Joaquín Sabina concert in La Bombonera

Thursday, 21 January, at 10pm Tina, her cousin and I went to the concert of Joaquín Sabina. It was in La Bombonera. We wanted to take the taxi ‘cos we knew that the Boca district is not that safe, especially not at night. But the driver needed 30 minutes bringing us just three blocks away from Tina’s flat. He took a detour telling us there would be too much traffic to get through and it would be faster walking. He dropped us and from now on we walked within the crowd. It was safe between these hundreds of fans, and it was closer than we imagined.

Arriving at the bowl we needed to find the right entrance, the entrance for the field. We had to wait a while outside ‘cos they were frisking everybody for weapons. The weather was great! The night was still quite warm so that a T-shirt was sufficient. A few minutes later I noticed the request letting everybody in immediately as there was not enough time left until the concert was supposed to start. So we got in quite fast. The concert was great and there was an awesome atmosphere. It was again a bit annoying that the water boys forced their way through the crowd to sell lemonade and water. Three hours later we got out of the bowl. The ladies were smitten by Sabina and his deep smoky voice. J We headed for a café-bar to finish this night with a cool beer.

Trip to Uruguay - a disaster!

I‘m back again! Not from Uruguay, that I’m already for a long time. No, back writing reports!

I was thinking about whether I could write about this trip or I should spare you and my bad memories these experiences. But then I realized that I can’t just tell you only my good experiences to give the impression that my stay in South America was just perfect perfect.

Anyway, I decided to enjoy a day in Uruguay. I had not been to Montevideo yet. I thought when you will be already in the south of this country you could do a detour to the “Monaco” of Uruguay - to Punta del Este, the richest and most southern place of the country. So I booked a Buquebus-ticket to Montevideo for Monday, 18 January 2010.

First I took the fast boat from Retiro straight to Montevideo (UY). There I asked for the free bus to the center. It took us more than half an hour till we took off. I presumed to find the tourist office in the center. Arriving at the center I couldn’t find any tourist center so I asked couple of people from this city. No chance! Half an hour later and a radio chat with the police headquarters I got a direction. But arriving there I still couldn’t find what I was looking for. Therefore I just took some pics at the most important square, Plaza Independencia. It splits Ciudad Vieja from downtown Montevideo, with the Gateway of The Citadel on one side and the beginning of 18 de Julio Avenue on the other. Many important buildings, such as the Solís Theater and the workplaces of the President of Uruguay (both the Estévez Palace and the future Executive Tower) are located at this square, as well as the head office of IBM, the Torre Ejecutiva (ex Court of Justice) and in the center the Mausoleum of Genaral José Artigas. Then I went on to run aimlessly through this capital city. In the evening I tried to find my hostel. I walked through some dangerous looking streets till I finally got to a quite lonesome place where the Palermo Art Hostel is. At the reception there was a young lady explaining everything to me. I asked her for some interesting places to see and eat in this city. Then a very nice girl of about my age joined us introduced herself to me and chatted with the receptionist as if she was part of the staff, gave me some tips for this city and then the receptionist told us that be we both share the same dorm.

I got my stuff into the room and left the hostel for some more sightseeing. I also had to buy a bus ticket to Punta del Este. I took the way along the coast stepping by at the light house at the very south. On my way a lost gay Brazilian joined me and told me that he likes to take walks along the coasts at late evenings, er…. He proudly told me some of his German he learned at his institute. It was a great combination: gay - pink polo shirt - speaking portugues! At night I went out for some dinner, around the corner. On the way back it started to rain. In the hostel they planned some party for this night but I couldn’t find any. I met a lot of Brazilians, some people from other parts of Argentina and two Germans. We played some billiards and then talked all night through and drinking some beer.

Next day I took the bus to Punta Del Este. It took me about two hours. It was raining again. When I arrived at the bus terminal I decided to extend my stay by one day to be able to enjoy the sunny next day at the beach, especially as I would only have six hours till my bus would leave again. At the bus terminal I asked if it was possible to change my travel reservation. They answered it in the affirmative. After that I first wanted to find a free room for this one night before changing the reservation. I went to the tourist office (in the bus terminal) to get some addresses of close hostels and a map. I then checked the first hostel but it was booked up. At the second I was successful. But it cost me almost 25€. I went back to the bus terminal to take a number and wait. I waited two hours till it was my turn. Then they told me that, firstly, I had to add 50% to the ticket due to my promotion via internet, and secondly I had to take the bus at the same time the next day. That was not possible because I had to go to the concert of Joaquín Sabina that night and I would arrive at 11pm. Therefore I couldn’t change my reservation. Now there were only two hours left anymore to “enjoy” the day. But that was not all. I went back to the hostel to get my stuff and cancel the reservation. I tried to get back my money but the told me that it is not possible even though I didn’t use any service, particularly the breakfast. The maximum was when my shiny new digital camera felt down at the hostel and makes a terrible noise now when zooming in. After this I really wasn’t in the mood anymore to enjoy this day. At least it stopped raining by now. I took some quick pics of the famous hand coming out of the sand at the beach. Now I needed something for my stomach so at the marina I had the traditional Chivito Uruguayo on a plate (French Fries with meat, bacon and cheese from the pan, onions, tomatoes, lettuces, pickled veggies, and a dressing of mayonnaise and ketchup. Then I went to the very south of Uruguay to see the Hijas de Gea (Sound of the Sirens) at the shore, crossing the exclusive residential area with many mansions each having its unique name.

