BsAs Week 3 Pics

Mate Revealed

While in BA we’ve had the honor of partaking in a Mate experience.  Drinking mate is part of Argentine culture and all ages and classes of people carry the ritual out daily.  Walking the streets of BA it’s hard to go more than a few minutes without spotting a gourd (mate cup) being shared with friends, family, or co-workers in the park, on the street, in their vehicles, or at the workplace. 

Gt and Leticia preparing the mate

Our Spanish teacher invited us to partake in this elaborate ritual in the park outside the National library and she was very explicit about the rules.  Yerba mate is a dry, chopped leaf of the llexparaguayensis, the common holly.  It is served from one cup called a gourd.  The yerba is placed in the bottom and hot, but not boiling, water fills the gourd.  Without stirring, the gourd is passed counterclockwise where the person is to sip the entire contents of the cup through a bombilla (straw).

When finished the gourd is passed back to the cebador (server) who refills it and hands it to the next person.  When you’ve had enough you simply say ‘Gracias’ and the gourd will not be passed to you again.Our ritual lasted only 15’ but I think Argentines can sit for hours laughing, talking, and drinking.  

Felices Fiestas!

Hola,

Este ano es muy diferente de otros anos.  Despues de nueve anos en Bermudes nosotros salimos en julio. 

Primero visitamos nuestra familia y amigos en Nova Scotia por un mes.  Mientras en Nova Scotia nos gustan las comidas de mi abuela.  Andamos nuestras bicicletas por toda la provincia.  Corremos muchos kilometros, y nadamos en el lago de Tio Ricardo.

School’s out for summer

Today was our last of 15 Spanish lessons with our enthusiastic teacher Leticia.   Leticia has been prepared, punctual, and patience.  Eager to learn about Canada and our customs and quick to share her passion for Buenos Aires and Argentina.

We were not presented with report cards, but certainly can grade parts of our performance and reflect on lessons learned. 

Getting with the schedule

From our experience to date the porteno schedule looks like this:  Hit the ground running between 7 and 9am.  Be as productive as possible in those early hours.  Our 8am run is often spent dodging wet tiles, bleary - eyed cab drivers, and far too much Dog ‘kaka’.  At least if you step in it its good luck.  So we are told…

Oh no! The E - Card

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Best of BsAs Week 2

Wednesday 7 am...

The music started.  Reminiscent of the Grinch,  it started off low and started to grow.  I slowly opened one eye, then the next, fumbling for my watch to check the time.  While finally locating it on the floor – I’ve never been accused of keeping my side of the bed too neat – it confirmed what the growing light in the bedroom had suggested.  It was 6:56 in the morning and a Porteno fiesta was starting outside our balcony.

An afternoon well wasted and spent at Polo

Well neither of us can say that Polo topped our list of ‘to do’ here in BsAs but we had a great time, once the game began.

Hustles in bustling San Telmo

The Sunday market in San Telmo was on our to do list.  After an early morning run on nearly deserted streets – a shock after the calamity of the previous day's walk – we continued to explore on our way to the market only to find that the shops, like the people were taking the day off.  Dee’s carefully planned café stop was closed, as were the next two ‘plan Bs’.  Where had everybody gone…

Arriving at the market helped solve part the equation.  Within the first hour of opening the place was mobbed and would require careful maneuvering to negotiate.   We heard English in abundance, a sure sign we had found a tourist spot.  Apparently a popular Thanksgiving destination if you don’t fancy Turkey and Ham with the family in the USA…

Road Rules

Hitting the streets of BA is certainly the best way to get up close and personal with this seemingly immense city.  It’s vitally important that one understands their place as a pedestrian in this vehicle mad city.  Stop lights –when there is one – are mere suggestions - while stop signs of which we’ve seen few are decorative street art rather than traffic controls.  Crosswalks are treated with similar contempt so we’ve made a concerted effort to triple check – in both direction despite all streets are one – way – before crossing the street.  Thankfully our years of defensive driving and riding practice in Bermuda is being put to the test.

Writer's block - check out the slideshows

Learning Spanish is killing the blogging.  Promise that there will be muchos soon!  In the meanwhile whet your appetite with the updated photos of BsAs Week 2

Where have we been?

Apologizes to loyal blog followers.  We been both a little busy, a little unfocussed and mostly little lazy with the blog entries.  But we are back!

So what have been up to the last 4 weeks:

-       Decompressing in Las Vegas and getting spoiled under the watchful eye of Don and Ellen.  Getting our final bike rides in as the beloved Cervelo’s get the winter off.

