Highway 1 All the Way

Here are pictures from our first week in Argentina:

After leaving Mendoza, we head north to Chicoana, the location of the horse ranch, making short stops along the way. We spend one night at Villa General Belgrano, which is known for its German style. The town is filled with German locking buildings, restaurants and shops. We have a delicious dinner of sausage, sauerkraut and spaetzel, plus artisan beer. I expect to see fair people of German descent, but everyone has dark hair and eyes. Where are the Germans in German town?

On Quinn’s birthday (Sept 1^st), we have a tough time finding a decent hotel and end-up at a basic hotel on the side of the highway. Birthday dinner consists of salami sandwiches from the grocery store – not even birthday cake! I feel horrible that we can’t do anything special for Quinn’s birthday, but he winds up having a fantastic birthday. The owner, Marcelo, has a 7-year-old daughter and Quinn plays video games with her all night. Marcelo brings Quinn out back to see his horses and pony, and Quinn is in heaven. He has such a great time that he wants to stay a second night, but we decide to move on.

The next stop is in Termas de Rio Hondo, the most popular spa town in Argentina. The town is filled with elderly Argentineans visiting the thermal pools to cure their ailments. I feel like I am in the Argentinean version of Florida: lots of elderly people socializing – leisurely lunches and dinners, playing bocce ball in the park, dancing in the plaza to a live band, conversing at cafes and lots of shipping. The people are incredibly friendly and interested in our journey. They stand around the minivan, admiring the stickers. Some even buy us local stickers to put on the car. We eat amazing meals: 2’ kebabs with steak and veggies, gnocchi, spinach cannelloni, parma ham. We splurge on an “expensive” bottle of red wine one night – all of 50 pesos ($12.50). Besides the thermal pools, there is not much to do, but we venture out to see a large dyke and take lots of walks in town. Everything shuts down from 1-5pm except for restaurants – a long afternoon siesta!

After a month of anticipation and Quinn’s incessant talking about the ranch, we finally arrive to the finca. In a word – wonderful! More to come in the next posting….

As a native Californian, I consider myself a wine tasting connoisseur (note: not a wine connoisseur but a wine TASTING connoisseur) from my many visits to wineries. Yet, wine tasting in Argentina threw me for a loop! We set out on Sunday, eager to visit several wineries (bodegas) and enjoy a leisurely lunch in the “wine country” near Mendoza. After driving past about five closed bodegas, we realize that the bodegas are not open on weekends. What???? This makes no sense to me, but I accept the Argentinean culture that everything is closed on weekends except for restaurants, bars and grocery stores. Instead of wine tasting, we spend a lovely afternoon at the Mendoza Zoo. We meet a friendly family from the States and Quinn has a little buddy to run around with.

We set out again on Monday after warnings that we should make a reservation. Reservation to taste wine? How busy can the bodegas be on a Monday during low season? Plus, we are ready to taste now, so how can I make an advance reservation?

We first go to Chandon (must start with champagne…), but are stopped at the gate by a guard. I inquire about tasting and he says, “un momento”, then retreats to the guard station to make a phone call. A few minutes later, he returns to inform us that we have a tour and tasting at 2pm. Hmmm. Ok, it is only 12pm, so we venture to another winery, Norton. Again, we are stopped by a guard at the gate, who makes a phone call and finally allows us to enter. We are greeted by a woman who explains the process. $15 pesos (~$4 USD) and two tastings. Fair enough. She then introduces us to the pourer. We are the only ones seated at the wine bar, each with 2 glasses, a glass of water, crackers and a spit bucket. Our host goes through the motions of pouring from glass to glass and explaining the decanting process. Yeah, OK, wine please! We finally get our glasses of decanted wine – Malbec – delicious and only $4 USD per bottle! After much discussion about swirling, sniffing, cleansing the palate, blah, blah, blah, we get our second taste: Barbera for Paul and Bonarda for me. Wonderful wines at $4 USD per bottle, but we prefer the Malbec.

We return to Chandon for our tour and tasting. We are the only guests and receive a private tour in English of the champagne cellars. After the tour, we are seated in a stunning room – lots of huge windows looking out to a garden, fancy modern furniture, all-white motif – it is like wine tasting for the rich and famous. Our hostess sits at the table with us and proceeds to pour three tastes of champagne: Extra Brut, Rose and Cuvee Chardonnay. All are wonderful and I reminisce about the many bottles of champagne that I have shared with my girlfriends at home.

At both places, the host/hostess pours a glass of wine for himself and drinks along with us. I wonder how many “reservations” and glasses of wine that they drink while working…

After two wineries, we are done since we don’t want to deal with the hassle of guards and reservations. Plus, wine tasting here is so serious, private and formal. Where is the party atmosphere like the tasting rooms in Napa? In any case, we have a fun, highly memorable day.

