The Best of Argentina and Chile

Round 3 …

Buenos Aires:

• Tango in the Park – Tango is all over Buenos Aires so you won´t miss it, but there are many options for soaking up the excitement. You can see street performers in the park, go to a cena show, or watch an intimate dance at a cafe. We did them all and liked them all, but we really enjoyed the atmosphere of watching it in the park. Head to San Telmo on Sundays to catch a show.
• The Beef – It`s mouthwatering (even for non-beef eaters) and parrillas are everywhere. Our favorite cut was asado de tira and our favorite parilla was DesNivel in San Telmo (a packed locals spot that is dirt cheap and has excellent traditional food).
• San Telmo Antique Fair – Only on Sunday, but worth the wait. It`s a lively street scene that has more to do with socializing and watching the street performers than antiques. Try to catch a tango show as well.
• Futbol – Don`t miss it. It`s a blast. We heard the Boca Jrs. games are classic fun, but we went to River stadium for a national game against Bolivia. Pick up a jersey beforehand if you want to blend with the crowd and best to go with a tour agency to avoid lots of confusion and crowds.
• Olsen – For a trendy night on the town, this Palermo eatery was a little taste of NYC in BA (but at better prices!). The best part was sampling the delicious drinks. Sitting at the bar also allows you test out your Spanish skills on the bartenders…
• Shopping – You won´t be able to get enough of it. The porteños are definitely trendy and the clothes are good value so try to come with some spending cash. We liked Santa Fe street, Palermo, and Florida streets the best.

Mendoza:

• Wine tasting in Lujan de Cuyo – Most people do bike tours in Maipu, but if you`re into wine and you want to do it right, rent a car, make reservations at wineries (during the week), and do it yourself. First, go for a tasting at Vines of Mendoza and get information about the best wines and wineries. We liked the tours at Septima and Carlos Pulenta the best. (Skip the La Rural museum unless you don`t know the first thing about wine.)
• Tablao for a Lomito Completo – Did you see that picture of the lomito sandwich we posted a while back? This is where it´s from. If you don´t make it to Mendoza, get one somewhere else because they are oh so good.
• Hostel Independencia – We liked this big hostel with a central location. The breakfast was generous and the weekly bbq was also good fun and food.

Other stuff in Argentina:

• Iguazu Falls – Don`t mean to diminish this one by putting it in the “other stuff” category because it was one of our favorite sites on the trip. Give yourself 2 days to see the whole thing. Start with the Brazilian side for an overview of the falls and then go to the Argentinian side to get up close. Both sides have unique views, so its worth it for the cheap park tickets… and somehow the falls never get boring because they are just so big!
• Andesmar – Our favorite bus company in Argentina, with a good website.
• Lomo Sandwiches – A little slice of heaven stuffed between 2 pieces of bread. We actually blogged about this one earlier.

Central Chile:

• La Casa Roja – We loved this hostel in Santiago. It was big, had a beautiful kitchen, tv room, and numerous lounge areas, not to mention sparkling bathrooms and a pool with a swim-up bar!
• Valparaiso – Worth the detour from Santiago, this small coastal town is colorful and quaint and boasts some pretty cool history and really good seafood. Pick up a copy of Isabel Allende´s Daughter of Fortune before you go.
• Los Porteños – Really good local seafood spot. Famous for thier seafood soups and chowders.
• Le Filou de Montpelier – A tiny simple place between Cerro Alegre and Cerro Concepcion, this french restaurant serves only a set daily menu. It was one of the best meals we had and at a pretty good price.
• The bus ride from Mendoza to Santiago – Do this one during the day because the views as you pass through the Andes are spectacular.

Other stuff in Chile:

• Empanadas- Sometimes more like a calzone, but usually always a really good option for a cheap meal.
• Kalabaza – Really good cafe in Puerto Montt. Take advantage of the set menu for a deal.

