We arrived in Cancun with a planeload of predominantly overweight Americans in a variety of gaudy Hawaiian shirts and fake tans.  They were headed for the hotels and resorts in Cancun, while we hightailed it south on our little rental car (called the “Dodge Attitude”) along the Caribbean Sea to the city of Tulum.  Tulum, which means “the wall” in Mayan is a small town along the highway about two hours south of Cancun.  The town of Tulum itself is not that worthy of mention, but it is home to a beautiful former Mayan city/fortress that is situated directly on a cliff overlooking the sea.  It also has a nice beach just outside of town.

We checked into our little cabana, which had the luxury of an attached bathroom.  The roof was thatched with palm fronds.  It was situated 20 yards from the water with a mostly unobstructed view of the sun rising in the morning.  The other wonderful aspect was the hammock that was on the tiny porch.  Shortly after we arrived, there was a brief torrential downpour, which led us to doubt the soundness of the thatched roof.  It turned out to be well made and did not leak at all.

View from our cabana in Tulum

The next morning, on Sunday, it was overcast and rainy.  We had hoped to be able to go snorkeling in one of the “cenotes” – limestone caves and caverns that have been flooded with water and were appropriate for diving and snorkeling.  However, the dive shop in town dissuaded us from doing so in light of the weather, and they were right.  Instead, we embarked on our first visit to a Mayan site – called Coba.  Coba was an important large city for the Mayans with 50,000 to 100,000 people living on about 50 square kilometers.  Archeologists believe that there were about six thousand structures on the site, but they’ve excavated only a couple dozen thus far, with the rest being overtaken by the jungle.  Coba also has a few lakes abutting the main archeological site, which are reportedly inhabited by crocodiles.  We didn’t see any.  Coba is renowned for the tallest pyramid in the Yucatan, due to the fact that it is situated on a small mound.  So after a short tour with a hired guide who gave us a summary of various aspects of the city and the rituals involved, we went exploring on our own.  The structures were quite impressive, as were the trees that were constantly trying to over take them.  As the day progressed, the sun came out and by the time we were ready to make the ascent to the Coba pyramid, it was downright hot and humid.  At the top of the pyramid, we discovered a few things.  First, that the Yucatan Peninsula is flat as a pancake.  It is densely overgrown with jungle, but the trees grow to essentially the same height.  The pyramid rose above the tree line, enabling us to see for what seemed like hundreds of miles.  It seemed that we could see the curvature of the earth, though that is likely not the case.  Getting to the top of the pyramid was rather tough, given that the steps are tall.  Getting down the steps was more difficult, due to a lack of railings.  If one has vertigo, climbing this temple is not recommended.  The thing that is interesting is that Mayans are relatively short in stature, and thus the climbing of the pyramid, though seldom done, and only by the highest priests, was likely a real chore.

View from the top of the pyramid at Coba (notice the flatness of the landscape)

After several hours exploring Coba, we had some traditional Mayan dishes at a roadside stand in the form of Panuchos – fried tortillas topped with meat and pickled cabbage, and lime soup.

Panuchos

The next day, on Monday, we scheduled to take a trip with a guide to the Dos Ojos (Two Eyes) cenote, about 20 minutes north of Tulum.  We were the only two people in the group, and we were led by a very friendly man named Luis.  Luis, who came from state three hours north of Mexico City, came from a family of swimmers.  As it turned out, his whole family regularly goes to the pool to swim prior to going to work.  Luis’ company provided the wetsuits, transportation and lunch, and we brought our own snorkel equipment.  Dos Ojos was formed thousands of years ago when the limestone sunk and was flooded.  It is actually two caves that are connected.  The caves have stalactites and stalagmites submerged under water (those are not growing any longer) and above water that are still alive.  We snorkeled around these mesmerizing caves for several hours, looking at natural columns, going through small openings to other caves, and diving deeper to get a different perspective on the whole thing.  In parts the cave was very deep and dark but we had underwater flashlights.  Other parts of the cave were lit up by natural light.  The cenotes are also popular for diving with many different parts available for exploration.  In fact, the system of cenotes around the Yucatan is still being explored and a lot of them are connected.  One has to be certified to dive in caves in order to explore these wonderful spaces.  It seemed like a desirable activity judging by the number of divers in the cave.  The cenotes did not have many fish, and the ones that did live there were relatively small.  One part of the Dos Ojos cenote was called “the Bat Cave” and it did have bats living in it.

