C & C globetrotting around the world…

After a very enjoyable week in Maringa, it’s time to hit the road again. With one of Jose Paulo’s excellent fruit shakes in our tummy, we took the bus from Maringa to Sao Paulo, a 9-hour ride. As we approached Sao Paulo, the traffic started, as usual. From the bus terminal we took the metro and then a taxi to Jean’s house, one of Christoph’s old friends from 10 years ago. We stayed with Jean and Lili during our short stay in Sao Paulo and it was very nice. After doing his volunteer year in Maringa, Chris moved to Sao Paulo to do an apprenticeship, so he lived in this mega-metropolis for 2 and a half years. Sao Paulo is not a touristic city either, but Christoph had lots of friends and fond memories here. He has been telling stories about Sao Paulo ever since we met, so Cecilia was looking forward to meeting the people and seeing the places.

Unlike Maringa which is a very young city (60 years), Sao Paulo has more history. The village of Saint Paul de Piratininga appeared in 1554 with the construction of a Jesuit college. In the beginning Sao Paulo was a poor settlement, but then gold was discovered in the early 18^th century and the area prospered. When the gold ran out at the end of the century, sugar cane production took over. After the independence of Brazil, a university was established around the 1820’s, which caused in influx of people to the town. Later the city boomed because of the coffee production and export, leading to an economic and population growth. After the abolition of slavery in 1888, São Paulo started to replace the African manpower with immigrants mainly coming from Italy, followed by Portugal, Germany and Spain in the coffee plantations. In the early 19^th century many Japanese immigrants arrived, later followed by Chinese and Koreans. Nowadays, the city is witness to a large wave of Bolivian migration. As in all of Brazil, people of different ethnicities mix with each other, producing a multi-ethnic society.

Now Sao Paulo is not only the largest city in Brazil, but also the largest city in the Southern hemisphere and in the Americas. With its over 10 million people, it is actually the 8^th most populous city in the world. The city, which is also colloquially known as “Sampa” or “Cidade da Garoa” (city of drizzle), is also known for its unreliable weather, gastronomy (62 types of cuisine, over 12,000 restaurants) and multitude of skyscrapers. Sao Paulo impresses with its numbers. The urban area covers nearly 2,000 km² – 4 times the size of the island of Montreal. In this area, there are over 7 million vehicles, but more than 10 million vehicles circulate in the Greater Sao Paulo area, causing the legendary traffic. Therefore some people have taken to the air – the city has the largest fleet of helicopters in the world.

The following day Jean and Lili went to work, so we headed down-town by bus. Our first stop was the Mercado Municipal, which was very big and full of pretty stands showcasing a big variety of colourful fruits. After a quick bite at the market we walked to the place where Sao Paulo was founded. It had a small museum and a nice garden café. At Praca da Se, the city’s main square, we visited the Cathedral. A cathedral has stood in this place since 1589, but they were replaced over the years. The current one was finished in 1954, just in time for the city’s 400^th anniversary, and is considered one of the largest neo-gothic cathedrals in the world. It is 111 metres long, 46 metres wide (it has a capacity of 8,000 people) and its two flanking towers reach a height of 92 metres. Although the building in general is Neo-Gothic, the dome is inspired by the Renaissance dome of the Cathedral of Florence. More than 800 tons of rare marble were used in its completion. The inner capitals are decorated with sculpted Brazilian produce as coffee branches, pineapples, and native animals such as armadillos. The stained glass windows are also very impressive. The place is nice and Cecilia liked how the Cathedral is flanked by tall palm trees, but we were shocked by the amount of homeless people lying around and the smell. There we asked a police officer for directions and he told us to watch out, not come back at night and definitely not bring valuables when walking on the street. He walked with us for a while and gave us a map from the tourist info centre, but told us to only open it in front of a police station. He also told us that despite the 247 security cameras in the city’s historic centre, it’s still not safe, especially after dark. We then arrived at Teatro Municipal, a beautiful baroque/art-nouveau building and the pride of the city. We watched some street performers, walked around and had freshly squeezed juice at one of the many “lanchonetes”. The juices here are divine since the fruit is fresh and ripe and you get to make your own combination. We always asked to have them without sugar, which always got us a weird look. It’s such a refreshing and boosting snack, we had one every day. Afterwards we walked to Liberdade street, the Japanese neighbourhood of Sao Paulo. Sao Paulo has the biggest Japanese population outside of Japan, with more than 700,000. They didn’t only bring sushi with them but also had a great influence especially in the agricultural sector in developing new technologies. Today even a Japanese version of the most famous brazilian drink, the caipirinha, exists: the sakerinha!

Back at the apartment we opened a nice wine bottle we bought in Cafayate (Argentina) to celebrate our 400^th day on the road. Wow, it’s been a long time! When Lili and Jean got back from work, we all went to a Japanese Sushi restaurant together. With the very large Japanese community in Sao Paulo, there are lots of sushi restaurants. Christoph had told Cecilia about them years ago, so she was really looking forward to it (during the entire trip, that is). We went to a place Jean and Lili knew and it was delicious. Lili being of Japanese descent, it also helped and we ordered lots of delicious things. We spent the entire evening learning about life in Sao Paulo, so that was really interesting. Even though salaries here are higher for the middle class than in Montreal, life is much more stressful considering the public safety problems in Sao Paulo. Every house has a fence and apartment buildings have at least one guard that has to check every visitor first before letting him/her in. Kidnapping and murder is a big problem and with the high levels of corruption one that won’t go away in the near future. For Chris it was surprising to see that a country that has so much potential didn’t change much in the last 10 years. There were no more metros than 10 years ago and the crime rate didn’t go down either. Salaries rose exponentially so that there is even a shortage of highly qualified workers today and Brazil is thinking about changing its immigration laws for the first time in decades. Brazil’s universities produce thousands of highly educated young people every year but with more possibilities than their parents and an increased mobility they are looking for opportunities overseas. Immigration changed so that Bolivians and Portuguese are coming into the country to do work Brazilians don’t want to do themselves any longer. It’s sad to see how security and corruption drives highly educated Brazilians out of the country even when this means to adapt to a lower standard of living, but it’s one with a greater chance of not getting hurt.