Patagonia:

• Torres del Paine National Park (Chile) – The highlight of Patagonia, this park boasts some of the most dramatic scenery in the world. 3-5 days (or more) is ideal here if you want time to explore and enjoy. The W features the parks most famous spots and while all the sections of it are amazingly cool, we especially loved the French Valley for its 360 degree views and interesting trail. Be prepared for extreme weather – the sun can be just as deadly as the wind.
• Erratic Rock Hostel – Probably our favorite hostel on the trip, this is place is small and cozy and a good hub for before and after trips to the park. Daily baked goods and info talk are pluses too.
• El Calafate and Perito Moreno Glaciar (Argentina) – More touristy than Puerto Natales, but the place to go for outdoor gear shopping and trips to glaciars. Perito Moreno is the most dynamic and worth staring at for a while.
• Ushuaia (Argentina) – The city at the end of the world. It´s a pretty cool town with dramatic scenery and the view from Glaciar Martial is worth the trip.
• Bodegon Fueguino – Great local restaurant in Ushuaia that features small plates and specializes in lamb.

General tips…

• We forgot this one in past summaries, but wanted to send a notice to future SA travellers that most places down here take their weekends seriously. Everything is usually closed on Sundays and in many places closed early on Saturday as well. That goes for restaurants, stores, wineries, museums, churches, sometimes tours, etc. Try to avoid making your only day to visit a town Sunday (if you plan on visiting any sights) and be sure to check hours before heading anywhere on the weekends because it will likely be closed. (Internet cafes are usually an exception, even on Christmas!)
• To add to the inconvenience, the Argentine schedule is classic craziness. They take their siestas seriously, often shutting down between 1-4 everyday and they love their nightlife. The prime dinner rush is at 10:30, meaning many restaurants are still not open by 7pm. Clubbing starts between 1-2am, so bring some sleeping pills because you will definitely need to adjust your internal clock here! (Some exceptions in tourist locations during high season, but just be prepared).
• Reservations in high season a must. Although you can usually always find a place to stay, the best places will be booked. Book buses and flights at least a little bit in advance if you want to stick to your schedule.
• Prices for flights vary a lot here unlike the states. If you don´t like a price, just keep checking because it may change daily or hourly.
• Ahh the buses. Heaven after Bolivia. These things are equiped and the cama class is really quite comfortable. For the long journeys, definitely enjoy the luxury.

So that´s the spiel on Argentina and Chile. Hope that helps. As always, drop us a line if you have more questions…

Fin Del Mundo: The End of the World

So we made it to Antarctica and back, but before we spill the juice on the 7th continent, we couldn`t leave out the so-called city at the end of the world, Ushuaia. Our first day here, we just spent shopping and preparing for our cruise, but now that we´re back we´ve had time to explore.

Set in a harbor surrounded by mountains, Ushuaia has it all – penguin colonies, trekking, cruising (even around Cape Horn), glaciars, museums, and shopping (all the ¨end of the world¨ paraphernalia you could want) – and it´s quite picturesque. While we couldn`t do it all, we got a good flavor starting with the former prison at the end of the world turned maritime museum. A pretty cool tourist attraction in town, this place has some interesting history about the many voyages and shipwrecks around Cape Horn and expeditions to Antarctica as well as prison life in one of the most remote former jails.

Next, on to the national park Tierra del Fuego, which is famous for its landscapes and being the end of Route 3, the road (once again) to the end of the world. We did some short hikes in the park and overlooked Lapataia Lake, which borders Argentina and Chile.

Finally, for a view of the city from above, we hiked up to Glaciar Martial on our last day. From here you can see Ushuaia and the beagle channel below which heads out toward the ocean and Cape Horn.

And what city at the end of the world would be complete without a post giving you the distances to the other major cities in the world?? It doesn´t get much further than Tokyo from here, although NY is still a lofty 10.6K kilometers…

We´re heading back to Buenos Aires now, but more to come on real end of the world soon…

Happy Holidays from Ushuaia

Merry Christmas and Happy New Year to everyone!

