Argentina Travel

Getting to Argentina

So we ended up leaving the house later than we planned because I was busy trying to finish some things. The walk to BART, the BART ride and the bus from BART to the San Francisco Airport were uneventful. At the ticket counter, we had a brief scare as the person was unable to find my information. It turned out that I still needed to be ticketed. We noticed the extra time it took for the person to enter in information from our passports (thanks TSA CAPPS and 9/11).

The person at security asked if I wanted to go to a different line with our daughter while Margarita went in a different line. That sounded odd, so I checked the boarding passes and sure enough, Margarita´s boarding pass was marked with the checkerboard pattern and a bunch of s´s at the bottom indicating that she had been flagged for additional screening. Now, because I was with her, we were both given the perpetrator treatment (arms and legs spread, pat-down, etc) while our luggage was hand-inspected. One of Michaela´s toys had begun to vibrate, and this seemed to greatly concern one of the TSA personnel. They did not, however, give the perp treatment to our daughter. Lesson: If you´re in a group and one of you gets flagged, split up so that you don´t all have to be subjected to extra screening. Also, if you have bad intentions, leave everything on the child. We arrived at the gate just as boarding for the flight to Miami started.

The five-hour flight to Miami as a joy. Michaela slept for the first hour of the flight and was extremely contented and playful for the rest of the flight. However, we knew the next flight was about nine hours and we both had some anxiety about it.

The boarding passes for the Buenos Aires flight had us sitting five rows apart. Margarita was quite pleased when I was able to get them changed so that not only were we sitting next to each other, we had an extra seat so that we could spread out with Michaela and get comfortable.

The flight started out at nearly midnight (felt like about 9pm to us). For the first hour or so of the flight, Michaela was fine. But as we tried to go to sleep, she kept waking up and could not seem to stay asleep for about more than an hour. We both struggled as we passed Michaela back and forth - and sometimes to the empty seat - as we tried to get her and us to sleep. Margarita took over most of the night as I had much less sleep to go on.

We had brought quite a lot of snacks and toys for Michaela and realized when we arrived in Argentina that we could have saved some space by bring less toys and by bringing less snacks (but with a bit of variety).

From the Airport to the Hotel

We arrived in Buenos Aires almost exactly on time (even after circling in a holding pattern for a while). Not bad for a nearly nine-hour flight. We were all very tired, but once the sun had come up, Michaela was smiling and playful, but kept rubbing her eyes.

Customs was a breeze. We were sent to the handicapped line because we had a child, which was a much shorter line. Our documents weren´t subjected to much scrutiny (I hadn´t completely filled out my customs form). Once we were waiting for our luggage, Margarita got her first taste of how things would be in Argentina. In the bathroom, she found no toilet paper or paper towels.

After we quickly got outside the customs area, the first remis stand (basically a stand to hire taxis) offered us a price to La Plata that was less than we expected (75 peros instead of 85+) so off we went. After some struggling, I managed to get the car seat installed (complete with Michaela) and off we went in the well-used taxi.

I can´t say much about the trip except that the Argentina seems to have missed the whole point of toll roads. Normally, they work on the theory that you want to pay to go faster. However, the toll road from the airport to Buenos Aires had toll stops so frequently, that it may have been faster to take local roads. In addition, at one toll collection stop, there was literally one cop for each lane standing around looking bored. Some of them were talking to each other. I wondered what would happen if you didn´t pay the toll and drove away. Would they shoot at your car - or would they use a radio?

The reason that is my only comment is because Michaela and I slept nearly the whole trip to La Plata (thanks Margarita!). When I woke up, we were just entering La Plata, which seems like an old and somewhat run-down city. While the sidewalks seem wide and the roads are ok, there aren´t really any new buildings and the existing buildings don´t appear to be meticulously maintained. There are lots of non-descript multi-story apartment buildings. While I was checking out the sights, Margarita was doing her best to direct the driver to the hotel. The driver ended up getting us to the hotel, albeit indirectly.

The hotel, a Howard Johnson, advertises itself as a four-star, so we were expecting a pretty nice hotel, even for the Expedia rate of USD$19 per night. However, when we went to claim our room, it couldn´t be found. I figured we were in trouble when the reservation we had made by computer from the US resulted in a search through a very big book with lots of hand-writing on it and not a computerized reservation system. After much searching and discussion among the hotel personnel, we got a room on the top floor overlooking the Plaza Martín for about the price we thought we would (a ¨special¨ rate).

The room is very small and reminded me of the night we spent in a tiny room at the Charles de Gaulle airport in Paris. However, it is well-equiped with a refrigerator, remote control television, smallish tub and shower, and a bidet. The bed seems a bit smaller than our queen-size bed, but should be adequate. The view and location are awesome, though.

First day in La Plata

Margarita´s aunt came over to the hotel after we got settled amd We went for lunch at a restaurant about one block from the hotel. The food was decent, but the cost of sodas was high and the incidental charges (like the bread) were ridiculous - this is a common thing, though, and we were warned about it.

While Margarita and her aunt ordered dessert (as I later learned), I took Michaela to the playground at Plaza Martin. The surface of the playground consisted of lots of little broken sea shells, which don´t seem to do much to break one´s fall and presented a bit of a challenge for Michaela to crawl on. The playground didn´t have much to offer. The climbing structures (including the slides) were all too tall and difficult for Michaela to climb. The swings didn´t include any infant swings and she´s too young for the teeter totters. The one thing she could deal with was the merry-go-round. However, it didn´t spin very well and required constant pushing - you couldn´t just spin it and let it go. She had fun on it, but seemed most to enjoy following other kids around.

After Margarita and her aunt rejoined us, her aunt went back to her home and we went back to the hotel, where we promptly fell asleep for a few hours. I woke up, knowing that if we continued to sleep, our sleep patterns would be completely off, so I woke everyone up. Margarita was less than pleased, but Michaela seemed well-rested. We got dressed and walked over to Margarita´s aunt´s apartment. During the walk, Margarita noted how little had changed in the 20 years since she had last been in La Plata. One observation she had numerous times: it seemed so much larger before. That applied to the cathedral, her aunt´s apartment and to the items in her aunt´s apartment.

After catching up with her aunt - and filling up on sandwiches, we headed back to the hotel. Her aunt suggested that we take a taxi, as everybody seems to be worried about crime, but we decided to walk as it wasn´t far, and we weren´t carrying much of value. On the walk back to the hotel, we noted quite a few people on the dark streets, including parents with their children, so we stopped worrying as much.

So now off to bed I go after nearly an hour of typing on a computer that has Windows XP installed on a machine that is way too slow for it. In addition, it has some nasty spyware installed (gator?) that brings up Interner Explorer pop-up ads even when Internet Explorer is not running. Grrr..... Good night!

2nd day, Family Fun in La Plata

This is Marga, logging in as Mike because, of course, I don´t remember my own password (regardless of what he says, Mike didn´t tell me I had to memorize it!).

Our second day in La Plata began quite late. It took forever to put Michaela to sleep last night and we didn´t wake up until 10 AM this morning. This meant we missed breakfast, though we figured we´d have plenty to eat while visiting relatives in the afternoon.

We started by going to a travel agency close to the hotel and making our reservations for our trip to Patagonia. We´ll be leaving on the 7th, so we still have a few days left in La Plata (though we may go to Buenos Aires for the last couple). We wanted to exchange $, though it seems all the banks and exchange agencies are closed on Saturdays, so we didn´t have any luck. We continued on walking a little bit around the city, again noticing how little it has changed in the last 20 years. I´ve found kioscos and other stores in the exact same place where I left them. The sculpture in the park where I used to play as a kid is still there, albeit the color has faded from the top. We walked through ¨calle 1¨, saw a soccer game and went by my grandmother´s house. My grandma has been dead for several years, and the house looked incredibly old, tired and in disrepair. I know my aunts & uncles are trying to sell it ' it would be really nice if someone could buy it and bring it back to its old splendor.

We also walked by the apartment building where I used to live. I pointed out to Mike my bedroom´s window.

It´s been very strange being back in my city. I still feel like a foreigner here, and yet it seems to have changed so little. As La Plata doesn´t really get any tourists, nobody expects us to be visitors so they treat us as locals, like we belong. That´s nice but disconcerting at the same time. Do I still belong to this place of my childhood?

I honestly thought it would have changed much more, 20 years is a long, long time. Tomorrow, I think, we should walk by my old school and see how it´s fared.

After our walked we went back to the hotel and then to my aunt Gladys´, where we had lunch. We hang out with my aunt until it was time for our next appointment, a visit to my uncle Mikita´s & aunt María del Cármen´s house. There I also saw my cousins Noelia, Carolina and Ernesto. I´d met the latter two when they were toddlers. Noelia, the youngest, just had a baby herself. We drank mate and talked about the family, old and new times. Mika loved playing with their little dog, looking at their two beds and just exploring a new place. We did take pictures and film (for you, Kathy!)

Later, we went over to my aunt Stella´s. She has a gorgeous new house. She´s the youngest of my aunts, was 14 when I was born, and she looks great. She had prepared a cake to celebrate my birthday, and I had a great time visiting with them. Mika fell asleep at first, but then had a great time playing with her second cousin Sasha, who is 5, and my uncle Pancho (Stella´s husband). He was sooo great with us when we were kids, we played horsey with him and so many other things, and I guess he hasn´t changed at all. It was really nice to see them.

And that´s it, now we are back at the hotel. Mike is stuffed and doesn´t want anything else to eat but I wouldn´t mind something. Maybe we´ll go out, maybe not. Michaela and Mike are now playing in the lobby waiting for me to be done. So I am.

Until tomorrow!

Initial thoughts about traveling with baby

Some initial thoughts about our experience traveling with Mika.

Plane Trip

Day 3 - The zoo and yet more family

We spent the morning and early afternoon in La Plata´s bosque - the wooded park just a few blocks from the hotel. This huge park has a zoo, botanical garden, museum (though we couldn´t find it), two soccer fields, lots of open area, and quite a few play areas. Unfortunately, most of the play areas were designed for kids much older than Michaela. Still, she had fun as we helped her swing and go down slides. After we gave up on finding the museum, Michaela fell asleep in the stroller and we sat down at a parrillada (mixed grill) outdoor restaurant just outside the zoo. While I had chorizo on a roll (choripan), Margarita had rather fatty, but tender and tasty, lomo.

We headed back for the comfort of the hotel in order to let Michaela have her nap, but of course, as soon as we arrived, she was ready to go again. This time, we loaded her in the backpack and headed for the zoo.

The zoo hasn´t changed much in the past twenty years. Some of the statues (¨it looks smaller than it did 20 years ago¨) and cages were very familiar to Margarita. For me, some of the cages and the animals within were truly sad. While part of me is completely against the idea of zoos, there is another that is very appreciative of being able to see many animals that I could not otherwise. The zoo cost 2 pesos for each person with those under two free (about US$.70-75).

One of the first animals we saw were a couple of monkeys in a pretty barren cage with people feeding them through the cage. While this enthralled Michaela, I knew that the junk food that the monkeys were being fed was unhealthy for them. The most interesting things we saw were Andean condors, a parrot that said ¨Hola,¨ and a puma that stalked a little girl in red around its cage.

There was a noticeable stench of animal waste from many of the areas where the animals were kept, including the puma area and the flamingos. The pen containing the giraffe was mostly muddy (but not entirely) while the elephant was being hand fed by zoo visitors. A black chested buzzard eagle watched Michaela as if she was a snack. The train ride around the park was one peso each and was too long for Michaela to hold still.

For many of the zoo visitors, Michaela and I seemed to be the main attraction. Apparently, very few people in La Plata had seen a baby backpack before. Margarita noticed that many people stopped and stared as we passed. When we were in or near a group of people, I noticed people talking to each other and looking in our direction as I overheard the Spanish words for baby and backpack.

