Tuesday, January 31, 2012

Punta Arenas:  I think this claims to the the windiest city in the world and its blowing this morning.  Were packing up and will leave for Torres del Paine shortly.

The drive to Torres del Paine included a visit to a colony of Magellanic penguins in wind, rain and hail.

On the road: Patagonia is big sky country.

First view of Torres del Paine.

Guanacos welcome us to Torres del Paine.

Monday, January 30

We made it most of the way down the road south, but had to stop when the road became too much for the car.  So we walked a little further through a forest of trees stunted by the wind.  Of course, this is the farthest south I have ever been.

Pretty much the end of the road.To go further you would need a good four wheel drive vehicle or a mountain bike, or of course your feet would do.  The map shows the road ending around San Isidro.

  

 The road is lined with fuchsia bushes 6 feet and higher.  

 
Also visited a reconstructed 1843 fort (Fuerte Bulnes) and Punta de Hambre (Hunger Point) where all but one members of a 1584 failed Spanish colony starved to death.

Fuerte Bulnes

Need to get on the road now, more later.

Sunday, January 29, 2012

We are in Patagonia.   We arrived in Punta Arenas (in translation "Sand Point") this afternoon - going from 90 degree heat in Buenos Aires to 50 degrees, wind and a little rain here, and from a family home in BA, to a Holiday Inn at the Santiago airport, to a funky hostel here.

 
The Strait of Magellan is down the street about 4 blocks.  You can look across to Tierra del Fuego.  This reminds me a bit of Port Angeles (it´s another PA) and the Olympic peninsula, but without the tall trees and, of course, many other differences with respect to people, business, architecture, etc.   Tierra del Fuego looks a little like Vancouver Island.

We walked down to the beach and then around the downtown after we arrived.  This is an old town.  At the center of the park in the downtown square is a statue of Magellan on a pedestal and with several large figures representing native peoples at the base.  It is customary for young women (and others) to kiss the huge foot of one of these.

 

It is a well polished foot.   

Except for a pharmacy, a supermarket and a few restaurants, most businesses are closed because it´s Sunday.  The hostel owner recommended a restaurant which we liked.  The menu included fresh local crab, salmon, sea urchins, and "heel fish" (eel).  As in Argentina, good wine is abundant.

We´ve rented a car for the next nine days, including the trip to Torres del Paine.  We will explore around here tomorrow, including a drive down the road to the farthest place south you can drive on the South American mainland.  We go to Torres del Paine on Tuesday.

I´m pretty tired from all the travel the past two days.  As in Argentina, everyone is on a late schedule here with dinner at 10 and a late sunset at 9:45 p.m.  I had expected we would gain an hour but Chile is on the same time as Argentina which has a "double" daylight savings time in the summer. The hostel has two PCs which makes it easy to post to the blog here.

Saturday, January 28

Spent the morning packing, walking the neighborhood, and visiting leather shops in nearby Calle Murillo.  Then good-bye to the host family and a cab to the airport for an early evening flight to Santiago.  As we fly over the Andes, I can look down on Aconcagua, the highest point in the western hemisphere.

Aconcagua is the prominent peak almost on the horizon in the right center of the photo.

Friday, January 27

I,m sorry its taken so long to post again.  Ive had very little Internet access this week but am now in a locutorio - a place where you can make phone calls and get on line.

Today was the last day of school.  We have been here a week and it''s hard to believe.  Now that were in a routine we must break it tomorrow and fly off to Santiago and points south.  The newness has warn off somewhat but its still exciting to be here - a really vibrant city.

The school, owned by a Swiss, is a small one and caters mostly to Europeans..  There were about ten other students in all this week and all from Switzerland.  Argentine Spanish or Castellano as they call it has major differences from what you might have learned in school, much a result of the influence of Neapolitan Italian.  (There are as many people here of Italian descent as Spanish.)  For those of you who know Spanish, tu is never used.  Its always vos, although other forms of the familiar singular second person are used.  AND  "y" and "ll" preceding a vowel indicate a "sh" sound and not palatalization.  So a lot of words are pronounced differently here than in Mexico and other Spanish speaking countries.  I am also starting to pick up less striking differences in pronunciation and also in vocabulary.

Now that we've gotten used to this we will have to unlearn it in Chile.  Sergio, my friend here in BA, says Porteños (Buenos Aires natives) have a hard time understanding Chilean Spanish.

