Reflections on Argentina

We've now left Argentina, as Erin will relate shortly, but I wanted to recap a few observations and sentiments that I had about the country while traveling there. It speaks volumes that of all the countries outside the U.S. that we have visited, Argentina stands out as one of my two favorites - along with Thailand. My reasoning for liking these two countries are similar. First and foremost, I love the natural world, and both these countries feature amazing landscapes - striking, majestic mountains and glaciers and open country in the case of Argentina and gorgeous tropical islands and beaches and coral reefs in the case of Thailand. Secondly, the people of these two countries are very gregarious and outgoing and welcoming. They have vibrant cultures of which they are proud and into which they welcome you with open arms. Next comes the food - and drink, I suppose. Argentina features amazing meals of steak and beef coupled with outstanding and affordable red and white wines. Thailand has my favorite food of any country we've visited, boasting an amazing assortment of flavors, spices, curries, seafood, fresh fruits and vegetables and more - all washed down with cheap and light beers that go down easy in the hot weather. Both countries also provide a good quality of travel - nice accommodation, good infrastructure, quality roads and buses and airports, and generally the things needed to make travel easy and enjoyable as opposed to tough and burdensome. Overarching all of this, the two countries are very affordable. They are in the mid-tier of countries where an American can travel comfortably at a very affordable daily cost - not expensive like New Zealand or Europe and not dirt cheap like Laos or Bolivia - but offering a great value for enjoyable travels. Given all of the above, it is not surprising that we spent the most time in these two countries while traveling in South America and Southeast Asia. I give my hearty endorsement for you to see them in your lifetime if the above reasoning appeals to you.

The landscape - Cerro Torre

Now that I've professed my love for Argentina, here are some more specific thoughts and observations on the country.

Food - It's all about the beef. All manner of meat dishes are cooked and consumed by Argentinians on a daily basis. Our favorite, of course, was the steak. Great quality, great price. They also love mayonnaise in this country - too much so even. The Italian influence is evident in many things, especially the prevalence of pasta and pizza. The country also has some great ice cream and chocolate, an influence of some of the Swiss who emigrated to the Lakes District here. Sweet-tooth Erin's favorite discovery was dulce de leche (literally "sweet from milk"). It is similar to condensed milk but a more accurate comparison is caramel. It is basically like eating caramel, and they put it in and on everything . It's often featured for breakfast to be spread on bread; picture yourself waking up and dousing a roll in melted caramel and that's an accurate comparison. Erin was in love. Another common dessert is an alfajor which is essentially two slices of cake with dulce de leche sandwiched in between - not unlike a Ding Dong. In general, the food, particularly the beef, is good in Argentina, if not widely varied.

The food - an asado, or Argentine barbecue

Drink - The most notable drink in Argentina is its wine. They are very good and very cheap. I love reds, and they make great cabernets, merlots, and syrahs. They also have some good tempranillos which is a more spicy red. The big red wine discovery here, though, was malbec. Malbec is a smooth, easy-drinking red wine that comes from a European grape that has flourished more here than anywhere in the world. Go out and get yourself a good, relatively affordable malbec from the Mendoza or San Juan regions, and you'll be pleased. They also have good whites. In addition to the common chardonnay and sauvignon blanc, the new white wine discovery was torrontes. It's fruity but also sort of dry - a very interesting and unique white that also has done best in Argentina than anywhere else in the world. Buy one from Cafayate, a town in an arid valley in the north, and you may be pleased at a new wine discovery.

The food and drink - steak and vino

An interesting liquor that is "the drink" of all the young folk is fernet. They drink it with Coke like Americans would drink a bourbon and Coke - albeit without the bourbonization. Fernet branca is the full name, and it is a spirit made from grapes and flavored by up to 40 herbs. The taste is unique - sort of mediciney, like Dr. Pepper a bit - and is definitely an acquired one. But if you're looking to try a new drink, check it out and you'll be just like a hip, young Argentinian.