-       Travel to Buenos Aires to begin the South American leg of el Sabatico.  Walking tours of the city, Spanish lessons begin, and schedules reset.

-       Visit the spectacle of Iguazu Falls.  Celebrate GT’s birthday at one of the world’s wonders.

-       Continue la turista theme at the isolated Ibera Wetlands. 

-       Return to Buenos Aires where we spend the next 4 weeks with continued emphasis in trying to get Garth something other than “I am” at the start of each sentence – I am lasagna, I am beer, I am hotel, I am bus…

Off the grid in (Si)Ibera - Nov 23-27

Another major attraction in Argentina’s North East in the Reserva Provincial Esteros Del Ibera – lets call that Ibera for short – a 13,000 sq km park that boasts some of the most diverse wildlife in South America.  350 species of birds, Capybara (the world’s largest rodent),  howler monkeys, deer, wolves, and the black caiman which I was most interested in seeing.

How to get to this isolated park proved to be a challenge.  Despite the extensive private bus system route knowledge only seemed to extend as far as the next town – maybe -.  Our choices seemed to be a 3-bus connection to the town of Carlos Pellegrini or a bus / 4x4 service that may or may not be running on the day we hoped.  Even the reliable Internet provided little help and admittedly our limited Spanish was not an asset – yet -.

We elected former and were somewhat impressed with both our ability to negotiate the numerous bus stations to make the connections. We elected a private vehicle for the final 120km, which was essentially driving across Manitoba on an unsealed farm road, complete with washouts from the previous days heavy rains. The private transport (all 7 of us stuff in a Ford Ranger 4x4) was part of a larger ‘all – inclusive’ park package hustled on us by an enthusiastic English speaking tourist information / tout. 

Arriving in the small town Carlos Pellegrini (pop 600) was stepping back in time.  Mud huts with thatched roofs interspersed between Posadas (small inns), and higher end Hosterias (full on resorts) yet all connected by dirt roads in an 8*8 block grids.  Roads running east / west won the road maintenance lottery while those North/South roads were essentially horse paths. 

Rush hour in C. Pellegrini

We welcomed the opportunity to stretch our legs after 16 hours of bus time and explored the town and park border.  After an ill-fated dinner we hit the sack in our slumping bed with a big day ahead. 

Visions of Nepal greeted us the next morning with a cold shower and a breakfast of café, stale white bread, and dulce – Someone please mail us some peanut butter! -.   Clearly we not hardened backpackers just yet!

We were here to see wildlife and our morning boat trip into the marsh accommodated that.  Within minutes we were staring at caiman, capybaras, and dozens of birds from an intimate distance.  Our (almost) English-speaking guide provided much insight into the ecosystem of the Esteros (marshland).

We were happy to not see what lied beneath the water.  Piranhas and Anacondas are reputed to inhabit the area. Keep your hands away from the agua!

Capybara - the world's largest rodent

Near the conclusion of the tour we quietly moved in to about 6 feet on this caiman. You could actually hear him breathing!  While looking quite docile our guide answered Dee’s question about aggression with ‘he’s a good guy’.  Almost on cue he lurched at the boat closing the distance to inches in the blink of an eye.

  The guide followed this with ‘Did I mention an American journalist was bit by a caiman here last week’, quickly producing a picture of a bloodied leg on his Blackberry (!).  In fairness to the caiman he was trying to catch it with his hands…  Apparently YouTube – Caiman, Ibera + CNN for details of the action…

Main trail?

An afternoon walking ‘safari’ – memories of 5 days lost in the Great Rift Valley on our honeymoon – gave an opportunity to watch three juvenile howler monkeys have a great play in trees under the watchful eye of their very large and mean looking father.  His growl filled the forest and we were mindful of his presence.

Juvenile Howler Monkeys at play

A horse-riding excursion with a real-life gaucho - do we sound like tourists yet? – along the borders of the marsh under a beautiful setting sun closed our day and provided additional bird-watching opportunities, something both of us surprisingly enjoyed.

We came across these four boys engrossed in game of futbol as the sun set to the West.  No shoes, no jerseys, and no net yet the joy in which they played was amazing.  Laughter, effort, and probably a little bit of trash talking was heartening to see.

We embraced the local food culture, forgoing attempted at healthy eating and embracing empanadas (meat filled pastry) and Sandwich Milanesas completo (steak, tomato, cheese, and egg).  It was a great day and well worth the time, effort, and discomfort experienced.    Tutto Letto (1^st class) back to Buenos Aires after a day in the gaucho town of Mercedes and getting caught up on writing and Spanish.  Hasta Luego!