Padres in the Argentine

So, it is currently Halloween night and since it is not actually a holiday here I am just watching some television and getting ready for bed after a fun weekend. But first, I want to tell about my adventures with my parents visit in Argentina! I met them at their hotel, only several blocks from where I live, when they arrived on a Wednesday morning. That day, we went to Recoleta and walked around the cemetery where Evita Peron and many other famous and non-famous Argentines are buried. We went to the Bellas Artes museum, saw the Flor, had a sampler of beer from Buller Pub, and just enjoyed the first day of seeing each other after nearly 4 months! The next day it was raining a little bit but we headed onto the subte and downtown to see the court buildings, Teatro Colon, Ave 9 de Julio, Catedral, Plaza de Mayo, and San Telmo. We also went up to the Plaza del Congreso which was my first time there, too. We saw a huge protest which was good because I wanted my parents to get a taste of what I see in my everyday life here in Buenos Aires. That night we went back to their hotel, enjoyed a glass of wine, and then went around the corner for a light dinner. I had never been to this little restaurant before and as we walked in I would never expect what would've happened next! So, we sit down, look over the menu and I order a salad to share and some provoleta, the cheese that Argentines love so much. I also asked for a bottle of Torrontes but she said that they were really small, so I said alright then we'll have sparkling wine instead. Well, she brings us the bread and a small dish with meat and carrots as a spread for the bread. The meat was dark and tasted good, but none of us knew what it was. The woman later comes over with our sparkling wine and a shot glass filled with something. I ask her what the meat is she replies "nandu." What is that? She asks the chef how to say it in English and he proclaims "ostrich." Ostrich, we all say in unison. Bizarre. Then, I smell the shot, because we didn't order shots, although for those of you who know Mama and Papa Fleisch they can get pretty crazy. My mom tries it and says that its grappa. You know, that Greek alchohol they serve in My Big, Fat Greek Wedding and the parents get drunk off of it? Well, the smell was so powerful we could not even touch it. Apparently me saying torrontes sounded like grappa....I guess. After dinner, we went back to the hotel, I spent the night since we had to be up early to go to Mendoza!

Parents in the Japanese Gardens

We woke up the next morning and got our cab to the airport for our first trip to Mendoza! We got to the airport about two hours before our departure (unnecessary) and after checking in to get our boarding passes, looked at the board to find out which gate we'd depart from because we had no gate yet. Well, we waited and waited and waited and still, no gate. Finally, someone told me it'd be between gates 9 and 10. Ok, great. So we head upstairs and through security just to find out our flight is slightly delayed and at a different gate. Oh, Argentina, there are reasons why you will never rule the world. We finally were on our way and landed into Mendoza! It was supposed to be an extremely warm weekend, but the first day we were there felt like wintertime again! Luckily, it warmed up the next day for our wine tour :) We checked into our B&B, Plaza Italia, settled into our room (with 4 beds) and headed to a cafe for lunch. The rest of the day we walked around the city, then had a nice nap, and headed out to dinner for a true Argentine parrilla. My parents were a little grossed out by the blood sausage and intestines that they served us, but it was a good thing for them to see that Argentines utilize all of the cow in their parrillas. The next day, we had a delicious breakfast and then went on our wine tour. It was the three of us, a couple from Australia, and a couple from Rio de Janeiro. The tour was guided by Javier, the B&B owner's son. He was extremely knowledgeable on Mendocino wines and took us to four of his favorite wineries. The first one we went to was incredible. It was family owned, on a small piece of land, and they only produce wine and olive oil for their family and to sell to people who come for tours of the winery. We got a full tour including walks through the gorgeous vineyard, which included a manmade hill that they created to help grow the grapes for the different types of wines produced. After the two hour tour, we sat down to try olive oil, which had the most delicious, spicy flavor, a sparkling rose wine, a white wine, and two reds. They were absolutely delicious and we sat for nearly an hour just talking with the others and sharing travel stories and life stories. The second winery was Tapiz, a mid-size vineyard that produces wines that get shipped to the States as well as other places throughout the world. This winery was interesting because we learned about their labor force that harvests the grapes, mostly migrant workers from souther Bolivia and northern regions of Argentina and Chile. We tried wines straight from the vats so they were still cloudy, but very flavorful! The third winery was a 5-course meal with wines included with each course. It was absolutely fantastic, the food was all local and was matched up beautifully with the wines. Now, we had been to three wineries, about 4-5 glasses at each...well, you do the math. So, the fourth and final winery we were all feeling good. This was Bodega Benegas, a small winery that produces a family line by the old owner of Trapiche. He has six children and a different wine for each of them. There was a lot of history with this winery, the building was made of adobe and extremely old. There was a large living room with a huge open fireplace where they have weekly family asados. After this tour, we headed back to the B&B, fell asleep, woke up at 9 p.m. for a little bit to brush our teeth and put on pj's before going to sleep again for the night. All in all, a very successful wine tour!

