It Takes Two to Tango

Aug 4, 2005 – Thurs

The clouds and the rain were very impending today. We decided to hike instead of climb, due to the unpredictable weather conditions.

We hiked up to the top of the sierra and around the top, and pulled the quickdraws from the route we toproped 2 days ago.

The top of the sierra was lush in some areas, forrested, and with tall grass in other places. In the tall grass, much of it was muddy. Oh, and it was freakin´cold!!! Very windy at the top as well.

We hiked down through a forest where we founda really neat waterfall that had carved away the rock. We hiked on down, following the water to another set of waterfalls. We weren´t sure of the way out through the forest, so we went back on top and down the way we were familiar with.

In the evening, it poured down rain. Mauricio´s mom and friend were at the refugio, so we all hung out while it poured. They cooked dinner for us too, which was nice. They are very sweet. As Mauricio says, his mom is a little bit crazy — but she was pretty funny.

Aug 3, 2005 – Wed

Today was our daytrip dedicated to Balcarce. We could stock up on groceries and Sean could visit the Fangio Museum.

We headed to the main road with plenty of time to spare to catch the next El Rapido — a task easier done during the daytime. Balcarce is about 20 km from La Vigilancia. It was very cold, about 45-50 degrees. We decided to walk down the road a bit. We had to wait quite a while, then flagged down the El Rapido bus.

For 2.25 pesos, we got to the Balcarce terminal. The terminal area looked pretty bleak. We saw a local bus, so I aksed the driver if it goes to the center, and he said yes. We hopped on, and ended up getting off at an area that looked pretty central.

First order of the day was to get lunch. Balcarce is not a happening town! We went to look at one place, which was closed. So we found a cafe to eat at across the street. Sean had a milanesa and I had a ham, olive, and cheese pizza. Not great, but enough to fill me up.

Then we headed over to the Fangio Museum. Juan Manuel Fangio was a race car driver born and raised in the little town of Balcarce. The museum — 7 pesos (abit over $2) is well worth it. Its a large museum, houses many old race cars, history of Fangio and other Argentine and Brazilian race car drivers. Sean loved it. I was also pretty impressed.

We went to the tourist info office moreso to get a map to find our way back to the bus station. But the lady gave us a whole itinerary for Balcarce. She was so excited to tell us all about Balcarce..I couldn´t be rude and stop her. Seems that not too many people visit Balcarce!

It was time to pick up some groceries for the rest of the week. The selection was limited, but we made out with about 45 pesos of groceries — mostly packaged soups and pastas. Just enough to hold us over for the rest of the week.

We were going to take the red or green collectivo back to the station, but couldn´t figure out where to catch them or which busses they were, so we ended up walking all the way back. At one point, I was tired, so we sat on the side of the road to rest. Then crossed the median, only to find the bus terminal about 100 meters away. Duh!!!

We caught the 5pm El Rapido back to La Vigilancia, cooked dinner later, and then called it a night.

Aug 2, 2005 – Tues

We woke up, ate a little bit for breakfast, then headed for the walls. Mara, a cute little black dog that looks like a fox, accompanied us up to the walls all day long.

We were carrying all of our gear, so the load was pretty heavy. The hike in was tough. Yesterday, we had only begun to hike in. Today, we found the gentle path turned into Class 3 climbing — having to use your hands to assist you on the way up.

We explored the walls, crawled through some areas to the path, and found Las Placas. We were going to try to climb here. The area to the left of the crack looked extremely hard — completely vertical with few features. So we moved further along the wall.

Sean tried one route, got 2 clips, but couldn´t pull the bulge. If it was hard for him, it would be more difficult for me, so I didn´t try the route. Plus, it began to sprinkle on us. The weather was pretty crappy — solid clouds, no sun, impending rain.

We hiked back to the forest with the ´peligro´tape and found a way up over the sierra. We hiked over the top to set up a top roped route. Mara followed us as well. We thought about rappelling down, but it was a bit dangerous as we would have to take a little fall to get to the bolts…so rather, we hiked back down. And the chains on the bolts looked…precariously weak (we´re used to the thick chains they have on the walls around Austin..we´re spoiled).

It was starting to get late, and we wanted to head to Balcarce to stock up on groceries. We knew our time on the sierra was limited. The route that Sean put the toprope for was practically impossible for our skill level. The start and then some was completely…nonexistant. Sean tried to use a feature one route over, tried a few times, then we called it a day. We pulled the rope and left the quickdraws at the top.