Here are pictures from Santiago and a few late comers of skiing at Portillo from my friends:

http://picasaweb.google.com/102902177234791651515/Week26Chile#

We spend a week in Santiago to handle trip logistics. Connor left on Sunday afternoon after a tearful goodbye. He encountered some problems with customs at the Santiago airport – since he is a minor travelling alone, customs require a notarized document. Both Paul and I were at the airport with him, so the police allowed him to leave without said document. Needless to say, we were very worried when he finally passed through airport security and flew to Toronto, then San Francisco. We were extremely relieved to get the news that he arrived. Connor started high school on Tuesday and is adjusting back to life in P-Town. We miss him very much.

I spent the week in Spanish school – 4 hours each day. My class consisted of students from Holland, Germany, England and Japan – an interesting and fun mix. I was probably twice as old as my fellow students… I had two great instructors: Yuri and Maria Cristina; both were energetic and animated. I learned a great deal about the Chilean culture and language, and now feel much more proficient with my verbs and vocabulary.

While I was in school, Paul and Quinn spent their days in our rented apartment (nice – a 2 bedroom apartment on the 16^th floor!). Quinn says that he hates cities and did not want to venture out. Paul met me after class to sitesee and handle logistics for shipping the car home. It seems to be much simpler than shipping from Panama to Columbia (not sure why…), but time will tell. Bottom line, we bring the car to the port on Sept. 21, the ship departs on Sept. 30 and the ship and car arrive to Oakland on Oct. 26. We’ll see…

Every day on my way to and from school, I walked through the city streets of Santiago. Santiago is a lovely city with wide streets lined with trees. The architecture is a mix of alpine-chalet, modern, hacienda and ordinary block styles. However, the city appears to have no zoning. One block has a 10 story apartment building, single family homes, 2 store business, restaurant, store and large commercial building. Very odd.

In general, Chilenos are non-confrontational and reserved. As I walk to school, no one greets me or makes eye contact, even if we are the only ones on the street. Except at the pubic markets, people rarely yell and seldom honk. After opposite behavior in Central and other South American countries, this confuses me. However, after initial contact, Chilenos are warm, helpful and friendly. I was often pleasantly surprised at the eagerness of Chilenos to assist us.

Today, we crossed the border to Argentina and are now in Mendosa. We left cloudy Santiago to the freezing, windy and snowy border in the Andes, to sunny Mendosa at 82 degrees. Crazy weather! We look forward to wine tasting in the sun tomorrow!

Here are pictures from perfect Portillo – too much fun!

http://picasaweb.google.com/102902177234791651515/Week25Chile#

In a word Portillo Ski Resort is perfect. The resort has everything: challenging slopes, excellent instructors, a beautiful hotel and great ambiance – not at all pretentious as an upscale resort can be.

We spend a full week skiing and snowboarding at Portillo. Here is an example of my perfect day. Sleep in as late as possible – typically until 8:30am since everything seems to start an hour later in Chile than the U.S. Go to the cafeteria to fuel up on coffee and carbs. Ski lesson starts at 10:30am. The instructors are top-notch and I learn so much: pressing down on the lead ski, height change, knees apart and most important, “feel the snow”. While I take lessons, Paul skis and the kids snowboard. We have a leisurely lunch in the cafeteria which looks out on the mountain – amazing view! I spend the afternoon practicing what I learn in ski school. In enjoy skiing with my new friends, Ann and Sherry, two lovely ladies from Canada who share an intense passion for skiing.

After skiing, I go to stretch class to ease my sore muscles. Then, I take a long soak in one or both of the large Jacuzzis. This is also social hour and I meet interesting people from Chile, Argentina, Brazil, Canada and the States, mostly Californians. Apres snowboard, the kids go to the warm swimming pool, tubing, game room to play ping pong and pool, or huge living room to relax. 7pm – adventure movie time in the cinema (check out “Man vs. Eiger” – amazing short film). Finally, time for dinner back in the cafeteria. The food is hearty and plentiful.

After dinner, Quinn plays hide and go seek in the hotel with his new friends. Connor likes to see a movie at the cinema. If Paul and I can keep our eyes open, we listen to a live band, sing karaoke (Paul only listens and laughs) and even dance at the disco. We finally collapse in our 4-bunk dorm room. Somehow, I get a top bunk which makes bathroom trips at 3am quite a challenge. (BTW – the resort has nice hotel rooms with gourmet meals in the fine dining room, but we opt for the budget accommodations.)

