Browsing Date

June 2009

Destinations, South America

Comedy of Errors

June 8, 2009 • By

I resumed my Spanish classes this week.  To my dismay, the school slated me for the afternoons and that would just not work with my Pilates and eating schedule so after some careful negotiating they bumped me to a higher level.  That sounded just fine until I joined a class of nearly fluent speakers.  After just two days with me in the class, two of the four students jumped two levels.  I didn’t take it personally they were youngsters after all.  To quote Alice Cooper, “School’s Out for Summer” and the college students from Europe and the US have descended upon Buenos Aires and I’m NOT happy about it.  I promise you I was not one of these spoiled, obnoxious brats from the States (and I am always right).

Plugging away with my private tutor and schoolwork, I decided some fun was in order.  I read about an organization called Spanglish on Facebook and decided to check it out.  The purpose is to improve language skills but I would more or less equate it to a cross between speed dating and meet up organizations.  For 5 minutes, I spoke English with my partner and then for 5 minutes we spoke Spanish.  My first partner was a crack up.  After being married for 34 years, one day she asked her husband why they were still married and he said he didn’t know.  She said, “I looked at him and thought I don’t like him I am rich I want a divorce.”  They have 3 children and 2 grandchildren and she said she talks to him more now than before and she loves her live.  She is taking an art course in NYC in September for a month and wanted to improve her English.  Another partner, a college student, told me she hated the United States but she dated a guy from Texas and decided she wanted to learn more English just in case she met another potential boyfriend.  What?  Finally, I ended up with some random chain smoking 43-year-old who told me he inherited millions 10 years ago so now he enjoys traveling.  He loves the United States and wanted to teach more American’s Spanish.  The only thing I could get out of my mouth was my parents live in Chicago, I have one brother and I’ve been traveling since November.  Clearly, their English is much better than my Spanish.

During Spanglish, I also met a few other random guys from the States who I recruited to join me at the American sports bar for the first NBA Finals game.  I’ve never been one to shy away from men in sports bars but I was pretty impressed with my assemblage of Argentineans and Americans with the token Israeli and Canadian.  When the game ended, I decided to head home as it was late and I had school in the morning but apparently I missed quite the fireworks.  The bill had not been settled and everyone went crazy arguing over 50 pesos ($15).  Unfortunately, Landra and I had walked out with the freeloader, a 19-year-old Argentinean cutie pie who clearly played the two American men she picked up.

It wouldn’t be a night out on the town if I didn’t lose something right?  At some point in the evening, I pulled out my driver’s license to show my new Argentinean friend out to spell my name.  No one in Argentina gets my name right so I feel compelled to spell it.  Well you know where this story is going.  My driver’s license and my credit card are buddies and when I pulled out the license, I dropped my credit card on the ground.  The minute I got home I started looking for it and realized quickly it was gone.  Keep in mind two weeks ago I left my ATM card in the machine so now I am down to one way of obtaining cash.  I sprang into action and called my credit card company to put a block on the card then I frantically called the bar until someone finally answered and said they didn’t have it.  After stalking the bar the next day to no avail, I had nearly given up when Landra texted me the Canadian had my card.  Elated and in complete disbelief at my great luck since I NEVER EVER get anything back, I am still trying to connect with this guy four days later.  Cross your fingers!!!!!

Destinations, South America

The Glaciers, El Calafate and a little part of the world called Patagonia

June 2, 2009 • By

This past weekend I packed my bags and headed to El Calafate, a three-hour plane ride from Buenos Aires.  El Calafate is a small Patagonian town located on the southern border of Lake Argentine.  The population is difficult to ascertain but officials estimate as many as 20,000 live in the sleepy town and its outskirts.  The downtown reminded me of a much smaller, quaint version of Aspen.  Picture snow covered mountains, bulky sweaters, chocolate, lamb and two-storied shops and restaurants constructed of wood that reminded me of Swiss chalets and log cabins.

