You people are going to scare away Santa Claus!

We just got back from a wonderful Xmas at the beach. We rented a car and just headed south down the coast, stopping at every town to have a look. It was a bit like Goldilocks and the 3 bears- "This town is too small, this town is too big, ahh this one is just right...", only with no wild animals rousting us out of bed in the morning. We stayed in a town called Villa Gesell. It is located about 4 hours south of BA and is about half the size of Hilton Head. Our hotel,Hotel Merimar, was right on the beach, it had a pool, and breakfast was included with the room all for about US$60 a night! The owners and staff knew a bit of english, and we knew enough hand gestures to get us through check in. Our room was huge and had the biggest balcony overlooking the ocean. Literally we could have had 15 people over for cocktails.
On our first night we walked into town and ran across an outdoor ampitheather where they had a choral Christmas concert going on. We found a great restraunt within listening distance called La Delfina and Brent did a fantasic job using his spanish to communicate some pretty difficult concepts, such as how the music was nice and could he have a toothpick. Overall a great night had by all.
Christmas Eve began with a shopping excursion to buy a cooler and some beach mats. Originally we were going for chairs, but even the most rickety uncomfortable chairs ran about US$40- are you kidding me? You could, however, purchace one on layaway for about $3.50 a month. Who does that?!? Next we were off for a day at the beach, where even with #15 sunblock I was fried. Still it was great and very crowded.
Right as we began to think about Xmas eve dinner, it began to rain. Since we were walking, we ran into the first restraunt we came to- mistake. The food was easily outshined by the ambiance; and the ambiance consisted of plastic chairs, florescent lights, and kids from the only other occupied table running around and screaming. Needless to say we ate as fast as possible and then bee-lined it to an icecream shop so we could feel good about humanity again.
When we returned to our room around 11:30, the rain had stopped and the fireworks were begining. Everyone down here shoots off fireworks, from 3 year olds with Roman candles to 80 year old guys with m80's. Its crazy. I have never heard so many explosions in my life. This went on until 3am. It got to the point where you were like ok, I know its really pretty and sounds pretty cool but enough already!
On Xmas day we went to a cafe for lunch and to mess with the internet. Then we went to Mar Del Plata to go see the port and the wild sea lions who live there. Let me tell you, those guys stink! Still they were cool to see, and Mar Del Plata was pretty huge. I was not expecting a Miami type town down here.
Ok, final thought, I know this ran a bit long. One of the best things about going to the beach here in the Summer is that because it is south of BA, it is cooler. It is great to get out of the hot city and go to the shore and not feel like you jumped out of the frying pan into the fire.
Later!

Pato? I thought that meant duck!

After a long night and morning of sleeping I was able to motivate Brent to get off the sofa (in his defense he is reading a really good book) and go on an adventure. We rented bicycles without any ID in the park near our place and headed off to the nature preserve, Reserva Ecologica Costanera Sur. Now on the map, this place looks fairly close by, but in reality, which included about 3 stops along the way for Brent to explain to me that we were going the wrong way, it took about 45 minutes to get there. It was well worth the trip! The reserve is beautiful, with birds and marsh and beautiful views of the river. There is a loop trail that you can walk or ride that is lined with benches and great places to lay down a blanket for the day. To add to the excitement, we saw someone feed a 2 foot long lizard a hamburger! The only drawback was the fact that while I did remember spanish flash cards, somehow sunscreen slipped my mind. I am a wee bit crispy.
After turning in our bikes we walked thru the polo fields for a short cut home and discovered Argentina's national sport- Pato! I know you thought it was soccer, but we learned differently today. Pato is like a cross between basketball, polo,and soccer, all played on horseback. We stumbled into their semi finals and let me tell you, these fans are as rowdy as any Boca Jr fans! In fact, after a questionable call that resulted in a player falling off, a 60 year old lady leapt out of the stands and ran onto the field to express her displeasure to the ref. It took 3 people to get her off so play could continue! The finals are tommarow- I wouldn't miss it for the world!

Horses and lions and tutors, oh my!