Now my time was over and I had to return to the bus terminal. I took the bus back, to Colonia. There I took the boat back to Retiro, Buenos Aires. To round this day off there was a technical damage at the boat so that we had a delay of two hours. As compensation we got a voucher for another boat trip but I knew that I wouldn’t be able to use it anymore. I finally arrived at my flat at 2am. Great vacation! Personally I didn’t like Punta del Este ‘cos it is this typical high-society-Mecca, not interesting, not much to do, along the beach one building next to the other, and too expensive. It also might be ‘cos it was just such a great day for me!? At the end I was glad that this horror finally was over!

Spontaneous Adventure

Now Chritoph and I are back from our trip. It was a very spontaneous trip. Christoph told me on Friday 25th, that he still has some time ’till beginning of January and that he wants to travel to Mendoza and Santiago. Due to the fact that I planed to travel to Mendoza and Santiago de Chile, too, as well as to Córdoba, we decided to start our trip two days later, Sunday 27th. We booked a “cama bus” by Andesmar, so we had comfortable leather armchairs and a stewardess. Lemonade, sparkling wine, whiskey, warm dinner (a bit more than you get in a airplane), and breakfast with coffee/tea were included.

Our first stop was Mendoza. We arrived at our Hostel Mendoza Campo Base at about high noon. We asked for possible activities. For this day there was only a trip to two bodegas and a little olive oil factory possible, a half day trip for the second half of the day. We decided to do this trip, starting at 2pm, the next a rafting tour and a trekking tour with rappel, and for the last half day to do horse back riding. But then there was a problem. The trip was already booked out. There was only one place left. The lady from our hostel reception called the tour operator and he tried to rearrange the tour and use an additional vehicle. 15 minutes later he called back for the last time with the good news that we can participate. We already had been reorganizing our plans and canceling one activity but now we could stick to our first plan. About an hour later the guy from the tour picked us up. Mendoza probably is the most famous origin of Argentinian wine. We first went to Bodega Vistandes. The tour was ok, the tasting session of two of their wines was not that good ‘cos they just gave us the wine without telling us something about the wine culture at the table, but the view from the bodega’s terrace was awesome: the direct view at the snow covered mountains. This bodega was more business orientated. Next step was the small olive oil factory Olivícola LAUR. We got a little tour. They explained to us the old fashioned way showing us some of their ancient machinery and then describing to us the nowadays way to get the oil out of the little green to black fruits. And the end we tasted their product. Christoph bought a little glass of green olive paste which later gave him some little problems at the border to Chile. Last stop for this day was the family-owned Bodega Carmine Granata Traditional. The tour was similar to the first tour but the tasting session was much better. They spent more time for us and explained us in detail how to see, smell and taste the age, color, flavor and quality of the two wines. On the way back we stopped by at a church paying tribute to the saint of vine. Back in Mendoza we tried to find a bigger supermarket to get some things for dinner. No chance! They don’t have any in the center of the city… :-S I had to stop by at pharmacy to get some stuff against my Argentinian-mosquito allergy to reduce the double-size of my swollen feet. The next day was dedicated completely to our bodies. Again we drove out of Mendoza but this time to the feet of the Andes following the river Mendoza. After arriving at camp Rios Andinos we got all necessary equipment and instructions of doing rafting. It took the instructor about have an hour to explain to us all the bad things that can happen on a rafting trip and how we have to handle those situations. Too many information at once!!! We couldn’t wait to get started. Finally we got our leader (her name was Lindsey) and started. There were six rafting boats, each holding seven persons, and four “rescue” Kayaks. It was so much fun and we got totally wet. The water coming directly from the mountains was icy could of course. We had a lot of fun in all the holes, waves and whirlpools at this 17km long tour. Rafting is definitely my new number one outdoor sport! After getting dry we started our trekking tour up to the top of the foothills in a nice and small group of four people. We walked in a dried riverbed climbing over and through rocks, worming our way through all the sharp blades of grass and cactuses. At the end of this trekking tour we rappelled down from a 30 meters high cliff. The last day we did horse back riding at some other point of the foothills, again of a small group of five tourists, two gauchos, five dogs and of course our seven horses. Halfway we had a little rest. One of the Gauchos prepared some mate (tea) we then enjoyed with some meat filled bread. Arriving back at the farm we fed a llama that later tried to spill at me while I was taking a picture of it. After this adventure we directly went to the bus terminal to continue our trip to Santiago de Chile in a small bus by O’Higgins International. All large buses were already full.

