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Awesome Argentina and Mendoza

By : Orvin S. Gelber
Trip Begins February 17, 2008
Trip Ends March 6, 2008

A fantastic journey through Argentina
See my photos : Awesome Argentina and Mendoza

Want to go? Awesome Argentina, Mendoza

I went to: Argentina, Patagonia
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February 17, 2008
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BA Day 1

Buenos Aires, Argentina

Arrived hot and sweaty after a very long flight from San Francisco. Grabbed a taxi to the hotel with our ton of luggage however we had to hang out in the lobby for a couple of hours as we could not get a room assignment until 3:00PM. Because we were going to Patagonia and the Falklands we needed some warm clothes however BA was perfect for shorts.

The Kepenski (Park) is an old elegent hotel that was perfect for the 4 days we allocated to see BA. It is set on a side street so it was reasonably quiet. The only negitive was that the air conditioner was rather anemic and difficult to operate, butr alas we figured it out and all was well.

February 18, 2008
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BA day 2

Buenos Aires, Argentina

We are wet with sweat rather than rain due to the heat/humidity! It is our 2nd day and we took a city tour of BA this morning. Met some terrific young folks who just finished a 4 month work stint on the Princess Cruise - the same one we will be taking so we milked them for the "must sees"!

Tomorrow we go to Colonia which is in Uruguay. We take a 50 min hydrofoil and spend the day--lots of shopping and museums, etc. The following day we have booked an excursion to an Estancia (ranch) which will feed Stanley BEEF and who knows what for Vegan Jean. We see a gaucho show, tango, and the pampas a few hrs outside BA.

February 19, 2008
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A little more about BA

Buenos Aires, Argentina

It is interesting to see the people here. They are not very attractive and most are carrying extra pounds. The locals say it is the soul not the body that counts! Looking around, one has the instant explanation for obesity. White starch everywhere, no fiber. Basically a meat and potatoes society who loves their pastries and chocolate. Even the grocery stores have limited healthy selections. For the breakfast that comes with our hotel, it was 20 types of pastries, white toast, ham, cheese and runny scrambled eggs--yummy! Jean brought her own fiber cereal she found in the grocery store and managed to scrape up the last of the grapefruit! If BA (which is huge) has such limited selections, it will be fascinating to see what the interior of the country has.

February 20, 2008
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Still day 3

Buenos Aires, Argentina

This is a country of demonstrations, This morning we saw 2. We thought they were using guns at first but the loud "pops" turned out to be fireworks. The tourist bus drivers were pissed off that they had such low wages. It seems that the govt does not have good control on inflation even to the point the it raided and emptied the Social Security funds of the retirees. Next we saw some street Tango--pretty cool! And old man and a hot young babe were dancing very sensually and risqué.

Saw some slums, the immigrant areas (Italians, Spanish, Jews, Pollacks, Germans) and the huge soccer stadium. Saw Evita's stuff and San Martin (liberator of Argentina). Visited the rich and famous areas as well!

Had a fabulous Torrontes (Argentinean white grape) last night with dinner at a local eatery. So flowery and delectable like honeysuckle but not sweet. If the winos in the US every catch on to this grape they will make mucho. Ah, life is good!!!

Took the hydrofoil from BA to Colonia to spend the day here. It crosses the river Platt (the second widest river in South America) that is very shallow, brown and muddy. The locals say it is not polluted but who knows as this region of the world is not known for its environmental sensitivity. The hydrofoil ride took about one hour as Colonia is about 80 miles across the river. The sky was dark and it looks like rain, but we are troopers and a little rain actually feels good.

This is a very old town but has become a weekend retreat for locals from BA and Montevideo. The old part of town is just that, “old” and we cannot believe the number of dogs that are wandering around the town. We had a very pleasant walk around the town and then found a nice little restaurant to have lunch

This was a good thing as the sky opened up and we had a massive thunder – lightning rainstorm for a couple of hours. It was a small restaurant with excellent food and they let us and a couple of other tables hang out during the rain. We finally caught a break in the rain and walked back to the ferry dock. This was an interesting side trip but $120 a pop was not worth the money!

