Entre Rios

Benjamin tomó su primer mate! No le gusta mucho pero ahora ya esta!

Sobre el puente de provincia de Buenos Aires y en Entre Rios provincia. Nosotros vamos a Gualeguaychu a visitar Chris y su familia y tambien a ir la carnaval. La Carnaval en Gauleguaychu es muy famoso y popular en todo Argentina. Por 10 fin de semanas, mucha gente van a Gualeguaychu para la fiesta. Yo estuve poco decepcionado y aburrido porque esto era muy lento y sacado. Despues cuatro horas nosotros salimos y todavia no era terminado. Me gustaria la fiesta, pero dos horas fue bastante.
La proxima dia era excelente. Nosotros eramos muy suerte...fuimos la Fiesta del Caballo...me encanta. Millones de gauchos, caballos, riquisimo asado, vino tinto. Yo compre un cuchillo, muy bueno y una manta para los caballos que uso en la pared en mi casa. Nosotros veiamos un juego muy divertido con hamsters en los cajas...divertido pero no divertido tambien! Los gauchos son muy listo y los demonstraciones eran muy excepcionales-que bueno!
Estabamos nadando en la playa Ñandu Baysel ... mirar los fotos. Ñandu Baysel esta una playa en el Rio Uruguay...muy bueno. Me encanta las paraguas alla...no hay nada como estan paraguas en Nueva Zelanda. Necesita que tomar su propio paraguas.
Nosotros viajamos arriba la provincia a Las Palmares, un parque nacional con arboles Palmares. Estupendo! Nunca en mi vida tengo yo visto tantas palmeras que cultivan au naturale. Muy hermoso. Y los carpinchos salvaje tambien, era muy hermoso. Nosotros quedamos en el carro de tren en desuso. La cama fue muy comoda y fui muy cansada, entonces dormi muy bien.

Nosotros pasamos un dia en las termas de Salto, Uruguay....divertido. Yo encontre una pareja muy buena para practicar mi espanol. Yo compre una carpa para carpamiento entonces nosotros tenemos mas dinero para alimentos y cosas mas bien mas que dormir.

Nosotros tuvimos una experiencia muy divertido cuando cruzar la frontera a Uruguay. We tried to use the wrong side of the customs exit when we were in the car.....the guard came over and by this time we knew we were in the wrong place.....and Elias very genuinely said to the guard "como te va?", like there was no reason why should not be where we were.....the guard just smiled and pointed us in the right dirrecion, but it was really muy divertido, and we have been laughing about it ever since. Thank God there are some guards around Argentina with a sense of humour.

La Pampa

Elias familia

Mendoza

Vino Tinto - mmmmmm divino
Aconcagua and Andes - spiritual
Cabalgatas -
White Water Rafting -
Hamaca Paraguayas

San Juan

Valle de la Luna
Rodeo
Las Flores
Mountain Road - muy peligroso

Rodeo y Las Flores
Las parejas muy buena…compartir bebidas y sandia con nosotros. Buenisimo!

La Rioja

Parque Nacional Talampaya - espectacular, magnifico, sin palabras.
Nosotros montamos unos bicicletas y entramos en este cañon hermoso. La temperatura estaba probablamente cerca a 40 grados o mas tal vez....pero esto valió la pena cada gota de transpiracion.
El guia encontró una pluma de el condor y nos lo dio....la pluma fue muy grande. Just as quickly and easily as we got it, NZ Customs took it off us and destroyed it, because they are trying to discourage trade in endangered species, of which the Andean Condor is listed. I think that is terrible.....not only did we not buy it (it was found in the wild), they then destroy it, instead of putting it somewhere where other people can see it, like in a bird museum or something.....I wouldn´t have minded so much if that was what they did, but to destroy it is a crime. So the photo is a very unglamorous me after a 14 hour flight standing at NZ Customs before handing it over.

Córdoba

Capilla del Monte - OVNI town
Los Terrones - espectacular
Ongamira - Las pinturas se faltan
Córdoba la ciudad
Alta Grácia - Flying Fox
Villa Belgrano - Brunnen Beer

Capilla del Monte - Córdoba
Sierras, Los Condores, UFO’s, Leyendas
Driving through the Punilla Valley we found Cerro Uriturco, the highest peak of the Sierras Chicas which is the backdrop to this very picturesque town. A lively little place with the excellent Calabalumba campsite….which includes a lovely man with a very lovely basket with even lovelier homemade food al dentro which he was selling to campers - I had the most riquisimo banana, coconut y dulce de leche torta in the world….so riquisimo that I found I needed more, so I had go for a walk and find him and his basket and buy another.
An interesting conversation that buzzes around this town is the amount of OVNI sighting and energy centres that have occurred here. While we were driving around we saw at least two houses that were built in the shape of OVNI´s.
A short drive out of Capilla del Monte….Where los Cóndores fly…..a memorable journey up a very long 5km dirt track brought us to Los Terrones. Oh the indescribable beauty…multi coloured rocks in strange twisted shapes. We walked for two hours up to the top – sadly no Cóndores, but such a magnificent view from the top of the world. I loved this part of the country.
On to Ongamira to see the grutas….another 12 kms of dirt track…Elias’ poor car…and when we got there – no paintings because they have been “lost”. Very disappointing to not be able to see the ancient art works of pre-hispanic people and to think that they are lost forever is very very sad, but we had a great walk.