Luis was a very pleasant guide.  We realized that people in Mexico that we met never asked us what our professions were.  It was refreshing and we wondered whether that’s an American obsession.

After the trip to Dos Ojos, we left our first hotel and proceeded to drive south along the sea toward the Si’an Kaan Biosphere Preserve.  Si’an Kaan is a Unesco World Heritage site roughly the size of Rhode Island.  The Mayans used to live there as well and used it along their trade route with southern cities.  Now it is mostly uninhabited, except for one hotel and a few private residences.  We stayed at that hotel for the night, and, despite their advertised kayak rental on the website, they no longer offered this.  Of course, you could still have a guided tour for $50/person, but we opted to head down the road to a ramshackle old visitor center that rents kayaks out by the hours.  While we may not have seen quite as much as we would have on a guided tour, the birds and nature we saw was quite enough.  We saw an egret, and a pair of ospreys in their nest, as well as a lonely flamingo flying over us, and what seemed like a crocodile submerging under water as we were passing about 50 feet away.  We were not sure about the crocodile and decided not to find out.  All in all it was very beautiful as the sun was setting over the mangrove islands and we were paddling back to the dock.  The beach and the water were clean as well, with a sandy bottom and no seaweed.  What was rather strange at the first place that we stayed at was the lack of people swimming.  The bottom of the sea was a bit seaweedy and the waves were higher than in other parts, but it was still pleasant.  As an aside, when we woke up the first day, we saw workers digging holes on the beach and depositing seaweed that had washed ashore, into the holes.  Several hours later, as the tide came in, the seaweed returned to the sea.  What a strange exercise.

Si'an Kaan - Lagoon on the left, Caribbean Sea on the right

Sunrise in Si'an Kaan

Prior to leaving the Tulum area, we checked out the Tulum Mayan fortress, which was swarmed by busloads of tourists from Cancun.  It was very pretty, and in a different architectural style than Coba.  It was of a later era and was heavily influenced by the warrior-like Toltecs.

Mayan culture is presented to us as relatively violent and blood-thirsty.  They were highly god fearing people with numerous rituals of bodily mutilation, blood letting, and animal and later human sacrifice.  On occasion, they played a ball game the point of which was to pass a rubber ball through a vertically attached hoop using only thighs to manipulate the ball.  The games were played by two teams of fourteen players, and due to the difficulty of the task, could take hours or days to conclude.  The game ended when one team passed the ball through the hoop.  As a sign of the highest honor, the captain of the winning team was sacrificed.  However, the ball game and other appeasements to the gods were enacted on seemingly rare occasions centered around important dates in the Mayan calendar.  But since these were important events, they were depicted in stelae and memorialized for posterity.  Thus we have a conception of Mayan culture as violent and bloodthirsty.  I imagine that everyday life was more peaceful in general as it was with other cultures.  Yes, there was a strict class system and the lower classes were unlikely to live a life of happiness, but how is that different from Western cultures?  What if the only depictions of Western culture that were left were paintings from the Middle Ages?  Would scholars then conclude that Western culture was essentially bloodthirsty and reverential of people nailed to crosses?

But I digress.  Tuesday turned out to be a beautiful day and after a little overheating at the Tulum ruins, we went slightly north to the city of Akumal, where we snorkeled right in the sea and saw four sea turtles and a nice coral reef with lots of colorful fish.  Thereafter, we stopped at the Grand Cenote on the road from Tulum to our next destination at the city of Valladolid.  The Grand Cenote did not require a guide, and though it was smaller than the Dos Ojos cenote, it was still very impressive.  There are cenotes all over the peninsula, though some are more basic than others.  The entrance fee is minimal, but it helps to bring your own snorkeling equipment.  The temperature of the water is a constant 24C (75F) – i.e. warm enough.

Valladolid is a small colonial city on the way to the capital of Yucatan state, Merida.  We chose Valladolid as the site of our stay due to its proximity to the famous Mayan city of Chichen Itza and the less famous site of Ek’balam.  Valladolid was built in a typical Spanish colonial style, with a central square and a church abutting it (built partially from stones from Mayan pyramids) and with colorful two-story buildings with porticoes surrounding the square.  Our hotel was right on the square.  We walked around the city a bit, found some old period buildings.  The city had a similar look to Salta in Argentina, and likely countless other Spanish colonial cities.  In the center of town, they were busy modernizing signs, seemingly in order to invite more tourists.

