31 is wild and wonderful

My birthday really started on Thursday night, when Petra and I decided to go to Kau Kaleshen for dinner.  This entirely vegetarian restaurant is the brainchild of our El Chalten guide from Thursday, Paola, and her husband, who both attended culinary school.  When we found out that Paola owned a restaurant, and it was off the main street in El Calafate (I like to stray from the normal touristy areas when I can), we were all in.  The restaurant is set off a quiet side street and is inside of a real home - the feel is very warm and inviting, as if you´re visiting a friend´s house and not just another restaurant.  We enjoyed a pumpkin and ginger spread on our pre-meal bread; a really delicious pumpkin and orange cream soup (trust me on this one - it might sound like a strange combination, but it´s quite yummy); and a never-ending veggie and bread cheese fondue.  My stomach was stuffed to Thanksgiving-like proportions by the end of the meal and still there was more.  We ordered their black forrest dessert, which Paola served us herself, with a complimentary bottle of Chandon 187 to celebrate my birthday.  It was a simply fantastic meal, with such excellent service, that I don´t hesitate in highly recommending this restaurant to anyone and everyone who travels through El Calafate.  I wish Paola and Albert the best of success in their restaurant business!

Then Friday was my actual birthday.  Up at 6-ish, trying to wait patiently for my alarm to go off at 6:45 - it´s amazing how little your body is able to relax after such a tightly managed schedule for so long - and then it was off to hike on a glacier!  It is really hard to describe how awesome an adventure that was.  You take a bus to a boat, and you are standing in full view of one of only two glaciers in the world that are not receding (they´re stable, not advancing): Perito Moreno.  The guides told us that it is one of the lowest glaciers in the world as well, located only about 180 meters above sea level, with the average glacier being located around 2,000 meters above sea level.  So you can actually enjoy this glacier without freezing your tush off!!!

Well, Petra and I are kind of a force to behold, each one of us feeding off of the energy and laughter of the other, so by the time we were getting off the boat to start our glacier trek, we had concluded that the guides were going to rue the day that they got us as part of their tour.  It quickly became our motto of the day: "Rue the day!" we´d shout and then flash two thumbs up.  It sounds silly now, but it had us laughing through the whole day.  When I finally get back to my own computer in Buenos Aires and have the capacity to upload photos (and don´t have to struggle with this Spanish keyboard), you will note how many of our pictures of us sporting our thumbs up and flashing big goofy smiles - our new normal "Rue the day!" pose.

Of course, just as happened the day before, the weather started out absolutely beautiful, with lots of sun and a few clouds to give the sky some detail and depth (great for photography).  The guides had a hell of a time trying to get my enormous (read: not dainty) feet and my LL Bean slip-on finest shod in some cramp-ons (yeah, I didn´t plan that one all that well) and then we were off, climbing a glacier.  Let me repeat that, so it really sinks in, folks.  CLIMBING.  A.  GLACIER.  Yeah, you heard me...

Petra and I are laughing, singing, cracking jokes, and even dancing as we scale this glacier - which, might I add, entertained our guides to no end, prompting one of them to ask on a particularly vertical ascent, "Se corte el baile?" the Spanish equivalent of, "What, no more dancing???" - when, of course, the sun disappears behind an enormous cloud, the wind picks up and it starts snowing.  Did I mention how awesome this trip is?!!  It´s snowing, I´m singing, and I´m on a glacier.  Sweet.

Side note: Martha, Michelle, you know I´m totally remembering our hike up Mount Si as I´m trekking all over Perito Moreno Glacier, especially the parts where we were belting out show tunes and 70´s classics as we forced ourselves to keep moving up those switchbacks.  Oh, how I love you guys!  End note.

As the last part of the trek, the guides led us to this natural bowl in the glacier, where they set up some tables to serve the tour group some Scotch and alfajors (cookies filled with caramel, or dulce de leche).  Although I don´t drink Scotch, I did enjoy the gesture.

