Two new sets of pictures for you

Hi,

I've uploaded two sets of pictures. The first one covers our trip to Valle de la Luna and Talampaya national parks. The second set of pictures shows Mendoza and some of the attractions around the city.

You can access the other album by clicking on the hyperlink "Marc" (top left corner) after you've clicked on any thumbnail.

Central Argentina (Ruta 40) Wrap-up

The Great : Talampaya National Park. The Talampaya canyon walls rise up 143 meters high and contain some amazing rock formations (the Gothic Cathedral). It was definitely the highlight of our trip in Central Argentina (Ruta 40).

The Hidden : The walk at the base of Aconcagua. Ania and I were happy to discover that there is a nice trail open all year long near the mountain of Aconcagua. The trail is well worth it and it also provides the best opportunity to take pictures of Aconcagua.

The Overrated : The city of Mendoza. Ania and I saw a presentation on Argentina at the Grands explorateurs two years ago that made us salivate. Mendoza in particular was portrayed as an incredible city with beautiful gardens and great wine culture. Ahh the power of images and words. Our disappointment couldn’t have been greater. Mendoza suffered a terrible earthquake in 1861 which leveled most of the city, so that explains that most buildings are new. However, the rebuilt city looks so bland and uninspiring. Moreover, much to our dismay, Mendoza is plagued by a very high level of insecurity with robberies being the most banal thing in town. Mendoza ended up disappointing us - a lot.

The Ugly : Insecurity in Mendoza. We discovered that insecurity extends to pretty much all cities in Argentina. Our friend Mariana had her car broken in almost as many times as she had birthdays in her life. Entire city blocks need to be avoided between sunset and sunrise. Every Mendozean we spoke with told us that taxis are the only way to move around town and are essential to avoid meeting the wrong crowd. We were supposed to rest in Mendoza but I found myself restless at the thought that every outing with our new camera might be our last one. Argentina is much more pleasant outside of cities. How unfortunate.

Wine tasting - it doesn't get better than this

Wine tasting in the most charming winery we’ve visited – check

Wine tasting private session with the help of an extremely knowledgeable wine connoisseur - check

And finally, wine tasting in company of Mariana and Rodriguo, two new great friends of ours – priceless.

Getting to know Mariana and Rodriduo really made the trip to Mendoza worth it – finally. Ania had been put in contact with Mariana through a colleague at work. Mariana and Rodriguo have showed us around Mendoza and managed to get us a VIP private wine tasting tour at one of the most famous winery in Argentina, Selentein.

Fortunately for us Mariana and Rodriguo will have to visit Canada at some point in the near future because Mariana has family in Ottawa. Ania and I have made a promise to ourselves to see that we return the fantastic hospitality to our friends – with a vengeance :)

Tit-for-tat policies and other ramblings

The Argentinean government has a beef with us Canadians. It also has a beef with Americans and Australians.

When we entered the country on July 1^st, I had to pay $75 USD to get a visa while Ania had to pay nothing. Why? Because Canada has a visa in place for Argentinians to slow the flow of refugees from the country. Argentina finds this belittling. That’s why it has put in place a tit-for-tat policy: you have a visa for our nationals; we’ll have one for yours.

Of course the irony is that there are no Australian, American or Canadian citizens living illegally in Argentina or wanting to enter illegally. That’s the whole difference. But this important distinction does not bother the Argentinean government. It is called hubris.

Please don’t misunderstand me: I love Argentina. We are having a fabulous time over here. But it now clear that the Argentinean government has enacted policies that somehow make me think of another country whose policies haven’t impressed me much: New Zealand.

It is called Milking the Cow. Of course tourists are the cows.

Take the entrance fee at Perito Moreno Glacier national Park. It costs us $25 to enter the park. How much does it cost an Argentinean national? A measly $2.5.

The same double pricing is applied to Talampaya National Park, Valle de la Luna, and pretty much all other parks in the country. Even worse, expensive tours are sometimes required to see the attractions. There is a well-defined path going through Valle de la Luna but one can’t drive alone there. One needs to follow a “guide” through the circular path. Milk ‘em all you can.

Now Ania has given a very convincing defense of double pricing with Prague as an example. In Prague a tourist (non-Czech speaking tourist) will pay $4 for a beer in the old town square A Czech will be able to order the same beer for much less than $4. Ania’s argument goes like this: if double pricing is not allowed, Czechs will not be able to drink beer anywhere in downtown Prague as the prices will be too expensive for them. Locals being priced out of their own city. Hmm. Her argument makes sense.