The next day we took it easy, as Cecilia was exhausted from the sheer size of the city. In the evening we went to Villa Madalena, the artistic neighbourhood in Sao Paulo with lots of art galleries, boutiques and bars. It has such a different feel compared to what we had seen the previous day. We went to “Empanadas” bar with Jean and we had a good time while the guys talked about “good old times”.

The next day we went to Elotrans, the company where Chris had worked. It took us 2.5 hours to get there, taking the bus, the metro and another bus. Wow, this city is HUGE! There we went for lunch with Jefferson and afterwards went inside Elotrans where Chris met some old colleagues. Unfortunately Christoph’s old boss Senhor Hugo was not there. We then took a bus to the Moema neighbourhood and walked to Campo Belo, Christoph’s old neighbourhood. He was happy to be there again and reminisce. We also went to Firenze Lanchonete, his usual spot, which is very modern now. There we met old employees and even one of Chris’ old hang-out buddies. They remembered him there too! We took pictures of the building where he used to live before heading back to the apartment to cook Thai green curry for dinner. Later that night we went to Matilha Artesanal, a group that takes care of street dogs. They organized a jazz jamming and open mike evening along with a photo exhibition. It was interesting to see the many facets of Sao Paulo. There is much more to the city than meets the eye at first, but it takes time and energy to discover.

The next day we left Sao Paulo via the Tiete bus terminal, the biggest in South America. The 6 ½ hour bus ride from Sao Paulo to Niteroi was nice, but freezing cold. We each had a sweater on, but also had to spread the rain cap over us to shield us from the AC. We looked ridiculous, hehe.

Christoph lived in Maringá from 2000 to 2002 during his voluntary service and has lots of fond memories of the people and the places. We really took some time off touristy things in Maringá and spent time to relax and meet up with old friends. Maringá is not a touristic city at all, but for Christoph is has emotional value. Maringá is a city in southern Brazil founded on 10 May, 1947 as a planned urban area with about 350,000 inhabitants. It is crossed by the Tropic of Capricorn and is a regional centre for commerce, services, agro-industries and universities. The city also has a high concentration of hospitals and is generally richer than many other Brazilian cities. Maringá takes its name from a song by Joubert de Carvalho in honour of his great love, Maria do Ingá, latter shortened to “Maringá”. At the time of establishment of the city is was very popular in the media, thus the city became known as the “Cidade Cancao” (Song City).

We arrived in Maringá with Karina and Patrick, who had picked us up in Puerto Iguazu. Unfortunately they were very busy visiting their friends and family, so we didn’t get to spend much time with them, but stayed with their friends, Debora and Jose Paulo. Our hosts were really really nice and right away we felt like we knew each other (actually, Christoph knew Debora from 12 years ago). We felt right at home at their place and stayed over a week there. We had lots of fun spending time with them and also met their families. They really took care of us and we always had a good laugh. During the day when they were working, we used the time to catch up on the Blog and to visit the city.

The Cathedral of Maringá was completed in 1972, on the 25^th birthday of the city. With its 124m in height is the tallest church in South America (and 16th tallest in the world). The architect was inspired by the Soviet sputnik satellites when he designed the cathedral’s modernist, conical shape. We also visited the Parque do Inga, Maringa’s central park. It was left with the original flora and fauna that existed in the area before the city was built. We saw many kinds of birds, monkeys and 2 beautiful peacocks.

Otherwise there is not much to see in this extremely young city, but we visited the hospital where Chistoph worked. The hospital is run by a catholic brotherhood from Trier (reason also why Chris came to do his volunteering here) and there have been major upgrades in the last 10 years. We got a guided tour by Amelia, the lady working in the Social Services department. Chris was extremely happy that lots of people remembered him and were extremely pleased to see him again. Christoph had lived with the brothers as well, so we visited them in their convent. Many are gone, but still a few remain and we had lunch with them one day. There are some old friends of Christoph’s that we met in the evening and it was wonderful. Cecilia was also happy to meet them. Josyara was like a mother to Christoph in Maringá and still is very warm and welcoming. Her husband Roberto and her son Victor Hugo were also very nice and we spent 2 evenings with them. We even baked together, so we had lots of fun talking about old times and laughing. Cecilia was happy that she was able to understand most of what was being said in Portuguese, so Christoph didn’t need to translate all the time. We also met with Karlos, an old colleague of Christoph’s, and his family. The guys were really happy to meet up after such a long time.

Food-wise, we tried a few different Brazilian specialties in Maringá. Besides the obvious churrasco (BBQ), we also had Pizza Rodizio. The waiters walk around with 35 different kinds of pizzas and you choose which one you want to eat a slice of. It’s all-you-can-eat, so it’s interesting to try some crazy combinations. For lunch we tried a restaurant where you choose from many different dishes and pay by weight. It was fun to get a bigger variety of dishes. There is also a famous fast food joint in town called “Banze Lanches”. Christoph used to go there while he worked in the hospital and he was surprised to see the same people still work there. What was amazing is that they remembered him too. Maringá also has a large Japanese community that has been living there for over 100 years now and therefore has also lots of Japanese restaurants. We went with Debora and Jose Paulo to a sushi place that was really great. We had a beautifully ornamented and delicious sushi boat. Fruit shakes and sugar cane juice are also readily available everywhere and delicious. You just have to tell them not to add sugar, as it’s sweet enough.

