Bariloche in Patagonia

Would you believe that surrounded by forests and lakes, lies a quaint Swiss-like village 2 hours South of Buenos Aires? We finally hit a climate requiring more than t-shirt and shorts. Bariloche is a beautiful Patagonian ski town in the winter, and lake town in the summer. Since it's now summertime, the weather was just starting to warm up but was still about 55 degrees Farenheit when we arrived.

The town features a number of Swiss and local cuisine restuarants as well as modest hotels and B&Bs. For me, however, the most appealing part of Bariloche was the chocolate shops lining each of the streets. Think about a store the size of Rite-Aid filled with window displays of every possible kind of chocolate. I was in heaven.

We managed to pack in a little adventure as well (see photos of canopying below). We took a car up to the mountains and signed up for an afternoon in the forest, literally swinging from the treetops! It was incredible to glide across the cables that connected platforms deep in the middle of the forest.

As was the case in other parts of our Argentinian journey, we met wonderful people everywhere we went. Even with the language barrier (tourists from Brazil who speak Portuguese travel frequently to Argentina), we managed to make friends at the restaurants and exchange both emails and photos. We've already received dinner invitations in Chile and Brazil! Our taxi driver, noticing my interest in Ricki Martin's song in Spanish, gave me his copy of the CD. Truly, there is something in the water because we faced kindness with every turn.

HAPPY NEW YEAR!

Wishing you all a happy and healthy New Year. We will be thinking of you as we ring in 2007!


Hugs and kisses from Buenos Aires,
Deb and Lee Essner

Argentina Wine Country: MENDOZA

We were told that Mendoza, southwest of Buenos Aires and a 2-hour flight, is a must-see for Argentina visitors and wine lovers alike. We were NOT disappointed. Though we typically drink full-bodied California Cabernets at home, we quickly learned that the wine of choice in Argentina, hands down, is the Malbec. Ironically, 'Malbec' literally means 'bad nose' in Spanish (you'd think they'd change the name at some point, no?). We found them to be rich, heavy, complicated, and delicious. In fact, we have yet to find one we didn't like. Even the less expensive varieties are very good.

We stayed at a small 12-bedroom house-turned-hotel attached to its own winery and vineyard. The weather was perfect - dry but not too hot. Our hotel organized private tours of four wineries over the course of two days and each day we had an unbelievable lunch (see Lee and spread in photo below). If you liked Napa Valley 15-20 years ago, you will LOVE Mendoza. There are vineyards on every side of the road and the background to these lush green farms is the snow-capped mountains bordering Chile. Incidentally, there is a huge rivalery between Argentina and Chile. Argentines are notorious for raising prices of their goods (particularly leather) for their Chilean neighbors. They are very protective of their wine, too, and will tell you that Chileans only have a small area of land optimal for wine.

On our first day in Mendoza, we met newlyweds from-- you guessed it -- Los Angeles (do you see a theme?)! We spent the day sharing multiple bottles of wine and dinner with them. It was a real treat and we look forward to connecting with them at home in a few months. It's truly a small world...

The wineries we visited were all different- we went to the following and highly recommend them:

• Carinae: Small boutique winery run by a French couple who decided to abandon their lives in Paris and try something different. They knew nothing about wine at the time but have managed to develop a very nice variety of wines.
  
• Cove de Cano: The lunch here was unlike anything we have ever experienced. They served us an enormous spread in the charming caves of the winery and all of the dishes had some variation of Malbec wine incorporated. We enjoyed Malbec-infused rice, grilled onions in Malbec, Malbec pears, and of course, lots of wine.
  
• Landelia: This winery has not yet opened to the public, but they walked us through the entire process of wine-making and we tasted all of their soon-to-be released varieties. It is owned by a Swiss businessman who started the project almost 10 years ago. Imagine 10 years without a profit!
  
• Familia Zuccardi: This is a the opposite end of the spectrum from Carinae. It's a very large operation. The winery is only about 60 years old (that's considered young) and all the machinery/equipment is modern and new. They are experimenting with new technologies and do very very well in terms of sales. Rather than tasting in the traditional fashion, they let us taste the wines straight from the gigantic stainless steele tanks.
  

We spent only 2 nights in Mendoza, and would love to return someday. We flew back to B.A. on Saturday night and are spending a quiet Christmas Day at our apartment. It's starting to dawn on us that we only have 2 weeks in Argentina left. Our mini-trips to Punta and Mendoza have been fantastic, and we have 2 more (Bariloche and Iguazu Falls) left before leaving the country.

We hope everyone's having a wonderful holiday at home. We miss our friends and family especially at this time, but luckily, we have Skype and email access. We wish you all a very happy and healthy 2007! Feliz fin de ano!

"Januca" in Punta del Este, Uruguay

The flight from B.A. to Punta del Este was less than 30 minutes long. We arrived just before the pandemonium which is said to begin the day after Christmas and all through January. The town was gearing up for over 300,000 visitors from all over the world - Brazil, Argentina, and Europe for the most part. As luck would have it, the first people we met were from Santa Monica, California.