We made our way back to the hoteal as Michaela began to complain more loudly and it was time to head to Margarita´s aunt´s apartment for another family get together - this time with the Lacabe side of the family.

After we briefly stopped at the hotel to get ready, we grabbed a taxi as Margarita was tied of walking. It cost us about 2-3 pesos. We were the first there, but soon were joined by a whole host of Lacabes (I don´t remember all of them, but I do recally Mariana and Tota.) Since this was a bit of an occasion, there were sandwiches, pastries (many filled with dulce de leche) and the ultimate Argentine treat, a pastry (or cake) with layers of flaky dough separated by dulce de leche.

There was lots and lots of talking (most of which I didn´t understand) while the relatives constantly tried to pick up Michaela without making her cry (they rarely succeeded). Michaela became extremely sleepy as it got later, but still was in relatively good spirits. Finally, I managed to get her to sleep, but within 15 minutes, she was up again. After getting her to sleep again, we took it as a hint to leave (every one else had already, anyway) and we took a taxi back to the hotel.

-- End of day --

Day 4&5 Not much to tell

Monday, our 4th day in Argentina, was all in all a quiet day. I (Marga, who is blogging now) started it by packing up. We were planning to go to Buenos Aires later that day. We'd only been at the hotel for 3 nights, but our stuff was already all over the place. I can't believe how messy we are! It takes soooo long to pack back up! We then went to breakfast at the hotel and then off to exchange $ and the travel agency to pay for our tickets for our Patagonia tour. The dollar has been going down and down, and therefore everything is becoming more expensive for us. Oh well, if the peso was still the same as the dollar we would never have been able to do this trip.

After going back to the hotel and finishing packing we went over to Glady's house for lunch. It was nice and relaxing and we hang out for quite a while there before taking a taxi back to the hotel for our suitcases and then over to the bus station. Then it was on to a bus to Buenos Aires. Thanks to some very nice passangers we managed to get out only a couple of blocks away from our hotel.

We are staying at the Gran Hotel Argentino, a place I saw described as the kind of place people from the provinces would stay in (it seems like it). It´s a 3 star establishment and pretty cheap at A$60 for a ¨suite¨. It doesn´t have the amenities that the hotel in La Plata had, however. There is no internet and no fridge in the room, and we have a view of other people´s windows. Still, the room is large and the bed was comfy. The lack of a fridge presented a dilema for us last night, as Mika is in the habit of waking up late at night or early in the morning and demanding milk. We weren´t sure what to do, but we decided to buy a carton of milk that doesn´t need refrigeration, and open it up if needed.

Fortunately for us Mika slept all night long without waking up, and once she did in the morning she wanted to run around, not drink milk. Our little girl is growing up!

I am apalled by the prices of baby stuff in Argentina. Milk, in itself, is expensive from a comparative point of view, but diapers and baby food are just ridiculous! Mike bought a 12 pack of Large Huggies for her at A$10.50, we pay less at home! A jar of baby food at the supermarket is about A$4 (about $1.50), at home it would be $.65 (less if on sale). I have to wonder who can afford to feed this stuff to their children. We are going to try to feed Mika as much grown up food as possible.

After we checked in at our hotel, we went walking up and down Avenida 9 de Julio, calle Corrientes and calle Florida. Mike was amazed at how quickly porteños walk. At 7:30 we met with Graciela, a friend-colleague of mine, and we went to a nice restaurant near where she works. We had dinner and Mike very kindly took care of Mika, while Graciela and I talked and planned. All in all it was a very good day.

Today we started by having breakfast at the hotel (most Argentine hotels offer a free buffet breakfast). The quality of the food was clearly lower than that of our La Plata hotel, but free food is free food, so we ate. We then had showers and went off to explore the city. And exchange $. Exchanging $ is not an easy task in Argentina, banks are only open for a few hours a day and not on weekends. Oh well.

We went to Plaza de Mayo and had a blast playing with the pigeons. You can buy seeds there to feed them, and the things will flock all over you, get on your hands, arms, back, head, wherever. It was really cool.

After playing for a while we had lunch and then came back to the hotel and now here we are. Mika is sleeping in her stroller while Mike is guarding me.

Off for now.

Day 6 - Heading South

Buenos Aires is a huge bustling city which reminds one of Paris and New York. Tall apartments line the streets above small shops containing kiosks (the local equivalent of 7-11), pastry shops, meat markets, clothing stores, etc. Everywhere are people walking quickly to and from places. They walk much more quickly here than in San Francisco, for example.

The air smells of cigarettes and vehicle exhaust. Even in the hotel and while eating, people are smoking, but it isn´t as bad as a Las Vegas casino.

Traveling with Michaela has turned out very well so far. We feel guilty about keeping her in the stroller so long, but she seems to be dealing quite well with it. Yesterday, we found a nice grassy area outside of the Recoleta Cemetery and she crawled around and tried to chase some dogs around - with no success. The people were friendly - and one woman even cleaned up after her dog (a rarity here, it seems).

Speaking of the cemetery, what an ostentatious display of wealth and vanity. We have visited cemeteries in France and other countries and nothing compares to Recoleta. It´s like a contest among rich people as to who can have the largest, tallest, most ornate, and most expensive sepulcher/mausoleum. It seemed like there were a lot of former presidents, military personnel and other notables buried there. Certainly, anybody buried there must have had money at one time. Eva Peron is there as well, in the Duarte family sepulcher. As expected, there were other people checking out her site, complete with a tour guide. One of the most entertaining graves included one with a statue of the interred in a robe and slippers. There were others with statues of the residents in military garb or of Roman grandeur, nuns bowing (including one defaced with lipstick), or a recling venus-like woman.

The only time we seem to encounter trouble with Michaela is when we are trying to eat at a restaurant. She is fine for a few minutes and then starts getting fussy because she wants to get down and move around. We try to distract her and play with her, but eventually nothing else will satisfy her except being able to crawl around. It´s even worse if she sees stairs. Then she wants to go and climb on them. She´s been sleeping well. Finding milk for her has been pretty easy, if somewhat expensive. They have the same diapers here, which is nice, but less size variation, so the ones we bought here are much bigger on her. Baby food is very very expensive. We´ll soon have to buy some when we´re down south.

So for now, off we go to Bariloche to begin our trip to the south of Argentina.

¡Ciao!

Arrival in Bariloche

We met a couple at the Aeroparque airport on their way to Bariloche for their honeymoon. Of course, we took photos of them at the gate and before getting onto the plane.

The scenery during the flight was pretty boring until we got close to Bariloche and then it turned into desert reminiscent of parts of Peru. The flight only lasted just more than two hours and Michaela slept for most of it.

The Bariloche airport is small and looks brand new - it and the Aeroparque airport were both much nicer than the Ezeiza airport that we arrived at from Miami. In fact, while we got on the plane from the tarmac at Aeroparque, we had a jetway at Bariloche. We grabbed a cheap (3 pesos per person) and quick bus from the airport to the center of town, where the driver left us at the tourist office.

Margarita immediately recognized a hotel where her mother stayed and left me and Michaela at the tourist office while she investigated hotels. Hotels seem to charge more for foreigners, so since she is Argentine, she can get a better rate. We paid more for my airfare on the national airline because I´m not Argentine.

While that hotel seemed to think that it was still the tourist high season (based on it prices), Margarita found a much cheaper room with a view of the lake for about 60 pesos per night. It´s small but nice.

The weather is a bit on the cool side, but it was comfortable enough for me (used to the SF Bay Area) to just be in a t-shirt. At about 9pm or so, it was 10.4 degrees celsius, which was a bit on the cool side, but earlier it must have been nearly 17.

The scenery here is everything that you´ve heard it is. Fabulous postcard views in nearly every direction. Reflections of snow-capped Andes in the lake and beautiful mountain views. The town itself is a tourist mecca. Lots of stores selling chocolates of all sorts while other stores cater to the moutaineers. It reminds me a lot of California gold rush towns with chocolate stores instead of the antique shops.

The town square is filled with people offering to take your photo with one of their Saint Bernard dogs. Maybe the rarity of Saint Bernards in Argentina makes this a novel thing for the locals, but my memories of Saint Bernards mainly consist of lots of slobbering and drooling. But we eventually succumbed and bought a photo of Michaela next to one of the hounds. There were also a couple of puppies, which were useful in luring some of the tourists.

We´ve planned excursions for the following two days, including one that we got for free for flying the national airline. So we´ll write all about that sometime tomorrow.

And yes, I read the comments.

¡Chau!

Day 7 - First full day in Bariloche

The hotel breakfast was pretty lame, but it´s worth every extra penny we paid. At just after 9:15am, the small tourist bus came to pick us up for our first excursion - to Cerro Tronador and Ventisquero Negro by way of Lago Mascardi. Ok - now in English.

We had to wake up Michaela early to get breakfast and make sure we got the bus. She is usually in a bad mood when she gets up before she is ready, but more on that later on.

The bus carried us (of course), a couple from Panama, a former Bolivian Peace Corps worker from Wisconsin, a guy from Buenos Aires, a couple from Brazil, and a family from Cancun.

First stop was at a boat to take us across Lago Mascardi (Lake Mascardi). The lake was crystal clear and there were few passengers compared to the capacity of the boat. The ride was calm and pleasant, but Michaela was very unhappy. She complained, didn´t want to eat, and generally made it clear that she was unhappy. It began to be clear that she was sick. She spent most of the trip sleeping in Mom´s arms while I ventured topside to take in the beautiful views.

Once we reached our destination at the hotel Tronador, I accidentally hit Michaela´s head not once but twice on the ceiling as I carried her in the backpack. I felt extremely bad, but she was a trooper and calmed down quickly as we got off the boat. The scenery was spectacular and only promised to get better. The picturesque mountains, the fall colors, and the clear calm waters of the lake made everything picture-perfect. Our stop at the hotel Tronador was brief as we made our way back onto buses for the trip over the rough dirt roads to the Hosteria Pampa Linda for lunch and more fussing by Michaela. The lunch was nothing to write home about. The bread was really really bad. The food otherwise was just ok. Michaela again refused to eat anything but a few noodles and drank a bit of water.

After lunch, back into the bus. Again, Michaela spent most of the time sleeping in Mom´s arms. This time we stopped for a short hike to a beautiful waterfall through the moist, cold canyon. The scenery again was spectacular. We hiked over some small streams and into a maze of what looked like bamboo. After an easy hike, during which Michaela fell asleep in the backpack, we arrived at a beautiful waterfall. However, even more spectacular was the sight of an Andean Condor sitting about halfway up the face of the cliff. That got all of our attention, complete with binoculars, zooming telephoto lens, and oohs and aahs.

After taking some obligatory pictures, we made our way back to the bus. This was the first time where we really appreciated bringing the backpack for Michaela. We could have used the stroller, but the backpack was much easier.

Then we made our way to the base of Cerro Tronador, which we had been able to see for quite some time from the bus and from the lake. This small mountain (cerro=hill) has a glacier on top of it that can be seen from quite far away. From its base, you can see a bunch of waterfalls produced by the melting ice and snow and the sound of water hitting the rocks reverberates through the canyon. The name Tronador means thunder and we hoped to hear the thundering of the ice that makes up the glacier cracking. Margarita hoped for a moment of quiet to listen to the water, but people talking loudly and the engines of the buses prevented that.

Then we piled back into the bus to stop at Ventisquero Negro, the black (or dirty) glacier. At first, this didn´t seem too interesting - after all, a glacier covered by a bunch of dirt doesn´t tend to excite one´s senses. We hiked down from the parking lot to a scene we couldn´t have imagined: a whitish-blue frozen lake with chunks of what looked like black icebergs stuck in place. In addition, one large chunk of the glacier had formed a natural bridge at one end of the frozen lake. The lake appeared frozen, but I threw a couple of rocks and one splashed, so it would not have been safe to attempt to walk out to the glacier. Looking up from the black glacier, it was easy to see the point where the glacier became dirty from the surrounding mountain.

