The Adventures of Chris

I remember the first time I saw the words “Tierra del Fuego.”  I saw them on a globe, and I was in elementary school (that itself sounds dated since I don’t think kids even look at globes anymore).  I remember looking down south and seeing Tierra del Fuego and wondering if it was a really hot place (I guess I knew what fuego was back then) and wondering how it could be so hot next to a place that was so cold (Antarctica).

Today, I went there.

Sure getting a bus ride to the park was sketchy.  Sure I ate a pre-hike sandwich that I bought at a gas station (I’m going out on limb here, but I’ll recommend any hot sandwich at an Argentinian or Chilean gas station that looks reputable).  Sure the hike we took (La Costera) was very muddy.  But it was still pretty neat, and made neater by the fact that we were shuttled back to Ushuaia by a jam-packed party bus driven by an overly jovial Peruvian guy.

We also had an amazing dinner at a local restaurant that was named one of Argentina’s top restaurants.  Susan and I were burned by one of Croatia’s “top restaurants” a few years ago, so we were a bit wary.  Our fears were unwarranted.  This place was awesome.  After some king crab (centolla), some great scallops, and some great sea bass, I was already happy.  Then we got two desserts - a lemon ice cream in champagne sauce and some crepes with a strawberry banana sauce.  You can ask Susan - I tasted the sauce for the crepes and my eyes rolled back in my head for a second.  The lemon ice cream dish was also amazing.  I actually considered ordering a second round of dessert.  I’m kind of mad that I didn’t, but then again, I stick by my reasoning - it couldn’t have been as good the second time around.

Tomorrow is our last domestic flight - an early morning flight back to Buenos Aires for a few more Gore-tex-free days…and more meat!

I’ve been bad at blogging (Susan’s been a lot better).  Why?  Because (1) the sun is out later here, restaurants open later, so we are eating later, (2) restaurants all serve good, affordable wines and beers, (3) service is slow so a dinner out takes so long, you have no energy left to do anything but collapse after dinner.

I am now 315 pounds and gaining.

In other news, we’ve arrived in Ushuaia (pronounced Oos-WHY-uh, not Oosh-why-uh).  It snowed yesterday, but the main street here sells a lot of gadgets and fashionable clothes that would be appropriate for places that were not freezing cold (as it is here).  That really surprised me.

We’ve just come from Bariloche (pronounced Bah-lee-low-chay, not Bare-ih-low-chay), a Swiss-themed resort town on the banks of Lake Nahuel Huapi. Bariloche specializes in chocolate.  They also have an ice cream store called Helados Jauja.  It seriously is delicious.  I went there four times while we were there, including once for breakfast.

Before that, we took a lake crossing across two national parks that border Chile and Argentina.  Very scenic.   I’ve realized that you can never go wrong with glacial water for great color.  The one problem with the good weather that we had was that the bugs were out.  Most notably, huge biting horseflies, swarms of thousands of mini flies, and a huge bee-like bug that was black with a red butt.  I hated them all.  But the lakes were sweet.

Before that, we came from Puerto Montt, a town in Chile, and Punta Arenas, a town in southern Chile.  We were only in Punta Arenas for two days, but I had some killer Patagonian lamb there and got to see penguins at Seno Otway.  Watching penguins waddle from their burrows to the water is possibly the most entertaining thing you can do in the entire world.  I could do that for a living, if there was such a job.

Before that, we were in Torres del Paine National Park in Chile, where we saw some amazing scenery and lived in dome tents.

Prior to that, we were in El Calafate, Argentina, where we visited Perito Moreno, a huge glacier that they let you walk on.  That was a lot of fun.  Seeing Susan run around on the glacier was also very fun.  So fun that I forgot to put on sunscreen and burned my face.
This has been a fairly meat-oriented trip, as I had hoped it would be.  I’ve tried to eat steak in almost any Argentinian city and lamb in Chilean patagonia regions.  Both are delicious.  I will continue to eat meat for the duration of the trip.  I will also probably drink wine or beer with the meat.  I will then fall asleep afterwards, forgetting to blog.  It’s a difficult cycle to break.

Only a week left on the trip.  This makes me sad, since before I know it, I’ll be back at my desk at work, remembering what I was so eagerly wanting to escape three weeks earlier.