Cathedral in Valladolid

The next day we went to Chichen Itza, the most famous Mayan city on the Yucatan Peninsula.  The site is very popular and has been thoroughly excavated and cleared of jungle with informative signs (in Spanish, Mayan and English) by each structure.  Unfortunately, one cannot climb the main pyramid at this site any longer, due to the popularity of the location.  It is an impressive structure with serpent’s heads at the bottom of each of the 4 staircases.  During the fall and spring equinoxes, the shadows of the pyramid create a serpent’s body along the side of the staircase.  In the fall it is descending the pyramid and in the spring it is ascending.  We did not witness this phenomenon as it was not the equinox, but they recreate this light show every evening for the tourists.  We didn’t see that either, but imagined it.  Other impressive aspects of the site were its tremendously large ball court, which was built with straight vertical walls instead of the slanted walls in Coba.  Standing by one wall and making a noise produced 13 echoes (a lucky number according the to Mayan tradition).  The site also had an observatory that lined up with stars during certain times of the year.  Lastly, and very differently from the sites at Coba and Tulum, there were a plethora of vendors selling all kinds of Mayan related junk.  The tourists were there in droves, and we had the benefit of gently gliding past them gathering tidbits of information in different languages.

The giant ball court in Chichen Itza

The day turned out to be hot so to take down some of the heat we snorkeled in another cenote on the way back to Valladolid.  This one was just a giant hole in the ground about 60 feet below the surface and about 60 feet deep in parts.  There weren’t any stalactites or stalagmites there, but there were very impressive roots from a tree that descended all the way to the water from the surface above.

The next day was our last day, and we visited a nearby Mayan city of Ek’balam.  Ek’balam was abandoned many years prior to the arrival of the conquistadors, and many parts of it were only partly rescued from the jungle.  We practically had the site to our ourselves.  The pyramid was climbable, and supposedly one could see the pyramids of Chichen Itza and Coba from the top of it.  We overheard a guide say that that was a myth and we could barely see the nearby city of Valladolid, just 20 kilometers away.  The main pyramid was interesting in that the front side of it with the stairs was excavated and deforested, but we also walked around to the back to discover that they decided to leave it overgrown.  Nearby mounds were other unexcavated structures.  That was pretty neat.

Pyramid at Ek'balam

We had about four hours before our flight and the guide book said that it was only 150 kilometers to Cancun, so we figured that we had plenty of time to make it to the airport.  There are two roads from Valladolid to Cancun – a toll road and a free road.  We figured that the free road is likely more scenic and with time to spare we embarked down that route.  The first 60 kilometers were fine, but then we hit a series of towns which slowed down our progress to a crawl.  Instead of installing stoplights, the road is strewn with very steep bumps to slow down the passing cars.  After passing the nth town, we realized that time was running short and that we still had to go about 50kms and the flight was leaving in two hours time.  Once we seemed to be entering Cancun, we realized that we must have missed the airport as the planes no longer seemed to appear before us.  Sure enough, we’d overshot the turn off as I guess they figure no one who takes the free road will be flying!  After asking for directions from several people, we finally made it to the airport to drop off our car.  The rental car people (are they ever honest?) charged us for an extra day of rental for returning the car one hour late.  Ugh.  The car was well worth it, but that left a slightly bitter taste in our mouths.  The airplane out of Cancun was delayed anyway, so luckily we didn’t miss the flight.

Overall, the trip was a real pleasure.  It was beautiful, warm and interesting.  The snorkeling was superb and varied.  The food, though, in my opinion, was not that great.  I felt that the quality of the ingredients was sub-standard, and the prices were similar to what we pay in the Mission in San Francisco.  Such high standards we have these days.  Either way, it was worthwhile and I would recommend it as a short vacation to anyone.   (Just don’t expect Thrifty Car Rental to be thrifty AT ALL!)

http://simonica.smugmug.com/May-2010-US

http://simonica.smugmug.com/June-2010-Argentina-1

Here are a few of our favorites:

Llao Llao in Northern Patagonia near Bariloche

Recoleta Cemetery in Buenos Aires

In Colonia del Sacramento, Uruguay

Enjoy.

