Navidad en Argentina

Just got back from a family trip (I call it a 'trip' instead of a 'vacation,' because 'vacation' implies relaxation) to Argentina over the Christmas holiday. In spite of the inevitable inconveniences and outbreaks of insanity that come with international travel with 3 small children, we had a good time. You may have seen those picture perfect families with the really well-behaved kids and the really patient parents during your travels...that is not our family. But somehow we made it work and nobody was seriously injured.

IGUAZU FALLS


The first leg of our trip was to Iguazu Falls. If you don't know anything about Iguazu Falls, it is located where the Argentine, Brazilian, and Paraguayan borders meet. There are 2 major rivers that come together there and it creates some spectacular waterfalls.

The coolest part was taking a powerboat up the river right up to the base of the biggest waterfall, la 'garganta del diablo' (devil's throat). Everybody gets soaked, which is good, because it is jungle, crotch-pot cookin' hot there!!



COLONIA, URUGUAY

The second leg was a day trip we took from Buenos Aires to Colonia. Colonia is a little Spanish/Portuguese colonial town that is directly across the Rio de la Plata from Buenos Aires. To get there you take a high speed ferry boat (cool). The town itself is rather sleepy, with lots of antiques stores, tourist shops, and old architecture. Cool if it's just you and your spouse enjoying a nice meal and shopping for antiques, not so cool if you have three kids in two. We went with our friends the Gibsons (2 kids). All told, Colonia was just OK for me, but at least I can cross Uruguay off of my countries to visit list.

BUENOS AIRES

Buenos Aires is great city. I'd been a few times before, but this was the first for Tiffany and the kids so we did a city tour. We took in the full flavor of the capital, including a little neighborhood called La Boca, which is really a lower class neighborhood made famous by it's colorful houses, tango clubs, and artists.

Gringos en la Boca

Here I am showing off my mad tango skills...

As you can see, I have some serious moves...

this Argentine girl was blown away.

Tiffany got so insanely jealous...

that she started to tango with this rico suave tango maestro

ZOO LUJAN

Have you ever had the desire to sneak up behind a 400 lb sleeping tiger and pat him on the belly? How about putting your little children into a cage full of lions? No? Then the Lujan Zoo in Argentina is just not for you.

I heard about this place from a co-worker. Only in South America (or perhaps Africa) could a place like this exist as a legitimate business. They actually let you physically interact with wild beasts...under the supervision of teenagers who probably make about 3 dollars an hour and receive about 3 hours of formal training. The place is AWESOME!! I won't lie, sidling up to the big cats scared me...(visions of Siegfried...or was it Roy?).

"He's gonna kill you"

Elephant rides...

2 chicks holding chicks

nice monkey...please don't poop on me

nice tiger...see that white stuff on his leg?

They sprinkle milk on his paws so he 'perks up' for the photo op


Not so perky here...

Mya playing with the lion cubs



Is he dead?


Me and Jake riding camel back

Feliz Navidad

Just wanted to say Merry Christmas to family and friends. We will be traveling in Argentina next week. Looking forward to spending time at Iguazu Falls, Buenos Aires, and Uruguay. Should have lots to blog about...

At this time of year, we especially miss our loved ones in the U.S.A.

http://www.starwoodhotels.com/sheraton/property/photos/index.html?propertyID=1152

Ciudad de Mexico

Last week I had a business trip to Mexico City. Even though I've traveled all around Latin America and I'd been there before, that place still scares me. 25 million people live in the distrito federal...the place is jungle. One day I was taking a cab back to my hotel from a meeting. We came to a street that was blocked off by the police and the taxi driver says to me: "Well, the street is blocked, you'll have to walk from here." To which I reply: "Are you kidding? I don't even know where I am!!" He assured me my hotel was only a few blocks away...

Having grown up in Southern California, I LOVE Mexican food. With all due respect to my Chilean friends...your food is bland and boring. I ate at some awesome restaurants in Mexico. But the best meals by far are the ones you eat off the street...fast food, mexican style


This is the little taco stand on the corner near my hotel...

5 tacos al carbon for a little over 2 bucks

This is the gigantic rotating mound of meats. I have no idea what they call this in Spanish, but it is basically meat on a stick. It has bacon, beef, chicken, and who knows what other animals on there. How did they get all that meat on that stick? I don't want to know. I just want to savor the flavor

This guy is an artist. He shaves that meat off there and puts it on a fresh corn tortilla with some cilantro, onion and bit of pineapple. Top that with salsa...MONEY!!

Futbol Chileno

Wednesday night we went to a world cup qualifying game between Chile and Argentina. A little soccer history here: the Chilean team had NEVER beaten the Argentine team in any soccer match of any consequence...until now.

History was made. Chile won 1-0...and WE were there.

This defeat was so humiliating for Argentina (a world-renowned soccer powerhouse) that their coach resigned a day later. It was nice to see the Chileans (who have a profound inferiority complex) win something for a change.