Just as we were getting ready to leave, we heard the thunder that gave Tronador its name. The crackling ice rumbled through the canyon and we gained an appreciation and awe of the massive amounts of ice that make up these huge glaciers. But that was not the last sight of the day. As we made our way back to the bus, we were treated to the nearby sight of a large colorful bird. It looked to me like a bird of prey, but I´ll have to look it up later.

The bus ride back was uneventful. Michaela spent nearly all of it sleeping in my arms or her Mom´s. We made brief stops at the hosteria again for drinks and at a lookout point to check out the lake and the scenery as the sun began to set behind the mountains.

Once we got back to Bariloche, we made a brief attempt to find a better hotel, but gave up and went to dinner. We had a delicious meal at a Galician (Spanish) restaurant. From the meatballs to the empanadas (traditional beef and galician) to the stew to the beef (lomo) and a bottle of red wine, it was all excellent - and just 50 pesos (you do the math at 2.7 pesos per dollar). Michaela slept through most of the meal but needed to be held by Mom in order to sleep, so I fed Margarita most of her meal.

Well it´s late now, I´m tired, and we´re off again tomorrow. Hopefully Michaela will be feeling better then.

Sailing the Nahuel Huapi

After a few days absence, I (Marga) am blogging today. Michaela fell asleep on her daddy´s chest in the hotel, so he´s unable to do much until she wakes up. So here I am, reading e-mail and blogging until she wakes up and Mike comes to pick me up to go to dinner.

We´ve had a pretty busy couple of days, discovering the beauty of the Nahuel Huapi lake (the largest of this area, as the guides don´t tire of telling us). Yesterday, we took the tour to Puerto Bless and Lago Frías, while today we did the Circuito Chico in the morning, followed by the Bosque de Arrallanes and Isla Victoria in the afternoon.

Both Mike and I were quite disappointed by our Puerto Bless tour and we felt outright defrauded by the Lago Frías optional segment. Don´t get me wrong, it the scenery was beautiful. I´m still in awe at how incredibly beautiful the whole area around Bariloche is. I certainly didn´t remember it this way, I don´t know if this is because I was only 8 during my previous visit and children don´t appreciate scenery or because the bright fall colors add a measure of enchantment to an already beautiful area. In any case, this must truely be one of the most beautiful places in the world.

Yesterday, Puerto Pañuelo, from where we embarked in a catamaran headed towards Puerto Bless, was truely gorgeous. It was rainy, but the rain and fog added to the beauty. The lake was also gorgeous, and PPuerto Bless is a very pretty place. Still, it wasn´t spectacular (at least no more than any other places around here) and I didn´t think it was worth the hour-long voyage or the A$62 (U$22) fee. I wouldn´t recommend that you do this tour if you´re in the area.

Whatever you do, avoid the Lago Frías optional excursion. It´s a complete rip-off. Basically, after arriving to Puerto Bless we took a bus to another port a km. or so away, where we got into another boat for a 15 minute ride on the Lago Frías (at least, I think that´s where we were). The lake has a very interesting deep greenish-acqua coloring, due to the sediments that fall down from the Tronador mountain, but there is nothing of particular interest beyond that. Once we arrived at Puerto Alegre, its destination, we disembarqued at the Customs building and waited forever until all the tourists coming from Chile had cleared customs. Then we embarked for the trip back.

Honestly, I think that this excursion (for which they charge A$18 (U$6.50), included in the A$62 mentioned above) is a scam. They have to go to Puerto Alegre to pick up the tourists coming back from Chile, and they figure they can call this an excursion and charge other suckers... eh, tourists... for the trip. So you are warned, if you come to Bariloche don´t do this excursion.

Of course, most people do it because 1)they don´t know any better and 2)the alternative is to stay at the Puerto Bless hotel for 3 full hours. The place is not bad, but it can get boring after a while. Puerto Bless is where we stopped for lunch and there was actually a choice between a snack bar and a restaurant. The restaurant only serves buffets, and Mike wasn,t interested so we went for the snack bar instead. There they serve hot sandwiches at reasonable prices (A$3-6, U$1-2). Mike had a choripan which he enjoyed very much and I had the steak sandwich which was good, but needed more salt.

After lunch we crossed to the other side of Puerto Bless for a hike up a set of wooden steps (700 and change) to a waterfall and lake. It was soooo not worth it. Poor Mike had a huge headache and was carrying Mika in his back, and I am certainly not in shape so I bitched al the way up. And all of that for nothing!

The waterfall, which you can find about half way up the climb, was pretty nice. I think I may have seen it as a child and it seemed familiar, though I have seen so many waterfalls that they all start looking alike. If you do this trip, you might as well come here and maybe to the lookout above it, from where you can see another cool view of the fall. But at the top, all there is is a lake. Yes, it.s a nice lake, though again, nothing amazing by Bariloche standards, but going all the way over here to see a lake? I don.t think so. We also got to see the remains of the ¨Abuelo¨, or Grandfather, a very old tree that I might have seen as a child (I remember seeing a tree called the Abuelo, but I imagine there are several trees named that). The tree finally died in 1995, so all you can see is its trunk, I didn´t see much of the point in looking at it either. Oh well.

Then it was back to Puerto Pañuelo and then to Bariloche.

Michaela, who had been sick the previous day, seemed much better during this trip. She played and flirted with fellow passangers and crawled a little bit around the interior of the boat. But she also complained a bit. She liked it better when we were outside, walking around the boat, but also only for a while. We were certainly happy to have the backpack when hiking around with her, though it didn´t work well when she was loudly whining on Mike´s ears. Still, she did pretty well all in all.

She attracted lots of attention and by the end of the trip many people knew her and were enchanted by her. Argentinians and Latin Americans in general are much more expressive and friendly than Americans, so people are constantly talking to her and interacting with her, which she loves. She is such a cool kid!

She fell asleep as soon as we returned from our trip, so I decided to go out for pizza. We figured she needed as much sleep as she could get. She did wake up, however, as soon as I returned and then it took her forever to go back to sleep. Her fever from the previous day returned, her little body (sans the hands) was sooo hot. Still, we knew from a previous experience that unless she has a fever of 105F or the fever lasts for 5 days, doctors don´t find it a matter of concern, so we weren´t terribly worried. Still, I gave her Baby Tylenol and eventually she went to sleep.

She must still be sleeping now, as I´ve already been blogging for 1 hour (it´s 9:30 PM) and Mike hasn´t come by with her. Maybe she´s off for the night. If so Mike´s going to be quite hungry.

Today, things started better. Mika woke up once during the night and had some formula (as she is not eating, I´ve gone back to giving her baby formula, I figured she needs the fat and vitamins), but was her wonderful, cheery, loud self in the morning. Ah, last night we also changed hotel rooms. This one has a larger bathroom (the other one was so tiny I had to breath in to enter it) and an extra bed, but has no view. As we are never here during the day, that didn´t seem to matter.

Mike and Mika went down to breakfast while I finished packing up for the day. I then went down and I had my usual breakfast of coffee (pretty good), ONE single croissant and toast with butter and jam. I´ve re-discovered how fond I´m of toast with butter and jam.

Our bus came to pick us up and we were off for our first tour of Circuito Chico. This is a short scenic drive around Bariloche, with a couple of good stops for views and picture taking. We´d gotten this tour free, as a promotion of a travel agency that wants to draw in clients (who will then hopefuly buy other tours, as we did). Mika did quite well in the bus, and barely complained.

Our first stop was the Cerro Campanario, where we took the chair lift (A$12, U$4.50) to the top of the mountain. It was my first time taking a chair lift and I found it a lot less scary than I thought it would be. Mika liked it at first, but of course started complaining in the latter part. There isn´t much you can do to calm a complaining child on a chairlift...

Well, I think this is all I´m going to blog tonight. It´s 9:45 and there is no way I can finish the whole day by 10 PM. I think Mika must be down for the night. I´m going to go out and see about buying some food to go (not pizza, our smoked-venison pizza from last night was WAYYYY too salty) and bringing it to Mike.

Our plan tomorrow is to rent a car and go towards San Martin de los Andes - after doing some laundry, that is.

Ta ta.

Bosque de Arrayanes and Isla Victoria

After the Circuito Chico, the bus dropped us off at the fabulous Llao Llao hotel. This is a very expensive hotel with a surrounding golf course, private beach, its own internal gift shops, and the air of extreme elegance and expense. We we were there for lunch. We had considered staying there prviously, but the exchange rate had worsened for us since then. However, lunch seemed quite plausible. We arrived before the main restaurant opened so we checked out the buffet, which consisted of ravioli as the main entree. We decided to wait for about 15-20 minutes for the main restaurant to open.

While we waited, we ordered drinks at the bar - a Margarita for me :-) and mineral water for Marga. It came to a total of 22 pesos. We sat near the bar down some stairs from the main entrance in a beautiful room with fireplaces. Soft breadtsicks covered with cheese and candied peanuts were served with the drinks.

When the time came, we entered the restaurant, where we experienced the kind of service you would expect in such an expensive hotel. The waiters were courteous, friendly, and very attentive. Michaela, despite making a mess as usual, was treated graciously while we dined. We first got warm rolls served with a salmon pate that was extremely delicious. Just the warm bread by itself was great. I don't remember what we ate, but I know that we liked it and thought that it was a good deal for such a place.

We were forced to leave a little bit more quickly than we wanted because we had to walk from the hotel to the dock to catch the boat to Bosque de Arrayanes and Isla Victoria.

The walk from the Llao Llao hotel was downhill past the golf course and the attendant waterfowl. We arrived just in time (according to what we had been told) but we ended up sitting aroung waiting for the boat to leave. At least that allowed us to get comfortable seats. The boat was made in Holland and shipped over to Argentina and re-assembled. The original deck of the boat had been covered to provide for more covered seating. There were very few places to spend much time on the deck of the boat.

The first stop was the Bosque de Arrayanes. This type of forest is not known to exist anywhere else in the world. The trees (although I wonder whether they are technically trees) have a thin cinnamon-colored bark and spread through their roots rather than the nuts/seeds that other kinds of tree use. The trees themselves spread out in strange ways that give the forest a magical or spooky kind of appearance. The forest is said to be the inspiration for the forest in Bambi (and perhaps other Disney forests) and it is easy to see why.

After a relatively short stay, back onto the boat for the trip to Isla Victoria. On the boat, we met another couple with an Argentine wife and an American husband with their 18-year old daughter. He was originally from New York and they lived in Salt Lake City. She seemed desperate for someone to talk to and talked our ears off. She continued talking Margarita's ear off while I chased Michaela around the boat.

Isla Victoria

Ok, so I got cut off.

Anyway, we had three choices when we got to Isla Victoria and not very much time in which to do anything. The three choices were to take the chairlift to a high point where we could get a scenic view, walk up to the same point, or go with a guide who would identify the trees on the island. We decided on the chairlift.

Michaela didn´t take too long before she was bored with the chairlift and we were singing to her to calm and soothe her. We saw the couple (Argentine woman/US man) as they walked up to the top. Once at the top, we looked around, and as usual, the surrounding mountains (cerros) and lakes (lagos) were beautiful. There used to be a place to eat (confiteria) at the top, but it had burnt down some not too long ago as debris from the fire was still around and the building foundation had not been cleaned up yet. Michaela doesn´t have much patience for beautiful views, however, and we soon set her down to play going up and down the stairs to the viewpoint. She caught the attention of what we thought was a group of Japanese tourists and I told her to say ´Konichiwa´ but then learned that they were Chinese. Whoops. Margarita and I both then thought about SARS - scary stuff.

