A group of us headed down to Long Beach for whale watching and it was the perfect day for it: over 80 degrees in January and plenty of whales in the ocean.
Archives for category: photos
Game night started with Settlers of Catan, but then Cameron and I finally had some takers for Super Jenga, a hypothetical game we’ve been itching to try since we realized we both had Jenga. What if we put the two Jenga sets….together? Into ONE TOWER??
Turns out, Super Jenga is more entertaining/nervewracking than we could have imagined, especially since the tower lasted way longer than we all anticipated. This was our Friday night, folks. 🙂
On our last day in Argentina I got up and packed, then ate an alfajor on the balcony and watched San Telmo wake up.
We hit Hipopótamo for breakfast croissants, ran across a fresh-meat truck, then went to the el Zanjón underground museum. It was super cool and we suspect the last-minute tour guide was the project manager, or maybe the owner of the property. He had a lot of fun inside stories about the discovery of the ruins and development of the project, and he clearly loved the project a great deal.
We took a cab to Belgrano to have lunch at a high-end restaurant called Sucre (on Calle Sucre). We had an amazing meal that would’ve cost at least $100 each in the US for about $30 each: i had Famiglia Bianchi sauvignon blanc 2007 (we split a bottle), risotto with orange, dried tomato, pine (matsutake) mushrooms and parsley, procuitto and cheese croquettes, dulce de leche volcano cake with green tea ice cream, orange chocolate cheesecake, and some dessert wines. The food was amazing, the service was fantastic, and the restaurant itself was a glass and cement masterpiece. The bar had a two story lighted wall of bottles, the door was a 10′ tall 4′ wide section of the wall that swung open effortlessly, and a large temperature-controlled wine vault dominated the dining room, while splitting it into different areas.
After lunch we walked across the street to Plaza Mexico and took some photos – we told a little story in stills that was hilarious at the time, but I’m not sure what the end result will look like.
We went back to San Telmo to finish packing, then walked to Puerto Madeira for dinner. We ate at a huge Italian-y place called Capisci (narrowly beating a tour bus-load of people) where I had the caprese cappionetta. We ran back to the apartment to meet our check-out time then took a taxi to the airport.
We took a cab to Congreso to have lunch at a Peruvian restaurant recommended by a couple of our guide books. But of course, since it’s Argentina, the restaurant wasn’t going to open until an hour later than posted. So, we went to la Moncloa for licuados and coffee to kill some time. Then we walked around the block a few times in an effort to avoid a creepy probably-homeless guy who was trying but not trying to sell some weird rings, and was (maybe) attempting to teach us some words in Spanish. We were all really uncomfortable until I remembered to say, “No molestar!” and we scurried away.
Finally Chan Chan opened, and it was really good! The restaurant was brightly painted (including the bathroom) and the food was plentiful and cheap. We ordered a ceviche sampler – five different kinds of ceviche – as an appetizer, but when it came out, each portion was big enough for a meal. I had lamb stew and there were some delicious little corn nut type things for snacks.
Sunday is market day in San Telmo, and we wanted to get some presents for people back home. Market day. Was. Crazy. The streets were completely filled with people – a complete about-face from the rest of our stay. We saw a great tango band, lots of neat antiques and jewelry, and a group of young people holding up signs offering free hugs! We went to Havana to buy dulce de leche and alfajores then headed back to the apartment to relax before dinner. On the way back, a pigeon flew by me and pooped on my foot. ON MY FOOT. AS I WAS WALKING. HOW!??? Anyway, luckily I was wearing flip flops so it easily washed off with water from one of our omnipresent bottles, but unluckily I was wearing flip flops so the poo was all over my bare toes and warm and slimy and so gross I wanted to cry.
We were at the apartment for an hour or so when we started to feel some weird vibrations. It was kind of a ‘Jurassic Park’ moment. It got closer and closer until we realized some drums were headed our way. We went out on the balcony and saw a drum and dance group heading down Defensa!
We had dinner at Manolo so we could have steak one last time. Cecile and I ate our entire steaks, making sure to slather them in Manolo’s delicious chimichurri.
