Copyright © 2004-2005 Anup Sekhar
Pablo Neruda is one of the most famous exports of Chile, being their most well known Nobel Laureate. Yesterday, I visited one of his three homes called La Chascona, which is located in the bohemian neighborhood of Bellavista. Its a nice neighborhood full of pubs, bars and discotheques and is also home to the University of Chile. It's on the foothills of Cerro San Cristobal. I first took a funicular to the top of the mountain where there is a decent sized statue of the Virgin Mary.
La Chascona is very close to the funicular station and the name means 'tangle haired woman', a reference to Neruda's 3rd and last wife, Matilde. Its not that impressive from the outside but has 3 separate buildings on the inside. The first building was built before Neruda moved in since he was having an affair with Matilde while still married to his 2nd wife. The rooms were kind of small and most of the interior decoration had something or the other to do with sailing and ships. Apparently it was the man's long time ambition to be a sailor and he would dress up as a ship captain and entertain his guests. There were also a large collection of exotic stuff from various countries such as China, India, Egypt. He also had a large number of victorian dolls. I loved his study and library which at one point contained over 9000 books until Pinochet's army destroyed it in the early 70s.
The rest of the day, I went to a museum of fine arts which was decent but the building itself was very impressive. In the evening, I went and hung out in the Providencia neighborhood where there were a few pubs and sports bars. Chile was playing Paraguay (they lost 1-2) and there were lots of people wathing the game at the pubs. I nursed a couple of nice Kuntsmann Bock, a decent Chilean black beer before heading back to the hotel and crashing. Another early night.
Santiago has excellent public transport and the subway was even better than Rio's. I used the subway and also took a local bus just to experience it and walked the rest of the time. The city is very polluted and there is a constant smoggy haze hanging over it since the valley is located between the Andes on the east and the Coastal Range on the West. Greenpeace ranks it as the 3rd most polluted city in Latin America after Mexico City and Sao Paulo.
Yesterday was a very tiring and mostly boring day for me since I spent most of my time at various airports. I checked out of my hotel in Rio at 4:30am and headed out to the international airport which was about half an hour away. My flight to Buenos Aires was at 7am and I reached the Ezeiza airport at 11:30am. My flight to Santiago, Chile, was at 6pm and I had to wait till at least 4pm to check in my luggage. I didn't think it was worthwhile to head to the city and then rush back. So, I did a Tom Hanks and stayed at the airport. They did have a left luggage place there and I had them store my luggage while I roamed the airport.
Ezeiza is quite a small airport though its modern and has reasonable amenities. The bars and restaurants are expensive by BA standards and the food I ate there was crappy. I entertained myself by watching a strike by the airport cargo handlers who made sure they were heard by banging loudly on drums and blowing horns off-key. I found it amusing while many passengers were covering their ears. I also read up on Chile in the meantime.
My flight to Santiago was on an almost empty 767 operated by Air Canada. Yes, it was Air Canada which was the cheapest option for me and for the first time in 3 weeks, it was nice to hear English spoken by the stewardresses and pilots. The Chilean customs and immigration was quick and painless contrary to what many guide books warn about. I checked into my hotel in the Providencia neighborhood of Santiago around 9pm, ordered room service and went to bed. I was exhausted.
There are three images that most people see of Rio before even coming here - the palm trees of Jardim Botanico, the barely there bikinis of Copacabana and Ipanema beaches and the towering Christ, the Redemptor statue overlooking (and protecting) the city from the top of Corcovado mountain. Yesterday, I took a subway and then a local bus to go to the train station at the bottom of the mountain. From there, I took an extremely steep train journey to the top passing through the forests of Tijuca national forest. Once at the top, I had to climb about 400 (there were escalators but since when do I take them) steps to reach the foot of the statue. It was a clear day and the view from the top was magnificent and I could see all the landmarks of Rio laid out before me. The statue itself was huge and awe inspiring. The Christ had a serene look on his face.
Earlier in the day, I had taken the subway to see the worlds largest football stadium namely Maracana stadium where the likes of Ronaldo, Ronaldinho and of course Pele honed their skills. The tour was self guided and I went and saw the dressing rooms, the vip lounges, the stadium itself and a gallery of photos past. It was really huge and I can imagine how it would be to attend a match here. Brazil should really host the world cup again instead of having countries who really don't care about the game hosting it such as the US. Football is ubiquitous here and people are obsessed with the game.