On the week-end Debora and Jose Paulo organized a “churrasco”, a Brazilian BBQ at their “chacarra”, their week-end house. Located just outside town, the place is cute and has an orchard as well as a jacuzzi. There we spent a nice day with their families. Christoph made a good caipirinha, the beer was cold and Jose Paulo’s BBQ excellent. Overall it was wonderful to meet and spend time with all these people and we hope to see them all again soon. Thanks again everyone for everything! We are awaiting you in Montreal.

The journey from Montevideo to Foz Iguazu took forever. We left Montevideo by bus at 1:30pm to Salto, the border town in Uruguay. In Salto there were no buses crossing the border because it was Sunday, so we had to take a taxi for the 40km across the border to Concordia. In Concordia, on the Argentinian side, we had dinner at a pizza place before taking an overnight bus to Posadas. There we changed buses to San Ignacio Mini, a small town further North. We arrived in San Ignacio after 22 hours, 3 buses and 2 taxis.

San Ignacio has well-preserved ruins from a Jesuit mission from the 17^th -18^th century. We had planned on visiting them the following day, but unfortunately it rained, so we left to Puerto Iguazu without having seen them. Instead, we used the time at the nice HI hostel to relax and catch up on the blog.

Puerto Iguazu, the gateway to the famous waterfalls, was only 5 hours away. There, our hostel was really nice and we met 2 British guys with whom we spent a nice evening chatting and laughing. The next day we met up with Karina and Patrick, who came from Brazil to visit the falls and pick us up. Christoph had talked so much about these falls and how they are 10 times more impressive than Niagara Falls, so Cecilia was very excited to finally see them.

The name “Iguazu” comes from the Guarani or Tupi words meaning “water”, and “big”. Legend has it that a god planned to marry a beautiful woman named Naipí, who fled with her mortal lover Tarobá in a canoe. In rage, the god sliced the river, creating the waterfalls and condemning the lovers to an eternal fall. Numerous islands along the 2.7-kilometre-long edge divide the falls into numerous separate waterfalls and cataracts, varying between 60 to 82 metres high. The number of these smaller waterfalls fluctuates from 150 to 300, depending on the water level. About half of the river’s flow falls into a long and narrow chasm called the Devil’s Throat (“Garganta del Diablo”). The Devil’s Throat is U-shaped, 82 meters high, 150 m wide, and 700m long. Names have been given also to many of the smaller falls. About 900 meters of the 2.7-kilometre length does not have water flowing over it. The edge of the basalt cap recedes by 3mm per year.

Niagara Falls has a higher water debit, but Iguazu are indeed very spectacular. The best part is that you walk through the jungle and suddenly arrive near a waterfall. You continue walking in the jungle some more and see another one. There’s also animals and birds around, making for a very cool experience. The Devils’s Throat, which we visited last is the most impressive and reminds of Niagara Falls with its U-shape, but is much higher (82m vs 51m). Iguazu currently has the second-greatest average annual flow of any waterfall in the world, after Niagara. It was amazing to see and we had a wonderful day. To finish the evening and celebrate having met our friends, we went to a Churrasco Rodizio, the typical Brazilian steakhouse (like “Le Milsa” in Montreal, only better) where they come around with all kinds of meat cuts on gigantic skewers. They also had a great buffet with a huge selection of sushi, salads and sweets, so we enjoyed our dinner very much.

What a great day to start the last month of our trip in South America!

Uruguay’s capital and by far its largest city (half the country’s population lives there), Montevideo is a vibrant, eclectic place with a rich cultural life. Montevideo is the southernmost capital city in the Americas, and the third most southerly in the world (only Canberra and Wellington are further South.

Arrived in Montevideo, the first thing we did was to visit the Soccer Stadium. We left our luggage at the bus station and walked to the Soccer Stadium, having lunch in a small street “comedor” on the way. We visited the Stadium where the first Soccer World Cup was held in 1930 and the Museo de Futbol. Uruguayans are very proud that the First World Cup was held there and they won it too. We walked back to the bus station to pick up our big backpacks and took a bus to our hostel. It’s the first time in South America that we dare take a public city bus with our big backpacks without fearing being robbed (although we took the commuter train in Buenos Aires and it was ok). The higher standard of living and safety it palpable. Our hostel (Dolce Vita) is run and owned by 2 Italian guys and opened about 6 months ago. You can see they are still very enthusiastic and care about your well-being.

The next day we set out to do a walking tour in the city after a good breakfast. The city is small enough to walk around, but still big enough to have some great architecture. The self-guided walking tour pointed out many beautiful neoclassical buildings built around 1900-1920. Walking on Av. 18 de Julio, we crossed several nice plazas, such as Plaza Cagancha, Plaza del Entrevero and arrived at Plaza Independencia where there’s a statue of Artigas, Uruguay’s biggest hero. On the way, we also visited a small exhibition of photos of inspiring women. From Plaza Independencia we took a quick look at Teatro Solis built in 1856, but unfortunately the visiting hours had finished, then entered the Ciudad Vieja, the Old Town. Here we continued on a pedestrian street full of cafes and vendors, with music and a nice atmosphere. On Plaza Constitucion we visited the Cathedral and walked on admiring the architecture of the old buildings, legacies of the beef boom. We arrived at Mercado del Puerto, an old market wrought-iron hall that now shelters lots of restaurants, mainly grill houses. We would have liked to eat there, but it was really expensive, so we decided to go back to the hostel. We found an interesting place close to the hostel that was nice and cozy and not too expensive. Downstairs there was a market and upstairs there were 2 restaurants serving simple but delicious meals. We each had a schnitzel topped with ham and cheese (actually typical of Uruguay). After a quick stop at the hostel, we walked along the Rambla, a riverfront promenade. Here many people come to walk, jog or to sit with friends and sip some “mate”. It’s pretty funny actually because every Uruguayan always has his mate and a thermos with hot water on him. It was fun to people-watch and we walked to Parque Rodo, a nice big park in the area with some open-air exhibitions. From there we walked through a neighbourhood with nice tree-lined streets and huge mansions, many of which have been transformed into embassies. Our stay in Montevideo was very short, but we enjoyed this city. There are lots of free museums and the cultural calendar is also pretty full, but that will have to wait until next time.

