From Santiago, we bused over an incredible mountain pass to Mendoza, Argentina. We were ecstatic to meet our friend, Emilio the Extra-Terrestrial and his personal assistants, Owen and Sara! Emilio journeyed from his home planet by way of New York to visit us. Emilio was pretty excited to eat steak and drink Malbec in the famous wine region of Argentina.
Upon landing in Argentina, Emilio was pretty surprised to learn about the unofficial exchange rate for US dollars, or the “blue dollar” market. Due to inflation woes and poor government policy, the official exchange rate is 8.5 pesos per USD, but on the street, a dollar will fetch 12 – 13.5 pesos. Due to the instability of the peso, Argentinians exchange their peso paychecks for USD and stash them in bank deposit boxes. Emilio made Jon and Owen do the work of exchanging our USD for pesos, which wasn’t nearly as sketchy as it sounds.
After a few too many sips of Malbec, we accompanied Emilio for a 17 hour bus ride from Mendoza to Bariloche, in the beautiful lakes district of Argentina. We were served wine, meals, and treated to all of the recent young-adult-books-turned-movies. Emilio loved “The Fault in Our Stars!”
Switchback after switchback along the road from Santiago to Mendoza over the Andes – could only imagine this in the winter!! Some of the ski resorts are right off this road, some with lifts going over the road
Mendoza bike wine/vineyard tour
Best food we had in Mendoza, a cafe on a stop of our vineyard bike tour
Emilio and the piglet – Sara’s favorite dish
Emilio photo bombed!
Really, really big park in Mendoza, nice to walk around and explore
Jorge the giant sea turtle, star of Mendoza aquarium – he was super cute. He was rescued in the 80’s after being found on the beach, and could not be put back b/c he had drifted way too far south than his normal habitat
JUMP, it’s Mr. Dog, Mendoza (we didn’t eat there, just loved talking about it)
Emilio photobombing at the vineyards
Emilio dug the fine homes in Mendoza
We stayed outside of Bariloche, in the ski village of Cerro Cathedral. All of us were astounded by the gorgeous views of lakes and the Andes Mountains around Bariloche.
View from a summit along the “Circuito Chico”, or “Small Circuit” in Bariloche
View along the “Small Circuit” in Bariloche
Posing at the summit along the “Circuito Chico”, or “Small Circuit” in Bariloche
View from a summit along the “Circuito Chico”, or “Small Circuit” in Bariloche
Weekend beer garden in Bariloche
Sunset in Cerro Cathedral
Circuito Chico views
Lake and mountains around Circuito Chico
Cerro Cathedral see-saw
We took a 10-hour hike to a hut called Refugio Grey, which also had incredible mountain scenery. Emilio felt like he was on his home planet while we walked through the rocky outcroppings. The group sustained a couple of tumbles on some of the loose rocks, but the day was a success.
Hiking 2 hours up Cerro Cathedral in the morning – which, in retrospect, we should have taken the chairlift 🙂
Views at the top of Cerro Cathedral
AMAZING views at Cerro Cathedral summit
Wildflowers along the trail
Hiking along lake back to Cerro Cathedral parking lot from Refugio Frey
Cirque next to Refugio Frey
Refugio Frey – fun atmosphere, beer (for the guests) was flowing
Looking up at the cirque, where we had come from, at Refugio Grey
Posing along the hike from Cerro Cathedral to Refugio Frey
Could not get over the views along the hike from Cerro Cathedral to Refugio Frey
Small lake while descending into the cirque and valley with Refugio Frey
Scrambling up over the pass to descend down to Refugio Frey
Hiking with a bit of scrambling along the ridge of Cerro Cathedral
Cerro Cathedral summit
Emilio photobomb of the lake above Refugio Frey
The next day, Emilio navigated us along the famous Patagonia Route 40 for the “Ruta de los Siete Lagos”, a long, gorgeous drive in the seven lakes area outside of Bariloche. On this day, suspiciously everyone in the group caught a stomach bug EXCEPT EMILIO….hmmmmm.
Waterfall along the “7 Lakes Route”
San Martin de los Andes, a small town along the 7 Lakes Route
Lookout along the 7 lakes route
River and rocks on the 7 Lakes Route
Remote lakeside town along the “7 Lakes Route”
Emilio! Let Owen enjoy the lake
The bug reduced our energy, but not our spirits. Jon and Jen took another 24 hour bus from Bariloche to Buenos Aires. Emilio demanded to fly, so Owen and Sara were forced to accompany him. By the time we met again in Buenos Aires, we were ready to take on everything the city had to offer: museums, planetariums, neighborhoods, cafes, restaurants, and bars.
Emilio was enchanted by Buenos Aires (BA) right off the bat. To start off, we loved taking him on walks through the lovely parks in BA, including an incredible rose garden. He wanted to join in and rollerblade with the rest of BA, but he didn’t bring his protective gear. The rest of us loved going on free walking tours of the city, including seeing the remaining palaces and learning about Argentine quirks and culture, like the high rate of plastic surgery. The streets and neighborhoods of BA are fascinating: modern buildings juxtaposed with art-deco Parisian-style buildings and gorgeous Italian-style fountains.
Gorgeous parks in Buenos Aires
Rose garden park in Buenos Aires
Dog walkers are seen all over around lunch time – we heard 8 was the “legal limit”
BIG statues adorn the city, this in a giant traffic circle
Where’s Jen?! Hiding in the botanical gardens.
Old palaces of Buenos Aires
Beer garden / cafe in Buenos Aires
Plaza outside the capital building
Largest street in the world – 16 lanes! (is what BA still says, yet the largest is now in Sao Paulo, Brazil)
Church in Plaza de Mayo – beautiful inside. They were filming a movie about Pope Francis, who is from Buenos Aires
Obelisk in Plaza de Republica
Emilio loved the most famous pizza in Buenos Aires – Pizza Guerrin – it was DELICIOUS
La Recoleta cemetery – fascinating place to spend a couple hours
La Recoleta cemetery – fascinating place to spend a couple hours
Emilio thought he was home with the architecture of the BA planetarium
Photobombing Emilio at a super good Mexican place – tacos were delicious – filled one of our cravings, being away from Mexican for 8 months
Jen photobomb of Emilio’s selfie
View of Buenos Aires from above, as we flew out
As it is with everything good, our time with Emilio (and Owen and Sara) had to come to an end. However, we were thrilled to have Jen’s parents meet us for the second half of our Buenos Aires stay. After seven months away, it was so nice to spend quality time with family. Bob and Marcy are fantastic, very fun with whom to meander around town and wine and dine. With them we enjoyed our best steak dinner of the trip, the Evita and two great art museums, and a night out with drinks at a magnificent hotel. After our time with Bob and Marcy we realized more family trips are imperative.
Jen with the two most important men in her life, enjoying drinks at one of the nicest hotels in Buenos Aires
Assorted grill at steakhouse in BA – a lot of it was too adventurous for us – language was a barrier, but pretty sure there were intestines, maybe a heart, blood suasage, and other mysteries
Antonio Berni print slate at MALBA museum
MALBA art museum
Antonio Berni at MALBA art museum
Art museum in La Boca, with paintings made by fire and explosions
Tango Rojo show was really, really good, but pricey
Bathroom at one of the nicest hotels in Buenos Aires, where we saw the tango show
La Boca neighborhood
Bob with Spongebob!
Eating again with Bob and Marcy at the Mexican place in the neighborhood we first stayed in
ROUNDABOUT 