I am willing to buy her argument and give the Argentinean government the benefit of the doubt – although any tourist ticket priced at 10 times the normal price is probably an exaggeration.

During our trip to Talampaya National Park we discussed this matter with our French friends. For them this was nothing surprising. They told us that the famous château de Versailles in France has similar pricing for tourists versus French nationals. According to them there is nothing wrong with this policy since French taxpayers end up paying for the maintenance of the building and so on.

Wait a minute. So tourists wear down the infrastructure and they don’t pay for it? I disagree strongly.

When was the last time a tourist was been able to land in Paris early in the morning, visit the château de Versailles during the day and catch a flight home before night time? Never heard that story? Me neither. What happens is that tourists have to stay in overpriced hotels and eat at pricey restaurants in Paris. That, my friends, is where tourists pay their fair share. And some more.

Then I think about Canada, Australia, and the United States, which often have stellar attractions and great facilities in national parks available for pocket money. And more importantly, the pricing is the same for everyone – black, white, Chinese, Indu, French, or Canadian.

Now this leads me to my conclusion. Canada (Australia and the U.S. as well) is probably getting the short end of the stick.

“Welcome to Niagara Falls, Mister Jean Leroy. Since you are a French national the entrance fee to Niagara Falls is 20$. Enjoy your visit”

Why not? Aren’t the throngs of tourists making the lives of the locals in Niagara Falls miserable in summer time? And they are using a lot of infrastructure for which they pay nothing. Nada. Zilch.

I always thought that entrance to parks and other attractions should be the same for everybody. But after having traveled in many countries it is crystal clear when I am treated as a guest and when I am treated as a cash cow.

Maybe we should change all that and put in place tit-for-tat policies. Maybe we should.

Not my cup of tea

Since I've arrived to Argentina I've been haunted by Yerba Mate. First I noticed that a lot of people in Argentina drink a mysterious drink from special round cups with silver straws. Then I realized that shelves in supermarkets were full of different kinds of the herbal tea - yerba mate.

By the time I read that yerba mate was very healthy and rich in antioxidants, I was already extremely anxious to try it. As a tea lover I was anxious to familiarize my taste buds with this yet unknown delight.

Today finally I had the chance to satisfy my long standing desire. A nice Argentinean girl in the hostel lent me her cup and initiated me to the secret of preparing the drink. I was so excited to have my first yerba mate. I felt so Argentinean, leisurely holding my mate cup while mingling with people in the hostel.

Unfortunately I'm not nearly Argentinean enough to appreciate the taste of yerba mate. It's VERY strong and VERY bitter. And while I'm still planning to buy the mate cup as a souvenir, I no longer intend to stock myself with a supply of the drink itself...

New pictures uploaded

Hi all,

It took a long time, but we have new pictures for you. If a cheap, stinky, lowly, ugly, good-for-nothing city slicker hadn't taken our camera in Buenos Aires, we would have had more nice pictures for you. Oh well.

Enjoy.

Southern Patagonia Wrap-up

The Great : Perito Moreno Glacier. The glacier was my favorite attraction in Patagonia. Ania preferred our hikes around El Chalten. Poor lost soul :)

The Hidden : The bus ride between El Calafate and El Chalten.was very scenic. We left before sunrise and saw the first ray of light hitting beautiful Fitzroy. I was overly excited. Ania kept sleeping and did not want to be disturbed. Can you believe this?!? :)

The Overrated : Bariloche in North Patagonia. The town is touted as a must-see destination but there is nothing special about it. The view is nice but skiing is really the only reason anyone would want to come to Bariloche in winter. South Patagonia makes for a much better (and more scenic!) destination in winter.

The Ugly : Bus schedules not being respected. I know I know, I should accept the fact that Latin countries operate on a different schedule than Anglo-Saxon countries. However, when the bus schedule says that the bus leaves at 4 pm, the bus should leave at 4 pm and not at 5 pm. And when the bus schedule says that we should arrive at 8 PM, we really should arrive at 8 pm and not at 9:30 pm. After more than 20 days in Argentina, I still have a hard time accepting the fact that the bus will depart…eventually.

Why it is sometimes worth it to trade summer for winter

After travelling through almost uninterrupted summer, escaping winter 2009/2010 and spending New Year’s Eve in boiling Mildura – the temperature was well over 40 degrees - , we decided that July was the best time to get some action in the snow.

