Is Michael still alive?

Planned Parenthood, Nicaragua Branch

2005-07-25T21:46:00.000-05:00

So I´m sitting in Nicaragua now. Needless to say it´s quite different from the other places I visited earlier this summer. I´ve got several stories, and not much time.

I noticed among the 90 crates or so we brought with us, that one had a sizable amount of birth control pills. However, none of the people coming in for consultations ever asked about them, and as far as I knew, on one was offering them either. So after giving a twenty something mother with 6 kids all of the necessary tylenol, vitamins, antibiotics, antifungal creams, and parasite medication, I, as politely as I knew how, asked if she might possible have any interest in having pills that will keep her from having children. What followed was the most resounding YES that I have heard in quite some time. Needless to say I have continued this tactic, and thanks to me, I bet 30 fewer Nicaraguan children will be born in the next year. I consider that an accomplishment. I hope all of my feminist friends are proud.

Back in the US of A

2005-07-19T17:31:00.000-05:00

So I'm back now and gradually getting over my denial. My body finally accepted that it was winter down there, and I got the usual winter sniffles my last week. Now I've still got my winter cold except that it's now summer, so that's weird.

Here are some Bolivia pictures. I took about 100, so if anyone wants to see more just let me know and we'll work something out.

Here's Bolivian immigration at the Border.

This is Regina by the "rock tree" with the colorful mountains in the distance. The minerals there give the land, lakes, and mountains incredible colors that are hard to photograph.

Monica and flamingos.

This watertower was leaking and the water froze during the night and created this surreal frozen waterfall.

Near the salt flat of Uyuni, we stayed in the "hotel de sal." Everything was either made of or covered by salt.

Regina tasted the wall to see if they were telling us the truth. They were.

We drove out to this "island" in the middle of the salt flat. All the white is salt, not snow or ice. You can see a car driving across to get an idea of the scale.

Here's a group shot by the Toyota Landcruiser.

From left to right: Me, Regina, Monica, Catherine, Natalie, and Celine.

Saying goodbye...

2005-07-16T14:37:00.000-05:00

I´m sitting here waiting to be picked up for the airport in about two and a half hours. I could be doing something cool or cultural, but I think I finally have no more of that in me. Monica left for her flight about an hour and a half ago. I´m leaving 5 hours later than her and going to a different continent, but I´ll still make it home before she does since I have a direct flight, and she has to change in Buenos Aires then bus from Montevideo to Pelotas. It was definitely sad to say goodbye, but we´ve already got our travel plans. We both need to see Bolivia, Peru, and Ecuador now that the Europeans have inspired us while we were barely in Bolivia. Who knows when that´ll happen. I did meet a lot of middle aged British, Australian, South African, and Dutch people who were traveling alone for months on the cheap, so I still can have hopes of being a travel junkie for a while longer.

We went to Valparaiso and Viña del Mar yesterday for a nice day trip. Valparaiso is this really quaint port city built on a bunch of hills. It sort of has the San Francisco thing going in that reguard. It also has the most frightening bus and taxi drivers I´ve ever encountered. They love flying up and down the hills and around the narrow, blind corners. I had to hold on in the bus with both fists clenched so as not to fall down. Seriously. Unfortunately, I was really lazy and didn´t take very many pictures.

I´ll try to post a bunch of stories and pictures from Bolivia next week as much for myself as everyone else. This blog will now become my scrapbook of sorts from this trip. Nicaragua is almost in South America so I´ll hopefully post stuff from there too. I hope someone has found some amusement in my six weeks of schlepping across South America. I know I´ve enjoyed myself much more having had some contact with you all back home. Traveling is so much easier with email, blogs, and AOL instant messenger.

Can´t wait to be able to talk to you all soon.

-Michael

Back from Bolivia

2005-07-14T21:37:00.000-05:00

Wow. Yeah. Bolivia might have been the coolest experience of the trip. I have a ton of pictures of the most beautiful and surreal landscape Ive ever come across. I will probably wait to describe it in detail till next week. Im so exhausted now, back in Santiago after a 22 hour journey back from the north of Chile. I just had the most gratifying hot shower in my life after about 3 days (ew, yes I know) of a hygiene free existence. Conditions were basic, but much more tolerable then I had expected. It was in the 80s or so during the day, and well below zero at night. Our first night was at 4300m altitude. I definitely noticed the altitude when I was helping the guide lift or lower all the bags on or off the top of the Landcruiser. (For some reason the girls seemed to magically vanish most of the times this needed to be done.) Monica and I totally bonded with the 3 Belgian girls (Catherine, Natalie, and Celine), and a German girl (Regina). They were all super cool. Regina is my age and was on were way up through Bolivia and Peru then flying over to Brazil and traveling down through to Argentina and back to Chile were she just finished up a semester long study abroad program. Im in awe of a girl with the guts to travel for 3 months alone through those countries.

I am down to the last set of clean clothes I have. Im thinking theyll be good to go till I leave on Saturday. The only pressing thing left now is to figure out how to get the residue of egg yolk and coca leaves out of the pocket of my jacket so as not to be viciously attacked by the dog at customs in Dallas. Ill explain later.

San Pedro de Atacama

2005-07-09T17:53:00.000-05:00

After a long eight hour ride back to Santiago, we decided that hopping on a 22 hour bus ride 2 hours later direct to the Atacama made the most since. It did make sense not to waste a night in Santiago (we´re not fond of this city); however, my patience was running a bit thin by the time we arrived in Calama last night. We were accompanied during the 22 hour trip by a small Chilean child named Nicolas. He was a perfect angel (didn´t know he was there) for the first 16 hours of the trip (very commendible), but then he needed to run up and down the bus aisle throwing things the last six hours. The bus service the whole time has been more or less very comfortable. They stop every 2 to 5 hours generally for about 5 to 15 minutes, and you can buy a diet coke or waterever. The last 8 hours or so were of beautiful, rolling, brown, desert hills. It did get very repetitive though, and at times I´d swear we weren´t moving since it was nothing but brown sand anywhere you looked. Nothing at all green, in fact the only signs of life at all were broken beer bottles beside the road.

We wanted a bus direct to San Pedro, but those were full, so we took one to Calama, a nearby town instead. We stayed last night in Calama. It´s a bit grittier, but not too bad for a stop. We came to San Pedro de Atacama an hour and half away around noon today. San Pedro is a very quaint desert town with adobe buildings and dirt roads. (you don´t have to worry about muddy roads since it never rains here, actually, yeah, I mean absolutely never.) The place has about five thousand inhabitants and about that many hippy backpackers from other parts of the world. Five minutes ago this cybercafé was full of people speaking french.

We looked at a map and realized we´re 60 kilometers more or less from Bolivia. We absolutely can´t resist and signed up for a 3 and half day excursion tour in a four wheel drive vehicle into Bolivia across the salt flats, geysers, and flamingo preserves. It includes 3 nights lodging, meals, guide, and transport for 100 dollars. Tomorrow night we´ll basically be camping, then we get real hotels after that. We´ll be accompanied by 3 belgians and a german girl, we´ll see how that goes. I´m already picturing myself trying not to freeze to death in a sleeping back in some hut on a mountain in Bolivia accompanied by a Brazilian, 3 Belgians, a German, and a strange Bolivian guy wondering how the heck I got there from Duncan, Oklahoma.

This little trip across the wilds of Bolivia should be a fantastic finale to my voyage across the continent. I will no doubt have no access to internet for most of the first part of this week, so no one worry.