Public transportation in Rio is a breeze and its very easy to figure out the bus and subway system. The subway, in my opinion, is the cleanest one I have been and better than the ones in New York and London. I only used the system during the day and it seemed quite safe to me.
Having been in Rio for 3 days, I am getting used to this lazy bohemian lives the Cariocas lead. It's so easy just to walk along wide pedestrian footpaths along Avenida Atlantica in Copacabana or the equivalent one in Ipanema or Leblon, stop in the little bar cum snack shops with plastic chairs and tables, enjoy a Caipirinha or a Caipivodka or two, watch the Cariocas in action on the beach. Among the really interesting things I saw is a game called Footvolley, which is exactly played like Volleyball except that you are not supposed to touch the ball with your hands. It seems to require extraordinary physical skills and not surprisingly, everyone I saw playing this game (I only saw men play this) were extremely buff and seemed superfit. For serving, they create a mound with the sand outside the service line and then kick the ball to the other side. You can use other parts of your body such as head, chest etc., to get the ball across creating their own equivalents of bump, set and even spike.
There is a lot of soccer and volleyball playing going on as well and last night - my last one in Rio during this trip - I joined a couple of tourists from Austria who were playing with some locals. It was a very friendly game and I had fun. I am sorry to leave Rio and will definitely come back, hopefully bring Eug as well.
I saw more than one tall and tan and young and lovely garota on Ipanema beach yesterday. I really don't know how Carlos Jobim found just one girl there. The man is so popular here that they named the international airport after him. The beach is lovelier than Copacabana but seemed more crowded to me. I walked most of its length all the way to Leblon and back to Forte de Copacabana. Since yesterday was Sunday (and Easter at that), it was crowded beyond belief and unlike Saturday, it was a clear and beautiful day. Along the way, I stopped at two institutions - Milas Frutas, an ice cream place, and Big Nectar, famed for its exotic fresh fruit juices. I had mango ice cream at the former and passion fruit juice at the latter. I liked the juice so much that I am thinking of heading back there today.
Earlier in the morning, I took a subway to the Centro district and got off at Cinelandia where the Praça (plaza) Floriano is located. The square is Rio's answer to the many such squares in Paris and is flanked by three beautiful buildings - the Teatro Municipal, the Museu Nacional de Belas Artes and the Biblioteca Nacional. Since it was Easter Sunday, none of the places were open and there were hardly anybody on the streets. Despite warnings to the contrary, the area felt quite safe to me and I walked all the way to Praca XV near the dock and whatever remains of old colonial Rio. From the docks, I could see the islands of Niteroi in the distance and Ilha Fiscal.
Afterwards, I took a cab to the famed Pão de Açúcar or Sugarloaf Mountain. You have to take two cable cars to reach the top of this beautiful mountain. The view from the top is amazing and you can see pretty much the whole of Rio laid out in front of you. It was a tad cloudy and so I couldn't see Christ the Redeemer on top of Corcovado but I could see most of everything else that the literature promised. After Pão de Açúcar, I headed to Ipanema and then visited the Forte de Copacabana which has an ideal location between Ipanema and Copacabana beaches. The views from the WW1 era fort was spectacular and I must have taken at least 20 photos from there. There was a small museum with displays of German made artillery which was quite interesting.
In the evening, I hung out mostly in the Copacabana beach area going from bar to bar sampling either their Caipirinhas or Caipivodkas. It was a pleasant way to end the day.
Ever since I saw Demi Moore go topless on Copacabana Beach in Blame it on Rio, I have always wanted to come to Rio (the Brazilians call it hee-o). After leaving my hotel in Buenos Aires at an ungodly 4am to take the 7am flight to Rio, I reached here at 10am. Immigration and customs were a breeze and I headed straight to my hotel located right next to Copacabana Beach and also closer to Ipanema. I spent most of yesterday loitering around the Copacabana area and walked the entire length of it and back. The beach is huge and filled with white sand. The water is still warm even though yesterday, there was a constant slight drizzle.
That didn't stop neither the Cariocas (as folks from Rio are called) nor the tourists from being on the beach. I didn't really go swimming but would walk from snack/beer shack to shack taking in the views and sipping my Brahma beer or an occassional Caipirinha. By 8pm or so, I was very tired and decided to call it a night early. I still have 2 more nights to enjoy the famed Rio nightlife. Today, I am off to Sugar Loaf Mountain and plan on spending the afternoon in Ipanema and Leblon beaches.
