Reflections from 17 Days in South America

I'm back home in Corinth and unpacked from my adventures. The bottles of wine are in the wine rack, the souvenirs are mostly handed out, and the mate tea cup and straw have made their way to my "world travels" shelf. Of course, after all that traveling my immune system broke down and I got a little sick, but that's no real surprise, to me anyway. While recovering, I thought I would take time to reflect and share some of the major observations I made throughout the trip.

1. International travel is all about being flexible. It's fairly likely that most things won't go to plan, and that has to be ok. Control freaks (like me), you have to just say, ok today the universe is in charge and I'm just going to go with it. I might not eat lunch exactly at noon or the scheduled time...my flight might get cancelled and leave me with another full day in a beautiful city...my room might not be ready at exactly 3:00 PM. Flexibility is key to keeping everyone happy.

2. Lines don't really seem to work all that well in the countries we visited. I think lines are more or less a suggestion to folks in Chile, Argentina, and Brazil. Lines seem to work a little better for ticket counters and grocery stores, but for entering/boarding anything, like the plane or a ferry, it's just pretty much a free for all...whoever can push to the front, wins.

3. A friendly smile, hello, and asking how the customs agent is doing, tends to make your life easier in general. Although you may be exhausted from travel, I can assure you, those ladies and gentlemen working security and customs, appreciate you being nice and kind and patient, even when you feel like they're taking unnecessary measures. When we came back to the US, I had a guy even mention that he appreciated seeing someone who was nice and smiling. My bag didn't get dumped out and searched. Coincidence - probably not.

4. People appreciate you making an effort to at least minimally speak their language when visiting their country. "Thank you" and "I'm sorry" or "Excuse me" are really important words to know. Taking this trip has greatly moved learning Spanish up the priority list for me. It's a beautiful, useful language to know, and since I plan to visit South America again as soon as possible (preferably with Jeff in tow), it will come in handy.

5. A place where your purse has to be velcroed to the chair is a fine place to visit but not a place I'd want to live. During our "going away dinner" in Rio at a Brazilian steakhouse, the ladies of the group had hung our purses on our chairs since we were seated well into the restaurant. The waiters came by, took a piece of velcro and wrapped it around our purse straps, so purse snatchers couldn't grab them and run. I suppose if you live with it long enough, things like that become a part of everyday life. For someone who grew up not freaking out if doors went unlocked or if keys got left in the ignition, it's a bit of a shock. In the other places we visited, I was conscious of keeping my purse/bag safe, but the danger of having it taken didn't feel quite so "real" as when someone is strapping it down.

It was so exciting visiting new places, and putting another continent on my travels list. Thus far, I have greatly enjoyed all my travels, but there is something special about the countries I visited this summer. Maybe it's the empanadas, or the wine, or the tango music, or the beauty of snow-capped Andes when it's 60 degrees in Santiago...I don't really know. But, it's something anyone who loves to travel should experience.

And in Brazil, I Caught the Crud

Today I woke up feeling slightly less than super bien. In fact, I felt downright cruddy with stopped up ears and quite a bit of sinus pressure. Not to mention I've felt like I had a fever pretty much all day. So, with the help of benadryl tonight and no real mandatory wake up time, I'm really hoping to knock this crud out of my head before stepping on the plane home tomorrow night.

The sites in Rio are breathtakingly beautiful, and I'm disappointed that I haven't really felt like exploring it more. Hopefully tomorrow I feel like going out to the beach to at least take some pictures.

Finally in Rio on Copacabana Beach

This morning we left out from the hotel in Buenos Aires at 4:00, flew out a bit after 7:00 and made it into Rio by 9:30 or so. It was a bumpy flight at times, but we're here safe and sound. Our hotel is right off of Copacabana Beach. We got checked in, had an hour to shower, and then headed out for Christ the Redeemer. I've attached two pictures from up where the statue is, but unfortunately they can't give the view or experience justice. There was even a priest up there from the chapel dispersing holy water over the crowds. The only downside was everyone was pretty exhausted by this afternoon after such an early morning of travel. I just wanted to give a quick update, and will be sure to share more tomorrow (hopefully some pictures of the beach too)!

Buenos Aires is a Drama Queen

Apparently Buenos Aires wasn't ready to say goodbye just yet, and my oh my is it a dramatic city in letting people go. We departed for the airport at 7:00 a.m., checked in our luggage, got our boarding passes, went through security, and patiently waited at our gate. We boarded the plane, and waited and waited. Finally the captain came on the intercom and said we were going to try to wait out some volcanic ash that had temporarily grounded all departing flights. An hour later we were still on the ground here in Buenos Aires with no departure in sight. Our flight was ultimately cancelled, so we reclaimed our bags and were lucky enough to get our bus, tourguide, and hotel rooms back for the night by sometime after 4:00 p.m.