The way down was the same as up - us singing to Michaela to soothe her. At the confiteria at the bottom, Margarita ordered food and drinks while I attended to Michaela. I got out our last jar of baby food that we had brought from the US and set it out on the table. Michaela was hungry and attempted to grab the jar, sending it over the edge of the table and breaking on the floor. Not all of it spilled, so I grabbed it and attempted to feed what was left to Michaela. Yes, I carefully avoided any remaining glass :-) While she was seated on my leg being fed, I noticed my leg get warm and wet. Yes, her diaper had become displaced enough for her bathroom break to escape. Of course, just about then, a guide came in to tell us that it was time to go. I barely had enough time to wolf down the food and hurry out towards the boat. After we rushed back to the boat, it didn´t leave for at least another 20 minutes. We were annoyed - I was slightly more annoyed because of the broken baby food jar and the urine that still dampened my pants.

Back on the boat, we changed Michaela´s diaper and let her loose on the boat again, where she enchanted some of the other tourists. One group of 20-30 tourists, we learned, was a group of local grandparents and their grandchildren with chaperones. While we thought that was nice, we also learned that the grandchildren pretty much ignored their grandparents and in fact, five of the kids ended up staying on Isla Victoria as we left to return to the mainland.

Rental car to San Martin de Los Andes

After being confined to excursions by boat and bus, we decided it was time for a rental car. Actually, first we tried to find a laundromat, but when the first one we found didn´t open until 4pm, we went to rent a car, me with Michaela in a backpack and Margarita pushing our clothes in the stroller. We looked and felt pathetic.

Margarita had already scoped out a rental car place (A-Open) earlier in the week and we returned to the office only to find it closed. It turns out that the salesman was getting a car for a couple who beat us there. When we pondered how far we´d be driving in order to decide whether we wanted the 200km/day rate or the 400km/day rate, the salesman told us that we could use whichever rate was better when we returned the car. Can you imagine a rental car company in the US doing that? OK, so they usually don´t have mileage limits, but we thought it was nice, and we later noted how pleasant the service has been in Argentina. People seem to go the extra mile here to make things better. It´s also been a great place to travel with a child. Waiters have played with Michaela and store clerks have entertained her as they walk back and forth. The rental car company even had a child seat they would let us use at no extra charge. While it´s not as nice as ours, it beats the one we brought. And finally, when the salesman brought us the rental car, it was a better one that we had discussed - a four door instead of two. We had rented the car with just my California driver´s license and a credit card. It was a Fiat with a 1.3 liter engine and a manual tranmission. The salesman told us that all his cars are manuals. Unfortunately, he was not very skilled at car seat installation as we quickly found out. Just as we made the first gentle corner, we heard Michaela complaining and found that she was sideways in the car seat as the belt retaining the seat was loose. We quickly righted her and re-installed the car seat securely.

After loading our stuff from the hotel, we headed off to take the scenic Siete Lagos (Seven Lakes) route from Bariloche to San Martin de los Andes. The road out of Bariloche was in great condition and I found myself doing about 100km/h on the route marked for 60. The speed limits on some roads seem insanely slow - and they are treated by the locals as such. I tried doing the speed limit even in Bariloche and quickly found myself holding up traffic. Out on the open road, not even the buses pay attention to the speed limit.

We stopped in Villa La Angostura briefly, including a trip to the tourist office. It had the feeling of a mountain resort town - it reminded me of South Lake Tahoe.

After a while, the nice paved road turned into a relatively well-groomed dirt road with not much traffic. The views, as expected were awesome, with deep blue lakes interspersed with fall colors of changing trees, snow-capped hills, and blue skies with puffy-white clouds. We stopped a couple of times to take in the sights and let Michaela crawl around. Once, we encountered a couple of the same birds we saw at the Black Glacier, which I still don´t know the name of.

Margarita wanted to take a little side trip to Villa Traful, so off we went on the somewhat less well-groomed road. We stopped for lunch at a parilla just before we got to Villa Traful and we are so glad we did. When we exited the car, we were greeted by the owner´s dog, which thrilled Michaela. Grazing in the landscaped area in front of the restaurant were two horses. The meat at the parilla was sooooo good. I had ribs and chorizo while Margarita had a steak. We also ordered mashed potatoes, thinking that Michaela would eat them, but she didn´t. Everything, even the mashed potatoes, was scrumptious. We made a mental note to ourselves to stop ordering grilled meats in restaurants and only get them at parillas. Michaela feasted on bread - and Margarita and I both fretted about how to get her to eat more food. The owner and his wife were both wonderful with Michaela as she crawled around on the floor near the kitchen.

We left the restaurant to drive around Villa Traful, which wasn´t much to see, really. It seemed like a nice place, right on a lake, but nothing more. We headed back on the road. At one point, we encountered cows on the road, slowed down and pointed them out to Michaela. However, when we saw three cows lying down along the road, Margarita suggested that I stop and get Michaela out. We stopped the car and I crossed the road so as to not upset the cows. I set Michaela down and she immediately set off crawling across the dirt road towards the cows. Before you worry too much about traffic, you have to understand that 1) there was very little traffic, 2) we had a clear view for quite a good distance in both directions, and 3) we could hear cars coming for a long time. First two cows got up and started to move away from Michaela. She briefly gave chase and then turned her attention to the sole cow that had remained lying down. When Michaela got within just a few feet, the cow got up and when Michaela squealed with joy (or frustration), the cow hastened its movement away from Michaela.

Back in the car, the rest of the drive was relatively uneventful. As we approached San Martin de los Andes, we noted an increasing number of people hiking along the road that bordered the lake. Like Bariloche, San Martin de los Andes has a large number of one-way streets and uncontrolled intersections. We found a place to park in downtown and set about finding a hotel. Margarita and I ended up arguing about something - I forget what now, but it likely had to do with some combination of hotels, money, and planning (my lack thereof). After investigating a hosteria (too expensive for the experience) a much nice hotel (too expensive), we ended up at a 105-peso hotel (Le Village) largely based on the fact that Margarita liked it common area downstairs (which was very very nice). Up to that point, I don´t think we had paid more than 70 pesos for a room. The room turned out to be nicer than she had said as she had missed the balcony and the refrigerator. It was right across from the local church and close to a plaza.

We had a non-descript meal at a restaurant after finding a laundromat where we would finally be able to clean our clothes the next morning.

Searching for a waterfall and on to Junin de los Andes

The breakfast at the Le Village hotel was noticeably better than any of the previous hotels. Margarita especially approved of the crepes and dulce de leche available with breakfast.

After breakfast, we made our way to the laundromat to get our load of dirty clothes cleaned. While we waited for our clothes to wash, we managed to check out the local museum. At first, we were the only visitors and we had the museum official to ourself as she explained how two Indian cultures had merged into the one Mapuche culture under pressure from European colonization. The museum was very small - only three rooms, but the official captured Margarita´s attention. We were eventually joined by an older couple while Michaela began to tire of being in the backpack and we let her roam around on the floor. As usual, the couple and the official seemed to delight in Michaela´s movements and noises.

Later, while waiting for our clothes to dry, we spent some of our time at one of the plazas where a large statue of a horse-mounted San Martin was located. When a pigeon landed near us and got Michaela´s attention, Margarita grabbed some crumbs from the backpack and started throwing them around so the pigeon would stay nearby. I started grabbing crumbs as well and ended up finding some Indian rupees from our last trip (we really need to clean our things a bit more thoroughly!). Michaela set to chasing the pigeon around until she was bored and head for the statue in the center of the plaza. We left her alone, while keep a watchful eye from a distance, until she began to climb the statue in a way that makes us nervous wrecks ;-) All the while, Margarita is videotaping, as I make my way to the statue to save Michaela from herself. As soon as she saw the stairs at the base of the flagpole, she quickly made her way up and smiled broadly when we reached the top and stood up.

When a couple of dogs appeared near Margarita, we made our way from the center of the plaza to go and see the dogs. No sooner had Michaela begun having fun with the dogs when a man came to tell us that one of the dogs was sick. Great.....so we cleaned off Michaela´s hands and mouth and then noticed that the dog had left some blood on the ground. Don´t we have enough to worry about?

After one round of drying, the laundry still wasn´t dry and we had to kill some more time while it dried.

Finally we headed off to find a waterfall that the tourist office had told us about. We headed west off the main road just outside of San Martin de los Andes onto another unpaved road. Michaela has been a trooper while confined to the car seat for these drives.

Before we turned off towards the waterfall, we took a short diversion to the border with Chile since it was so close. You need an international driver´s license to drive in Chile, so I hadn´t expected to actually go into Chile, but I wanted to get close. At the border, we stopped, intending just to ask if we could drive in and come back. However, there was nobody at the border post. The doors to the building were locked and it looked abandoned. The gate at the border was up, so Margarita (who had checked the doors) climbed back in and we drove into Chile. We quickly turned around, but encountered a small problem trying to get back in as the gate from Chile into Argentina was down. Since I knew that another vehicle had gone in, I asked Margarita to step out and lift the gate, which she did (we have a picture!). And so ended our brief trip to the border.

Then we headed back to the turnoff and crossed a bridge over a river. Like most of the bridges we have encountered on unpaved roads, this one was a one-lane wooden bridge with planks lying perpendicular to the direction of travel and two sets of three wooden planks lying parallel to the direction of travel for each set of the vehicle´s wheels.

After crossing the bridge, the road started to get noticeably worse. At one point, I began to wonder whether the road was passable by anything other than a four-wheel-drive vehicle, but I managed to get the Fiat past that point. After a few hundred more meters, the road went downhill and was in such a condition that I was very unsure of whether we would be able to make it back up the road once we went down it. While I really wanted to see the waterfall, I also knew that I was in a non-4WD car with my 13-month old daughter on a road that obviously doesn´t see much traffic in a place that gets quite cold at night without a cell phone. While disappointed that we had driven so far with no reward, stopped by the river by a bridge and got out to walk around. The area was beautiful, but like so many areas, even in the national parks here, cows and horses make their presence none with numerous piles of manure and the rocky shoreline of this river was no exception. Michaela delighted in standing up next to a old log on the river and picking up the rocks. However, when she started to crawl around, we had to control her movement very carefully to avoid her placing her hands smack into a pile of manure. When Margarita grabbed a very long (6-7 feet) piece of dead caña colihue (like bamboo, but solid) to playfully swat me, Michaela grabbed it and delighted in manipulating it. She held onto it even as I picked her up to return to the car. Finally, I had to wrestle it from her and she cried :-( We turned around and headed for Junin de los Andes to find a hotel for the night.

The trip back along the dirt road to the paved road just north of San Martin de los Andes seemed shorter than the drive there (isn´t that always the case?). While San Martin de los Andes had the feel of a resort town (complete with expensive shops), Junin de los Andes felt much more humble. The town was much less flashy, although some of the hotels cater to vacationing fisherman. After a brief trip to the tourist office (it always amazes me how even the smallest towns have tourist offices) we decided to check on a hotel (Hostería de
Chimehuín) mentioned by both Lonely Planet and the tourist office. After we both checked out the room, we agreed to take a room overlooking the Chimehuín river, which bordered the hosteria.

The room was larger than any other previous rooms we had been in and the bathroom was absolutely huge. But for some reason, the shower stall was extremely small. Also, unlike other accomodations, there was no bidet. And it seemed that there was no hot water. There was a small gas heater to heat the room, and it needed it badly. We unpacked out things and relaxed for a while before setting out for dinner. Once we opened the curtains, Margarita became enamored of our room as it was gorgeous - with a view of the river out window and trees in their fall colors out the other. As we relaxed, it became clear that the gas heater was not going to be enough to keep the room warm. In fact, when we left the room, it seemed that the outside air was actually warmer than the air in our room. Before we left for dinner, Margarita asked the hotel clerk to do something to improve the heat in the room and for extra blankets.

