Sorry Everybody!!

So I'm not still in Salta, although part of me wishes I still were, and, in fact, I got back to the U.S. at the beginning of August and I've been really busy with getting ready to go back to school. That said I promise I'll get the last couple of weeks' worth of posts up in the next week or so, mostly because I have some fabulous pictures I want to show off.

In the meantime, you can enjoy the ad campaign jingle that was stuck in EVERYBODY's head in Argentina last month:

Quebrada de Concha, Cafayate and Quilmes

I was up before dawn this morning to catch my tour bus to Cafayate and Quilmes, located south and west of Salta.

We drove south into the Quebrada de Concha ("Shell Canyon") which is home to many cool rock formations created by water eroding the soft, sand-based rock that makes up the Quebrada:

"The Amphitheater"

"The Castles"

There´s no name for this one, just a lot of different-colored hills!

Before reaching Cafayate, we visited a bodega called Vasjia Secreta:

This is the entrance to the vineyard.

At the end of the Quebrada, we came to Cafayate, which is a small town surrounded by bodegas. There wasn´t much interesting going on in Cafayate except for the local Banco de la Nacion, which our guide pointed out had a reinforced metal roof, designed to withstand snow...which never occurs in Cafayate -- someone along the way had confused Cafayate with Calafate (in Patagonia) and sent the wrong type of pre-fabricated bank! Oops!

After Cafayate we went to Quilmes, the site of an extensive settlement created by the indigenous Quilmes people, who lived at the site from approximately 800 c.e. The Quilmes were able to resist both the Incas and also neighboring tribes, however they were defeated by the Spanish and forced to march to the suburbs of Buenos Aires, where the last descendant died by 1810. The area where they were relocated to became known as Quilmes, and and the brewery of what was to become Argentina´s national beer was first located in the Quilmes neighborhood of Buenos Aires. The ruins in Tucuman were discovered by the Army during military exercises in the 1970´s and were restored in the late 1970´s and early 1980´s:

San Salvador de Jujuy

This morning, I slept in and then took a bus to San Salvador de Jujuy, the capital of Jujuy Province, which is about three hours (by non-express bus) from Salta. I had originally planned to spend a few days here, but most of the travelers I met recommended seeing the city as part of a day trip, as there is not nearly as much to see and do in Jujuy as there is in Salta.

Which, as it turned out, was pretty much accurate. Jujuy is a nice city, but the center is also definitely smaller, and not nearly as picturesque. The only thing I took a picture of was a folclore band that was playing in the restaurant where I had lunch:

Back in Salta

After yesterday´s attempt at hiking, I decided to do some touristy stuff in town. My first stop was the cabildo on the plaza, which houses a local history museum, but I found the architecture to be much more interesting than the museum:

I ate lunch on the plaza (while a street musician played "Salta, La Linda" and then headed over to Cerro San Bernardo, a large hill on the east side of the city with a set of 1,070 steps (or a gondola) to get to the top. On the way I took some pictures of Salta´s other landmark church, Iglesia San Francisco:

At any rate, 1,070 steps is a LOT! Here´s a (slightly smoggy) view from the top:

Also, there was an Andean jam band playing at the top:

Tomorrow: Day Trip to Jujuy City

A hike to, um, nowhere

I woke up super early to catch a bus to Alemanía with Patrick for a hike in the countryside. Alemanía was founded by Germans in the 19th century (who apparently got the pronunciation of their country wrong) and became a huge party town in the early 20th century when the Argentine government decided to build a railroad from Salta to Cafayate in order to transport food and wine to Salta.

Unfortunately, the railroad took longer than expected and the construction had only reached Alemanía (which is less than halfway to Cafayate) by the beginning of WWI. After the war, the government changed its mind and built a rail link to Chile instead. After the rail construction ceased, Alemanía faded in importance, and is now pretty much a ghost town:

The red roofed building in the center was the rail station during Alemanía´s glory days.

The plan for our hike was to hike four hours to a set of waterfalls, eat lunch, and then hike back to Alemanía and catch the bus back to Salta. Unfortunately, the two people we met in Alemanía (roughly half of the population) gave us bad directions and we set off in the wrong direction, although we were never really far enough away from the main highway to be really lost. At any rate, the scenery was stunning:

And I got really familiar with the thorn bushes native to Salta and now understand why the gauchos from this area have these giant saddle guards:

Eventually we reached a roadside restaurant, where we met a family who agreed to give us a lift into Salta (the mom later told us that we looked pathetic!).

