Uruguay 1

A Coati - common in Uruguay

Uruguay 1

Montevideo is a much smaller city than Buenos Aires. But 1.8 million people live there, over half of the country’s population. There are fewer high rise buildings, the Old Town seems to have a combination of old and new. There is graffiti everywhere (not picture-worthy), they have tree lined streets, but somehow the parts of the city we saw seemed less well taken care of than Buenos Aires.
Our apartment in the Old Town was on the 7th floor of ‘Palacio Salvo’, which when it was finished in 1928, became the tallest building in S. America.

Link to Uruguay 1 pictures

An unscheduled return to Buenos Aires

At the Art Museum!

We had our third canceled flight, now an hour before heading to the airport. El Calafate is small enough that there isn’t daily service to the Puerto Madryn area, so we decided to come directly to Buenos Aires, our following stop anyway.
We are both cynical, and think the airline canceled due to a low number of bookings. Craig knows this happens at least at home. 2 days wasn’t enough time to visit Puerto Madryn - seems I shouldn’t have booked things ahead this time.. Had hoped to see whales for the first time, but guess we now need to book a whale watch at home instead.

link to pictures from our 2nd visit to Buenos Aires

Miscellaneous pictures & observations by Craig

 

We ate a few times at the same restaurant in Caraz. Each time this lady came in and went to each table trying to sell potatoes or wildflowers (actually begging). She's wearing the characteristic hat of the area.

This is a typical shower head from Peru, with exposed wires and taped wire junctions. Yikes! There is a heating element in the shower head. The way it works is you turn on the water, next you throw a breaker to shower, then you adjust the water so it's hot. If the flow is too high, the water isn't warm. If the flow is too low, there's a low cutoff switch that turns off the heat. It's very difficult to adjust the right trickle flow such that you get hot water.

We took this taxi up to a trailhead near Caraz. The road was very rough and narrow with about 50 switchbacks. Americans think we need SUVs with four-wheel drive and ground clearance. The taxi was an ordinary Camry about 15 years old.

This is a trash pickup in Cusco. People leave their trash out in garbage bags and packs of dogs then tear up the bags for the food inside. Then the poor trash collectors have to gather that up and shovel it into the truck. Stray dogs are a plague here.

This is a deep fried bread and relish that is automatically served with meals in parts of Peru. It's like the chips and salsa with a Mexican meal - quite good.

This church in Arica, Chile is made entirely of iron. It was prefabricated in France, designed by Gustave Eiffel. Apparently he made many buildings like this for export to South America.

 These folks are celebrating the anniversary of The Battle of Andamos, a national holiday in Peru. The battle was a crushing naval defeat for Peru in their war with Chile in the latter part of the 19th century. This defeat set the stage for their loss of the entire war, which led to the loss of Peruvian territory to Chile. Why this should be a national holiday in Peru is beyond me.

This building was a lactarium, built in a public park in Buenos Aires in the early 20th century for the convenience of nursing mothers.

 An abandoned fishing boat in Puerto Natales.

A typical breakfast in Buenos Aires - Cafe de leche and semi-lunas

We went to an art museum outside Buenos Aires, housed in what had been a beautiful and elaborate athletic and social club built in 1912. It has some of the original bathroom fixtures.

 Many older buildings in Buenos Aires have these tall (10-12 ft) narrow entrance doors.

This fountain replicates one found in the 16th century painting by Hieronymus Bosch called The Garden of Earthly Delights.

Torres del Paine and Puerto Natales

It’s windy!

We have spent over a week in Chilean Patagonia and have seen no signs of the political unrest that continues at least in Santiago.

Puerto Natales is a small town, and tourism is probably the most important industry here. Our hostel is very basic, but totally nice - Craig is able to sleep well, we have warm showers, and a large & clean kitchen in which to make our own meals. The staff is very friendly, flexible and helpful - they offered us free storage for stuff when we left for the Torres del Paine National Park, and even lent us a lock for the locker. Coffee & tea are free throughout the day!
But using the laundromat across the street after returning from hiking, cost almost $20 for our 4.2 kg of clothes...

We can see the ocean from the hostel, and despite the town being sheltered by islands and peninsulas, there were white caps the 1.5 days we spent here before heading to the Park. Fortunately the rain let up the morning we walked to the bus which took us there.

Craig’s Monkey Puzzle Tree - as mentioned in The Ghost and Mrs. Muir

Link to TdP & Puerto Natales pictures

Buenos Aires and El Calafate

Halloween in El Calafate

Our apartment, on the 8th floor, in Palermo, a central and safe part of this huge city, has a washer! We don’t have to disinfect water! I have wolfed down our basic home made veggie stir fries (the first time we have cooked since leaving home). I also totally enjoy my quinoa with added seeds etc. for breakfast (couldn’t find oatmeal the first several days, despite Argentina exporting grains..). We have 2 floors, 1.5 baths, Craig has a couch to stretch out on, no noise from the neighbors, a large balcony - this is just what we wanted, and needed. And we have enjoyed our first bottles of wine since home - Malbec.

Link to Buenos Aires & El Calafate pictures