Dinner was good - we had the typical carnivore meal that we´ve been getting used to. This time, we ordered an expensive (20-peso) bottle of cabernet sauvignon with dinner. Still the bill only came to 51 pesos. As usual, Michaela´s patience for sitting in a high chair for dinner ran out before we finished dinner and we found ourselves hurrying to finish and leave the restaurant.

Back at the hotel, an electric space heater had been added to help the gas heater and it made a huge difference. The room was now warm enough to walk around comfortably with little clothing on. However, the tile floor was still cold, as was the bathroom. Before we had left, I had closed the door to the bathroom, thinking that it might help if there was less air to heat. Now I worried about gas heater in an enclosed space and carbon monoxide poisoning. It would really suck to go to sleep and not wake up. This was somewhat mitigated by what I knew were windows and doors that didn´t seal well. But now that I have a daughter with me, I have become overly cautious about such things, so in addition to moving anything flammable away from the heaters, I opened the door to the bathroom (and its window).

Obviously, we didn´t have a problem.

To Volcan Lanin and back to Bariloche

May 13, 2003

Breakfast at the Hostería de Chimehuín was the standard medialunas (croissants glazed with sugar), small biscuits, toasted bread, jam, coffee, and Tang (or something very very similar to it). If there was any doubt that the hotel catered to fishermen, the tremendous number of pictures of men holding their prized catches on the walls should erase that. One from just more than a year ago was of a 9.9 kg (nearly 22 pound) brown trout. That´s a big trout!

We had decided the night before to head out to see Volcan Lanin, so off we went. We cruised through the Patagonia past fields and estancias. At one point in the road in the middle of nowhere were police. One car had been pulled over and an officer appeared to be giving the person a ticket. As has been the case every other time we have encountered police on the road, we were waived through. I still don´t know what they are doing or looking for, but I suspect that they may be checking for current stickers displayed on the driver´s side of the windshield. As long as I don´t get stopped, I don´t mind much, but it would qualify for unreasonable search and seizure in the US. After we got to an intersection some 30-40 km from Junin, it became obvious that something was wrong. We stopped, grabbed and looked at maps, and determined that we had taken the wrong road, so we headed back to Junin to take the correct road. Then 20km or so down that road, the map and the road didn´t agree. We thought we were supposed to turn on a road before we got to a certain river, but we crossed the river before there was any chance to do so. Once again, we headed back to Junin. Just outside of town, we asked an officer and he pointed out that the map was wrong. Just great!

So off we go again, this time down the same road, we had just traveled twice. We crossed the bridge, just as the officer said, and turned left onto yet another unpaved road. Finally things began to make sense and we headed towards the border with Chile and the Volcan Lanin. About halfway there, we realized that we might not be able to see it because the cloud layer was rather low and it didn´t seem to be clearing up. Sure enough, we reached the border with Chile and we couldn´t see a damn thing. So we parked our car at the border, and let Michaela out to play in the black sandy dirt that covered the area.

After a while, we got back into the car (Michaela loved playing in the dirt and cried when I picked her up) and headed back. We turned towards a Mapuche village part way back to Junin where a sign said that we could buy things made by the local Mapuches. So off we went for 6km or so to the Mapuche village, which we found, but couldn´t find any crafts store - or anything that even looked like a store. We figured that since we were traveling in the non-tourist season, perhaps they had closed up, so we turned around yet again without achieving anything for such a long drive. We decided to head back to Bariloche and to stop for the night if it got too late before we returned.

We could take the same Siete Lagos route back or a different route. We decided to take the other route since we had already traveled the Siete Lagos route. I had expected that this route would be paved since Margarita has mentioned that the buses take different routes for the scenic views or for speed. However, this route was unpaved as well and offered views that were equal to or greater than those of Siete Lagos. Some of the views were reminiscent of the Yosemite Valley while others reminded us of the American west with jagged rock formations and high mesas.

Again, we stopped along the route to take in views and at one point, to investigate a cave. The drive back to Bariloche was quick and we were back by about 7:30. Instead of returning back to the Hosteria Tirol with its small room and very small bathroom, we ended up in a hosteria just outside of town (after all, we have a car) with a room essentially bordering the lake. Dinner was late at the Familia Weiss restaurant so we could try the smoked specialities (salmon, trout, and venison). We were forced to sit in the smoking section as the non-smoking section was full, but it wasn´t too bad as nobody close to us lit up. As usual, the waiters interacted with and entertained Michaela. We had smoked trout as an appetizer, which was excellent. For entrees, Margarita had a wild boar dish while I had a venison stew. The boar was dry and not very tasty, but the venison dish was awesome.

Cerro Catedral (not!), Cerro Otto and Cascada Los Alerces

May 14, 2003

Finally up to date!

After waking up early (8:30 is early for us so far on this trip), we grabbed the usual breakfast before heading out for Cerro Catedral for a trip up the tram to check out the area from high above. The trip was quick and we soon found ourself in the parking lot. We asked about where we could find the tram and a man in the parking lot directed us to the building about 200m away. We suited up with Michaela in the backpack and made our way to the base of the tram, where we learned it was closed for repairs and would be unavailable until after we leave Bariloche for Calafate. Oh well.

Next: on to the Colonia Suiza (Swiss Colony) where Margarita remembered having the most delicious pastries 28 years ago when she last visited. Again, the trip was relatively quick and we were soon driving slowly through the colony. Unfortunately, because of her faded memory, changes in the last 28 years, or traveling in the off-season, the Swiss Colony was virtually empty and none of the shops appeared to be open. Scratch that one......

As we headed back towards Bariloche, we picked up a female college student hitchhiker as we headed for Cerro Otto, which would have to suffice since Cerro Catedral was closed. Along the way, we passed the Centro Atómico Bariloche (http://www.cab.cnea.gov.ar/). As we learned from one of our tourist guides, students from around the world study atomic science here and there even have a small educational nuclear reactor....in a national park!

The ride up Cerro Otto in the enclosed tram was a hefty 25 pesos per person. The views were of course spectacular, but we were getting used to them by now. Michaela loved the ride - and a large reason why is that she didn´t need to be restrained as we traveled up the mountain.

At the top of Cerro Otto is a relatively large complex that includes a confiteria, a shop selling typical tourist trinkets, a lookout area, a small theater, an art gallery (showing Michelangelo), and even a play area that included a swing, slides, merry go-round, and small play houses. We immediately took Michaela to the play area, where she had a turn on the swings and the play houses. Unfortunately, it was a bit windy and the cold became unbearable for us. But not for Michaela, who put up a fuss as we removed her from the play area.

The confiteria at the top of Cerro Otto revolves so that no matter where you´re sitting, you get to see the entire view during the course of about 20-30 minutes. If you´ve been to Space Needle in Seattle (or the Stratosphere), you know what I mean - except this was on a smaller scale. We ordered two chocolates otto (hot chocolate with alcohol at 7 pesos each) plus a medialuna and a toasted ham and cheese sandwich. The alcohol was too strong for Margarita, so I ended up drinking them both. Michaela ate some, but not enough of the sandwich and medialuna.

Down from Cerro Otto, Michaela marveled at the view as the bottom literally dropped when we left the building. She stood up on the seat and looked out for quite a long time, fascinated by the sights.

As we headed back to Bariloche to head out to the Parque Nacional Los Alerces, Michaela fell asleep, which always alters our plans for where to stop. We made it out of Bariloche and nearly to Villa Mascardi before we decided to stop at a parilla for lunch. Another meal of grilled meat - and it was sooo good. This time Michaela made both her parents feel better by downing lots of food.

Once we turned off the main road towards Parque Nacional Los Alerces, we once again had an unpaved road fit for a rally car race. We quickly reached the ranger station where we paid the standard 12-peso foreigner entrance fee and 6-peso local fee. And as usual, we received a 0-peso entrance fee receipt for Michaela. This is the third or fourth time now. If the fee is 0, why even bother to print up these booklets of 0-peso tickets/receipts? I handed the ranger a 20-peso bill and waited for change, but the ranger disappeared into his hut and didn´t return with change - a first. Two pesos isn´t much, but it annoyed me. I´ll happily pay a bribe when needed, but this was much more like official robbery. Oh well. It gave me something to write about, right?

The road to the Cascada Los Alerces (Los Alerces waterfall) is open to one-way traffic in for a certain number of hours in the morning until 10 am and then to one-way traffic out for a certain number of hours until 2pm, when two-way traffic is allowed. We were traveling the road sometime around 3pm and we didn´t see another car at all. The road was definitely not fit for two cars in most places, so I was happy not to encounter any traffic.

Once we got to the parking lot for the walk to the waterfall, we noticed a hosteria/confiteria that appeared to be open and absolutely nobody else parked in the lot. Margarita had prepared me for a very long hike to the waterfall, which we both prepared ourselves for. As we prepared ourselves in the parking lot, we were greeted by two very friendly cats, which thrilled Michaela. One immediately started rubbing itself against Michaela´s legs and both of them allowed Michaela to do what could loosely be called petting (also called grabbing and hitting). Of course, Michaela fussed when we finally put her into the backpack and got her gloves on to prepare for the long hike. As we set off, Margarita said that she wanted to take it slow as it would be a long hike.

Well after a short hike, it became very apparent that it was a very short hike and not the long hike that Margarita had remembered and prepared us for. The falls were beautiful, as we expected. The water was wonderfully clear and the sound of the falls reverbated in the small canyon. I joked with Margarita about her memory as we viewed the falls and then began our hike back to the parking lot. At the parking lot, Michaela played with the friendly cats again while I went to grab a torta frita at the confiteria. It turned out that the smoke we thought was from the active confiteria was actually burning debris (controlled) and that the confiteria/hosteria was closed. Oh well, at least I was able to use their bathroom (no lights, but the water worked). As Margarita prepared for our departure, I picked up Michaela to get a closer look at a horse that was grazing nearby, but the horse moved away as we approached. Meanwhile, Margarita was trying to keep the cats out of the car. Yes, the cats were so friendly, that they actually went into the car when we the doors were open.

As we headed back to Bariloche, Margarita and I knew that we had enough time to take Michaela to a play center that we saw previously bordering the lake. This play center was part of a larger complex that included a restaurant and shops.

For 3 pesos, Michaela got to spend about 30 minutes in a big container filled with plastic balls. When we first set her inside, she seemed uncomfortable and wanted to get out, but soon she was enjoying herself, mostly by grabbing the plastic balls and attempting to place them in her mouth. There was also a small trampoline which she didn´t enjoy much and a large area in which to crawl. As soon as she saw the tunnel, she quickly crawled into it and through it as Margarita gave chase (we didn´t know where it went - but it was all in a controlled area). After our 30 minutes were up, we spent a peso each for rides in a little jet that moved back and forth and a dragon that tilted back and forth.

Tomorrow we head to the airport to return the car and for our flight to Calafate. Chau for now......

Bariloche to Calafate

May 15, 2003

Just like the day before, we awoke to a beautiful sunrise over Lago Nahuel Huapi which we started to watch from our room and finished watching while we ate breakfast on the floor above. I don´t know why, but sunrise here seems kind of late - probably a combination of how far south we are and the fact that all of Argentina is in one time zone. Michaela didn´t eat much this morning, but was very very active, crawling into the kitchen and all around the dining area.

After breakfast, we headed for a large supermarket we had seen the day before on the way to the waterfall to pick up diapers. During the trip, we have bought the cheap Pampers available locally and another brand we hadn´t heard of previously. They both were aweful. Neither were as absorbent as the ones we brought from the US or the expensive Huggies we had bought here. So now we resolved to only buy the expensive Huggies and we were nearly out of diapers - with our trip to Calafate later that afternoon.