So we went to Patagonia in the midst of South American winter. And we didn't regret it for one minute. The temperature was very agreeable, not colder than -5 degrees. Throughout our stay in South Patagonia we only got beautiful sunny days with amazing views on the snowy Andean mountains and lakes.

Some Argentineans told us that Patagonia is more beautiful in winter than in summer. Obviously, I can't verify that statement but what I saw was breathtaking. Patagonia in great part consists of mountains, glaciers and vast steppes. In winter the endless brown steppe gives one the impression of being truly at the end of the world. And I personally enjoyed more the view of glaciers surrounded by snow than the barren steppe.

Of course, there are downsides to visiting Patagonia in winter. Some of the trails are only passable with special equipment. And to my great disappointment, it is too dangerous to trek on the glaciers when they are covered with snow. On the other hand, we had one of Argentina's greatest tourist attractions almost to ourselves. And we hiked in the mountains around El Chalten for two days and met no more than 10 people along the way.

And there is one more feature of Patagonia in winter that I fell in love with: the sun rises well after 9:30 AM. This means two advantages for people like me (ie those who are not exactly known as early birds): Firstly, there is no point to wake up early in the morning as it is too dark, so I can sleep longer without having a bad conscience. And secondly, I got to see several absolutely spectacular sunrises without any effort at all!

Perito Moreno Glacier - it won't disappoint

About 7-8 months ago I told you how slightly disappointed I was at the sight of Franz Josef Glacier in New Zealand. Well let me tell you that its cousin Perito Moreno in Argentina is in every possible respect a better glacier. By a long margin.

Perito Moreno is located in the Los Glaciares Park in Southern Patagonia. The fee to enter the park is a hefty 25$ but worth every penny. Prepare yourself to let a few “Ahhhs” and “Ohhhs” as Perito Moreno appears on the horizon. Now that is a reaction I didn’t have when I first set my eyes on Franz Josef Glacier. Perito Moreno is a towering wall of ice about 75 meters high (at the point where it drops in water) and is immensely bigger than Franz Josef. There is no doubt about it: Franz Josef is knocked out in the first round.

The bus let us off close to the boardwalk right in front of the glacier. The boardwalk was fairly long and gave us access to different point of views. We also took a boat tour that brought us fairly close to the glacier. This allowed us to see the glacier from great angles. The boat tour was reasonably priced at 18$ per person.

If you visit Perito Moreno you should plan at least two hours walking between the different point of views. You’ll also want to spend time just watching the glacier and hoping that a piece of it comes crashing down in the lake. When this happens, the deafening sound is spectacular. It sounds as if an artillery shell landed somewhere close to you. Impressive.

Now should you visit Perito Moreno in winter or in summer? I’ll let Ania answer that question in a separate post.

My only beef with this magical day is the fact that the bus left for El Calafate at 2:30 pm. This left us with about 4 hours to enjoy the glacier. This may seem a lot of time to observe a big chunk of ice, but I can tell you that it is quite enthralling to watch the glacier and hear the creaking noises. Time went by so fast.

Perito Moreno was everything I expected. And some more.

Living in the shadow of financial ruin

Argentina has experienced on and off periods of severe hyperinflation since the 1970’s. Most of the inflation was eventually tamed when the minister of the economy resorted to pegging the pesos to the American dollar. This had the result of stabilizing the pesos and restoring some faith in the local currency.

However the relief was temporary and international currency upheaval had a devastating impact on Argentina between 1999 and 2002. Hyperinflation reared its ugly head again and Argentina was forced to default on most of its debt in 2002. This did not happen before the Argentinean government froze dollar-denominated accounts of ordinary citizens and force the conversion into devalued pesos at less than half their new value. This had a tragic impact on those who had been saving for years.

Unsurprisingly Argentinians remain distrustful of their currency. That is why the US dollars is still widely accepted throughout the country. Still today Argentina is ranked as one of the top countries most likely to default on their international debt. To prevent a bank run, the Argentinean government has instituted a limit per transaction: no more than 1000 pesos (250 USD) may be withdrawn at a time.

That is not all. We also found out that ATM machines regularly run out of money late in the afternoon! And don’t think that your shiny Visa or Mastercard is going to be a passport to a great vacation down here. Credit cards are rarely accepted and when they are, the state levies a huge 21% surcharge on all credit card transactions, a surcharge the store owner generally adds to the bill. It is definitely painful to live on the edge of financial ruin – for all parties involved.

