Monthly Archives: August 2011

Tueday evening – borges

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Woke today to better weather.. We packed up and left our nice hotel in Iguazu.. My camera has not really survived the trip.. the viewfinder is out.. and the pictures are still fuzzy.. or maybe it’s gabe who’s fuzzy.. We made our sleepy way to the airport only to find a nearly 2 hour delay on our flight *Aerolineas strikes again !)

We finally got on our flight and had an uneventful flight back to BA>

First oreder of bysiness in the hotel was to air out our wet and dirty laundry.. yesterdays deluge has our clothes all damp and smelly..

 

We hung them in the window to dry.. and then noticed you could see them from the street..  !

Gabe took me on a nice tour of his old haynts.. we walked to teh subway (Subte.. prounounced soup-day)

 

and headed down to gabes old school and favorite deli for a quick lunch

 

Nice…

 

Here’s Gabe’s school

 

And across the street the ‘American Deli’.. nothing American about it.. great empanadas though !!

From there we took a long walk back on the Florida pedestrian street.. the other night it was deserted. but during the day it was packed !

Then we stopped at gabes favorite ice cream shop.. dulce do leche and chocolate.. yum !!

We were eating there when Diane texted me to tell me about the earthquake on the east coast.. Wow !..

Did anyone see any damage ? Sounds like it was a big one !

On the way home we wandered into a large upscale shopping mall.. we climbed to the top story to find a set of art galleries named for one of my favorite writes jroge luis borges.. .who’s from BA. He was one of the worlds great authors of metaphysical mysteries and psychologically dark and twisting short stories.. (The Aleph, The Zahir. and my favoriteTlön, Uqbar, Orbis Tertius.. a story abotu folks writing a complete encyclopedia of a made of place.. just to mess with people..

 

Gabe and I then came back to the hotel and both fell asleep for a couple of hours.. we’re both pretty road weary.. We’re meeting hannah B ronight for dinner at 10L30.. so we better start waking uop.

TOmorrow we head home.. it’ sbeen fun !

 

nite everyone.. note sam

-me

 

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I apologize for having to resort to a slideshow.. but it would be very hard to describe the day that Gabe and I just had..

 

I woke about 7 to find that it was pouring with rain.. not just rain.. but cold rain.. it was about 8 degrees C.. and absolutely freezing, dreary, nasty.. and dreary.. the best kind of conditions for seeing the worlds most beautiful waterfalls.

Gabe and I dressed  in our warmest clothes.. ate breakfast and headed out into the mess.. We ate a good breakfast at the hotel  and then caught  a $2 buss to the falls.. it was about an hour ride. by the time we got there it was just pouring.. we decided since we were already soaked, we’d do the boat adventure first..

 

It involved a 6 km ride thought the jungle on a 4×4 .. then a ride up to the falls in a zodiac boat. it’s hard to describe here the combination of discomfort and fun that this entailed.. it was like having a great time while immersed in ice water… no .. make that ice cold chocolate pudding.. it was nasty and great.. we took the boat up to .. and eventually into.. the falls.. it was amazing and gross and miserable and fun. unlike anything I’ve ever done.. I’d never do it again.. though I’d do it in a heartbeat tomorrow.. (did you get that ? ) ..

 

we spent the entire day there.. until our toes were like prunes..  (and they sill are.. )

 

 

a funny thing happened after though.. after we ate.. Then got back to town around 4.. I had this crazy idea that we should go to Paraguay to put a Samstone .. I convinced gabe that this was our destiny.. .. we were soaking wet and cold.. but around 5 we got on a crappy bus to Paraguay. what we didn’t realize is that it went through Brazil .. neither of us had visas for this crossing.. but by the time we realized where we were going.. it was too late.. . By the time I realized that we were in Brazil illegally , it was too late to do anything…. We kept our heads down.. and managed ot slip thought customs and immigration.. let’s just say that security in this part of the world is not that stringent.. … We slipped through Foz do Igauazo Brazil without getting picked up.. then we crossed into Paraguay.. We got to  Ciudad all a Est in Paraguay around 5.. it was kind of a scary place.. absolutely no English.. and know one knew when (or if) there was a bus back to Argentina.Gabe and I spent a scary hour trying to figure out if any buses headed back t Argentina.. Luckily one did around 6Pm .. again.. we slipped thorough customs by looking helpless.. and did not end up in jail in Brazil.. (I have a visa.. Gabe does not) .. we were SO glad to arrive back on Argentine soil that we almost kissed the ground !.. Then we ate a huge pizza and hike back to our hotel thorough the cold rain.. I’ve never been so glad to get to my tiny hotel room !

