5/17/11 continued

Walking back I turned inland to go into the city area. This descriptor was part of the central park, although I did not catch the name of the park. Nearby was the shopping center, where I did buy an Argentina jersey so I will be ready for the 2014 World Cup!!!!! (yes, I plan ahead.)

There were interesting bits of art tucked here and there.
I could imagine having this be my house, with this in my garden. It was so peaceful and inspiring, despite being tucked into the city.
There was a bit of political influence as well.
The most interesting parts of any city, I find, are the grocery stores. For example, I had not ever seen yogurt in bags before!!!
Not suprisingly, they had Argentinian wine!!! Lots of it. I bought 3 bottles back, although regretted buying them so soon into my trip, as I had to carry them all the way back to the hotel, and then on for the rest of the trip. I would say it was worth it!
The churches of the region were impressive to me, as were the squares with thier statues to whoever they happened to be of.
I giggled to see the bird perched on this elegant man's cape.

At the end of the day, I was ready for bed again, and looking forward to another day!

5/17/11 walking back

Walking back I ran into this guy, and his mirror image buddy guarding the steps down to the beach. I could almost hear them silently barking to each other. For perspective, I came up to his flipper! For lunch, I stopped in my "famous" restaurant and ordered a calamari dish, which was unfortunately aweful! Luckily, the water (without gas), coca-cola and wine with the bread, oh the bread! left me completely satisfied.
The view, too, certainly made up for the taste. I was later told to never, ever order the seafood, despite being at the beach. The nation was known for its beef, and I was instructed to stick with what they do well.
I kept on my path back to the hotel as the sky blued up for a bit.
Many of the homes looked like they had been boarded up and abandoned. I was clued in that, no, these metal window coverings were to protect against storms and were also for safety, although most used them to block the sun since air conditioning was not common.
I was delighted by the contstantly changing view. Ocean to one side, city to the other.

I had promised my friends and family that I would be careful, and this was a moment to prove that. I really wanted to shimmy between these 2 rocks to peer out the other side, but could just imaging getting mugged or robbed on the other side, and so kept safely on the path. You are welcome everyone! :)
I was not sure if this was condos or a hotel, but whoever got to stay there had an awesome view!
In front of some of the hotels were pools quite close to the beach, like this one. I can imagine that having a choice of where to swim would appeal to a lot of people. I think I would stick with the ocean.
I enjoyed the smell of salty air as I walked.
The walk continues....

5/17/11 continued

When I was preparing to go to Argentina, the guide books had pictures of this place listed in with the Mar Del Plata descriptions. When I happened upon it, I was so excited! Usually when I look at guidebooks, I never can find the places in the pictures, but still have a good time. This was bonus points!!! Inside was a restaurant which I stopped at on the way back to the hotel. As far as I can figured, I walked at least 3 miles each way, maybe more.
It was pretty windy, hence the hair pulled back. I was suprised to see paintball just below my "famous" restaurant.
I am pretty sure this place would be a lot of fun during the summertime. Likely very busy and packed, but then again, there were a lot of places in which you could find space, as the beaches stretched on, and there were so many areas which would be perfect for whatever you were looking to find. To be continued.....

5/17/11

On Tuesday, I set off on foot to see Mar Del Plata. Stepping out from my hotel, I took a right and headed South. It was autumn there, going into winter, so not surprisingly there were not many people out. It was also rather cool, and my pants and jacket were very welcomed. It was odd to me to see so many high rises so close to the water, imagining (as a native Californian does) what would happen if there were an earthquake.
I found myself clicking way, thankful, also, that I had brought 4 memory cards, all with 4 GBs on them as well as 2 back up batteries. When I had bought my first digital camera right before my trip to Scotland, I had not known that you 1. needed to charge the battery before you use it 2. the card they give you holds very, very few pictures and 3. the chargers in other countries are not the same as the states. Lesson learned, and this time I was prepared.
I spent the entire day being delighted as the path wound back and forth, ocean to my left, city to my right.
Yes, there was some graffiti, but it was clearly placed there out of boredom or teenage shenanigans. The walk continues....

1st Day in Argentina!

I had left Houston in the evening, around 9 pm, armed with pillows, a blankie, earplugs, eyecovers and (most importantly) ambien. Since my previous red-eye experience had resulted in being awake the.entire.12.hour.flight, I was thrilled when my physician had offered me sleeping pills, and prayed that they would work, since the last 12 hour flight I was awake for had been with ativan, benadryl, restoril, advil, and a hefty glass of red wine for synergistic effects, which proved ineffective. I watched the sun set over the wings before settling myself for a night of slumber. When I woke up, yes I slept!!!!!, I was in a brand new country on the other side of the equator. ARGENTINA!!!!!!


After checking out the gift shops (they love themselves some soccer), I got my rental car, and I was off!
The stick shift grey car with a name I had never heard of was an adventure in and of itself, seeing as how I had not driven a stick shift since I was around 19 years of age. The traffic in the city was wild, but nothing worse than a crazy friday evening before a major holiday weekend in LA or San Diego, or New York city. Maybe that was just my impression. I did find the lack of attention to the lines painted on the freeway to be more fun, creative or something!!! Lets just say God kept His hands on me.
The toll booths gave me a bit of stick-shift practice, with the tolls being on average $2.10 in Argentinian money, roughly 50 cents in US dollars. My first night was spent in Mar Del Plata, approximately 200 miles to the south of Buenos Aires. Silly me, I had thought that by traveling south it would be warmer, since that was what happens when I travel south when I live. Funny how that "other side of the world" thing works, and how south of the equator, you have to go north for warmer weather!

The room was very welcoming, with a beautiful view of both the ocean and the city. I layed out my money to look carefully at it so as to be familiar when shopping and the like.

I rather thought the $20 guy was handsome. What do you think?

This next shot is from my window of the morning sunrise over the ocean. I keep thinking its sunset, but that's just my west-coast mind working.

A shower and having gotten dressed later, I headed down to the complementary breakfast buffet.
It turns out "medialunes" are very, very popular and common. Thankfully, I LOVED them! Roughly translated, croissants, but tasted nothing like the croissants I was used to. It was more like a blend of hawaiian sweetbread with a softer touch. I also enjoyed the cheese selection, the yogurts, and juice selections. As for the dulce de leche, well, I wish I had developed a sweet tooth, as I could tell it was good, but it is simply not my cup of tea. So I snuck a packet to bring home to my mom, who I knew would love it!

Then I was off for my first day of real adventure....

Rehearsal

I just wanted to throw a few pictures from Melissa's Rehearsal dinner onto the blog.

Julie (one of the bridesmaids) and her daughter with a REALLY BIG BOW. The bouquet used for the rehearsal dinner...
Here's to old friends!

The newest family! Congrats!

May 11th, 2011

The 2 week journey started out with a 3 day bit in Houston, Swedish style, with Janitha.
She makes the best food!!! Breakfast was toast with turkey, cucumber, cheese and her special Swedish flavoring, the name of which I cannot recall, but is pictured above. Do you see the Swedish crown on the napkin? Hi Pia!!!

As she prepared dinner we sipped wine and caught up on good times.

A salad and a Swedish style stroganoff were served, and the conversation flowed.

So a good chunk of the conversation revolved around these two: Turbo (above) and Spooky (below)

We ended up staying up until 4 am laughing, chatting, reminiscing, and generally enjoying each others company.

We both wish somehow Houston was closer to San Diego, but isn't it amazing how time and distance doesn't matter once you are back with friends?