It's cooled off somewhat but another heat wave is expected starting Sunday.  People are complaining about the heat which has been about 10 degrees Fahrenheit above normal this summer.

Ciao, for now.  Will write more about BA as I have time and hope to get on line again in a couple of days in Punta Arenas.


Thursday, January 26

After school we had lunch with an Argentinian Antarctic scientist friend of John's.  Then Laura and I walked to La Casa Rosada where every Thursday afternoon  at 3:15 a group of mothers of the "disappeared" gathers.  A small, but moving demonstration.  You may be familiar with this history or know the U2 and Sting songs about the mothers.  A military dictatorship conducted a "dirty war" between 1976 and 1983 in which thousands of civilians died.  Before the trip I rented several Argentinian moves from Netflix including Cautiva which tells the story of a child of a couple who disappeared.  I recommend it.  (Another excellent film is El Secreto de Sus Ojos [The Secret In Their Eyes] which won the Oscar for Best Foreign Film a couple of years ago.)

Wednesday, January 25

Today's extracurricular activity was a walking tour including the Museum of Decorative Arts, a stroll along embassy row, and some parks near Recoleta.

In front of the school, waiting for the tour to start.

 Museum of Decorative Arts

Tuesday, January 24

The Spanish school, located on a side street in downtown Buenos Aires, is small.  One other person, a Swiss, is in my group.  Since I will be here for only a week, I will get just a segment of a much longer basic course.  But with only two in the class it is intense.  We sit across the table from the instructor and work through a book of exercises.

Congress building (on our way to school)

Last night we ate our first dinner with our host family.  The husband and wife are both professional musicians.  He plays the cello in three groups including an orchestra.  She plays piano and flute, and plays the instruments, sings, and composes music for children's CDs.  They have two children at home, both boys, 5 and 14 years old.  A daughter is in London doing something like a junior year in high school there.

The house is a sort of town house in an urban residential neighborhood with a mix of private houses, apartment buildings and businesses of many types.  It is an old building that has retained its original features in the front and remodeled and added onto in the back.

Tonight we are going out for dinner with my friend Sergio (introduced by Professor Scott Saunders at SPSCC)

Sunday, January 21

Today we moved to the home of the host family where the language school has arranged for us to stay during this week.  The house is in a neighborhood a bout a 30 minute bus ride west of downtown.

This afternoon we went by commuter train to Tigre, a resort town on a river delta about 15 miles northwest of Buenos Aires.  We took an excursion boat around several of the river's channels which are like canals and lined with summer homes and resorts.  A good thing to do on a hot day.

 

 Monday, January 22

We took the bus into the city center and started the Spanish school today.  Classes are from 10 to 1 (or 13 since Argentina is on a 24 hour clock).  After school we were served empenadas and mate, and then given a personalized tour of downtown.  It took us by the Congress and through the main plazas to La Casa Rosada (literally the Pink House; pigs' blood was used for the original paint in the 1820s), the presidential palace.  The last stop was Recoleta where the cemetery contains the remains of Eva Peron.  Unfortunately, the cemetery was closing for the day at the time we arrived.  

 Cathedral

 La Casa Rosada

Ombu

We saw several ombus during or stay.  Apparently, because the wood is very pulpy, there is some dispute as to whether the ombu is a tree or a shrub, but the appearance is a tree.  The old ombus in the parks are about 50 feet high with branches at least that long.

Recoleta gate

Monday, January 22, 9:30 p.m.

Taking a few minutes for a short update before dinner.

First, I have been talking with my family and tracking the situation in Olympia over the web.  Late this morning the power came back on at our place for which I'm thankful.

Second, I'm getting behind here so the posts may get out of order.  Suffice it  to say, our time has been absolutely full in this most interesting city.

Third, so far I have not been able to offload any photos for upload to the blog.  They may have to wait until I return.

Saturday, January 21

Woke up about 8 this morning and threw open the window of the hotel room.  (We're on the second floor.)  Everyone is walking their dogs as it is relatively cool.  A man with six weimaraners and another dog comes down the street.

Lunch again at Oro y Candido.  Epanadas with ground lamb and a green salad that includes peaches.  After lunch we move to the house of the host family we'll be living with for the coming weeks.  The house fronts on the street, a townhouse with a long back yard.