To end our day, Petra and I had made reservations at La Tablita, El Calafate´s premier restaurant, famed for it´s Patagonian lamb.  When it comes to meat in Argentina, these people really don´t understand portion control.  We ordered the mixed grill for two - which included lamb, rumpsteak, and lomo (forgive me, I don´t even know my cuts of meat in English!) - and it was as if they had slaughtered three whole animals for us, and only us.  Too much meat.  Seriously.  We also ordered their Provencal french fries, which, did not last more than 3 minutes, tops.  This Patagonia weather and all the hiking, it really makes a woman ravenous (moreso than her usual self).  Then came the Swiss chard, sauteed in garlic and olive oil, which I consumed by myself, happier than a clam, doing the happy food dance the whole time.  Guys, I don´t know if you know this about me, but I really like to eat.  And eat is what we did...it was GLORIOUS.

I don´t know if it´s all the physical activity, or if it´s the combination of being exposed to the elements all day (trust me, you should see how red my face has become due to the wind burn) and hiking my tush off, but food always tastes better after I´ve been wandering around all day in the Patagonian wildnerness.  The smells, the textures, the flavors, they are all that much more potent and inviting. 

So of course we ordered dessert - Petra, the calafate ice cream and me the homemade flan.  Then Petra treated me to dinner, that sly woman!  (Petra darling, thank you, thank you, thank you - it was a birthday I will never forget...)

And we even had them wrap up our leftover lamb and beef, and fed all the loose dogs on the way back to the hotel.  It was a nice way to round out our day, surrounded by our amorous puppy dogs, laughing, and breathing in the cool, refreshing Patagonia air.  I simply love it here.

Yet I must admit that I did miss all the phone calls from friends and da´ Momma, to help me celebrate my birthday by singing into my ear and reminding me why I love you all.  So while I was thinking of all of you and wishing you could be here to celebrate with me, I want you to know that my birthday still rocked my world.  Thirty-one is going to be good, I can feel it.

El Chalten

For my 31st birthday, I decided to treat myself to a vacation, one which I had thought about for years as some nebulous life-list sort of thing, but for which I now live close enough to turn into a reality.  I am currently enjoying the hell out of the first full day of my Patagonia vacation and yes, it is ALL THAT and a bag of chips!

First things first:  I have another "only in Argentina" story for you.

Petra and I arrived in El Calafate last night.  We had just found out some incredibly good news about her next job assignment (she got her number one choice and was accepted into one of the war colleges for their masters program on Campaigning - as in, how to wage war and kick people´s behinds!) so we decided we were going to go out for dinner and celebrate.

We landed in one of the restaurants along Libertador, the main street in town.  Whilst munching through dinner and sipping our Malbec, the conversation turned to our taste in men and we were commenting on how different our choices of mates/lovers are from the physical speciman that we generally find attractive.  (Please feel free to imagine just how loudly and vulgarly we might have been discussing this - after all, we love to live up to the Obnoxious American stereotype.)

The talk moves to other, more refined topics - I swear! - and, in mid-conversation, this lovely blond woman, who had been sitting at the table to the side of us walks up, and...

Lovely blond: "Excuse me, I don´t mean to put my nose in your conversation (note that she is not a native English speaker, which I find AWESOME), but I couldn´t hellp but eavesdrop and I just had to tell you something."
Petra and I: (exchanging mildly terrified looks with clearly false smiles pasted on our faces, wondering exactly which completely inappropriate conversation she´s about to inject her opinion on...)
Lovely blond: "When looking for a man, you need to go with tall, blue-eyed and Dutch.  Can´t be beat."
Petra and I: (Looking over at her tall, blue-eyed and apparently Dutch male companion) "Dude, I think she likes you!" (insane, slightly relieved laughter inserted here - oh, don´t you wish you were a fly on the wall so you could know what else we were talking about!  Sorry folks, hate to disappoint, but that´s between me, Petra and the two Dutch people...)

Ah, Argentina...how I love thee, let me count the ways...

So today was our first full day in El Calafate, er, mejor, in Patagonia.  We actually caught a bus and drove out to El Chalten, about 3 hours away so we could hike and see the glory that is Fitz Roy (3,400 meters), one of the tallest, if not the tallest, peaks in the Patagonia region.  I can´t even begin to tell you how amazing it was.  I just absolutely LOVE being here.  I have spent the last year or so completely stressing myself out, moving four times between four different countries, pushing myself to excel at my job, forcing myself to be more social to help me cope with ending my 5 1/2 year relationship with Anthony, and just generally draining my energy reserves...that it feels really fantastic to get away from it all, to be out in the wild, windy, isolated awesomeness that is Patagonia. 