We headed back to the refugio. On our hike back, we found a baby sheep in distress. It was laying down, baaing, and wouldn´t move. We walked on, got to the refugio, got settled, then thought about going to town to buy groceries. It was already getting dark. Mauricio probably thought we were crazy, but we decided to chance it and try. We walked to the road and waited across the street, to try to catch an El Rapido bus. By then, it was completely dark. We couldn´t figure out which tings were busses or trucks. We gave up and headed back to the refugio to find the baby sheep still alone and in distress.

When we got back to the refugio, Mauricio asked what happened. We told him we ditched the idea and would go to Balcarce tomorrow (after walking over 2 miles to the road and back!).

Sean cooked and I helped prepare the food. We used whatever was at the refugio and made tomato rice with carrots and onions, and grilled white eggplant. It turned out to be pretty tasty. Mauricio helped himself to 3 servings, so I assume he liked it.

We told Mauricio about the baby sheep, and he went to find it after dinner. We went out to check up on him later. Mauricio carried the baby sheep, possibly only a few days old, baa-ing all the way back to the refugio. We think that Mara scared off the mom (Mara loves to chase the sheep off), and the baby, too young to walk much on its own, was left behind. The sheep ended up sleeping underneath one of the couches.

After that, Mauricio taught us how to play a dice game called Generala — similar to Yahtzee. Then we called it a night.

Aug 1, 2005 – Mon

Sean and I had an early morning start. We took the MicroMar bus from BsAs to Mar del Plata at 8am. We were the only passengers on board because Mar del Plata is a summer destination, not a winter one.

Driving through the pampas looked like we were at home — flat land, cows everywhere, and nothing more. The pampas reminded me of Texas. Okay, so now I don´t really have a desire to check out the Pampas…I can do that at home!

We got to the Mar del Plata bus station and looked for El Rapido, the company that passes by Sierra la Vigilancia. We found a booth for El Rapido. They sent us to another booth marked El Rapido, who sent us to another booth marked El Rapido, who finally sent us to the 4th and correct El Rapido booth. The bus station is not that big, but there seem to be a dozen El Rapido ticket booths! We bought our tickets so that it would allow us time to get lunch in Mar del Plata.

After lunch, we hopped on the El Rapido bus, whose logo is a rabbit running, marked for Balcarce. I spoke to the driver who said he knew Sierra La Vigilancia. We were really relying on him to tell us when to get off.

The ride out from Mar del Plata to La Vigilancia (as it´s known down here) took a little while because we had to weave through Mar del Plata to pick peple up. I got to see Mar del Plata by bus. There are many cute houses there – walls of stone or stone on the bottom with white walls, with wood doors. Mar del Plata is bigger than I thought it would be, with many tall buildings lining the beach front.

A young man sitting with the driver signaled us to get off, and pointed across the street. There was a sign for Sierra La Vigilancia and a closed gate. We had no idea what the hours were, but thought we were still early. But it looked deserted. We decided to chance it and hopped over the gate. It was a long tree lined road to a house, what we thought would be the refugio.

Along our walk, we were greeted by a young bearded Argentinian guy, who I told that we were here for the refugio. He kept walking towards the gate. So we continued on to the house. When we got to the house, a lady came out and told us the refugio is 10 blocks futher. She told us the man we met works at the refugio, so we watied there for him. We waited for a while,wondering if he was going to come back. We watched the chickens peck their way by the house, a horse and pony tied up to trees, and dogs chained to the area nearby.

The man, named Mauricio, came back and led us to the refugio, which happend to be about 1200 meters from the house…more than a mile from the main road. It was a long, arduous walk to the refugio with our packs on.

We approached a set of white buildings, and arrived at the refugio. All was locked up. Mauricio told us that we were the only ones staying there for now. He opened the main building, which was much mor impressive than I had ever imagined. It is a fairly large room with a large eating area, large kitchen, and an area to hang out with couches. We headed over to the building with the dorms, which were locked as well. In that building, there is a room with a small overhanging and vertical bouldering walls, the dorm room with a long common bunk bed on two sides of the wall, and a room marked ´privado´with more bunk beds.

We put our stuff down in the dorm room, went to the common room and talked with Mauricio for a bit. He gave us a copy of the topos of La Vigilancia, since they ran out of books to sell.

