generally no more than 10%, even if they try to make it seem like it's more, IT'S NOT!  They know Americans are used to tipping more and they try to take advantage, but don't be fooled!  Tip also always has to be paid in cash, they don't usually accept tip on your credit card.

8.  The people here are less friendly than we were used to in Costa Rica.  I have to say, we don't mind one bit.  Costa Ricans are very fake-friendly because you're a tourist and they want your money.  Here, they don't care.  In fact, they're generally annoyed that you're even here.  They don't typically try to accommodate English-speakers and they could care less about your money.  I'm aware this is a huge generalization, and I don't speak for all Argentinians (as we've met some amazingly sweet people), but this is the attitude we typically encounter.  I think people here are more genuine, which is  really refreshing.  I'd rather have rude, then fake-nice.

9.  There are dogs everywhere here!  I was surprised that even in a big city, everyone has a dog.  There are professional dog walkers all over, walking up to 10 dogs at a time.  I personally wouldn't want to raise a dog in a big city, but it seems to work out well for the folks around here.
The other surprise is that there is no law or courtesy here about picking up the poop!  Dogs poop all over the sidewalk and NO ONE PICKS IT UP!  There's poop smeared everywhere!  AND NO ONE SEEMS TO NOTICE!  I have to look down when I walk to make sure I don't step in a pile.  They have people sweep the sidewalks (that's a real job!), but there's way more shit than sidewalk sweepers!

10.  The fashion here is very trendy, hipster and somewhat grungy.  The one thing everyone has in common is skinny jeans or leggings and LARGE platforms.  Platforms are huge here, both in size and epidemic.  You're basically a total loser if you aren't wearing giant platforms that make you 5-inches taller and make loud clunking sounds when you walk.  Aaron thinks it's the most ridiculous thing ever and I can't say I totally disagree.

11.  BA is very gay friendly.  From day one, we've seen guys holding hands and people seem very open about their sexuality.  We've met a number of gay guys here, who experience no ridicule or discrimination.  In this sense, they're way ahead of us.  Shame, shame America!

12.  The health care here sucks.  Even at private hospitals, if you go to the doctor with a problem, you get a "consult," meaning they sit you down, ask you questions and diagnose you by guessing what's wrong without ever doing any tests or even checking any of your vitals.  It's complete madness.  I got misdiagnosed 3 times before I got fed up.  It's an inefficient and idiotic system.
However, once I wised up and went to a specialist, I got the best care I've gotten in a long time, even including back home.  Shout out to Dr. Lacour!  If you need an ear, nose, throat guy (or allergist) (or friend) in BA, he's the best!!

13.  Protests are a big thing here.  There's always a protest going on for something somewhere around the city.  Most take place in Plaza de Mayo.  There's even a weekly protest of mothers called The Mothers of Plaza de Mayo.  It's a group of mothers whose children disappeared during the Dirty War, about 40 years ago.  They began to march in protest and still do so every Thursday afternoon.

14.  Even though it's a big city, there are surprising lots of green spaces.  Wildlife is non-existent, but there are lots of parks and plants throughout the city.  Right across the street from us is the botanical garden, the zoo and several parks, the largest being Parque 3 de Febrero, with a lake in the middle.

Even though Buenos Aires is a somewhat typical large city, it's definitely got it's charms and we will miss it dearly when we go.  We've visited many historic sites and beautiful landmarks sprinkled throughout the city and Argentina is rich with both culture and food.  It's a place I'd definitely recommend to anyone looking for a fun, cultural, big city getaway.  Start planning your trip to BA!

Allergy Test

Today I went back to Dr. Lacour one last time, but this time it was for an allergy test.  Turns out, not only is he an ear, nose and throat specialist, but he's also an allergist.  Man, talk about your over-achiever!
I had always wanted an allergy test because I know I have allergies, but can't quite pinpoint them.  Allergies don't control my life or anything, but I get itchy and irritated often enough to wonder.  He offered to give me the test for the price of the consulting fee, which isn't that expensive, so I went for it.
First, he marked my inner forearm with a pen.  Then he grabbed a bunch of small vials and put a drop from each onto my arm.  Then he grabbed syringes and pricked each droplet into my skin.

I am deathly afraid of needles, so this wasn't my cup of tea.  Then he wiped the droplets away and had me sit and wait for 30 minutes.  *DISCLAIMER:  This is kinda gross.*

Here's my arm initially:

I've got 12 different spots.  Here's after about 5 minutes (it's really itchy now):

5 more minutes:

It's really burning and itching now.  A bunch of the spots turned into bumps.  Then Dr. Lacour came by with a popsicle stick and scraped all the bumps, further irritating them.  Thanks a lot!

Verdict:  I'm allergic to cat, dog, mold, dust and some bacteria naturally occurring in my body.  Great!   I might as well go buy a plastic bubble right now!  He said there's a laser procedure that would help me a lot, but I'm not getting a laser shoved up my nose, so he gave me some pills and drops to try instead.  Wow, what a fun day!