Yesterday, early morning, I took a ferry run by Buquebus to go to Colonia del Sacramento in Uruguay. This was my first foray outside Argentina since coming here. Originally, I had planned to spend a few days in Uruguay including visits to Montevideo (the capital) and Punta del Este (the Monte Carlo like playground of the rich and the famous) but time did not permit more than a day trip to Colonia. It's only 40km across the Rio de la Plata to Colonia from BA but the ferry took 3 hours to make the journey. I could have probably swam faster and I don't even swim properly. The ferry itself was a huge one and had the usual amenities such as a full fledged bar and restaurant.
Colonia was a bit of a disappointment after having read about how good it was and how pretty it was and such in almost all the literature I had read both in print and on the internet. Unfortunately, I had signed up for a tour and I regretted it the moment they started . After the included lunch in a restaurant called Lo de Renata, myself (and 45 others) were shepherded to a huge bus to visit this small town. About half an hour into the tour, I decided to skip the tour and walked the town by myself depending on my Rough Guide for direction. It was satisfactory and I got to enjoy the time away from the tourist hordes. I was done with the Barrio Historico in about a couple of hours and I headed back to the Buquebus terminal, hoping to catch the 1hr hydrofoil back. I had tickets for a later 3hr ferry but managed to convince the authorities that be, that I should be on the faster boat.
Colonia was settled originally by a man named Manuel Lobo who was the governor of Rio de Janerio and so, unlike most of the rest of the non-Brazilian cities, was settled by the Portuguese first. Most of the old buildings and churches are still well preserved and it was definitely worth a visit though I am glad I did not spend the night there.
The Chocolate Box or that`s what the portenos call the stadium of their beloved Boca Juniors. Since Tanny was leaving yesterday, I forced him to go to see the stadium that made Maradona a star and also to check out the incredibly characterful La Boca barrio in Buenos Aires. We had a mediocre lunch in a restaurant named after Che and then took a cab straight to the Caminito on the shores of Riachuelo, one of the tributaries of the Rio de la Plata, separating Argentina from Uruguay. It was as colorful as the literature mentioned and I took a ton of photos. There were many street shops selling souvenirs, interesting graffiti on the colorful walls, street tango perfomances which were actually very good, etc. After spending some time walking the Caminito, we made our way to La Bombonera.
Even though I only watch football (soccer) during the world cup years, I was still enthralled by just being in this stadium. We signed on for an English tour and were shown different parts of the stadium including the dressing rooms, the jacuzzis, the stadium proper, the vip section etc. There were surprisingly few photographs of Maradona in the stadium even though most Argentinians we talked to assured us that he was still revered as God despite him living in Cuba and having drug related problems.
Tanny left around 6pm for the airport and for the first time since I came to South America, I was alone. I didn`t feel like doing much last night and just went to a neighborhood pizzeria before calling it a night. He shall be missed.
Tanny was obsessed with going to a Milonga to see the locals dance tango rather than going into a Cena or dinner show by professionals (and meant mostly for tourists). I was fine with that and last night, we decided to go in search of a milonga after having the madras beef curry at Gibraltar in San Telmo. Unfortunately for us, they did not have the beef curry that night and we ended up eating different dishes which did not measure up to the beef curry which I had blogged about earlier. Since Tanny wasn`t drinking, we decided to go to the milonga right after Gibraltar. We went to one that was advertised in the Time Out guide to BA which was near the La Boca neighborhood. They were having a private party there and we couldn`t stay. Next up, we took a taxi to another one in Palermo Viejo which was closed as well. Tanny was getting impatient by this time, and decided to forgo anymore milongas and we went had the cab driver drop us off in Plaza Serrano (known as Plaza Cortazar these days and on maps) in Palermo viejo.
The first place we walked into just happened to have the locals dancing tango and Tanny was finally happy to have seen this. Quite amateurish but still much beyond what either of us could even aspire to, we had a nice time just watching the couples dance. At the end of the dances, the resident tango instructor even came over to our table to introduce himself and ask us about our origins. We went to a couple of other bars after that before returning tired to the hotel around 2am.
Yesterday, we woke up lazily around 10am and finally gathered ourselves to make a day trip to San Antonio de Areco, located about 60miles from Buenos Aires. San Antonio is considered one of the key towns of the so called Pampas, the heart of the Gaucho or Argentinian cowboy culture. The pampas are the grasslands where the gauchos raise their cattle, kind of similar to the prairies of the midwestern United States.