From Buenos Aires, we crossed the Rio de la Plata by ferry (3 hours) to Uruguay. The “River of Silver” is the river and estuary formed by the confluence of the Uruguay River and the Paraná River on the border between Argentina and Uruguay with the major ports and capital cities of Buenos Aires and Montevideo on its western and northern shores, respectively. The coasts of the Río de la Plata are the most densely populated areas of Argentina and Uruguay. It is a funnel-shaped indentation about 290 km long. It widens from about 2 kilometres at the inner part to about 220 kilometres at its mouth. Some geographers consider it a gulf or marginal sea of the Atlantic Ocean, while others consider it a river. For those who regard it to be a river it is the widest in the world (220km). The Río de la Plata behaves as an estuary in which freshwater and seawater mix. The Río de la Plata basin is the second largest drainage basin in South America. The river was first explored by Europeans in 1516 in search for a passage between the Atlantic and the Pacific Oceans.

Arrived in Colonia del Sacramento, we walked to our hostel and checked in. This small town of about 25,000 inhabitants was founded by the Portuguese in 1680 to smuggle goods across the Rio de la Plata into Buenos Aires. It was later captured by the Spanish and today is a charming little place. We had lunch in a restaurant and took “Chivito for 2”, the special of the day. Chivito is an Uruguayan dish of thin grilled meat served with ham and cheese and accompanied by fries and salad. Afterwards we walked around town to explore the historic centre. Since it’s very small and compact, it didn’t take very long. We passed some museums, old houses and lots of cobbled streets. There were many cute little terraces on the various plazas and by the riverfront. We walked around, saw the famous “Calle de los Suspiros” with its original colonial houses and cobble stones, but were not so impressed by it. We also saw the fortress wall and walked through the former city gate. The next day we took a 3-hour bus to Montevideo, seeing lots of cattle and sheep on the way (Uruguay is a big exporter of beef).

We arrived in safe and sound Buenos Aires in the morning after a long bus ride. From the traffic you right away get a feel of the second-largest city in South America (after Sao Paulo). We heard a lot about Argentina’s capital and Christoph had been here about 10 years ago, so we were very excited to be here. This city with 13 million inhabitants has lots to offer and we stayed a week. It has history, culture, arts, beautiful architecture and a certain vibe to it. To top it all off, we were visiting friends we made in Vietnam on the Cuchi Tunnel tour: Sabrina and Gaston.

For the first 2 nights we stayed in a hostel in San Telmo and were happy to be able to check in right away. After all that sitting on the bus, we walked around the neighbourhood admiring the nice architecture. We had lunch on a terrace and took in the atmosphere of San Telmo, a famous neighbourhood of Buenos Aires. It’s full of cobbled streets and aging mansions. Historically its low rents have attracted artists, but now there are lots of boutiques and restaurants. The neighbourhood was a fashionable place until 1870 when a series of epidemics drove the rich elite northwards. Subsequently many mansions and houses were subdivided and turned into immigrant shelters. Our hotel was one of these beautiful mansions. San Telmo is also home to Tango, so there are many restaurants offering tango shows. Unfortunately it’s too expensive for us on this trip to attend one. While walking around in San Telmo, we saw lots of small shops making and selling fresh pasta. The big Italian influence is visible by the many pasta and pizza shops, but also in the fact that people speak Spanish with an Italian accent and use Italian expressions. It’s really funny actually. For dinner we went to “Don Ernesto”, a well-rated steakhouse in San Telmo. We celebrated our 4-year wedding anniversary there with steak (duh!) and wine. It was all very good and we even got some Limoncello on the house. Not a bad start to Buenos Aires, eh?

The next day we set out to visit the city and walked towards the Plaza de Mayo. We passed by the “Manzana de las Luces” (Block of Enlightenment), a solid square of 18^th century buildings including Iglesia San Ignacio (BA’s oldest church) and Colegio Nacional, an elite secondary school. Underneath this block are old defensive tunnels built by the Jesuits in the 18^th century. Arrived in Plaza de Mayo, we did a tour of the plaza. It is the city’s oldest square and its current name commemorates the May Revolution of 1810. Around the plaza are located several city landmarks. We took a look at Casa Rosada (actually pink), the presidential palace. We wanted to visit it, but it’s only open to the public during the week-end. We passed the Banco Nacional before arriving at the Cathedral, where we saw the changing of the guards for liberator San Martin’s tomb. The Cabildo, seat of the government during colonial times, is also on the square in a nice building. From there we walked around on Florida Avenue, a pedestrian street alive with shops and vendors. We walked until the fancy Galerias Pacifico shopping mall which has painted ceilings and chic boutiques. The food court there was very expensive; actually the same price as a lunch menu in a regular restaurant in San Telmo. McDonald’s menus were also the same price with a Coke: 44ARS ($11-12). Why would anyone buy one instead of getting a real lunch with a glass of wine?! Later we met up with Salim, a friend from the Uyuni tour in Bolivia, and took the metro to the Palermo neighbourhood together. The metro is pretty old and very crammed, but they have cool mosaics and it was a fun experience. In Palermo Viejo we walked around the tree-lined streets and sat down on a terrace. On the way back to the metro, we passed many trendy boutiques and chic restaurants. The area is also known for its nightlife, but we didn’t stay.

