Adventures of Cameron & Emma in Buenos Aires

Ok. So it has been terribly long since I have contributed to updating the blog. So.. here I go.

After the trip to Brazil (in February) Gabi, Russ and I decided to head south and explore Patagonia. We left Buenos Aires just four days after returning from Brazil, on the 14th of February. There is no more a romantic way to spend Valentines Day than a 20- some odd hour bus ride; luckily I think that holiday is pretty stupid. Our first stop was Bariloche.

view from our hostel

In Bariloche we found the perfect little hostel (a chill place) where we were able to recover from the long bus ride. The hostel was a ways from town in the middle of Otto Mountain. Although it was a trek to get to the hostel, the view was more than worth it. We spent our time in Bariloche hiking, swimming, cooking, card playing and reading… a theme that repeated itself throughout the trip. While hiking in Bariloche we all felt right at home amongst the pine trees and green shrubbery; we could have pretty much done the same thing in Oregon, and there on a much smaller budget.. but instead of looking at it in a negative way we decided to just be happy that we felt so close to home.

gabi and me swimming in the very cold water

We explored Bariloche for about four days before we decided to put our camping gear to use. We camped at a nearby lake (Lago Gutierrez) for four nights. To our joy and surprise we were all sitting around the campfire when one of us happened to look up and notice that there was a lunar eclipse. Lunar eclipses are pretty cool in and of themselves, but when you are camping, away from any city lights and just happen to stumble across one, they seem to be even more magical. We spent the four days swimming in the very cold lake, hiking, reading, cooking and playing with two puppies that lived on the campgrounds. Once we were good and dirty, we felt it was time to move on.

We took a two-hour bus ride to the nearby town of Bolson. It is known as quite a hippie town, and coming from Eugene I felt right at home. Using our Lonely Planet (our Bible) we found the perfect little hostel. It was about a mile out of town, in a little shack-like place.

We shared the shack with two other couples… poor Gabi. The three of us were piled into a very small loft. In Bolson we explored the feria (which had great food and crafts) and took one day to hike to a waterfall and the toothless Indian head or some call the toothless hippie head, both un-PC, (but I must admit it did look like a toothless someone). This day hike turned into quite the adventure as we ran into some wild bulls,,, and Russ (who I guess had seen too many bullfights in Spain) made us wait until they passed on the side of the trail.. for at least an hour, before heading back. (there is more to that story, but I don’t want to embarrass anyone… Russ). We stayed in the shack for three nights, and through talking with other travelers decided to hike to Glacier Azul.

we are trying to imitate the toothless indian head in the background

The trek to Glacier Azul began with a taxi ride to some random place and about a mile trek to a “bridge”. This bridge has a one-person maximum limit on it, and would not be considered legally crossable in the states. It was a suspension Indiana Jones-style bridge, with rotten and missing boards. Gabi at first decided she would rather try and forge the river, but the currents were too strong, and we were therefore only left with one option. The bridge made all of us a little light-headed and sweaty, but we made it safely across after about 40 min a piece. Once over the bridge, it hit us that at some pt in the near future we were going to have to cross that thing again, but we promptly put that out of our heads as we had a 7 hour up-hill (rather up-mountain) hike ahead of us. Once we finally reached the campgrounds I felt as if there should be a band and champagne glasses waiting, but alas, people hardly even noticed the feat we had just accomplished. It could be that they had all done the same thing to get there… but that’s besides the point- for me, it was a big deal. Luckily we reached the Refugio just in time to set up our tents and start a fire for dinner. We spent the first day relaxing and taking in the beauty of the surrounding area. I do believe it is one of the most beautiful places I have ever seen, it quite literally took my breath away the first day we arrived. We relaxed, and were able to take hot showers.

