Washing machine ala Betty

Cascada Los Cantaras

One of the highlights of our lake cruise was the climb to the top of the Cascadas Los Cantaras. Absoutely beautiful going up and a spectacular lake at the top where the falls originate. The climb up is through a rainforest. Not a great pic but the best I could do with this self portrait from my phone.

Climb to Cascada Los Cantaras

An easy climb up through the rainforest to a secluded moutain lake. Not much of a challenge but this series of wooden steps which took abut 45 minutes to climb did allow almost anyone to see the sights including the falls and the rainforest.

Llao Llao Resort

This is a view of the resort from the Circuito Chico - the popular scenic drive in Bariloche. Llao Llao is considered by many to be the premiere resort in Bariloche, right on the lake and with a golf course. Just out of the picture on the right hand side are the boat docks where you can take a tour of the lake area. This lake is also the start of the Andes "lake crossing" into Chile, which involves several lakes and a series of buses but which is one of the most popular and scenic ways to cross the mountains into Chile from Argentina.

Tarquino restaurant Bariloche

A charming Patagonian family owned restaurant with a big Cypress tree growing through it, and the now familiar menu of trout, beef, venison, beef, chorizo, beef, beef or beef. I had trout and John had some of the best beef we have had since coming to Argentina. The building is very typical of the area with a log-cabin construction and feel. The town was settled by Swiss and Germans (including famous Nazis like Adolf Eichmann who lived here openly for years) so you see a lot of similar building styles and have some of the best chocolate in the world. Bariloche is primarily a ski resort but its lakes and scenery make it popular all year long.

Sunnier view from room

What a difference a day makes! Although it did snow this morning, tomorrow will be even better weather, and we are taking a big boat ride -- should be good.

Magnificent Patagonia, miserable weather

After an oh so relaxing flight from BA we arrived in Bariloche to pouring rain and temps in the low 50's. They say it's been raining here for two days but there was a break just long enough to get this shot of the view from our room across Lake Nahuel Huapi. The Andes are just beginning to peek through the gloom. Still mostly covered in snow at the very beginning of summer, the mountains look magnificent. This picture from my phone does not begin to do justice to the scene. We hope for better weather tomorrow and some shots that will give you an idea of how incredible this actually looks.

Flight attendant, do you think you should let him do that?

Today we said goodbye to sunny, warm BA and boarded our flight to Bariloche. Looked like an almost empty plane for the 2.5 hours flight until wait, what's that commotion down the concourse? Why yes, of course, it's the arrival of the 70 or so 12 year olds (90% boys) who are on our flight. Need I say more? No button was left unpushed, no seat left in one position for more than 5 seconds, no camera flash fight too long for this crew. Naturally there was the screaming, group singing, applause etc. Do I look happy?

Antonitos Market

This butcher shop is directly across the street from our apartment. This is a working wholesale/retail shop, not a fancy Dean and Delucca type, but very nice inside. It's been in business since the mid-1800s. The sign reads roughly "Free Range Chickens - Piglets - Steaks - Fruit". It's a beautiful old building except for the ever present BA graffiti. Great to wake up in the morning and watch the fresh fruit being unloaded and stacked on the sidewalk for display and sale.

Dinner at Osaka in Buenos Aires Palermo Hollywood area

This sushi looks like it was swimming for its life, and lost! But it was delicious. A Peruvian-Japanese fusion restaurant with a seriously different menu and modern twist on everything from music to menu, Osaka was empty when we showed up at 8:30 after opening, then filled like a sardine tin for the rest of the night. A popular place for good reason. The salmon on the right was swimming in a passion fruit sauce - delicioso!

Floralis Generica

Located in Plaza Naciones Unidas, this sculpture is an homage to the many beautiful flowers in BA. It's huge; maybe 30 feet tall. The coolest thing is that it opens every morning and closes each evening. It's now late spring/early summer so the spring flowers are just about past, kids just got out of school for summer vacation, and the main summer holiday season (Jan-Feb) is about to begin. It's a great time of year to be here.