Aside from alcoholic beverages, the national beverage is matè (pronounced "mahtay"). It's a hot tea made from steeping the herb yerba matè in hot water. Its consumed from a traditional gourd called a matè through a metal (traditionally silver) straw called a bombilla. It's a social or communal drink and is typically shared amongst a circle of friends. The taste is a touch bitter and not my favorite - also an acquired taste, like coffee can be. But I was invited countless times to drink matè with the locals and often did so just for the opportunity to share in a local custom and chat with the local people. To me, it's sort of a symbol of their generosity, openness, and social nature. Another good aspect is that it is enjoyed by all - north, south, east, west, rich, poor, young, old. That's a good thing in a country that has some major distinctions in the class and wealth of its people.

A huge national pastime - like all over the world - is following and playing football (soccer). The people are passionate about it - arguably fanatical. They follow their national team, the variety of leagues in Argentina, as well as all the European leagues. A tournament among club teams from the Latin American countries extending from Mexico through all of Central and South America called Copa de Libertador was taking place when we visited so it was great to watch some games and get some reactions from the local peeps. Boca and River Plate are the two most popular clubs and arch-rivals. They`re the Yankees-Red Sox of Argentina. We also witnessed people playing football all over the place - kids in the streets, organized matches on both nice and ragtag fields, and families in the parks with mom, dad, and kids all joining in. It was cool to witness their passion for the game - although I do wish they had better coverage of the NBA Playoffs.

The sport - family football in a Mendoza park on a Sunday afternoon

A crazy dynamic of life here is the hours that people keep. They enjoy a siesta from 1 to 4 in the afternoon, and therefore their work and evening hours are way different than in the U.S. They go home and sleep during siesta, then return to work until as late as 8, 9, 10 PM. It's impossible to get anything done during the early afternoon hours, as we learned on countless occasions because we weren't quite on the local program. Their dinner time is way late, usually 9PM or later. For my birthday, we made a reservation for 8:30 - relatively late for us - only to walk into a vacant restaurant and amused waitstaff. The place didn't get going until after 10 PM, and when we left tired and yawning (I am 32 now, after all), there were young kids aged 2, 3 and 4 strolling in with their families, wide awake and ready to go. The nightlife is even later. One night we wanted to share a beer with a British couple we met in Patagonia who were heading in a different direction the next day and searched for an open bar at 9PM, only to be told they don't open until 11 or midnight. And the young people stay out all night until 5 or 6 AM or later as common practice on the weekend.

Overall, the quality of life in Argentina is generally good. In both Chile and Argentina, I was surprised by how good it is. Both countries were also much more European than I expected, drawing huge influences from Spain and Italy and to a lesser extent other European countries. Argentina offers a good infrastructure as mentioned above; you can drink the tap water in many places, as one example. The education system seems pretty sound, with nearly full literacy of the population. But amidst this generally good environment, we witnessed and learned there is a major difference between classes. You can see the poverty in certain corners vie the ramshackle old jalopies that are amazingly still on the road and the rundown, adobe-style houses that leave a great deal to be desired. At one time in the first half of the 19th century, Argentina was one of the wealthiest nations in the world, even lending money to European nations after WWII. But the economy and the distribution of wealth has not been managed well since that time, and the economy and resulting welfare of the people have undergone some major ups and downs. At this juncture, there is a small group of very wealthy people, a reasonable middle class, but also about a quarter to a third of the people living in poverty. The country had a multi-year recession culminating in a currency collapse in 2001 that diminished the middle class and really hurt the working class. The country has rebounded relatively well since that time but is still struggling to reduce its huge debt load and has a widely diverging income distribution. From talking to some of the poorer working class people, we got a sense that they are very skeptical of the government's interest in helping their cause. This is a dynamic and sentiment which has been increasingly common in South America in the last 5 or 1o years and has led to the rise of leftist government leaders like Hugo Chavez in Venezuela and Evo Morales in Bolivia. For the first time, I am starting understand this dynamic more clearly, not that I feel it's the best way to go.

There is some degree of conservatism in Argentina, as well as Chile, due to the predominant religion being Roman Catholic, with over 90% expressing this as their faith. The predominance of Catholicism is true of many South American countries, including Bolivia and Peru where we`re headed next. There is also a degree of conservatism resulting from the military dictatorships that ran these country with a ruthless and violent means of quashing any opposition in the 70's and 80's.