Horseback Riding in San Lorenzo

I took the bus to San Lorenzo--a suburb (north? west?) of Salta-- with Patrick to do some horseback riding.

San Lorenzo is a beautiful town, up in the hills overlooking Salta and the Valle de Lerma, however the view was somewhat obscured by a combination of smog (from Salta) and actual smoke in the air from fires which, according to our guide, are set by bored local kids.

Salta, Day 2

I spent today sick in bed...hopefully tomorrow will be better!

Salta, La Linda

I arrived in Salta this afternoon with Patrick, a friend I met at the hostel in Mendoza who happened to be on my bus to Salta, although not in the first class section like me!

The contrast between Mendoza and Salta is incredible to say the least. First of all, the weather is much, much warmer here (although apparently the cold snap is still continuing, so it´s colder than usual here as well), and sunny, and there are people on the streets and tons of vendors selling llama socks and sweaters, pan pipes and ocarinas, in addition to the usual cumbia CDs and pirated DVDs.

After checking into the hostel and dropping off my bags, I went for a stroll to the center, which in Salta is named Plaza 9 de Julio (instead of the usual Plaza San Martin). The plaza is very cool, filled with orange trees and palms and surrounded by cobblestone streets and sidewalk cafes, with the town Cabildo on one side and the pink Cathedral on the other:

It also appears that the Salteños are big fans of the Simpsons:

Also note that "Coca y Bica" (partially covered by the woman walking past) is on offer here -- this is a reference to coca leaves and sodium bicarbonate (baking soda), which is not technically legal in Argentina but the sale and use is tolerated in this region of the country because it is a traditional part of Andean culture.

And at the bar I went to later:

Cool!

Trekking, Rapelling, Thermals and Snowmen on Cars!

Today I decided to take one of the "adventure" tours on offer at the hostel. When I woke up it was freezing cold and snowing, so I threw on my ski gear since we were going to go for a hike and then rappel down some rock walls before visiting a nearby hot springs in the mountains.

Unfortunately, some of the other group members failed to notice that it was, um, snowing and stuff and showed up for the hike in sneakers and jeans. We were halfway up the hill when several began to refuse to walk any further, so the whole group had to walk down the icy hill. This also meant that we couldn´t do the first two rappels because they weren´t accessible without climbing the hill, but the last, and also the largest (150 ft), could still be done.

Here I go!

After the rappelling, we went over to the hot springs to relax for a while, and then headed back into the city. On the way, we saw people building small snowmen on the hoods or roofs of their cars. Our guide explained that it is customary here to put snowmen on your car, rather than in front of your house.

An example:

Bodegas Mini-Tour

It´s gotten really cold here -- apparently the wind shifted direction last night and is now coming from Antarctica, so the whole country is pretty much caught up in a cold snap. I was feeling better today, but still not 100% so I decided to take the wineries by minibus tour rather than renting a bicycle and going under my own steam.

Since it was Saturday, most of the major bodegas were closed, so we visited a medium-sized traditional winery and then a small organic winery. The countryside is pretty barren this time of year, since the harvest took place between Feb and April, so I didn´t take any pictures of grapes or vines or anything like that.

At both wineries the tour guides explained how the equipment works, and where the wine ferments, etc. The more traditional winery aged their wines in giant oak barrels, which have to be cleaned by hand once the wine is bottled. Here are some of their 100-year old wine barrels:

The person who does the cleaning is slipped into the barrel at the base, where the spout, etc is located in the photo. Apparently one of the major job qualifications is to have shoulders narrow enough to fit through the slot!! We tasted some wine, of course, with the Malbec varietal being by far the best of the ones we tried.

After the wineries we did a quick visit to a chocolate factory on the way back, which was not the most interesting thing ever, but it definitely made me hungry:

Mmmm...industrial-sized vat of chocolate....

Mendoza Days 1 and 2 -- I´m sick!!

I left San Martín on Wednesday afternoon and got into Mendoza yesterday morning, sick, sick, sick with the flu, so I spent all day yesterday and most of today in bed trying to get better. Hopefully tomorrow I´ll feel well enough to take a tour or something -- stay tuned!

Skiing Bariloche, Day 3

I spent a third, and final, day skiing at Cerro Catedral. Like yesterday the snow was extremely icy in the morning and then slushy in the afternoon, so unless we get more snow before I leave on Sunday, this will probably be my last day of skiing in Bariloche.

When I got back to the hostel, the 86 VW Bug ("el Ferrari") was parked out front which meant only one thing -- José and Bruno are back!