After picking up a large package of Huggies, we parked downtown and walked around the town one last time. We stopped by a Havana store so that Margarita could have her favorite Argentine treat - which she had claimd was this brand of alfajore, but she ended up buying a havanette. We also picked up some sandwiches because we weren´t sure what we´d be getting on the plane. On the way back to the car, however, a young child asked us for money and Margarita explained to him how we don´t give money to begging children. So she asked if he was hungry, he said yes, and we gave him one of the sandwiches we had just bought.

We parked outside the rental car office and Margarita finished the contract and paid for the rental car. We had gone more than 1,000km in four days. The salesman jumped in the car and we made our way to the airport for our 12;15 flight. What a sight at the departure area - we were the only traffic. After a quick check-in (we were the only ones at the counter), we made our way to security. I went through the metal detector a number of times as first my change, then wallet, then belt were removed. Finally, we figured out that the Palm Pilot was setting it off. Meanwhile, security detected our pocket knife in our carry-on. However, unlike in the U.S., I was allowed to take the pocketknife outside of the secured area, and they check-in personnel managed to place it in the outside pocket of our luggage. Go Aerolineas Argentinas!

In the waiting area, Michaela spent plenty of time exploring and making lots of noise. She seems to have discovered her vocal cords can produce quite loud noises recently and she is loud nearly all the time now. Finally, when a line formed to finally board the plane, Michaela had a captive audience and she played it to the hilt. She smiled, clapped, waved and entertained the waiting crowd until we boarded the flight. It was obvious she enjoyed all of the attention that she was receiving.

On the plane, Michaela was pretty well-behaved and ended up falling asleep about halfway through the flight. Since we didn´t have a window seat, I can´t tell you much about the scenery on the flight, but the last part was pretty desolate. The plane moved around quite a bit before the landing and I guess it made people nervous, because they applauded when the flight landed - or maybe they just don´t fly much.

The Calafate airport was just as nice as the Bariloche airport - it seemed new as well. I had expected to be walking on the tarmac again, but was greeted by a jetway into the airport. We decided to share a cab (22 pesos) from the airport to the toursit office in Calafate with a couple of women from Sydney that we met in line for the flight from Bariloche. Meanwhile, what appeared to be a resident cat made its way around the baggage claim area. Strange, I thought. The lugagge from all of us barely fit in the taxi, but we managed, and off we went to Calafate.

The trip was uneventful and we were soon at the tourist office trying to find suitable hotels as well as options for seeing the glaciers. We decided on a less expensive hotel which we were told was 60 pesos, but didn´t include breakfast. We chose it because it was relatively close the travel agencies that we wanted to visit and because we felt we spent too much money while in Bariloche. We walked the few blocks from the tourist office and soon found ourselves at the Cerro Cristal. Margarita went in to check out the rooms and found that it was 50 pesos (instead of 60) and breakfast was included.

However, when I went to take the suitcase into the hotel, I found that it was leaking red fluid. The jam we bought in Bariloche? Nope. It was the bottle of ¨mountain wine¨ we had bought at a tourist trap on the Curcuito Chico in Bariloche. I had forgotten about it. Note to self - don´t ever pack glass bottles with other things you don´t want to get wet or stained. Yes, I´m sure you all remember such things when traveling, but we didn´t. This combined with Michaela´s complaining and the room´s lack of a TV had Margarita frustrated. The wine-soaked clothing and Margarita´s frustration were getting to me. In all of the rooms we had been in to date, cable TV was available and Margarita had been taking advantage of it to catch up on Buffy, the Vampire Slayer. Tonight was an episode she didn´t want to miss.

After briefly considering leaving hotels and searching for a laundromat, Margarita asked about getting a TV in our room and found out that they had a TV available for our use so that she could see Buffy. Sometimes the little things are very important. Then I found out that the hotel would only charge us 12 pesos to clean our clothing, which settled that issue. Most importantly, we got Michaela entertained and fed so that she stopped complaining - and not necessarily in that order.

We went to the supermarket in search of milk for Michaela and when we were filling a bottle for her, we ran into the Argentine woman/US man couple that we had met on the boat trip to Isla Victoria. While we had flown from Bariloche, they had returned to Buenos Aires to drop off their daughter at her new job and then flown from Buenos Aires to Calafate that morning. Small world. After talking about their planned excursions (and learning that there were more available than the tourist office told us), we decided to go to the travel agency they used and ended up scheduling the same excursion on Sunday. Since we have Michaela, we can´t go on the glacier mini-treks (a stroller can´t be used and they don´t allow backpacks), so tomorrow we´ll head to the Moreno glacier, which is one of the few that isn´t actually receding. Both trips are full-day trips, so our plate is filled for both of the days we are here.

Dinner was at the hotel, which was convenient, since Michaela fell asleep pretty early. It was cheap - 10 pesos each and consisted of pesto with spaghetti noodles and baked meat. It was actually quite good. We were also given a pitcher of what seemed like Tang, which I enjoyed.

Good night - off to the glaciers in the next few days!

More Thoughts on Traveling with Michaela

May 16, 2003

Hi there! This is Marga, finally blogging from Calafate.

First of all, a note to my family. My e-mail doesn´t seem to be working,
I can read your mail but not answer it, so I´ll answer it here instead.
I will keep Mika away from wild dogs, don´t worry. I´ll only let her play
with domestic ones. Our plan after this trip is to go back to Buenos
Aires; at some point we´ll go to Mar del Plata, but we still haven´t
figured out exactly when. We won´t be back until the 22nd, so we won´t be
able to go to Pipi´s BD party. We don´t think chocolates here are as good
as See´s, but I´ll buy her some either here or in Ushuahia, if they have
them. They seem to have them all over the place, however. I´ll look for
the dolls for Mika when I get back to Buenos Aires.

OK, off to the blogging now. Mike is usually the one who goes do it
because I´m too lazy. However, tonight we´re doing it from the hotel and
I can walk down a hallway, specially while Mika sleeps.

I want to start with some general observations about traveling with Mika
in Argentina. All in all, it´s been great. I can´t imagine a better
destination for traveling with a small child (though of course, I´m
biased). Argentine people LOVE little children, EVERYONE pays attention
to her and plays with her, something with she absolutely loves. Most
restaurants have high chairs and people are very patient when she cries or
complains (or when we change her poopy diapers). By the end of every
excursion or encounter, people usually end up knowing her name and call
her by it afterwards. It's really great.

One other advantage is that there are many playgrounds, though these don´t
have the safety features of those in the US and are usually geared towards
older children. Still, many have toddler swings and Mika loves them.
We´ve also found a couple of places with toddler activities, specially in
Bariloche.

We are planning to only travel in countries where food and tap water are
safe until Mika is 5 or 6, and Argentina certainly qualifies in this
regard. It´s also extremely beautiful.

On the negative side, both diapers and baby food here are extremely
expensive; they cost more than in America. Also, many people smoke
(though smoking is not allowed in national parks and most restaurants have
non-smoking sections), which means she´s exposed to much more cigarette
smoke than I would like.

So far traveling with her has worked out pretty well. I´m very glad we
brought the backpack as we wouldn´t be able to get around without it; many
of the excursions require hikes that a stroller would not be able to
negotiate and that would tire us immensely if we were just carrying her.
The stroller has been less useful in Patagonia, and in hindsight, we
should have left it back in La Plata. However, I know it´ll be very
useful once we get back to Buenos Aires and start to actually stroll
through the city.

As you may remember, we got a portable car seat that we brought with us.
It´s pretty small and only weights 4 lbs. so it was easy to carry, but we
needn´t have bothered. We used it on the remis (taxi) ride from the
airport to La Plata, but never since. It´s too complicated to put it on
for a short taxi ride, and when we rented a car in Bariloche they gave us
a full-size car seat at no additional cost.

Mika has been amazingly good and patient during the trip. Of course she
gets tired, cranky and whiny (read loud), but usually we can distract her
away from this, or give her a bottle, and often times our fellow travelers
will start playing with her and she´ll quiet down. Probably the most
difficult part is lunch/dinner. While most places have high chairs, she
can usually only stand to sit in one for a little while, while we feed
her. After a few minutes she'll want to go off and explore. Sometimes
that´s OK, but often it will be dangerous and one of us has to run after
her. Again, most people (both waiters and diners) have been terribly
gracious and patient.

As Mike has mentioned, we´ve been having problems feeding her. She´s
often not interested in eating. I don´t know if it´s because we´re
traveling or because she´s hit that age. In any case, I finally
understand how a mother´s obsession for feeding her child starts.

Well, I´m off now and I´ll let Mike tell you about our day today. We got
to see the Perito Moreno glacier, which is truly, truly, truly incredible.
Tomorrow we´re off to see more glaciers, and I´m off to lying next to my
sleeping baby, reading my book and falling asleep. Good night!

Perito Moreno - A glaciar

May 16, 2003

After a very quick standard breakfast at the hotel, the small tour bus
picked us up for the trip to the Perito Moreno glacier. The tour guide
was knowledgeable, funny, and spoke in English and Spanish. As with other
official tour guides, he had to complete two years of studies and is
restricted to working in the area in which he studied. Our first stop was
at the edge of Lago Argentina, the largest lake in Argentina, and the
third-largest in South America. For Michaela, it was an opportunity to
stretch her legs and arms and get a blast of cold Patagonian air. She
loved it.

As usual, the paved road ended, and we continued on the dirt road towards
the national park. The next stop allowed us to pay the driver for the
national park entrance fee (12 pesos for foreigners, 6 for locals, and 0
for Michaela) so he could hasten his stop at the park entrance. It seems
he has to pay 5 pesos each time he enters the park as well. This stop
featured some trees, a view of an estancia (ranch), and another chance for
Michaela to play in the dirt.

After proceeding through the entrance gate, Michaela fell asleep for a
while and we got our first view of the glacier from 8km away. We could
see the south face of the glacier and the rest of it stretched as far as
the eye could see. Meanwhile, we were treated to the sight of trees and
bushes covered with ¨old man´s beard¨ as it called here - which is
basically a form of lichen.

As we got closer to the glacier, we could see icebergs in the lake that
had broken off from the face of the glacier. The driver informed us of
two optional excursions on boats to see the glacier. One boat trip was to
see the south face of the glacier and cost 25 pesos. The other trip was
to see the north face and cost 20 pesos. He recommended that we take the
first boat trip to the north face, and, not knowing any better, all of us
on the bus, except for two French girls, agreed. They decided not to take
a boat trip (sometimes, you should follow the French, as we would later
learn.)

As we arrived just in time for the 11:30 departure, the tour guide
arranged with the boat operator for us to pay after the trip. The boat
seats about 50-75, I estimate, with a smaller area outside from which to
view the glacier. It lasted about an hour and ran alongside the face of
the glacier. We all hoped to get a look at a big chunk of the glacier
crashing down into the water, but of course, that didn´t happen. I saw a
smaller chunk fall into the water after most of the people had returned to
the inside of the boat. We took lots of pictures which I´m sure we´ll
look at and wonder why when we get them back.

After the boat trip, some of the group stopped at the confiteria to eat
while others went to the lookout. We ended up with a Spanish couple on
their honeymoon and a Canadian woman who had come to Argentina mainly to
learn and dance tango. The lunch was not too bad at 23.5 pesos, including
a drink. Michaela of course, was unable to remain seated for long and was
soon crawling all over the place. It was nice to see a 3-year old boy,
who took an interest in her, and they kind of played with each other for a
while. Mostly Michaela chased him while he walked around and then she
would point at him and babble loudly.

Once we were finished with lunch, the driver took us to the lookout and we
made our way to the various lookout points that are well marked and
maintained.

Words cannot describe how fantastic a sight the Perito Moreno glacier is.
The deep blue colors of the glacier and just its immense size. According
to the tour guide and signs, the glacier is about 45-55 meters tall, a few
km across, anywhere from 14-40 km long, and bigger than the city of Buenos
Aires. As we stopped at the various viewpoints, we marveled at the
glacier - and hoped that we would see a big chunk fall off.

