White Water Rafting... in Spanish

I thought I would save the white water rafting blog for its own... As you may have guessed, the morning of white water rafting I was feeling very apprehensive. Mostly I was thinking I would fall out into the rapids, panic, and not sure what to do.... So of course, throughout my time in Bariloche, I would ask each person who I met (waitress, guy at pizza shop, maid, etc) if they had gone rafting. Most had good things to say about it so I felt more reassured. The day we went rafting, it was cloudy in the morning. Nigel, gay owner of the hotel from South Africa, kept telling us it woudl clear up in time for our rafting expedition. I wasn't feeling convinced.


We boarded our bus of fellow rafters, which felt a bit like the United Nations: 2 Americans frat kids, 2 Swiss adventurer, 2 Venezuelans (on their honeymoon), 1 Auzzie with waterproof camera (which didn't work), 2 Canadian studs (us of course)... Since we were 9, we had to go in two boats. Ariel had been showing off his Spanish skills talking to the guides so we were placed in the Spanish/Latino raft with the Venezuelan couple. We then got into our wet suits (see photos)...They were absolutely essential since the water was FREEZING!!!

I also kept looking up at the semi-cloudy sky hoping it was going to clear up. We got into our rafts and the instructions started... in Spanish. Now, I certainly did not cover the rafting vocabulary in my lessons with Jose-Luis. And the guide spoke softly. So the life-saving instructions were starting to get lost on me. I turned to Ariel and told him that I needed translations ASAP... so Ariel and eventually the Venezuelan chick started to translate. They were very important instructions (e.g. how to paddle, jump inside boat, and swim if we fell out of the raft).

Finally we started moving along the rapids, which had names like Vaseline, Ecstasy, and Deep Throat. It was a little perverted. For each rapid, the guide would shout out the important life saving instructions and then Ariel would translate for me what I should do. It was very important that Ariel still loves me otherwise I may have been told false information. Suddenly, the cold rain started to pour down on us and drenched us. We didn't have a camera to catch these moments so I improvised (see fake photo of Ariel and I braving the rapids)... Our feet were secured by this strap which became my new best friend.

Fortunately, we all stayed in the boat (someone fell out of the English boat though.. sucker!). Some of the rapids were really intense and at times we had to move into the centre of the boat. By the end, we were totally drenched and it was actually quite a bit of fun. I am really glad that I did this. We got out of our raft, and climbed up a large hill that smelled like cow manure. We changed and got into the van for some hot tea. It was still pouring rain at this time. In the photo, you may be able to tell how exhausted we were at the time.


Then it was time for an asado (BBQ) lunch with the gang. Here is a photo of our rafting crew...

After our exciting day, we went back to our hotel, and it was still pouring rain, so we opted to order pizza. We awoke the next day (our last) to cool temperatures (which meant I was wearing my famous grey hoodie again). We had saved a hike up the mountain for this day... when we got to the top, it was very windy... but look at this beautiful view...

We really enjoyed our time in Bariloche. Great views, fresh air, CHOCOLATE, great food, and a lot of adventure. We didn't go further south as originally intended as a) we have run out of $$ and it is really expensive
b) we wanted more time in Buenos Aires so opted to enjoy our time there more in December...

Here is one last pic of Bariloche for our memories... It was the last time we would need to wear long sleeves on this trip. Since then, the weather has been HOT and now we have amazing suntans from our days on the beach in Rio... but that... is another story!!

Love Miguel

Flashback: Bariloche Memories

Oi (as they say in Brazil)!... I am writing you from Pousada Evelina, an amazing B&B in Foz de Iguazu (or Iguazu Falls for the English), Brazil. We are here stranded with our luggage and have been sleeping on some outdoor couches for the last few hours (photo and story coming in future blog) due to a major ongoing run-in with Gol Airlines where we were denied boarding for our 6am flight -- after waking up at 4:15am!!. I will tell that story in a future blog but after some major drama, we are definitely getting to Rio de Janeiro later today. Also, I promise to share with you the best of the 200+ photos of Ariel, me, and Iguazu Falls... but for now... back to Bariloche as I haven't talked about that trip...