Sean and I decided to hike up to La Vigilancia to check out the area. It was getting a little late, so we knew we didn´t have that much time to hike. We walked from the refugio down the dirt road to the turnoff sign for the climbing, then hiked the trail that goes along the base of the sierra to follow a trail up the sierra that is a foot trodden path with ´peligro´tape tied to bushes every once in a while.

The hike up La Vigilancia was a bit strenuous, ascending all the way. As we got higher, the scenary became more and more beautiful. We got to about treetop level of the trees in the forest at the base of the sierra. There was still quite a ways to go to get the routes, but we stopped there so that we could head back before it got too dark. We admired the view from there — the trees below, the lowland pampas below, and the sierra on the other side of the road. Then headed back to the refugio as it got dark.

It was so quiet — me, Sean, and Mauricio. Mauricio decided that he would cook for us tonight. We had cabbage salad, grilled pumpkin, and pasta with cheese sauce by candlelight.

Mauricio told us about the history of the refugio and La Vigilancia. It has been climbed for about 10 years, and the refugio has been there for about 5 years. The buildings that make up the refugio were originally nursuries for a Eucalyptus tree farm — which are all the surrounding trees. The trees are now very tall.

At night, there is really not much to do. There were clouds out, so there were no stars to look at. And it was cold, about 50 degrees. There is no heat. We decided to go to bed early, crawled in our sleeping bags to warm up.

Sierra La Vigilancia

The quote on the internet was $10/night for foreigners. The guy working there told us he talked to his brother and didn´t think it was fair that foreigners had to pay a lot more than Argentines (for Argentines, it`s 10 pesos per night (a little over $3). So he cut us a deal and told us he was going to charge 15 pesos (about $5). Hey, I´m not going to complain with that!!!

In the end, they charged us so much less…they only charged the two of us 150 pesos total ($50) for 7 days..that´s 2 people, 7 days at $50 total!!! Jesus, it was so cheap! So we gave them a 50 peso tip. Even with the tip (200 pesos), it came out to about $5/day!

🙂

Sean only had one day in the beginning in BsAs, so I decided to take him to the Costanera Ecological Reserve that Marcelo had recommended to me.

On our way there, we walked down to Puerto Madero, along the diques, saw the funky bridge, then walked towards the Ecological reserve. We passed through a park with a lot of vendors and a band setting up on a stage.

We were both hungry, so I decided to introduce him to the famed Argeninian parrillas. We ate at one place that looked pretty local. He wasn´t very impressed, as he said the Bife de Chorizo we had would be something he could cook at home.

After lunch, we headed over and found the fountain and the ecological reserve. Marcelo told me that you could rent bikes at the reserve…even though I can´t ride a bike…I was so tempted to rent one to see — after all, I tend to do crazy and new things in foreign countries!

We rented two rickety ass bikes off of a vendor for 4 pesos an hour each. I had to walk mine quite a bit, since I didn´t know what I was doing and there were so many people in the way. I would go about 3 feet, put my feet town to the ground, then walk it.

We entered the reserve trails where it was more clear of people, and I learned how to ride a bike…in BsAs. I was so wobbly and stopped the bike around people. It took about 10 minutes or so, then I got the hang of it!!! I was riding a bike for the first time in 23 years (last time I rode one was when I was 5 years old)!!! I finally got used to the feeling and to passing people. I had a huge grin on my face the entire time.

That bike ride in the reserve was awesome. We passed by a few lagunas — seemingly marshland so close to the city. Then we got to an area where the trail paralleled the ocean on our left side. It was gorgeous! We followed the trails back to return the bike. We returned the shitty bikes to their rightful owners. Both of our asses were so sore! I was quite impressed at how quickly I picked it up. Ironically enough, a bike ride in the park has become a highlight of my stay in BsAs.

July 31, 2005 – Sun

I woke up at 6am to get on my way to pick up Sean from the airport. I decided to take the 86 bus for economical reasons.

I walked from the hostel to Avenida de Mayo, not knowing exactly where to take the bus. After scouring every corner, I finally asked a news stand vendor who pointed me in the right direction.

I looked for a bus that had Ezeiza at the top of it and hopped on. Being that it was 6am and people party till 7am or so, I was the only sober person on the bus. Next to me was a girl, food on her face, drunk, and slurring her speech really badly. The food on her face was disgusting. It looked like she had been eating a hot dog, and somehow got some of the chewed hot dog on her cheek. I was afraid that she would spit on me when she was talking.