Alta Gracia
At the northern entrance to the Calmuchita Valley and the town where Che Guevara spent some of his youth in the 1930s. There is a really great museo dedicated to Che…it has his motorcycle, school records and personal correspondence to family, clothes that he used during his life as a revolutionary and many photographs. Gained a greater insight into his life.
Stayed at the worst camp site in the world here....it was totally awful....but we were there for the best ever international food fiesta. Its was totally buzzing.

Villa Belgrano
El mejor cerveza en el mundo – but even better than that was the ride across the river/lake on the flying fox….brilliant! so glad we took the time to come back and do this the next day.

Donde a Empezar ... Wandering Around Argentina

Estuve el mejor adventure con mi hijo Benjamin y mi amigo en un millon Elias ... no se donde a empezar. Al principio es un lugar bueno,

I have had the best adventure with my son and my friend in a million ... i dont know where to start but I guess the beginning is the best place .... read on above

¿Two to Tango?

Zorzal Criollo (Creole Songbird) was a name that Carlos Gardel was known by. Argentinas most well loved and famous tango singer, Gardel is buried in La Chacarita Cementerio and his tomb is the most visited in Buenos Aires, if not Argentina.

Today I visited the tomb - it certainly is very impressive...topped by a life size statue of him in a very rakish pose, the slicked back hair and wide grin in place...usually there is a real cigarette between his fingers and sometimes a red carnation in his pocket (check the photos), certainly there are always flores at his grave. In fact while I was standing there an old man came and laid some hastily picked flores there. There are several flower stalls outside the gates to the cementerio for this purpose. Amazing! The surrounding stonework is completely filled up with plaques of gratitude from all manner of people and from all over the world. One plaque is from a very grateful mujer whose husband suffered from depression, and she attributes his recovery in a large part to her husband being able to listen to the songs of Carlos - its very lovely to read the tributes.

The great Argentine writer Borges wrote that "the Tango was born in the brothels", nobody really knows where Tango was born, but it certainly developed amongst the Porteños....the people of the port areas of Buenos Aires....and its bordellos and bars. It is generally agreed that Tango was born in the melting pot of all the the different European immigrant groups, crillos, blacks and natives, that were all drawn together when the city became the capital of Argentina in 1880. "Tango was thus forged from a range of musical influences that included
Andalucian flamenco, southern Italian melodies, Cuban habanera, African candombe and percussion, European polkas and mazurkas, Spanish contradanse and the milonga, which is the rural song of the Argentine gaucho. It is a music imbued with immigrant history." Because of the proportionalely high population of men compared to women, machismo and violence became part of the culture and originally only men danced together in the low class cafes and bars practicing new steps. Their dances tended to be showy but threatening, usually revolving around a possessive relationship between two men and one woman.

While visiting the barrio of La Boca en Octubre I was lucky enough to see two men dancing the Tango together - it was really something and extremely physical and showy. Photo below.

While I was at the cementerio I met a very lovely man who proceeded to take me the tomb of Carlos Gardel and gave me a very quick run down on the man...for about an hour, and I am pleased to report that I understood almost everything he said. Some people I find very easy to understand but others are so very difficult. However, today I felt very encouraged...I just wish my speaking would come along. My reading and listening has improved so much, but the speaking bit is so difficult. I am so worried about it that I think I many have developed a mental block.

Ahora en Castellano:

Zorzal Crillo era un nombre que Carlos Cardel era conocia. El era mas amado y muy famoso cantante de tango - es terrado en el cementerio de la chacarita y su lapida esta el mas visitado en Buenos Aires, si no en Argentina.

Hoy visite el lapida y seguramente esta estupendo. Una estatua esta arriba el lapida y usualmente hay un cigarillo entre sus dedos y a veces hay una flor en su bolsillo, y siempre hay muchos flores en su lapida.

Breakthrough

The most amazing thing just happened.....
One of the most difficult things to do when listening to a new language is to understand people on the telephone, and up until now it has been a bit "hit and miss" and most of the time I cant do it because of the speed that native speakers talk.
Well, the phone just went, and it asked me to wait while they transferred my call...I thought to myself shall I just hang up and save myself and the poor person on the other end the stress of trying to understand, because ususally these calls are about something I have no clue about and doesnt concern me anyway because I rent the apartment....but I thought, no, I´ll give it a go - and brilliant, brilliant, brilliant...I understood everything, well not exactly every word but I knew what they were trying to sell...they were trying to get me to change cable television and internet companies and were offering a special deal. Very encouraging.