Our apartment in Buenos Aires, Palermo Soho

A great apartment in an area we'd describe as a cross between NYC's SoHo and the Meatpacking District. There is a store below (with the orange awning in the picture), an apartment, then the next three floors are our apartment. First floor is kitchen and living-dining with 1/2 bath, second is bedroom and full bath, and third is a huge rooftop terrace. We look over an intersection where there is something happening 24x7 - you can watch for hours and never cease to be be amazed by what happens below. 6am Sunday morning was about the loudest it got when the people who were out finally called it a night.

Evita's place at Recoleta Cemetery

This is Eva Peron's family crypt. As I said, fairly unassuming compared to many but certainly one of the most visited. Note the plot is in her family name - Duarte.

Recoletta Cemetery

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A fascinating place. I've never been in a cemetery where everyone is buried in an above ground mausoleum. That's Recoletta. Just a network of narrow alleys flanked on either side by family crypts as you can see from the picture above. These are purchased outright, so like any other neighborhood some are kept immaculately and some . . . well some look like the body might just spill out of the casket at any moment. Most have either open grates or glass doors so you can see into the crypt. The caskets are not encased in anything. They are just sitting there. So many small ones, very sad. Where the glass is broken or some other deterioration exposes the crypt to the elements the rain comes in and the caskets have begun to deteriorate. This happens when the last person in the family dies or there simply isn't anyone willing or financially able to maintain the plot. You can see ceilings caving in, bushes growing out of caskets, and even trash that people have thrown in. Many of course are spectacular. The cost of a very small plot is about $55,000 US, which will get you an apartment in BA. Most people want to see Eva Peron's burial place. We have a picture in the next post. It's pretty out of the way and fairly unassuming under the circumstances. It is a most interesting place to visit and we regretted a little that we did not join one of the tours. Most interesting story. Rufina Cambaceres, a young girl who appeared to have died in the early 1900s but may actually have been in a coma. She was buried alive. Sometime after she was interred workers heard screams coming from her casket. When they opened it they found scratches on the lid and on on her face from trying to escape. Unfortunately she had died - this time for real. Uh, no thanks.

Happy Hour on our roof terrace

Not being able to wait for the typical 10 pm start to happy hour, we started enjoying champagne on our roof deck with the antipasto plate we had assembled from my favorite grocery store. There is also a place to eat up there, a sun cover over part of the deck and a nice grill.

Bragging about low costs of Argentine living

Prices here are great. A subway ride anywhere is about 25 cents. But one of the best things is the cost of food. We just went to the grocery store and what's pictured on the table is what we bought, including a bottle of red wine, a bottle of Chandon champagne, a one litter bottle of Stella beer, a package of chorizo, a package of ham, blue cheese, Brie, two apples, an avocado, a loaf of bread, a package of flat breads, and a roll of per towels. Total cost? Just over $30 dollars!

More graffiti in Buenos Aires

There is some very interesting but sometimes scary looking stuff There are actually well organized proper tours of graffiti in Palermo as it's considered (and is) really legitimate work!

Pasta primavera a la Betty

Betty made this delicious pasta primavera with homemade pasta from the shop down the street. It may be vacation but the cooking goes on . . . . . Just another great reason to have an apartment with a kitchen. Well at least from my perspective.

Graffiti

BA is a little like NYC 30 years ago when it comes to graffiti. It's everywhere, and while that's not a good thing you can see some interesting stuff.

Great empanadas!

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Food here is terrific and cheap. There is this great shop right down the street from our apartment that sells fantastic homemade pasta and these delicious empanadas. Great place to stop on the way home and they will heat them up if you want. $1.00 each.

Picture problem

It's not that we don't have a ton of pics but we forgot the camera kit for our iPads so no way to download them from our cameras. Lesson learned the hard way. There is no Apple store in BA, hard to believe. We finally found a supplier who had the camera connector for $80 US. Sells for $30 at home so we said no thanks. Will try to send some pics from our phones. Weather here is great but we have been laid up with bad colds. We love Palermo Soho and definitely picked the right place to stay. Having an apartment is a big plus. Ours is second and third floors with a rooftop terrace on the fourth. Great place to hang with a glass of wine and watch the street below. Hoping to get back on track tomorrow with more news.

Our apartment in Buenos Aires

Soler 4701-4799, Buenos Aires, Capital Federal, Argentina

Cerveza Numero Uno

Somebody had to have it.