Mendoza, Argentina

2005-07-06T15:10:00.000-05:00

Yes, a 7 hour bus ride later, and I am now in Argentina for the third time. My passport is getting full of stamps. It was not my imagination, it was not that I was getting tired of travelling, the food in Argentina is without a doubt like 10 times better for the same price. The average place here has linen table cloths, well dressed waiters, and great food, while the average chilean place that you would see everywhere looked like an american greasy spoon diner specializing in hot dogs and sandwiches.

Here are some pictures from Chile from this past week. I finally found a place with a USB port.

This is a "palafito", a typical little building on stilts out over the fjord on the island of Chiloé. This particular one is now a very decent seafood restaurant.

This is a seafood vender in Santiago´s central market. The seafood available here was incredible and without a doubt as fresh as it gets. The place is also home to the city´s more acclaimed seafood restaurants. We ate at two of them. Very good, but not great.

This is a shot of the main pedestrian shopping street in Santiago. A lot like Buenos Aires´calle Florida, but not quite as infectiously energetic.

Here´s Santiago´s main cathedral. It´s been destroyed by 4 earthquakes and rebuilt each time a little bigger. Notice the Ultra modern and shiny buiding next to it. This is the general theme of the city. It´s an incredibly attractive city. If it had had more accesible good food options, I would have absolutely loved it, but they´re unbelievably obsessed with hotdogs. It´s ridiculous.

And here we are on a hill overlooking the city. Notice the mighty Andes behind the smog in the background.

Here´s a shot of the general scenery in Argentina on the way over from Santiago yesterday.

This afternoon in Mendoza, I went to a little wineshop contained a very cool wine cellar dating from 1890. They represent a single wine producer that produces very small quantities of artisanal wines. Here I am in the wine cellar.

And here´s Jacky who guided me through the tasting of 2 Malbecs, a Cabernet, and a desert wine. All of which were wonderful. They don´t export anything, and they only sell by direct shipment to other parts of Argentina. I got talked into buying 3 bottles of course, hopefully it won´t be a catastrophe getting it home.

We´re heading back to Santiago tomorrow, staying the night, then trudging up to the Atacama desert in the north.

Happy 4th of July

2005-07-04T15:37:00.000-05:00

To celebrate the 4th of July, Monica and I ate lunch at McDonald´s. It was the most American thing I can think of that required no effort on my part. And I can honestly say without a doubt that a Big Mac and fries was incredibly, incredibly yummy.

Odd cultural observation:

It seems no matter where you go in Chile, Coffee=Nescafé instant coffee. Needless to say, those of you who know me at all know that this just doesn´t cut. Yes, Nescafé is like 20 times better than Folgers instant coffee in the US; however, this says absolutely nothing.

On an even weirder note, there are a quite a few places that serve decent espresso and espresso based drinks here in Santiago. These places serve coffee and only coffee, no food, no alcohol. And...the girls working there prepare and serve your coffee while wearing fishnet stockings and miniskirts. Some places are more risqué than others. Needless to say the clientele there are creepy middle aged men who I don´t think are there for the cappucchino. I walked past a "café Kournikova" that had blacked out windows, very creepy, did NOT go in. I find it all very odd. Maybe I´ve been marketing Michael´s Specialty Coffee the wrong way.

I haven´t eaten dinner anywhere that serves wine since I´ve been in Santiago, I am sort of frustrated at the lack of good dining options that seemed so abundant in Argentina. I think the price of the Los Vascos Cab. at the upscale wineshop I was at on Thursday was maybe around 7 or 8 dollars a bottle(versus $12? in the US), other than that it was all a bunch of higher quality stuff I didn´t know which ran from maybe $5USD to $50. I haven´t looked toomuch in grocery stores since i know that´s mostly irrelevant to me. I want to find a good wine bar or something, but monica doesn´t like wine, and goes to bed around 10, so I don´t really have a partner in crime on that.

To tour wineries here you have to make reservations a few days in advance, and they charge upwards of 20-30 dollars for a half day escursion to places in the suburbs. There is some sort of syndicate/mafia controlling local winery tours. Monica doesn´t like wine, and wouldn´t pay that much anyway. I actually have no interest in visiting only1 or 2 wineries in the Winter. I mostly just want to taste some. The upscale place I went to on Thursday next to the hooter´s and starbucks (Monica hadn´t gotten in yet) only had an Argentine wine out to try, so i just sighed really loud and left.

Our plan is to head to Mendoza, Argentina tomorrow. I´m sort of looking forward to spending at least a day on the east side of the Andes.

I don´t think the people here understand what they´re doing to me by making caffeine and alcohol inconvenient.

No, No, it´s not all bad. It´s a really pretty city, I´ve taken a couple good pictures, but I will have to post them from somewhere else.

Santiago, Chile

2005-07-02T15:04:00.000-05:00

Monica and I met up without problems in Santiago. We´ve spent about two days now walking around and seeing the tourist high points. The city is much cleaner and more modern than Buenos Aires (probably cleaner than most US cities for that matter.) However, it seems to lack the soul and ambience that made Buenos Aires so much fun. I went to a suburb a little ways out on my first day to find this wine shop mentioned in my guidebook. The store was enormous with a great selection of chilean wines. I didn´t get anything but a good map of the wine regions since it would be a pain to carry bottles around for two weeks. This suburb is all bright and shiny and modern. I can´t post pictures from this computer, but I did get a picture of a Starbucks and a Hooters right next door to each other. For a minute I definitely felt like I was in Denver or some other non descript US city that I don´t know very well. Needless to say, I hightailed it out of that part of town in search of something a little less familiar.

The food here is about 20% more expensive than Argentina, and about 70% of the quality. Sort of a disappointment. Last night, after walking forever and not being able to decide on a restaurant, we finally stopped by accident at the only restaurant in South America that hadn´t gotten its licquor license yet. So that was a downer.

We went on the super touristy but obligatory funicular/lift thing up this small mountain for the view of the city. When the smog clears a bit, you can look up almost anywhere and see the Andes mountains containing the tallest peaks in the world not located in the Himalayas. So that´s pretty nifty. We went to the Chilean museum of fine arts and the house of Pablo Neruda. (a Nobel prize winning latin american poet whose work I should know but don´t.) This morning we went to the museum of precolombian art and saw lots of gold drug paraphanelia used in various religious ceremonies. Much of it was very disturbing.

I hadn´t imagined Chilean culture in general to be so distinct from Argentine culture, but it seems to be. It´s equally advanced and prosperous here (more so in fact), but has much less of a European feel to it. I have a much harder time understanding the Spanish spoken here. (Monica concurs.) Argentina was a country of loud, proud, emphatic, repetitive speech, but I´ve encountered a disproportionate number of mumblers here that seem to speak faster and quieter the more you ask them to repeat themselves. I´m also like taller than 95% of this country. There´s a bit more indigenous blood I believe. I bump my head in the doorway to my bathroom if I´m wearing my shoes, but I don´t if i´m bearfoot. So that´s a lot of fun.

The mountain pass over to Mendoza, Argentina is being closed off and on do to snow, so it doesn´t look like we´ll make it over there unfortunately. We are planning a trip up to the Atacama desert in the far north for next week.

Take care, and everyone have a happy 4th of July weekend.

Chonchi, Island of Chiloé

2005-06-28T16:51:00.000-05:00

I rode the bus today for a ways down the final southern stretch of the Panamerican Highway (ruta 5). I am now at the small seaside town of Chonchi.

