This isn't going to be long, cuz it's really only to suggest how cool it is to have siblings... As much as I would have traded Carey in from the time she was about 4 until she hit 13/14, I couldn't imaagine a life without a little sis - she's pretty awesome, and for those who have met her, probably put her on par with a rockstar slash comedian.
She's the best little sister, and my best friend, and as much as I'd like her to join the fray in South America, she's working on her own life, which apparently include buying a house, at 25... what?!
Lobe you :)
Saturday, May 16, 2009
Friday, May 15, 2009
When Parents Come to Visit...
There are so many cliché phrases that come to mind when trying to relate yourself to your parents, growing up and becoming something (likely in an image of your parents)... For better or worse, we are our parents' offspring, and there a close genetic, social, cultural, ideological (etc) tie, obvio... In addition to those clichéd phrases, there are a handful of periods in ones life when we tend to be more critical/questioning of our parents, as people, as parents, as friends, etc...
1. 2-5: Why? This is less of an analytical period in our lives and more of a - literally, why? We are thirsty for knowledge and for right or wrong, assume that our parents have all the answers...
2. 10-13: Change... We begin becoming 'young adults' and, more now than ever, younger people are exposed to more 'global' affairs, social hierarchy, athletic competition (at a slightly higher level), and some of the trials and tribulations that our parents deal with on a daily basis...
3. 14-18: Idiots! During the high-school years, parents can generally only be described as utterly ridiculous, and mostly stupid - how could they understand so little about our lives, know so little about life, and be so blatantly dumb... This is certainly the stereotype, and no matter how great your parents (or mine for that matter) are/were, every kid has these thoughts at least once between these ages/within this schooling period.
4. 19-22: I love college! Maybe it is the ability to finally vote that begins a transformation to 'real' adulthood, but when you go to college (assuming you don't live at home and don't see your parents as frequently as you did in high school - caveat: being in South America changes this scale a bit - you begin to realize that your parents probably did a pretty good job of raising you, or at least, this is the hope that parents have, right? They want to be loved, respected, and treated like people who have done a good job in creating, raising, and supporting their offspring until they have reached a point of becoming a full-fledged, independent adult... At the same time, we, as 'children' can begin to unabashedly critique our parents, as humans, and less as parents - call this 'reflection'...
5. 22-29: Holy shit! Unfortunately, when you graduate from college (if it takes you more than 5 years, and you don't have multiple degrees, your parent are likely VERY supportive of whatever it is that you are dealing with on a more personal level), your eyes are wide open - I'm a college graduate, I have a job (hopefully), and I am trying to support myself, sweet!! Right, and then reality smacks you in the face, and you realize you need to budget the Rahmen noodles, hot dogs, PBR, and jungle juice because rent is expensive, your cell phone is not cheap with all the gadgets/plans you 'need' to have, the car, insurance, gas, parking adds up quick, and that doesn't even count the gym membership, nites out on the town with friends, and any other 'luxuries' like health insurance (ideally, your company's share keeps your premium down to a reasonable level, but good luck with 'additional' medical support for specialists like the dermatologist, the psychologist, opthomologist, etc)... The biggest adjustment that many of us 'children' need to make comes in the form of lifestyle, and often, this is when credit card debt becomes a problem for people in my generation. I've always been terrified of 'debt' on a personal/consumer level, because it suggests a lack of control, and excess beyond the means by which you have the ability to afford yourself the opportunity to live/continue living in such a form as you were provided by your parents - call this the wake up call. Life really begins, you are finding yourself, meeting your 'crew' (if you grow up and do not continue to only spend time with friends from high school and/or college - caveat: I have been lucky in that I have great friends from each stage, and have tried to incorporate all of them in to my life, together, to further unify the 'crew'), maybe your significant other, and potentially find a place for yourself in the world, all the while, realizing that your parents (with luck and health) are still around, and very supportive of your decisions. Clearly, I have the most to discuss in this area, as I feel the amount of growth I have made in this period has been remarkable, and certainly, have been at odds with my parents over a handful of things, as adults and parents over the years, but it is with each conversation with them, their parents, and the extended family, that I realize that I'm a pretty lucky kid...
6: 30+ Who knows?! I'm not their yet, but when I hit the big 3-0, gulp, I'm sure I'll have reached another point in my life to be more critical of my parents...
That all aside, my parents wanted to pay me a visit in South America - great call! As was the case in college, or, whenever I have lived outside of Chicago, it means, free stuff! I kid (sorta)... They had been extremely supportive of me in the decision to move abroad, follow my dreams, learn a language, etc, and it was only appropriate that we spent the better part of the first 4 months of my time here planning their trip to visit. With some luck, it overlapped with my sister's visit a bit, so the opportunity all be in the same place was pretty cool. That said, my parents aren't exactly travel junkies - my dad is on the road a lot for work, and my mom should probably be a New Yorker (afterall, she grew up in CT and went to college on Strong Island) and isn't much of a tourist, so, needless to say, I was given the role of guide, babysitter, event coordinator, concierge, etc...
It always seemed ok when the people who came to visit wanted to know about the City, do stuff, be shown about, etc, but when it's your parents, things seem to change - they won't go away, they are always in your business, etc... It's understandable that my parents wanted to experience what it was that I had been doing for the previous 5 months, but it felt an awful lot like interference, which totally prevented me from being 'normal' and in the end, it stressed me out beyond belief. Getting back to their traveling patterns, as a pair, I'm not sure of the last time they took an 'exploratory' vacation to a new place (I do not necessarily include weekend getaways with friends at a house, or a destination hotel/spa), so coming here was certainly a long trip. So, not being a huge walking pair - as I said, my mom should be a New Yorker, where taking cabs it the 'easier' thing to do - it was tough for me to suggest things to do, because BA is very much a walking/exploratory City, I mean, there are north of 12 million people who live here, so there's lots to see, but not as much to 'do' during the day...
We hit up the obligatory museums, some great restaurant spots for lunch and dinner, and I sent them on their own day of exploration to San Telmo, where they could have their own vacation, and not feel like they were only in South America to visit me - caveat (another): they continued on to Mendoza to do some wine touring/spa time, and then to Santiago, a city my dad had been to only once before for work, a long time ago...
In all, the 6 days I got to spend with my parents, in my new home - they were not too keen on me calling BA 'home' but, tough shit - was great, and despite the remarkable stress it caused me, I have realized that to have that opportunity (my parents coming to visit me in the country I live in, about a 16 hour door-to-door trip from Chicago) is really lucky.
Mom, Dad, thank you, I love you both.
When you come back, plan ahead... Besos y abrazos
1. 2-5: Why? This is less of an analytical period in our lives and more of a - literally, why? We are thirsty for knowledge and for right or wrong, assume that our parents have all the answers...