After about an hour (that´s how long the hostel people told me it would take), I went up to the bus driver to ask him how much longer to Ezeiza…

He told me that this bus doesn´t go to Ezeiza, it goes to Centro Mercado. Fuck!!! I got off as soon as I could, not knowing where the hell I was…hoping to flag down a taxi at 7:15am — still dark outside. I was on the feeder of a freeway, so there was some hope.

It took a few minutes, then I was able to flag a taxi down. My driver was absolutely insane. He went the wrong way down a one way street, almost ran head on into a car, and yelled at them when it happened. His meter seemed to be running way too fast. About 15 pesos later, he dropped me off at the arribos (arrivals) area.

Luckily, after that fiasco, I was still early to pick up Sean — an non-Spanish speaking gringo. I waited and waited and waited. There was a Peruvian woman waiting for her mother to arrive from Lima as well. She had to go to the bathroom really bad, but then asked me if it was okay to take drugs into the bathroom because she had some in her purse. Okay, that was too much information, and no, I was not going to look after her purse. Long story short, she never went to the bathroom.

Time had passed and I had seen no one come from the DFW flight. I looked on the arrivals screen, and the fight was not listed. Confused, I asked a security guard if there´s another arrivals gate. And sure enought, there is! I ran to the other gate, hoping Sean was still there. I told him I´d meet him at the airport so that he wouldn´t have to fend for himself down here (at least arriving). I looked around the area, didn´t see him, then waited in front of the glass panels separating the newly arrived from the greeters. Then I heard him call my name out. He´d only been waiting about 15 minutes, so it wasn´t that bad. I told him of my epic story on the cab ride to the hostel.

Note: For any of you wanting to take the 86 bus from central BsAs to the Ezeiza airport…look for the busses with EZEIZA on the lower left hand corner of the window, possibly in yellow with black lettering. If it says Ezeiza on the top of the bus (not on the window) and says something else in the window (ie. Centro mercado)…it WILL NOT go to the airport!!! Hope that helps someone out in the future :p

July 30, 2005 – Sat

Today was such a perfect day. Yesterday, Angie and I had said that we wanted to go to Tigre today. We decided…when we wake up, we´ll see and play it by ear.

We met up in the common area around 11am. The Brazilians were sorting their stuff out, so we said our goodbyes to them and left for Tigre.

Going by our guidebook´s advice, we went to the Retiro train station. We stood in the ticket line for Tigre — which was the last stop. Bought our tickets and immediately hopped on the train that was ready to depart. 95 centavos for an hour long train ride…that´s less than 30 cents!!!

The train had a really funky odor about it. I couldn´t place the smell, but it was a bit wretchid at times. I had to breathe through my mouth for fear of getting sick. Sometimes, the smell would get stronger. I was so glad when we finally got to Tigre!

We went to the info booth in the Tigre train station, got a map of the area. We were thinking of getting lunch and renting kayaks or canoes for the day. It was a sunny day — a first for my stay in BsAs, so far. And it was warm — upper 60`s to mid 70`s.

We headed towards the waterfront first, to find canoe or kayak info, then to eat. We ended up finding a kiosk that sold boat tickets, which would take us to a restaurant called Akù Akù, where we could eat lunch and rent canoes. ¡Perfecto!

The boat trip was 10 pesos for ida y vuelta (round trip). We went down the river, passed an amusement park by the river, cute houses, jospedajes, and restaurants. You can flag the boat down from a dock. It´s like a bus..but on water. Going down the river was nice — so beautiful. It was har to believe that we were so close to BsAs.

Akù Akù was quite a ways down the river, and we were both so hungry. About an hour later, we arrived, hopped on the dock, and were greeted by a waitress. Akù Akù was quiet — only a few patrons — a cute restaurant that reminded me of beachy colors — aqua blue-green and bright yellow.

Angie and I sat outside on the patio. We both ate quite a bit and were so stuffed afterwards. I had some sort of chicken skewer with peppers and onions for about 20 pesos. This place was so perfect — quiet, a great view of the river, large trees surrounding us.

After lunch, we went out to the hammocks that were calling our names, took off our shoes and took naps in the sun with the sound of boats going by. We stayed there till the sun was starting to go down, then flagged a boat down to go back to the mainland. I think everyone else had the same idea, as the boat returning was quite full.

Tigre is the perfect getaway from BsAs! If I had known about it, I would have split the week up and spent a few days in Tigre instead of BsAs.