This morning I had a nice breakfast talk with the caretaker of the Alojamiento O'higgins. He wanted to study chemistry at the university in Valparaiso, but this was the early 40s and war was breaking out around the world, so he decided it would be safer on his family´s farm down here. He gave me his opinion on Chilean history. Ibañez assumed power as a dictator, but then turned out to be a good guy, so the people elected him back democratically. Then comes Allende, who had very leftist goals in mind. He received a gift of a boatload of sugar laced with guns and ammo from Fidel Castro around 1970 to help out his communist plans. My hotel guy described the day when the inspectors came from the party and surveyed his house. They counted the windows and estimated the number of rooms and determined that his house was suitable for 5 families instead of one. His family also worried about the state of there farm and 2 trucks that might have to be redistributed. Communism was all set to come into effect, but a 3 month strike across the country paralized everything. The military took over the government (with secret US help, as it was released in the late 90s by Clinton). General Pinochet took control as a military dictator for almost 20 years. My hotel guy thought he was just a good, strong, military leader, not really a horrible dictator, as chile became one of the leading latin american nations during his rule. However, the history books (my guidebook quoting them) will mention the estimated one thousand communists who were killed or went missing after the coup. Pinochet was arrested in London in 1999 and extradited to Spain. He's under house arrest now, but was deemed incompetent for trial due to dementia. Anyway, Chile is good now, whether because of or despite its recent traumatic history.

Im currently staying at this nice little beachside hotel owned and run by this Canadian Expat family. I didnt get a chance to ask what the heck there doing here, but I plan to when I go back.

The weather was much better today than yesterday. No rain, and we had sun during the very short day. (the sun sets at 6pm down here.) Its jacket and sweater weather, not too cold, but you want lots of blankets at night.

Tomorrow I am going back up to Santiago by bus and meeting Monica Thursday night.

Heres the guy who ran my hotel in Ancud

Heres my steak in Bariloche, notice the gooey red center. He asked me if i wanted it cooked more. I said no way.

This is the traditional curanto dish of Chiloé.

And here´s the waterfront of Chonchi.

I fully appreciate everyones comments. Hope everyone finds a way to cool off. I myself am hoping I can get the space heater on in my cabana tonight so as not to freeze to death.

Ancud, island of Chiloé, Chile

2005-06-27T13:30:00.000-05:00

On Saturday, I took a 4 hour bus ride to Bariloche south of San Martin. Bariloche used to be like San Martin until it got overbuilt and touristy. Its a much more happening place, but not really too quaint or special. I got in after dark so I didn´t get many pictures, nor can I post them from my current location. I did have one of the most spectacular steaks I´ve ever had in my life. Not sure what the difference between a really good steak and an amazing steak is, but this steak definitely was amazing. On Sunday I took a 7 hour busride through a few national parks complete with green and snowcovered mountains, waterfalls, and shimmering and blue lakes and rivers. It was rainy, so I didn´t see it as its finest, but it was beautiful take my word for it.

The bus crossed over into Chile to Puerto Montt. I didn´t stop there as this is a chaotic, not too attractive, transport hub of a city. I took another 2 hour bus ride to the town of Ancud on the big island of Chiloé. (part of the trip was on a ferry)

This is like the island that time forgot. It´s very cold and rainy here, though I must say incredibly scenic with colorful wood panel houses, green hills, and a blue bay. The cold winds coming off the Pacific make it seem like what i would imagine Vancouver would be like in winter or something. Well Vancouver circa 1910. I´m staying in this big old house converted into a hotel. It´s made of wood, and poorly insulated. So I stay bundled up most of the time. This nice eccentric old man runs the place. He asked me if I preferred to shower in the evening or morning so he could have the hot water heater turned on for me. I´m the only one staying there at the moment. It´s very creaky with the howling winds, not unlike the setting of a bad horror movie.

Last night to get out of the rain, I ducked into like the only restaurant that was open on a sunday during the off season. I sampled the island specialty of curanto. Its a big plate of stewed beef, chicken, sausage, potatoes, potato dumplings, musscles, and oysters. It definitely hits the spot on a cold, rainy night.

I slept very well in the freezing cold air under about 6 heavy blankets. This morning the owner guy invited me to have my breakfast with him in the kitchen instead of the freezing cold breakfast room with the amazing view of the bay. I´ve gotta get a picture of the kitchen tomorrow with the wood burning oven and stove. Very old fashioned. I very well might be the only tourist on this island at the moment, about two thirds of the stores and restaurants are closed, and I´ve been the only customer in any of the ones that are open.

I´m just going to relax around here and enjoy the scenery when the rain lets up. I´m disappointed the penguin preserve is closed as all the penguins are in Antarctica at the moment.

I need to find a restaurant that has oysters, supposedly the island is famous for them.

More later.

Skiing at Cerro Chapelco

2005-06-24T17:50:00.000-05:00

Yes father, I was careful skiing. No broken bones here. (And by the way happy birthday, no I didn´t forget.) The skiing was nice. It couldn´t hold a candle to anything that I´ve seen in Colorado in terms of trails or snow quality. One advantage here is that the altitude is much lower, and the air much more humid, so you can actually breathe.

They were offering 20% discounts off the already low off season price, so I spent even less than I thought I was going to. There were several really good green/blue runs that had good packed, but not icey snow. I went down a few harder ones, but they had this snowcone like snow that I would sink a foot down into, but it was so dense that you couldnt turn your skis, so needless to say I went down a ways on those slopes on my rear end. I really enjoyed striking up random conversations with people on the ski lifts. I met some guy that had worked at Vail for a while a few years ago. He agreed that North American skiing was far better than down here, although the pricetag is much more agreeable here. 15 dollars for a lift ticket versus 70.

It was really not very cold at all, although it did rain off and on. They had all of the upper lifts/runs closed off. I´m not sure if it was the weather or the fact that like no one was there. I had to stay on the more boring runs towards the base, but I still had a lot of fun. I had no trouble at all remembering how to parallel. The actual skiing seemed pretty easy, but I forgot how tiring it is to carry the skis around at the base and climb up and down stairs in ski boots. I´m going to sleep really well tonight and probably be unbelievably sore tomorrow.

Mountains are almost impossible to photograph. That and the overcast sky made my pictures not too impressive, but I tried anyway. Here´s the big restaurant where I ate lunch.

This is a shot out of the big gondala ski lift. There was like no one there, so even though I could make it down the runs in like less than ten minutes there was no lift line, so I definitely got my money´s worth.

Upon making it back into town, I took one of the greatest hot showers I´ve ever taken. Then, since I was totally ravenously hungry, but it was like 3 hours before dinner time, I had this really great waffle as a snack. It has whipped cream, caramel sauce, chocolate sauce, cocoa powder, and ice cream on top. That along with the half-bottle of wine, made for a great little snack. And here´s a picture of it to torture you all.

I am planning on heading to Bariloche to the south of here tomorrow, then on to Chile the day after that.

Last night I went to this great restaurant recommended by Lonely Planet. The book said there was usually a line for dinner, but it was all but deserted last night. Its definitely the off season here. I had several pieces of grilled filet mignon with this berry sauce on it. (couldnt identify the berries, but they were very tart and perfect.) I also had this bottle of Patagonian wine called Postales del fin del Mundo or Postcards from the end of the World. Cute name, and a great wine. I think I´ll return to this restaurant tonight and try the lamb that the waitress and I were debating about whether I should try or not.