February 21, 2008
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Day 4

Buenos Aires, Argentina

Today we visited an Estancia (ranch) and got to ride a horse in a circle, the horses look pretty tired but we got into the spirit of it. We also watched the gauchos demonstrate their riding abilities as well as their serving abilities as they were also our waiters, and stuffed our faces with lots of meat - chicken - sausages (Stanley) and salad for Jean. They also put on quite a show however the tourists were far more interesting to watch as they came from all parts of the world and some even wore native clothes

February 22, 2008
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Mendoza Day 1

Mendoza, Argentina

We made it to the Provence of Mendoza on Sunday (2 hrs via jet from BA) our flights were somewhat in question as it seems that the airlines frequently go on strike however it left on time. We were met by our guide and driver and had a tour of the city-- our guide(s) were wonderful and spoke excellent English. Mendoza the town isn't as impressive as the greenery considering we are in a desert. The first settlers were 3 Indian tribes who worked out the irrigation system still in use today (the Spanish didn't kill them off until they learned how it worked!) The most beautiful part is a park that is 1250 acres big with zoos aquarium, rose garden, rowing club, etc and everyone was jogging and exercising and tai chi'ing on Sunday. It reminded us of the Golden Gate Park in San Francisco.

Stayed at Club Tapiz which use to be a winery and is now a beautiful lodge with spa facilities, pool, etc. Has a 5 star restaurant (Argentinean stars!) and the food is quite good. But mind you, this is the land of meat and papas (spuds)! Jean is pretty much eating the same every day (since there is no variety)--high fiber cereal and fruit for brecky; salad at lunch; grilled veges & occ. fish for dinner). Stan is in heaven with meat, meat and mas meat.

Just an overview-- Mendoza is Argentina’s Napa/Sonoma valleys. They have many "bodegas" or wine cellars. There are very old ones and new, modern, state-of-the-art ones which are bought by foreigners with $$$ because the land is CHEAP, beautiful and fertile. The new ones are really impressive. It costs about $80k for 50 acres! (Just think how far the Euro goes!) If we were younger it would be very tempting to get into the game down here. We have met several winery owners from Napa visiting to scope out the purchasing possibilities--one boutique winery in Napa (Suhr la Tel) is interested and the owner's past life was as a commercial real estate developer in SF. His wife owned an antique shop in SF and we have met several antique hunters from the states because they are cheap and plentiful here. There are downsides--depending on the number of hectares you own, the government gives you a specific allotment of water for irrigation. Also in this area are the most beautiful mountains--short, medium and tall (20K + ft w/ snow on them in summer). Really spectacular scenery.

February 23, 2008
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Day 2 Mendoza

Mendoza, Argentina

Today we had a private tour of wine and food. We visited a very old winery called Bodega Benegas which use to produce bulk wines and is now into the classic style with small production and $$$ for AG. Very beautiful and very excellent wines with private tasting. We would have liked to ship their meritage, but the shipment alone was $300 US because you have taxes and license and fed ex. On to a winery established in 2003--very cool and very modern and the only one we can recall tasting in the US--Melipal. We have had several of their wines which are reasonable and tasty. Then, we had a cooking class (just us) on a lake w/ willows and outdoor BBQ

Stan learned to dice veges and Jean learned how to make empanadas and they put us to work. Lucas, the chef, is very savvy. He is from a wealthy family from Mendoza, studied at Hyde Park CIA and now owns 5 restaurants here and has multiple contracts w/wineries for catering. Because of Jean, we learned how to BBQ salmon and veges, vege empanadas, and he tossed the panne cottta and gave us some elegant fruit instead. Had wine throughout the experience. Learned a lot. A very popular BBQ is constructed of an old plow disc on which they put legs. It is salted and oiled w/ each use, then wiped clean. Delicious! Went into the town of Mendoza and explored the shops; every shop, no matter the product, also sells wine. Leather shops feature the finest wines!

February 24, 2008
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Day 3

Mendoza, Argentina

Today we went on an all day gaucho adventure to the countryside of Mendoza. 2 hrs to drive to the foot of the most gorgeous mtns and valleys ever. We rode horses for 4 hours (ouch!) and learned how to gallop, trot, and we even rounded up the loose horses and penned them just like Rawhide! The lunch (at 4pm) was fabulous--5 types of grilled meat for the 8 other "cowpokes" and a special grilled vege stack for me. Whenever we ask, the chefs always take pride on creating special meals for Jean which is delightful.

Tomorrow it is off to Patagonia which will take us all day by air. Very few Argentineans have visited there because the airfare for them is prohibitive and the cost of staying there is too much. But every tourist we meet who has seen it says that it is the most beautiful place they have ever seen. We will be at the most southern portion of the world there.

February 25, 2008
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Ushuaia (Fin del Mundo)

Ushuaia, Argentina

We made it to Ushuaia, the southern most city of the world! It took all day to travel from Mendoza.