Brent was able to get the money problems rectified Friday afternoon, thank goodness! So with pesos to burn we began our fantastic weekend. Friday afternoon I went to the stable for my first lesson. I was a bit early, so I sat and watched the lesson before mine and got to meet the wife of one of the students in the ring. She and her husband are in Argentina for a year and plan to see and do everything- including learning how to ride. We have plans to meet for dinner this week.
My lesson was soooo much fun! Maximo is a good instructor and speaks english great, but I told him I needed to learn horse words in spanish and he said he would help. I got to ride a nice horse and got to jump. The only drawback was how incredibly sore I was the next day.
On Saturday Brent and I took a train to a city named Tigre. It is located about an hour outside of BA on a river delta. I really don't know why anyone would ever want to leave this country; every place I have been, I have loved! The train station let us out at a river that is lined with trees, grass and a walking path. You can catch a boat tour of the area, or if you know where you are going, they have water buses. Brent and I grabbed something to eat by the water and then took the 1 hour tour. The area is beautiful and I took lots of pictures because it is really hard to describe. All in all, we had a full day outside the city with train transportation, food, drinks, and a tour for a grand total of 70 pesos! (A little more than 20 bucks!) We will be going back!
On Sunday, Brent and I went our separate ways. Brent went to play golf and Jo and I went to the Luhan Zoo. We took a bus to get there, and after about and hour and much confusion, the bus dropped us off on an exit ramp off the highway in the middle of nowhere. As we stood there looking around I noticed a chain link fence and some rather large birds behind it. We were there! The Luhan Zoo!
This was the strangest zoo I have ever seen. For $10 each we got to ride an elephant, hold a baby bear, get inside the cage and pet lions and tigers, sit next to a thousand pound bull seal, and have a full grown monkey jump on your head! Seriously, this place would not last an hour in the good ol'USA before somebody sued!
The zoo itself is like going to somebody's farm. Everything is dirt paths and chain link. If you wanted, you could camp overnight and grill out. They even had a swimming pool. I told Jo that it wouldn't suprise me if they unloaded a dozen otters into the pool while you were swimming. It was just that kind of place. Amazing.
Today we had our first real spanish lesson with Carlos. He is very good and laid back. He has a good way of explaining things and Brent and I both feel we will get a lot out of the lessons.
Today I will be trying to find a cheap rental car to drive down to the beach for Xmas. Wish me luck!

Holy crap! We are broke!

We began the day normally; we both ran , took showers, ate lunch, messed around on line. We had a spanish lesson scheduled for 3, so we decided to take a walk and go get some money to pay our tutor. When we got to the ATM, Brent put in his card and nothing. Card invalid. Ok, maybe a faulty machine, maybe his card got zapped somehow. We go back home, get my card and I go to a different machine. Card invalid. Interesting. Flat broke in BA. ba
It turns out that our bank is changing systems and is mailing us new cards. Seems like we should have the new cards before they cancel the old, but what do I know, I'm not a banker.
Our tutor, Carlos, shows up and we explain our situation. He is the nicest guy ever. He drove us accross town to American Express to see if we could get a cash advance, but the office had already closed. Then he drove us all the way back and loaned us $100 pesos to get us through till tomarrow. Needless to say we will be taking lessons from him and recommending him to everyone we meet. I don't know if he can teach, but he sure is nice!
Brent is at Western Union today picking up money wired to us from our bank. They say they will have the problem rectified shortly.
Assuming Brent will return with some cash, I have a riding lesson at 5 that I am really excited about. Brent and I checked out the barn and the horses look great. Brent may play golf this afternoon, and we are supposed to meet friends for a night out at 9. Keep your fingers crossed, otherwise it is looking like scrambled eggs and alot of bad spanish tv all weekend!

It's like we live here!

It only took a week or two, but we are finally settled into our new apartment. I know where the grocery store is, and have stocked our kitchen. I have cooked a few meals, and done the dishes. Brent has found a local bar about one block from here to watch the upcoming bowl games. He found a barber and got a haircut. So all in all, it's just like being at home. Well, kind of.
Sunday I went running and found the stable where hopefully I will start riding lessons this week. Lesson barns are the same everywhere. There were about 5 kids in the ring while I was there, learning how to trot. One kid had it down and was grinning ear to ear. Then you had the cryer in the middle, and the one boy who kept kicking his pony while the instructor's assistant tried to keep the pony in the ring. Take away the spanish and I could have been in Georgia.
Monday we attempted to go to the zoo with our friend Jo, but couldn't figure out what bus to take. Instead, we had a wonderful lunch at Las Cholas. The food is cheap, plentiful, and delish! They also serve the world's coldest Stella beer. Yum.
Today we hooked up with some friends and went to see a part of town called La Boca. We took our first subway (called Subte). Cheap and easy way to get around if you can stand the heat and armpits. La Boca is the home of one of the Argentine football clubs (read soccer team). We went in search of tickets for Sunday's upcoming game, and took a peak at the stadium. The area itself is very touristy but very colorful and fun. Brent and I bought mate cups from an artist who put our names on them while we waited. Well, that's all for now!