San Martin de los Andes

2005-06-23T16:19:00.000-05:00

So after an 8 hour bus ride, a 3 hour ferry ride, and an 18 hour bus ride, I´m sitting here in scenic San Martin de los Andes. The trip here was definitely not as painful as it sounds, but Im not sure Id recommend it if you had other options. The 18 hour bus ride from Buenos Aires to here was only 70 pesos ( about 24USD), and that included several movies and an edible dinner at some random restaurant at 12.30 last night somewhere about halfway here.

This very much resembles the standard mountain resort town. Ive decided to go skiing tomorrow against my better judgement. Skiing is one of my favorite things to do in the world, and I havent done it in forever, and its not that expensive here compared to Colorado prices. I found stores here in town to rent all my stuff.

Heres a picture of the lake that the town sits by.

And some other streets of the town, as well as the nice little church.

Im loving the cold mountain air. Its a dry cold, so it really doesnt feel that cold at all. So far Im fine with just a sweater and jacket. Ive got the water proof ski coveralls for tomorrow though. Hopefully itll be a lot of fun. Im gonna be careful not to break anything for sure. Im just enthralled with the idea of skiing at the end of June in the southern hemisphere.

This is such a great continent. More people should come down here.

Layover in Montevideo

2005-06-22T06:53:00.000-05:00

So I was almost done writing this post, when the Uruguayan computer just decided it didnt want to play anymore and crashed on me.

I just took a bus from 11.30pm to 7.30am from Pelotas to Montevideo. Ambien is like the greatest drug in the world as Im feeling incredibly refreshed and alert now. I hadnt wanted to backtrack this much, all the direct buses to the lake district in southern Argentina seem to leave from Buenos Aires. I decided to splurge for the 3 hour ferry to Buenos Aires from Montevideo rather than the 7 hour bus. At this rate, hopefully Ill make it to San Martin de los Andes by thursday night. Im heading to what my imagination describes as the Colorado of South America, we´ll see how accurate I am. This is not the waterfall place, that´s Iguazu falls in the more tropical nothern part along the border with Brazil and Paraguay.

Amusing story from Pelotas: Last night one of Monicas friends came over to chat. His grandparents were Italian immigrants (as where most of those in the Rio Grande de Sul state of Brazil), so he wanted to meet me and practice his italian a little. (yey! more mental strain!) He told me the funny story of how one of his friends was eating in the Italian place where I had eaten Saturday night with Monica and her crew. His friend had heard this strange guy at the next table. He seemed to be speaking fluent Italian, but had this thick American accent. They just couldn´t figure out where he was from or what he was doing there. Mystery solved.

Notes on yerba mate. The herbs used to bring the beverage drank from the mate gord are their own specific thing. Im bringing back a half kilo for those to try who will see me. It tastes sort of like alfalfa hay maybe. Its hard to describe. The uruguayan version is much more bitter than the brazilian version. I have the brazilian stuff. I was under the impression before coming here that it had some caffeine in it. But the people here insist it doesnt and that it wont keep you awake. I havent done the experiments to find out. Its sort of like a vaguely flavored tea sort of drink. It takes a while to drink it and it has a very set ritual with it.

Its great to be back in a country where I can more or less speak the language. I better head to the ferry terminal now. Hope everyone has a good rest of the week. -Michael

Adoro O Club Futbol Pelotense

2005-06-21T14:16:00.000-05:00

So now that I have your undivided attention, let me try to explain what happened last night. Monica and I went to Churrascaria Lobao last night. For those of you familiar with Fogo do Chao in Houston, this is the type of restaurant that Fogo do Chao tries to imitate. We paid one price (25 reales, 10USD) for all you can eat. The salad bar was impressive, not quite as extravagant as the Houston version, but thats okay, because thats not what people come for. The meat is the main attraction. And the gauchos bring it out on swords and cut off what you want. I have never seen so many different kinds of meat. I recognized almost all of it, but not all, and Im pretty sure I never saw the same thing go by twice.

This is the salad bar.

Then if you dont get your fill from the gauchos, the roving meat wagon comes around occasionally and you can definitely find satisfaction.

So anyway, last night was a special occasion. The owners of the restaurant are fanatics for the Pelotas pro soccer team, so once a month they close the place for fan meetings. Its a private function but anyone can come if they pay the normal restaurant price (actually its a reduced price from the normal 30 reales) so no one is really excluded from the affair, since basically the entire city is obsessed with the team. So anyone, Monica knows the people organizing the party, and we sat by them. She told them all about who I was, how we met, how Im travelling south america and I have this blog to post back to the US about what Im up to. The leader guy got really enthralled and decided that he wanted to grant me the gift of one of the official soccer jerseys if I would put a picture on my blog. He called me up on towards the stage to introduce me to the crowd of maybe a few hundred. He talked a while (dont ask me for two many details about what), then Monica talked for a while, explaining to the crowd how this jersey would travel the rest of the way across south america, then on to the United States to represent the Pelotas Futbol club. I then took the microphone to thank everyone and say like the 3 whole sentences i can say in Portuguese. It was really fun.

And before this, I actually did a short radio interview live to Pelotas with some guy broadcasting off in the corner. Dont ask me how this all happened. I think the answer is that Monica is the one to know if you need connections in Pelotas Brazil.

We promised the local newspaper that we could send pictures of me with the jersey in Chile, Nicaragua, Oklahoma, and North Carolina. We´ll see what happens.

Heres a photo of the group. The radio guy is to your right of me. The two people on the left in front are the organizers.

If any Brazilians that can read English find this site, thank you very much for a great evening, and best of luck for your team.

I going to leave for the lake district of Argentina tonight. Hopefully I wont freeze to death there. Today was the coldest day yet of my trip. I could see my breath in the air this morning. I might need to buy a heavy coat during my layover in Buenos Aires tomorrow.

Of all the random things that have ever happened to me, this definitely ranks among the highest, but I definitely have an unbelievable souvenir now, and some incredible memories as well.

Weekend in Pelotas

2005-06-20T09:50:00.000-05:00

I´ve had a nice weekend in Pelotas. Im sure all my loyal readers have noticed a slowdown in the posting, but that corresponds to a slowdown in my tourist activity. Ive just mostly been lazy and taking in the more or less daily life of my friend Monica here in Brazil. Ive met a lot of her friends and family. One day last week we had lunch with her Aunt who´s maid cooks very well.

Heres her aunt. (the maid took the picture, I kindof wanted a picture of them with the maid, but I had the feeling that would have been strange.)

On friday morning there was some sort of noisy protest down the street outside monicas apartment. I took a picture out the window.

On friday night we went out to dinner with Monica´s friend Claudia. My portuguese is quite pathetic after only a week, and Claudia speaks no spanish. However, Claudia is fluent in Italian, because her grandparents were Italian immigrants. That made for a very linguistically strenous dinner for me. The most amusing part was that Claudia and I couldnt figure out why monica couldnt understand our italian. Monica and I couldnt figure out why Claudia couldnt understand our spanish. and Monica and Claudia couldnt figure out why I couldnt understand portuguese. They´re all basically the same language, right? No, they in fact are not.

Here´s a picture of our food. It was really great, but then again we didnt end up eating till 11.15pm (peak hours in a brazilian restaurant on a friday night), so I´m sure that had something to do with my appetite.