2. 10-13: Change... We begin becoming 'young adults' and, more now than ever, younger people are exposed to more 'global' affairs, social hierarchy, athletic competition (at a slightly higher level), and some of the trials and tribulations that our parents deal with on a daily basis...
3. 14-18: Idiots! During the high-school years, parents can generally only be described as utterly ridiculous, and mostly stupid - how could they understand so little about our lives, know so little about life, and be so blatantly dumb... This is certainly the stereotype, and no matter how great your parents (or mine for that matter) are/were, every kid has these thoughts at least once between these ages/within this schooling period.
4. 19-22: I love college! Maybe it is the ability to finally vote that begins a transformation to 'real' adulthood, but when you go to college (assuming you don't live at home and don't see your parents as frequently as you did in high school - caveat: being in South America changes this scale a bit - you begin to realize that your parents probably did a pretty good job of raising you, or at least, this is the hope that parents have, right? They want to be loved, respected, and treated like people who have done a good job in creating, raising, and supporting their offspring until they have reached a point of becoming a full-fledged, independent adult... At the same time, we, as 'children' can begin to unabashedly critique our parents, as humans, and less as parents - call this 'reflection'...
5. 22-29: Holy shit! Unfortunately, when you graduate from college (if it takes you more than 5 years, and you don't have multiple degrees, your parent are likely VERY supportive of whatever it is that you are dealing with on a more personal level), your eyes are wide open - I'm a college graduate, I have a job (hopefully), and I am trying to support myself, sweet!! Right, and then reality smacks you in the face, and you realize you need to budget the Rahmen noodles, hot dogs, PBR, and jungle juice because rent is expensive, your cell phone is not cheap with all the gadgets/plans you 'need' to have, the car, insurance, gas, parking adds up quick, and that doesn't even count the gym membership, nites out on the town with friends, and any other 'luxuries' like health insurance (ideally, your company's share keeps your premium down to a reasonable level, but good luck with 'additional' medical support for specialists like the dermatologist, the psychologist, opthomologist, etc)... The biggest adjustment that many of us 'children' need to make comes in the form of lifestyle, and often, this is when credit card debt becomes a problem for people in my generation. I've always been terrified of 'debt' on a personal/consumer level, because it suggests a lack of control, and excess beyond the means by which you have the ability to afford yourself the opportunity to live/continue living in such a form as you were provided by your parents - call this the wake up call. Life really begins, you are finding yourself, meeting your 'crew' (if you grow up and do not continue to only spend time with friends from high school and/or college - caveat: I have been lucky in that I have great friends from each stage, and have tried to incorporate all of them in to my life, together, to further unify the 'crew'), maybe your significant other, and potentially find a place for yourself in the world, all the while, realizing that your parents (with luck and health) are still around, and very supportive of your decisions. Clearly, I have the most to discuss in this area, as I feel the amount of growth I have made in this period has been remarkable, and certainly, have been at odds with my parents over a handful of things, as adults and parents over the years, but it is with each conversation with them, their parents, and the extended family, that I realize that I'm a pretty lucky kid...
6: 30+ Who knows?! I'm not their yet, but when I hit the big 3-0, gulp, I'm sure I'll have reached another point in my life to be more critical of my parents...
That all aside, my parents wanted to pay me a visit in South America - great call! As was the case in college, or, whenever I have lived outside of Chicago, it means, free stuff! I kid (sorta)... They had been extremely supportive of me in the decision to move abroad, follow my dreams, learn a language, etc, and it was only appropriate that we spent the better part of the first 4 months of my time here planning their trip to visit. With some luck, it overlapped with my sister's visit a bit, so the opportunity all be in the same place was pretty cool. That said, my parents aren't exactly travel junkies - my dad is on the road a lot for work, and my mom should probably be a New Yorker (afterall, she grew up in CT and went to college on Strong Island) and isn't much of a tourist, so, needless to say, I was given the role of guide, babysitter, event coordinator, concierge, etc...
It always seemed ok when the people who came to visit wanted to know about the City, do stuff, be shown about, etc, but when it's your parents, things seem to change - they won't go away, they are always in your business, etc... It's understandable that my parents wanted to experience what it was that I had been doing for the previous 5 months, but it felt an awful lot like interference, which totally prevented me from being 'normal' and in the end, it stressed me out beyond belief. Getting back to their traveling patterns, as a pair, I'm not sure of the last time they took an 'exploratory' vacation to a new place (I do not necessarily include weekend getaways with friends at a house, or a destination hotel/spa), so coming here was certainly a long trip. So, not being a huge walking pair - as I said, my mom should be a New Yorker, where taking cabs it the 'easier' thing to do - it was tough for me to suggest things to do, because BA is very much a walking/exploratory City, I mean, there are north of 12 million people who live here, so there's lots to see, but not as much to 'do' during the day...
We hit up the obligatory museums, some great restaurant spots for lunch and dinner, and I sent them on their own day of exploration to San Telmo, where they could have their own vacation, and not feel like they were only in South America to visit me - caveat (another): they continued on to Mendoza to do some wine touring/spa time, and then to Santiago, a city my dad had been to only once before for work, a long time ago...
In all, the 6 days I got to spend with my parents, in my new home - they were not too keen on me calling BA 'home' but, tough shit - was great, and despite the remarkable stress it caused me, I have realized that to have that opportunity (my parents coming to visit me in the country I live in, about a 16 hour door-to-door trip from Chicago) is really lucky.
Mom, Dad, thank you, I love you both.
When you come back, plan ahead... Besos y abrazos
Monday, May 11, 2009
Traveling with Women...
I have done this in the past, with both family and friends (including now ex-girlfriends), and I can safely say that the more women you travel with, the less 'cool' it actually is when compared to how 'cool' it sounds beforehand... Having lived women, I'm certainly privy to the many 'secrets' and predisposed notions about women's 'living' habits... I knew that traveling with three women, each her own personality, would be something I likely would not experience again, so I took it all in stride... Knowing the group quite well - Lau, Melanie, and of course, Carey, the level of prisiness (Melanie and Carey could have a serious debate about who is more prisy) would be relatively high, so I did my best to prepare them all for a less fanciful travel experience - overnite bus rides, hostels, backpacking (something Melanie did not known prior to arriving in BA), and generally speaking, not planning too far ahead and just kinda winging it...
Well, I learned something - guys and girls travel differently, obviously!