Skiing Bariloche, Day 2

I took a lesson this morning and am now feeling much more confident on the slopes. However I don´t actually have any pictures of myself skiing, so here are some of the pictures I took from the slopes--enjoy!

Skiing, Day 1

So I haven´t skied in a very, very long time, and I pretty much spent the day falling down the mountain. The resort, however, is beautiful, with amazing views of the surrounding mountains from the slopes.

The best part of the day was when I took a lunch break with some of the people from my hostel:

Tomorrow I´m definitely going to take a lesson!

Bariloche

I arrived in Bariloche this afternoon and checked into the hostel, which is by far the nicest that I have stayed at, and the location of the city itself is fabulous, at the foot of the mountains and alongside a giant lake (Lago Nahuel Huapi). The town is pleasant enough with lots of chocolate shops and souvenir stands, although it is very obvious that it gets packed with tourists during the winter high season, which is about to start.

Starting tomorrow I´m going skiing!

Esquel

After nine hours on a regular (Greyhound-type) bus I arrived in Esquel, and luckily the route to Bariloche is open tomorrow, because I can´t wait to leave. There really isn´t much here aside from a giant supermarket and La Hoya, a ski resort that still hasn´t opened yet.

Bariloche tomorrow!

Trying to get to Bariloche...

Originally, my plan was to leave for Bariloche tonight, via long-distance bus, but unfortunately the routes through the Andes have been closed by snowy conditions, which bodes well for the skiing, if I can only get out west!

For now the plan is to go to Esquel (more or less due west from Puerto Madryn) and wait there until the routes are clear.

Since I had an unexpected free day in Puerto Madryn, I went over to Punta Loma, another protected area located outside Península Valdés, with José and Bruno to check out the sea lions that live there. Unfortunately, I forgot to bring my camera, so I don´t have any pictures, however the sea lions at Punta Loma were much better than those at Península Valdés, as there were more of them and they were making a LOT of noise.

After Punta Loma, we headed back to the hostel and hung out, as it was freezing cold outside, and then I went to bed early in order to not miss my bus to Esquel in the morning.

Tea and Cake or Death?

Many of the towns in this area, including Puerto Madryn, Trelew and Gaiman, were settled by Welsh seeking religious freedom in the 1860´s, and, in Trelew and Gaiman, Welsh is still spoken. More recently, Gaiman has become famous for its lavish tea services so, after sleeping in this morning I decided to head down to Gaiman and check it out.

I ended up at Ty Gwyn (¨White House¨):

The spread:

The tea and cakes were absolutely delicious and well worth the long bus ride (1 1/2 hours, each way). The proprietress gave me the leftover cakes to take home with me, but I fell asleep on the bus and accidentally crushed them -- oops!

Whales and seals and sea lions, oh my!

I woke up early this morning, or rather, I was supposed to wake up early to meet up with my tour group but overslept and was woken up by one of the hostel staff members instead (oops!). Despite oversleeping, we still left before dawn for Península Valdés, a nature preserve located outside of Puerto Madryn.

Península Valdés provides a sheltered breeding ground for Southern Right Whales, sea lions, and seals, and the land within the park is home to guanacos (similar to llamas), eagles, foxes and and other small fauna.

On the way into the park, we stopped at Playa Doradillo, where, due to a steep drop off close to the shore, whales occasionally swim almost up to the beach. Lucky for us, this morning the whales were up early, unlike me!:

We continued on into the park, which actually is mostly divided into estancias however the areas important to the marine mammals that come to the park are protected. At Puerto Pirámides our group boarded a boat for a whale-watching expedition. Luckily, there were tons of whales:

Towards the end of the whale-watching, one of the whales jumped several times:

After the boat trip, our tour group continued on to the sea lion and elephant seal breeding grounds. Unfortunately, their active season is during the summer and fall, so there was not a whole lot going on.

Sea lions doing next to nothing.

Elephant seals really doing nothing -- according to our tour guide, they don´t have sweat glands, so when they are relaxing on the shore, they avoid moving around so as not to overheat. During the breeding season, the entire beach is filled with seals, and orcas (killer whales) swim up onto the beach to eat the seals.

After watching the seals for a while, our tour headed back to the hostel, where found I had two new Uruguayan roommates, José and Bruno, who will be driving an 86 VW Bug from Montevideo to Machu Picchu and back:

And yes, that is the same sweater, apparently there is only one type of sweater in Uruguay!

Boca Wins!!