Refugio

We decided the next day we were going to hike up even further to take a look at the glacier (my first ever). The hike up the mountain to the glacier was like a rocky scramble. I kept thinking… if my mom could somehow see what I am doing…she would be so mad at me. It was steep, windy, and scary. But luckily we all three made it up intact and were able to enjoy the glacier and bright blue-green lake puddle at the bottom of it. We stayed up there for a good hour before the even scarier hike down. Climbing up something is quite different than sliding down it, which is how the second half of this journey went. But again, we all made it safely to the bottom. We stayed at the campsite for another night and headed back down the mountain, which took much less time. Although hiking down the mountain took less time, there was still a bridge at the end of it, and we were low on food and water (which we had given to a sad bunch who had only made it half way up the mountain, with no water, who looked desperate for a drink). All three of us took to the bridge bravely, this time actually taking some pictures, no longer afraid that they might in fact be the last pictures ever taken of us. Anyhow we made it back safely, but then realized… there was no way to get a cab back to the town… and the cab had taken us a good 7 miles at the beginning of this journey. We walked and walked and walked… I think after all we had been through, this was the closest we had all come to cracking. Luckily there were blackberries lining the roads so we found a little extra strength to make it back. Once back we headed to the shack to see if there was any room and luckily there was. That night we showered and had the best steak dinner I have ever had.

Russ crossing to safety

From Bolson we took a 12-hour bus ride to Puerto Madryn. Unfortunately, Puerto Madryn was not at all something any three of us liked, so we spent one day doing a very touristy circuit of the big park, where, on the up-side, we were able to see penguins and seals, or something.

we arrived in Puerto Madryn just in time for the sunrise.

We got out of Puerto Madryn as quickly as possible and headed about two hours away to Gaiman. Unfortunately, Gaiman, was not too much better. It is a small Welsh town, and they pretty much only have tea and little cakes. So we were there two nights, when Gabi decided she had better head back to Buenos Aires as she was flying home in less than a week and wanted to spend some time in the city.
This is where Russ and I sadly said good-bye to Gabi and (our gin rummy champion queen.)

Quite literally the only thing to do in Gaiman, except for the recycle park, but it is too dangerous to go there as the mosquitos will eat you alive. This tea house was particularly famous because it was visited by Princess Diana… and also…as you can see, kinda creepy

for more pics:
http://picasaweb.google.com/hart85/RussTravelPictures

On our way to Salvador the 6 of us stopped in a little town by the name of Vitoria. Although we were heading north to escape the rain, Vitoria was not quite north enough.  The first thing I noticed while entering the small port town was the beautiful umbrellas that lined the streets. Every woman and man had the most vibrant umbrellas, ranging from crazy colorful to floral patterns that rival Laura Ashley. Even with the gray rainy weather, my spirits were immediately lifted because of these paragua beauties.

While in Vitoria we stayed in a hotel that was supposedly “the nicer” between the two options our guidebook suggested. If this hotel was the nicest, then I would definitely never want to step foot in the other.  We got two bedrooms with three small styrofoam mattresses, accopmained by wet pillows (luckily I brought my own, despite the harassment of the rest of the group).   The rooms were damp and cold, but the showers were even worse. If it had been warm out, the lack of hot water would not have been a problem, but unfortunately it was pretty cold. There were also wires hangin around the shower, and while Russ was trying to somehow.. do something.. not so sure what.. he got a little electric shock. Needless to say, he was not happy and a little freaked out.

We were however able to find some really good seafood while staying here. We used our lonely planet’s food guide. Though after its hotel suggestions, I am surprised we trusted their food recommendation. We attempted to go to a resturant that no longer exists, but in its place there was an excellent little seafood spot. Moqueca is a specialty of Vitoria, and a seafood stew with some sort of special fish sauce. Sounds kinda nasty, but actually really really good. The fish most commonly used in Vitoria is the Pirao. As soon as the waiter came over, I asked what the best dish on the menu was (although Russ always objects to this inquiry, as I do it often… it lead us down the right path) and informed us that hands down Moqueca with Pirao was the best item and their particular specialty.

Vitoria was starved for tourists. It seemed that everyone we met wanted to befriend us and help us out. Emma, Russ, and Gabi meet a fiery girl named Mariana in a coffee shop. She showed the catalogue from her boyfriend’s bikini line. She told us she wanted an “American opinion” and did we think it looked professional enough, she asked. Emma and Gabi agreed that it had a few flaws (uneven skin tones and so forth) but Russ is still looking it over before he makes a final decision on the bikini matter.

For our first few nights in Rio, we rented an apartment in Copacabana. The apartment was the perfect size, but came with a small price, a creepy landlord named Dave. Upon our groggy arrival (no sleep the night before our 5am departure) Dave, a slightly overweight balding ex-pat hailing from upstate New York, excitedly mentioned where we could find the best strip clubs in Rio. One night, finding all the boys in our group sans us girls in the elevator, Dave told them where to find the most beautiful prostitutes in Brazil. Zach smiled awkwardly and said, “oh, cool….”