Monica has me totally hooked on the ritual of drinking yerba mate in the afternoons. For those of you unaware, this is sort of like a tea that you drink out of a gord through a metal straw. You pack the gord with these green herbs/grass, then add some hot water from your thermus into the gord take a few sips, then add a bit more water. On saturday evening, a few of Monicas neighbor/friends stopped by, so they joined into the circle. They sat there for maybe an hour gossiping (i understood a teeney bit), we passed the gord around sipping mate. (Im aware of the hygiene issues, but its a very normal cultural thing Im pretty sure, so I just crossed my fingers and participated.)

Then Claudia came back by and we drank a little wine and ate some cheese. Then Monica went to pickup her sister Laura and her sisters boyfriend Rafael. They live in another town an hour away by bus. Her sister is a prosecutor there, and apparently does quite well according to Monica since Brazil has so many murderors to prosecute. We went out to an italian restaurant and ate some good pasta, I had sort of begged for something other than beef, even though the beef is great. I sat in the middle of the table, and had spanish coming at me from the left, italian from the right, and portuguese straight ahead. Needless to say, the wine was necessary to keep my brain from exploding. Then we went out to this bar/club (Dansateria in portuguese, cute word). Monica and Claudia got tired around two and went home. I stayed out with Rafael and Laura for another hour or so. They had this magic beer, that if you drink enough of it, you can speak portuguese fluently, its amazing really. The only problem being that the next day, your brain malfunctions and all language ability whatsoever is compromised.

We went out for lunch and coffee Sunday afternoon. They have these buffets where you load up with food then they way your plate, and you pay by the kilo. Different system.

This is me, laura, and rafael at the coffee shop. This is the most frequented one in town. They claim to have the best coffee in the world. They don´t, but it is in fact good. Much stronger than US coffee, but not quite espresso level. Laura is a really sweet, fun person. HOWEVER, I can tell that if I had killed someone here, then saw her pointing a finger at me in the court room, I would most likely just start crying.

Pelotas is known for its sweets throughout brazil. They are in fact quite amazing. Beautiful to look at and also just the right amount of sweetness, butteriness.

My plan now is to bus back through where Ive been already to buenos aires. Then bus immediately to Bariloche in the scenic lake district area in western argentina. I could stop in the Pampas region, but I think we all know how much I belong on an argentine cattle ranch. Im going to spend some time in that region, then on the first of July, Monica is going to fly to Santiago where I will meet her. Her strike didnt work out, but she talked her boss into two weeks vacation. We´ll explore the santiago area, then head up to the Atacama desert of northern Chile.

Pelotas etc.

2005-06-15T15:30:00.000-05:00

I walked around Pelotas some more this morning. Last night before dinner I attempted to buy some brazilian beer we could have for dinner. I was getting a bit sick of the watery lagers Id had in Uruguay and Buenos Aires, so I picked some dark, special brew made by Brahma (the Brazilian equivalent of Budweiser). It was quite possibly one of the worst beers Id ever had, it tasted more like Dr Pepper or something than beer. Im not sure what it was supposed to be. Anyway, so this morning I bought some other (lighter, safer) beers, a bottle of wine, some cheeses, and chocolate to try. Though Monica and her family do have some of these things occasionally, they dont seem to indulge quite as often as I end up doing.

answers to previous comments:
Im enjoying the weather quite a bit at the moment compared to the heat that you guys must have up north. Its right on the edge here of needing a jacket versus not, so I just wear it anyway. Today has been maybe in the upper teens (celsius) with grey skies and a light drizzle. I heard about the small earthquake in chile, Im not too concerned about it. Yes, Monica is very lively and energetic during the day (i.e. very brazilian), but since she leaves for work before 7, around late evening she turns into a pumpkin. I wish I were there for the fresh garden vegetables, but the bananas and papayas here are almost making up for it. Im trying my best to learn a little portugues. Ive mastered the phrase, "Nao comprendo muito bem portugues, mas posso falar espanhol." And of course upon hearing that I can do spanish, they rattle off in portugues unaffected by the fact that i dont understand what theyre saying. Im glad Ive got Monica to translate everything into Portunhol for me.

When I was going out to walk around this morning, the elevator wasnt working. And in the stairwell I ran into two girls about my age, one holding a small dog. One of the neighbors was stuck in the elevator, and they badly needed my advice on what to do. Despite the fact I didnt live in the building, despite the fact that I dont speak portugues. I just tried to tell them good luck and slipped away. I wouldnt know what to do or whom to call, and if I did, I definitely wouldnt know how to communicate it to them. An odd situation really.

We had a nice lunch with Monicas aunt. (Her aunts domestic is quite the cook) (yes janelle, domestic is another way of saying maid) Monicas moms domestic takes wednesdays and sundays off to go take food to her son in prison on drug charges. She has to leave at 5 in the morning to get to the prison by noon to get in line to get in. If a relative doesnt bring you food here in prison, there is a good chance you will starve to death. Everyone definitely has it much easier in our country.

On that happy note, everyone take care. More later.

Pelotas, Brazil

2005-06-14T18:20:00.000-05:00

Ive now spent almost two days being lazy in Brazil. The bus people took good care of me and didnt lose my passport. Is was a little strenous when I was the only one on the bus not speaking portugues, but Im beginning to get accustomed to it. My friend Monica has a really cool split level apartment on the 11th floor of this high rise building in downtown Pelotas. Pelotas is a small town of 350 thousand people. I forgot how nice it is to lay somewhere comfortable and watch CNN in English.

In the mornings, Monica makes me banana and papaya smoothies using bananas, papayas, and a tiny bit of water. No extra sugar, no yogurt, no ice cream. Just fruit...Just wonderful, sweet, flavorfull fruit. Quite possibly the best bananas Ive ever eaten in fact.

So I get to be really lazy here. When Monica gets back from work at1, we go over to her mothers house where their domestic has our lunch prepared. (Her domestic also did my laundry, hehe, I could get used to this.)

This afternoon we went over to this beach area next to the lagoon. We drove through this richer subdivision. All of the houses had tall metal fences with an electrified area around the top as well as an intruder alert system. Its sort of a shock to see all of the security measures that have to be taken. As a general rule, this is a safe place during the day, but at night you have to be careful. Her building has a doorman, and she has the standard deadbolts and alarm system connected direct to the police station.

Picture time:

Here are Silvias parents up top on the fortaleza overlooking Montevideo.

And heres one of me in the same place.

This is the bus station in Montevideo. When you think bus station in south america, get the american idea of greyhound out of your head. The buses here are actually functional and depending on the company you choose, can be incredibly comfortable as well. My ride to Brazil was basically like nodding off in a lazyboy chair for 7 hours while someone brought me things to eat and drink. Scary how easy that is to endure.

This is the cathedral in Pelotas.

This is the market. It isnt very well maintained, so most people buy their groceries is the big modern supermarkets around. But the architecture is nice, and its pretty represantive of the other buildings around.

And heres a shot of Monica sitting at her work bench at the technical university where she works. We snuck in late tonight to use the high speed internet for free.

Ill try to get some other city shots tomorrow. I wish I could capture the smell around lunch time. The whole city smells like grilled meats. Its pretty nice in fact.

Heading to Brazil

2005-06-12T14:01:00.000-05:00

I called the bus station last night from my hotel to try and reserve a space on the sleeper bus to brazil for tonight. I was told I had to physically go to the bus station to pay for it and reserve it, which was annoying, but I didn´t want it to fill up. I would have preferred to have left tomorrow morning and arrive in the late afternoon, however, the three daily buses to that part of the world each leave at 8pm, 9pm, and 9:15pm. How convenient, how varied. Uruguayans, Argentines, and Brazilians can just show a normal state ID when crossing each other´s borders, but since I knew that an american had to do the "show em the visa, stamp the passport" song and dance, I decided to ask exactly what i had to do at 1am while crossing the border into brazil. Apparently, I am supposed to give them my passport and Uruguay entry paper when I get on the bus, then they stamp me up and give me the Brazil entry paper when they wake me up at 5am to throw me off the bus in Pelotas.