Trip Monthly Update

June 9 2011 – July 8 2011

Summary of the eighth month of our trip

Number of countries visited: 3

Number of flights taken: 5

Number of posts added to our blog: 12

Number of marital conflicts: 0 (well, my post is late and the past month is

becoming blurry in my memory. If we had any conflicts, I probably blocked them out :)

Best overnight stay: home sweet home, obviously!

Worst overnight stay: Again this month not a single bad place we stayed in. But

don't worry, I already have a candidate for the coming month!

Best Call we made: going to Kazimierz for a folk festival while in Poland.

We had hard time deciding what to do in Poland. Should we travel around Europe a bit? Or should we travel around Poland? Or should we just stay in Warsaw and have a good rest? Finally I found out that Marc's favorite Polish folk group was playing at a folk festival in a very cute town not far from Warsaw. We went there so Marc could have a surprise concert.

I'm no big fan of folk music but I must say that I quite enjoyed myself. We met great (although very young) people who were performing at the festival. We also danced every night to the live folk music. And yes, my blasé Warsaw friends, I'm not ashamed to admit I had fun! :)

Worst Call we made: Walking in the district of la Boca in Buenos Aires. This was the one time when we should have definitely taken a tourist bus. We were lucky and nothing bad happened, however.

Argetina - time to discover

I survived one of the nastiest virus I’ve had in the last 10 years. And I also managed to calm down after having all our camera stuff stolen from us. Calming down is good for my blood pressure, says Ania. :)

Now our schedule is pressing us and we have to get going on our discovery tour of South America. Here’s our plan for Argentina.

From Buenos Aires, we will fly south to a minuscule town called El Calafate. El Calafate sits about the 50^th parallel south, which means we are going deep into winter (remember that everything is upside down in the Southern Hemisphere. When it is summer in Canada it is winter in Argentina. When I say that we are going south, it means that we are going into a colder region. If we are headed north, it means we are getting closer to the equator, hence the warmer climate). However, El Calafate enjoys a climate similar to any city close to the 50^th parallel north in Europe, not in North America. This means cold rain with occasional snow showers during winter time. That is a good thing because Ania and I are absolutely not prepared for anything resembling a Canadian winter.

From El Calafate, we will explore Perito Moreno, Argentina’s star glacier. After El Calafate we will slowly make our way north to the town of Salta, which is close to the 24^th parallel. Finally we will backtrack to Mendoza to make a crossing into Chile. As you can imagine the distance covered is going to be immense. If we can avoid any more disasters similar to what happened in Buenos Aires, we should have a fantastic time on Ruta 40.

Despite everything, Buenos Aires IS beautiful!!

I feel I owe this post to Buenos Aires. Because even though we have had a couple of crappy experiences here (and really, I can hardly blame the city for getting a terrible flu*), Buenos Aires is truly beautiful.

The streets are full of stores and artists playing tango and milonga music, people are very nice, and the colonial architecture is very impressive. As if this wasn't enough, there are cafés at every corner. What's not to like?!

While walking around, I was also surprised at the number of bookstores and theaters all around the city center. Unfortunately I would need more than 20 hours of Spanish lessons to appreciate this side of the city.

We only had two days to admire all of that before I got so sick that even the prospect of dancing milonga with Marc couldn't get me out of bed.

Maybe if we had spent more time around the city, it would've been easier to put the loss of our camera in perspective... As it is now, we kind of lost our hearts for the city and we are focusing on getting well before leaving to Patagonia on Thursday. And you will not be able to judge the beauty of Buenos Aires for yourself, because all our pictures are gone...

* Ok, I kind of blame the city for my flu. All these beautiful colonial buildings with high ceilings and huge windows are not heated in winter and I was half-frozen after my first Spanish course...

Malediction in Buenos Aires

I wish that today was April Fool’s Day. Sometimes being hit by a hammer is not enough. Malediction requires that you are hit again, but this time by a sledgehammer. This morning Ania’s bag that contained our precious camera was stolen. The camera itself wasn’t too expensive, but the lens was. And we had a ton of expensive accessories as well (large capacity cards, multiple batteries, polarizer, etc.). Gone. All gone almost in front of our eyes. Ever since we boarded the airplane in Frankfurt, Argentineans had told us to be extremely careful in the city because pick pocketing and theft was a national pastime. It looks like they were right after all.

Buenos Aires started out with a bang the first day: we spent our first day exploring the city and really enjoyed what we saw. Then it fizzled a bit when we toured around the riskier La Boca. Starting from Wednesday, it went downhill from there. Ania and I became very sick. Both of us had fever, a severe cough and were generally helpless outside the apartment. Activities were reduced to a trickle – actually we didn’t go out at all on Saturday and Sunday. On Monday we packed our stuff and moved out to a hostel in downtown Buenos Aires.