After a great trip in Mendoza, which included a great little hostel, it was clear my thoughs for a more low-key travel experience would likely not fly, as we had no concrete plans for Chile when we arrived in Santiago, and the hostelling experience, while great, was not going to happen again... So, we did what any 'normal' American group of backpackers would do - we went to the second-most expensive hotel in the City and got rooms... At this point, things were heated, as there was no real direction, and I was a little annoyed at girls being girls, and I'm sure they were, cumulively more annoyed at me being a boy...
Once we got thru this little 'hiccup' things were all good, but the experience is likely one that will not be had in the future - both because I'll be a bit more cautious in my 'planning' and I likely won't be traveling with 3 women, solo, not that I'd be opposed...
Well, I learned something - guys and girls travel differently, obviously!
After a great trip in Mendoza, which included a great little hostel, it was clear my thoughs for a more low-key travel experience would likely not fly, as we had no concrete plans for Chile when we arrived in Santiago, and the hostelling experience, while great, was not going to happen again... So, we did what any 'normal' American group of backpackers would do - we went to the second-most expensive hotel in the City and got rooms... At this point, things were heated, as there was no real direction, and I was a little annoyed at girls being girls, and I'm sure they were, cumulively more annoyed at me being a boy...
Once we got thru this little 'hiccup' things were all good, but the experience is likely one that will not be had in the future - both because I'll be a bit more cautious in my 'planning' and I likely won't be traveling with 3 women, solo, not that I'd be opposed...
Thursday, May 7, 2009
Chi, chi, chi, lay, lay, lay...
So, cruising through the Andes mountains, by bus, was pretty cool, however, traveling through the Eisenhower Pass outside of Denver, and entering a different world in the Rockies is something that still takes the cake in terms of breathtaking vistas - everytime I make that trip in Colorado, I am awestruck by the beauty... Alas, I digress, back to the Andes...
After a few days of wine-binging, gastro-gorging, and horseback-riding (se dice 'para hacer cabalgatas), Chile was on the agenda for a few days, with the idea of checking out Santiago and a town or two along the Pacific - either Viña del Mar and/or Valparaíso. However, after the hostel-ing experience in Mendoza, which was fantastic, the girls weren't all that interested in 'winging' it any longer, despite having received a few pointers with respect to where we should head when we got to Santiago. We were relatively unprepared with respect to the adventure that was forthcoming, as noone had really done any research (aside from a call/email to a few friends) on what to do, where to go, and how to get there, etc... We assumed (maybe, I assumed more than the girls) it'd be relatively easy, not too busy, and a good time. We weren't wrong, but each showed varying levels of ease, congestion, and fun-ness. So, pulling in to the bus station in Santiago after a 6-ish hour, National Geographic-inspired cruise through the Andes mountains - did I mention that it is gorgeous?! - we had the names/locations of a few hostels in different parts of town. As luck would have had it, the lady seated across the aisle from me had a Lonely Planet book with Chilean stuff, so we were able to score a few pictures of the maps, some recommendations, and a few phone numbers of places of interest. Unfortunately, none of them really mattered, as we couldn't figure out how to dial the numbers from either a US-based mobile, nor the Argentine mobiles... In addition to the in ability to dial, the girls were growing more frustrated (with me, for not having had 'planned' anything in particular), and I of them (for not being more open minded to not spending a ton of money on accommodations, and being 'girls'), so by a 3-1 vote, we decided to head to the Grand Hyatt Santiago, in Las Condes, one of, if not, the most expensive hotels in the nicest part of town... To provide some background on this decision, there was an outside chance of us receiving some special treatment from the GM, as he was a colleague of a colleague back in the day - unfortunately, he had resigned just 4 days earlier and was no longer at the hotel (we were aware of his leaving the post of GM, but not of the specific timing), so we got the special treatment alright, RACK RATE! So, after a bit of haggling and heavy breathing, we opted to take it easy for the nite, so my sister and I went with the flow and treated ourselves to a great Thai dinner in one of the 3 fine-dining restaurants within the hotel - seriously, the place is fantastic!
Other than that, Santiago wasn't really on our list of cities to explore, so we basically went to two places the following day - a tourist trap 'hill' that has been created as the all-in-one shopping destination for all things Chilean. It was certainly interesting, and pretty relaxing, but kind of far from the rest of town, which precluded us from walking the downtown area, as we needed to get to the funicular to ride to the top of Cerro San Cristóbal - the highest point in town, with a giant 'Rio-esque' statue of the Virgin Mary (we think)... After running around Santiago, which seems a lot smaller on a map, we bounced back to our luxury digs and packed the bags to head to Viña del Mar. In the 'argumentative' phase of this 'traveling with women vacation' (it was bound to happen at some point) the nite before, I opted to put my misery, and the girls' disinterest in hosteling, to bed, and made arrangements to stay at Starwood properties while speniding the week in Chile... This ended up being the saving grace of the trip, as we could all relax (albeit, spending a few quid more), and just enjoy the time together. So, with that, backpacks afull, we headed to the bus station to head to the Pacific.
Arriving in Viña was a bit interesting, as we weren't exactly sure what the process would have been because we weren't exactly sure where we were... We had been under the impression that the trip would be about 2 hours, so after about 90 minutes, we (e.g. "I") asked the bus driver how close we were to the Sheraton, and he immediately pulled over and suggested it was about 8 blocks behind where we were - apparently, we had made it, early... So, we hopped off, and yours truly, in a rush, left the bottle of vineyard produced olive oil from Achaval Ferrer, doh! We made our wandering way to the hotel, which was located 'in' the water, over the Pacific Ocean - it appeared, to my untrained eye, to be a relatively new-build property, and everything about it was pretty spot on. I'll spare you all the 'hotel branding abroad' conversation, but realize that a Sheraton down in these parts is a MUCh nicer hotel than we are accustomed to seeing in the US... When we got in, we got all situated, and wanted to go get some food, so the concierge arranged for a car service to take us to a seafood joint - we had all been crazing the 'frutas del mar' and I was particularly keen on finding some good, Chilean pisco to accompany a delectable creature from the ocean. At the place, Carey even managed to hold a pair of VERY old lobsters - apparently, the length of the tail is directly related to the age (naturally, but there was some metric that I cannot recall that made it easy), and these puppies were pushing 15 years old... At least, this was all according to the server, so, who knows!