We took the 12:50pm bus from Retiro bus terminal and it was one of the most luxurious buses I have ever been on, anywhere in the world. The seats were almost completely reclining and the leg space was double of what you might expect in business class in an American airline. There were toilets and coffee and milk dispensers. Both of us were still tired from the sickness and partying of the past 2 weeks and slept for most of the 2 hour journey to San Antonio.
The bus dropped us off an nondescript terminal about 6 blocks away from the city center. We walked to the main plaza and immediately realized that this was a very sleepy town and probably not worth the day trip. We should have perhaps combined an estancia tour with this trip to make it worthwhile. Anyway, we soldiered on after taking some pictures of the square and its surrounding historic buildings, to visit a museum on gaucho culture. In the early 20th century, an author named Ricardo G�iraldes wrote a seminal book on gauchos called Don Segundo Sombra and the museum was located in one of the houses where he lived. It was a decent exhibition about the lives of gauchos including displays of their ponchos, guns, and saddles.
The most interesting part of the museum visit came after we finished viewing the exhibits. Tanny wanted to ask the curator about a place in town to drink yerba mate or the ubiquitous Argentinina tea drink. We had tried to order this in restaurants but never got it in the original form. The curator did not speak English but introduced Tanny to a lady who worked there and did know the language. She was nice enough to let us into her office and pour us mate drinks that we drank out of the mate gourd. It was an interesting experience and I really liked the taste of the drink, the warnings in the travel guide books notwithstanding. I guess once you are into Islay Single Malt, and eaten dog meat and other exotics in China, nothing can bother you tastewise.
We were done with San Antonio earlier than we expected and headed home in the 6pm bus, making it b ack by 8pm.
We got into Buenos Aires yesterday around 2pm and checked into an apartment style hotel called Torre Christoforo Colombo in the Palermo Barrio. With a kitchenette and a living room, this was one of the most spacious of the rooms we have stayed in since we came here almost 2 weeks ago. Palermo is mostly a residential neighborhood full of plazas and parks and also has a decent nightlife , hence the choice. We were both very glad to be back in BA after the debacle that was Iguazu and mostly chilled during the rest of the day.
In the evening, we tried to go do some shopping but except for buying some yerba mate cups, didn't really buy anything. After that, we decided that we wanted to try an Indian restaurant called Katmandu (don't tell the Nepalese). Since most portenos don't even begin to think about eating before 8 or 9pm, we were pleasantly surprised to see that Katmandu was open at 7:30pm. The decor was quite gloomy and the food mediocre but I guess we both were starting to miss spices in our food after 2 weeks, and still enjoyed it. Tanny is quite sick by now and didn really enjoy himself much (meaning he couldn't drink much) and we headed back to the hotel to call it an early night after that.
From the cold temperatures in Ushuaia, it took us only a few hours to fly to the hot and humid northeastern tip of Argentina, Puerto Iguazu, a small town located at the site of the magnificent waterfalls of the same name. We reached here yesterday evening and stepped out to 37 degrees celsius and almost unbearable humidity. A far cry from Patagonia. Since I was also taking medication for fever, I was literally sweating buckets and had to constantly wipe my face with a bandanna.
We checked into a hotel called Hosteria Los Helechos close to the centre of town and when I saw our room, I realized that this had to be one of the worst hotels I have ever stayed in my life - anywhere! The bathroom was musty and had no windows and one could barely stand to take a shower. One leg had to be kept out of the stall if you wanted to maintain a balance. Luckily the room did have air conditioning and for the first time since I came to Argentina, I was glad the room had cable tv too. We went to a local bar cum restaurant to have some munchies for dinner and went to bed early.
On Sunday, we woke up early enough, had what could be euphemestically described as a crappy breakfast (included) and headed out in scorching heat to see what all the fuss was about. The falls are located about 15km from the town and we took a regular bus from the main bus terminal. At the entrance to the park, all of us had to get off and buy our tickets to the park. The bus then dropped us off at the visitor center.
The Iguazu Falls are at the border of Brazil, Argentina and Paraguay though there is really no view or a section of the falls in the latter. There are three towns on the respective countries - Puerto Iguazu in Argentina, Foz de Iguazu in Brazil, and Ciudad del Este in Paraguay. Foz is supposed to be the most developed of all three. We originally had plans to cross over into Brazil to see the falls on that side but we ended up cutting our trip by one day and didn�t make it.