Somedays international travel can be a little stressful, especially when it involves 32 people and a cancelled flight to Rio, but I'm sure we'll look back at this eventually and laugh. I'd rather be in Buenos Aires an extra day or two (or four) than flying out in poor conditions. So, dear volcano, I'd really appreciate it if you'd give the whole spewing ash thing a break so visibility can improve and we can get a flight out. I love Buenos Aires, but am less enthused with unproductive travel days. A delicious chicken pot pie from 1810 and comfy bed helped end the day on a higher note. Tomorrow we should hopefully know more about the travel arrangements...all part of the fun of travel. It often teaches you that schedules are flexible whether you mean for them to be or not!

Ciao, Buenos Aires

Buenos Aires has been absolutely lovely, but tomorrow morning we'll be heading out for Rio de Janiero. I think I'll miss the food and Malbec the most. Last night's ribeye (ojo de bife) and tiramisu were unbelievably delicious, and I had a fun group of students to sit with. You can see all of us at the restaurant, with our waiter Juan Carlos in a picture as soon as I get a better internet connection.

One of my favorite things has been the empanada restaurant just down from the hotel. You can see a picture of the ones I had at lunch today (hopefully once I get a faster internet connection). They are so delicious. I know that a lot of my writings from these different cities/countries revolve about food...that is no coincidence, clearly I love to eat. Luckily, we are walking quite a bit, although I'm not sure it's really enough to make up for all the delicious steak I've had.

This morning we visited an agricultural fair, which is a lot like any agricultural expo in the US. They had some pretty fantastic leather goods for reasonable prices, not to mention some delicious traditional Argentinian sweets. Right before we left the expo, it started pouring and has been raining on and off all afternoon. Although it was a little disappointing to spend my last afternoon in Buenos Aires in a hotel room, I took a nap and packed. The nap was probably for the best since travel days are always pretty exhausting.

So, tomorrow when we arrive in Rio I'll try to post the pictures from last night and today. I am a little nervous about Rio since I don't really know any Portuguese, but it's supposed to be a beautiful place and we're on the Copacabana beach. Ciao, Buenos Aires.

San Telmo y Cemeterio Recoleta

This morning we got to sleep in a bit, which was great since we've kept pretty busy here in Buenos Aires. We headed over to the San Telmo street fair. I saw all kinds of interesting wares (and street performoers dressed as invisible men and statues), but the only thing I bought there was a mate tea cup for our "around the world" collection. We found some delicious lunch at Don Ernesto's. I gave the Milanesa Don Ernesto a try, which was a breaded veal. It was yummy, but way more than I could have ever eaten in one sitting. As soon as we wrapped up lunch, we took taxis over to La Recoleta Cemetery, which is pretty surprising in terms of how beautiful all the structures are. I saw Evita's burial spot, which compared to the other graves was fairly plain and unassuming. La Recoleta is literally one of those things you just have to see to appreciate how beautiful it is!

Outside the cemetery, there was another street fair with all sorts of handicrafts and souvenirs. I was able to pick up a few things there for gifts. However, the highlight of going through the market was getting to talk with the vendors in Spanish. This trip has definitely increased my interest in learning Spanish. It's become a pretty high priority on my "want to do" list and hopefully I have convinced my better half to learn along with me. I can already see an improvement in my vocab. Now if I could only remember all those conjugations! Tonight we have a dinner reservation at a great steakhouse. I'll post photos and updates about the experience probably sometime tomorrow. Tomorrow morning we are making a visit to the Rural Society and an agricultural fair. That should make for some interesting comparisons!

Argentina and Uruguay

Since I skipped a day, I'll give an update on what we did yesterday and then catch up on today's events in a later post. Yesterday we left the hotel about 11:00 AM and headed to the port for a ferry. It was a hovercraft, which was pretty cool, but it put me to sleep almost immediately. When we arrived in Colonia, Uruguay, we hopped on a bus and headed for a little estancia (kind of like a mini ranch). The lunch was ok, but I'm not really sure what all the meat was. Clearly I didn't ask, because if it was anything less traditional than beef, I wasn't all that interested in knowing about it. However, there was a dessert buffet with meringue and spiced peaches -- YUM! I had two helpings to make up for my lack of enthusiasm for the beef (or whatever it was).