After excursions in Bariloche and San Martin de los Andes, we returned to Buenos Aires and were reunited with Katya and her friend Nick who is visiting from the States.  The days’ plan was to go to a market in the San Telmo neighborhood, and then go to the airport to catch a flight to Salta (all four of us now).  Our plans were thwarted once again, as it started to rain torrentially.  We managed to go to San Telmo while the rain let up a bit, but then it started coming down even harder.  As an aside, the Argentines had been busy celebrating the 200 year anniversary of their independence culminating on the 25th of May, but filled with other celebrating prior to that.  The big party in Buenos Aires was on Sunday, the 23rd, when the torrential rains were going on.  The party went on either way.

We returned to the apartment to gather our stuff and go to the airport.  The rain was falling in sheets.  We walked the block from the apartment to the large street where taxis typically cruise.  Sewage was spilling from manhole covers with an overwhelmed system from the rain, which was disgusting.  Condoms and steaks were prevalent among other unidentifiable debris.  The smell did not overpower our senses, though.  We stood at a bus stop due to an awning and tried to catch a cab for about half an hour.  Surprisingly, not that many cabs were around.  Our efforts were thwarted two times by taxi drivers.  One time they just didn’t stop, and the other time the cab driver informed us that the road to the airport has been flooded and that he is not going to take us there.  We returned back to the apartment to verify that the airport is still functioning and whether there are other means of getting there.  We called the airport and they couldn’t tell us whether the airport was closed, but flights were definitely delayed by at least an hour.  The airline could not inform us either way.  So, we regrouped and went down to the street again and after about 5 minutes and some strategizing, we finally caught a cab.

At the airport, all flights were delayed and some were canceled.  People were milling around and setting in for the long haul.  We checked in for our flight, checked in our luggage and waited.  After about an hour, we realized that the status of our flight has changed and that it is scheduled to depart in 45 minutes.  No gate was assigned though.  About 20 minutes prior to the announced departure, we decided to find out if the plane is actually leaving, and Katya was sent to investigate.  She returned shortly to inform us that all flights were canceled for the evening, seeing as there was a crash landing of a small private jet on the runway (no one was hurt) and that all flights had to be rescheduled.  We gathered our belongings, and got into an enormous line of people.  The ticket desk only had 3 or 4 people working, and the line was going to be very long.  We were told that tickets could not be changed over the phone.  However, we decided to try the phone anyway.  Katya called and after about 5 minutes were booked on the 6:30 AM flight out the next morning.  Incredulous and pleased with ourselves, we informed some of our fellow travelers in the line about the possibility of changing the flight by phone only to be told that they’ve already invested some time into standing and that they prefer not to call.  Their loss.

Then we stood in another line to retrieve our checked luggage and after 3 hours at the airport returned back to the apartment.  We arrived at the airport again before dawn (the sun rises very late in the winter there due to a lack of daylight savings time) and checked in for our flight.  While in the waiting area at the gate, the plane was delayed by another hour.  We were informed that the delay stemmed from their inability to evenly distribute the luggage weight on the plane.  A large portion of the passengers were already lined up at the gate, and some were exchanging some heated words with the airline employees at the desk.  We were tired and did not participate.  We did overhear the following exchange though:

Passenger, “I’ve spent the last 12 hours at the airport and haven’t slept all night trying to get on this flight, while you just came from your nice bed at home all well rested…”

Then suddenly all the people in the line started clapping loudly.  It was not a celebratory type of clap, but slower and meaner.  It was a solidarity clap to support the yelling that was being done by one of the dissatisfied travelers.  This led to them hastily calling boarding and we were on our way to Salta, leaving only 1.5 hours after the scheduled departure.

Upon arrival in Salta, everyone crowded around the luggage conveyor belt and waited for their bags only to be informed that none of the luggage was loaded onto the airplane.  We suspect that the airline just decided not to deal with it any longer and that was the deal.  People were flabbergasted by this, we stood in line a bit more, filed some paperwork, heard some crying, and decided not to wait around for our luggage which was supposedly arriving on the next flight.  Then we took a cab to Salta, picked up our rented car and drove north to see the beautiful landscape, purchase some sweaters, eat some delicious empanadas, try cured llama meat, and return to Salta the next evening.  Much to our surprise, our luggage did arrive at the airport and we were fortunate enough to pick it up.

