Beautiful day on the Flume

My Mom is so much fun and I am so lucky to live close to her. I am very fortunate to have a mom that can keep up on hikes and bike rides. Today, she proved yet again she is in great shape. You inspire me Mom to be like you when I am your age. 

We rode the Flume Trail in Tahoe. It was a spectacular day, no wind, no clouds and a perfect temp. This is definitely the best time of year in this area. The BIG hill up to Marlett Lake definitely gave us a challenge, but we conquered and defeated the mighty hill. The rest of the ride proved to be pretty easy and the views, well... they were amazing. Of course, it is hard to beat a panoramic view of the lake. 

Photos finally up on my gallery

I finally was able to upload my photos onto my web gallery. Check the link and see the great pics from Argentina and Chile.
Now, that I have had a chance to go back and read the posts I wrote I can see how bad my writing really is. I sincerely apologize for that. This can truly be considered another jackass move. I will try to work on that.

Anyways... enjoy the pics. Truly a life changing experience.

Touch down ...

I'm officially back in Reno. I've gotta lot of stuff to do. Back to
business. First things first... I'll keep ya'll posted.
To be continued...

Not an ending!

Well, the last couple of days I have to say have been very hard.
Everything inside me said stay in SA and travel with my new friends.
If this was a couple years ago, I probably would have done so. But, I
know I have a lot of things I need to work out before I can stay a
while in SA.

My poor travel friends think I am the most wishy washy person. One
minute i was telling them i was staying the next i was saying i was
going. Jackass move for sure. When I was with them all I wanted to do
was stay, when I found myself alone to actually think about my actions
of if I stayed my gut told me to go home. So... I found myself doing
the responsible thing and I got on the plane. Trust me, even up until
the plane was pulling out of the gate I was thinking of how I did not
have to do it. I already miss you guys!

Truly, this experience has opened my eyes up to the world. I realize
the posibilities and opportunities. I am very fortunate to have such
an amazing life. I am at a huge transition stage in my life and to me
this is only the beginning. My goal is to go back as soon as I close
some doors. Then, I will have the opportunity to open more.

I hope to see you guys soon! Claire, Trevor, Sam, Al and John.

Santiago

After an all night bus ride from Pucon to Santiago, we arrived in at
7am on a Sunday. Sundays in Santiago are like ghost towns. We could
not for the life of us find a place to eat breakfast. The funny thing
about Chile is there really isn't drip coffee. It is all instant, but
surprisingly alright to drink. All I heard about Santiago, is that it
is not worth going to. Actually I like the city a lot, except for the
massive smog problem they have. The city is actually quite safe and
the mountains are incredible that tower over the city. I think I like
any place with mountains.

After all of this time on the road, I realized I have not talked about
any of the people I have met along the way. I have been so fortunate
to meet some amazing people and each one has forever changed me in a
good way.

Claire and John Morris from England are truly the most entertaining
couple I have ever met. There energy and spunk makes me so happy to be
around. Claire will forever be my friend, secret crush and travel
mother. Everday you guys surprised me with the funny things you said
and your amazing outlook on life. I now have an English accent because
of you guys:-)

Samantha and Allan Jamisola are the most caring and genuine couple.
Everyday was an adventure and you guys were always up for more. I felt
like you guys took me under your wing. Sam you are also a great friend
as well as my mistress from Claire;-) I can't wait until you guys
visit me in Tahoe.

Trevor, you are a riot. You have a great energy and were always a
blast to be around. I wish we could travel on together, it would just
add to our amazing memories. Dancing on bars, etc!! Keep smiling
because you have a great one. Anyone in your group is very lucky to
have such a great leader. You are welcome to Tahoe anytime;-)

Lauren and Kim, thanks for your kind hearted soles and your fantastic
Spanish. You both are an absolute pleasure to be around. Good luck at
school and thanks for the great dance sessions.

Everyone else was so much fun and a pleasure to be around. Thanks for
the great memories!!

Rafting, hot springs and el señor hanky

How much can I fit into a day? Well... that is what everyone is
wondering. I'm now called the mountain goat and the energizer bunny.

Rafting was on the agenda for the day! I've been rafting so this was
something I just wanted to do, because well... I'm in South America.
It was definitely worth it. Class 4 rapids, lots of water and a guide
who was hysterical. I was the only one who had done it, so watching
the first timers was a hoot as well. They were so scared!

Afterwards it was off to the hot springs for the sunset. They were
next to the river and the water was delightful, but like any hottub I
don't last to long. It made me so relaxed.