There are different paths you can take around the falls on the Argentinian side of the national park and we took all of them - Circuito Superior, Circuito Inferior and the path to see the Gargantua del Diabla or Devil�s Throat. From the visitor center, we took a train to start the Circuito Inferior which winds through various vantage points. I was really impressed with my first view but I don�t know if it was worth all the trouble to get here. I had to choose between seeing this and Aconcagua and I am a bit disappointed that I didn�t choose the latter. Once at the bottom, I crossed the river into a small island called Isla San Martin on the Rio Uruguay. Once there, I climbed what seemed like endless steps to reach the best viewpoint of the falls. Tanny had taken a boat ride to go very close to the falls and at the same time get soaked. I didn�t do that because I was still not feeling too well. The Devil�s throat section was another train ride and a 2km walk away. This was definitely worth it and for me, the best part of the falls.
After returning tired and sweaty, we decided to chill inside the room for a few hours before heading out for dinner. We decided that night that we didn�t want to stay here any longer and changed our return flight by one day to return earlier.
Darwin crossed this channel in the ship after which this is named, the HMS Beagle, enroute to the Galapagos Islands. Ushuaia is dramatically set at the foothills of the Andes facing the Channel. Across the channel is the Chilean island of Isla Navarrino, a mostly uninhabited place full of the last stretches of the Andes. Beyond Navarrino lies a small group of islands which include the Cabo de Hornos (or Cape Horn). The Channel itself is split into Argentinian and Chilean territory and the boats cruising both sides are careful not to cross into each other�s territory unintentionally. Chile and Argentina almost came to war over 3 islands further east along the channel called Isla Picto, Isla Nueve and a third one which escapes my memory as I write this. England intervened in the 70s and declared in favor of Chile.
Even though I was feeling quite sick, I wanted to go for the cruise on the channel and by the time we reached the port, the boat had just left. Then they did the unbelievable. Just for the 2 of us, they turned it back and allowed us on board. We were very pleasantly surprised.
It was almost an all day cruise. The scenery was stunning with snow capped mountains on both sides and all sorts of fauna around us including condors, dolphins, other birds of prey, etc. During the course of the day, we closed in on islands with seals and penguins, stopped at the famous Estancia Haberton and also passed by one of the southernmost lighthouses in the world. I had seen seals many times before but this was the first time I had seen Penguins in the wild. There were 2 distinct species on the island. These were both quite small but very cute.
The Haberton ranch had a nice small museum containing the skeletons of numerous marine animals and birds found in this region. The ranch was established in the nineteenth century by a British clergyman by the name of Thomas Bridges and is still run by his descendants. It�s one of the oldest in Patagonia and was a haven for shiprecked sailors and such for a very long time.
I am officially sick now with a high fever and barely able to function at nights. Yesterday morning, I woke up feeling slightly uncomfortable but I was still ok enough to go with Tanny to Tierra del Fuego National Park, located only about 12 km from Ushuaia. This is apparently, the southernmost of all national parks in the world and is one of the most accessible of all of Argentina�s parks. We took a bus to the park where we were dropped off at Bahia Ensenada, a nice little bay off of the Beagle Channel.
From here, we started a 8km hike along the Costera trail all the way to the Lapataia area along the coast of both Bahia Ensenada and Bahia Lapataia. In between we go through Lenga forests and we saw a few of the exciting fauna in this area including the Magellanic Woodpecker, different types of geese and some flightless ducks. It was a bit chilly but the hike itself was very nice. And there were hardly any people considering that this is a national park. At the end of this, we walked over to the Paseo de la Isla, where Tanny continued his walk whereas I just lay down on the grass and watched the river go by. I was beginning to feel sick by this time and was not in a mood for further walking. I was in peace with myself watching the mountains soaring around me including Guanaco.
At night, after a shower, I forced myself to accompany Tanny to a fancy restaurant called Kuar located on a hilltop overlooking the Channel. It was a hip place and they apparently have live bands during the weekends and such but the real stuff starts happening only after midnight. We reached there at a totally unfashionable and touristy time of 8pm to have dinner. We got high on a couple of bottles of wine and then some whiskey before taking a cab back to the hostel. Don�t remember the last bits of the night.