Just a quickie!

Check out the pics of the apartment and a few from our night on the town for Fran's birthday. Gotta take my computer to the bar across the street so we can watch the SEC Championship. I hope to get some free beer out of letting them use my laptop to show the game in the bar!!

later, oh, look for our new friend Guadelupe in our pics!!

The sky is falling! No! A cat is falling! (Could also be called Cats always land on their feet, they just don't always walk away.)

Today Brent and I looked at our final 4 apartments and we found a keeper! It is pooless (sp?) but is in a great neighborhood called Las Canitas on a quiet street that dead ends into the polo club. Brent can walk to golf and I can walk to a stable where I'm going to start riding lessons. It has a great balcony and comes with a bike and a maid once a week. All for $150 under our budget!
There is a legend (leyendo) in BA that if you shop for a new home on the last day of your 30's and a cat leaps off a high balcony into your path, then you get to be 39 for one more year- but only if you move into the next home you see. So that pretty much made our decision and I will be looking at 40 same time next year!
Seriously though, a cat really did jump off a balcony and landed about 20 feet from us. It was horrible. Apparently it was after a bird. The doorman from the building called the owner who came down. It was horrible. Needless to say I was in tears. It really was just horrible.
On a much lighter note we went to dinner last night and met a couple who just arrived 3 days ago and are living here for six months. They were nice and Brent is excited to have someone to potentially watch NFL with. We are going to meet them and a friend from school for drinks and a movie on Friday. Just when you think you are doing something unique, reality smacks you in the face.
We will be moving tomarrow so we will try to get some photos of our new digs this weekend- if I'm not too busy watching a polo match from my new balcony. Don't worry, I won't chase any birds.

Solo Espanol hoy, por favor!

From the moment Fran and I woke up this morning we only spoke spanish to each other and anyone else we ran into. Consequently, as we strolled to look at a few apartments, we spoke quite a bit less to one another. We both agree that it is a fine thing to do and we may increase our mandatory spanish only days to two per week after we get through this first one.

Since we have no car here, we are putting some serious miles on our shoes. I would guess we walked 6 miles today so far round trip. Tomorrow we will see at least four more apartments. At least our first appointment has two apartments to show us and has offered to take us by car to the second one, which is very close to our third one. We would like to have this wrapped up by days end tomorrow. If not, we will have to abandon the search and go directly to the beach! We will rent a car for a few days and just drive down the coast until we find suitable housing for a few days. To be honest, we will probably do that anyway once we throw our bags in the new apartment.

I have also found at least two people that have offered to play golf with me asap. If I can wrap things up early Friday, I have been invited to join a threesome at 2:30. I really want to do that!! But fear not my friends, I expect to complete 18 in Buenos Aires very soon. Done for now, more on the way, perhaps some pics of the new apartment, or maybe the beach, who knows at this point.

So many decisions, So little time.

Well let me begin by saying that although there were no turkey sandwich leftovers, and no pumkin pies, we had a truly wonderful Thanksgiving! The burgers were delish, as were the mashers (prepared by an English girl -I think that's what she called them), the corn (purchased by two very fit swiss brothers from the produce stand all the way down the hill), and the mate (supplied by a native Barilochian who thought she was just stopping by before her date). Before the food festival all our our guests were required to say what they were thankful for- entirley in Espanol! Ten people from all over the world with varying levels of vocabulary and all kinds of accents trying to express themselves after many, many toasts -let's just say it wasn't perfect spanish but it was a perfect evening.
I was surprised to find myself truly sad as we boarded the bus back to Buenas Aires. The peace and beauty in Bariloche is hard to beat.
And now that we are back in the big city the questions begin to pile up. Where are we going to live? Do we want to go to the beach for xmas? Should I go through the school for a spanish tutor? How can I maill all this unnecessary crap that I brought with me home? What are these chips? How can they be so delishious!?! I know that is not really a decision, but Brent just handed me a mediterraneas sabor chip and it blew me away!
Anyhow, we looked at an apartment today. It was very affordable ($700) but no AC. We have three more apartments to see this week. One is in a building with a pool. I have my fingers crossed for that one. They all are in Palermo near the parks and I cannot wait to start running through them!