Kind of on a whim, I decided to come to New York City for New Year’s since I’d never been before. I stayed with Travis at his place in Brooklyn. I spent my first afternoon wandering around SoHo, checking out the shops (and crazy packs of shoppers) while waiting for Travis to get off work. We went back to his place, changed, and headed back into the city to the Village. We ate at a great Thai place called Cafetasia and walked to Kate’s birthday party at Fat Cat Billiards. Fat Cat is in a big basement and has billiards, ping pong, tabletop shuffleboard, chess, scrabble, and who knows what else. Mike and Jon and Riana were there too! Eventually we had to leave because it was insanely hot and stuffy down there.
On New Year’s Eve, Travis and I made an obligatory trip to Times Square – we got there, I took two photos, and I said, "Ok. Let’s go." It was really cold and windy and snowing but already at NOON there were people lining the street, holding a place for the big celebration. These people had blankets (well, some of them did) and snow was slowly building up and drifting around them. CRAZY.
We walked down to Bryant Park to see the tree and ice skaters, then took the subway back down to SoHo for lunch. We met up with Travis’s coworker, Ed, and ate at The Cupping Room Café, where we saw a girl that totally looked like Nako.
Travis and I went back to his place and watched ‘Snatch’ then bought champagne, liquor and snacks and started getting ready for people to come over. By this time it was seriously windy and cold outside, so we weren’t sure how many people would actually venture out. We killed a good hour and a half with some Family Guy before Will stopped by. Then Kathleen, Tony, Nicole and Ed arrived. It was a really good time – very laid back. A good group of people. Kathleen brought party favors – the usual fare plus moustaches and glow bracelets. We watched the ball drop via Hulu and spent the rest of the night listening to the weird noises outside (maybe whales?), watching videos on YouTube and texting and receiving texts. Which I know doesn’t sound that thrilling, but was pretty damn fun.
We had breakfast at the Rio Tropic, then headed to the park for La Gran Aventura, the big tour of the falls. First we rode through the jungle and a guide pointed out plants and animals and gave some history of the park. Then we piled into boats and headed to the falls. After hitting some fun rapids, the captain made sure we got splashed a lot and steered us under one of the waterfalls. Everyone was soaked to the skin and it was gloriously fun. Cecile and I bought a disposable camera to use when we were up close to the falls and, while most of the photos didn’t come out, there was at least one good one.
After the boat ride we hiked up the Circuito Inferior and viewed the waterfalls from the river. We saw a couple men making sandwiches on a long wooden board and then a very unafraid lizard, that smelled the food and wasn’t afraid to go after it. We took the bus back to the Rio Tropic – well, it took us to the main road and we walked the remaining half mile or so. We showered, checked out, and took a cab into town for lunch. We ate at Charo, which was my only mediocre meal of the trip, got licuados at Real then got back on the cama bus for Buenos Aires. About an hour out of Puerto Iguazu it started pouring rain, and when we got back to Buenos Aires we found out that it started raining there when we left and kept raining the whole time. So much rain, in fact, that everything was closed and buildings flooded. We planned our side trip at just the right time.
via buzzfeed.
We arrived in Puerto Iguazu in the early afternoon and took a taxi to our hotel, the Rio Tropic. The hotel was very nice and relaxing – it’s out in the middle of nowhere down a long red dirt road. The clerk, Remy (another Frenchman named Remy), was very nice and helpful and called us a taxi and reserved us a spot on a tour at the park.
In Iguazu we walked along Circuito Superior, which takes you around the rim of the main waterfall canyon – an as-far-as-you-can see series of waterfalls. It was breathtaking. Iguazu Falls is the most beautiful place on Earth, and I urge you to look at each photograph – rainbows everywhere, lush green jungle and crashing water and mist.
After Circuito Superior we took the park’s train to Garganta del Diablo – the Devil’s Throat – the giant waterfall on the other side of the ridge. On the train some students on a field trip were passing around a maté cup and then vaulted over the seats to have their picture taken with us. Odd, but fun, even though it was stiflingly hot and everyone (including us) were sweaty and dirty and gross.