On Saturday we got picked up by Sabrina and Gaston in our hostel. It was nice to see them after having met them in Vietnam almost a year ago. We drove to Puerto Madeiro, the city’s newest neighbourhood, is an area of renovated docklands lined with pedestrian walkways, restaurants and bars. Since it was Saturday midday, there were hardly any people out yet (everything happens much later in Argentina), but the area is nice and it felt good to walk around and enjoy the crisp but sunny weather. Afterward a quick bite (“bondiola” sandwich), we went to Reserva Ecologica made on reclaimed land. Here we walked around on the dirt paths and enjoyed the nature around us. In the afternoon Sabrina gave us a car tour of Recoleta and San Isidro in their new car. On the way we stopped at a spot by the Rio de la Plata where you can see Buenos Aires from the water. The river is so large, it appears to be a huge lake. These fancy neighbourhoods of Buenos Aires have beautiful mansions and romantic tree-lined streets. We also drove by the President’s House, but you can’t see it due to high walls. In San Isidro we walked around a little bit through a market fair and visited the Cathedral. For dinner we all went to an all-you-can-eat meat restaurant (“tenedor libre” – free fork) called “Lo de Charly” (Charly’s Place). Sabrina and Gaston had suggested going there because this way we can try the zillion different Argentinian beef cuts on the grill and see which ones we prefer. That was a great idea and they could explain to us each one too! We tried everything: morcilla (blood sausage), chorizo (sausage), rinon (kidney) and chinchulin (intestine). We tried these, but what we were really there for was the different cuts of meat. We had vacio (very good), bife de chorizo (excellent), entrana (also very good), tira de asado (ribs), matambre and matambre a la pizza (they love meat so much, they even use it instead of pizza crust!). It was fun and interesting to try all these different cuts adn you can even chose how well each piece should be grilled. Amazing restaurant! We had some wine and stayed for a long time, longer than anyone else around us.

We were happy that Sabrina and Gaston were free this week-end and we could do things together. On Sunday we drove to Tigre, a favourite week-end destination for Portenos (people from Buenos Aires). There we walked around a bit and took a guided boat ride in the Delta del Parana. This is the only delta in the world that ends in a river (instead of the sea). It was really interesting to see and we admired the cute little houses. We stopped for a quick visit to the house of former Argentinian president Sarmiento (who reformed education) before resuming the tour. From there we drove to San Telmo to walk around a pedestrian street-market area (only on Sundays) until Plaza Dorrego. This is the second-oldest square in town and is surrounded by cute little restaurants and cafes. For dinner Sabrina and Gaston had invited some friends over, so we went to Chinatown to buy some specific groceries. We had all been to Thailand and loved the food there, so we cooked some Thai green curry. It wasn’t as good as in Thailand (lack of ingredients), but still nice to have. Cecilia told them about “mango sticky rice” and was surprised that the others hadn’t even heard of this dessert. Our trip to Thailand wouldn’t have been the same without this delicacy…

Sabrina and Gaston worked during the week, obviously, so we kept busy visiting various attractions. One day we stayed home to work on the Blog, sort pictures and plan the next few weeks of the trip, something that is necessary every now and then. We spent the evenings with Sabrina and Gaston and it was always a lot of fun. One day we went down-town early to explore the city more. We took Avenida Florida until the Plaza de Mayo where we bought our tickets for the double-decker TouristBus for 2pm. We continued walking to San Telmo. We walked around looking for a lunch restaurant, but then decided to go back to Don Ernesto where we had been for our wedding anniversary the previous Thursday. Cecilia ordered a menu of the day and Christoph a piece of “bife de chorizo” (our favourite cut). It was a huge piece and very good. We passed the Danish church before hopping on the TouristBus – finally. The bus was heading to La Boca, a working-class district situated along the old port and at the “boca” (mouth) of the Rio Riachuelo. It was built by Italian immigrants from Genoa and is also home to the Boca Juniors soccer team and Maradona. We got off the bus at the stadium, but it was too expensive to visit, so we just took some pictures. Unfortunately there is no game on during our time in BA, otherwise Christoph would have loved to go. La Boca’s main attraction is “El Caminito”, a short pedestrian walk lined with corrugated-metal buildings painted various bright colours. Since this was a poor neighbourhood, people would paint their houses with left-over paint from the shipyards. This resulted in houses being painted in many different colours, depending on the quantities left over. Today, it is very nice to see and adds life to the place. There are also many local painters who sell their art here (some of it very beautiful) and people dressed in tango clothes offering to take pictures with you. We sat down in a restaurant to have a coffee and watch a dance performance. There were 2 couples dancing tango and then we also got to see a traditional dance of a “gaucho” with a “china”. It was lots of fun to watch them and we even took some pictures with them, for free.

We hopped back on the TouristBus and drove through the Baracas and Puerto Madeiro neighbourhoods before getting off at Plaza San Martin and taking pictures with the clock tower. We walked around passing Teatro Cervantes and Teatro Colon. We would have liked to visit the latter, but again it was too expensive. Avenida 9 de Julio is one of the broadest streets in the world with its 16 lanes (8 in each direction). In the middle is the Obelisco commemorating 4 important moments in Argentina’s history. On the way back to the train terminal we walked on Avenida Corrientes, a busy street, and then Reconquista Ave, which has recently been turned into a pedestrian area. Around this time people were coming from work and we saw many cafes packed with people. It seems they go for a bite after work before going home. Then they have dinner at 10pm or so. Portenos live on a different rhythm where everything happens later. On week-end, people don’t go to the disco until 2am or so, which is quite funny for us since discos close at 3am in Montreal. We took the train from Retiro home where we met up with Sabrina and Gaston again. Together we went to buy some artesanal pasta: 4 kinds of raviolis filled with different things and “caseira” sauce. It’s nice that there are so many of these shops around selling fresh pasta. The taste is sooo much better. While we were waiting for the pasta to cook, Sabrina and Gaston were telling us about making raviolis and gnocchis at home and showed us the tools used. It sounds easy and fun. Maybe we’ll start doing that since you can really taste the difference. We also talked about other Argentinian and Hungarian food, which was lots of fun. Dinner was delicious and we had a Rose wine from Bodega Nanni in Cafayate to go with it. Overall a wonderful day.