Dave’s style and influence could be found in every room. The apartment was adorned with bright paintings of naked women and each room had mirrors, mirrors and more mirrors. And oh were there treasures to be found in drawers and closets! Behind door number one, a pair of dirty briefs. What about door number two? An empty economy size box of Trojans and stuffed inside, an empty KY jelly box.

Dave’s apartment, which doubled as his office, was directly above our apartment. It was up there while using the telephone, that one victim of our party discovered the perfect finale for this little saga. Hanging directly across from his bed, Dave had a nearly life size portrait of himself with not one, no, not two but FIVE naked women. He really classed this one up when he opted for a soft sepia tone rather than the bright colors of the paintings in our apartment. This is the dream world that Dave sees every night before falling asleep and each morning when he wakes. He sees a world where five naked women are ecstatic to be in the company of his utter and complete hotness. Ladies and Gentleman, welcome to Rio!

Taken by Zach, while Gabi and Emma distracted his fleet of women workers… although this photo does does not do justice, two of Dave’s ladies are cut off… also.. although he appears to have a 6 pack in this photo… there was none such to be found on the real thing.

by, guest blogger Gabi and emma (a little)

at least they had eachother

A few days after Russ’ arrival, we decided to check out the Zoo in Buenos Aires, which is conveniently located less than a mile from our house. The last time I had been to the Zoo was in the fourth grade, so I was excited to see some “wild” animals at such close range. What I didn’t expect is the expression of defeat and depression that each animal carried on their face. The thought of Zoo’s always kinda depressed me anyhow, all these animals locked up. I am aware thought, that it is more of a learning tool, to teach people about animals that they would never get to see otherwise…but, then again, there is the animal channel for a reason. The most depressing was the grizzly bear who looked absolutely INSANE. He was isolated in a small exhibit, and kept walking in circles shaking his head… stomping round and round, with a crazy glossy look on his face. I had to walk away. He was already lost. Unlike the Rhino who presumably was in an earlier stage of insanity, he (or she) looked as if he had completely given up on life, plopped down in the dirt, sad and alone. The most physically shocking of the animals was the camel… it looked as if it had some type of STD all over its body, chunks of hair just gone, scabby, really nasty.

Now… on a lighter note, some of the animals didn’t look like they completely gave up on life; there were nutrias who were able to roam freely, that was pretty uplifting. Some of the animals had many friends with them, and although enclosed in cement surroundings, (no effort was put into making their cages resemble the wild) at least they were all in it together.

One of the best parts about the zoo was watching the children light up with excitement at seeing these animals for the first time. Russ kept getting mad at me because I wanted to take pictures of them… I got one before he took his camera away. This little boy was the most excited to have his picture taken with a regular house pet. There was a cat walking around the zoo freely, flaunting his freedom, and this boy requested that his mother take a picture of him with the cat, seeing an opportunity, I snapped one as well. I liked his simplicity.

The Peakes have arrived! They have been here now for about three days. Although I have received many wonderful presents and stocking stuffers for Christmas, nothing compares to their timely arrival. It has been fun watching them explore the city and actually know where we are.

Although it has been great having them here… I am the odd woman out. Addy’s boyfriend Eli arrived yesterday. This means there are 3 couples… and little old lonely me. As we all walk down the street two by two, I am forced to awkwardly make Cameron and Preston share their sidewalk and hold my hand too.

Russ hurry up and get here! That’s all.

EDITORS NOTE: Emma is not the odd woman out. Sitting next to her is the most desired seat at the table. And I held her hand first.

Born in the Northwest, I am not used to hot weather. These past few days have almost been unbearable. Not only because of the heat, but because I know its going to get much hotter as the summer wears on. Today, the 31, was the hottest day on record for December in the last 8 years, reaching over 100 degrees F. Yeah, I still don’t know Celsius yet… but supposedly that means about or more than 38 Celsius. By the time I am done here I hope to have the metric system perfected.

On a lighter note, the Peake’s place has air conditioning, which has been my savior. That and icy agua con gas… oh and gelato. Yummmm.