Yesterday evening we reached Ushuaia, the so called "southermost city" in the world. Its the capital of Argentina's Tierra del Fuego province and the flight into town was probably the single most spectacular flight I have taken especially the last 10 minutes or so before we landed. The plane swooped low enough to scrape the snow capped Andes and made a very sharp turn over the Beagle Channel (to avoid crossing over into Chilean airspace) before making an ever so smooth landing in the relatively new international airport.
We were both delighted with what we saw as we made our way from the airport to our hostel called Hosteria Los Fuegos located about 5km from the heart of town. The scenery was, without exaggeration, the most spectacular we had both seen in our lives. The mountains weren�t that high but still the charming little town (pop. 50,000), the Beagle Channel and Isla Navarrino (part of Chilean Tierra del Fuego) add to the wonder this place is. Our hostel was located in a wooded area near Rio Olivia surrounded by lenga trees. It was a nice little b & b type of place and we decided to just chill here with a good bottle of Malbec last night here. I have the makings of an upcoming cold.
At 54.5 degrees South, Ushuaia, is the launching pad for most cruises to Antartica (the circle is at 66 degrees south). Though Argentina and most of the world recognizes Ushuaia to be the southernmost �city� in the world, sitting about 80 km east and a few km south across the Beagle Channel is Puerto Williams (Chile). The latter is not technically a city and is more of a naval �settlement� but still has a population of about 15,000. But I am happy with having been to Ushuaia.
In the last 2 days, my expectations of Patagonia as one of the most beautiful places in the world came through and the gigantic glaciers of Perito Moreno (the size of Buenos Aires), Upsala (3 times BA), Spegazzini, Onelli and Agassiz did not disappoint. On monday Tanny and I took a trip to Perito Moreno in the Glacier National Park. It was an organized tour from the hostel we were staying in (America del Sur). It takes about 1.5 hours to get there from Calafate. We passed a couple of estancias (ranches) on our way and some beautiful steppe scenery. Most of the journey was alongside Lago Argentino, the largest lake in the country. Once at the glacier, we hiked alongside the shores of the lake to take in various views of the monster. It put on a great show by letting its seracs to fall off into the lake with almost deafening noise. We later took a boat trip to get very close to the glacier. On monday night, we hung out at a cool lounge called Shackleton which had great views of the lake. We met a guy from Texas who hung out with us.
On Tuesday, Tanny decided to go to El Chalten to see the famouse Fitz Roy mountain range. I thought this was too hectic and decided to stay in Calafate and take in the other glaciers of the national park. Besides, the scenery at Fitz Roy is supposed to be very similar to the one in Torres del Paine in Chile that I will be doing a few weeks from now.
The tour started at 9am and ended at 7:30pm, most of it was spend on a huge catamaran. I met some interesting people especially an Iranian girl and a guy who was half German and half Indian and hung out with them. We also conversed with an Argentinian girl in broken spanish and frequent references to the phrasebook. The glaciers and the boat trip was amazing as the waters around them were littered with hundreds of dark blue hued icebergs. I actually thought the icebergs were more pretty than the gigantic glaciers. I was exhausted after yesterday and slept like a baby till 9am today.
Both Magellan and Drake survived mutinies here and were fascinated with this desolate, remote and mysterious region. El Calafate itself is definitely a touristy town and survives solely on the tourist pesos. The gigantic glaciers surrounding it including the world famous Perito Moreno keep the people and money coming in. Apparently the town had one street in the mid 80s. We just hung about town after landing here yesterday noon. We went to the Laguna Niemes where we were able to see black necked swans which are endemic to Patagonia. We were quite tired by the time we hit the sack at the hosteria America del Sur, a very cosy hostel with friendly English speaking owners. The service in the bars and restaurants in town was much less friendlier and especially after Buenos Aires. In a few minutes, we are off to see the leviathan - Perito Moreno. I miss Eug very much.
Yep, that's what we had in a cool and hip bar in Buenos Aires last night in the San Telmo barrio. And it was probably one of the tastiest Indian dishes I have ever had anywhere including India. And it was made by an Argentinian. We wandered around the San Telmo barrio for most of the day. This is a neighborhood famous for its tango bars and also its pubs. Chilling with the tasty Cristal beer on Plaza Dorrego, watching street perfomances and the beautiful women walk past was how we spend most of the day time. In the evening, we hit the pubs and at 3 places there was live music including a kick ass local rock band. The place was full of young and hip Argentinians.
