Getting a Glimpse of Uruguay

We just spent a very peaceful and relaxing four days in Carmelo, Uruguay at the Four Seasons resort on the Rio (River) de la Plata. While we had been wanting to visit for a while we held out until the bungalow we wanted was available and as it turns out, patience really is a virtue. The bungalow had a beautiful sunset view and it was nestled in the trees and very quiet. And, I was able to fill up on fish and shrimp! We took a short 15-minute private plane from Buenos Aires to the resort and they had loads of seafood and fish other than salmon. Why can't I get that from more than a handful of places in Buenos Aires I keep asking myself?

Our mistake was hitting the spa immediately upon arriving for a few hours even though it was a bright and sunny day. Wouldn't you know it, the next two days were full of rain and dark skies. We did get a tennis match in that was just too funny. Neither of us has played tennis in years and so we happily had the courts to ourselves until some couple showed up. Of course they played like they were semi-professional. Our tennis balls were going everywhere...into their court, over the fence. Good times.

Our one adventure for nightlife was quite hilarious when we showed up at the casino next door to the resort and we were the ONLY people there. I saw about 20 workers just standing around bored out of their minds in this bright, tiny wood cabin casino. Well, they opened up the BlackJack table for Don and I kicked back listening to the Best of the 80s that is quite popular in Uruguay it seems. We won a tiny bit of cash and it turned out to be a good night.

I don't think I've ever mentioned Don's fear of lizards on this blog. The way I feel about creepy, crawly nasty things like spiders is how he feels about lizards... He had a seen a "big" one--so he claimed--one day as we were heading to the bungalow but it got away before I could see it. I wasn't too worried about as we've been to many places with roaming lizard life. Well, on our way to check out on the last day, guess who was hanging out by our bungalow? This massive lizard who then promptly ran away from us right into the direction of our outdoor shower! Good thing we were checking out.

Valentine's Day

We hope everyone had a wonderful Valentine's Day. Ours was spent relaxing at the Faena Hotel pool and spa. We had foot rubs by the pool, massages in the spa, manicures, pedicures and lots of champagne. The weather held up beautifully and it was a perfect day. Ain't love grand?

Simple Life in the Countryside

A few days ago Don and I spent some time with friends at Estancia Bella Vista, which is about 170 kilometers from Buenos Aires. This delightful place is 60 hectares of natural woodland on the banks of the Salado River. It was so peaceful and so nice to trade in the city sounds for nothing more than birds chirping. For the first half of the day we were the only four guests in the whole place. Some more people showed up later but there were never more than about 10 guests. It was cozy and everyone talked and ate dinner together. Here's the entrance to our room at the Estancia:

Our favorite activity was the horse back riding. We were used to the slow guided tours where the guide is teaching you about everything around you and you move at a leisurely pace. This guide just let us break out into pretty fast gallops and ride as we pleased. Man were our butts hurting the next day! The guide rounded up a baby cow with a lasso like a real cowboy. It was actually kind of sad because the animal was running so hard trying to get away and all the other cows were mooing like crazy. But, that's life in the countryside.

Feliz Navidad!

It's Christmas Day here in Buenos Aires and it's a blazing 90 degree day. The morning was eerily quiet after all the families in the city partied hard last night. Christmas Eve is a very important night here and at midnight fireworks started going off all across the sky. Our whole neighborhood was filled with bangs, booms, and streaks of color. But we really missed the Christmas movies that we would have watched in DC. The cable service we have in our apartment just wasn't providing the right stuff! What's Christmas Eve without watching "A Christmas Story"?

As our celebration today, we went to the Alvear Hotel for a long beautiful brunch. We, of course, met another couple--as we always do--and proceeded to tell them about all the best things that we had learned about this city and other places to see in Argentina. There is so much to do here and always so little time!

Patagonia III: Villa La Angostura

Hotel Correntoso in Villa La Angostura was the perfect way to end our tour of Patagonia. We were intending on staying at Llao Llao but our apartment owner suggested this alternative and he was right on target. After tons of excursions we needed a relaxing way to decompress with less people around. We ended up getting 4 days of much-needed spa time, fine dining, and beautiful lake views. They knew us really well in the spa as we had different treatments 3 days in a row and they couldn't keep us out of the pool! Las Balsas restaurant deserves a special mention here because our lunch there was exquisite and we had our first encounter with a really helpful sommelier. We both think the food was probably the best we've had since being in Argentina overall.

We did drag ourselves away from the hotel to take a private boat tour along the Nahuel Huapi Lake and a walk through the Arrayanes Forest. The picture above is one we really like of an old bridge that is near the entrance to the national parklands where the boat docks. It was much different having a small boat and a gourmet lunch to ourselves versus being on a catamaran with hundreds of people and a tour guide trying to speak English over the loud speaker! But we feel like we got a full spectrum of the Patagonia experience.