Domaine St. Diego Bodega

The following day, we headed to General San Martin park. This is on the outskirts of the city and is an extremely large park that would take more than a day to explore. On our way, Mom got pooped on by a pigeon...a lot. We headed back to the B&B so she could change and my Dad put on shorts which he proclaimed "Mom getting pooped on was the greatest part of the day," since it turned out to be extremely hot. Afterwards, we headed straight into the park and were looking for a Cerro (mountain) that was next to the zoo. We kept walking and walking until we finally passed some busy roads and go to the base of the cerro. From here we walked up to the top, mind you there were no railings, until we finally reached the top where there was a giant statue of General San Martin, one of the founding fathers of Argentina. That night, we had a great Italian dinner at a restaurant that was right next to the hostel I stayed at when I was in Mendoza in July. The next day we just relaxed, had a great breakfast with at the B&B with the Brasilian couple who told us all about Rio and how proud they were to be from there. We exchanged information, and they said anytime I want to come to Rio, I should call them and I can stay with them! Someday I just might have to take them up on that :) The rest of the day we walked around the city, sat in the main plaza and waited for our plane that night.

The next day was Tuesday and we had three more days in Buenos Aires before our next trip to Bariloche! I had class in the afternoon, so we spent the day in Puerto Madero where my school is. I showed my parents UCA and we walked across the bridge into the newest part of the city. Only built up 20 years ago, Puerto Madero has some high rise apartment buildings, fancy hotels, and restaurants. Also, the Reserva Ecologica is located between the port and the river. This reserve is home to many different species of birds. It goes on for meters and meters with tons of wetlands and different paths along the reserve. We spent a couple hours walking before I had to head to my class and I got them a cab back to their hotel. The next day I was supposed to have an exam in my 9 a.m. class, but I get there and my professor tells us his computer "broke" and he was unable to print off the exams. Yeah, right. So as soon as we had our mid-class coffee break, I was outta there. I met up with my parents and we took a colectivo down to La Boca. They loved the brightly colored buildings, and it was the first time they really saw a bunch of tourists in Buenos Aires. We had a coffee on El Caminito and then headed back up to Palermo where we took the subte to Belgrano, so we could explore Barrio Chino. Chinatown in Buenos Aires is only about three blocks long. Unfortunately, it was between lunch and dinner so only one place was open. That night, we got picked up to go to the trendy Faena Hotel in Puerto Madero to see the Rojo Tango show. We got dropped off and walked down a long hallway passing several restaurants and bars within the hotel until we got to our room for the show. The lighting was dimmed and there were red accents in the tables and along the stage and bar. They served us champagne to our hearts content and then the show finally started. The dancing, music, and singing was the absolute best. The performers were absolutely perfect, some of them had the scars to prove it, too. The next day, we walked around Palermo and I showed them the Botanical Gardens, Japanese Gardens, and Parque Tres de Febrero. The rose gardens are now in full bloom and they were absolutely gorgeous, especially the fragrant smell. We also stopped by the Evita museum. It is in one of the old women's shelters that the Peron's set up and it is a wonderfully set up museum. It has a lot of artifacts and information about Peronism and Evita as a person. We also found a delicious bakery so our lunch consisted of cookies :) That night, we went out to dinner to a restaurant, Cabernet, in Palermo Soho with my apartmentmates. We had a lot of fun and it was a nice "last" dinner in Buenos Aires. The next day, we headed out to Bariloche!