And finally, some of my favorite memories of Argentina.
- Trekking in front of Fitz Roy and Cerro Torre in Patagonia - unbelievable!
- Watching the monstrously big Perito Moreno Glacier spectacularly calve off in huge sections into a lake below
- El Pueblito Hostel in El Bolson - the staff, the breakfasts, the other travelers, the asados, the relaxing vibe, the extended stay
- A backcountry hut trip into the mountains above El Bolson with two 19-year old chaps from England
- Our plush 2 BR townhouse for around $22 a night in Bariloche in the Lakes District
- Sharing some home-cooked food and steaks and having some great conversations in Spanish and English with two working class Argentinian guys
- Enjoying the wines and bodegas of Mendoza and San Juan
- A great birthday meal with Erin of amazingly tender filets and red wine. Then being pleasantly surprised by a gift of a bottle of malbec from the hostel owner upon our return to our room. This crystallized my fondness for the generosity of the Argentinians.
- The charming city of Salta, my favorite in all of the country
- Staying up til 4 in the morning drinking fernet and Cokes with a party of 20-year old Argentines and exchanging our thoughts and perspectives on their country and mine in a combination of English and Spanish. A really cool experience.
- The amazing red-rock landscapes in the northern part of the country - stunning. This was the most unheralded part of Argentina for me. I just wish I had understood how amazing it was earlier so that we had more time to explore.

The landscape - Red rock country above Pumamarca in the north

That's all I can come up with at the moment. Hope that better colors your perception of Argentina, its food, people, and society. It's a great place, and I hope it continues to find its way and prosper in the future.

Drew

Viva y Vino Tinto

Mendoza conjures up romantic images of wines and countryside, doesn't it? We thought about spending several weeks in this midsize town to take spanish classes and explore the surrounding vineyards, as we had this image of a quaint, cultural town. But, Mendoza is a big city, with all the smog, traffic, and crime that goes along with big cities. After having several weeks in small rural towns, we found ourselves unnerved by the loud sounds of the city, the cloud-belching trucks, and the slight feeling of sketchiness. We also had just stayed in two of the nicest places of our whole trip in El Bolson and Bariloche, and got to our hostel in Mendoza with outdated furniture and a dreary feel to it. At first we were disappointed, but after accepting what Mendoza is really like, we could then enjoy it. It is like a good red wine, it gets better with time.

Bodega Cellar

We had two outings from Mendoza. One was a trip to the nearby town of Maipu, which is where the wine route is. Instead of doing a "wine tour" we got on the local bus and rented bikes. Sounds great, right? We were picturing our trip to Napa with Drew's family or the New Zealand's Malborough region with Aly. Again we were a bit disappointed as we rode through a shabby town, on a torn up road, with semi-trucks wizzing by us. It wasn't the peaceful experience we had in mind, but after a few stops, we started enjoying ourselves. The bodegas (vineyards) themselves were nice, and we got tours and did tastings at 4 different places. One thing we learned was that there is a big difference in taste between wines that are stored in oak barrels (mature) compared to those stored in stainless steel or other containers (young). We tend to like the mature, oaky wines best, but they are also more expensive. We ended the day at a chocolateria and got to taste chocolate liquors, spreads, and different homemade chocolates, it was my kind of place!

Wine Guard Dog

The following day, May 11, was Drew's big 32nd birthday and Mother's Day! For a treat, we made ham, egg, and cheese sandwiches for breakfast. We spent part of the day at a huge park in town, filled with families playing futball and couples laying in the sun. Drew talked to his whole family on the phone, and we got to see little Bridget and Braeden on Skype. This is one of the biggest gifts of all, just to communicate with our loved ones on special days. We celebrated by going out to a nice dinner. The funny thing was getting to the restaurant at 8;30 (late for us) and having the whole place to ourselves. The Argentinians started showing up at 9 or later. We had the most huge delicious steaks, and a wonderful bottle of wine. We toasted our moms, and life on the road! When we got back to our place, there was a bottle of wine with a note from the hostel for Drew's birthday. It was such a nice gesture, and we realized we were in the right place, afterall.