The highlight of the Víña experience, and maybe that of Chile, was spent the next day, back on horses... We had had such a great time in Mendoza, that we wanted to do it all again, and the second go around on horses was INCREDIBLE!! We totally lucked out... Our hired driver for the weekend, a great guy, took us out of town, about 35 minutes north to what looked more like an outdoor adventure due ranch kind of place, and from the street, the property extended several miles to the ocean - truly breathtaking topography. At the front of the property was the main house, which included a huge sitting/eating/socializing room off of the kitchen, a nice little courtyward in the center, and what appeared to be a handful of bedrooms (maybe a B&B?), the stables, and the dog shed (they had a couple of wolves there, yo lo juro). As the property extended toward the ocean, there was what looked like an obstacle-type/ropes-esque course, a few ponds, and just a generally beautiful landscape (trees, water, hiking/riding paths, etc), which included mountainous sand dunes... This was clearly the highlight, as we didn't really know what was in store for the day - how long it would last, where we'd go, what type of riding we'd be doing, etc... So, after a few minutes of hanging out with the nice old lady who was cleaning some giant tarp with a hose, and playing with the dogs, a big, burly, caballero sauntered from the depths (this guy couldn't have been more of a caballero - worn leather gorro, beat up boots, with the spikey thing, long flowing pony-tail under the hat, a thick, flannel-like button down shirt, and some chapped up pants - and it was awesome... Melanie really liked him...
What came next, over the course of the day, was one of the coolest days I have ever had... We waltzed up to stables to get all horsed-up, and were greeted by a pack of dogs, including a few puppies (wow were they cute), some toothless wonders of hired stable-hands, and the horses, which ranged in size, color, coat, etc... We all got fitted to the corersponding horses that suited our sizes, and we were granted access to the array of gorros available in the 'office'... Then, once all situated, we were off, walking toward the 'ropes' course and toward the dunes... The next few hours, we climbed/descended in the dunes, making our way through the gorgeous landscape that we were lucky enough to be a part of, as we made our way toward the ocean. As we approached, the duines turned to a more fertile, less 'hilly' topography, with more plants, trees, vegetation, etc, until we crossed some defunct train tracks, and saw the opening that put us square on a totally uninhabited stretch of beach/ocean... After being at a walking/slow gallop pace for the previous few hours, we were 'instructed' to really let the horses out and take them for a run on the beach - I mean, seriuosly? This was only my second time on a horse, and I'm now galloping on the beach, along the Pacific Ocean, after coming out of the hectares of sand dunes that we had just traversed... Amazing!
The return from the ocean was pretty special, as we popped back in to the vegetated area, and noticed some smoke coming from a iittle 'oasis' of trees - lunch! The setting was pretty sweet, in a canopied, albeit loosely, spot, with the hired hands getting the asado all squared away, setting up the 'salad bar' and uncorking the bottles of wine that awaited... Over the fire pit was a roasting baby-goat (chivito), a few chorizos, and some baby-beef - Lau, following the feast, declared that she'd only be eating 'babies' and I couldn't have agreed with her more! We opened up a premade pisco sour bottle and started putting that down, on top of the wine and feasted for about an hour and a half before mounting up for the long haul back to 'base camp' - this time, we were a bit more tipsy, had all gotten to know eachother, and were in no rush to see what was ahead. What was cool about the trip back was seeing a different topography - the amount of land on this property was incredible and seemed to go for ever... The last '100' meters of la vuelta took us thru a pasture with cows and other horses, some water (at least belly-deep for the horses, and it wasn't warm water by any stretch of the imagination), and finally the ropes course, again.. The day couldn't have been cooler, and the experience was certainly unreplicable (we thought about doing it again, and decided against it, for fear it would not be nearly as impressionable as the first time).
The other day we had in Viña was spent hanging out, as the weather wasn't exactly 'gorgeous'... Carey and I made a quick run to Valparaiso (a UNICEF World Heritage Site (or something official like that), and home to many of the most influential Chileans, including the poet/author Pablo Neruda, and some dude named Pinochet... It used to be a very influential port town, but has fallen in to some disarray over the years, and now feels a bit run down. Because it sits along the ocean, and is effectively built in to the mountains, the town has a very interesting transportation system, which highlights the 'elevators' that carry people up the side of the mountains - think, funiculars peppered about. As it was approaching sun down, and feeling less safe, Carey and I took a quick trip up an elevator - the thing was seriously 1000 years old - took a few snapshots overlooking the port/city, and fired back to Viña for our last dinner at the casino... We went all out, and had the pleasure of meeting the foreign exchange student who stayed with Lau's parents in Dallas (she's from Valpo) and her boyfriend for dinner. Unfortunately it had been a long trip, and Lau wasn't feeling great, so she didn't enjoy the grandiose-ness of how delicious the dinner was - mmm! After dinner, Melanie and I wanted to a little gambling, Chilean style, so we stuck around and had a blast - drinking, playing blackjack, and of course, winning! We got ourselves back to the hotel, happy and go lucky, only to receive from gut-wrenching news... Melanie's grandmother, who had been relatively ill for some time, has passed away, so we spent the next several hours figuring out the logistics of a return flight to NYC to attend the funeral (36 hours later). It was a tough call to have received, but Melanie was a trooper and we got all of her things together for an early departure to Santiago, around the time we'd be getting on a bus for the long haul back to BA - across the continent in a day...
The next morning couldn't have been prettier - the sun was out, there was not a cloud in the sky, and we had front row seats for a great ride back to Mendoza, where we'd hit the bus station, hop a cab to the Park Hyatt for a bathroom run, and bounce back to the bus station to take the overnite trip back to Baires... Unfortunately, we were short one person for the weekend in BA...
After a few days of wine-binging, gastro-gorging, and horseback-riding (se dice 'para hacer cabalgatas), Chile was on the agenda for a few days, with the idea of checking out Santiago and a town or two along the Pacific - either Viña del Mar and/or Valparaíso. However, after the hostel-ing experience in Mendoza, which was fantastic, the girls weren't all that interested in 'winging' it any longer, despite having received a few pointers with respect to where we should head when we got to Santiago. We were relatively unprepared with respect to the adventure that was forthcoming, as noone had really done any research (aside from a call/email to a few friends) on what to do, where to go, and how to get there, etc... We assumed (maybe, I assumed more than the girls) it'd be relatively easy, not too busy, and a good time. We weren't wrong, but each showed varying levels of ease, congestion, and fun-ness. So, pulling in to the bus station in Santiago after a 6-ish hour, National Geographic-inspired cruise through the Andes mountains - did I mention that it is gorgeous?! - we had the names/locations of a few hostels in different parts of town. As luck would have had it, the lady seated across the aisle from me had a Lonely Planet book with Chilean stuff, so we were able to score a few pictures of the maps, some recommendations, and a few phone numbers of places of interest. Unfortunately, none of them really mattered, as we couldn't figure out how to dial the numbers from either a US-based mobile, nor the Argentine mobiles... In addition to the in ability to dial, the girls were growing more frustrated (with me, for not having had 'planned' anything in particular), and I of them (for not being more open minded to not spending a ton of money on accommodations, and being 'girls'), so by a 3-1 vote, we decided to head to the Grand Hyatt Santiago, in Las Condes, one of, if not, the most expensive hotels in the nicest part of town... To provide some background on this decision, there was an outside chance of us receiving some special treatment from the GM, as he was a colleague of a colleague back in the day - unfortunately, he had resigned just 4 days earlier and was no longer at the hotel (we were aware of his leaving the post of GM, but not of the specific timing), so we got the special treatment alright, RACK RATE! So, after a bit of haggling and heavy breathing, we opted to take it easy for the nite, so my sister and I went with the flow and treated ourselves to a great Thai dinner in one of the 3 fine-dining restaurants within the hotel - seriously, the place is fantastic!