Beware the next bit might be to much to handle. Just a warning for
ya'll.

Now... Since I'm traveling we all have to share bathrooms and the
bathrooms are not in the best condition. For one you can not put
toilet paper down the toilet. It has to go into the trash next to the
toilet. Two, I'm staying in hostels so the conditions range from bad
to even worse on the bathroom side of things. It is definitely
something u have to get used to. Well, I did my business yesterday
morning and for some reason the business did not want to get flushed.
I know this sounds terrible, but it was there all day. After a days
worth of flushing and other peoples business, it still was there. We
all had quite the laugh and we named it el señor hanky. Of course when
your traveling the littlest things become hysterical. At one point I
was laughing so hard I was crying. I guess this is my jack ass move
for the day. Next time, I'm not sure what I could do different except
prey the toilet flushes properly. I tried to make that as PG as
possible.

Cheers!;-)

It's me!

Volcano

Climb to Villa Rrica

Top ten of best days ever... That was yesterday. I climbed a volcano
called the Villa Rrica in Pucon, Chile. The total elevation was about
9000 ft, but I climbed about 6000 of it. It was all in the snow. I had
an ice axe, spikes on my boots, and a guide that just would not go
fast enough for me. Im the power hiker for those that don't know. The
weather was spectacular and looking inside the volcano at the top was
epic! The sulfer or gas coming out of the volcano made it really hard
to breathe when the wind blew it towards me. The views were also to
die for. It made me feel so fortunate to be in such an amazing place
living my life to the fullest. I am truly a lucky gal! The Andes are
incredible. There is even a mountain named the Sierra Nevada. To get
down from the mountain, I strapped a canvas diaper to my bum and slid
the entire way down. I think I laughed the whole way. It was a perfect
ending to an incredible day.

Pucon is the cutest little town. Although all the locals like to mock
me where ever I go, calling me gringo. I do stand out. Everytime I go
to the supermarcado I spend way to much time trying to figure out
where things are and what they are. It is always an adventure, but I
think that is one of the things I love here.

Penguins and seafood!

Well... I officially made it to Chile. Crossing the border was
surprising easy. They took us off the bus, sent our luggage through a
scanner, stamped our passport, and sent us on our way. The drive from
bariloche to puerto varas was spectacular. The Andes are completely
amazing. When we dropped down into chile it became almost tropical.
Puerto Varas is a little fishing town. I ate the best shellfish stew
ever. It was filled to the brim with seafood. The weather is crappy,
but I'm definitely making the best of it.

Yesterday, we scavengered out to chiloe island. It is a huge fishing
island, that operates about 50 years behind us. I ate some raw
oysters, abilone empanadas, and some fresh grilled salmon. All of it
was to die for. The locals were moving there cattle about, using old
fashion wagons, horses and most people don't have any electricity.
Pretty amazing to see.

We stopped at this fishing village and we were able to take a boat out
to a smaller island and see PENGUINS!! It was amazing. They are so
cute. This is the very beginning of penguins season, so we were lucky
to see anything.

On the way back we stopped at a fish market and bought some smoked
salmon. Yummy... But not the best ever.

Funny things
- There are dogs everywhere, in Argentina and Chile. They are like
community dogs. All different kinds. They are all friendly and most
don't seem to have a home, but they all seem pretty healthy. If u pet
them they will follow you around.
-all along the roads there are these minature houses. I can't figure
out what they are for. Some are decorated very detailed others r not.
I need to ask in my broken language.

Jackass moves lately
Surprisingly, none ;-)

View from Cathedral Resort

Snowboarding!!!

Wonderful steak dinner last night. I find myself not even caring that I am eating red meat again. It was so delicious with chimichurri on top. The futbol game was on, Argentina v Brazil, so we watched it at the hostel and then headed out to the disco (name for club or bar). The Argentinian men are very forward around here. I don´t think I have paid for one drink, they all want to dance, buy me drinks, and sing to me. I think my group is getting a kick out of me getting a lot of attention. I have to say, I like the attention as well. One guy was from Mendoza up by Santiago. He said if I taught him to snowboard he would teach me spanish. I really thought about taking him up on it. Another guy at our hostel can not speak a lick of english, but he really likes me. His friend keeps telling me. Yesterday out of the blue he walked up to me and said, I love you!! I thought that was so sweet, and a little funny as well.

Jack ass move for the day - dropped my deoderant in the toilet before my shower. Yuck!! I had to fish it out and then wash it and yes I am still using it. Luckly our hostel is very nice, so it was not to terrible.