After 18 hours on the bus, I got into Puerto Madryn this afternoon, checked into the hostel and then wandered around the town for a couple of hours. I ended up eating dinner and watching the Boca Juniors/Gremio match for the Liberators´ Cup with some of my roommates from the hostel.

Boca won with an aggregate 5-nil, and, about ten minutes after the game ended, tons of people started streaming past the restaurant towards the town square, so we left the restaurant and joined them:

After a while, the crowd left the plaza, marched around the block, and continued their celebration in front of a statute on the seawall, at which point we went back to the bar, and eventually back to the hostel.

On the road again...

Well, today is my last day in Buenos Aires for a while. It´s been a blast and I´m finding it kind of hard to leave, but I´ll be back in just about a month or so...

Anyway, here is the (tentative) plan for my upcoming travel:

Puerto Madryn: Whales, seals, and other Patagonian wildlife (Jun 20-Jun 24)

Bariloche: Skiiing, etc. (Jun 26-Jul 1ish)

(Possible side trip to San Martín de los Andes)

Mendoza: Wine country, possible side trip to Santiago de Chile (July 1-July 7)

Salta/Jujuy: Hopefully the Tren a las nubes will be working when I get there, athough I´m not really hopeful at this point. (July 8-July 14)

Catamarca: Poncho Festival! (July 15-17)

Córdoba: (July 18-21)

Return to Buenos Aires July 22(ish)

Feria de los matadores

I got back to Buenos Aires yesterday, and spent the day loafing around. Today I got up early and took a loooong collectivo (bus) ride over to Mataderos--a neighborhood on the southern edge of Buenos Aires--to check out the Fería de Mataderos, which is a weekly folk market that features traditional music and dancing.

A short clip:

Some more dancing:

Unfortunately, I forgot to go to the Gaucho Museum...hopefully I´ll be able to do it when I return to Buenos Aires after touring the interior!

Iguazu Falls, Take Two

I arrived in Iguazu yesterday afternoon, after a 15ish-hour bus ride (which wasn´t that bad--the buses here are approximately a thousand times better than the Greyhound/Chinatown buses in the U.S.), checked into the hostel and spent the afternoon in Puerto Iguazu and the evening hanging out at the hostel.

This morning, I woke up early, met up with my tour group and headed over to the national park.

The falls were AMAZING, although kind of hard to describe, so here is a video of La garganta del Diablo (the Devil´s Throat), which was probably the most impressive in terms of size:

Other views of the waterfalls:

After trekking around the park, I took one of the boat rides on offer under the falls, which was really fun, although obviously I don´t have any pictures to prove it!

Iguazu Falls, Take 1

I was supposed to fly to Iguazu, which is in the northeastern province of Misiones, today to see the waterfalls, but unfortunately when I got to Aeroparque this morning, the Aerolineas Argentinas check-in counters looked like this:

Aren´t those guys supposed to be on the other side of the desks?

After days of delayed Aerolineas flights (due to the fog that has been blanketing the city on a daily basis since Thursday) the check in staff, tired of being harassed by passengers (or being opportunistic, depending on who´s doing the explaining) instituted a work slowdown yesterday--which (inevitably) lead to a pissed off passenger assaulting an employee--and walked off the job this morning, meaning that all flights today were cancelled, in addition to those cancelled yesterday and over the weekend.

So I spent the day waiting in line to talk to an Aerolineas employee, received a cash refund of my ticket, and booked myself on the bus to Iguazu, which leaves at 9pm tonight and gets to Iguazu at 1:30pm tomorrow.

Something Touristy!

I spent today downtown, trying to buy all of the stuff that I´m going to need during my upcoming roadtrip (details are forthcoming, I promise!). Since I was already in the area, I went over to the Casa Rosada and the Plaza de Mayo.

The Casa Rosada is the presidential palace, although, unlike the White House, the President of Argentina also resides in Olivios when he isn´t working at the Casa Rosada. Constructed in 1873, the pink color of the Casa Rosada is said to be due to either Domingo Faustino Sarmiento´s desire to demonstrate unity between the two political parties of the time, the Unitarists (white) and the Federalists (red), or it is due to the use of cow´s blood in the original paint job to protect against damage from humidity.

At any rate, the Casa Rosada used to be light pink, but it is currently being restored and is now more of a manly, um, pink:

The former color can be seen in the upper right hand corner of the picture, above the roof. The balcony in the center is where Evita, Madonna, etc did their thing.

Fería San Telmo

After getting back from Uruguay last night, I slept in this morning and then headed over to San Telmo to check out the antiques/flea market that is held every Sunday in Plaza Dorrego, although in reality the street fair extends for multiple blocks on either side of the plaza and even further up Calle Defensa.