While I wouldn´t take away a single experience of the past year, I am finally able to breathe.  In an out, in and out...the sound of the wind rushing past my ears as I stand on a hiking path, or the moments of silence that follow when the wind abruptly stops - such a balm for my soul.  I love, love LOVE IT.

Petra and I have now seen a small part of El Chalten, the tiny little pueblo of approximately 700 inhabitants - the only town allowed to crop up in the middle of the Glacier Reserve, to cater to the tourism industry.  El Chalten is only 25 years old and still far from being connected to today´s world - their one ATM isn´t quite a year old, no cell phone gets a signal there, and many of the buildings are still constructed out of tin or whatever other scraps they could somehow get delivered to this isolated corner of Argentina.  The town is clearly a hiker´s paradise, with most of the people you see clearly not having seen a shower in too long a time (or a haircut either) and all of them decked out in North Face gear and hiking packs.  It is a very harsh, rough terrain, good for nothing other than tourism.  So hotels, restaurants, and panaderias are cropping up all up and down the sometimes paved, and sometimes rocky, roads of this hiking outcrop.

When we arrived, we had a half hour before we were to join our guide, so Petra and I decided to walk around a bit.  It started raining a bit, then a little bit harder so, to save our cameras, we ducked into the next shop that looked interesting: La Waffleria.  Although we didn´t have time for their waffles, we did have time for mint and cinnamon hot cocoa.  I have never tasted a hot chocolate so viscous in my life, at such a perfect "hot but not too hot" temperature.  The thickness, the flavor, the warmth...just spread through me.  LOVE.

When we left, we spotted our purple van just outside - our driver had been driving around town, desperately searching for us, thinking we had got lost (as if we could!  All of El Chalten can fit in two city blocks).  He even admitted to thinking we might have been eaten by a puma.  A puma!!!

Side note: I don´t know what our driver´s real name was, but our tour guide said it was, "Harry...as in Harry Potter!  Doesn´t he look like Harry Potter???"  So, for the rest of the day, he was our Harry Potter.  End side note.

So we met up with our hike guide and the two Argentines of clearly German descent who would be joining us for our hike.  The shortest possible way to tell this story is as follows:  We climbed up and up and up.  It was raining very little, with a bright sun.  We took pictures and climbed up some more.  Somewhere along the way it started getting windier, the sky grew gray, it rained harder.  We didn´t get a clear view of Fitz Roy because of the cloud cover, but we saw beautiful trees, hardy flowers, lots of crazy plants, a glacier, and a lake.  At the lake, we stopped to eat lunch.  And that is when it STARTED HAILING.  It was freakin´unbelievable.  I could barely feel my hands to unpack my lunch, and I´m getting pelted with hail, and I´m drinking this all in, thinking, "I couldn´t be happier to be here."

We looped back and hit the trail we started on and descended.  I was the last in our group for nearly the whole hike, since I was stopping to admire some part of the nature we were passing, taking pictures, or just pausing on the trail to stand there, with my eyes closed, breathing in the clean, brisk air.  There was even a moment on the descent, when I halted on the trail because I could hear the wind in the trees behind me.  I looked back and the trees in the distance were tossing about violently, in the throes of a particularly strong wind.  I knew it was coming our way.  And it hit with startling ferocity, forcing me to take a few steps forward to steady myself on the trail and a huge laugh erupted out me, entirely unbidden, that felt like it came from my toes.  It was such a strange, delightful moment for me.

After the hike, our whole group - Petra, myself, our tour guide, Harry Potter, our hike guide, and the two Germans - went into town for ice cream.  We sat on colored cubes, and ate enough calafate ice cream to turn our tongues purple.  (Calafate is the name of a berry here, which looks remarkably like a blueberry and tastes like a cross between a blueberry and a boysenberry.)  Then we loaded up the purple van again and turned our eyes South, back to El Calafate.

I can´t even begin to describe how happy I am to be here in this place, right now, in this particular space of time.  I wish you were here.

Halloween

Wednesday Addams as you've never seen her before, the world's dirtiest martini school girl, and an Argentine kitty, replete with pleather.



Before the madness and the fog machine.



Jason and Pablito

If you ever see this when you're out drinking, RUN, don't walk, in the opposite direction.