We went to the station, rode the train back to BsAs — standing room only. All the way back to BsAs, we thought about Munchis (ice cream). Our hunger for ice cream became so desparate, that, when we finally got to Retiro, we walked very fast over to Munchis. Definitely dam good ice cream!!!

Angie and I decided to take Florida back to Viamonte. We encountered a dance show – a man and his family performing. One guy danced with a little girl, about 5 years old. They did the tango and were awesome! The little girl was so cute. Whenever someone would give a tip, she would say where they were from. One tip was from a few old ladies from Israel, and the little girl said, ¨Las abuelas (grandmothers) de Israel.¨ The whole crowd laughed as did the ladies.

The next gourp of dancers were 3 people — 2 scantilly clad girls and a young man. They were shaking all parts of their body to a Brazilian dance. They were pretty good. And had some guts to wear the outfits they had on.

July 28, 2005 – Thurs

Thankfully, the loud Brazilian kids and teenagers left the hostel this morning. It will finally be quiet and be more like a regular hostel. Yay!

I met many new people — from Porto Alegre (Brazil): Marcelo, Luiz, Felipe, Vicente, Fernanda, Matheus; from the states: Daniel and Damien?(I think that´s his name), and from Germany, Niko.

We all partook in Brazilian mate — so much better than Argentinian mate (no offense to you Argentines out there). I ended up having 4 mates.

For dinner, I headed out with Moran, Marcelo, and Niko to a tenedor libre (all you can eat) nearby. It was okay, enough to fill my stomach..but I wouldn´t recommend the place to people. Then headed back to the hostel to find everyone else gathered around in the common room with Damien playing the guitar and singing.

For evening festivities, a large group of us decided to experience the night life in BsAs. It was me, Luiz, Felipe, Vicente, Fernanda, Matheus, Niko, and Cathy. We walked to Puerto Madero on a very foggy night, looked at eateries, walked across the funky bridge, looked at other places but no one was satisfied. Then we decided to catch cabs to the area where Club 69 was. The taxis took us to Palermo, but it was too early for the club action.

We tried to find a bar or club to hang out at. Apparently, the clubs get started after 2am in BsAs. The first bar we went to was ´full´. We stood around for a while, trying to figure out what to do next. We eventually found a resto-bar with no one else in it, stayed there for a while and had some Iguana and Quilmes beer. It was pretty entertaining — Fernanda, Vicente, Matheus and I were showing off our tattoos. Cathy and I were learning Portuguese from Vicente.

Then we headed off to find clubs. Fernanda seemed to be in charge, asking people where clubs were, and leading the way. We arrived at an area of Palermo — a main plaza with swingsets and a jungle gym. There were a few clubs there. We tried to get into one that was playing various South American beats, but it was full. We could see inside, and it was hardly full. There was plenty of room. We watched 3 guys dancing like crazy, dancing, hopping at a distance, running into each other, trying to get girls to dance with them. We were laughing at them, but they looked like they were having a good time.

We finally moved from there and went back to Club 69. The ´being on the list´to get in stopped at 2am — from then, you had to stand in line. We stood outside of the line in front of the club, seeing if Fernanda could work her magic with the bouncer (she´s a cute girl), but no luck. We pondered what to do. It was already about 4am. Fernanda, Luiz, Matheus, and Felipe decided to take a taxi back to the hostel.

Cathy, Vicente, Niko and I got in line. It was a long line. It was cold. It was also 20 pesos to get in!!! I ended up taking a taxi back to the hostel on my own sometime near 5am. I was a bit suspicious — cabbie at 5am alone. But I have to say that I had the best taxi driver ever! We talked all the way back. It happens that he has a close friend, an Argentinian girl, who married an American guy and now lives in San Antonio. My taxi ride ended up being 8 pesos.

When I got back to the hostel, I saw the 4 that had come home early — waiting outside, half asleep. None of them had a key. They cheered and greeted me like I was their savior. And with double the luck, we also all shared the same dorm room, which I had a key for. It was a pretty funny circumstance.

I spoke to Cathy and Niko the next morning and they told me they were ripped off by their cab driver, who charged them 15 pesos..almost double what mine cost!

Internet here is too expensive…going to hit up Posadas in 2 days, hopefully will be cheaper there…will keep you in suspense till then…

Iguazu is beautiful!!! Sunny warm day, finally, yay! 🙂 Going to see the falls now…