On the last day in Buenos Aires we took the train down-town with Sabrina. We bought some pastries and coffee before hopping on the Tourist Bus again in Plaza San Martin. We drove to Recoleta, the fancy neighbourhood, passing the Faculty of Law and the “Flower”. At some point we got off the bus and admired the huge ombu tree on Plaza Intendente Alvear. Then we visited the 1732 Iglesia de Nuestra Senora de Pilar before entering Cemeterio de la Recoleta. In this classy necropolis surrounded by high walls rests Argentina’s elite. We wondered through the alleys admiring the detailed marble facades and grand statues. We saw the grave of former president Sarmiento, but the most people were at Evita’s grave. We hopped back on the Tourist Bus until the end of Avenida de Mayo where we saw the green-domed Palacio del Congreso, modeled after the Capitol in Washington DC. It was finished in 1906 and faces the plaza. For lunch we went to “La Americana”, a place known to have the best empanadas in town. We had some empanadas (they have a big variety) and also a slice of fugazetta and everything was really delicious indeed. We wanted to visit Palacio Barolo built in 1919 and considered the first highrise of Buenos Aires (at 100m). It pays homage to Dante’s “Divine Comedy” featuring references and analogies to his epic poem. Since it’s an office building, there are no tours until 5pm unfortunately and we didn’t want to wait around for 3 hours. In the evening we made “sarmalute in foi de vita” (wine leaf rolls) with Sabrina and Gaston. We had fun making them and the result was pretty good too. It was our last evening together and we had fun chatting. We were so happy to see them again and hope to see each other again soon. Thank you so much Sabrina and Gaston! We had a great time in your lovely city.

Buenos Aires is big, but it’s not oppressing. There is so much to do, hence the lengthy post (sorry!).  It reminded us of Paris with its beautiful architecture, elegance and culture. If we were to move to one of the cities visited on this world trip, Buenos Aires would be one of them. Beautiful city, pleasant climate, good food and nice people… what more can you ask for?

Continuing South, we had a beautiful bus ride with some impressive sights in the Valley of the Río las Conchas (Quebrada de Cafayate) between Salta and Cafayate. The landscape was really amazing and we wish we could have explored it more. A great way to discover this area is by car since then you can stop along the way to go into the various canyons and faults and to take pictures. Cafayate is a small town at 1,683m altitude and is one of the most important wine producing regions of Argentina because of the quality and originality of the wines produced in the area. The wines produced around here benefit from the low-humidity mild weather of the valleys. The most characteristic type of wine cultivated in the area is Torrontés. This is a white Argentine wine grape variety, producing fresh, aromatic wines with moderate acidity, smooth texture as well as distinctive peach and apricot aromas on the nose. Torrontes has a very fruity aroma, but the wine is actually dry and crisp. Wine connaisseurs say that the aromas are reminiscent of Muscat and Gewurtztraminer wines. The Salta region in northwest Argentina is particularly noted for its Torrontés as the grape thrives in cold dry, windswept conditions.

Arrived in Cafayate, we found a hostel and had lunch at the market “comedor”. Later we visited Bodega El Transito, a modern winery, where we tasted some wine. It wasn’t too good, so we didn’t buy anything. We also went to a wine shop where we tasted more wines and although the guy was friendly, he served the wines at the wrong temperatures and hence they weren’t at their best. For dinner we bought groceries: wine, steak, onion and bell pepper. It was funny because the store didn’t have change, so they gave us a lemon instead.

The next day we took a free winery tour organized by the hostel with a few other people. The vineyards in the area around Cafayate are located at altitudes between 1,700-3,000m, making them the highest in the world. The first winery was Bodega Vasija Secreta with 190 hectars and 100-150 years old. They have a small museum on site and we got a guided tour of the museum and the wine-making process. We tasted a few wines, which were better than the ones yesterday, and bought one. The second winery was Bodega Domingo Hermanos with 220 hectars and also 100-150 years in operation. They let the wine ferment in fiber glass tanks, which they then age for only 3 months in oak barrels, producing very young wines. They are more for mass production and selling to restaurants in 5L demijohns. Both wineries we visited feed the grape leftovers to sheep and cows and use their milk to make cheese. The dung is used as fertilizers in the vineyards. At Domingo Hermanos we tasted a few wines and cheese and they were very good. Although they make table wine for restaurants, they also produce really good wine in their Reserva Collection, of which we bought a bottle. Domingo Hermanos is also starting a vineyard at higher altitudes, but this will be a boutique wine and we didn’t get to try it. It should be good though. Across from Domingo Hermanos, there was a stand selling salamis and cheese, so we tried llama salami. It tastes quite good. That was the end of our tour, but we wanted to taste more. Together with Kait, a girl from the US, we set out to visit another winery. Bodega Nanni is a boutique winery with only 47 hectars and organic wines. We tasted 4 different wines (Torrontes, Cabernet-Sauvignon Rose, Tannat and the Torrontes Late Harvest, a dessert wine). They were all very good (the best from all we had here in Cafayate), so we bought a bottle of each. It’s a little crazy if you’re backpacking, but we will drink them on special occasions before we fly back. Not only was the wine really good, but the lady who did the wine tasting spoke English and she explained the wines very well. The place was also nice and had cool tables made of barrels and corks. Quite a fun morning!