After lunch, some folks gave horseback riding a try, but I mainly watched and took pictures since Brucio and I had shared our moment riding up and down the mountain in Chile. That was enough horseback riding for me for the month of July. Right before we left, we discovered there were several quite odd collections in a little museum across from the dining hall. Upon walking in, we found a collection of what looked like thousands of keychains, ash trays, and wooden pencils, among all sorts of other strange things. Clearly, this guy was an organized hoarder, which is kind of interesting but strange nonetheless. He held a Guiness World record for the most wooden pencils in a collection. So, again, you can thank me later for this interesting tidbit to share at a party. I can just hear myself, "Oh, would you like another hot dog? By the way, did you know a guy outside of Colonia, Uruguay holds the world record for the biggest collection of wooden pencils?" Clearly, people will find that so incredibly fascinating, they'll probably immediately ask for a six pack to endure any other interesting tidbits that may follow. In one of the pictures I've posted, you can see me highlighting some of the many keychains that covered the entire wall behind me.

After our lunch at the hoarder's estancia, we headed back into Colonia for a city tour. Apparently, a lot of people like to vacation there because of the beach. I thought the water was brown and the beaches were a little littered for my taste. However, the downtown area was absolutely beautiful -- a city of 26,000 and not a single stoplight. The streets are cobblestone, and little cafes and shops line the street. At the end of the evening, we stopped in for some hot chocolate (picture attached). On one hand, I wish I knew how to make hot chocolate that delicious...on the other, I'm glad I don't because I'd probably literally weigh 800 pounds.

The ferry ride back from Colonia to Buenos Aires felt long, because today is the soccer finals here with Uruguay versus Paraguay. It was a rowdy crowd on their way to Buenos Aires last night, who sang and sang the national anthem of Uruguay. We're not talking a little, 50 person ferry either...there were probably 2000 people on the boat. Meanwhile, my nook ran out of battery halfway through the trip back, so I was forced to people watch. I was pretty exhausted by the time we got back, and had no trouble going to sleep after such a fun, but tiring day!

Today I met the US Ambassador to Argentina

Today was about as varied as a day can get, but it was both amazing and entertaining. After oversleeping about 30 minutes because I forgot to synch my cell phone with local time and from being completely exhausted (no worries, I was still on time since I am always early for everything), we headed to a meat packing plant called Quickfoods. If you've ever eaten Pecos Bill beef jerky, then you've eaten a Quickfoods product. Good news for anyone who might care, it was clean and they made us dress in complete white suits with mouth and shoe covers (pictures to come tomorrow).The plant we visited only makes hamburgers, both for consumers and for McDonald's in Argentina. They said about 3 out of 7 days a week, they only make burgers for McDonald's. It was a great tour, and most people in the group tried a hot dog and burger before 10:30 a.m. I couldn't stomach serious meat that early in the morning, but was impressed at those who could give it a try.

After the meat packing plant, we came back to the hotel to change clothes and grab a quick lunch. There is an empanada place just down from the hotel, and it is delicious. I plan to eat there everyday we're here in Buenos Aires. Although, apparently, I am also going to eat the most delicious steak I've ever had as well. Needless to say, the food here is great. I'm glad to be walking so much everyday...otherwise, all this delicious food could pose a problem.

Although the embassy took some time to get into due to security, it was well worth the trip. We met the Ambassador to Argentina, which was unexpected. I got to introduce myself and the group. We also had some foreign service and commerce department folks make a presentation. I think I could have been interested in what they had to say for the rest of the evening...however, tango was awaiting.

I'll admit, I was a bit skeptical about how much I would enjoy the tango lessons and show, but it was a blast. Since unfortunately my dance partner is back in states, I thought I would be standing out on the side during the lessons. However, soon entered an awkward high school kid with his parents, without a partner, so we paired up. No need for Jeff to worry...any 17 year old kid dancing with a person of 30 is justifiably, completely mortified. But, Dennis was a good sport, and to show my thanks, I helped him partner up with some of the cuter young ladies in our group after I had learned most of the basic moves (or, as I like to say it, choreographing my own moves). It was so much fun. For about one minute, one of the performers grabbed me to show me how to dance the steps properly...now there was someone who could lead! After the lessons, we had a delicious dinner, and then all the performers put on a fantastic show with dancers, the tango orchestra, and two singers. Literally, it was broadway material, and at some points, I got goose bumps because it was so good. Even the guys who were skeptical ended up really liking the show and saying they'd like to see another one...I'm sure the red wine flowing so freely at our dinner table didn't really hurt matters. On a serious note, those people are incredibly talented, and I'd go to another tango show during our visit here in a heartbeat.