This evening we take a taxi downtown to the central commuter rail station and the train to a western suburb where friends of John, have invited us to dinner.  First, hors dóeuvres and drinks (my first pisco sour) on their patio, to a restaurant.  Much conversation and the back to Buenos Aires on the midnight train.

Friday, January  - 20
We made it . . . with seconds to spare.  Got into  BA at 10 this morning and to the hotel at noon.  This was earlier than planned but . . . .   When we checked in Denver yesterday we learned that our Toronto flight would be 1 1/2 hours  late which meant a big risk that we would miss our flight out of Toronto.  Air Canada rebooked us on Continental  flights that gave us 40 minutes to make the connection to the BA flight.  The Continental flight showed a 10 minute late departure and then sat on the tarmac for another 20 minutes - this after we had to fight to find space for our carry-ons.   We thought we would have to spend the night in Houston.   But after we landed in Houston we were able to walk as fast as possible to the  BA gate and get on the plane right at 9 when it was scheduled to depart.  From there everything was smooth; this was a 2 hour shorter trip than we would have had from Toronto and we are not totally wiped out.

Friday afternoon: Our first excurstion as flâneurs in Buenos Aires.  It's hot here, probably in the 90s.  We had lunch at Oro y Candido, a cafe about a block from the hotel.  Laura and I then walked up to the Botanical Garden, about 10 blocks from the hotel, not counting the part, where confused by the position of the sun in the sky in the southern hemisphere,  we walked in the wrong direction.  An old urban neighborhood, but a mix of the old and the new; old stucco houses fronting the street, tall wooden doors, polished or painted; new brick, steel and glass apartments; the streeds shaded, many by thick old plane trees; small shops of various kinds; the smell of fresh peaches.

Friday evening: Dinner at Don Julio in an old building, a few blocks from the hotel.  I had sorrentinos, but of course steak is the big deal here.  The Argentineans eat late.  The normal time for supper is 9:30.    is going to be the hardest thing to get used to.We ate early - at 8:30.  Of course beef is the big menu item here, but I had sorrentios.  There is a strong Italian influence; there are more people of Italian descent here than Spanish.  "Ciao"is the operative word for good-bye.  I haven't heard äudios" used even once.

Boulder, Colorado:  More weather.  Last night and this morning Chinook winds raced through here at steady speeds above 50 mph and gusts close to 100.   Maybe this will get us used to what we should expect on the Strait of Magellan where such velocities are common.  Last minute errands and packing today.  Off to the airport in a few hours.

I'm in Boulder, Colorado to link up with my traveling companions, my sister, Laura, and her husband, John, both experienced travelers in Argentina, Chile and other South American places (otherwise I wouldn't attempt a trip like this).  After reading increasingly disturbing weather forecasts, I decided on Sunday to get out of Olympia a day early, went to SeaTac Monday evening and flew to Denver yesterday rather than today.  Expensive but a good thing:  Ann reports 14 inches of snow at our place this morning.

Today last minute packing.  We're prepared for big city and for wilderness.  Besides our luggage to be carried on, we'll check through a couple of duffle bags with a pretty complete set of camping equipment.  Tomorrow we're off to Buenos Aires.

Several people have asked me to keep them posted on my South America trip, so here goes . . . 

Torres del Paine, a Chilean national park at the end of the Andean cordillera, is the the ultimate objective. Before Torres we'll be in Buenos Aires for a week attending a Spanish school for a quickie course and seeing the city.  I'm trying to recover whatever skills I gained in the 9th and 10th grades.  I took a community college adult ed conversation course last fall.  It was a good start.   I don't expect any fluency, but any improvement should help.

After Buenos Aires we go by way of Santiago de Chile to Punta Arenas, Chile - 1400 miles south of Santiago and our jumping off point for Torres del Paine.  Tragically, the week after Christmas an enormous wildfire burned more than 14,000 acres in the park  The area includes many of the trails and roads, and one of our prime destinations.  We'll still be able to spend three days in the park, but we have three days to replan.  Maybe we'll go to Tierra del Fuego. 

The third leg is to fly to Puerto Montt, Chile (800 miles back towards Santiago).  We'll have five days to camp and explore either on the Chilean side or perhaps in Argentina.  Then back to Santiago and home.