During the 19th century, San Telmo was a fashionable neighborhood to live in until a yellow fever epidemic struck in 1871 century and the surviving porteño elites decided to move to higher ground north and west of the city center. The mansions of San Telmo were then converted into conventillos (tenements), however a lot of the neighborhood´s original colonial-style exterior architecture, as well as the neighborhood´s cobblestone streets, have been preserved.

The flea market was packed with merchants and shoppers, so there wasn´t really anything to take pictures of aside from other tourists, however the colonial architecture and overall atmosphere may make San Telmo my favorite Buenos Aires neighborhood so far.

On the way, back, in the subway station, I noticed these decorative tiles incorporated into the mosaic next to the platform:

Karen--any ideas? =)

Colonia del Sacramento, Uruguay

Today, for a change of pace, I went on a day trip to Colonia del Sacramento in Uruguay, which is right across the Río de la Plata, and accessible by high speed ferry. Unfortunately, the Port of Buenos Aires closed right before my ferry was supposed to leave due to heavy fog, so I was delayed for a couple of hours while the officials waited for the fog to disperse.

Nevertheless, I arrived in Colonia about 1pm, which left plenty of time for exploring the Historic District, which was named a UNESCO world heritage site due to its Spanish and Portuguese colonial architecture.

Calle de suspiros, with Portuguese-style cobblestone street

Colonia was founded by the Portuguese in 1680, however it was later captured by Spanish forces, and subsequently changed hands between the Spanish and Portuguese numerous times until Spanish rule was established at the end of the 18th century.

I spent pretty much all of my time wandering the streets of the historic district, and also walked to the top of the lighthouse:

View from faro (lighthouse), Colonia

Aside from the very cool colonial architecture, the city itself had a great vibe -- very laid back and friendly for what is, during the summer, a resort town overrun by tourists. Additionally, aside from the occasional moped, the streets were very quiet and I could hear the waves of the Río de la Plata against the shore, which was a nice change from the hustle of Buenos Aires.

Fall foliage, Colonia del Sacramento

SMB Graffito

WARNING, THE FOLLOWING POST MAY NOT MAKE ANY SENSE TO PEOPLE OVER THE AGE OF THIRTY AND/OR NON-NERDS

From a collectivo (bus) stop on Av. Callao:

"Sorry, but your Princess in in another castle"

Of course, this was a lot funnier yesterday, when it was written on Jorge Telerman´s forehead*, rather than the soap bottle you see here but I didn´t have my camera with me, and the advert was changed out in the meantime.

*There was an election on Sunday for the new head of the government of Buenos Aires, Telerman was the sort of incumbent as he is the current interim jefe because his predecessor got kicked out, and he didn´t get enough votes to make it to the runoff round.

Puerto Madero and Costanera Sur Eco Preserve

The weather was lovely today, so I went over to Puerto Madero to check out Buenos Aires´downtown waterfront development, which is one of the newest parts of the city, and the nearby ecological preserve.

Puerto Madero

Puerto Madero was the first complete port constructed by the Argentine government. Work began in 1887 and was completed in 1898, although the interconnected dike design and location of the port was not without controversy, and by 1910 the importance of Puerto Madero was no longer operating as its size was insufficient to handle the increase in maritime traffic after the turn of the century, and a new port located further north (Puerto Nuevo) was in the process of being completed. An attempt was made at redeveloping the area, but Puerto Madero was not used again until 1969, when it was made into a military depot by the dictatorship of Juan Carlos Onganía and several subsequent regimes.

Cargo Crane, Puerto Madero
The cargo cranes were left in place around the port.

True redevelopment came in the late 1980s when a public/private corporation was formed to redevelop 170 hectacres of the old port. By the mid 1990s, hotels, shops and residential developments had begun to flood into the port, a process that is still ongoing. Two museums on historic ships, restaurants and shops that face out onto the port. Most of the city´s recent luxury hotel development has occured in Puerto Madero, and there is also a bridge, the Puente Mujer (Women´s Bridge) designed by Santiago Caltrava.


Puente de la Mujer, Santiago Caltrava
View from Dique No. 3

Puente de la Mujer, Santiago Caltrava
View from Bridge looking South

Although there wasn´t a whole lot of activity going on when I strolled through, I can imagine that Puerto Madero would be very lively, if a little soulless, during the summertime.