As mentioned, Bariloche is a very cute town ~20 hours by bus Southwest of Buenos Aires. The town has a very European lodge feel to it and it was swarmed by tourists at this time of year. It is also a great place to do some outdoor activities such as hiking and rafting (two of my favourites - kidding, but I am changing to really enjoy the outdoors!).

We arrived in Bariloche on Wednesday morning, checked into our really nice gay friendly hotel and immediately realized that... we needed a car in Bariloche. Thank goodness Ariel can drive standard so we rented a car and proceeded to the first viewpoint, Cerro Otto by gondola (or teleferia in Spanish).

See photo above of Ariel and I in the gondola... and then this one up at the viewpoint where we realized it gets a little chilly in Bariloche. Look at the beautiful view behind us, especially the blue water and lakes!!! Looking at the mountains and lakes in Bariloche reminded us quite a bit of Western Canada, and our road trip through the Rockies in 2003.

We then decided to take a scenic drive around the Short Circuit, which really had magnificent views of the town and the blue waters.

Here is a great picture we took on the drive, which has the very posh Llau Llau hotel (I called it Fam Fam hotel since I couldn't remember the name properly). It really was quite beautiful.

Here is an even better picture of the scenery with the 2 cute Canadians in it... Yes I realize I have worn that grey hoodie in 80% of my photos here in Argentina - but I love it. I also love my shoes which are holding up nicely, my plaid baseball cap (a.k.a latino thug cap)!!

We then went for a very touristy dinner at an Austrian/German restaurant complete with an accordian player. He kinda reminded me of a retired version of Super Mario....

I was quite nervous in this picture because I had agreed to go White Water Rafting on day 4 of our trip and I was kinda pooing my pants a bit. But I promised myself I would try new things so I was going to do it!!

We went back to our hotel after dinner, and woke up early the next day to start our road trip towards San Martin de los Andes. Our first mandatory stop on the trip was to visit a chocolate shop. Did I mention that the chocolate in Bariloche was fantastic!!!

Our driving tour went by some beautiful sights (see bridge on right), but it was really dusty. We opted for the no a/c car so we were faced with either overheating or inhaling dust. We opted to inhale the dust...

We stopped at a cute remote lake and it was so peaceful there. Here is a photo of Ariel thinking on a log... It was also nice to take a break as parts of the drive were slightly treacherous...

We finally arrived at San Martin de los Andes and immediately fell in love with the cute town. We only had one night to spend there and wished we could have stayed longer. It was very quaint with cute inns/lodges, remote beaches and just an relaxing feel. Here is a picture of Ariel and I on the beach in San Martin with a cute dog in the background...

We had a nice lunch overlooking the water and then decided to stop for some manly strawberry dacquiris before heading back to our hotel.

Our hotel, La Raqulette, was one of the best we have stayed in during our time in South America. It was a cute old house with cozy rooms, comfy beds and even a jacuzzi tub! We really enjoyed our time here. Here is a photo of us enjoying our breakfast the next morning at the hotel...

Before leaving San Martin, we stopped for massages at the spa down the street. It was a funny experience to receive a massage in Spanish. Of course, I had a funny experience as I didn't follow the directions properly. When the masseuse came back into the room I had to get out of the blanket and rearrange myself on top of the blanket for the massage. Luckily I heard the instruction for keeping my underwear on or else it would have been really embarrassing! Here is a photo of us with Ariel's masseuse and me playing with some Chinese balls - that was another option for the massage which we didn't take... My massage was nice but I wanted a deeper massage from the lady. I thought I should keep my mouth shut though since I was worried it could be misinterpreted upon translation.

We had a nice lunch overlooking this beautiful scenery. I love this photo... imagine us eating hamburguesas and papas fritas while looking out on the lake!!