I am not entirely thrilled with this particular process. I asked if they were worried they might lose my passport or forget to wake me up and let me sleep till Porto Alegre. They acted like it was all hunky dory, so I guess I´ll trust them out of a lack of options, fun fun.

After that, I had an amusing evening of fresh pizza, fresher pastries, and people watching in Silvia´s parents bar. I mentioned that I didn´t want to leave Uruguay without trying the ubiquitous yerbe mate tea-like beverage. They immediately laughed uncontrollably, and one of the bar´s employs went to fetch his thermus and mate gord. He instructed me on the proper manner of packing the gord full of yerba then adding hot water from the thermus and agitating slightly with this spoon/filter/straw thing. They kept laughing and insisted they weren´t laughing at the funny foreigner trying to drink mate like a uruguayo. But I know they were lying, they were laughing solely at the goofy foreigner. It´s okay though, I´m happy to entertain.

This morning they picked me up and took me to this hilltop fortress/military musuem across the bay from downtown montevideo. It has great views of the city. I took a few pictures, but this computer doesn´t want to cooperate in uploading at the moment.

I´m gonna try to buy my own souvenir mate gord, then wander over to the bus station and wait for my midnight bus to brazil.

I love Silvia´s parents

2005-06-11T15:28:00.000-05:00

I had a really great afternoon and evening yesterday courtesy of Silvia´s parents (Ramon y Marcelina Lodeiro). I followed Señor Lodeiro around for a while. He drove me around a few places in Montevideo. They have quite the ritzy beach area that I didn´t know existed here. (Then again, I knew almost nothing about this country to begin with, but I think it´s a positive sign when countries fail to make international headlines often.) I followed him to his two parking garages that he operates as a business. He had to call a few people that haven´t been paying their bill I believe. He´s quite the wheeler dealer it seems.

Then we returned to this bar/restaurant where they indulged me with some incredibly delicious cooking. I´m going to torture you with a few pictures now. I still haven´t mastered how to get my camera to work in dark or cloudy situations, so some didn´t turn out so well.

Here´s the entrance to the Bar Imperial with Mr. Lodeiro in front.

The brick, wood burning oven capable of producing the amazing pizza.

The amazing pizza that I started with. I thought this was going to be the majority of dinner.

Then they put this chivito in front of me. I didn´t think I could barely touch it. But of course I ate most of it.

Here´s a few pictures of the buildings around here. Lots of charm, not quite as polished as some of those in Buenos Aires, but a nice city none the less.

American 80´s music is really popular here still. I thought Silvia enjoyed it because she´s about the right age to be a child of the 80´s, but it seems to still be played here in most of the bars and cafes I´ve been in. I´m not poking fun, I love 80´s music, so I´m right at home.

It was sort of rainy, so against my better judgement, I went into a casino and proceeded to loose 1300 pesos. (your homework is to do the conversion to dollars should you care.) Shouldn´t have done that, but I was really ahead in the first ten or fifteen minutes, then they instantly changed dealers on me, and that was that. Oh well. However, my lifetime gambling record is still in the black.

Heading to Brazil tomorrow night, need to learn Portugues really fast.

Arrival in Montevideo

2005-06-10T13:52:00.000-05:00

I got in okay with the bus to Montevideo. I helped a pair of 20 year olds from London who had no idea what the bus driver was asking them. I thought I had undertaken quite a trip. Their journey started 9 months ago in Moscow. They´ve been to every asian country I can think of, Australia, Polynesia, then came over to chile. They have three more months to see the rest of latin america. Travel is such a drug, you always want more.

I´m staying at a nice little hotel recommended by Monica and well reviewed by Lonely Planet. 12 dollars a night. True, I could find somewhere for half that, but 6 vs 12 seems so arbitrary, and price definitely corrolates with quality, especially at those rates.

Here´s a picture from a few days ago in San Telmo.

Here´s my last supper in Buenos Aires.

Here´s a shot of the interior of the ferry over from Buenos Aires.

Here´s my lunch yesterday that I told you about.

I nice little street shot in Colonia. Hard to photograph the place too well, but it´s very nice all over. Incredibly peaceful.

And an impulsive shot taken of a statue next to the Rio de la Plata here in Montevideo. I´ll try to take better pictures of the place later, but I´m still getting my bearings. I think I´m off to bother Silvia´s parents now and hopefully get some local advice.

Colonia, Uruguay

2005-06-09T17:29:00.000-05:00

I took the ferry over from Buenos Aires today. Huge boat with a giant duty free shop on board. A very pleasant form of travel. When I got off the boat, there were a few people lined up trying to get people in their hotels. One nice lady explained that she had taken three separate rooms of her home and turned them into hotel rooms separate and apart from her home. The price was 6 USD a night, so I decided to take her up on it. She hauled me over to her place a ways away in the oldest ford taures i´ve ever seen. I took some pictures of it. It´s 27x better than where i was in buenos aires. It´s the tourist low season here now, so I get a bathroom and two bedrooms, 4 beds total all to myself. It´s really nice, but it may be a bit cold. There´s not heat, and it´s I´m guessing in the 40´s outside now. She gave me extra blanket. I´ll be fine. I wondered around the old part of town. It was a gray, pleasant, fall day. It feels like late october all of a sudden, but it´s june, kindof hard to get used to.

For lunch I had a (silvia help me out if I get the name wrong), a chivito. It was a pile of french fries, with a piece of steak, covered with ham, cheese, a fried egg, and little pieces of bacon. Then they garnish the side with slices of tomato, some lettuce, and a scoop of potato salad. A light lunch I´d say. But it´s the signature dish here apparently. I took a picture of it, but this computer is without USB. I was so ridiculously full.

This is a very peaceful town. Everyone I´ve come across has been incredibly gracious and helpful. Maybe that´s just the way of Uruguay, we´ll see. As we put the sheets on my bed, Teresa (the woman running the little hotel), gave me a long lecture on why Uruguayans are better/nicer than argentines. And I got a long spiel on how the education system here is better than across the Rio de la Plata in Argentina.

I´m heading to Montevideo tomorrow morning. I´ll get to meet with Silvia´s parents, I´m looking forward to that a lot.

-Michael

Last Post from BsAs

2005-06-08T18:13:00.000-05:00

I had a nice salad and mixed grill (parilla libre) last night. The beef was a bit dry though, and there was some sort of grilled organ unknown to me that I didn't finish entirely. Other than that it was a very nice dinner. I wouldn't call the food here horribly exciting, but the quality all seems to be good, and it's definitely economical. A cold front came in last night, and today was quite chilly and nice. I walked around the San Telmo area. It has more antique shops than I've ever seen before in my life. I tried to take a picture and got yelled at, so I didn't. This used to be poor immigrant neighborhood and now it's getting swankier. It's the birthplace of the tango.