We made our way to the lowest and closet point to the glacier. At the
topmost viewpoint, you look down at the glacier and can see the top of it.
From the lowest point, you are much closer and cannot see the top of the
glacier. At the lowest viewpoint, we found a couple relaxing in the
serenity of the quiet and intensity of the glacier - at least until we
arrived with Michaela babbling very loudly in the backpack. At this
point, she started to complain, so we took her out of the backpack and fed
her, which quieted her, but the couple had already left. At this point, I
had seen a small (small for this glacier is something approaching the size
of an 18-wheel tractor-trailer) chunk fall off, but Margarita had missed
it. On occasion, we heard the glacier cracking, which caused a thundering
sound. Sometimes, this was accompanied by a loud splash, which we
couldn´t see.

With Michaela back in the backpack, we headed back up to some of the other
viewpoints. It´s a small hike - maybe 1 - 1.5km, up and down stairs. At
one point when our view was completely obscured by trees, we heard what
sounded like a big chunk falling off. It figures. We reached the next
viewpoint and patiently waited for chunks of ice to fall. In fact, we
pointed out areas where we thought it was likely to happen. At some
point, I noted how funny it was that we had paid a lot of time and
expended a lot of effort to some see a huge chunk of ice and wait and hope
that chunks would fall of it. And we were not alone in this exercise.
That said, it´s still worth it.

When we were leaving this viewpoint, I heard a loud thundering sound as
Margarita called out ¨Mike¨ and we both witnessed an incredibly large part
of the glacier fall off and crash into the water. I was ready with the
video camera on pause, but the lens cap was on, so I have sound, but no
video. This was exactly what we had hoped for. We felt that now our trip
to the glacier was complete. Of course, as we made our way to the bus,
two even louder crashes occured and we were unable to see them.

If I could do this again, I would just go the viewpoint (by bus or rent a
car) and stay there most of the day. The boat trip was ok, but not
spectacular. It would be nice to be there and just be able to watch it
for a long time - longer certainly than the time we had after lunch and
hiking to the various viewpoints.

During the bus trip back, Michaela ended up playing with the French girls
who were on a 4-month trip and then finally falling asleep on me. Most of
the people on the bus fell asleep as well until we hit the speed bump
(literally) on the outskirts of Calafate.

We found that we needed to exchange money so once the bus dropped us off
at the hotel (thanks to the driver for finding Michaela´s gloves), we
headed down the street only to find the exchanges closed. Fortunately, we
found an ATM that looked like it would accept my ATM card, so we withdrew
money and were relieved. Then we walked down the street, looking at the
various tourist stores. We learned that Michaela now adores stuffed
animals. She pointed at and made clear her desire to have the stuffed
sheep, penguins, and husky dogs. Even while she held one, she´d be
clamoring for others. When we finally left a store and stripped her of
these stuffed animals, it took a few minutes before she stopped crying.

Later, we looked for a parilla for dinner. The hotel was ok for dinner
the night before, but I wanted good asado. The parilla across the street
from the hotel seems to be closed for the tourist season so it was off to
the main street. We passed a cafe/confiteria and a restaurant that was
closed for the private celebration of a girl´s 15th birthday (the
equivalent of sweet 16 in the US). Next door was a tenedor libre (sp?)
which is basically a buffet. However, unlike nearly every buffet I´ve
been to in the US, the ones in Argentina have been quite tasty and this
was no exception. We were first served lamb, which was so tender and
delicious. Then on to the lomo, chicken, and chorizo, followed by more
lamb, lomo, and chorizo. All of it was good and we had our fill at 15
pesos each plus drinks.

We headed to the supermarket to get food for the trip to the Upsala and
Onelli glaciers, since food won´t be available, so we have heard.

Chau....

Michaela at the Cementerio de los Témpanos

Here´s Michaela at the Cementerio de los Témpanos (Iceberg Cementery), the lake that gets chunks of ice from the Agassiz, Bolados and Onelli glaciers. Warning: it´s big (almost 500k) and unedited. We´ll work on that later.

We´ll tell you more about our day later.

Mike & Michaela at a glacier

Click here for the large unedited photo. Again, you are warned that it is a large and long downlad.

Wild Cows of the Patagonia and Upsala Glacier

Today began way before sunrise and since Argentina starts late, there was no breakfast for us. We slowly got up with the Palm Pilot playing reveille at just before 7am. The bus picked us up around 7:30 and off we went to catch a boat to see the Upsala glacier and Onelli Bay. Fortunately, Michaela was able to return to sleep for a while after the bus filled with people. Two of those people included Alan and Lilliana, the couple we had met before on the trip to Isla Victoria and whom we had seen shortly after we arrived in Calafate. Most of the route was the same as yesterday´s excursion towards Perito Moreno, but we only suffered a kilometer or two of unpaved road.

Once we arrived at the private dock at Punta Bandera, we were briefly informed that it was still closed and then quickly told that it was now open. We unloaded and once again paid the 18 pesos for all three of us to enter the national park. The boat was much larger than the number of people taking the trip, which numbered about 30-40. It was still dark out as we left the dock and headed west on Lake Argentina. The moon was full or nearly full and many people, including me, attempted to get a photograph showing the full moon lighting up the surrounding mountains. My photograph didn´t turn out and when I tried to to use the camera´s timer for a longer exposure time at the back of the boat, I was ushered in as the boat was about to leave. Of course, it didn´t leave for another 10 minutes. We also noticed that the other passengers included a Brazilian family with a 3-year old that had been on the previous day´s trip to the Perito Moreno glacier.

The first 30 minutes was uneventful. It was beautiful outside with the full moon reflecting off of the lake and lighting up the hills, but as the sun began to light up the eastern sky, the scenery began more spectacular with each passing minute. The increased illumination allowed us to see some of the icebergs that were floating in the distance. Then we began to see the snow-capped mountains and the sides of the mountains scarred by previous glaciers.

Our first stop was Boca del Diablo (Devil´s Mouth), a narrow portion of the lake and a gateway to the northern portion of the lake. When we first began stopping, I began examining the towering rock cliff for anything significant that might indicate why it would be of interest. At first, it appeared to be insignificant, but then I saw areas stained white where it appeared that birds had nested. Then I saw the fluffy juvenile andean condor standing on an edge of the rock cliff. This was the reason that the boat had stopped - and what a wonderful sight it was. Of course, a throng of people exited the boat with cameras in hand as I entered the boat to tell Margarita, who, of course, had already spotted it. The boat even backed up so that the passengers could get a good glimpse of the condor and we approached close enough to make the bird visibly nervous.

The sight I will surely always remember are the wild cows of the Patagonia, protected in the national park. The guide pointed out the grazing cows on the hillside, which I wouldn´t have given another thougt, except that these cows are on their own. Who would have thought that the cow could survive on its own in such a harsh environment? Not me. The cold relatively barren landscape and steep hillsides seem no impediment to the cows´ will to survive.

The next stop was a sizable iceberg which we circumnavigated. It was an impressive sight - larger than the boat and rich in blue colors as it wasn´t in direct sunlight. The middle portion of the glacier that was above water appeared to have been scooped away, creating a photographic opportunity that everybody wanted to take advantage of. We did. We repeated this pattern at least twice more with increasing larger icebergs as we approached the Upsala glacier. In two of the glaciers, the melting glacier had created a hole that allowed you to see through the glacier - another photographic opportunity. More impressive though were the rich colors of the icebergs and the interesting and artistic shapes that they took on.

The color of the lake was also interesting - a color that is described well by the term glacial milk. The water is slightly cloudy with minerals that the glacier erodes by friction and erosion. More on that later.

As we apprached the glacier, you could see that it continued on for many kilometers onward and upward. There were also many more icebergs in the water and we got closer. Upsala is a retreating glacier and we were unable to get as close to it as we had on the boat trip to the north face of the Perito Moreno glacier because of the glacial debris (basically lots of ice) left in its wake. Still, it was an impressive sight and we consumed plenty of film on this and the icebergs - most of which we will not want to see again. Also unlike Perito Moreno, there was no noticeable breaking off of chunks of ice falling off into the water. Even if there had been, we were too far away from the glacier´s face to see anything unless it was really large.

Meanwhile, Michaela found a temporary boyfriend in a 3-year old Brazilian boy named Bernardo. He delighted in interacting with her and she reciprocated, trying to chase him around the boat and playing on the stairs to the helm together. He told his mother that he wanted a sister just like Michaela. How sweet! We had also periodically been taking Michaela onto the deck of the boat to look around, but she seemed to enjoy being inside and playing with Bernardo more than looking at the glacier or anything else.

We left the glacier and headed to Onelli Bay, where we would have lunch. On the way there, we saw three more glaciers (Agassiz, Bolados and Onelli), which all provided for more postcard scenery. This is the definitely the place for postcard snapshots. You can`t point a camera in a direction that isn´t scenic.

At lunch, we purposely chose a table close to Bernardo and his family so Michaela would be entertained and distracted. There were a bunch of flags hanging from the ceiling, including Brazil, Argentina, Canada, and Argentina, but no US flag. I found it somewhat strange that there wouldn´t be a US flag and we speculated that perhaps it was a political reaction to the US invasion of Iraq. I told Margarita and she asked the waiter about the lack of a US flag. He paused, and then said that it was a good question, indicating that it was basically an oversight.

Lunch was just ok. The milanesa I had was tasteless except for the tomato sauce and Margarita´s beef was ok. But what I liked most was the water! Since the guide kept telling us about the water and that the whole lake was drinkable, I ordered tap water (which I knew would be lake water) to drink at lunch. The waiter thought it an odd request, but complied, and a small pitcher of tap water was brought to the table. It appeared somewhat cloudy in the glass, as expected, but was very cold and tasted great. I ended up asking for another pitcher.

After lunch, we hiked about 800m through a wonderful forest of trees covered with lichen and moss. It was gorgeous. But what came next was even more spectacular: the Cementerio de los Témpanos (Iceberg Cementery), the lake that gets chunks of ice from the Agassiz, Bolados and Onelli glaciers. This is exactly as it sounds. Icebergs and chunks of ice lining the shore and floating in the water....everywhere. Of course, there was also a nearby waterfall and snow-capped mountains and glaciers to provide an even more scenic backdrop for the nearby sights. We joined the others in taking pictures while standing near or sitting on the ice chunks. And just like everyone else, we got wet butts. We took Michaela out of the backpack after she woke up from her brief nap so she could touch the ice and play on the rocks. Unfortunately, because we had chosen to eat lunch at the restaurant instead of bringing our own lunch (most of which I ate for breakfast), we had too little time to relaxand enjoy the sights - especially Michaela, who really enjoyed touching the ice and picking up rocks.

Back to the boat, where we all had to wash the bottoms of our shoes as we got on the boat. One of the fellow passengers confirmed that I was not Michael Moore, which got us talking about TV Nation, The Awful Truth, and Bowling for Columbine. We also saw three more wild cows of the Patagonia just before we got back on the boat.

Back on the boat, Michaela once again earned the adoration of everyone, who knew her name by the time we left - either because they asked or because they heard us calling her as she crawled up the steps to the helm or to the outside deck. Nearly everyone waved at her, said ¨Hola¨ or otherwise engaged her. Best of all was Bernardo, whose parents were quite happy, I´m sure, for him to be playing and not getting in their hair as much.

As expected, many of the people slept on the trip back to from Onelli Bay. I would have stayed outside and looked around if I could, but I watched Michaela as Margarita had engaging conversations with two different groups of women. Near the end of the boat trip, it became clear that Michaela wanted more milk - and we didn´t have any. Margarita asked and was provided milk for no charge. Unfortunately, it was quite warm, and Michaela has never had her milk warmed. She did not like it at all. We tried to cool it by taking it outside, but that wasn´t enough. I cooled it in the bathroom sink with cold water. Still wouldn´t drink it. I tried again. Still wouldn´t drink it. Finally, just before we reached the dock, I sang her to sleep. I felt soooo bad for her.