We then drove back to Bariloche (about 3.5 hours) along the dusty roads. Ariel even taught me to drive standard along the way, which was pretty fun... We had an amazing meal in Bariloche that night-- sort of a tapas style meal and every course they brought out was delicious! Best part was the price of everything which was about $40 Canadian for the entire meal including a bottle of wine!!! I love Argentina!!!

When we got back, it was beginning to really set in that I was going White Water Rafting the next day!!! Yikes!!!

TO BE CONTINUED....
Miguel

Feliz Navidad... and some endings

Hello all,

HAPPY HOLIDAYS!!! I have decided to skip the Bariloche story for now and first write about our last couple of days here in Buenos Aires. It's Christmas morning and there are no stockings or trees here but instead suitcases beside me which we've been packing. We are leaving Buenos Aires today for the last part of our trip (to Iguazu Falls and then Rio - Ariel's parents are in Iguazu now) and it's a very emotional time. I've been thinking back on the last 4 months here in Buenos Aires and all the memories we had here. It's really been wonderful and I'm so glad we were able to have this experience.

I think it really started to hit home that we were leaving when Carla, the woman who works downstairs and reads the magazines, rang our doorbell with a gift for us (see last photo of us together - note that I am eating ice cream again). It was super sweet of her to do this-- she got us a tile that says Buenos Aires Tango as well as a couple of mugs. She told us that no one ever talks to her and we talked to her so much. Little does she know that I love talking to the people in my neighbourhood. She then got a little teary-eyed and left. After this,it really started to sink in that we were going. Yesterday we also said goodbye to Luis (Senor Laundry). He told us that he was glad that he met us and hopes to see us one day again.

Yesterday was also my final spanish class with Jose-Luis. I decided to buy him a Christmas present to thank him for all his help. I was looking for the perfect t-shirt that wasn't plain black or white. Finally I found it-- they were selling a shirt identical to one I had so I bought it. Now, as you can see from the photo, Jose-Luis and I have matching skater t-shirts!! (because I am such a skateboarder dude of course)... Jose Luis, if you are reading this I am going to keep up my Spanish I promise!!!

Unfortunately I didn't get to say goodbye to Senora Sandwich so if she's reading this (or her assistant) I'm sorry and Feliz Navidad... Besos. One other person I didn't get to say goodbye to yet is hot Andy the landlord. I hope he drops by today but I have a feeling we are not his top priority at Christmas. If he does drop by I certainly will take photos and post them of hot Andy.

Of course every day this past week I've been having ice cream and empanadas. They really have formed a staple diet. Luckily, the ice cream shop across the street is open today and we are going to go for a final photo shoot with our friends there. Man, am I going to miss Buenos Aires ice cream!!!

Last night we went to a Christmas party for foreigners hosted by a friend of a friend (yes we crashed it). There is a Christmas tradition in BA to have fireworks on Christmas eve. As you can see from the video, they opted for the cheap fireworks which almost killed us a couple of times. See video of me filming fireworks until I got sprayed and burnt by one... It was a nice evening with a great turkey dinner. Ariel made guacamole mmmm...

After dinner I was really tired and sleepy but still went to Amerika with some of the guys (see right for super cool posing with our drinks). Amerika is the only club I haven't been to yet so I was happy to get to go finally. We didn't stay long as we were wiped out....


On the 23rd we went out for our last BA steak dinner, to Don Julio. Wow they have amazing meat. We had our usual lomo and entrana with a malbec. Delicious (see photo for us chowing down)! Man I don't know what it is about the meat here but I will need to come back one day to taste it again!

One new thing we were able to do this past week was check out this drum circle which happens every Monday night in Buenos Aires. It was a great experience with lots of energy as you can see from the photo (ok so the picture doesn't look like there is a lot going on but it was really rowdy I swear)...

They also had very large beer for sale here (15 pesos for a litre - that is the only size you can buy - YUM!). You can see someone here new in the photo, Mr. Short Shorts. Someone should tell him never to wear those pants. But interestingly enough... we have seen him before!!... and he was wearing the same short shorts at that time (see other photo)....
Mr. Short Shorts is just another one of the great BA celebrities that make the city so special...