Portillo draws top skiers and boarders from all over the world, primarily due to the steep terrain. The lift to the expert slopes is called va con viente in Spanish (go with the wind), which is basically a 5-seat poma. At the beginning of the week, this is what I wrote to a friend:   “The pomas whisk skiers straight up a steep mountain. The pomas are made just for Portillo. I took one yesterday during a lesson and screamed all the way up, much to the amusement of my ski instructor and fellow students. However, I suppose that the skiing made up for the terrifying ride. You would love it! Check it out – va et vient slingshot lifts: http://www.skiportillo.com/ingles/lifts. Per the website, ‘they… are actually quite simple and fun once given a try.’ Not true!” By the end of the week, I can go up the poma without being terrified, but am still shaking by the time I reach the top. Scary, but the great skiing is well worth it.

On a few of my va con viente excursions, I share the poma with famous skiers, Daron Rahlves (a Truckee local and ambassador for Sugar Bowl, my favorite CA resort) and Chris Benchetler (a Mammoth local and ski film actor extraordinaire). They are at Portillo for an Atomic ski photo shoot and I am intrigued in their lifestyle. How cool to get paid to ski! Both guys are very friendly and gracious when I request photos. Chris designed his skis, which would look great with my crazy purple and turquoise zebra striped ski pants. The designer skis will be available via Atomic next year, but I think will be out of my price range… You can check out a video of the guys at Portillo at Daron’s website: http://daronrahlves.hookit.com/members/daronrahlves/

Besides the slopes, Portillo is reknown for the food. Paul arranges for a tour of the kitchen with the Executive Chef. He is impressed with the operation and after the tour, our family gets served a gourmet meal of abalone, ostrich and decadent desert. The next day, several people comment about how Paul will cook that night. Due to the language barrier, Paul is not sure what is expected from him, but shows up at the kitchen at 6pm sharp with his knives, ready for anything. The Chef has Paul watch and taste every course – salmon tartare on Belgium endive, rack of lamb served with on squash and potato puree with a huckleberry sauce, and chocolate mousse torte. Paul greatly enjoys the experience.

On our last night, I participate in the torch light parade with the ski instructors and a few guests. We go up the chair lift and grab torches, then I notice that the instructors are rubbing their gloves and torches with snow. I ask why and they reply so that their gloves will not catch on fire. What?!!! I quickly do the same, then light my torch and race down the mountain, trying to stay with the parade without falling on the ice. I end up being the last to arrive since I refuse to go straight down at the end of the run. I suppose that I rather preserve my body than be cool…

All in all, a fantastic and memorable week! This experience is tied with the Galapagos as the best week of the trip. If Portillo gets more snow, we will go back before returning home. Think snow!

Here are pictures from the coastal towns of Tal Tal and La Serena, as well as Los Andes in where else, the Andes:

http://picasaweb.google.com/102902177234791651515/Week24Chile#

Our computer lost Internet access for awhile, so here is the blog post from last week. We are now skiing and snowboarding in Portillo, Chile – awesome!!! More to come later this week…

We head from the high desert to the coast and immediately feel like we are back home. The weather is just like Pacifica in winter: foggy, windy and miserable one day, rainy and cold the next, then clear, cool and sunny another day. The gray-brown sandy beach is long and wide, just like Santa Cruz. Flocks of pelicans and seagulls fly overhead. Funky seafood restaurants are scattered along the beachfront. People walk, jog, bike and rollerblade along the malecon. Even a few guys surf.

We are staying in La Serena (population 150,000+) for four days. We find a nice cabana across the street from the beach – kitchen, two stories, two bedrooms and a wonderful view. After settling in, we go to get groceries and are pleasantly surprised with the megamall – Home Depot-like store, huge department stores and amazing grocery store – like Target and Safeway combined. We are like kids in a candy store while grocery shopping – Italian salami, Serrano ham, fresh artisan ciabotta rolls and a huge wine selection! Quinn and I treat ourselves to new slippers so that we can be cozy in our beach chalet.

We spend lazy days in La Serena, taking long walks along the beach, exploring the old part of town eating leisurely seafood lunches (well, at least Paul and Connor do…), reading, watching sunsets. On a rainy, cold day, we head inland to visit a Pisco distillery. Very interesting. Pisco is made from grapes and is similar to brandy. The best part is tasting Pisco and the premade mixes: Pisco sour and mango cocktail. Connor even gets to taste!

Next stop – skiing and snowboarding in the Andes! Yippee!

Here are some pictures from Tacna, the border town in Southern Peru, and San Pedro de Atacama in Northern Chile. Some great shots of sunset in the desert:

http://picasaweb.google.com/102902177234791651515/Week23PeruAndChile_1#