Easter Island - August 2009

Easter Island is a pretty fascinating place - it's basically in the middle of nowhere - about 2100 miles west of Chile in the middle of the pacific. This is the kind of place you should visit as part of a tour of Chile, or perhaps Tahiti. Lots of people spend a couple of days here on their way to or from Tahiti. Bottom line, it's not worth your money to do an exclusive Easter Island vacation, unless you are an archeologist or something. This island is not very developed, there are no large hotels or resorts here (yet). The locals are nice Polynesians and the feeling is laid back. There is some tension between the native Polynesian people and the Chileans who migrate there as well as the Chilean government. This is similar to the tension that exists with certain Hawaiians against the US.

I recommend spending no more than 3-4 days here. In that time you can see everything there is to see. All of the lodging here is small, bed & breakfast, family run stuff. Nothing fancy. There is really only one decent beach for swimming/snorkeling. I didn't have the chance to scuba dive there - but I've heard it's pretty good. Our itinerary was something like this:
Day One: rent a car - drive around the island, see all the Moais (stone head carving), checked out Anakena beach. Ate some fish. Took lots of pictures of the Moais
Day Two: Horseback riding excursion. Saw several caves along the coast. Nice scenic ride.
Day Three: Rented ATVs. Absolute blast. Where else can you ride ATVs over sacred archeological sites. In the afternoon we checked out the largest of the volcanic craters.

Tearing the landscape on 4 wheelers...cool

Hailey and Mya in front of the crater

Una cabalgata

the Moais

Riding cross the land, kicking up sand, sheriff's posse on our tail cause we're in demand

Archaeological sites, kids, and farm animals

Poser

Why so SERIOUS?

These 5 Moais represent our family...I'm the fat one with the cool hat.

Patagonia - Tierra del FUEGO

In March we took a trip to Patagonia, at the southern tip of Chile. It's an amazing region with lots of mountains, lakes, glaciers, and wildlife. We flew to Punta Arenas, which is the southernmost city in the world. From there we rented a car and drove to Puerto Natales and then on to Torres de Paine national park. Great trip.

On the boat on Lago Grey...Glacier in background

Lago Grey beach...swimming not recommended

Mya

Tiffany took this in Puerto Natales...really nice shot.

Tiffany on Lago Grey

The glacier at Lago Grey

Torres del Paine National Park

View of the Torres from our cabin on the Rio Serrano

View of the Torres from inside the park

Rooftop pool at our hotel in Puerto Natales

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.