 

Ok.. here are the pics.. note that my camera preview screen stopped working  midway through the day.. so the pictures are wierder than usual !..

 

OK. What an adventure ! More tomorrow !>

note all, nite sam !

-me

 

Sunday night – Iguazu day 1

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Greetings from Puerto Iguazu in northeren Argentina.. Gabe and I got here mid afternoon… after a busy morning packing and moving our of Buenos Aires.. Interestingly, the guy who checked us out of the hotel has Diane’s Last name.. and Gabe, Max and Sam’s middle name.. for his first name..

 

 

We took an hour anda half flight instead of a `7 hour bus ride (good call) and got her pretty refreshed.

 

TOmorrow is a holiday.. and we were having a bit of trouble finding a free room yesterday.. In the end we settled on this place.. The Hotel de la FOnte.. and it counldn’t be nicer.. it’s very quiet.. about 8 rooms.. and a good ten minute walk from downtown.. a realy nice base for our visit.

the grounds are covered with cool lants.. lie this tree right out of Dr. Suess.

Lot sof bunnies sharing the smae space, too.

 

 

By the time we got settled here, it was about 4 and too late to hit the falls.. which are a good 20 KM away.. instead GFabe and I went running to explore the place.. First stop was the three boarders area abotu a half mile from here.. it’s the place where the three countires, Argentine , Paraguay and Brazil come together aroudn the three rivers.. a very cool spot.. and full of tourists.

here;s brazil across the river..

 

here you can see all three countires.. we’re in argentina.. the land on the left is Paraguay,.. the land on the right is Brazil. .how cool is that ?

 

here’s paraguay..

there was anice little market there at the crossing .

gabe and I took a short cut through the woods and came out in a cool town.. we found this old statue laying in someones yard.

we eventually circled back and ran into town.. first stop was an heladaria to sample gabes favorite dulce de leche ice cream

 

 

 

we spent an hour or s checkign out the town.. We both really liked it.. even if the tour books didn’t

 

mate is such a big deal here.. evey store had collections ofgiards , teas a and straws.. but strangly.. tehre was no place to buy a glass of tea..

We found a cool resturant and settled in for a feat.. Here’s gabe wearing my stupid replacement glasses..

of exercise moving around.

 

and here he is wiht his pile of meet..

 

after a great dinner we walked aroufd the town for another hour or so.. it’s a cute place..

 

 

at one point we saw an add for Mate ice cream.. we just had to try it.. yum !

 

we walked intoll the stores we passed.. fnally one actually offered us some mate.. sharing their straw of course.. it was so yummy

 

we stopped in to buy soem soft drinks and saw this local ligour.. actually an appertif..

 

it’s so unsmooth in make jagermeister tast smooth and mild..

 

spaking of smooth and midl.. I nede my beuty rest.. so more tomorrow..

we’re wakign early to see the falls… Shoul dbe good..

 

Until later

 

nite all, nite sam

-me

 

 

Saturday night – Buenos Dias !

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Gabe and I are having fun here in Buenos Aires. We decided o spend another day here in the city before heading north.. .  We’d had a late night last night… just walking around and eventually eating .. We found a good sushi place around 11pm.    It was great to have something other than cheese to eat..

We both managed to sleep until almost afternoon… It was a a mix of clouds and sun.. and pretty cool.. maybe in the mid 40’s.. We put on shorts and sweatsirts and headed out for a run.. I managed to loose my glases (!@#% !) soon after we started.. I have an old spare pare.. but basically I’m pretty dependent on them.. I can’t read at all . without them..   with these old ones.. I can sort of read.. but… it’s just making things more interesting..

 

Gabe took me on a tour of this part of the town on our run.. we hit several cool old buildings then walked through two street fairs.. Eventually we ended up at La Ricoletta Cemetery.. what an AMAZING place.. our pics from that trip are on Gabe’s camera… and that’s formatted for a MAC.. so I’ll post those pictures when we get back.. We did place a few samstones… pictures of that coming soon
We came back to the hotel and both fell asleep for a couple of more hours.. Eventually we headed back out for dinner.. we found a great thai fast food place.. . then brought that stuff back to the room. For old times sake we set out the food on an ironing board.. Gabe and I remember doing that oen day when he was a little kid.. We got stuck in Washington DC on the way back from Florida.. and ended up making a feats in a hotel an and set it up on an  ironing board..

 

Now we’re watching ‘shark week’ on Discovery.. Oh, speaking of Discovery.. I just found these dubbed versions of the colony videos on Tu Discovery.. very cool

 

OK.. more from the road tomorrow..

nite all, nite sam…

-mc