Eventhough we couldn`t be home to celebrate with you all, we had a relaxing time drinking lots of wine and watching cheesy 90s movies with some friends of ours in Puerto Natales, Chile. The gorgeous Patagonia mountain backdrop definitely made for a memorable Christmas location.

We are now in Ushuaia, Argentina, the southernmost city in the world. It`s a cute little harbor town with mountains all around. Although it`s a bit touristy as many cruise ships pass through, it still has an Argentine feel.

We set sail today on the Marco Polo to Antarctica…

Happy Holidays to all and we`ll be back online in a week…

El Calafate and Perito Moreno Glaciar

Although Patagonia is thought of by many as one distinctive area, it is actually a huge expanse of land basically covering the entire southern halves of Argentina and Chile. It is primarily characterized by vast expanses of flat land that are pretty desertous looking. But between all the flat lands jet up gorgeous mountains. Beneath the mountains, lie crystaline lakes. And between the two, enormous glaciars have formed.

Zig-zagging back across the border to Argentina (neither country wanted to forfeit the beautiful land, so all the major sites are conveniently divided between the two), we set out to explore one of the most dynamic glaciars of Patagonia…

About the height of a 14 story building (60m above water) and 5 km wide at the face, this massive glaciar is 250 square km and advances 2m every day. From the various viewpoints in front of the glaciar, you can`t even see where it ends as it sprawls on beyond our sight…

There isn`t much else to say besides, it`t really big and cool!!! Listening to it crack and waiting and watching for ice chunks to break off and creat huge waves beneath it kind of make it feel alive.

Unfortunately, we didn`t have the time to make it up to El Chalten and Fitz Roy for more trekking, but maybe next time. We really can`t say enough about how cool Patagonia is, so hopefully we`ll make it back for round 2 someday.

Wine Touring in Mendoza

After a splendid couple of weeks in Buenos Aires it was finally time to move on and our next destination was due east in Mendoza, Argentina’s wine region. As you would expect, the main activity in Mendoza is wine tasting, so that’s what we did, spending a couple of days total trying to go out and visit some vineyards. The first day turned out to be rather comical because we tried (and somewhat succeeded) in doing things the cheap way by visiting the closest and most commonly visited vineyards via the bus. Well, as usual, the info we got about how to do this was not exactly correct and the buses didn’t run exactly where we thought or when we thought, so we ended up having to add in quite a bit of walking to get where we needed. In the end, we did make it to a couple of wineries, but the day wasn’t exactly a complete success.

A couple of days later we wisened to the fact that bus travel for wine touring wasn’t going to cut it and since we wanted to visit some of the nicer wineries a bit further away from the town we decided to rent a car and do things the easy way. Fortunately this day turned out to be much more productive and we got to visit a few very nice wineries.

Our first winery, Septima, was our favorite in terms of wine and also offered a cool raised view of their wine facilities. Their operation itself wasn’t particularly special, using stainless steal for pretty much everything, but it was a nice start to the day.

Our second winery, Carlos Pulenta, was the most interesting of our tours. For starters they were using concrete fermentors for a portion of their wines which is something i had never heard of and sounds like it’s a pretty new technique that is not used much yet. Even more impressive though is the fact that the entire winery is built in vertical layers so that rather than having to use pumps to move the wine through each phase of the production process they can just rely on gravity itself, simply opening up channels from one floor to the one below to let the wine pass to it’s next container. The design also ensures that the cellar is well below ground level which helps maintain an even temperature without much energy cost. Pretty cool stuff.

Our final visit was to Ruca Mallen, which didn’t offer the same level of interest as far as the tour was concerned, but they had a nice building with a view of their winery and a very nice tasting room. They were also the only winery which gave you a spending voucher to use for buying wine after the tasting, which we liked.

Sadly only a very small portion of the wines made in Mendoza are being exported to the US or other locations right now, and most the wines that are exported are often not the most interesting varieties. So we were able to grab a few bottles for immediate consumption but sadly won’t likely be able to get more from these wineries once we get home.