This place is truly spectacular. It is the gateway to Antarctica which is 700 miles to the south. The town itself is ok (70k people), but the natural sites are really beautiful. We had 2 all day private tours (because it is so reasonable) of Mother Nature at it's best. Day 1 we took a zodiac to a penguin colony which had a Magellan colony and a Gentoo colony. These penguins are of moderate size rather than huge (we will do the Kings on a side tour of our cruise). It was really neat to see these creatures in the wild and watch them swim, waddle, etc.

There was one pathetic penguin, a rock hopper, which was sick and was lost from its own colony which lives on a different island. Very sad, the guide said it would die because it was being shunned by the other colonies. We then hiked a 7 km trail on a private island called Gable Is--unbelievable. Only one tour co. is allowed in and only 25 people total can occupy the island at one time. The sites of the mountains, bogs, birds, flora, were spectacular and what really struck us was how "loud" the solitude and quiet of the island was. We had a catered lunch (by our guide) atop a mountain overlooking lakes, fields and forests with mtns. in the background.

February 26, 2008
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Ushuaia (Fin del Mundo) More

Ushuaia, Argentina

Today we visited Tierra del Fuego National Park with a different private guide. It is named fuego not because of volcanoes which is what we had thought, but because the native inhabitants built so many fires to keep themselves warm as they wore no clothing. The European settlers saw all the smoke from their boats, didn't see the people, and named it land of fires (almost called it land of smoke). Nowadays the air is so clean it could be bottled--in fact our guide told us that a visitor from Mexico City (smog heaven)on a different day asked the guide for a bottle of pollution because he was in withdrawal in such a pristine place!

We canoed on a river that flowed into Beagle Channel and saw incredible sites. We took the canoe out at a point which was the end of the pan-American highway (starts in Alaska). Although we were the only ones in the river and channel, there were many tour groups at the take out point, including the Princess cruise ship which we will be taking on 3/6! We then had a catered lunch (many appetizers, bass, baked potato, fruit, vino, etc). Followed that up with a 4 hr hike of the fuego forest and coast side of the channel. Very lovely scenery as they do not clear the trees but rather let them decompose on their own so the place is extremely lush. It takes 500 yrs for a tree to rot because of the long cold season and no termites.

February 27, 2008
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Ushuaia

Ushuaia, Argentina

The town of Ushuaia is fascinating. We can't believe how many young people walk the streets at night. The only other folks are tourists. There are many kids hanging out everywhere. When asked, our guide said there are many single parents (45%) and the sad joke goes that a kid asked his parents if they were poor because all his friends had 2 homes and he only had one! Apparently in the '90s, the government wanted more people to settle in Ushuaia so they made a push for young settlers and allowed squatting. The population doubled in a just a few years and there are no grandparents!

The weather is bizarre. Sunny one minute and raining the next (we have lucked out). The winds can come up in a minute and practically knock you down. The temperature rarely goes below freezing because it is near the water. Many Olympic hopefuls come here to train for the ski events. This is the most expensive area of all Argentina and Argentineans from other areas cannot visit because of the prohibitive prices. They are actually fairly comparable to the US. AND the vino is SHITO! Mendoza is El Rey (the King) of the wine provinces. In fact, there is only one winery in all of Patagonia so there is no competition. They are, however, famous for king crab, black hake (fish from 600 ft below the ocean) and lamb. We have not been impressed with any of it. They really overcook their seafood--rubber is good for the road, not the tummy!

February 28, 2008
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Santa Cruz, Patagonia

Puerto Santa Cruz, Argentina

This is the tail end of our 2-day visit to Santa Cruz, Patagonia. We flew from Ushuaia to Rio Gallegos and then drove 3 hrs by private car to our sister ciudad. The drive was over the expansive flat pampas and the air is so clean/clear that the ends of the pampas actually curve with the earth. We have never seen anything so expansive and clear. There were many wild ostriches and llamas along the way.

The town is located on the east coast of Argentina and sits on an estuary of the Rio del Santa Cruz. It is like no other town we have visited. No one locks anything, everyone is friendly and knows everyone else. They all say hi to all the visitors. One 83 yr old Indian invited us in his home and posed with his arrowheads and animal skins.

There are no road signs. The houses are mostly what we consider very poor but they say they are all middle class and no one is rich nor poor. We are always greeted with a warm handshake and for Jean, with a side kiss like the French but only one side.

Our motel is a trip! Very new and you can tell they try hard to please. The towels are twisted into swans with flowers in them. The toothpaste holder has real flowers and greens. There are chocolates and candies everywhere, along with a kitchen and food. There is a “disinfected” tape across the toilet.

The town is very flat, arid and reminds us of New Mexico (it is a desert). There is no stress here. People sleep late, eat late and take their time. However, everyone is employed and most work more than one job. There few no stores as we know them—businesses are inside homes.