Click on the title of this post to see our picture slideshow.

Patagonia I: Puerto Madryn

Our second trip outside of Buenos Aires was to the Patagonia region, first stop: Puerto Madryn. When we heard that you could take a boat out and go whale-watching and walk through groups of penguins, we knew we couldn't miss this area. What a nice surprise it was to arrive and realize that we were right across from the beach! Somehow we had missed that piece of information and it made our walk along the sand just that much better. Not to mention Hotel Territorio was a major treat with its spa jacuzzi overlooking Gulfo Nuevo.

Our first excursion was to Puerto Piramides where we saw two Right Whales, a mama and her baby. There are only 7,000 of these whales left across the world. The whales were amazing because they are very curious creatures and not afraid at all of boats and people. In fact, the mama led her baby over to us and they swam right under our boat so they could figure out what we were! We were able to film a mini video where you can hear the whale breathing and the guide talking.

We also saw a bunch of big elephant seals on the beach, which were really funny to watch. This map shows the area that we traveled during that first day:

Our second excursion was just penguin heaven in Punta Tombo. They were everywhere and walking all around us! We were lucky enough to see a mama penguin feeding her baby, which is quite rare. The first chicks had just hatched the day before we arrived. This picture shows how close we were able to get to the penguins, who don't mess with you unless they feel threatened we suppose - since we did see one of them snap at a guy's leg when he passed by!

Here's a video of some penguins, too:

Sounds of Jazz

What a lovely Saturday it was. The 2008 Buenos Aires International Jazz Festival on the rooftop terrace of the Recoleta Cultural Center was quite a treat. There's not much we like more than free live music outdoors. The turnout was amazing and when seats ran out there were tons of people standing up in the back or just sitting on the ground. This picture is of Roxana Amed, a very important figure on the Argentina jazz scene. She opened her set with a beautiful rendition of Amazing Grace.

We had a nice dinner in the Unicorn Room at the Faena Hotel -- where we saw Julia Stiles hanging out. Wonder if she's filming a movie here? In any case, after dinner Don finally got what he had been waiting for...a trip to the floating casino in Puerto Madero. As luck would have it, we won big! We had a lot of fun and walked away with a big stack of pesos.

Rain, Rain Go Away

It's been raining and chilly for 3 days and I'm fighting a stomach virus. Not too fun so we haven't done much except for eat out when I can "stomach" it. Luckily, we've had some good food experiences, mostly after realizing how difficult it is to get anything delivered on Sunday, Monday, or Tuesday. Most of the best restaurants here will deliver to you, unlike in DC, but you can mostly forget about it until Wednesday rolls around at the places we tried.

Monday night we went to Sarkis just a few blocks from our house, which some call the best Mediterranean food in Buenos Aires. The reviews didn't disappoint. We absolutely loved the tabbouleh and the lamb kebab, and we had a tasty Cabernet-Merlot blend. The hummus was better than the one we had to throw out from the grocery store but still not as good as some of our favorite restaurants back home like Zaytinya or Lebanese Taverna. I tried to get a picture of the belly dancer with Don but it didn't turn out too well as you can see! I had a great time eating away but my stomach made me pay for it all night long while Don slept soundly...

We leave tomorrow for Mendoza to stay at the Cavas Wine Lodge. Stay tuned for details of our adventures in wine country!

Errand Fatigue

It's Tuesday morning, Don and I are eating fruit salad and zoning out after a busy Monday. It was errand central over here: getting cell phones, signing up for a gym membership, fixing credit card problems, and getting Skype. Ahh!!! It felt like a day back in DC. But we needed all those things. Don still needs to arrange Spanish lessons so that's on today's agenda.

The best part of the day was getting Skype (gracias, Gina!!). Everyone should sign up so we can talk for free. It is quick and simple and I already talked to my sister, Taylor, and Don talked to his mom. And, yes, Djenaba, you and I chatted it up for quite a while as Don keeps reminding me since I went to bed so late. Just go to http://www.skype.com/ and follow the easy instructions. I love where we live here because we just walked a few blocks away and bought the headset so that within minutes of signing up we could call anywhere. Our Skype name is donmarieba. Let me know if it works.

We treated ourselves to Osaka again and took a few pics of our favorite bartenders there. We found out that we're all neighbors so we are sure to hang out soon.

Hola, Lucas!

Hola, Jose!

Spring is here, too! It's finally warming up and hopefully my crazy cold goes away. I have been sneezing like never before. We can't wait to walk the parks, go to the zoo, and just enjoy the sun. This week we'll plan our trips to the Cavas Wine Lodge in Mendoza and the Llao Llao Resort in Bariloche. Yea!

**New Year's Update: The boutique hotels are filling up like nobody's business so we're trying hard to find good hotels to recommend. Email us pronto if you need help.