The environs of Salta were stunningly, and dramatically beautiful.  We first drove through a rainforest, which changed into a mountainous desert north of the city of San Salvador de Jujuy (also known as Jujuy).  We stopped by the village of Purnamarca, where at the main square there were about 40 merchants selling the same 20 items.  We stocked up on some sweaters with llamas on them.  Thereafter, we drove a bit more north and stayed at the village of Tilcara, where we bought more sweaters.  At this point every one of us had a llama sweater made from alpaca (a relative of llamas but with much softer wool).

The next day we walked around Tilcara and watched the festivities in honor of the bicentennial, and then drove high to the salt flats of Salinas Grandes over an Andean overpass of 4,500 meters (or 14,000 feet).  The Salinas Grandes were stunning and led to some fun optical perspective illusions.  The rest of the day was spent driving back to Salta through numerous small villages over paved and dirt roads.  We were stopped 3 times at security checkpoints.  The gendarmia was very pleasant and just wanted to see our passports.

The next day we left for our very pleasant stay at an estancia (basically a ranch) called Finca Santa Anita, which was located about 1.5 hours from the city of Salta by public bus.  We rode horses, plotted the plans for our own estancia, ate great cheese, and just relaxed.  We befriended a boy named Franco at the estancia, who lived there with his mother who was a cook.  He was 7 years old and full of information and very willing to explain things to us.

The next day we returned to Salta and then returned to Buenos Aires.

Our first llama spotting on the road to Tilcara – we all ended up getting matching llama sweaters, though we had the excuse that our bags did not make it to Salta with us and we only picked them up after returning to Salta City the next day.

beautiful landscapes on the drive

Gauchos on the way to the Bicentennial Celebrations in Tilcara

Celebratory Bicentennial Cake

Women at the main plaza festivities

Fun with perspective at the Salinas Grandes salt flats

Ball amongst the cacti

Goats at the Finca that produced delicious cheese

Katya having a moment with her horse

Street scene in Buenos Aires

We now find ourselves in the northwest of Argentina, in the city of Coronel Moldes, about 60km south of Salta.  We are staying at an estancia (also known as a finca), which is essentially a ranch with horses.  They are popular around here and typically involve living at the ranch and riding horses.  The estancia that we´re staying at, called Santa Anita, has horses as the rest of them, which we rode earlier today to the nearby lake.  However, their other claim to fame is their Slow Food award-winning goat cheese made from their own goats.  We have tasted this cheese and can vouch for its deliciousness.  Having said that, Argentina is not known for its quality of cheese, unfortunately.  Somehow, they´ve not come up with good dairy products despite having a very well-developed cattle and sheep population.  It´s just not apparent to them.  The horseback riding was beautiful, and despite the fact that some of our party including myself were rather apprehensive about riding a horse, they were so tame and malleable that no trouble arose.  We were led on our 2-hour ride by a 17-year-old gaucho.  He was an interesting guy.  In addition to learning to ride a horse at the tender age of 4, he also races horses (he owns one) and has been doing rodeo for 2 years.  We figured that our gentle ride was rather boring for him.  Tomorrow, we are leaving the estancia, returning to Salta, and then flying back to Buenos Aires in the evening.

However, now that we´ve provided an update on the most current events, let´s rewind back to where we last left off.

On our last night in Bariloche, we went to a restaurant outside of the touristy strip of town,  La Fonda del Tio, which was recommended to us by an Argentine on our trip to Mount Tronador.  It was completely non-touristy and absolutely full of locals.  Besides the fact that it was full for the whole night throughout the time we left at around 11, the food was cheap and good.  The saving grace was that all dishes were also available in half portions, and we´ve learned by now that Argentine portions are much larger than we are able to ingest in one sitting.  We had a nice bife de chorizo and a milanesa steak (covered in a thick layer of cheese).  On the way back from the restaurant, we came to the conclusion that the food is delicious and great in Argentina because it is of good quality products and similar in a lot of ways to the food that we eat and is cheap.  The confluence of these factors makes it so great.  What kind of a generic family restaurant in the States would serve nice cuts of beef for about $5?