February 29, 2008
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Santa Cruz, Patagonia (more)

Puerto Santa Cruz, Argentina

The first night we had a private dinner in a club, opened just for us. The wife cooked all the courses which were organic, fresh from the sea, butcher or garden. They are known for their haddock and actually have an annual haddock festival. Jean had a special vege dish and Stan the haddock served 2 ways. The vinos were syrah (jean) and a chardonnay-semillion (stan). These folks also make their own liquors out of local produce. We had a cherry one and a Calafate (local bush fruit like a very small blueberry). This was by far the most flavorful and best dinner we have experienced in Argentina yet—fresh and very yummy and we had the entire restaurant to ourselves.

March 1, 2008
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Off to the Park

Our guides picked us up (Leon and Diego) and off we went to a national park and seashore where we hiked to a lookout and viewed thousands upon thousands of penguins. When we first arrived here in Santa Cruz we looked at each other and wondered why this stop was included in the itinary however after viewing the penguins and experiencing the fantastic hospitality of our guides and townfolk we understood why this place was included. It was a fascinating look at rural Argentina and a small town, and because we both speak some Spanish it was a wonderful experience.

March 2, 2008
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Calafate Day 1

El Calafate, Argentina

We drove 5 hrs over the pampas, but about halfway from the east coast to the west side of Argentina, a varied landscape began with mountains and hills which helped to break up the vast expansiveness of the flat plains. We arrived at our Estancia (ranch) 30 km outside of Calafate. Calafate is considered by all Ags to be very expensive—so much so that they cannot visit this part of their own country. The town reminded us of a combo of Santa Fe, North shore Tahoe, the Australian alps, etc. Very cutesy and very new. The town grew from 7000 5 yrs ago to 22,000 now. All new and beautiful alpine/texmex construction with views of Lake Argentina and the Andes. Our estancia use to be a working sheep ranch and is now a spa –like ranch with fabulous amenities.

March 3, 2008
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Calafate Day 1 more

El Calafate, Argentina

Afternoon tea/mate hour is a real trip with a 30 ft long table of postres (goodies). The mate REALLY makes Jean feel great—Stan stuck with coffee because he hates drinking hay-flavored water! Mate is a caffeine drink without the stomach upset and jitters of coffee. One feels focused and friendly and very energized. Liked it so much I bought a mate cup and bombino (filtered straw). Of course, Santa Cruz CA sells the stuff in the health food stores so Jean is ready to “fill ‘er up!”

We had an afternoon/evening (daylight until 10pm) tour of the ranch, bird watching, sheep sheering etc. Followed that up with a fabulous asado of lamb, beef, chorizo and chicken for Stan and a special grilled veggie stack for Jean. Tango entertainment.

March 4, 2008
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Calafate Day 2

El Calafate, Argentina

Today was amazing. We joined an 8 hr tour to Perito Moreno, the 3rd largest glacier in the world—magnifico! We lucked out with a sunny day and not too much wind which is a real problem in the summertime in all of Patagonia. The great thing about this trip was that we walked for 1 ½ hrs on the glacier itself—looked and felt like real trekkers! We were outfitted with crampons (metal foot spikes which grip the ice) and taught how to walk like a duck uphill and lean back w/ bent knees down. Of course, Jean hit the dust immediately and now has a huge lump and bruise on her butt. No one else fell. The glacier ice looks like giant snowcone stuff and is very hard. The guides gave us an amazing tour and we learned a lot re: glaciers. Just prior to walking off the glacier we saw what we thought was a mirage—a little makeshift bar w/ Old Grouse scotch, glacier ice and water and a little treat! We all had a toast to mother nature!

March 5, 2008
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Calafate Day 3

El Calafate, Argentina

Back at the ranch, we will have our final dinner and toast Patagonia and our private tours farewell. Stan arranged this land segment called “Awesome Argentina”, and indeed it exceeded all our expectations. Tomorrow will be our 7th flight (which is a pain due to the security stuff and standing around time). We head back to BA in order to pick up a 12 day cruise on Thursday which “sails” to Montevideo, around Cape Horn and the Maldives (Falklands if you are British but the Argentines do not recognize it).

March 6, 2008
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Summary

We arrived back in BA, spent the night at the Kapenski and picked up our Princess cruise the next day. The cruise took us to Montevideo, Falkland Islands, around Cape Horn, Punta Arena, Chile, Puerto Montt, Chile, Valparaiso, Vina Del Mar - Concon, and finally Santiago to catch our flight home.

It was a wonderful trip however absolutely the best part was the Awesome Argentina portion of the trip. The people at Adventure Life were fantastic and we would do it again in a heartbeat.

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