Costanera Sur Ecological Preserve

To the immediate south of Puerto Madero is Costanera Sur Ecological Preserve, an ecological preserve that started out as a municipal spa for the residents of Buenos Aires. The area opened as a municipal spa in 1918 and was an extremely popular day and night-time destination in the 1920s and 1930s, however by the 1950s its popularity began to slide as many of the bars and candy shops began to deteriorate and were demolished and signs prohibiting swimming in the river due to pollution began to appear.

Costanera Sur Ecological Preserve
View looking back toward Buenos Aires with winter foliage

In the 1970s, a new land reclamation project was initiated, however the development of the reclaimed land never began. By the 1980s, various species of flora and fauna had begun to live in the recreated wetlands, and in 1986 the area was designated an ecological preserve. I walked from the northern entrance, near Puerto Madero´s dike four to the southern entrance, and the experience was unique--as I headed towards the Rio de la Plata, the noise of the city fell away, replaced by the sound of waves lapping against the shore and the occasional songbird.

Palermo "SoHo"

Because I haven´t been spending nearly enough money lately (hah!) I went over to Palermo "SoHo" this afternoon. Palermo SoHo is part of the larger Palermo Viejo neighborhood, which in turn is part of the much larger barrio of, well, Palermo, which is the largest of the 48 barrios in Buenos Aires.

The main focal point of Palermo SoHo is little Plaza Serrano, which is right now even smaller than usual, as half of the plaza is closed for renovation. The other half was taken up by craft and clothing vendors, as were a significant minority of the bars and restaurants that bordered the plaza. The quality of the stuff being sold was, eh, enough to make the walk from Recoleta worthwhile, although the architecture of the neighborhood, as well as the people watching at Plaza Serrano I did while drinking beer at one of the sidewalk cafes not overrun with screen-printed t-shirts were the real highlights of the day.

Photo of the day:

Pirulín (lollipop) vendor´s display at Plaza Serrano

Our Lady of the Good Airs of the Subte

After class today (which is located at Avenida Callao and Avenida Corrientes in an area whose ugliness reminds me a LOT of the boring parts of Midtown Manhattan) I hoofed it over to Calle Florida, which is kind of the uber-tourist shopping street, closed to traffic and lined with leather goods stores (hi, Mom!) and souvenir shops selling tango and mate-related tchokes.

I hopped on the subte at Catedral, and while I was waiting for the train I found this on the wall at one end of the platform:

If you can´t see from the kind of blurry picture, the image of the Virgin is set in tiles on the wall, the artifical flowers and ribbons and whatnot are attached to the wall. There was also a prayer further down the wall (translated): "Oh Mary, my mother, comfort of the mortal, protect us and guide us to the celestial homeland." Some protection and guidance against Subte pickpockets would have been nice too, but oh well.

What´s up with the sun?

I´ve noticed that I have been having a little problem navigating Buenos Aires without a map, and for that I blame the sun. In my past experience with that big firey thing in the sky, it generally goes up in the east, passes overhead around noon or so, and then sets in the west.


Not so much here.


L. was kind enough to enlighten me over lunch last Saturday. There are two reasons why the sun rises in the east here, and then just sort of hangs around for a while, and then kind of sneaks off without setting. The first reason is that it is winter here, and because we´re so far south, the daylight hours get kind of messed up, and the sun moves pretty much from north east to north west during the day, but we´re not so far south that there is no daylight at all. Secondly, there are no sunsets in Buenos Aires because the Andes alter the western horizon and block the sunset rays from reaching the city.

Oh, and I started Spanish classes today, which is not really all that exciting as so far it´s mostly review of all the stuff I´d managed to forget--damn you irregular preterites!

Kayaking in the Paraná Delta

L.´s two oldest sons have a kayak tours business in Tigre, which is where the Paraná River meets the Rio Plata, creating a huge delta where lots of people have vacation homes. Sunday is a popular day for speedboats and jetskis, so C. and N. generally go kayaking for their own enjoyment and don´t take clients out because the water is too choppy. I had never been kayaking before, and I thought that may arms were going to fall off after the first twenty minutes or so, but it got easier after that.

The Paraná Delta is very beautiful, with vacation houses with manicured lawns and non-native trees alternating with unbroken patches of wetlands, although the water itself is an ugly muddy brown and there are TONS of mosquitos. We paddled past the house of Domingo Faustino Sarmiento, one of Argentina´s early presidents, whose house is preserved in a glass and steel box:

Some nice fall foliage:

We took a lunch break at one of C.´s friend´s aunt´s vacation house, where I had my first mate, and then paddled back to the launching ramp.