On the bus from Cafayate to Tucuman the scenery was arid at first, but then we entered a narrow green valley with lots of curves and construction. In Tucuman we changed buses to go Buenos Aires. As soon as we got on the bus, the “attendant” asked us to close the curtains in order to prevent rocks thrown at the bus to injure us. That sounded scary, especially since there were rock marks on the window already and we were sitting in the first row. The overnight bus from Tucuman to Buenos Aires was great though. We had a “cama” (bed), a seat that was reclining 160 degrees. At 10:30pm they served us a full 3-course dinner with wine (and refills), chocolate (on top of the dessert) and whiskey. That was luxury and no rocks were thrown at us luckily.

We crossed the border into Argentina and immediately felt the difference. We dropped to 1,500m altitude, so the temperature was much milder. It also started progressively being greener. On the way to Salta we saw interesting mountains with various colours (the Mountain of 7 Colours is around here). Salta, situated in the Lerma Valley at 1,152 meters above sea level is nicknamed Salta la Linda (“Salta the beautiful”). Within Argentina, it is the city which has preserved its colonial architecture the best. The city center features a number of impressive buildings dating back to the 18^th, 19th and early 20th centuries. The city’s museums exhibit a wide range of artifacts and art work from the native civilizations that flourished in the area (Salta is located in the Southernmost region of what was the Inca empire), as well as from the 16th century Spanish conquest and the colonial and post-colonial periods.

After a night on the train and the long journey, we slept in the next day. At lunch we went to an “asado” place. For 43 pesos ($10), we got a serving of grilled meat for one person. This ONE serving was actually enormous: 2 sausages, 2 pieces of steak, 2 small racks of beef ribs, 3 potatoes and salad. We ordered some wine to go with it and it was more than enough for both of us, obviously. We were both very happy to eat meat, after having lots of chicken on the world trip and rice with potatoes in Bolivia. Afterwards we walked around town, but it was pretty empty. We later found out that Argentinians take a very long siesta and come back out much later. We went to the main square and visited a really nice building. It’s nice to see real buildings, made of bricks and stones, not salt or adobe.

In the evening Christoph visited the Museum of High Altitude Archaeology (MAAM), which exhibits the “Llullaillaco Children,” one of the most important archaeological discoveries of recent times. The three Inca children were found frozen at the peak of Mount Llullaillaco, 6,700 m above sea level, in 1999. Studies reveal that they lived more than 500 years ago, during the height of the Inca rule, a short time before the Spanish Conquest. The museum exhibits this wonderful discovery through a scientific perspective and in a didactic way to help us appreciate and further understand a culture that is still alive today. The expedition to research and extract these mummies was not easy at all due to the high altitude (the highest camp was at 6,600m) and severe weather conditions up there (sometimes -37°C). Not only did the Inca manage to excavate the tombs but they also built structures at more than six kilometers high using the stones they found on the mountain’s peak. The first discovery at the offering site at the summit was that of three llama figurines. The body of the Inca Boy was situated 50 cm bellow this place. On the same day, a few meters to the north, the researchers located the body of a young girl, today known as The Maiden. It is believed that these 3 children were sent to Cuzco to receive the blessing of the Inca king. Upon return, they were brought to this site and prepared for sacrifice. The museum was very interesting and Christoph enjoyed it a lot.

The next day after breakfast we met up with 2 Australian girls and went to San Lorenzo, a quaint little town outside Salta. The houses and domains around there are pretty impressive and the area is nice and green. We walked around there and had delicious ice cream before coming back to Salta. On a completely different subject: Matt Damon´s wife comes from Salta.

We did a 3-day tour from Uyuni to the Salar de Uyuni, deserts and lagunas and it was cold, but wonderful. Salar de Uyuni (salt flat of Uyuni) is the world’s largest salt desert at 10,582 square kilometers. It is located in southwest Bolivia, near the crest of the Andes, and is elevated 3,656 meters above sea level. The Salar was formed as a result of transformations between several prehistoric lakes. It is covered by a few meters of salt crust (more than 10m at its centre), which has an extraordinary flatness. Aymara legend tells that the mountains Tunupa, Kusku and Kusina, which surround the Salar, were giant people. Tunupa married Kusku, but Kusku ran away from her with Kusina. Grieving Tunupa started to cry while breast-feeding her son. Her tears mixed with milk and formed the Salar. Many locals consider the Tunupa an important deity and say that the place should be called Salar de Tunupa rather than Salar de Uyuni. In our jeep we were 6 people and it was a fun group. Our first stop was the Cemeterio de Trenes where old locomotives have been left to rust. The town of Uyuni served in the past as a distribution hub for the trains carrying minerals enroute to Pacific Ocean ports. The rail lines were built by British engineers arriving near the end of the 19th century and formed a sizeable community in Uyuni, but have been abandoned.