I bought a shirt yesterday and the lady gave me a coke togo. I think it was a gift for buying something. I had to laugh because that was definitely a first.

Today, after staying out until 5:30 this morning I got up and went to the mountain. It had dumped yesterday so the snow was great. It was a total of $62 for the ticket and the rental of boots and board. So cheap! The snow was really wet and heavy but it felt fantastic skiing in the Andes with the great views and pretty good weather. I almost pulled another jack ass move. I was supposed to meet my group at 4. At 3 I thought I would go in early and have a snack, just to make sure I was not late. I took a cattrack that I thought went to the lodge and of course it sent me to the entire wrong side of the mountain. I started to stress big time. I was thinking, Oh crap I am not doing this again. I did manage to get back in time, but for some reason I can´t seem to pull it together. My mind is all over the place. Around here they call it Argentinian time, because no one really arrives on time. I am fitting right in!

Side note- I have to applogize for my spelling and grammar. I have to hurry when I am on the computer because others are waiting. Besides I think you at get the gist.

Differences in this world.
1. People eat dinner really late here. 9:30 is early. 10:30 is normal. I will see people in there seventies eating that late. It blows me away.
2. You have to bring toilet paper with you almost everywhere, because most bathrooms don´t have them or you have to pay for it.
3. People don´t go out on the town until about 2 in the morning. That is the time to go, otherwise the clubs are dead. No wonder I was out until 5:30.

Lake Tahoe sticker at Catedral

No photos

No photos yet! I have to wait until I have a computer that has safari or firefox on it. One problem with Mobile Me is that is doens´t work on Intenet Explorer. Blah!!

Funny Things that have happened

Subway- people walk by and put things on your lap. Scissors, hair clips, pad of paper. At first I was thinking what the heck are they doing. Then, I realized they want you to buy the stuff. They walk by drop it in your lap whether you want them to or not, then they walk back by and pick it up a few minutes later. People are so used to it. They sometimes don´t even acknowledge that there is anything on their lap or they pick it up and look at it. I never saw anyone buy anything. Huh, not sure if that business plan is working to well.

I am officially the jack ass of the trip. First I was late for the first bus and they all had to wait for me, then I lost my baggage ticket when we got off the bus. They would not give me my bag. I had to bribe the guy to give it to me. None of these people know me in my group and their first impression is of this absent minded girl who can´t seem to get herself  together. I think since I am on vaca, I have left all of my responsiblity at home. My mind is all over the place. I have since made up for my bad first impressions and I think the group likes me a lot more now. Who wouldn´t right! They actually thought I didn´t like them. I will probably never live down this entire trip.

Longest bus ride ever. 24 hours from BA to Bariloche. I was in and out of sleep the entire time. Weird, ever since I got here, I sleep like a baby. At home I was getting 4 to 5. Here it is about 7 or 8. I think it is the no stress. My feet swelled so bad. Yuck, that has never happened before.

At the grocery store in Bariloche, I heard these two guys speaking english. I got so excited I walked up to them and said, Hey, you speak english, where are you guys from? Turns out one is from here and the other is from Canada. They own a travel company. They invited me to learn to Tango that night. I took one of the girls from my group and we went to this hotel. It was very nice and totally lagite. It was a group lesson taught by this lady that spoke no english, but it was so much fun. We learned the basics and we had a blast. They invited us for dinner and drinks. It was so nice and FREE. Funny who you can meet in the grocery store.

Last night we went out on the town and an Argentinian bought me a drink. He didn´t speak a lick of english. I laughed, because he kept trying to talk to me and I couldn´t understand a word. His friend had to translate for him. Heehee.

Today, I took the bus up to Catedral, the ski resort, to go skiing and it rained. Not just rain, but down poored. I walked around for about 20 minutes and got soaking wet. Two days ago everyone keeps telling me the weather was great. Man, I guess today was not the day for snowboarding.

Cemetary/Shopping/Dinner of International Cuisine

Well, I will have to add the pictures later. A lot has happening since my last update. I sort of ran out of Internet access for a while. In the past couple of days I took some excursions to exciting place, did some great shopping and hung out with what are now friends.

Highlights-
On Wednesday I walked to the Cemetary of Recolecta. This is an amazing place. All of the graves are like tombs. Some are very new with marble and granite with glass covering the entrance. Others are old and run down. Coffins are readily visble to the passerbys. My favorite was the cats. Cats roam the graveyard playing about. They are all very healthy looking and have a lot of character.

