I don't know if the big city blues made Mendoza my favorite side trip, but I do rank this city second to our Patagonia hiking excursion. Enjoying the beauty of the fall weather in Mendoza was a real treat; Sunny days, falling leaves, colorful surroundings and exceptionally friendly people, who spoke at a tempo other than a presto. Our activities were somewhat limited due to time. Regrettably, we didn't tell our language institutes, (where we work,) to bugger off. Instead, we did something completely North American and bended to the schedule of work and only had 3.5 days in this wonderful city. In order to accommodate our liking to the weather, we spent as much time as possible outside. Eating on the large sidewalk patios of restaurants (YES! they had large sidewalks!!), was more enjoyable with ... read more

Despite the rumor of La Boca neighborhood being overrated, Dain and I had to check it out for ourselves. The long, crowded bus ride and consumption of diesel fumes was enough to give Dain a headache before we even arrived. The short amount of time we spent (2.5 hours) in the area was enough to realize the crafts market was overpriced and the restaurants were desperate for customers. In fact, they forced flyers and verbal advertisements in our face relentlessly. Beyond the tourist are called Caminito, the streets were typically very poor. Most of the colorful photos (below) were taken within two blocks of Caminito. This area contains all the cliche photographs that perhaps are what most people think of when they hear about Buenos Aires. After strolling through the area, being very touristy ourselves, we ... read more

My long lasting birthday weekend was followed by an even longer Easter weekend, Semana Santa. Below you will find pictures from the St. Patrick's Day celebration and the side trips from Easter weekend. ... read more

Ah yes...we have an address! A difficult week long search led us to our Buenos Aires home, in a neighborhood called Palermo. So far we love it. Our studio apartment has complete kitchen, all dishes, utensils, Tupperware, coffeemaker, juice maker and more come with the apartment. The bathroom has a nice shower, great pressure and temperature, a stock of fresh towels are in the closet. There is an expandable table, a love seat sofa, a divider curtain, wood floor, closet space, a dresser, bed with sheets, TV with shows in English, cd player and balcony with a very green view. Our favorite feature of the apartment is the retractable, mini-garage door curtain. We pull down the curtain at night and shut the door to the kitchen and the apartment is completely blacked out from sun! Our ... read more

Now as Dain and I trekked into town against a very powerful windstorm, we were fully prepared to board our bus to El Calafate. In fact, we were completly comfortable on the bus with books in hand and the ticket taker came to tell us that our tickets are for tomorrow. With much confusion we exited the bus and just admitted that we were a day ahead and had to stay another night in El Chaltén. k Pitching the tent did not work in the wind, we luckily found a room last minute at El Rancho Grande. We cooked dinner and played cards with friends Morgan and Tasha and just drank wine and beer. The next morning we did not leave our pick-up point and waited patiently. As usual, the bus was late (we thought.) Fifteen ... read more