So, even though today had a wide variety of activites, it was pretty incredible. I saw raw hamburger being processed into frozen patties, met the US Ambassador to Argentina, and took tango lessons. Pretty good day...

Traveling to Buenos Aires

To sum it up, Buenos Aires looks to be a beautiful city on the drive in from the airport, but I'm sort of exhuasted. We got up this morning in Santiago, and left our hotel at 6 AM. Word to the wise...in Santiago, the only reason to leave your hotel in order to be to the airport early would be to avoid traffic. For a 9 AM flight, we weren't allowed to check in until after 7:30 AM. We got to the hotel in Buenos Aires about 2:00 PM, and the only parts of the city I've seen so far are those just around the hotel. Unfortunately, our rooms weren't ready when we got here, so we just hung around waiting for a bit while the students went to play their city game. So we went to eat, went to the market, got settled in, and have just gotten accustomed to our surroundings at a new hotel. So far Buenos Aires appears much less "cozy" than Santiago. Although, that's not an entirely fair assessment since I haven't been out and about too much here. Tomorrow morning we have a visit with a meat packing plant and the US Embassy. The meat packer should definitely be interesting, especially to see how the students react. Plus, although I've been to several processing facilities, I've never been to a major meat processor in any country. Hopefully there is no fresh tripe samples hot off the line or anything like that.

Although today was a travel day and fairly uneventful, the time in Buenos Aires should be exciting with company visits, a tango lesson (and show), a ferry ride to Uruguay, and lots of site-seeing.

Check That One off the Bucket List

To say the least, today was a good day - hot chips off the line at Frito Lay (Evercrisp here in Chile), gelato in lieu of lunch, and a Chilean wine tasting at Undurraga, one of the oldest Chilean wineries.

We started the morning with a visit to Evercrisp, which is the PepsiCo Frito Lay subsidiary here outside of Santiago. I've been on a lot of agribusiness factory visits, but this one takes the cake for being interesting and interactive. The speakers were dynamic, funny, and informative. Then to top it off, we got to eat Lay's chips (plain and pizza flavored), Doritos, and some potato cheese strings that we don't have in the US hot off the line. Everyone should put eating a hot potato chip (or Dorito) fresh off the line on their bucket list, because it tastes completely different (and amazingly delicious). As you can see from the picture, I was a pretty big fan of the Doritos. I love how their motto is now "we have good for you, better for you, and fun for you food." I clearly like the "fun for you" food the best, because it is the least healthy. That is why when we went to the mall for lunch on our way to the winery, I chose to eat two scoops of gelato, banana split and chocolate almond...YUM! Since I'm probably not going to eat dinner, that may have not been the best decision...but, it was the most delicious decision nonetheless.

After my gelato lunch, we headed to the winery. It was a pretty long presentation on competitiveness, marketing, and branding in a global industry (even I got antsy), but overall the tour was good and the Chilean wines were excellent. Most importantly, the students had a great time.

Now we're back in Santiago, and I have to pack. Tomorrow morning we're leaving the hotel at 6:00 AM for the airport. Chile has been FANTASTIC. I highly recommend a visit here to anyone. Santiago is easy to navigate, the people are exceedingly tolerant of American tourists (even large groups), and on top of that, it's in the mid-50's here when it's so hot you can't even remember what 90 feels like in Texas!

Chilean Heritage?

It was a busy day here in Chile. It started with a lovely breakfast, and on the way to this lovely breakfast, I saw a sign with my Mom's maiden name on it. Apparently "cruce" means crossing in Spanish. So, this sign was letting us know this was a pedestrian crossing. There is also a native drink called Pisco here in Chile, and a company that produced Pisco is called Tres Cruces. So, I would be interested to know if the name comes from Spanish meaning a "crossing" or "crossroads."

After breakfast we hopped on the metro and went shopping in Los Dominicos for souvenirs (see the picture that looks like a church). I didn't come away with much, but enjoyed seeing all the local artisans ripping tourists off with overpriced goods. Following the shopping experience, a few of us moved over to the BellaVista neighborhood with the intention of climbing El Cerro de San Cristobol (I thought I climbed it the other day - instead, we made it up El Cerro de Santa Lucia, a much less daunting task). After my HUGE, late lunch of soup, an empanada, and dessert, climbing the hill seemed like an even more impossible task. So, after climbing about 1/3 of the hill, which was full of screaming children and a zoo, two of us turned around to head back to the hotel.