Went to Palermo to shop. Sarah, my sister,said there was great cheap shopping here and well that is what I did. I got some great things for very cheap. Gotta love shopping in a huge city with great prices.

Dinner with Yvan and his girlfriend. They met me at Argentinia Mexican food. Called the Taco Box. I had to laugh, a little funny for a name and I have to say I was not expecting it to be very good. Well, they were some of the best tacos I have had. Thetaco shells were corn hard shells and delicious.  After dinner we went to an Irish Pub and had some very good local brews. Yvan likes the same type of beer as me, so I have been lucky enough to have some great beverages. I like to consider this the night of International Affiar. Yvan and his girlfriend were so nice to have me along and show me around. Thanks to them if they read this!! Great, great people.

Thursday
Woke up and took the Subway to meet Yvan for some more shopping and lunch. It was actually easy to get on the subway, even though my spanish sucks. I did get off at the wrong stop, but Yvan was able to find me. I was lost. We shopped about and of course I got a few more bargains. Then we met for lunch at a pizzaria. Yummy! it was so good. Again, some of the best pizza ever. These Argenitinians really know how to cook.

I had to run because I had to meet up with my travel crew and catch our bus to Bariloche. Of course, the subway decided to take forever. It would stop, then go about two miles an hour and then stop. I was looking at my watch, knowing that if I was late they would leave me behind. The guide said he would if people were late. Here I am getting off the subway running to my hotel and thank god I made it. He had already left a note on my bag ready to leave me. Yikes!! I think back and it would have not been that bad if they left me, I would have just met up with Yvan and caught another ride down to Bariloche. I am glad I made it though, makes things a lot easier.

More updates and pictures to come. Busy, busy... but loving it and having a blast.

T is for Tango!

After dinner Leandro took me to his fathers Tango Club. It was so
interesting to see. Many locals took to the floor, each having
different styles and grace. Then, the pros would come out and show
their stuff. The music, the style and the atmosphere were all so
entertaining. Leandro's Dad was very very nice and fun to meet. He had
a great personality. Just before leaving Leandro's dad did a skit with
a man. It was hilarious. They danced the Tango, exagerating every
step. It was fantastic and actually pretty good. I not sure Leandro
was to impressed, but I thought it was fun!

Southern Hospitality

Yvan and Leandro were my tour guides for the day. They are friends of
my sister and brother and law. Casa Rosada (their White House), the
marina, a local microbrewery (muy bueno), an art gallery, parilla
(best meat ever), argentinian wine, and tango were just a few of the
festivities. Talk about southern hospitality... I had never met either
of these men and they took me under their wing to show me around.

Details... Of course:-)
Microbrews - delicious honey beer that was 8.5 % alcohol. I had to be
careful with these. Not having any food all day and then these will
knock u right on your ass. I made sure to eat something.

Parilla (pronounced parr-rolled r-i-sha) ll is sha in Argentina.
Basically this is a restaurant of meat. Any kind of cut you want.
Leandro was kind enough to explain the entire menu to me. I had some
type of steak, which I don't normally eat, and it was delicious. We
had this with some fantastic red wine.

The other details ;-) Both men are happily in relationships, but very
cute I must add. I met Yvan's girlfriend Martina. She is just as cute
as him.

Lost in translation

It's official, I've made it. The flight was long... 10 hrs. Luckily, I
sat next to a very nice Argentinian named Chris. He works for the
argentine government and he was very helpful with showing me on the
map the areas of town I should go. He also showed me the areas to
definitely not go. He was trying to get me to speak more Spanish, so I
was practing how to say little things. Coffee with cream - cafe con
crema. Lets face it, I'm kind of pathetic on the language side.
Anyways, he helped the time pass, and he offered to take me sailing if
I stick around for the weekend.

When I arrived I handed them my passport and I was on my way. No bag
check, no inspection... nothing. I was just welcomed by a short
smiling man with a sign that had my name on it and spoke absolutely no
ingles. He was my transfer. We tried to communicate on the way from
the airport, but it was pretty much a lost cause. I thought of what he
might be thinking, "Why is this girl in Argentina traveling when she
can't speak the language?" Well... I kind of laughed to myself,
because I'm not a 100% sure why either. I do feel a little lost in
translation, but I know I have to suck it up and get out there.
Otherwise, I will spend all of my time in my hotel room. And, by the
looks of it, I don't want to spend to much time here. It doesn't even
have a window.