The next day we did in fact go to Llao Llao, which was pretty but could have been avoided.  We caught the bus north to San Martin de los Andes, a resort-type town about 200km from Bariloche on another lake.  Unfortunately, the bus that we took did not take the most scenic route along 7 lakes, but we saw some other lakes and some desert.  In light of soreness in the legs from our conquering of Cerro Catedral in Bariloche, we decided to rent a car instead and explore nearby Parque Nacional Lanin, famous for its Volcan Lanin, which straddles the Argentine and Chilean border.  The day turned out to be overcast and with a slight drizzle.  We were given a 2 door little Chevrolet Corsa with a 1.4 liter engine and 90 horsepower and no power steering.  I was naive to think that power steering is ubiquitous these days.   In light of the weather and our sore legs, we decided to drive to a thermal hot springs deep inside Lanin, about 8km from the border with Chile.  After we left town, the road quickly turned to dirt, and continued like that the whole way there.  At the entrance to the park, we were thoroughly questioned by an army officer about our intentions about not going to Chile and then were told that the road deteriorates further and that our little car may not make it through the giant pot-holes and mud pits.  We decided to push ahead.  The road did deteriorate and we hydroplaned a couple of times, hit a couple rocks on the bottom of the car and rode over rough ground, but we made it in the end to the thermal hot springs.  We knew that the hot springs were in a resort, and were told that there are free hot springs nearby.  We came to the resort, were told that an afternoon in their thermal pools would cost us $75 each, and then were told that there are no other hot springs around.  We promptly vacated the premises, and found a thermal pool right next to the entrance to the resort.  (For those interested, park the car at the turnout just before the driveway to the resort, and scramble up the mountain on the path directly across the road from the turnout.  The turnout is about 10 feet from the entrance to the resort)  The pool was a bit shallow, but there were two large plastic pipes going into the forest from the resort.  We decided to follow the pipes into the forest to see if we could find more hot springs.   After much searching we found a creek and thought the it had some hot spring nearby, and after some scrambling around, came to the sad conclusion that there was not another pool of hot water.  We contended ourselves with the first pool and drove back to town.  Our visit to San Martin de los Andes was topped off with a delicious steak dinner and then we flew back to Buenos Aires.

More about that in the following post.

Ball dines finely on Bife de Lomo (Tenderloin) and Malbec at Des Nivel in Buenos Aires

We were greeted in Bariloche by heavy winds and rain, but luckily that only lasted that first afternoon.  Thanks to the rain, there was beautiful fresh snow in the mountains that we saw yesterday during our tour to the base of Mount Tronador.  While we’re normally not into organized tours, this was a pretty good one.  The guide was great and it was a nice small group of mostly Argentines – along with one other American and a couple from Guatemala.  We did a nice little hike to the Cascada de Cesares and then drove to see the Ventisquero – Black Glacier.  We also were lucky enough to hear the thunder that the mountain is named after.  This is so-called because one of the higher up glaciers on the mountain is breaking apart and when a piece falls the sound echoes through the area.

Meadow on the way to Mount Tronador

Ventisquero – Black Glacier

Today we set off on our own and hiked up Cerro Catedral which is a major ski center in the winter.  We decided to take a beautiful side hike up to Refugio Frey instead of the gondola.  While we didn’t technically make it to the top of the mountain, our 13 mile round trip hike took us through forests and we had beautiful views of the Lago Guiterrez below as well as the peaks surrounding us.  We also hiked through an area that was burned in a forest fire about 15 years ago.  It is great to see the different types of plants growing here – and some nice birds too.  The Refugio is similar to an AMC hut in that you can be fed and have beds to sleep in.  Even though we didn’t sleep there we managed to befriend the chef who taught us how to make empanadas and let us sample her delicious apple cake for free! Horses bring up the supplies, though she wasn’t sure how the oven got there – maybe a helicopter.  One great feature of this hut was that it is located right on a high altitude lake and, of course, they have ice skates! We got to skate around and enjoy the views for a bit before heading down to beat sunset.

Learning how to make empanadas with the chef at the refugio

We got to skate on this lake – the refugio is in at the end of the lake

Beautiful foliage on the hike

Looking out on the lake at San Martin de los Andes

Now we’re off to a parilla (restaurant serving grilled foods) for some more beef – I might try the Patagonian Lamb this time.  Tomorrow we’re going to explore the nearby scenic site, Llao Llao – a famous resort that has some nice walking trails.  Then we’re taking the bus up to San Martin de los Andes where we hope to do another hike on Saturday before we head up to the Northwest of Argentina on Sunday.

We look forward to eating some amazing food, drinking delicious wines and hiking around to be able to enjoy even more!