Other than that, Santiago wasn't really on our list of cities to explore, so we basically went to two places the following day - a tourist trap 'hill' that has been created as the all-in-one shopping destination for all things Chilean. It was certainly interesting, and pretty relaxing, but kind of far from the rest of town, which precluded us from walking the downtown area, as we needed to get to the funicular to ride to the top of Cerro San Cristóbal - the highest point in town, with a giant 'Rio-esque' statue of the Virgin Mary (we think)... After running around Santiago, which seems a lot smaller on a map, we bounced back to our luxury digs and packed the bags to head to Viña del Mar. In the 'argumentative' phase of this 'traveling with women vacation' (it was bound to happen at some point) the nite before, I opted to put my misery, and the girls' disinterest in hosteling, to bed, and made arrangements to stay at Starwood properties while speniding the week in Chile... This ended up being the saving grace of the trip, as we could all relax (albeit, spending a few quid more), and just enjoy the time together. So, with that, backpacks afull, we headed to the bus station to head to the Pacific.
Arriving in Viña was a bit interesting, as we weren't exactly sure what the process would have been because we weren't exactly sure where we were... We had been under the impression that the trip would be about 2 hours, so after about 90 minutes, we (e.g. "I") asked the bus driver how close we were to the Sheraton, and he immediately pulled over and suggested it was about 8 blocks behind where we were - apparently, we had made it, early... So, we hopped off, and yours truly, in a rush, left the bottle of vineyard produced olive oil from Achaval Ferrer, doh! We made our wandering way to the hotel, which was located 'in' the water, over the Pacific Ocean - it appeared, to my untrained eye, to be a relatively new-build property, and everything about it was pretty spot on. I'll spare you all the 'hotel branding abroad' conversation, but realize that a Sheraton down in these parts is a MUCh nicer hotel than we are accustomed to seeing in the US... When we got in, we got all situated, and wanted to go get some food, so the concierge arranged for a car service to take us to a seafood joint - we had all been crazing the 'frutas del mar' and I was particularly keen on finding some good, Chilean pisco to accompany a delectable creature from the ocean. At the place, Carey even managed to hold a pair of VERY old lobsters - apparently, the length of the tail is directly related to the age (naturally, but there was some metric that I cannot recall that made it easy), and these puppies were pushing 15 years old... At least, this was all according to the server, so, who knows!
The highlight of the Víña experience, and maybe that of Chile, was spent the next day, back on horses... We had had such a great time in Mendoza, that we wanted to do it all again, and the second go around on horses was INCREDIBLE!! We totally lucked out... Our hired driver for the weekend, a great guy, took us out of town, about 35 minutes north to what looked more like an outdoor adventure due ranch kind of place, and from the street, the property extended several miles to the ocean - truly breathtaking topography. At the front of the property was the main house, which included a huge sitting/eating/socializing room off of the kitchen, a nice little courtyward in the center, and what appeared to be a handful of bedrooms (maybe a B&B?), the stables, and the dog shed (they had a couple of wolves there, yo lo juro). As the property extended toward the ocean, there was what looked like an obstacle-type/ropes-esque course, a few ponds, and just a generally beautiful landscape (trees, water, hiking/riding paths, etc), which included mountainous sand dunes... This was clearly the highlight, as we didn't really know what was in store for the day - how long it would last, where we'd go, what type of riding we'd be doing, etc... So, after a few minutes of hanging out with the nice old lady who was cleaning some giant tarp with a hose, and playing with the dogs, a big, burly, caballero sauntered from the depths (this guy couldn't have been more of a caballero - worn leather gorro, beat up boots, with the spikey thing, long flowing pony-tail under the hat, a thick, flannel-like button down shirt, and some chapped up pants - and it was awesome... Melanie really liked him...
What came next, over the course of the day, was one of the coolest days I have ever had... We waltzed up to stables to get all horsed-up, and were greeted by a pack of dogs, including a few puppies (wow were they cute), some toothless wonders of hired stable-hands, and the horses, which ranged in size, color, coat, etc... We all got fitted to the corersponding horses that suited our sizes, and we were granted access to the array of gorros available in the 'office'... Then, once all situated, we were off, walking toward the 'ropes' course and toward the dunes... The next few hours, we climbed/descended in the dunes, making our way through the gorgeous landscape that we were lucky enough to be a part of, as we made our way toward the ocean. As we approached, the duines turned to a more fertile, less 'hilly' topography, with more plants, trees, vegetation, etc, until we crossed some defunct train tracks, and saw the opening that put us square on a totally uninhabited stretch of beach/ocean... After being at a walking/slow gallop pace for the previous few hours, we were 'instructed' to really let the horses out and take them for a run on the beach - I mean, seriuosly? This was only my second time on a horse, and I'm now galloping on the beach, along the Pacific Ocean, after coming out of the hectares of sand dunes that we had just traversed... Amazing!
The return from the ocean was pretty special, as we popped back in to the vegetated area, and noticed some smoke coming from a iittle 'oasis' of trees - lunch! The setting was pretty sweet, in a canopied, albeit loosely, spot, with the hired hands getting the asado all squared away, setting up the 'salad bar' and uncorking the bottles of wine that awaited... Over the fire pit was a roasting baby-goat (chivito), a few chorizos, and some baby-beef - Lau, following the feast, declared that she'd only be eating 'babies' and I couldn't have agreed with her more! We opened up a premade pisco sour bottle and started putting that down, on top of the wine and feasted for about an hour and a half before mounting up for the long haul back to 'base camp' - this time, we were a bit more tipsy, had all gotten to know eachother, and were in no rush to see what was ahead. What was cool about the trip back was seeing a different topography - the amount of land on this property was incredible and seemed to go for ever... The last '100' meters of la vuelta took us thru a pasture with cows and other horses, some water (at least belly-deep for the horses, and it wasn't warm water by any stretch of the imagination), and finally the ropes course, again.. The day couldn't have been cooler, and the experience was certainly unreplicable (we thought about doing it again, and decided against it, for fear it would not be nearly as impressionable as the first time).