Dinner tonight was at a delicious steakhouse called The Happening. Although things are always challenging with a group of 19 people, the food was so delicious. I had one of the best ribeyes I've ever put in my mouth! So pretty much today consisted of eating and walking, two of my favorite things besides sleeping. Tomorrow we visit Evercrisp (Frito Lay) and a vineyard.

Louisiana Gumbo in Chile

I've never had real Louisiana gumbo in the US, but got two helpings of it tonight in Chile! One of our students is a gumbo guru, and with some other kind helpers pitching in throughout the day, a gumbo feast was prepared for the group. It must have been good since we went through two stock pots of it (the equivalent of 14 pounds of chicken, 4 pounds of rice, and 6 loaves of french bread)!

The first item on our agenda this morning was the AmCham (American Chamber of Commerce) branch here in Santiago. Sam the economist gave us a really informative presentation about the Chilean economy and patiently answered our questions on a wide range of topics. Interestingly enough, I bet like me, you were unaware that blueberries and cranberries are up-and-coming fruit crops here in Chile (and, the same word is used to say both blueberry and cranberry). Now you have an interesting fact to share at parties, so people will think you're really savvy about South American fruit crops. You can thank me later when people compliment you about you being such a worldy, interesting person.

After a delicious lunch of turkey and ricotta crepes at the Melba Cafe (owned by a Kiwi), some of us made a trip to the local supermarket. I'm always amazed by the candy aisle at foreign grocery stores (ok, any grocery store). I managed to find some goodies to bring back home, including the Chilean version of Kit Kats (aka In Kats here in Chile).

After the grocery store adventure, there was lots of delicious gumbo and good times had by all. With a full stomach, I bid you buenos noches! Tune in tomorrow for my thoughts on Chile's version of lemon blueberry pancakes, the local artisan market, and a Chilean fine steakhouse dining experience.

It Snowed in Chile

Well, although it's hard to imagine snow on the earth when it's 110 degrees everyday in the shade in Texas, I was in the mountains today and there was an abundance of snow. In fact, I rode a horse both up and down a mountain. His name was Brucio, which means "Blondie." He and I were great friends going up the mountain, which was breathtaking...the scenery for me, breathtaking for Brucio in that he was hauling both his weight and mine up the mountain. He broke a serious sweat. We disagreed a bit on the way down when he decided that being close to the edge was a good idea because it was out of the mud and I decided that I didn't really care if Brucio got muddy, I was not comfortable so close to the edge. One of the instructors, who was very nice, complimented me on my riding skills (which are nonexistent), but then another one quickly brought me back down to earth by basically telling me to quit using the reins because the horse knew more about the trail than I did. So, all in all it worked fine and I made it back down without me or the horse having a nervous breakdown or heart attack.

After the horseback ride, we came back to the restaurant in the park and had a Chilean BBQ. It was an abundance of food...clearly, there must be a Charlie Cruce in that restaurant. It was both delicious and way more than even all of us could eat. There was also an abundance of great Chilean wine, and of course the workers were very kind and tolerant of our large group.

That was pretty much the day. We have a great group of people to travel with, and Chile is so far a GORGEOUS and most hospitable country, even if they do hate natural almonds. So, as you're sweating it out in the US, just know that I actually got cold today. It was fabulous.

Arrived Safely and Why Almonds Are a Bad Idea

We made it here to beautiful (and I mean beautiful) Santiago, Chile, where the weather was in the mid 50's today. We had an exciting day of being oriented and exploring the city on a cultural scavenger hunt. I loved seeing the Cerro de San Cristobol and reacquainted myself with riding the subway.

My biggest cultural lesson for the day is that Chile is strict on food coming into the country. Genius me decided that natural almonds (in prepackaged 100 calorie packs) would be a great, light snack to carry around. Not so much. Despite my gut feeling that almonds aren't really a fruit or vegetable, I had consulted the flight attendant and declared them after she told me that customs were strict on food products and that almonds are considered a dried fruit/vegetable product. Sure enough, Mr. Customs Agent (who was very nice and looked like he felt bad about it) tossed my 6 packages of almonds right in the trash before my very eyes. I just thanked him for not taking my granola bars too and he explained that even if my almonds had just been roasted or salted I could have kept them. It was the whole "natural" part on the package that led them to the trash can. Needless to say, I'll survive and have learned a valuable lesson.

Since we mainly just toured the city in small groups trying to find things today, I only made a few real observations. (1) The people here are nice and accommodating. (2) There are a lot of homeless dogs that just lay around on the sidewalks all day. And, (3) There are many, many public displays of affection by young and old couples alike.

I'll hopefully get to report in tomorrow after I ride a horse (or go rafting) in the Andes. That should be interesting to say the least.