Buenos Aires

Our days in Buenos Aires were far more relaxing than I expected. Our first day we bought some groceries and then just lounged around the apartment (still recovering from Mendoza and our early morning flight). We had dinner reservations so eventually we motivated enough to get dressed and head out. 

Dinner was an eight course tasting menu with wine pairings. In other words, we followed up two full days of drinking with seven plus glasses of wine with dinner. The food was fabulous and the restaurant was nice enough to swap out seafood for Dan and I with equally delicious foods.

As a result of our night out, we took advantage of the blackout blinds in our rooms and slept in rather late. Given the gloomy, rainy weather on day two, we opted to check out the Recolleta cemetery. Finding the cemetery itself was much easier than finding the entrance but once we did we made our pilgrimage to Evita's tomb. I was a bit surprised to find it adorned with flowers left by other pilgrims but happy to discover no tears on the cheeks of other visitors (she would have hated that).

By this point we were rather wet so we made our way to a nearby cafe for a late lunch. We hung out at the cafe for several hours hoping for the rain to let up. It didn't so we venture back out in the rain. Dan headed home while Holly and I headed to a tango shoe store so that she could buy shoes prior to our upcoming tango lesson. Once in the store, I had to buy some new dance shoes too. They had so many more options than I've found in dance shoe stores in the US. 

The rain caused us to be a little late to our tango lesson but we caught on quick (or at least looked good in our new shoes). Even though we were only slowing gliding across the floor, we warned up quickly and had a great time. Now we just need to find more classes when we get home. 

After class we met up with Dan for dinner and another tasting menu (this time, 16 courses). We decided to skip the optional wine pairings this time and just order by the glass. By the time we finished dinner it was 12:30. We felt like real Argentineans. 

Days 3 and 4 started similar to the previous. Sleep in late and then take the subway into town. We were awed by the bookstore in a converted theater. Exercised our pinkies during high tea. Shivered as we browsed antiques in a poorly insulated warehouse. 

We finished of our trip with one final tango lesson followed by a tango show. During the show, we realized just how beginner our classes were. I'm not sure my feet are capable of moving fast enough to master the dance but I'm willing to try a few more lessons. Perhaps I will have to return to Argentina some day to see if I'm successful. Now back to the real world.

35 Wines

I guess when you live so close to the wine region it never occurs to you to go wine tasting two days in a row. However, we only had three days in Mendoza and spent two of them trying out two of the wine regions.

For our first tour we hired a private guide, Miguel, to take us to the Uco wine region. On this tour we stopped at the wineries. Each winery was both more generous than those in  the US with both information and wine. The "tastes" were nearly full glasses. By the time we made it to our lunch stop at the third winery, we were a bit buzzed. So much so that after lunch Holly and I found a nice spot in the sun for an hour-long siesta. Unfortunately, this left us a bit groggy for dinner. Since we booked our reservation several months in advance, we rallied but didn't find that restaurant was as good as the winery where we stopped for lunch.

Our second tour was a group tour to the Lujan region. We learned from our previous day to pace ourselves. Particularly important given that we had four stops on this tour. On this tour, in addition to tasting wines we also tried our hands at blending wines. After thinking mine tasted pretty good, we tied the winemaker's blend and decided to leave it to the professionals.

I think one of the most interesting things about the region is the fact that Mendoza is essentially a dessert at the foot of the Andes. The Andes provided a dramatic backdrop but apparently does not deliver a significant amount of water.

When all was said and done, we tasted somewhere in the realm of 35 wines in two days. Now we just have to figure out how to get our two plus cases home without incurring significant airline fees.

Perito Moreno

Our visit to El Calafate was more if a flyby than a real visit. Although our entire stay was just over 24 hours, we made the most of it. The purpose of the visit was to see the Perito Moreno glacier. 

We booked a tour to take us to the glacier and were a little dismayed to get picked up by a fifty person bus. Fortunately, the group was split into two groups for the tour and we were in the much smaller English speaking group. 

The glacier itself looked almost unreal. Fifty meter high sheer cliffs of ice rose out of the water. As we approached the glacier by boat it didn't look possible that we would be walking on it, but shortly after disembarking the boat we were standing on crampons and walking on the ice. From a distance, the ice looked smooth and slick, but as we got closer, much of it looked more like a large pile of hale. 