The other day we had in Viña was spent hanging out, as the weather wasn't exactly 'gorgeous'... Carey and I made a quick run to Valparaiso (a UNICEF World Heritage Site (or something official like that), and home to many of the most influential Chileans, including the poet/author Pablo Neruda, and some dude named Pinochet... It used to be a very influential port town, but has fallen in to some disarray over the years, and now feels a bit run down. Because it sits along the ocean, and is effectively built in to the mountains, the town has a very interesting transportation system, which highlights the 'elevators' that carry people up the side of the mountains - think, funiculars peppered about. As it was approaching sun down, and feeling less safe, Carey and I took a quick trip up an elevator - the thing was seriously 1000 years old - took a few snapshots overlooking the port/city, and fired back to Viña for our last dinner at the casino... We went all out, and had the pleasure of meeting the foreign exchange student who stayed with Lau's parents in Dallas (she's from Valpo) and her boyfriend for dinner. Unfortunately it had been a long trip, and Lau wasn't feeling great, so she didn't enjoy the grandiose-ness of how delicious the dinner was - mmm! After dinner, Melanie and I wanted to a little gambling, Chilean style, so we stuck around and had a blast - drinking, playing blackjack, and of course, winning! We got ourselves back to the hotel, happy and go lucky, only to receive from gut-wrenching news... Melanie's grandmother, who had been relatively ill for some time, has passed away, so we spent the next several hours figuring out the logistics of a return flight to NYC to attend the funeral (36 hours later). It was a tough call to have received, but Melanie was a trooper and we got all of her things together for an early departure to Santiago, around the time we'd be getting on a bus for the long haul back to BA - across the continent in a day...
The next morning couldn't have been prettier - the sun was out, there was not a cloud in the sky, and we had front row seats for a great ride back to Mendoza, where we'd hit the bus station, hop a cab to the Park Hyatt for a bathroom run, and bounce back to the bus station to take the overnite trip back to Baires... Unfortunately, we were short one person for the weekend in BA...
Los viñedos...
What more is there to say about drifting out of reality and in to the tranquility that always presents itself in the form of a vineyard, a grape, a glass, or a bottle - sometimes, all together!
I've had the privilege of spending some time in the Napa and Sonoma wine regions in California, thanks to my friend's girlfriend being unable to take the trip at the last minute, and had made a short visit to Mendoza, Argentina soon thereafter, and enjoyed my time in each place, thoroughly, and for different reasons. However, the recent trip I was lucky enough to make was with Carey, Melanie, and Lau, and we did it up! If you back away the accommodations - I figured, let's spend money on things that matter, like the food and the wine, and not the bed, so we stayed in a hostel (it turned out to be great, but a little 'below' the expectations of the ladies) - there wouldn't be much to change from having an explosively good time in Mendoza, and given the particularities of all of us, that is saying a lot...
For starters, I was in no mood to drop big bucks on a 90-minute flight, and I thought it would be good for both Carey and Melanie to experience the bus system of Argentina, as it really is something that takes a little adjusting to, but it totally normal for people who are here. A bit of a background on this - in the late 1980s and early 1990s, the government sold of its national interests in many industries, including the railway system, which included operable trains (ala Amtrak) running from Buenos Aires to the rest of the country. The network may not have been al-encompassing, but it existed... After the national sell-off, the railway system (beyond the standard freight and commuter systems) was effectively closed, so bus companies (super-luxe classes through school bus style) began sprouting up to fill the void. This is now the primary means of inter-nodal mass transportation in Argentina (and I would imagine for the majority of South America), so I figured it would be fun to experience together/be a witness to the fact that both Carey and Melanie spent evenings on a bus (Lau has already done this, so she's accustomed to it).
So, we left Baires on a Wednesday evening, the same day that Carey arrived (she had a whirlwind of a first 2 weeks down here!), traveling on AndesMar (you know, like, from the Andes to the Ocean, like, Argentina) for the 13 hour, overnight trip almost directly west to Mendoza. The fun fact about this trip is that there's a street in Baires that travels all the way from the Casa Rosada, to the Chilean border, and has been documented as the longest, single road in the world - this could also just be the Argentine chest-pumping and self-fulfilling story-telling... The trip was relatively uneventful, as we a bevy of meds onhand to help potential sleeping issues, but was highlighted by an incredible game of bingo, something AndesMar does prior to serving the dog-meat slop they pretend is a dinner (I can say this, I actually ate it, unlike the people I was traveling with, who just laughed and made silly faces while I ate my 'dinner')... Needless to say, I won the bingo match on a bus full of people, but not before Melanie called out Bingo after the 6th number called, thinking it was a 'normal' game of bingo. Really?! We're in Argentina, nothing's normal... Our bingo consists of getting a 4x4 board of numbers totally filled by the numbers that are called, so you need 16 (maybe less if you have a wild-card and/or duplicates) numbers before you can win - silly Melanie! I won a nice thermos, which was immediately caribinered to the backpack...
Little did we know that the weekend we were to have in Mendoza was over Labor Day (how naive), so some of the vineyards would not be open in observance of the holiday. Labor Day here is the same as in the States, but the concept of having a day off to celebrate the work has a different meaning in the US, where people are only ever thinking about work, and here, where they think about everything but work. Alas, I digress... In planning the wine-touring, we opted to have an 'adventure' day in between, which took care of scheduling the tours with the places we wanted to visit and giving us a chance to take a break from the consumption. Within about 2 minutes of getting in to town, we were already running behind schedule - we had a big day of wine touring and giddiness that needed to start, immediately...
The first vineyard, Azul, located in the Uco Valley, was a boutique winery with an annual production of about 70,000 bottles. This could have been our favorite vineyard, so having at the beginning was both a blessing and disappointment. We got a nice tour of the actual production, as the tasting was done in the same rooms as the stainless fermentation barrels. Prior to moving down here, I has part of a wine club that sent me Argentine wines from Mendoza, and I had had the chance to taste some Azul in the past, so visiting the vineyard was a nice perk. We bounced around, jungle juice (90% fermented wine from the barrel) in hand, from bodega to bodega, until we got to O'Fournier for our lunch (it was close to 3p). The meal we had was delectable, and prepared by a chef who the girls later claimed not to trust - she's the wife of the vineyard owner, of Spanish descent, and stands about 5 feet, 100 lbs... tiny! This is why the girls did not trust her, but, her food spoke for itself. Rich, soft, and perfectly paired with the 'house' wines - here, it has a different connotation. After the travel, the wine, and at this point, the food, we all needed a little rest before something that evening. We ended up heading to a little spot for dinner, where we got the 'in' table on the street, right in front. Needless to say, the four of us barely spoke a word to eachother, as all our heads were on swivels (as is customary when eating on the street in front of a popular restaurant) the entire nite. What we did chuckle about was the disaster of a service experience we had, as orders were confused, forgotten, or just gotten plain wrong. Welcome to Argentina! However, to defend the Argentine's, the orders had replacement items, cooking suggestions, and 'created' items, so it's not entirely their fault...