On the way home, I stopped at Disco (the supermarket) and got rations for a yummy dinner.  I pan-fried pork chops (just used salt, pepper and a little butter):

I caramelized some onions and put them on top:

Then I made the apple "sauce:"

I bought a tiny bottle of apple juice (try to get the good, dark brown stuff, if you can (and which I couldn't)) and diced a large apple.  I threw them into a sauce pan and let them simmer for awhile with a pinch of salt and pepper.  You want the sauce to reduce and get really thick and dark brown like this:

The apples should be really tender, almost like mush.  Then I poured this on top of the pork and onions:

Oh yea, I also boiled some carrots:

Aaron likes them and anything I can do to get him to eat veggies is a good thing.  

Dinner was delicious!  If you get a chance, pork chops and applesauce is a must!  Don't just buy applesauce, making your own is so worth it!  It's easy, cheap and doesn't take too much time.  This entire meal took me maybe 30 minutes.

Alrighty, now that we're stuffed, I'm off to wash my deformed arm!

Patagonia

We went to Patagonia and it was incredible!!!  It was a whirlwind of a trip, but it was perfect.  Let's start with what in the heck Patagonia is:

Basically the bottom third of Argentina is called Patagonia.  Buenos Aires is in the middle of the country and to the far right.  We flew down to El Calafate, almost at the bottom.  That yellow triangle coming up from the bottom is Antarctica.  Look how close we were!

We left Buenos Aires on Monday morning and took a cab to the airport.

It's a 3 hour flight to El Calafate:

The snacks on the plane:

Crackers, a lemon cookie and a chocolate cookie.  Yum.  Pictures from the plane:

We landed and grabbed a 15 minute cab ride to town.  

It was cold, but not as cold as I thought it would be (it was about 30 degrees F).  I was half expecting a blizzard.

We checked into our hostel at Las Cabanitas:

We got a little cabin:

Up the ladder:

It was tiny, but warm!

Then we went to the main street to try to find a tour for Los Glaciares National Park.

Main street:

The town reminded us of Lake Tahoe.  There were lots of stores and restaurants and the entire town was surrounded by the snow-capped Andes mountains.  

We easily got a tour for the next day, including a bus ride to and from the glaciers and a one hour boat ride, all for the low price of $100!  Online we would have easily paid $100/person!  Tours are one of those situations where it pays to wait until you're in the actual town to book your excursion.  Online is a rip-off!

We walked around trying to find a restaurant, but almost everything in town is closed from 1pm-4pm!  Ridiculous!  We went into the only open restaurant:

I got a salad and Aaron got a burger and both were horrid.  There are so many artisan chocolate shops in town that we filled up with chocolate instead:

We tried dulce de leche:

Mint:

Dark chocolate:

Almond brittle:

Yum!

We also hit the local grocery store because we were told our tour didn't provide food and the snack bar up there was crazy expensive.  We got salami, cheese (for me), a loaf of bread, apples, chips and water.

We went back to the cabin and got warm and relaxed til dinner.  Finally everything was open!

I ordered goulash (like a beef stew):

Aaron ordered pumpkin soup:

and battered shrimp:

Everything was good, especially the soup!

Then it was off to bed because tomorrow was going to be a long day!

Sweet dreams!

We woke up at 8am, got ready, ate breakfast and waited out front for our bus.  I wore EVERY piece of clothing I brought, including: a tank top, a tee-shirt, 2 sweaters, a jacket, leggings, yoga pants, jeans, 2 pairs of socks and 2 scarves.  I'm from California, I don't do well with cold.

At 9am, it was still dark outside:

We got on the bus and off we went!

Andes Mountains

We stopped on the way to take pictures and a video:

About an hour later, we were at the entrance:

The entrance fee into Los Glaciares National Park is about $25/person.

Then we drove for another 10 minutes until we saw what we came to see: The Perito Moreno Glacier.

Can you see the rainbow???  Amazing!

Glacier from afar

Perito Moreno Glacier is one of the only Patagonian glaciers that's growing.  This ice field is the third largest reserve of fresh water in the world.  It's about 3 miles wide, 240 feet high (above the water) and 558 feet deep (under water).  Only 20% of the glacier is above the water.  I know this is far away.  Don't worry, we got much closer.

Back on the bus to the "balconies."  

You walk along these paths (lots of stairs) down to see the glacier on different "balconies."

Here we go!

Glacier from up close

Another rainbow!

We really lucked out because multiple people said the weather was gorgeous.  Yes, it was frickin cold and super windy, but clear and very light rain, so we couldn't have asked for more!

We walked back up the million stairs and into the cafeteria for a snack:

Then back on the bus to get to our boat ride:

The boat was going to give us a close-up view of the glacier from different sides.

Glacier from the boat

Pieces of glacier break off all the time and we saw chunks floating in the water.  

Unfortunately, we didn't get to see any pieces break off.

Iceberg, right ahead!!

We definitely got a little picture-happy, but when are we ever going to see another glacier in Patagonia???

Insane

It was windy and freezing the closer we got, so we tried to cover every inch of our bodies.

Then back on the bus and back to El Calafate.  We got back to the hostel around 4:30pm, grabbed our stuff and got a cab to the airport.

Back in BA!

A once in a lifetime, 24-hour adventure!  If you ever get the chance to go to Patagonia, do it!!  It's pretty far out of the way, but I'm realizing all the best things are.  It was like nothing we've ever seen!  Amazing and unforgettable!