These weddings provided welcome trips to cities and towns that we don’t normally get to go to, and helped me see more of my parents and grandparents in Massachusetts,  not to mention our amazing friends who were either getting married or toasting with us.  The last wedding that Simon and I went to together – I couldn’t make the last last one as I had to get back for classes – was particularly notable because it took place at the Brooklyn Botanic Gardens, where we had gotten married back in 2006 – the start of SiMonica’s Voyage!

Maha'ulepu Beach, Kaua'i

Hiking in Death Valley

Crane Beach, Ipswich, MA

Amazing cake topper at Phil and Tina's wedding in Brooklyn

The non-wedding travel we did was a long weekend trip to Durham, NC to see friends, a trip to Baltimore to see my brother and his wife (I was solo on this one), a weekend trip to Big Sur, CA for some natural beauty, a long weekend trip to Humboldt County for some fantastic hiking along the Lost Cost and biking on the Avenue of the Giants, and finally, a trip to the East Coast to spend Christmas with my parents, grandparents and good old friends.  We decided to take advantage of the timing of this last trip to sneak in a two day side trip to New Orleans on our way to Boston, and we were SO GLAD we did!

Narrowly missing various weather related travel issues, we arrived in New Orleans on a red-eye on Sunday, 12/20 and had our first glimpse of the friendliness of the people there when the woman in the row behind us in the plane saw us looking out the window onto the flooded bayou, and thanked us for coming to visit!  Our accommodations where perfect for us, and had come recommended by friends who had traveled in NOLA (as people call it) earlier this year.   I should note that I didn’t read a single thing about New Orleans before our arrival, aside from what I’d read tangentially during Katrina, with the exception of the plethora of tips we received from various friends who had been there before…that’s what this city does to you, it fills you up with places, food, drinks and music that you can’t stop yourself from recommending to whoever will listen.  (Thanks to all of you who sent us tips, they were great!) As we are chatty people, we also tried to get as many tips from locals that we talked to in shops, bars, restaurants, wherever.  It was a remarkably friendly city, and everyone wanted to share their favorite spots for po’ boys, big band jazz, hamburgers, fried chicken… the list goes on, but you get the idea.  Overall, everyone who we talked to, both people whose families were in NOLA for generations to the artist in her 20s who had just moved there from Brooklyn, was enthusiastic and excited to rebuild the city.  The devastation from Katrina was visible both in the destroyed houses and empty lots, the bitterness people expressed describing their stories of evacuating and then watching people being left without food and water for days, not to mention other horrors that were described in a book I’d read a week before our trip (Zeitoun by David Eggers), and in the obvious decline in population.  However, the strength that was generated by those who returned to the city to rebuild and of those who enthusiastically moved from elsewhere to start a new life in this city, created a fantastic feeling of hope, even for hardened cynics like myself.  There seems to be great support for artists to live and work there, and when you combine that with a city with such a rich history for arts and music and fun, it’s a wonderful combination.  A poet we heard at a bar, Vaughn’s, in the Bywater neighborhood, aptly described the people of the city as all being a diaspora from somewhere or another – with a nod to the native americans who were there first.  Those “somewhere or another” places have influenced every part of the city we could see, from the tiles on the roofs to the various accents and dialects we heard and tried to decipher.

Bywater Neighborhood, New Orleans

I actually wrote a list of all the places I had been to that New Orleans reminded me of in some way, and it’s pretty long.  I’ll list it here for all you who liked lists, in no particular order – Kaua’i and the Dominican Republic -because of the tropical plants and relaxed atmosphere, Hanoi, Vietnam – with the amazing food culture and the French Colonial influences on the streets and city design, Kerala, India -because of the role that water and rivers plays in the geography, the Mekong River – because of the vastness of Mississippi River, specifically it reminded me of the Mekong along Phnom Penh,  Shanghai – the architecture of the French Concession in Shanghai is quite similar to parts of NOLA, and finally Spain – because of the architectural influences left from when NOLA was held by the Spanish.

Phew, for those of you who don’t like lists, that’s it…but I thought it was interesting to see a city that reminded me of such varied places in countries and cities around the globe – I guess there’s colonialism to “thank” for that… Should you find yourself with a free weekend and a hankering for some fun, get yourself to New Orleans! The activities I would highly recommend include: renting bikes and exploring smaller side streets, as well as biking through the lower 9th ward, the garden district and the ride along the levee heading toward Jefferson Parish; listening to music at Vaughn’s and DBA; eating (everything we had was good, and we’re pretty picky due to the spoils of the bay area); drinking amazing cocktails; and, finally, chatting with locals.