Editors note:  although cam was also born in the NW she LOVES LOVES the hot weather, although she did sweat a bathtub yesterday at lunch. That’s all. yummmmm

A few days before Christmas, I dragged Cameron, Preston and Paige to a L.I.F.E. (Luchemos por una Infancia Feliz y con Esperanza) volunteer meeting. The organization was organizing a Christmas party for slum children who would otherwise have little to celebrate this time of year. This specific event was organized for over 2,000 children, providing them with Christmas presents, food and new shoes. Although the meeting was a bit boring, rushed and not too informative, everyone decided to volunteer their time and we were even able to convince Zach to join. The celebration started at 9, but we were scheduled to arrive at 11… You all know how much we like our sleep.

By the time we arrived (actually 12, because the cab driver took the longest route ever, costing us much more than we ever intended on spending) all the children were there. It felt like we were in a zoo, with little people (or… children) running around everywhere. All the presents and shoes had to be blocked off, as the children are often so eager they wouldn’t have been able to contain themselves and would have headed straight for the presents. As soon as we arrived children were already asking when the presents would be handed out, they were obviously excited. Although there were tons of people there, we were able to track down other volunteers because of the Life T-shirts we all wore. A few of the “leaders” quickly gave us positions.

Cameron and Preston were assigned to recreation. The children were supposed to sign out the toys they borrowed so they were sure to be returned and although it worked a bit, it was more confusing than anything. The toys consisted of basket balls, baseballs, tennis balls, paddles.. etc. For the girls there was also nail and face painting. Cameron was asked by a young girl to paint a star on her face. After painting a beautiful little star on the girls cheek, she informed Cam that she wanted it to cover the entire face, Cameron tried her best, but in the end, there were a few more points to the star than there were supposed to be. The little girl didn’t care, she was just happy to be there. In the end, it probably didn’t matter- it was so hot that the paint was forming pools in their containers and dripping off of everyone’s face.

Zach and I were in charge of handing water out to the 2,000 children plus parents (it was about 90+ out that day). The only problem was that the business that was supposed to donate water backed out at the last minute. Instead of having sanitized bottled water for everyone, we were forced to fill and refill large buckets with water from the bathroom faucets. Needless to say we felt a bit guilty dipping cup after dirty cup into the same buckets of semi-brown water for the children and their parents. Another small problem was that there were only about 50 cups, so we were forced to ask for them all back once they were used. This means that the 2,000 + people had to share about 50 cups. (I hope no one got sick…but those chances seem slim to none). Eventually Zach and I were forced from thirst to join the others and drink from the buckets. The most frustrating part was filling the buckets up with water from the public restroom sinks, and dragging the full and heavy buckets back to the group of thirsty children waiting for some water. A few times the bucket would almost be full and a little girl would run up after using the bathroom to wash her hands in the flowing water above the bucket, causing me to have to pour all the water out and start again, the filling process takes about 20 min in total.

For food, Life provided hamburgers with rice and mayo salad (not a good combination in 90+ degree weather). Anyhow we were all pretty hungry, so the burgers didn’t taste bad after all. I was in charge of putting together burgers for a little while, (before the water job) there were many people volunteering in the food section and I was feeling a little stuffy. Paige on the other hand worked so well in the food section, that the coordinator placed her as head food manager. She was in charge of all the food volunteers and together they had to get the food prepared and handed out to the children. A job she did well!

After the food and games, the children were all lined up to receive their new pair of shoes. Tom’s shoes donated all 2,000 pairs. Toms are traditional Argentine shoes (called espadrilles-very popular here) that have been branded and exported to the US. For every pair sold in the states a pair is donated to Argentineans in need. (BUY THEM… Toms.com) We all have a pair of similar style, although not Toms. I can attest they are about the most comfortable shoes ever, I think I will buy about 5 pairs to take back to the states with me. Anyhow, Tom and his family were there to hand out the shoes and get some publicity shots as well. I had been waiting all day to help out with the shoes, as I truly love shoes in general and this type in particular. I was unaware that I would have the duty of keeping children in line, and out of the shoe area. They were so excited about the shoes that they would run past the taped off section and grab shoes. I am probably the worst person for the job, as I felt guilty keeping the excited children from shoes. They would run past me, and I hardly had the heart to tell them no… but as time wore on, I got more and more forceful. Eventually catching them as they tried to run past me and shoving them back outside of the boundaries. The little twerps got annoying after a bit. Although I am not sure how much of it was the shoes, or to see if they could get past us gringos. Even though there were some frustrating children, who can really blame them, this is the most exciting time of the year, or one of them. All I can say is that I am glad I wasn’t handing out the presents.