Today morning we boarded a flight to El Calafate in Patagonia and we are here now. The view of the Andes and Lago Argentino from the plane was phenomenal. From what little I have seen of it, Patagonia, is everything that I dreamed it would be. I can�t wait to get out there and see the glaciers and the mountains up close.
Saw Eva Peron's tomb yesterday at the famous and exclusive Recoleta cemetery yesterday. Her family's was one of the less fancy ones. Some of the tombs were so fabulously sculptured. The cemetery itself is quite huge and a lot of famous upper class Argentinians are buried there. We wandered around Recoleta and Retiro districts yesterday during the day in between going to the Uruguayan consulate here to get my visa stamped on the passport. We had lunch at a parilla (grill) overlooking the cemetery and tasted some fine beef which is probably going to be our main diet for the rest of the stay in this meat loving country.
At night, we went pub crawling and went into some hot local lounges where we made friends with the bar staff and had a whale of a time. It was close to 4am when we wandered back into our hotel. Today we are headed to the southern districts, San Telmo (the home of the tango) and the idiosyncratic La Boca.
I love this city and in two days, it has replaced London as my favorite city in the world. The people are friendly, good looking and there is a hip feeling to the whole city. Tomorrow we head south to El Calafate, the entry town into the Glacier national park and the famous Perito Moreno glacier.
Reached here without trouble after a long journey from Chicago yesterday noon. My friend Tanny is also here and we checked into our hotel located in the centro barrio of B.A. The location is right next to Plaza de Mayo, where Evita addressed her followers (descamisados) from the Casa Rosada (pink palace). We just explored the area near the hotel yesterday taking in the cafes sipping local whiskey (criadores) and was pretty much out of it by 11pm or so. Today we are headed to do some sightseeing and are right now heading to see Evita�s cemetery.
I am off in a few hours to Chicago and then on to Buenos Aires, Argentina to begin my 42 day trip. I have been so busy the last few days getting everything in order than I am actually exhausted at the start of the trip and haven't really had time to reflect much on my emotions regarding the trip itself. I am sure this will change once I board that plane.
Yesterday, while on our way to have dinner with friends, I got yet another ticket for a moving violation. The officer caught me switching 2 lanes in one swoop and as my luck would have it, he was right behind me. This was on El Camino Real, a local road near where we live. It's funny that I rarely get tickets while going at 100 mph on freeways but almost all my tickets have been on small roads. He told me that not only he didn't like the way I switched lanes but also that I was speeding. He only gave me a ticket for the lane switch. I think I might be eligible for traffic school again (since my last ticket was more than 17 months ago). This is my 5th moving violation in California (only one made it to my record) and my umpteenth in the country. The Radar detector I have on my TT seems to work but last night, we were driving the A4.
So, I have got 3 of the 4 visas I need for my trip. I applied for the Uruguayan visa on Feb. 8 and after almost a month, I still haven't got it. Now they are telling me that I can get this stamped on my passport once I reach Buenos Aires. I haven't been to a country yet which takes so long to process a tourist visa. If I don't get it before I leave next week, I may not go there and spend more time in Brazil instead. It's so much easier to travel if you are an American citizen (well, to most countries). The upside for me though, is that I didn't need to pay anything for applying for the visas of Argentina and Uruguay. For Brazil and Chile the fee was nominal.
Today, I officially started my serious planning for next week's trip to South America. I bought all the major tickets to and fro but still need to iron out the internal flights within the countries I am visiting. On March 9, I will head off to Argentina and will return only on April 19. While I am down there, I will visit Uruguay, Brazil and Chile in addition to Argentina. While in Chile, I plan to do an adventure travel trip in Patagonia. After months of research into which outfitter I should do this with, I chose G.A.P adventures, based in Canada. I still have to get my visas for Chile (today), Brazil (tomorrow) and Uruguay (sometime this week). Argentina and Brazil visas are quite straightforward. For Chile and Uruguay, one has to apply at least 3 weeks before the trip. It's quite an inefficient process as they send the paperwork to their respective countries before granting you approval.
Last night, we went out for dinner at one of my new favorite restaurants in the area called Cascal with our friends Manish and Archana who were visiting from NYC. It's nice to see that Mountain View is suddenly sprouting with new and exciting restaurants and even lounges.
Copyright © 2004-2005 Anup Sekhar