The next morning, we woke up good and early for 'adventure' day, which included horseback riding (cabalgatas) - a first for me - and hiking/repelling. Resting in the foothills of the Andes, the adventure company we went through had a 'base camp' sitting on a gorgeous lake abutting the mountains, from which all tours departed. The horseback riding was amazing, as we were just walking through the mountains, with only the picturesque landscape surrounding us. A lot of my motivation to climb aboard a horse was a function of Melanie's visit, as she has always wanted for me to get in to horses (she's a professional rider, seriously), so her visit was the perfect confluence of reasons to saddle up. I'm now hooked!
After lunch, a criollo meal at 'base camp,' we went for a 3 hour hike up the hills/mountains, that was bisected by a little waterfall/rock repelling - sweet! During the hike, we made friends with our 24 y/o guide, a native of Mendoza, and got to see some 'wild' horses running through the foothills - wait, what?! Apparently, the horses belonged to the same group we had 'hired' to take us riding, but to see horses, in a natural environment like that is still pretty cool, and not something you necessarily expect when setting off on a hike. By the end of the day, we were pooped, but we had a HUGE dinner ahead of us - maybe the biggest/fanciest one of the entire trip.
1884 Francis Mallmann is a restaurant located within an old building that was formerly the bodega of Escorihuela Gascón, a prominent label in Mendoza. The restaurant, by all accounts, is amazing. It was strongly suggested, and referred to as the nicest in Mendoza, so naturally, we had to do it - when we walked in, we were, hands down, the youngest people in there - by at least 10 years. Now that we're pushing 30, 'old' people don't seem that old anymore, despite how young I may still feel. Aside from the snobbish response I received from the sommelier (his name is Victor) when asking about a flight of champagne, service was impeccable and the food, delicious. We made the affair a bit more 'shared' with a specific rotation of plates that each of us ordered, being sure not to duplicate - this gave us the chance to sample 8 different 'courses' but was not supremely successful, as the last rotation would always get cold food... Full and drunk, we headed back to the hostel to turn in for the nite and prepare for our second day of wine tasting - Lujan de Cuyo was next...
This was a day of big hitters - Achaval Ferrer, Vistalba, Carmelo Patti, and Altavista - with lunch at La Bourgogne, the restaurant at Vistalba... Achaval Ferrer is a 'modern' vineyard that has assumed some 'forward' wine-making techniques, all of which are implemented to produce terrific wines. Lunch was absolutely delicious, on the grounds of what felt like a monastery, however, the building was clearly not that old, and afterward, I think we were all ready to take a breather, but I pushed us on to hit up at least 2 more vineyards, neither of which were really all that memorable (a few stories, some pictures, yada yada). The girls were counting the minutes until their massages at the Spa at the Park Hyatt, and I was up for getting some more wine at Vines of Mendoza with a colleague who works there/trying to work a business angle. Dinner was relatively uneventful, as we chowed on sushi at the bar at the Park Hyatt, down the hall from the spa, and then headed back to the hostel, where we'd get a nice nite's sleep before hopping on the 7 hour train, thru the Andes, en route to Santiago de Chile...
I've had the privilege of spending some time in the Napa and Sonoma wine regions in California, thanks to my friend's girlfriend being unable to take the trip at the last minute, and had made a short visit to Mendoza, Argentina soon thereafter, and enjoyed my time in each place, thoroughly, and for different reasons. However, the recent trip I was lucky enough to make was with Carey, Melanie, and Lau, and we did it up! If you back away the accommodations - I figured, let's spend money on things that matter, like the food and the wine, and not the bed, so we stayed in a hostel (it turned out to be great, but a little 'below' the expectations of the ladies) - there wouldn't be much to change from having an explosively good time in Mendoza, and given the particularities of all of us, that is saying a lot...
For starters, I was in no mood to drop big bucks on a 90-minute flight, and I thought it would be good for both Carey and Melanie to experience the bus system of Argentina, as it really is something that takes a little adjusting to, but it totally normal for people who are here. A bit of a background on this - in the late 1980s and early 1990s, the government sold of its national interests in many industries, including the railway system, which included operable trains (ala Amtrak) running from Buenos Aires to the rest of the country. The network may not have been al-encompassing, but it existed... After the national sell-off, the railway system (beyond the standard freight and commuter systems) was effectively closed, so bus companies (super-luxe classes through school bus style) began sprouting up to fill the void. This is now the primary means of inter-nodal mass transportation in Argentina (and I would imagine for the majority of South America), so I figured it would be fun to experience together/be a witness to the fact that both Carey and Melanie spent evenings on a bus (Lau has already done this, so she's accustomed to it).
So, we left Baires on a Wednesday evening, the same day that Carey arrived (she had a whirlwind of a first 2 weeks down here!), traveling on AndesMar (you know, like, from the Andes to the Ocean, like, Argentina) for the 13 hour, overnight trip almost directly west to Mendoza. The fun fact about this trip is that there's a street in Baires that travels all the way from the Casa Rosada, to the Chilean border, and has been documented as the longest, single road in the world - this could also just be the Argentine chest-pumping and self-fulfilling story-telling... The trip was relatively uneventful, as we a bevy of meds onhand to help potential sleeping issues, but was highlighted by an incredible game of bingo, something AndesMar does prior to serving the dog-meat slop they pretend is a dinner (I can say this, I actually ate it, unlike the people I was traveling with, who just laughed and made silly faces while I ate my 'dinner')... Needless to say, I won the bingo match on a bus full of people, but not before Melanie called out Bingo after the 6th number called, thinking it was a 'normal' game of bingo. Really?! We're in Argentina, nothing's normal... Our bingo consists of getting a 4x4 board of numbers totally filled by the numbers that are called, so you need 16 (maybe less if you have a wild-card and/or duplicates) numbers before you can win - silly Melanie! I won a nice thermos, which was immediately caribinered to the backpack...
Little did we know that the weekend we were to have in Mendoza was over Labor Day (how naive), so some of the vineyards would not be open in observance of the holiday. Labor Day here is the same as in the States, but the concept of having a day off to celebrate the work has a different meaning in the US, where people are only ever thinking about work, and here, where they think about everything but work. Alas, I digress... In planning the wine-touring, we opted to have an 'adventure' day in between, which took care of scheduling the tours with the places we wanted to visit and giving us a chance to take a break from the consumption. Within about 2 minutes of getting in to town, we were already running behind schedule - we had a big day of wine touring and giddiness that needed to start, immediately...