The path to the Devil’s Throat consists of a series of long (really long) steel bridges over the wide river. We would finish one bridge and walk a bit through the trees then come out into a clearing and see yet another long bridge – over and over. But, the walk paid off. You can hear the waterfall long before you see it or the mist around it – it’s deafening. The waterfall itself? Impossible to describe. So huge I couldn’t see the end. So much mist I couldn’t tell how deep it was. So big in scale that my brain struggled to accept it was real. On the observation platform, though a good ways from the waterfall, we were repeatedly drenched by the waterfall’s heavy mist every time the wind shifted direction.
The park was closing, so we headed back into Puerto Iguazu for dinner. We ate at La Pueda, one of the oldest restaurants in the city. I had delicious steak and Cecile and I split a flan. We also met a very nice Dutch man who was at the next table with his wife.
We went back to the Rio Tropic and cleaned up. I did some Facebook-ing and email checking on Cecile’s iPod Touch, but it took forever due to the hotel’s weak and spotty wifi connection. This meant I spent about 45 minutes standing facing the closed and drapes-covered window, as it was the only spot in our giant family-sized cabin with any signal strength to speak of. Cecile said it looked like I was in Time Out. We did some kakuro and went to bed.
See videos of the waterfalls here.
We woke up early on Thursday and moved to the apartment we had originally booked on Cochabamba. We ate lunch at el Hipopótamo (banana licuado and sweet croissants with ham and cheese!) then took a taxi to La Boca.
La Boca is one of the rougher neighborhoods of Buenos Aires. It is also the home of the Boca Juniors, one of the city’s four major soccer teams. We bought presents at the CABJ stadium then walked to Caminito – the touristy area of the barrio where the buildings are brightly painted – for more souvenirs.
We returned to San Telmo so Cecile and I could pack for our trip to Iguazu Falls. We got groceries and made sandwiches. We filled our backpacks and headed to the subte. After a long and incredibly sweaty walk, we finally got to the bus station and boarded our luxury (cama) bus for the 18+ hour trip to Iguazu. The bus only seated about 24 people, and the seats converted into beds. We were served two meals and shown movies. Pretty luxurious – I got a great night’s sleep!
note: this is the last post before the 100+ photo iguazu waterfall extravaganza. prepare yourself.
Catcalls in Argentina are very common, including ‘konichiwa’ shouted at Asians, but one caught me off guard. We were walking to the San Juan subte and a guy yelled ‘Obama!’
We took the subte to Plaza San Martin in Retiro, where we saw Palacio Paz, Circulo Militar and the monument to San Martin. We walked to around the corner to Filo, a pizza place that was recommended to us. The pizza selection was vast and the pizzas were very good. Plus the interior of the restaurant was interesting. Ingrid met us there then we walked past the Big Ben replica in Plaza Britannica on our way to Comme Il Faut.
Comme Il Faut is an exclusive brand of Argentine tango shoes, and the boutique in Retiro is hidden away in a fancy arcade. We gave our shoe size and they brought out every shoe in that size. Cecile and I bought tango shoes – hers are bright yellow and mine are leopard print. Yes yes I know, but they’re kind of totally awesome and are pretty comfortable. I can’t wait to start taking tango lessons!
Since we were close, we decided to walk to Teatro San Martin on Corrientes to buy tickets for a play that night. On the way we passed the Palacio de Justicia de la Nación in Plaza Lavalle. We continued on to the Plaza de los Dos Congresos and the nearby Palacio Barolo, which was designed with Dante’s Divine Comedy as a guide.
We headed home to clean up and change, then went back to Corrientes for the play. We had drinks and snacks across the street at Farandula, then walked over to Teatro San Martin for the performance of ‘Dejala Sangrar’.
Ok – when we saw the poster for this play, we thought it must be about vampires. First, the name. Then the poster showed a woman in a red dress with people in black around her, and they’re standing in what looks like a grave. The play. Was not. About vampires. It was a very abstract production that had a lot of talking (which we didn’t understand) and not much actual action, which made it impossible to follow. Also it was bizarrely sexual. We didn’t enjoy it much, but it was pretty memorable!
After the play we had dinner around the corner at Oye Chico, a Cuban restaurant. My dinner was fantastic; I had some amazing beef and a great mojito.