She woke up as we picked up our things (hopefully all of them) and exited the boat. As we stepped off, the crew touched and said chau and adios to Michaela. We got onto the bus and I sang Michaela to sleep once again. She and I slept the rest of the way back to Calafate.

Tomorrow we´re off to Ushuaia.

Arrival in Ushuaia, el fin del mundo

We tried our best to sleep in, since our flight was leaving until about 12:15pm. Unfortunately, this wasn´t Michaela´s schedule and we were all up earlier than expected. We showered and Michaela joined Margarita in the shower. Then we made our way to breakfast for the standard medialunas and bread with butter and jam.

The owner of the hotel offered to call a taxi for us since it was going to cost us 22 pesos anyway since the bus was so inconvenient. We agreed and Margarita went to pack while I entertained and attempted to feed Michaela - always a stressful time these days. What seemed like just few minutes later, the taxi driver came in to see if we were ready. Where had the time gone? So I told Margarita, who began to stress, and I told the driver we would be ready in 4-5 minutes. We piled into the taxi and Margarita and the driver talked the entire time while I entertained Michaela.

The airport was relatively busy as two flights were arriving and departing relatively close to each other. Our flight to Ushuaia was the first leg of a flight back to Buenos Aires. Many of those on-board wouldn´t be getting off the plane in Ushuaia. The airport check-in was smooth. However, we didn´t have a chance to buy milk in the morning and Michaela was now hungry. Fortunately, the small stand near the gate had milk and a potential disaster (meaning a hungry, crying child) was avoided. The man at the counter seemed surprised that we asked for cold milk, but Michaela is used to cold mlik, and we found out the day before that warm milk will not suffice. The plane was fairly full, but it was a short flight and Michaela was fairly sedate after drinking some milk. After we were served drinks, Michaela amused our neighbors and flight attendants by reaching into Margarita´s cup of coke and retrieving the ice cube, which she delighted in putting into her mouth. After that, we asked for a cup of ice - the flight attendants were very accomodating. Michaela fell asleep just before we landed.

The landing at Ushuaia was smooth but the air was rough as we descended. Nobody clapped this time when we landed. The airport was nice, as expected and Margarita got information about hotels and excursions while I grabbed the luggage with Michaela in the backpack. We grabbed a taxi, which was advertised as 4.5 pesos to central Ushuaia. When we stepped outside, we were greeted by air that was about as warm, maybe warmer, as the air in Calafate. But then the wind picked up and it definitely put a chill on things.

The ride to Ushuaia ended up costing 5 pesos including tip. The town is much closer to the aiport than in Calafate. We stopped at a hotel we had picked out from the Lonely Planet book and the tourist information. We lugged everything inside while I went to check out the 95 peso room. For 95 pesos, it was not as nice as the rooms we had paid 50 pesos for in Bariloche and it wasn´t much better than the room in Calafate. Then I looked at the old TV and decided that Margarita would likely find it unacceptable, so we moved on. Since it was a hassle for us to carry everything around looking for a hotel, I stayed in a confiteria with Michaela and all the stuff while Margarita went out in search of accomodations. I had a hot chocolate and 2 churros for 4 pesos. Michaela managed to eat quite a bit of one churro before she became impatient and I had to let her down to crawl around. Fortunately, she didn´t discover that the glass sliding doors could be moved to access the chocolate that the confiteria also sold.

Margarita returned and off we went to the Hotel La Posada, which I had originally suggested :-). We stopped at a kiosco on the way to the hotel and picked up some milk. Margarita noted that the room had a refrigerator, which is something we find particularly useful while traveling with a baby - and it was only 70 pesos. It wasn´t right in the center of town, but it was a short walk. It has no elevator, but we are on the second floor (actually, here, we´re on the first floor - but in the US it would be the second floor) so it´s not too much of a hike.

After a brief rest and some discussion of what to do next, we headed out for the tourist office to get more information. We asked about whether we could go to Port Williams in Chile, but were referred to a travel agency. We also asked about going to Antartica, since we are so close, but trips stopped in March. We decided to take the city tour at 4:30 for 15 pesos each, but we had about 40 minutes so we decided to walk around a bit. We headed down to the water (the Beagle Channel) and looked at some of the closed travel agencies where we could read about excursions and see some of the prices. We decided to take a boat trip that included stops at a seal colony, a bird colony, and a light house. We´re not sure about other trips yet. We then walked along the water where some kids were feeding the local birds, hoping we could join in. However, by the time we got there, they were chasing the birds. That turned out ok, though, because the wind was blowing pretty hard, making the 10 degree celsius temperature feel much much colder. We decided to spend the rest of the time at a cafe drinking hot chocolate. The time passed quickly and we had to quickly pay and make our way to the bus. The hot chocolates cost 6 pesos each, which was expensive compared to the one I had earlier.

The bus for the city tour was a double-decker former British bus, complete with the warnings about video surveillance and fines for smoking in pounds. We joined about 8 other tourists as the bus made its way around the city and the guide pointed out the former prison (now a base and museum) some of the notable houses, the chair lift, the hotel of the glaciers on the hill, etc, etc. We stopped for a while near the water where we could take pictures of the city and surrounding mountains. By this time, Michaela had fallen asleep and Margarita was forced to remain on the bus in order not to disturb Michaela´s sleep. When we got back on the bus, we were served our choice of tea or coffee with a small chocolate, which was nice. Our last stop was the museum at the site of the former prison. The first thing we saw outside the museum was a statue of a prison official frisking a prisoner with the prisoners arms out and legs spread. It looked to us like a monument to airport security in the US. The museum was 13 pesos each. One part of the museum contains a large number of beautiful scale models of many of the ships that are part of the history of Tierra del Fuego, including the HMS Beagle, on which Darwin was a passenger. There were also maps that showed the shipwrecks of the area over the last 400 years or so. The former prison was also featured but by this time, Michaela´s patience had worn out, so I was forced to carry her in my arms rather than in the backpack. This part of the museum features details about the construction of the prison (by the prisoners themselves) and information about some of the more famous prisoners (like Ricardo Rojas, a communist whose name I forget, and a young, short, big-eared murderer). Some of the prisoners were recreated in lifesize wood figures. I approached one with Michaela, and she moved away from it in the same way that she moves away from a stranger trying to pick her up. She thought it was real! After a short while of demonstrating that it was not real, she seemed to delight in touching it.

Soon thereafter, she became louder and I put her down on the ground so that she could crawl around. However, this wasn´t enough and I soon had her back in my arms. That is when she threw up over herself, me, the backpack, and the floor. What a foul-smelling mess. Of course, we had no napkins or anything to clean it up with, so we ended up using a diaper. Now we understood why Michaela had seemed so irritable earlier - she was sick. I offered to take Michaela back to the hotel so Margarita could see the rest of the museum but she refused and we made our way to exit the museum. On the way out, we were greeted by one of the museum´s officials, who had heard Michaela crying loudly and inquired what was wrong. Margarita explained that Michaela was sick and we were leaving the museum. The museum official offered to make a note on our tickets so that we could return at a later date free of charge, which we took advantage of. How nice!

We began walking back to the hotel and now Michaela, after throwing up, seemed fine. After a brief rest at the hotel, we headed out for dinner. Now we noticed that there weren´t many restaurants near our hotel, so we ended up at another tenedor libre where I went for the buffet and Margarita ordered ravioli. They didn´t have any ravioli, so canneloni was offered, and Margarita agreed. Unfortunately, it was spinach canneloni, which Margarita doesn´t like, and it wasn´t very good. On the other hand, I had an awesome selection of lamb, chorizo, and beef, which was delightful. Michaela, by this time, was so hungry that only milk would satisfy her, but we insisted on trying to feed her anyway, and ended up frustrating all of us. When we finally caved and gave her a bottle of milk, she was fine. Total for the meal, including two drinks, was 28 pesos. On the way back to the hotel, we got an ice cream for Margarita, who had barely eaten anything. Unfortunately, that wasn´t very good either. Not Margarita´s day.

All of the shops and signs around here say how Ushuaia is the end of the world, but it doesn´t really feel like it. It feels like just another town - not as touristy as Bariloche or even Calafate, but it doesn´t feel like we´re at any frontier or on the edge of civilization. Sayache in Guatemala felt much more frontier-like. As two signs have pointed out, American Express is the official card of Ushuaia (I am not kidding). There are large Amex ads on some of the tourist literature. Mastercard, on the other hand, is the official card of San Martin de los Andes (again, I am not kidding).

There is a great sign along the main street with arrows in all directions with the names of destinations and how far away they are. Tokyo seems to be the farthest, at 17,000+ km. The noth pole is only 16,000+ km.

Buenas tardes....

Tierra del Fuego National Park and a red fox

The first full day in Ushuaia started off with the typical breakfast and then off to change money since we had about 2.5 pesos left. We passed an exchange place where the rate was 2.91 pesos but we kept searching so we could compare at least two places. We walked a few blocks and found two banks but one had a really long line and neither published their rate, so we headed back to the exchange place. However, on the way, we found the travel agency that the tourist office had told us about the day before so we stopped to see if there were trips to Puerto Williams.

Puerto Williams is located south of Ushuaia across the Beagle Channel and is really the southernmost city. I was just wondering if trips were available. Well one thing led to another and we have ended up hiring a sailboat to take us to and from Puerto Williams tomorrow. The price is kind of steep - $280, but hey, we´re here, and none of us have been on a sailboat before. We are the only passengers on a trip that will take 4 hours each way. On the way, we´ll be stopping by the Isla de los Lobos (sea lion island), a lighthouse, and an island with a bird colony.

After spending the last of our cash, we had a bit of an ordeal at an ATM as we tried to get 2000 pesos, then 1500 and 1000 with no success. Margarita was convinced that the ATM wasn´t working but I asserted that we were probably trying to withdraw too much money. After a couple of attempts at two different machines, we went to another bank to check our balance, because the ATM hadn´t given us any indication that there was a problem - just wouldn´t give us money, so were afraid that we might have withdrawn money without getting any, if you know what I mean. Anyway, at the next ATM, we checked our balance and it was ok, so we tried to get money. I suggested we try the maximum amount shown on the screen - 700 pesos, but Margarita insisted we try 1000 again, so I did and sure enough, it didn´t work. The next time I tried 700 and success!

We cash in hand, we headed for the place where we had seen the bus stop for buses to the Parque Nacional Tierra del Fuego. After a bit of walking, we found it and chatted up the man who greeted us. It was about 12:30 and the next bus left at 1pm so we headed back to the hotel to pack up and go. Margarita went to the confiteria to buy sandwiches, empanadas, and drinks for the trip, while I took Michaela to the hotel to pack. Forgetting about our time constraint, I allowed Michaela to crawl up the stairs to the room, which caused us to rush more than we would have liked. On the way out, we stopped for batteries for the digital camera at the kiosco across the street from the hotel. They didn´t have a full package of AA batteries hanging up, so they gave us what looked like 4 duracell batteries wrapped in plastic for just 4 pesos. At the time, I didn´t think anything of it - more on that later.

We had just 5 minutes to catch the bus now, so Margarita and I split up, since I was moving faster than she was. We didn't want to miss the bus because the next one was at 2pm, and that would make us run late. Being so far south means we don't get much daylight. The sun sets at about 6pm and it rises at about 9am. Later in the winter, there are only 7 hours of daylight. I reached the bus before Margarita and it was still waiting for us, fortunately. For 20 pesos each, the bus would take us to the park and pick us up either at 4pm or 6pm. The 'bus' was basically a s