I went over to the ferry terminal to inquire about the schedule to depart for Uruguay tomorrow. I'll be heading to the nice seaside town of Colonia, hopefully it will be a pleasant change from the hustle and bustle and congestion of the big city. I've definitely enjoyed it here, but I think a week here as a tourist was sufficient. Actually, it's more that I'm looking forward to a change of hotel, a fact that surprises no one not even me. My room is on the first floor (actually the 3rd floor if you count ground floor as 1), which means I'm on the same floor as the communal TV watching room and the restaurant. From 10am till midnight I hear Fox Sports Argentina blaring the latest soccer news, and I mean they watch TV loud here. I wanted a late afternoon nap before dinner, but in addition to the TV, there was also some sort of demonstration down the Avenida de Mayo. For some reason they also like to set of fire crackers and small fireworks to get everyone's attention. It just scares me and makes me think they're crazy, but what do I know. Also the plumbing is odd, if someone showers, or flushes a toilet on any floor, I get to hear the water running down through the walls. Oh well, I'm definitely getting a bargain, I wouldn't have stayed anywhere else.

Another funny observation. It seems to be normal here to mix things with your wine. (I also saw similar practices in Italy.) I saw a well dressed older couple sitting in a neighborhood restaurant mix their red wine with orange Fanta. Yuck. Once when I ordered red wine, he asked me if I wanted ice. I don't think he understood why I winced. One amusing thing is that you can get a soda syphon at your table and spray out your own agua con gas. Just be careful and don't push it down all the way unless you want drenched papas fritas.

Hopefully Uruguay will have good internet as well. More from there.

Answers to Questions

2005-06-07T10:01:00.000-05:00

I got a lot of questions regarding previous posts, so Ill try to answer them as best I can.

The weather has been far warmer than I would have expected. maybe lows in the 50s at night and highs in the upper 60s lower 70s. Im wearing a t shirt and corduroy jacket most of the time, and, frankly, burning up after walking so much. But everyone on the street is wearing multiple layers of clothing. Im not sure why they arent as hot as I am, especially in the poorly ventilated, maybe even heated, subway system. And maybe this is unnecessary information, but even when the subway is packed like a can of sardines at rush hour, no one smells bad, definitely not like the average European country Ive been in.

I didnt get in on taking in some sort of show in time. They were only on the weekend, and Im leaving Thursday. The wine, is great. But except for the one bottle I had friday night. (Norton D.O.C. Malbec, 26 pesos), Ive just been getting a glass or two of unnamed house read wine with my pasta, steak, or empanadas. Its much more economical (a few pesos a glass), and is a much more suitable portion size. Wine in grocery stores seems to run 10 to 20 pesos or more I guess. Though I havent gotten any, since getting a bottle and drinking alone in my windowless hotel room directly from the bottle seems like something I shouldnt have bothered to come to south america to do. I could do that perfectly well in the US.

I will have no problem seeing all the main tourist high points. I think the important part of this city is to sample the food, wander the streets, drink a cortado (espresso machiatto) at a cafe, people watch, etc. Though I do intend on making it to the Eva Peron museum at some point. Like any major world city, you have to spend a few years there to really get to know every corner, so Im content having had a week to expore it.

I have been doing more walking than Ive ever done. Im enthralled with wandering up and down the streets of various neighborhoods and watching people go on their way to do whatever it is they do. My feet hurt the first two days, but theyre broken in now.

There are some great deals on clothes throughout the city. And theyre all high quality designer stuff. Though theyre all Argentine labels, so im not sure which are the best. Prices again, run roughly a third to half what you'd see in the US. My problem is that I'm a really horrible shopper. I get in the right mood a few times a year, and this week I haven't been there. I havent found the deals on leather jackets I was hoping for. They seem to be running around 100 USD on Florida street. But I'm told those are actually the worst prices and you should find the actual factories in other parts of the city. Maybe I'll find the motivation to seek that out, maybe not. I would be more inclined if it were actually colder, and a warm leather jacket might not be ideal for the snowy Andes later, I'm not sure. I might need something more water resistant.

I didnt any take exciting pictures yesterday, and Im currently on a computer without a USB port. So thats all for today. Hasta luego.

Calle Florida, La Boca

2005-06-06T08:18:00.000-05:00

Calle Florida begins a few blocks away from my hotel. Ive walked it several times. Its a shoppers paradise. Its wall to wall people across the street during the week. On Sunday, when two thirds of the stores were closed, it was far emptier. Lots of clothing stores, but almost everything else as well. So far, I havent bought anything, but if I get up the nerve, I may do so later. The city seems to have some sort of dress code. Thursday and Friday, everyone wore dresses, suits, etc. Saturday was casual as everyone walked their dogs in jeans and a sweater. Sunday, the streets were almost deserted as everyone stayed at home. Monday morning its back to formal business attire. Heres a photo from thursday of Florida Street.

On sunday afternoon, I went down to the touristy part of town known as La Boca. It was a poor immigrant part of town. Now its still pretty poor, but its also a brightly painted artist colony.

I came back to downtown and decided to rest my feet by watching Million Dollar Baby at the cinema. It was sort of an experience in and of itself. The theater had old leather (uncomfortable) seats, wooden floors, flashlight wielding ushers, a guy selling refreshments in the aisle before the movie, and lots of screaming children. Since it was in English with spanish subtitles, I might have been the only one trying to actually listen. It was a great, if maybe a little too depressing movie though. You should all rent it if you havent seen it yet.

In other news, there is a good chance my brazilian friend Monica's university will be going on strike the week after next, so she will coincidently have more vacation time to travel with me than planned. Guess we'll have to wait and see.

Recoleta

2005-06-05T10:26:00.000-05:00

I walked around in the part of town known as Recoleta. Its where the rich people and their dogs live. I walked around in the famous cemetary where are all the important people of Argentine history are buried.

I took the obligatory picture of the tomb of Eva Peron.

For lunch, I couldnt turn down the opportunity to eat another delicious steak.

There is a significant chance Im going to die soon of a red meat overdose. Someone should probably fly down soon and intervene before I completly clog my arteries. Then again, I bet whoever that would be would also succomb to the temptation and die along with me. (maybe janelle should come. Shes probably the only one that could resist.) After lunch, I went to the national art gallery. Great art, not much to say about it.

This is a shot taken from the median of the avenida 9 de julio. It seems like everywhere I want to go involves my having to cross this street. Crossing it is like a 10 minute ordeal since I have to wait for several light cycles to get all the way across. And the traffic turning right doesnt really hesitate to let you cross. I usually stand on the curb frightened until some little old lady charges across. Then I keep her between me and the cars thinking they will be less likely to hit her than me.}

Its a bright and shiny fall sunday afternoon here now. Im not sure what Ill be up to, but Ill keep you posted.

Teatro Colon, Demonstrations, Good Food and Wine

2005-06-04T08:11:00.000-05:00

I forgot to post this picture of one of the FOUR groups of people I saw protesting/demonstrating on my first day here. Not really sure what they were upset about, I guess they probably have several reasons. The cars were honking at them since they were in the middle of a 5 lane major street, but the people on the sidewalks ignored them and kept yacking on cell phones.

It started to rain in the afternoon, so I took a tour of the Teatro Colon/opera house. It was constructed around the turn of the century. Its made almost exclusively of European marble and various other materials. The interior was astoundingly ornate, however, they wouldnt let us take pictures. Apparently the cast and crew of the upcoming production is on strike, and they were conducting a union meeting on the stage when we were there. It was by far one of the most dramatic and entertaining things I've seen. Lots of chanting and cheering and votes on various things by a show of hands. Everyone's tense since the show is supposed to start the week after next, but they haven'ts started rehursing yet. Here's a picture of the facade.