After I rang the doorbell of our new hostel, I noticed that two guys and a girl had also managed to slip in before the door closed. I swear I told Ania “eh, these people just followed us in. Maybe they don’t belong here”. We walked all the way up to the second floor where we finally put our bags down just two meters from the reception. I took less than ten seconds to fill in the form: this was enough time for these fu***** bastards to take Ania’s bag and run away with it. And I am 100% sure it is these ******* who took it, because they disappeared right after. I ran downstairs and looked outside. How futile.

So how do we like Buenos Aires? It is one of the most beautiful cities we’ve seen this year. However, I don’t want to talk about this city anymore because I fear more maledictions. I will give you one piece of advice if you choose to visit this city: don’t keep an eye out for your stuff. That is not enough. Keep your stuff with you at ALL TIMES. And buy a pistol to threaten anybody who gets too close to your stuff.

Damn I’m angry.

Influenza in winter

Hi all,

Sorry for the lack of updates, but Ania and I have been hard hit by a well-known winter virus. We both feel like crap and Ania has been feverish for a few days. I'll take care of Ania and when she's better we will add something to the Web site.

Stay tuned.

La Boca - Don't play the odds

Flamboyant Caminito is a famous icon of Buenos Aires. All tourist guides recommend visiting the street museum where houses display vibrant colours to produce a very distinct flavour to this side of town. What the guides don’t tell you is that to visit Caminito you’ll have to go through La Boca, which is arguably the most dangerous neighborhood of Buenos Aires.

After touring the Sunday market on Defensa, we decided to walk all the way to Caminito via La Boca. As we entered La Boca, it became obvious that this place was a no-go zone for tourists: plenty of stripped-down cars with only the chassis left, buildings that looked bombed out, slum-like housing, many stray dogs and, even more worrisome, no tourists other than us walking in the neighborhood. Foolishly we thought that the “rough” part was only a short stroll and beautiful Buenos Aires would resume shortly. So we kept going.

At some point we saw groups of young guys hanging out at a crossroad. I was carrying our DLSR camera and there was no way I could hide the damn thing; it was dead obvious that we were tourists. In a moment of sanity we stopped and decided to head back to find another way around. After a huge detour, we did find another way to Caminito on a road that looked only a bit safer than the last one.

Caminito was nice, but the thought of getting back safely was preoccupying my mind. We chose to cut through a park on our way back while staying close to another family. We made it safe back to our apartment.

I was curious about La Boca and did an Internet search on the subject. Lo and behold, there are hundreds of accounts of tourists who were robbed – some at gunpoint and in broad daylight – in La Boca! The area is so bad that it has been listed a dangerous tourist trap on many Web sites. And not only that, many tourists complain that the police have been equally helpless with tourists in need. One tourist even reported that a police officer, upon learning that the tourist had been robbed at gunpoint, shook his head and declared “We do not know why you tourists keep coming down here”. Very reassuring.

Should you choose to visit Caminito (notwithstanding the neighborhood I am still unsure if it was worth it), heed the advice of many who were robbed and take the less-than-glamorous city tour bus. It may feel cheesy (just don’t mention this when you get back home), but at least you’ll still have that shiny DSLR camera and more importantly, the card that holds your priceless pictures.

A long and deadly journey

Our 13-hour flight from Frankfurt to Buenos Aires was not a pleasant one. Ania and I were given the crappiest seats all the way at the back of the airplane, right next to the bathroom. No way to recline the seats. Moreover the carrier, Lufthansa, put us on an aging 747 with seats that did not have individual screens. This is unforgiving. Lufthansa needs to refurbish its planes ASAP.

But it got worse. Sometime in the middle of the night, I saw a flight attendant get excited behind me: she had discovered an unconscious old lady in the bathroom! More flight attendants flocked behind me to help lay the woman on the ground. Reanimation was tried unsuccessfully for 3 hours. All the activity was taking place right next to my seat.

The plane was diverted to Sao Paolo where the old lady was transferred to medical staff. The captain informed us that she was pronounced dead. Since the cause of the death was unknown, the Brazilian police came aboard and took all kinds of pictures.

All in all we spent a staggering 18 hours aboard the plane. I am not tired of seeing new and exciting destinations, but I am growing tired of flying around the world. :)