Good news - after two weeks trapped with me, Susan appears to still tolerate me.  She still may even like me at times.  This is a good thing, especially for a honeymoon.

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After doing another late night, rushed packing job, and after flying 3 hours to Houston, a 2 hour layover and a 10 hour flight to Buenos Aires, we’re here.

Day 1 was spent riding a 3-legged bus/shuttle ride to our hostel with a mildly funny name (Milhouse Hostel).  Then we walked around the downtown section, through Avenida Florida, and looking at the obelisk.

Lots of stuff is closed on Sundays, so we just walked around to look at stuff.  I had trouble finding an outlet adapter until we found this knick-knack shop run by two Chinese guys.  Then we had some Argentinian Mcdonalds (the McNifico, which is a quarter pounder with some lettuce, tomato, and mayo).  Then we walked through a throng of Argentinian kids who were spilling out of a “Casi Angeles” (teen boy band) concert.

Then we saw the Argentinian army take down the flags at the Casa Rosada.  That was pretty awesome.  They had a full on flag removal ceremony followed by the army band playing some patriotic sounding songs.  Then, the army band got on a stage and started playing other songs, including pop songs.  So it went from cool Argentinian patriotic thing to halftime at a UCLA football game.   But it was neat.

Susan and I went to a music store and Susan wanted to buy the cd that was playing on the pa system.  But we didn’t know how to ask, so we kept trying to find a worker that wasn’t in a group (it’s more embarrassing to speak bad spanish to one person instead of 5).  Finally I had to point upwards and say “quien esta cantado?” (debated between that or “quien es la persona que esta cantado”).  We finally figured out the person’s name was Coti.  Then we had to find his CD and ask if it was the right one.  We bought it and ran out of the store with embarrassment.
Then we watched a tango show at the Cafe Tortoni, a cafe that’s been in Buenos Aires for a really long time.  The tango show was a little less entertaining than I had imagined, partly because the “show” involved a lot of speaking and singing in Spanish that I didn’t understand.  I expected more of a tango-version of “You Got Served” but it wasn’t quite that.  The most entertaining part was arguably when I sprayed people around me with seltzer water when I tried to dilute my “refresco de limon.”

For dinner we went to La Cabrera, a parilla (aka place that serves a lot of meat).  I was really excited to try steak in Argentina, since most steak aficionados say that Argentine steak is the best in the world (and is not exported to the US).  I had the rib eye (ojo de bife).  The half order was a huge two-inch thick steak with a bunch of sides.  I was pretty stuffed when I finished the steak, but I also wanted to test out another thing I’d read about Argentine steak - they say that if the quality of beef is better, as it is here, it’s actually less “heavy” and you feel less stuffed when you eat it.  I think it’s true.

My knee is still not fantastic, and walking around has been difficult.  I can walk around now without a significant limp, but my stride isn’t normal and I think it’s not healthy.   I’m hoping for a semi-miracle by the time we have to hike through Torres del Paine in a few days.

Tomorrow it’s off to El Calafate, where we will then hike on Perito Moreno, a huge glacier.

Susan and I had our first married persons Thanksgiving this year, meaning we split our Thanksgiving time between our respective families’ bashes.  I’m not actually that close with my extended family, and I used to think that splitting time for holidays wouldn’t be that big a deal but it actually is.  Sure, I only see my extended family one time a year, but Thanksgiving is that one time.  So if I don’t go to the Thanksgiving bash, it’s not just missing 1 out of 365 days, it’s missing 1 out of 1.  I didn’t realize the significance of this until fairly recently.

So having to go between two Thanksgivings, the smart thing to do would be to spread out the eating between two places.  Since I’m stupid, I not only ate a full helping at the first (my family’s) bash, I ate too much.

There were some highlights this year.  My favorite was that I shared some cognac with my dad, brother, and uncle.  This wasn’t an ordinary cognac, this was a cognac that my uncle had kept since my dad’s wedding.  He used to tell me, every year, usually on Thanksgiving, that we’d break it out when I got married.  So we did it.  It was actually pretty smooth.

The other highlight was a gripping Wii bowling match between my uncle and his son.  His son beat him, with a clutch “turkey” of three strikes in a row.   It was awesome.