Drew on his 32nd with steak feast

For our second excursion, we took a bus to the region near Aconcagua, which has the prestige of being the highest mountain outside of the Himalaya! We spent 4 hours going and 4 hours returning, but it was worth it. We had clear skies and good views. The landscape is dry and barren, with red earth like Utah. But then there is this huge, glacier-covered peak right there! Pretty sweet!

Cerro Aconcagua

San Juan Vineyard

From Mendoza, we made our way to San Juan, another wine region of Argentina. San Juan is an interesting town because it was levelled in 1944 by a huge earthquake. Therefore, it has a 1950's feel to it and it is smaller and more tame than Mendoza. Yesterday we did another bike ride to the surrounding bodegas, but this time we were prepared for the roads. It's all about your mindset going into these things, and we had a great day because we weren't disappointed by our expectations. We visited 4 different places; 3 wineries and 1 place that makes organic champagne. When we were off the busy roads it was quite nice, and we got to see a slice of the Argentinian country life. All the tours we did were in spanish, which we could understand, mas or menos. Drew's spanish is pretty good, and he gets compliments from people all the time. I am sort of shy talking in spanish, so I am not progressing as much. But I'm trying to learn from Drew's example.

Biking in San Juan

Vineyard in San Juan

As we continue to head north, the weather is warming up. We head to the town of Salta next, on another! overnight bus ride tonight. 12 hour flights will seem like nothing after the bus rides in Argentina! Then we continue to head north into Bolivia, which will be more rustic and adventurous. We will begin our trip to Bolivia by staying with Norma's family (friend of Julie Edsforth), which should be a great inside experience of life in Bolivia. It will also be a good time to practice our spanish, as they don't speak english. Then we head to La Paz to stay with friends of Ben and Casey. We're so lucky to have these connections, and thanks to our friends for helping this along!

Thoughts of coming home are creeping in more and more regularly these days and I am even dreaming about work pretty consistently. We are looking forward to seeing our family and friends, but we're also enjoying our last 2 months of travel and freedom! Happy Birthday to my sister, Mari on the 18th!

Erin

Chilling In the Lakes District

Buenos dias! Hope everyone is well. Erin and I are winding down a relaxing two weeks in the Lakes District of Argentina. This area has been in the news of late due to the volcano that has erupted in Chile across the border a few hundred kilometers away. We´re reasonably close but a safe distance away. We did witness the massive plume of smoke from the volcano last week over the valley of El Bolson where we were staying. Then last night in the town of Bariloche where we are now we had a brief rain of ashes that put a covering of ash on everything. And the night before the volcano first erupted we were staying at a backcountry hut, and I think I felt tremors - even before we knew that a volcano had erupted. So that has been pretty wild.

Smoke Plume from Volcano in Chile

Looking back now, I haven´t said much about our trip to the deep south of Patagonia so wanted to add a few thoughts. Erin did a great job with the play-by-play so I´ll just add some color commentary. Last time I wrote on the blog I gave you a sense of how we were feeling before setting out to Torres del Paine. The morning we were to catch our bus to the park, over breakfast we were staring out the window at the pre-dawn pitch black air with rain cascading down the windows and literally discussing a ¨feeling of doom¨ about our impending trip. It was that grim. But as Erin revealed, it turned out to be an incredible odyssey with its requisite ups and downs. Difficult and challenging times of mean weather interspersed with incredibly awe-inspiring vistas and dramatic ever-changing scenery.