And finally, here's a picture of my lovely bathroom. Notice the absence of a shower curtain. While I'm grateful that there is always hot water when I want it, the irregular water pressure requires that I constantly adjust the knobs as i shower to avoid flooding the bathroom.

I decided to splurge on dinner last night since it was friday. I went to a nice place a few subway stops away with white linen table clothes and waiters with black ties. I had a great mixed greens salad, thick juicy steak, bread, an entire bottle of wine, and desert. Final bill 70 pesos/25 dollars. And that included a 15% tip. I wanted to get a smaller bottle of wine, but the waiter pointed out that it was only slightly more for an entire bottle, and they were better wines. I said yes, but if I buy an entire bottle, odds are I'll drink all of it. And he suggested I just go slow and I would be fine. I took a cab back to the hotel and passed out after that.

Buenos Aires

2005-06-03T09:23:00.000-05:00

Yesterday I spent several hours walking around the central part of the city. I had steak, french fries, really good bread, mineral water, and an espresso for less than 5 dollars for lunch. Im really enjoying the low prices here. Im getting blisters on my feet, I probably will try to go shoe shopping and see if I can come up with something better. I should probably buy some new clothes as well since Im like the least best dressed guy in the city. I cant get over everyone wheres such nice clothes. (silvia, you were right.) Here are some shots of the city streets.

And heres the Casa Rosada. Its quite beautiful, but the mood was ruined by my inability to get "Dont cry for me Argentina" out of my head.

Heres the luxurious Cafe Tortoni. Amazingly nice interior. I had a cortado (like a machiatto), and a bottle of sparkling water for 7 pesos. I didnt want to turn on the flash because it seemed too gentile a place for that, so the picture is a bit dark.

Arriving in Buenos Aires

2005-06-02T10:01:00.000-05:00

My flight from Dallas was great. It was half full meaning I had three seats all to myself to sprawl out on. To a charter type bus from the airport to downtown. I asked a cop how far it was to my hotel. He said 8 blocks, so I started off walking (with the suitcase, bad idea). I asked another cop about 5 blocks later, and he said I was still 8 blocks away. At this point I hailed a cab and went the remaining distance for 4 pesos (like a dollar something). I got to the hotel and apparently my travel plans that had been communicated to a brazilian who communicated with an argentine who made my reservation, the fact that I had been leaving on the 1st but not arriving till the second was misunderstood. So I was a day late to the hotel, they acted offended for exactly 10 seconds, then laughed and said it didnt matter. Anyway this hotel is quite interesting. It doesnt seem to have been renovated since the 40s, but its been cleaned every day. Tiny room, taller ceiling than it is wide.

I couldnt stand any farther away from the bed, so thats as best of a shot as i could get. However, for 10 dollars a day and being in the equivalent of times square with a subway stop ten feet from the door, Im perfectly happy. I went on a walk and took a picture of the National congress.

I saw a guy walking (not exaggerating) 25 dogs at once, all different breeds, most looked purebread. They were walking politely and not getting tangled up, I couldnt get a picture in time but if I see someone doing that again Ill be sure and get one. (Renee, perhaps you could get a job down here doing that if the science thing fails...)
Hasta luego,
Michael

The plan

2005-05-31T11:35:00.000-05:00

I will arrive in Buenos Aires Thursday morning. I have a week's hotel reservation there in a cheap, central hotel. Then I'm going to take the ferry to Colonia, Uruguay, a small colonial town with cobblestone streets and quaint architecture according to the guidebook. Then I'll take a bus to Montevideo Uruguay and pass the weekend there. I hope to meet Silvia's parents there and get local advice as to what to do and see. Then on Sunday or Monday, the 12th or 13th of June, I will take a long busride to Pelotas, Brazil. My friend Monica lives there. We had the same host family in Spain 5 years ago. The plan is for me to spend a week there and get some rest and be taken care of by her family. (i.e I get free food and a place to sleep.) Then we're planning on setting off on a week together to travel somewhere, be it Santiago, Chile, central Argentina, Bolivia, or maybe Paraguay. That decision will be made later. Then, she'll return to Brazil, and I'll set off to explore somewhere else, be it the atacama desert of northern Chile or the (freezing) scenic region of Patagonia in southern Chile. I have no idea exactly how to pack for everywhere from the antarctic to the subtropical, but I'll manage. I have to end up in Santiago on July 16th for my flight back to Dallas. Here's a cruddy map that I drew partial routes on. The red lines are definite, the blue lines are possibilities.

Notes on posting comments

Occasional comments on what I'm up to and what you're up to are required during this summer. Dad needed some basic instructions so I'll go ahead and describe this in case someone else couldn't figure it out. At the end of a post, just click comments. Then type your message. If you have a blog, type in your blog info, but I doubt any of you do. If you wish to remain anonymous, that's okay I suppose, but I'd prefer that everyone click "other" and fill in a name (no website is required.) I'd like to clarify that most of my friends, extended family, and acquiantances will be reading this, so keep the vulgarity and descriptions of illicit behavior to a minimum. I guess that rules out almost all of the goings on of the Matsuda lab, sorry to those affected by that. (Perhaps someone needs to start an "I hate Seiichi" blog, I bet many of us would post to it...) I will also be checking email just as often as the blog, so send me something there if you don't want the world to see it. I may only respond in blog form though depending.

Memorial Day weekend

2005-05-30T23:20:00.000-05:00

I just got back from a long weekend of farming related activities with Dad. He inherited/bought from his siblings the farm in western Oklahoma which he grew up on. He's been sprucing up the place and farming it in his free time. As hard as it may be for some of you to imagine, I actually did assist in outdoor physical labor consisting of lawn mowing, trailer hooking/unhooking, plowing, wheat planting, etc. Western Oklahoma has actually some nice landscape compared to the topographically bland areas of Duncan or Houston.
Here's a photo of the Quartz Mountains a few miles from my dad's place.
This is the closest thing to a traffic jam. Some of the neighbor's cows got out and blocked the road for a minute.

We stayed in a house that isn't lived in most of the time, so as one can imagine, the mice have pretty much declared it their own. This morning the fresh box of rat poison in the pantry was completely gone, cardboard and all. Apparently we should have opened a box that we had left in the living room as a mouse had tried to get it open at some point in the night. I guess we lost a customer.

Here's Dad on his tractor with plow and drill. (The drill is what plants the seed for those of you not raised a farm.)

Here' s the field of wheat he just planted. I got to help occasionally by jumping up on the back of the drill and checking the seed level while everything was still moving. I'm sure if pictures of this minor athletic event were taken of me, all of you would still be laughing.

And here's the pond. It's pretty nice too.

Learning how to do pictures...

2005-05-26T17:38:00.000-05:00

Alright, so I just wasted an hour and a half trying to figure out how to post pictures. Mostly due to slow internet and a half hour interruption from a Durham home owner's insurance salesman that I'm pretty sure I will begin to despise if I end up getting coverage from him. But anyway here is a cute picture of my sister and me with our diplomas and the obligatory picture of the Duke chapel from last weekend.

Getting set up...

2005-05-26T16:37:00.000-05:00

Okay, so setting up a blog before I head off on this big trip that I will hopefully survive and return from. I hope this will be more convenient for myself and everyone else than sending out massive rambling emails every few days. I'll do my best to attach a few pictures here and there with my snazzy new digital camera that I just learned how to use. (I was probably one of the last people on earth to figure one out.) Assuming there is some sort of functional web access down there, this should work fine. Otherwise, I'll talk to you all again in August.