Well over the last 4 months I think I have officially fallen in love with BA. It wasn't any one thing in particular or any one person or one event... it was a combination of many things, ups and downs, and new experiences...

Most of all I say... MUCHAS GRACIAS BUENOS AIRES!!! We will be back!!!

Our bus tonight leaves at 7pm for Iguazu where we will spend 2 nights before heading to Rio de Janeiro for New Years! I can't wait for the BEACH!!!

Love Miguel!!!

Hot Ape on the Bus

We're baaaaaaaack.... in Buenos Aires, that is... We have just come back after spending a week long mini-vacation in Bariloche, which was beautiful and worthy of a least one future blog (stay tuned for hot pictures of me in a wet-suit). I am significantly behind on my blogging so I must catch you up with what we did last weekend before we left for Bariloche.

However, great news in terms of my blog and future career as a writer (I'm looking for job offers)... today I went to visit Senora Sandwich and her sandwich-making assistant (see prior blog) told me she had been recently visiting my blog. I am thrilled that I have some local fans now!

Last Sundy we accompanied Ariel's parents to the Feria de Mataderos, a local festival in the Mataderos suburb of BA. The festival, unlike San Telmo's antique market, is geared more for locals. It took us about 1 hour to get there by bus, but when we arrived, we saw the locals in action, dancing away to some folk music dressed in traditional "gaucho" clothing. They say it's a festival for families but look at this gaucho about to spank his dance partner's bum.


Speaking of gauchos (latino cowboys), later on we were treated to a gaucho show at the Feria. It was very impressive as you can see from the picture on the right with the underage gaucho riding a horse and trying to put a peg in a very small ring (you really had to be there).

Here is a picture of the head gaucho man putting up the "ring hole" so you can see how it works. The galloping gaucho races towards the ring and tries to put the peg in while the horse was galloping.

Overall the Feria was a great way to spend a Sunday afternoon. There was yummy food (empanadas and some choripan) and a mini market where I bought some dulce de leche.


A great suprise this past week was a visit from Jenn, Tobias, and baby Lauren. Tobias' dad lives in BA and they were visiting him over the holidays so we were able to see each other. I used to work with Tobias and Jenn and it was great to reconnect and introduce them to my favourite past time, eating pizza, beer and ice cream (did I mention my tiny pot belly which is growing and I have named Juan since it started in Argentina)!

After the visit, Ariel and I boarded the 20-hour bus to Bariloche. Bariloche is a city in the south of Argentina close to the border with Chile. It is known for its outdoor scenery, chocolates (YUM!) and charm. After this trip, I may win the award for Mr. Urban turned Mr. Outdoors!

Normally, the bus ride is slightly boring (other than the movies, but I am getting a little sick of watching Made of Honor). Interestingly this time, we were treated to some entertainment. The guy in the seat across from us, who looked a bit ape-ish, decided to do some sun tanning or maybe put on a show, so we decided to snap a picture of him (see photo above). We were giggling as we took it as we were trying the get the best angle. I'm not sure he realized its a bit difficult to get a tan through a window, but we didn't want to disturb his heavenly bliss. Plus the view wasn't bad!

Before we knew it the bus ride had finished and we had arrived in Bariloche, which reminded us of a Swiss-village mixed with some Western Canada scenery (and cooler Canadian-like weather). We knew we were going to have a great time there. Here is a photo of us in the main square with the typical lodge-type building in the background.

There's so much to write about Bariloche that I will save it for a separate blog.

Until then. Besos,
Miguel

Muuuuuuuuuy Lindo!!! (en Mendoza)

Hola,

I met the cutest woman ever, Analia, in Mendoza (see photo). She was one of the owners of the hotel and we did a lot of talking so I could practice my Spanish. Everything she described was 'muy lindo' (very beautiful/cute/pretty) with a lot of Argentinian body language so sooner or later, I was copying her in the hopes of being a true Argentinian.