Walking up the glacier was not too difficult but when walking downhill we couldn't help but be surprised that they didn't require us to sign a waiver promising not to sue. For me, the highlight of walking downhill was watching Holly walk downhill. If it was less treacherous I would have filmed it so that I could watch it every time I needed some cheering up. Our guide Luis recognized Holly's discomfort and took it on himself to personally guide her back down the glacier for which she was extremely grateful. 

We celebrated our sage return to solid ground with a bit of whisky chilled by a chunk of glacier.

After the hike, we made one more stop before heading back to town. Because of the high winds we checked out several viewing platforms before hiding out in the cafe. 

Passport Problems

Our first morning on Easter Island, Christophe gave us a brief town tour. During this tour he mentioned that we could go to the produce post office and get an Easter Island stamp in our passports. We liked this idea and decided that we would head there on the following day when they were open (it was Sunday). When we arrived the next morning I realized that I didn't have my passport with me. I was surprised but not alarmed by this discovery. I just assumed that it must be back at the hotel and decided that I would just return to the post office on Tuesday. 

We spent the rest of the day touring the island and taking photos. When we returned to the hotel in the evening I went in search of my passport. I removed everything from all my bags but couldn't find it. Colleen also went through everything followed by Holly and Dan but to no avail. Next Colleen and I returned to the airport to ask there but they were closed for a couple hours. 

In the morning we went to PDI (Police station) and I spent about an hour with an officer filing a report. We each had phones on hand so we could use our translator apps as I struggled to explain the situation in Spanish and he struggled to ask questions in English. Meanwhile Holly and Dan went to the LAN office to see about changing our tickets to Santiago. We took a small break in the filing of the report when Holly's phone autocorrect mistakenly led me to believe the airline had my passport. 

Unfortunately our tickets were not changeable but I was able to purchase a new ticket for the flight leaving that afternoon back to Santiago so that I could have a day to go to the embassy. Colleen was generous in booking me a hotel room using her points so I wouldn't have to scramble to find a place to stay and within a couple hours I was on my way back leaving Holly and Dan on Easter Island (Colleen was already booked on this flight and heading back to the US).

Upon arriving in Santiago I immediately checked with the LAN office to see if they had found it (by this point we had to assume that it feel out of my bag on the plane to Easter Island). Although she seemed to be flipping through several passports, mine was not one of them. 

In the morning I walked to the embassy and began the process of getting a temporary party so that I could continue on to Argentina in the morning. This involved a lot of waiting with no entertainment (I had to give up my phone and kindle to security). Fortunately after a long wait, I was happy to learn that they would be able to get me a new passport that afternoon. 

It was a stressful and expensive reminder to always return my passport immediately to my wallet. But at least I discovered the error with enough time to do something about it and continue my vacation.

Rapa Nui

I really don't know what to say about Easter Island (Rapa Nui). I had been wanting to go for so long that I don't even remember what triggered it. I will say that it is even more magical than I expected. 

Our first full day on the island started with a few sights that are walking distance from town. First, we went to the museum for a little background info. Although interesting, we didn't learn much since Holly had been binge watching documentaries and passing her knowledge on to the rest of us. Next we went to our first ahu (platform for the moai). Ahu Tahai has the only moai with eyes - although, there are actually replications.

After lunch we rented a car and stopped at several sites on our way to the quarry. This was nothing like I expected (especially since it looked like a hill rather than a quarry). However it was amazing. We stayed until they closed and knew we hadn't seen enough. Just as we were about to leave we caught a glimpse of a rainbow in the distance ending on top of the most famous ahu on the island - Ahu Tongariki.

Day two started back at Tongariki followed by a return visit to the quarry. We weren't the only ones to try to catch the sunrise at Tongariki ( it was a bust - too many clouds) but we were the only ones to go to the quarry. So far nearly an hour we had it all to ourselves. In addition to the moai we'd already seen, we also found the kneeling moai (only one of its kind) and then checked out the crater on the other side of the hill. We found many partially buried and toppled moai there too.

Side note: How did we only learn a couple months ago that moai had bodies? Archeologists have been restoring the ahu for over 60 years. I'm guessing we just assumed because of photos from the quarry - particularly of my favorite moai which Holly named Edward.

After several more moai sightings, we went to dinner and traditional dance show. It was a lot like going to a luau in Hawaii but worth less fire and terrible drinks.

One more thing... You can see in the photo above that many moai have it had topknots (the red rock crowns on their heads). In San Francisco, you also see many men with topknots (aka man buns). Just like most of the moai lost there topknots over time, we can only hope for a similar fate for man buns.