At the border to Chile there was a line of waiting cars of a few kilometers. Although there were only two buses in front of us it took us about two and a half hours to come through customs. We passed all the way through the Andes passing the Aconcagua - with 6962m the highest mountain outside Asia. It was a tremendous landscape. Arriving at the central bus terminal was a big chaos. Hundreds of buses were coming from all directions waiting to get to the terminal. We were stucked in a line of buses about one kilometer before the terminal. We got off the bus to walk ‘cos that was definitely faster. I used this time to use some unprotected WiFi on the street to look up the address of our hostel we booked the day before. Finally arriving at our HI hostel Che Lagarto in the middle of the night we were surprised that almost nobody was staying there. We got a six bed dorm by ourselves. We wanted to celebrate New Year’s Eve in Santiago but I guess everybody is leaving. Next morning at breakfast all tables were occupied. I heard two girls speaking in a very familiar language - German. We joined them. They (Vanessa and Eva are their names) told us that after breakfast they were going to Valparaiso ‘cos there should be one of the biggest and most beautiful fireworks of the world. We thought about changing our plans (plans, we actually didn’t have) and at the end we went to the bus station, too. There was only one problem: we were too spontaneous this time. There was no single available bus. The bus companies were already signaling our refusal when we were heading to their counter. Last chance: a taxi driver was walking around looking for two more passengers. So we went with him and an older couple. It was three times more expensive than the bus but with 20€ still cheaper than going by taximeter; and we crossed all the country, from the Andes all way to the Pacific Coast. There was damn much traffic. Everybody wanted to get to Valparaiso or Viña del Mar. There were a lot of car accidents. One happened directly in front of us when the driver in front of us drove into the car in front him. The best part of this ride was when the couple left us and the taxi driver accelerated, made a lot of fun with us and shared his beer with us. When we got to the bus terminal we tried to catch up with the girls ‘cos we passed their company’s buses a few times on our way. But we missed them just by three minutes. Therefore we had to stay in contact via emails as it already had been arranged in Santiago. By this means Christoph received an email from a friend that studies in Valparaiso and celebrates New Year’s Eve with her friends in her flat. She invited us. We first explored the city with its world-famous character and Chile’s most important harbor. Culture-wise it is the capital city of Chile. Valparaíso was declared a World Heritage Site in 2003, thanks to its historical importance, natural beauty (large number of hills surrounding a picturesque harbor), and unique architecture (particularly, a mix of 19th century styles of housing). At the harbor the life was quite loud but as you walked through the streets a little bit up the hills it was so peaceful, and colorful! A very great city! At night we went to that party with Vanessa and Eva. The flat was up the hills with an awesome and unforgettable view of the whole city the harbor and later on the fireworks. It was the neighbor’s roof terrace he and his family shared with us that night. Unfortunately, after the fireworks, when we went downstairs to “our” flat, there was a little argument between the neighbor and us ‘cos he was missing his bottle of rum (and the next morning apparently there were some of his glasses missing or broken…). But we were deadly sure that we didn’t take his rum out of his fridge for we had about 3 liters of rum which is enough for 12 students when they also still have half a bath tub full of beer. At about 2am we all left the flat and went to a crowded place half way down to the city and stayed there (just to check the situation ). Then we continued to get to a public square in the city. It appeared that all the young party people of Valparaiso met there to end the parties in all the bars. Vanessa and Eva had left us at about 2:30am to catch their bus back to Santiago at 3am. Our bus (by TUR-Bus) left at 6am. A few ours later, after some little rest, we explored the city of Santiago. It was so hot that we used every fountain to get our skin wet but it took just a minute and it was all dry again. We passed a fish market and went in. We decided to eat for dinner there later on (to finally get some fresh and good fish) but they closed to early.

On our way to Córdoba we first took a semi cama bus by TUR-Bus to Mendoza and from there a semi cama bus by Tramat S.A.. This bus was not booked out so later we could move to the very front seats that we had great view. Shortly before entering Córdoba we drove through the tiny city San Juan where the Dakar Rally took place at that moment. Hundreds of spectators lined the streets all the way from somewhere before San Juan until Córdoba. And NO, we did NOT get involved in the Rally accident in Córdoba. We stayed at the Córdoba Hostel International. The next day we took a Fono Bus to Alta Gracia. Arriving there we were looking for the house where Ernesto “Che” Guevara spent his childhood. After asking a lot of locals we finally came to this house. It is a museum now. The weather forecast for this and the following day was rain. This day we always got some occasional little showers. We hoped to escape the rain the next day. Therefore Christoph wanted to take his anorak with him but then forgot it. We took a Fono Bus to Tanti. There we walked to the ‘Cueva de los pajaritos’ (parrots cave) up the hills in Mallín. There was no rain at all but a lot… no, way too much (!)… sun. We had problems breathing because all the water from last day’s raining was evaporating, we were sweating like hell and we had to walk 8 kilometers uphill and at high noon. All the streams on our way had water warm like piss. When we came to the caves we were surprised that it is a private park. We walked over rocks, waterfalls and rivers, and through trees for about two hours. On the way back we had the chance to jump on a couple’s pickup for the last kilometer. We were so tired and exhausted after this 6-hours long walk and we got a very bad sun burn; instead of a refreshing shower. The last day we did some sightseeing in Córdoba city. We also went up the hill where the Virgen María is. We had an awesome view of the whole city. Then we went back to Buenos Aires in a semi cama by El Turista.