Below is a video of us practicing together... Please provide your comments if you think I have gotten the hang of the muy lindo.




Anyhow, our hosts at the hotel really made us feel special, especially after we bonded over the fact that Dolores had taken advantage of us (they didn't like her either). The ladies even helped us book a Bike Tour called Bikes & Wine for our third and final day in Mendoza. The tour logo (above) is of a person drinking wine while simultaneously riding a bike, which as you may expect, is not something you normally do. I don't ride bikes much but it seemed like the perfect way to explore the Maipu valley in Mendoza so long as we didn't get too intoxicated. So we decided to go for it, especially since the sun was shining and it was a beautiful day!

We got a taxi to the bike shop and rented the bike from the cute Argentinian guy with the long hair in the photo. Long hair (and jean shorts) are very "in" here. In fact, a lot of the people are floggers, a term that I have never heard of but apparently it's the style here. I am not turning into a flogger, don't worry.

We got on our bikes and rode to our first stop, a winery where we tasted some Cabernet Sauvignon (see photo)... Keep in mind that it was only about 11 am at the time.



After this winery, I was a bit peckish so we stopped at a chocolate store and tried some chocolate liqueur and of course some chocolates. I was in heaven being in a chocolate store, and as usual, decided to take a photo of us behind the counter..

We then rode by this pretty house and stopped for a nice lunch in the garden. We later found out that the owner of the house is a woman from Vancouver BC (a bit of a hippy). The food was quite delicious and we bought a bottle of Torrontes white wine. It went great with my gazpacho soup.

For the main course we had a steak (lomito) sandwich with papas. This is starting to be a staple for me here in BA. Also starting to notice that I have a tiny little pot belly (HELP!)...


The scenery around us was really fantastic. Here is a picture we took from a third winery we visited...

Here is another one, with the happy couple in front of the nice scenery...

We really enjoyed the wine of the third winery. So much so that we started to feel tired. Thinking about biking back to the bike rental place was not turning my crank, especially since the bike seat was not very comfy (yes I am used to the finer things in life). So, being the VIPs that we are, we opted for the Option B : leaving our bikes at the winery and taking a cab back home. It was only 10 pesos more and well worth it.

We arrived back to our hotel and bonded a bit more with the friendly ladies there, then boarded our bus back home to Buenos Aires...

We got back in BA and spent our last weekend on the town, where we checked out some clubs and had a great dinner with Sandra and Silvina. They have been great hosts to us while we have been here (Sandra works for the same company as me, but here in BA). Sandra told me she reads my blog often which is the best thing you can possibly say to me other than you love my grey hair (both will earn you many brownie points).

The two told us about their upcoming meditation retreat to India and it got me thinking that would make an EXCELLENT future trip, especially since I am constantly on the go and can't relax.

Well... looking back on Mendoza we had a great time there and will remember it as being MUY MUY LINDO! Our next trip coming up is to Bariloche on Tuesday. Time is really flying and I am going to need to take more pictures to capture everything we do....

Right now, I am happy to report that I have a tan from sitting on my balcony and reading in the park, plus all the time in the sun in Mendoza - YES!

Hugs,
Miguelito

Tasting Dolores.. (in Mendoza)

Editors note: It's our last weekend in Buenos Aires which means I'm killing the pain and depression by overdosing on my favourites: Alfajores, Empanadas, Helado, Lomo, even agua con gas... But still want to
catch you up on things...

Mendoza Trip: Dec 9 -12

Mendoza is a wine-lovers paradise which produces some of the country's (and continent's) best wine. We loved Napa Valley so of course, we had to hop on the 12 hour bus ride to taste Mendoza. As part of the trip, I organized a luxurious VIP wine tasting package with a woman by the name of Dolores (more on her later). We also were joined on the trip by Mick (see right), the Auzzie that Ariel met in his Spanish class (editor's note: I am still not fluent in Spanish, sorry I am trying though).