El Calafate is a tourist destination first and foremost but it’s also home to the world’s most visited glacier.  I visited Perito Moreno Glacier and on first sight found myself in complete wonder and awe of this spectacular peninsula of ice towering before me.  I should have known but my adventure had just begun.  The only way to access the glacier is by boat unless you prefer hypothermia and in that case by all means attempt the swim.  My friend Landra and I along with 30 other tourists trekked by foot to the glacier’s edge.  Here we attached crampons to our hiking boats and started our journey known as “mini trekking.”  From afar, the glacier bares a striking resemblance to Superman’s planet of Krypton but on closer view I noticed many valleys, towering points and pivots of an entire mountain of ice.

A little bit of facts and figures on the Perito Moreno Glacier

The glacier is a 97 square mile ice formation and 19 mile in length with an average height of 200 feet (courtesy of Wikipedia).  It is one of 48 glaciers in the Southern Patagonian Ice Field, which is located in the Andes and is also shared with Chile.  Unfortunately, the glacier is only accessible by water on the Argentinean side.  It is one of the few glaciers in the world that has not changed in the last 90 years, which means it is advancing and retreating at the same rate each year.  (The glaciers on top of Mt. Kilimanjaro for example are nearly melted.)

Fitted with crampons and given our final instructions, our group started our trip up the walls of the glacier.  We were told to keep our feet at least shoulder length apart as to not get tripped up. I found that easier said than done and started imitating Herman Munster in my attempts to a) not fall into an ice hole and b) to not take my entire group down with me.  Once we conquered our first uphill excursion, I immediately started to fear the descent.  It seemed everyone must have been thinking the same because at least a few women (including me) expressed aloud concern for their safety.  The guides were carrying chisels to break the ice and they walked ahead to test the strength of the ground but it did make me a bit nervous.

We walked for about an hour until we reached a fairly high level of ice. The views were glorious.  The colors in contrast with the sky, mountains and aqua blue water below were incredible.  Standing on top of the world is a magnificent feeling but looking out to a lush green forest to one side and a land of fresh, clean, crisp water on the other is quite another.  Slowly….very slowly our group made the descent with small but heavy steps down the hills of glacier ice to a cove where we celebrated our accomplishment with shots of Whiskey served over glacier ice.  My group consisted of Landra, a hysterically funny couple from NY, Erik and Janine and two crazy 22-year-old teachers from Holland.  Landra and I opted for the dulce de leche cookies rather than the Whiskey but the Dutch boys made good by finishing our glasses.  Let’s just say we were entertained to some lovely Dutch songs several minutes later. We ended the day by driving to a lookout point to see another section of the glacier.  To top of the perfect day, a massive section of glacier ripped apart from the base and crashed to the water below with a few of us witnessing the natural phenomenon.  It was awesome!

The next day several of us on the trekking trip enjoyed a beautiful 8-hour boat ride through the rivers and lakes of the Patagonian system.  We saw incredible icebergs the size of skyscrapers and picturesque snow covered mountains.  There were a few more notable glaciers but nothing as impressive as Perito Moreno.  That night our NY friends and Landra and I headed to a lamb and pumpkin dinner and of course a few bottles of red wine.  The evening would not be complete without beers at a library lodge, and Elvis Impersonator and this story:

To another guy from our glacier hike we spotted at the bar:

Me: Hey you said you were from NY.  Where do you live?

Him:  Upper West Side

Me:  How long have you lived there?

Him:  I am not really from NY I just say that because it sounds cool.

Me: Do you live there?

Him: Yes sometimes but I am from Boston

Me:  Where do you work? (more questions ensue because I am so curious)

Him:  I am a trust fund kid.

Me:  Oh so you don’t work.  Do you at least study in Buenos Aires?

Him:  No I just hang out.

Me:  OK –Here is my email.  Let’s meet up when you are back in BA. (A friend is a friend in my book)

Who says, “I am a TRUST FUND KID” after only five minutes into a conversation with a stranger?  I guess more people than I originally thought.