We landed in Bariloche on Friday night and picked up our rental car from the airport. Now, we've picked up lots of rental cars in our day but this guy wanted us to know that if we rolled the car over, we would be fined. Thus, started our mantra for the weekend "Don't roll me, bro." We started our drive through the main town of Bariloche and along the Nahuel Huapi river until we got to our wonderful home away from home for the weekend, Los Juncos. We were happily greeted by Flavia and her brother, Gabi who made us a delicious dinner in the beautiful rustic and homey living room/dining room. Our room was perfect for the three of us, one section had my bed and then the bathroom and sink separated my parents bedroom. We had a view over the lake and right in front was a monkey tree, a tree that lives in this region of Patagonia and branches are curved up towards the sun. The next day, we had a delicious breakfast and then headed out to do a small driving circuit around Bariloche. We started off in a little town called Colonia Suiza which was at the base of a mountain and had a small church and one main street where there were a couple cafes and a small street fair. After buying some chocolate, what Bariloche is known for, we headed back into our car and around the circuit to see some incredible views of the snowcapped mountains and crystal clear blue lakes. We drove up to the Llao Llao Resort which is on its own little hilltop looking over the lakes and up into the mountains. We walked around the resort and then headed back on our drive. We saw a cute little chapel on a hill and then headed into town. We got some homemade pasta at a restaurant in town and then headed out for a long drive up to La Angostura. A small town about an hour and a half away from Bariloche. The drive was so incredible, seeing the mountains reflect in the crystal clear lakes was gorgeous. We got to La Angostura, walked around and had a cup of coffee.

Bariloche in the background! 

We headed back to Bariloche for a dinner at a restaurant, Butterfly, that Amy had reserved for us that night. The restaurant is owned by three friends who met in Buenos Aires, a German, Irishman, and porteña. The dinner is a seven-course menu that is paired with wine and a complete surprise to the diner! It was all absolutely delicious and unique! Unfortunately, the next day my Mom and I were stuck in bed with a stomach bug. From the food? Probably not, but either way we just spent the day in the room relaxing and sipping homemade herb tea from Flavia´s garden. The next day we were ready to venture out for a 6 hour boat tour of Lago Nahuel Huapi. Before heading to Puerto Pañuelo, we went to the grocery store to buy water and gatorade. Outside the store was a stray dog, clearly looking for food, so we bought a pack of bologna to feed it before we got back in the car. Unfortunately, there are a good deal of stray dogs, especially in the smaller places outside of Buenos Aires. We started our boat tour with a very smooth ride on the catamaran to Isla Victoria. While we were en route, I noticed tons of seagulls crowding around our boat. Then, I realized the crew handing out crackers to give to passengers to feed the birds! I was too afraid, but my Mom stepped right up to feed them! We arrived on Isla Victoria and went on some hikes up to the top of the island where we got new and gorgeous views of the lake and mountains. Our second stop was the Bosque de Arrayanes, which is the only forest of its kind in the world. These large myrtle trees crowd this peninsula in the province of Neuquen. The trees are cold to the touch and resemble the fur of a deer. That night, we had a relaxing last dinner in our B&B with Flavia as the cook. She even made my favorite, tiramisu but with an Argentine twist...dulce de leche!

After breakfast we packed up the car and headed out to Cerro Campanario. This is the highest point in Bariloche and we took a ski lift up to the top. From the top, you could see all the way to Chile! Afterwards, we took a drive to a small lake, Lago Guttierez and went `off-roading´ and ended up on a paved road that was blocked because protesters were lighting things on fire in the street. So, we politely turned around and went back the way we came. We walked around town and went into an artisan fair and then went for one final drive on Ruta 40, the longest and loneliest road in Argentina. We were quickly out of the snow covered mountains and saw more browns and reds, similar to a desert. It was then time to bring the car back to the airport and wait to get back to Buenos Aires.

I spent that night at my parent´s hotel since it was their last full day in Argentina...and what a day it was! It was national census day which occurs about every ten years. They shut down the entire country so that trained census takers and go around door to door, apartment to apartment asking citizens to fill out the census questionnaire. Therefore, our full day of shopping or going out for lunch was cut short. Then, at breakfast that morning, the cook told me that there was rumors on the internet that Nestor Kirchner, the current president´s husband and also the most recent president of Argentina, had died of a heart attack. Several minutes later the rumors were confirmed. Now, when someone in the states dies, it is tragic and everyone mourns, but no one worries about the state of the country. There were talks of a military coup to take out Cristina, the current president. Many people say that Cristina is just a puppet and Nestor is the actual president with the ideas and governmental experience. Either way, after three days of national mourning, a funeral in Plaza de Mayo, and tons of graffiti already covered up, the country is running as ´smoothly´as usual.

My parents walked me back to my apartment and we said goodbye after an amazing two weeks together in Argentina! Unlike the last time I said goodbye, instead of four months it will only be 7 weeks until I am back in the States with them. I cannot believe it. My time here is truly coming to an end although I still have another 6 weeks to enjoy Argentina, especially the sunshine and warm weather and not the papers or finals. Purdy is visiting this weekend and then I have a trip to El Calafate in the works for early December! More adventures to come :)