We arrived early in the morning on our first day after a 12 hour bus ride (easy for us now - we are experts in long haul buses!!).

Frommer's Latin American guidebook says:
Mendoza is an artificial oasis, receiving no more than 5 days of rain per year.

The hard truth:
NO FAIR - we got 2 rainy / cloudy days!!!



We spent our first day wandering the city, walking through the main square which was like a park, and stopping for delicious lomito sandwiches. As you can see the sandwiches are very yummy -- and large-- and shortly after this, we fell into a lomito coma state.

There were some very unusual things in Mendoza, including this one-of-a-kind alien cotton candy dispenser-->









That night, we had a nice Middle Eastern dinner, then got a good sleep for our VIP tour the next day. We awoke the next morning, had breakfast, and were greated by our private driver (he was shy for photos, and actually barely spoke). Our winery tour was in the Uco Valley, which apparently is the up-and-coming area of Mendoza wineries. He drove us to our first winery where we posed near the vineyards.

Here is another photo of the vineyards with the beautiful mountains in the background. (Please ignore the clouds, that wasn't happening...)

We then got a tour of this winery, called Salentein. The winery was huge, immaculate, and had very high tech processes. During the tour, we contemplated staying behind and opening all these barrels of wine...

Then it was time for the wine tasting at Salentein. But.... gasp!! We were only being allowed to taste 2 wines. We wanted to try some more but apparently Dolores had placed a limit on us (even coca leaf chewing Christian had gotten us 4 or so per bodega). We were not happy with this development but focused our attention on drinking the 2 wines very thoroughly and told the driver to alert Dolores that we were feeling our VIP status fade quickly (actually the tour cost more than our Madonna tickets and the hotel combined so we wanted to ensure it was going to be worth it).

However, this winery had a free art gallery/ museum so we wandered around and really enjoyed ourself. This is a picture of me posing with some outdoor art.


Then it was time for the lunch at the second winery, Altus. The lunch was absolutely delicious. First we had appetizers and some wine out in the countryside.... We are drinking some Chardonnay here and later had some Rose. Thank goodness they kept the wine flowing at this winery...

Here are some pictures of some of the appetizers we had as they were so delcious...


<-- Fancy sausage (not kosher) on nice bread and fancy cabbage on spoon (not cole slaw I swear)

Scrambled egg inside of egg shell (actually quite creative and very tasty) -->





Then we moved into the cute house for our main meal, which was some steak, papas fritas and dessert was rice pudding (which I don't usually like but really was so delicious). We are a bit drunk at this point in time.

Again, however, we found out that Dolores was getting in the way of our VIP tasting... we were told that we would need to pay extra to have the 'good' wine. I actually liked the wine we had but it was driving me crazy that we were not getting the good stuff. We decided that we needed to speak to Dolores later at the hotel...

It was then off to winery #3, Azul, which is a small boutique winery and the host of the wine tour was a 18 (or so) year old son of the owner and his friend. The wine here was very good but all of a sudden, we couldn't find Mick anywhere. Then we walked to the chemistry set behind the wine vats and found Mick flirting with the hosts, who, as you can see, were also slightly drunk from tasting their wine at each tasting. Amateurs!!

We knew we had to keep an eye on Mick for the rest of the tour...

We then were driven back to our hotel in Mendoza city and prepared to meet Dolores to pay her and provide feedback. We wanted to tell Dolores that we liked the tour but really hoped to have access to more wine. We sat her down at the table to talk to her and before we knew it, she had an anger meltdown on us and things got very ugly (see right for simulation of event with actor playing Dolores). In the end, Dolores left in a huff and we realized we really didn't like the "taste" of Dolores...

However, we looked back on the day and realized we really did have a wonderful lunch and we were quite drunk throughout the day (definite objective of the tour). So, all and all, we really did enjoy ourselves and our first two days in Mendoza were quite special... we looked towards the future and hoped the next day would only be even better -- our day of biking through the vineyards on our own bike tour...

Love Miguel...