After the shoes, we all felt so tired and dehydrated that we decided to call it a day. Around 6 we arrived back at the apartment for a well needed nap.

Some of the kiddies lined up to meet santa (poor guy it was way to hot to be wearing that!)
Although it was a bit chaotic, I am excited to volunteer with LIFE again.

As it turns out, anytime that I (Emma) say I can’t stay out late, and that I am tired,,, I end up getting home around 7 in the morning, or later….

Cameron, Paige and I decided to have a night out just the three of us, actually our first one since Paige arrived. Paige and I were determined to show Cameron the Flamenco bar, and although we didn’t know exactly where it was, were able to find it with relatively no problems. When mentioning this famous flamenco spot in a past entry, I forgot to mention that one of the owners is Gypsy, or… Roma if you will. Apparently there is a huge Roma community here in Buenos Aires, and it seems that about half of them frequent this bar. As soon as we arrived the owners recognized Paige and me, ushered us in and quickly gave us a table, and a pitcher of sangria, accompanied with peanuts and olives. They sat with us for a bit, and we were disappointed to learn that we had missed the live music. But luckily the flamenco they have as bar music was almost as amazing. We were there for about two hours and again, got to talk with most of the staff. Cameron decided to head home and I was on the verge of leaving.. But something told me I should work through my tiredness, and push through. I was later very pleased with this decision. As Cam left more and more people, or gypsies started arriving, and dancing. Paige and I decided it was probably time to join them, so we found two older men,,, (about 70) and started dancing with them… they loved it. We danced for what seemed to be about half an hour, but turned out to be three or more hours. Those Gypsies know how to get down, it was a little intimidating, but I was able to hold my own… probably because it was with an old man, and next to him, I looked like a pro.. jeje. As my feet were starting to tire, we decided to leave. We stumbled out of the bar, and lo and behold it was completely daylight. I turned to Paige and said.. “Lets get a beer”, she was more than ready to comply.

This is me,,, shocked that it is so early in the morning.. or rather late…

Paige and I

As we were leaving a car pulls up with two guys,,, they apparently also wanted to grab another drink, and so we meet up with them at a bar down the street. What we were unaware of, is that when a midget (or is it more PC to say little person?) is in a car, you can’t tell they are a midget, but once they get out of the car, it becomes very apparent. (Note to midgets, if you ever want to pick up girls,,, do it from your car! ) Anyhow this pleasantly surprised us. The midget was with his cousin, who was more than friendly towards me…. For some reason I told them I was from Sweden, and I am pretty sure they were impressed by this, they kept asking Paige and I if we spoke the same English, and were surprised that we could communicate so well.

The two paid our cover and bought us some drinks, we danced for a bit and decided to head home… the midget insisted that he drive us to our doorstep, so we accepted. By this time,,, it was bout 9 am… as we get out of the car.. I turned to Paige and said.. “Lets get a beer”. She once again was more than happy to comply, but we decided first to take a little nap in the park.

We went up to our apt, grabbed some blankets,, and of coarse, I brought my pillow. We set up bed in the park and laid there as the sun continued to rise. Out of nowhere two Colombian boys stroll up to us and start chatting, Paige, in an attempt to get them away told them that we were lesbians, and that they could only sit with us if they bring some beer… at this point, I fall asleep. I am awakened by a little nudge and the two are back with beers. I again fall asleep, but Paige continues to talk and drink with them until well into the morning… about 11. At this point she also falls asleep, but was not quite as smart as I was… As I slept, I covered my whole body with the blanket, but she slept outside of the blanket… needles to say, she had quite the farmer’s burn…. Pretty funny actually. Once it got too hot, we went inside and finally had a good “nights” sleep.

I have a feeling that you will hear about 1. The flamenco bar, 2. The Colombians (they have already invited us to a few gatherings) and 3. More crazy nights of Emma and Paige in the near future. And I can only hope that the midget contacts us, although we only gave him our email.. we shall see.