The same basic themes were repeated the next week in Los Glaciares National Park. On the first day of our first backcountry trip we got crushed by rain on our way into our campsite. We spent a bleak night trying to stay dry and warm while fending off the voracious mice who were attacking our tent. Not fun. Erin said something like, ¨I hate this¨at one point. The the next day dawned perfectly clear and we caught one of the most glorious sunrises on Cerro Torre that one could ever see - all by ourselves no less, owing to the bleak conditions we faced the night before. The price we had to pay for this amazing moment, in my view. We were on cloud nine and had an awesome day, catching the vibrant fall colors against the snowy mountain scenery, sighting Magellanic woodpeckers in the beech forests, and then laying our eyes on the titan of the park, Fitz Roy, as we made our way to the next night´s camp. This day Erin was back in the ¨I love it¨mode, as was I. The next day our attempt to catch sunrise on Fitz Roy was foiled by rain and wind and snow and sleet, and we retreated to our tent for the whole rest of the day and night while the rain and then snow incessantly pounded our position. At this point, Erin - our environmental educator for young children mind you - stated that we were ¨screwed again by nature.¨ I had to laugh. The next AM, we retreated back to town for a few days before heading back our for a glorious second trip in the park, this time with better weather and enjoying a high degree of solitude. So Patagonia turned out to be exactly as it´s described. Amazingly rewarding but also peppered with some of the worst and most changeable weather you could imagine. Its rewards are only gained through desire and fortitude to fight through the difficult times. It´s a worthwhile challenge and a place with a well-deserved mystique.

After our marathon 30-hour bus ride through the emptiness of southern and central Patagonia, we arrived in northern Patagonia which is also known as the Lakes District. We found a really cool town and hostel in El Bolson (pictured here) and so stayed there for over a week. It´s a town for those who love the outdoors and arts, surrounded on three sides by mountains and boasting a lively feria (fair) three days a week. It also has multiple local craft breweries, an organic farm that makes the best cheese, and lots of homemade jams and marmalade. We were enamored with the hostel in which we stayed. The people who ran it - two young guys, one Argentine and one German - were great, and we hit it off with them and the other like-minded guests who were digging this mellow town. We enjoyed two asados - or Argentinian barbecues- which are these massive feasts of red meat featuring seven or eight courses of beef and sausage along with salads and bread and, of course, local vino tinto (red wine). We also found the energy to scamper up Cerro Piltriquitron, one of the taller peaks in the area, and to complete a three-day trip to a backcountry refugio (hut) situated in a snowy cirque below a glacier.

On the way up to Piltriquitron

Refugio Hielo Azul where we stayed for two nights

After El Bolson, we came up the road to Bariloche for some more hiking in the Lakes District. We´ve done two day hikes here to the summits of local peaks for vistas over the lakes and volcanoes and mountains that line this part of the Chile-Argentinian border. We found an amazing deal where we have been staying at what is essentially a 2-bedroom townhouse (pictured here) with our own kitchen and bath and cable TV for the equivalent of about US$11 per person per night. Argentina´s amazing that way - good quality of travel with very modest price tag. In the evenings, we have enjoyed some great meals with two Argentinian guys who have been the only other people staying in the hostel part of this place. One is a chef and has made homemade bread and gnocchi, and last night we treated them to lomos which are the most choice cuts of steak - steaks they can´t often afford, they informed us, even though the prices are so cheap to us - the equivalent of US$10 for four big tenderloins. Speaking with them has greatly improved our Spanish (which remains somewhat remedial but improving every day) and it also provided us a great window to understand the challenges of the working class Argentinian. By now we´ve had quite a few opportunities to talk with and get to know Argentinian people and generally find them to be quite warm, friendly, and ingratiating.

Lakes District, as seen from Tourista Peak

Volcano vista from hike in Los Lagos (looks like Mt. Rainier)

So we´ve had a very enjoyable and comfortable stay here in Los Lagos region of this country. But it continues to get colder as winter approaches so today we pick up our bags and move north. This time it´s an 18-hour bus ride to Mendoza - the area that produces 70% of the country´s wines and is also the access point to Cerro Aconcagua, the highest peak in the Western Hemisphere. Mountains and red wine - sounds like my kind of town. Should be a good place to spend my 32nd (doh!) birthday on Sunday. And of course, Sunday is also Mother´s Day so Happy Mother´s Day to all the madres out there, especially mine. Love you, Mom!

I can´t upload photos on this machine so at the next opportunity I´ll add the accompanying pic´s to this post - volcanoes and smoke and ash and more! Go Celtics!

Ciao!
Drew