So from Mendoza it is onward back to Chile for a couple stops in Santiago and Valparaiso before we turn directly south and head into Patagonia =)

Lomito Completo

A little something to drool over.

Chels and I aren´t particularly big steak eaters, so we´ve been doing our best to try and appreciate the great beef that they have here in Argentina. One thing that we have found, and love, are the lomito sandwiches. mmmm … lomo, jamon, queso, huevo, tomate (steak, deli sliced ham, cheese, egg, and tomato). perfecto!

Buenos Aires

So while you`ve all been in the dark as to what`s happening down here, we`ve been enjoying the sights (and wine) in Buenos Aires. Cities are cities, so we`ll keep this short, but here are some highlights of our touring (aka drinking) so far.

Meeting up with friends from home and partying with new friends at the SAE social…

Taking in the street fairs and tango performances…

Enjoying the beef (and wine)!!

Marveling at the city scenes…

Buenos Aires is pretty much the New York or Paris of South America with tons of trendy cafes, bars, shops, etc. and a unique scene that blends Argentine culture into a definitively international city. You hear a lot of English here, so it can be more challenging to pull yourself away from the gringos and pubs and into the parillas, but whichever scene you experience, it`s definitely a great city with lots to see and experience… But don`t expect to be on a normal tourist schedule here, the dinner rush doesn`t start until 10pm and the clubs don`t close.

Got a package coming to Argentina?

Good luck getting it out of customs!!

Luckily, I have first-hand experience and can vouch for how much fun it is. It all begins with a 2 hr bus ride to Ezeiza Airport (or you can opt for the more expensive cab), once you find the terminal de cargas, navigate through the buildings to the customs building (dock B)…and don`t forget to get certified first or you`ll have to go back and do it all again!

Then, once you get to the offices with all your paperwork and original passport, WAIT to be helped, but don`t ask for assistance. Once allowed to enter pretend not to speak any Spanish so they take pity on you and follow the directions to offices: 1,2,cargo,2,3,2,1,2,3,cargo. Hopefully after 10 stamps, you`ll get your goods with only having to pay ¨storage fees.¨ The unlucky ones may have to pay more ¨taxes¨ or get more stamps from other offices in different buildings…

here is a map in case you find it helpful:

Finally, you can sleep on the 2hr bus ride back to the city…

My advice would be don`t get anything sent to Argentina unless it`s absolutely necessary…and if it is, embrace the Argentine way. Although curiously strange, it is definitely amusing. Good luck!!!

Happy Thanksgiving from Buenos Aires (day 100)

Well, it’s a monumental day, we’ve hit the century mark for this trip. whoot! and it happened to fall on Thanksgiving day, pretty nifty. So, Happy Thanksgiving everyone!

We were originally pretty bummed to be missing the holiday season this year in order to be travelling, but things are slowly looking up. Tonight we won’t be enjoying any turkey and stuffing, however thanks to SAE we do get to go to an all-you-can drink Thanksgiving bash here in Buenos Aires, so neener-neener :p

Well, we just wanted to wish everyone a Happy Thanksgiving from Buenos Aires. Eat some extra turkey for us

Argentina 3, Bolivia 0

Unfortunately we picked a time to be in Buenos Aires when there aren´t any normal league games going on for a couple weeks due to an international break for things like Euro Cup and World Cup qualifier matches. Luckily though, Argentina had a World Cup qualifier right here in B.A. and so instead of getting to see Boca Jrs. play we got to see the Argentina national team play (Messi, Tevez, Riquelme, etc) …

The game was held at the River Plate stadium, the largest in Argentina, and ended with a 3-0 result in favor of Argentina, naturally. One fun thing that you are not likely to see at a game in the states is that during the second half it was getting very hot for folks in the sunny parts of the stadium, so the fire department opened up some hoses to cool people off. Luckily we were in a shaded area which was actually quite pleasant =)