The first vineyard, Azul, located in the Uco Valley, was a boutique winery with an annual production of about 70,000 bottles. This could have been our favorite vineyard, so having at the beginning was both a blessing and disappointment. We got a nice tour of the actual production, as the tasting was done in the same rooms as the stainless fermentation barrels. Prior to moving down here, I has part of a wine club that sent me Argentine wines from Mendoza, and I had had the chance to taste some Azul in the past, so visiting the vineyard was a nice perk. We bounced around, jungle juice (90% fermented wine from the barrel) in hand, from bodega to bodega, until we got to O'Fournier for our lunch (it was close to 3p). The meal we had was delectable, and prepared by a chef who the girls later claimed not to trust - she's the wife of the vineyard owner, of Spanish descent, and stands about 5 feet, 100 lbs... tiny! This is why the girls did not trust her, but, her food spoke for itself. Rich, soft, and perfectly paired with the 'house' wines - here, it has a different connotation. After the travel, the wine, and at this point, the food, we all needed a little rest before something that evening. We ended up heading to a little spot for dinner, where we got the 'in' table on the street, right in front. Needless to say, the four of us barely spoke a word to eachother, as all our heads were on swivels (as is customary when eating on the street in front of a popular restaurant) the entire nite. What we did chuckle about was the disaster of a service experience we had, as orders were confused, forgotten, or just gotten plain wrong. Welcome to Argentina! However, to defend the Argentine's, the orders had replacement items, cooking suggestions, and 'created' items, so it's not entirely their fault...
The next morning, we woke up good and early for 'adventure' day, which included horseback riding (cabalgatas) - a first for me - and hiking/repelling. Resting in the foothills of the Andes, the adventure company we went through had a 'base camp' sitting on a gorgeous lake abutting the mountains, from which all tours departed. The horseback riding was amazing, as we were just walking through the mountains, with only the picturesque landscape surrounding us. A lot of my motivation to climb aboard a horse was a function of Melanie's visit, as she has always wanted for me to get in to horses (she's a professional rider, seriously), so her visit was the perfect confluence of reasons to saddle up. I'm now hooked!
After lunch, a criollo meal at 'base camp,' we went for a 3 hour hike up the hills/mountains, that was bisected by a little waterfall/rock repelling - sweet! During the hike, we made friends with our 24 y/o guide, a native of Mendoza, and got to see some 'wild' horses running through the foothills - wait, what?! Apparently, the horses belonged to the same group we had 'hired' to take us riding, but to see horses, in a natural environment like that is still pretty cool, and not something you necessarily expect when setting off on a hike. By the end of the day, we were pooped, but we had a HUGE dinner ahead of us - maybe the biggest/fanciest one of the entire trip.
1884 Francis Mallmann is a restaurant located within an old building that was formerly the bodega of Escorihuela Gascón, a prominent label in Mendoza. The restaurant, by all accounts, is amazing. It was strongly suggested, and referred to as the nicest in Mendoza, so naturally, we had to do it - when we walked in, we were, hands down, the youngest people in there - by at least 10 years. Now that we're pushing 30, 'old' people don't seem that old anymore, despite how young I may still feel. Aside from the snobbish response I received from the sommelier (his name is Victor) when asking about a flight of champagne, service was impeccable and the food, delicious. We made the affair a bit more 'shared' with a specific rotation of plates that each of us ordered, being sure not to duplicate - this gave us the chance to sample 8 different 'courses' but was not supremely successful, as the last rotation would always get cold food... Full and drunk, we headed back to the hostel to turn in for the nite and prepare for our second day of wine tasting - Lujan de Cuyo was next...
This was a day of big hitters - Achaval Ferrer, Vistalba, Carmelo Patti, and Altavista - with lunch at La Bourgogne, the restaurant at Vistalba... Achaval Ferrer is a 'modern' vineyard that has assumed some 'forward' wine-making techniques, all of which are implemented to produce terrific wines. Lunch was absolutely delicious, on the grounds of what felt like a monastery, however, the building was clearly not that old, and afterward, I think we were all ready to take a breather, but I pushed us on to hit up at least 2 more vineyards, neither of which were really all that memorable (a few stories, some pictures, yada yada). The girls were counting the minutes until their massages at the Spa at the Park Hyatt, and I was up for getting some more wine at Vines of Mendoza with a colleague who works there/trying to work a business angle. Dinner was relatively uneventful, as we chowed on sushi at the bar at the Park Hyatt, down the hall from the spa, and then headed back to the hostel, where we'd get a nice nite's sleep before hopping on the 7 hour train, thru the Andes, en route to Santiago de Chile...
Tuesday, May 5, 2009
"Honey..."
It's difficult to describe her, but once you meet her, you cannot possibly explain her... Melanie Berliner, my dear friend and pseudo-relative decided to make her way down to Argentina for a visit after parting ways with her previous restaurant employer in Boston... I guess people follow the directive of taking some 'down time' while contemplating the future - great call, who'd a thunk I'd have suggested something so, so, so, good, ha!
I was a bit skeptical when she told me that she'd be heading down, and even more surprised when she told me she'd be down here within 2 weeks, but when I received the e-ticket confirmation, I knew she wasn't messing around - and for almost three weeks, at that! For those of you who don't know Melanie, or have not even heard one story, she's not exactly the easiest to describe (per above comment), but you can use the following words: fabulousness, eccentric, classical, loving, boisterous, smart-ass, and grandiose - she's great, really, trust me...
It had been about 6 months since I had seen her, and when her big, squawky self waltzed in to my apartment, I knew I was in for a few weeks of fun, laughing, surprise, and excitement... Buenos Aires, Mendoza, Santiago de Chile, and Viña del Mar, meet Melanie... Suerte!
I was a bit skeptical when she told me that she'd be heading down, and even more surprised when she told me she'd be down here within 2 weeks, but when I received the e-ticket confirmation, I knew she wasn't messing around - and for almost three weeks, at that! For those of you who don't know Melanie, or have not even heard one story, she's not exactly the easiest to describe (per above comment), but you can use the following words: fabulousness, eccentric, classical, loving, boisterous, smart-ass, and grandiose - she's great, really, trust me...
It had been about 6 months since I had seen her, and when her big, squawky self waltzed in to my apartment, I knew I was in for a few weeks of fun, laughing, surprise, and excitement... Buenos Aires, Mendoza, Santiago de Chile, and Viña del Mar, meet Melanie... Suerte!
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