Just a few more of the friendly faces you'll find at Embassy Buenos Aires.

Hands down my favorite picture of the evening.  It just doesn't get any cuter than this!

Yours truly, with one of the few men not telling her she looked like a giant pink condom at that point in the night.

Another weekend, another series of brunches

Yeah, I can't help myself.  The Jacob family is under strict instructions to notify me whenever they have the slightest inkling to go to Oui Oui.  This was my Saturday:

 

And then, of course, Sunday was the inaugural Lades Brunch Club brunch, a branching out from my Ladies Lunch Club that used to meet once a month in Lima to try new restaurants and practice our Spanish.  This time around I am significantly better at speaking Spanish, but for the first brunch, we had no Argentines so everything was in English - sweet, sweet English. 

Of course, we didn't leave the Argentines out on purpose, but I did manage to pick Argentina's Mother's Day for the date of our first brunch, so... we celebrated as only we women can: with lots of laughter, lots of dirty jokes, and lots of food.  (pictures to come - my internet is acting persnickety at the moment)

I can't wait until the next time...

10-10-10 Pah-tay

Although I spend the majority of my time here in Buenos Aires either in the office or out at a restaurant eating (have I mentioned lately how much I adore food?), I probably enjoy my time the most when we're doing something as simple as gathering around the table and playing some traditional board games.  Or nontraditional ones like Hoopla and Apples to Apples.  Regardless, it was a long, lovely night.

 



Rocks, paper, scissors to decide who did not get their card down fast enough...

Oooh! Tiger Woods!

And yes, I was there...

Monica, very happy with her cards.

Good night!

Oui Oui, Monsieur!

I don't know if you know this about me, but I like to eat.  More than anything else, though, I adore eating out for breakfast.  Not only is it my favorite meal of the day, but I LOVE having someone else prepare it for me. 

That being said, I have previously mentioned that there are (at least) 2 quality establishments for breakfast here.  One is Tea Connection (which I will save for a later date).  The other is Oui Oui, which is this tiny, hole-in-the-wall restaurant that has maybe a baker's dozen of tables inside and, when the weather is fine, they set up a handful of tables out on the sidewalk.  (I am almost always on the sidewalk - either because it's easier to find seating there or because I have Maggie with me.)

The waitstaff leaves much to be desired, as is pretty common here in Argentina.  They do not care about efficiency or profit, so there is no such thing as a 45-minute table turnover here.  In fact, they are also very good at not meeting people's eyes, so they pretty much can walk past you 15 times without ever once acknowledging your existence.  I've almost gotten used to the treatment, as it means that I can sit at my table for a leisurely brunch and never feel like I'm being rushed out the door.

So, regardless of the table service, I LOVE this place.  It's very pinch-you-cheeks adorable and they bake their own breads, muffins, and pastries.  The lemonade is made from real lemons and is uber refreshing, I consumed my first submarino here, and all the plates, cups, saucers, and bowls are just perfectly chipped as to make everything seem so homey.  I highly recommend the pate, huevos completos (scrambled eggs, bacon, their version of homefries which are to DIE FOR, a salad and your choice of tea, coffee or a submarino), the pumpkin soup, and anything else you have the mind for.

I am at Oui Oui pretty much once every weekend - I LOVE THIS PLACE!  (And yes, if you come visit me, I'll be taking you here...)

Why sometimes I don't write

It's not that I don't love you, but occassionally I like to get out and enjoy this life that I'm living.  I work so many hours every week and often when I'm home, I'm still trying to get everything settled (although all my household effects are now here, I still have arranging, organizing, filing, etc. to do).  Which is why I sometimes choose making new friends over writing to the internets...

The Friday night dinner crew at M Restaurant, a Peruvian Japanese fusion joint.

The not-quite-awesome-but-decent-nonetheless ceviche clasico.  And remember, my standard is the Peru standard, which, being the birthplace of ceviche, is hard - nay, impossible - to beat.

My shrimp and scallop stirfry.  Mmmm, I'm hungry...

Petra, Monica, and yours truly, doing some late night, post-dinner hanging out at Bullers Brewpub.

Not quite dancing ON the bar, but there was plenty of dancing IN FRONT OF the bar...

Boys will be boys.

Marc almost looks like a normal guy.  Almost.