Blogs from South America

As I write this entry, it is actually May 9, and we are actually still in Puerto Iguazu, an unexpected turn of events, which will all be explained in my May 9 Post. I am a bit frustrated as well as the website that hosts my blog is having serious issues, first none of us could even access it and now having issues loading photo’s. This is causing a delay in posting until that issue is resolved, which means you all will be getting three to four notices of new blog entries at the same time. (This issue was resolved right before posting this) Yesterday was all about the Iguazu National Park, home of the Iguazu Falls. It is a very large park, and the falls are more impressive than Niagara, even Eleanor Roosevelt said so. ... read more

The day started as any other day, sans work stress. A quick Breakfast, then off for the day. Our first stop was to exchange money. The first time we did this the rate was 1,000 pesos to the dollar. Today, it was going to be the same, until they looked at the $100 bills, because they were older the rate dropped to 970 pesos to the $1. Tip here is make sure all of your $100 bills, are the new one’s with the security stripe, otherwise you get a bad exchange rate. Later in the day, we discussed this with the concierge, he said it is just how Argentina is, there is no consistency in how the currency is treated. It is so bad that banks will not take anything less than $100 to exchange. He ... read more

The cooking class comes a bit earlier in our trip than normal, but finding one here was very difficult. I am always looking for hands on, not stand and watch and they are becoming more difficult to find. Perhaps part of the problem is that people just don’t cook anymore, especially those under 40. By cooking I mean, doing more than opening up a delivered box and heating up, I mean actually cook, from scratch, with spices and herbs and real food. Ok, I will stop the rant of the destruction of society before I go down the rabbit hole to far. Before the cooking class was of course breakfast. The selection was not much different, except we did learn that they will not only make omelets for you but cook your eggs anyway you would ... read more

So it begins, another trip, another travel day. There is no easy way to get to Buenos Aires from Providence and flying out of Providence just adds another layover. So, the day started at 5:00 in order to get ready and then be to the train station by 8:00. Phase one, Acela to Boston, which is a quick 38 minutes to South Station. Phase 2, the Silverline 1 bus to the airport. This is a quick 20 minutes (without traffic) to the airport and directly to your terminal. The bus was pretty empty and there was no traffic. Phase 3, check in and TSA precheck. Easy as pie, the entire check in and security took 15 minutes. The screws in my ankle did set off the scanner, but other than that no issues. We are now ... read more

It is very hard country. Dry country. Stony country. Arid country. Barren country. A barely hospitable landscape. Sand and grit, rock and pebble. Desert mountains and empty seaward lowlands. Not semi-arid. For vast tracts there is no vegetation. A single very hardy thistle of spiky grass, or rare cactus, startles. It is so ugly it is almost beautiful. The Peruvian desert, that includes most of the nation's western flank between the Andes Mountains and Pacific Ocean, is not of any exceptional width, between 100km and 200km. But it is a long land of nigh nothing, a moonscape, running near the length of the country, 3,000km, 10 percent of the nation. A few tatty towns dot the local base of the raised spine along the entire continent: from heavy snow and 'Swiss lakes' in deep-south Patagonia northwards ... read more