We spent the first few days of Chanukkah ('Januca' in Spanish) in Punta and relaxed on the famous Bikini Beach and poolside, before dining in the small port town in the evenings. Unfortunately, the weather was not always clear and a few showers interrupted our sunbathing. It was a short two-night getaway but a worthwhile one. We returned to B.A. for a night, and returned to the airport the following morning for our next getaway...

Exploring B.A.

We are now in our third week in Buenos Aires (pronounced Buenos AY-RES). Much to my own surprise, fears of communicating in Spanish have subsided quite a bit since our arrival. That, I attribute to our 9 hr/wk of Spanish lessons and a conscious effort to listen, watch, and read everything in sight. We frequently watch TV programs in Spanish, as well as the imported movies that are subtitled in Spanish. Word of caution, the translations are not always accurate.

Though Lee has unsuccessfully located issues of his favorite magazine, The Economist, here in Buenos Aires, I managed to find a few for me in English. I was thrilled to find InStyle at a local newsstand but halfway through the issue, I realized that it was older than originally thought at the time of purchase. I assumed the November issue was for this year. But a photo of Jessica Simpson and Nick Lachey together clued me in (yes, that's sad)- it was from 2005. Just goes to show, much of the content you find in such lifestyle magazines can be recycled year after year. The lesson here, English-language pubs are not only more expensive, but they are always outdated.

We went to our first Tango show recently (see photos below). Tango is HUGE in Argentina. It's not uncommon to find mini-Tango shows occurring on the streets of B.A. We attended a dinner/show at one of the most beautiful hotels we've ever seen - Faena Hotel in the newest part of town called Puerto Madero. Also popular are Tango shows that are followed by dance lessons for audience members. Unfortunately, Lee has zero interest in partaking in this beautiful past time. Those of you who know Lee, can't blame him. Just kidding, honey!

Before signing off, I must speak a four-letter word: MEAT. Those of you who enjoy a nice steak with a fine bottle of red wine should stop what you're doing, buy a ticket to Argentina, and come here IMMEDIATELY. Apparently, Argentinian cows eat grass and American ones eat corn. Es una differencia muy GRANDE! The steak - whether it's rib eye, tenderloin, or fillet Mignon, is as tender as butter. And the best part, you can enjoy two very fine portions of meat AND a bottle of wine for less than $40 US. Now, I like a nice petite fillet like the next girl, but this stuff is addictive. I must remind myself to have my cholesterol checked when we return, though from what I can tell, America suffers far greater from obesity than the carnivorous Argentine folk. Is there something really to the low-carb craze??

On Sunday, we're off to Punta del Este (Uruguay) for a few days. After several weeks of hustle and bustle city life, beach time will be a nice respite. We've planned weekend excursions for the duration of our stay in Argentina (departing the country on Jan 7). After Punta, we head to the wine country, called Mendoza, and Bariloche - located in Patagonia. Hasta luego...

Espanol 101

We arrived in Buenos Aires 6 days ago and have not yet taken ONE picture. Unlike my previous entries (admittedly heavy on facts), I have nothing to say about the city's history or the major tourist attractions. We decided to soak it all in and become acclimated to our surroundings. Plus, we're tired of carrying our camera around.

Our first task: learn/brush up on Spanish. My first realization - it's all Castellano here. Despite a few years of training in Spanish, I can barely make out 50% of the conversations here. I now have some appreciation for foreigners who visit the US and struggle with all the various accents (e.g. Southern, New York, Valley Girl). We found a small school and enrolled in Spanish classes for the next several weeks. Of course, they teach THEIR own flavor (as our teacher put it, "YOU Americans wouldn't teach English in the British accent, would you?" - which is quite different than what we learned in our home state of Cali-Mexico. And, they talk really fast. We've had our first two classes already and the frustration level is at Level Orange. Ay caramba!

We love our apartment. It's gigantic, with hardwood floors and vaulted ceilings. The water pressure is low, but we don't care. It's in a charming building built in 1910 and we have a nice view of the neighborhood park. The owner is an architect and has a keen eye for interior design. We have a full kitchen and went to the nearby 'supermercado' to pick up some essentials. Nobody really speaks English here and the labels are not always helpful so, we have probably purchased swiss cheese instead of provolone, and Half & Half instead of milk. The supermarket is like Kmart and VONS in one - 2 stories and just as many brands as we have.

We managed to find the jelly/jam aisle but could not find any peanut butter. Lee found the word for 'peanut butter' in his handy translator toy and we attempted to ask an employee where it might be located. He looked at us like we were nuts (pun intended) and pointed to their Dulce de Leche section. They have 15 different kinds of dulce de leche- a sweet dessert spread that looks like peanut butter but with 4 Xs the calories. Think nutella but caramel-flavored.

We were on a mission now. We went to every market in the neighborhood asking for the stuff. Finally, one store owner said that some specialty stores carry peanut butter but it's really bad. Now, we have not felt much home-sickness so far but in that moment, I could see the sadness on Lee's face. I felt a lump in my throat. We miss the good 'ole fashioned nutty, the creamy, the Skippy, and even Jiff.

If you're reading this now, take a large spoon, dip it into your peanut butter jar and savor each morsel. Though everything is dirt cheap here (the peso is about 1/3 of the dollar), we would be more than willing to pay blackmarket prices for a taste of American peanut butter...