Me and the Tiffer Nihat and I (in our official Chilean soccer jerseys)

Victor and Monica

The statium holds 80,000 people...

but don't expect cushy seats, cup holders, or good food

They have some very creative chants and sayings for the opposing team

Most involve some type of 'groseria' (cuss word) coupled with 'tu madre'

The winning and only goal of the night...Tiffany got it on video!
The roar of the crowd when they scored was amazing

Good times

Final Ski of the Season

My ski season came to a premature end, due to a broken hand suffered playing basketball.

Maybe I am getting too old for contact sports...

Anyway, I decided to post a few photos and videos from this past winter. Mostly because I wanted to learn how to embed videos from youtube into my blog. Blogger gives you a 100 mb max for videos, which is somewhat restrictive. So I opened a youtube account to see how this works.

My ski buddies were Nihat (my Turkish coworker and fellow expat amigo) and Tano, Nihat's quasi-cousin and all around fun dude to hang around with. I'm not even sure what his real name is, but his nickname is Tano.

goofing around...amatuer Warren Miller.

Why am I skiing with 2 sets of poles?

So Tano can take pictures...dude takes a lot of pictures

Lunch time: burgers, fries and empanadas. Disneyland prices.

Nihat and I

This place is called Tres Puntas, because you can see three peaks from there. Right behind me (almost spitting distance) is El Plomo, 18,000 feet. If you look closely you can see the glacier on the front side. I am planning to hike it this summer...should make for a good blog entry.

A Better Way (to waste your weekend)

The great thing about living overseas is that weekends are for fun. It seems when we lived in the U.S., we wasted far too much quality weekend time working on home projects, mowing lawns, or taking trips to Costco. Living here in a rented house, we really don't have a lot of domestic responsibilities, we have maids and gardeners for that sort of thing. This give us more time to explore the surrounding areas, or just hang out at one of the many shopping malls.

Pomaire

Pomaire is a little tourist trap town about 100 kms from Santiago. The town speciality is clay pottery, but you can find all sorts of arts & crafts-type stuff: hand made sweaters, paintings, dolls, etc. Of course, Tiffany loves the place. I don't get too excited about the products being peddled, but I do like some of the traditional chilean food you can buy there, like gigantic empanadas.

We witnessed this on the drive out to Pomaire. It defies all the laws of physics, as well as basic common sense. This little van is about a third of the size of your average Honda Odyssey. I like to call it a 'skinny van.' This particular van appeared to have the contents of an entire village stacked on top of it. Absolute classic.

Bienvenido a Pomiare...

I smell some gringo dollars

All major credit cards accepted

The sign says 'don't touch the bells'

Mmmmm...a delicious plate full of pig shoulder...looks sooo good.

Jake and I in our favorite pose: me holding him.

These ladies make the delicious wood-fire baked empanadas. The lady in the back was snobbing the photo op...probably mumbling something about Yankee imperialism.

A chilean Huaso (cowboy) serenades Mya

Juxtaposition of Jumpy Town

Just to demonstrate that Chile is not all rustic pueblos and poor villagers, I'm throwing in some video taken at InflaMania, one of those inflatable playland-type places at our local mall. Our kids go crazy for the place. Chileans are very proud of their shopping malls. They are pretty much like any high-end mall in the US, except everything is twice as expensive.

Foot in Mouth: Had to include this little gem. Jake fell asleep while doing time. He was sentenced to a 3 minute "time out" for bad behavior, during which he apparently slumped over and fell asleep on the sofa.

Enjoying the Andes

One of the few things I enjoy about my morning commute to work in Santiago is seeing the snow blowing off of the top of 'Cerro Plomo,' an 18,000-foot Andes mountain peak visible (on a clear day) to the east of the city. I went to college in Utah, which has some pretty spectacular mountains, but nothing compared to the Andes.

Two weekends ago, after a fresh snow, we drove up the mountain (clarification: not to the top of el Plomo) to take the kids sledding. The scenery was amazing, and the sledding wasn't too bad either (no major injuries reported).

They are not kidding...the drive up can be a bit 'peligroso' and requires intestinal fortitude.

The hills were alive....with the sounds of kids whining.

Jake digs it

Our friends the Alomias

"I want to do it again"

Skiing in the Andes - July 2008

Last weekend we took our first ski trip as a family to Valle Nevado, a ski resort about 45 miles from Santiago (45 miles up one of the windiest, steepest roads you've ever seen). Tiffany took a snowboarding class, Hailey and Mya took a ski class, while Jake just played in the snow (with a little adult supervision). After a hearty lunch of peanut butter sandwiches (brought from home), Tiffany took a turn watching the kids and I went out for a ski. The conditions were great and the skiing was awesome. At the end of the day we were treated to one of the most amazing sunsets I've ever witnessed.

Check out pictures above and videos below...