Then we entered the actual Salar. The crust serves as a source of salt and covers a pool of brine, which is exceptionally rich in lithium. It contains 50 to 70% of the world’s lithium reserves, which is in the process of being extracted. The Salar contains large amounts of sodium, potassium, lithium and magnesium, as well as borax. Of those, lithium is arguably most important as it is a vital component of many electric batteries. With estimated 9,000,000 tonnes, Bolivia holds about 43% of the world’s lithium reserves; most of those are located in the Salar de Uyuni. It is estimated to contain 10 billion tonnes of salt, of which about 25,000 tonnes is extracted annually. All miners working in the Salar belong to Colchani’s cooperative. The salt layer is between 2 and 10 meters thick here, so there is plenty of salt to be had. When extracting the salt, the workers make small cones so the water can drain more easily. Then they are loaded to trucks before being brought to the salt factory to be purified. As we went deeper into the Salar, the salt got progressively whiter, as there was less soil residue blown there by the wind. We stopped at the Salt Hotel, a hotel made entirely of salt. This is actually not allowed on the Salat anymore because of the environmental damage, so the Salt Hotel is now only a museum. The Salar is virtually devoid of any wild life and vegetation, except for some giant cacti. The center of the Salar contains a few “islands”, which are the remains of the tops of ancient volcanoes. We stopped at Isla Incahuasi for a pic-nick lunch. This island in the middle of the Salar is quite spectacular. It is covered by giant cacti who grow 1 meter per 100 years. The oldest one we saw was 9m tall! (they grow up to 12m high). Further in the Salar we stopped in a spot where all you could see around you was white. Salt for miles and miles! Here we took some interesting pictures playing with optic illusions. It was windy, but we had lots of fun. Then we passed a spot where the salt crust had formed hexagons and it was interesting to see before exiting the Salar. We slept in a salt hotel (made of salt blocks) on the edge of the Salar and had dinner there. We also watched the moon rise, which was very cool. In this area it gets really cold, so we dressed up and cuddled to keep warm at night. That was our first day and certainly on of the highlights of our world trip.

We had an early breakfast and start on our second day. The area was covered in volcanic rocks and we passed many different lagunas. One of them had a huge colony of pink flamingos feeding on the microorganisms living in the salt lakes, which in turn gives them their pink colour. It was very windy and freezing outside, so we kept wondering how come the flamingos aren’t cold! We drove on to a spot where we saw some Bolivian vizcachas, wild rabbits. Then we drove some more, arriving at the Arbol de Piedra, the stone tree. It has been carved by the wind and looks interesting. It was cold outside, so only the guys ventured out to take pictures. The rest of us admired the sight from the car. We arrived at Laguna Colorada, a red lake. Its colour is due to algae that blossom when the sun shines and the water temperature rises. Therefore, it isn’t always red. We were lucky that we got to see its magnificent colour. After lunch we set out to walk to the lookout point over the Laguna Colorada, but the girls turned back since it was too cold and windy. We were angry at the driver that he didn’t take us, especially since all the other drivers took their groups. Later we played cards in the room and hoped we would warm it up a bit before going to bed. The eating area was even colder because the wind was blowing between the wall and the roof and it felt like the roof would get torn off at any moment. Then at dinner we got a bottle of cheap red wine, but it worked out well as today is one year since we left Montreal for our big trip! Before going to bed, we got extra blankets from other rooms and dressed up to keep warm. This night was even colder than the first night.

The next morning, it was -25 degrees. Wow, that is cold when you don’t have an insulated house or heating!!! But we survived. After a 5 o’clock breakfast, we drove to see some geysers in this area full of active volcanoes. At 5,000m altitude, it’s cold and it smelled like sulphur, but we got out to see this natural phenomenon. A bit later we arrived at some thermal baths, but only 2 guys dared to go in and loved it. The rest of us were afraid of how cold it would be coming out. That morning we also passed Laguna Blanca (which was frozen over) and Laguna Verde (only green in September). Here we took some group pictures as 2 people got dropped off at the Chilean border to cross to San Pedro de Atacama. Later we drove through the Dali desert, a rock desert with figurines reminding of Dali’s paintings. After lunch we stopped shortly in the mining village of San Cristobal before returning to Uyuni. That evening after a good dinner we took an overnight train to the border and crossed into Argentina in the morning.

Although it was really freezing most of the time on the 3-day Uyuni tour, we still had fun. The incredible things we saw and the fun group made it all worth it.

La Paz takes your breath away, literally! As the world’s highest capital (3,660m), it clings to the sides of a canyon. As you approach from “El Alto”, you wonder where the city is. Then it appears in the valley and it’s a spectacular sight, especially with the Mt Illamani (6,402m) in the background. Founded in 1548 by the Spanish conquistadors at the site of the Native American settlement, Laja, the full name of the city was originally “Nuestra Señora de La Paz” (meaning Our Lady of Peace). The name commemorated the restoration of peace following the insurrection of Pizarro four years earlier against the first viceroy of Peru.

The city is not built around a main square like most other colonial towns, maybe because of the geography. Instead, it has many irregular-shaped steep streets and alleys. Many colonial buildings have also been torn down over the years. Partly because of our persisting cold, but walking a few blocks is exhausting since you are constantly going up and down the cobble-stoned streets. The ladies have colourful skirts, long braided plaits and bowler hats, so it was great to watch them.

One evening Christoph went with some friends to a “Cholitas Wrestling Show” which takes place in the “El Alto” part of the city. Like the general population of El Alto, which consists almost entirely of Aymara and Quechua residents, the Cholitas are indigenous. They wear braided hair, bowler hats and multi-layered skirts in the ring. It’s quite the unusual sight to see them fight and pull eachother’s plaits. Besides the Cholitas, another interesting custom of La Paz is buying a llama foetus and burying in the foundation of a new house for good luck. We saw them being sold on the street – pretty gross. Usually, if they wish for something, Bolivians would buy the article in small (eg a toy car) hoping they would soon get it for real. There are packages sold at stores with things one can wish for. It’s funny to see marriage certificates for people wishing for a husband/wife. Other than that, there is not so much to do in La Paz, except wonder around to take in the beat of the city and its markets, as well as having great empanadas and llama steaks.

We then continued by bus to Oruro and then onwards by train to Uyuni, which was a very pleasant ride. We passed through Poopo lake, a salt lake home to thousands of flamingos. It was amazing!