For those of your who are wondering if we’ve lost our international wanderlust, don’t worry! We’re planning a trip to Argentina in May to visit Simon’s sister who will be living in Buenos Aires for a semester, and to explore the country – our first time in South America… we only need to figure out a way to quit our jobs again… this trip will only be a paltry 2-3 week adventure.

Dinner at ryokan

Once again Darshan saved us and booked the ryokan in the Hakone area.  Instead of the usual train to the area, we were recommended to take the “romancecar” which is a more luxurious option with reclining seats and large windows.  The seats were more comfortable than the enchanting windows and we proceeded to sleep for most of the 2 hour journey to Hakone.  However, we did manage to wake up about 10 minutes prior to our arrival and think we got a glimpse of Mount Fuji.  We were not that lucky the next day, though.

After taking another train through the mountainous region of Hakone, we diligently followed various instructions and found the check-in office of our ryokan.  We were then escorted down another hill and boarded a small private funicular which was probably a modified body of an old Mini Cooper.  It was very Japanese cute.  The funicular took us down into the valley where the ryokan was located on a fast flowing river.  We took off our shoes, put on slipper, checked into the ryokan, and were escorted to our suite.  There, we changed into yukata (bathing robes) and proceeded to have tea on the veranda (so classy).  Before dinner, we proceeded to the private outdoor hot mineral bath, which was very therapeutic.  We realized that it’s been a while since we’ve been this clean for so long.  We’ve been taking various types of Japanese baths for the last week.  Not that we were complaining, but it was just an observation.

After the bath, we returned to our room.  The floor in the room was covered in tatami mats and had a low table in the middle.  It was flanked by backed pillows for sitting at the table for our meals.  Shortly after our return, our maid/server woman, arrived and after speaking to us at length in Japanese proceeded to set up a beautiful spread of 10 dishes for each one of us.  This included various pickles, salads, soups, sashimi, a stew, and tea.  We were stuffed at the end, and decided to take another bath.  This time, they were inside and segregated by gender.  All that relaxing really made us tired.  A different maid came in to clean off the table.  He moved the table to the side and laid down two layers of futons on top of the tatami mats and very soft pillows and blankets.  All that relaxing led us to retire at 10 in the evening.

Breakfast was served at 8 in the morning.  The spread was equally opulent as the one the night prior, and equally as delicious.  After breakfast, we gathered our belongings, and checked out of the hotel.  It was not that warm out at the time, so when we came to pick up our shoes, they were pre-wamred for our wearing pleasure.  Such service.

Back up the private funicular and on the little mountain train – next stop was the Open Air Museum.  We were at first a bit skeptical about going there.  However, it turned out to be a spectacular museum with great interactive statues, kids climbing all over them, and an outdoor foot bath.  The Japanese do take their cleanliness very seriously.

Close by Antony Gormley at Hakone Open Air Museum

The rest of the day was spent in pursuit of seeing the elusive Mount Fuji, as we went from one funicular to another.  The mountain, unfortunately, was shrouded in clouds that day.  However, we did manage to procure some sulfur blackened soft-boiled eggs and had them over a bowl of rice in Tokyo that same evening.

The next day, Friday, was to be our last day in Tokyo.  We had to purchase Halloween costumes and decided to join Darshan and be Japanese construction workers.  The Japanese love their uniforms, much like the Italians, and spend most of their life in uniform.  They start wearing it in school, and then take a break in university.  Then, when they’re working, they’re usually wearing suits or some other type of uniform that is befitting their profession.  Only when they retire, do they not wear a distinct uniform.  In keeping with ingenious design and functionality, Japanese construction workers wear billowy pants that taper at the bottom.  Additionally, they were bright reflective vests and ninja shoes where the big toe is separated from other toes.  So, Maya led us to the uniform store (of course they exist) where we proceeded to purchase the pants, shoes, socks, and vests.

Darshan, Simon, and Monica as Japanese Construction Workers

Halloween in Tokyo

When Darshan came back from work, Monica, Darshan, and I dressed up as a construction brigade, complete with hard hats which Darshan borrowed from work (every one has one in preparation for earthquakes), and Maya dressed up as a very cute pumpkin.  We donned our hats and tied white towels around our heads (also done by Japanese workers to signify lower class = sweat), and went to town.  We were invited to a party at a fancy restaurant where one of Darshan and Maya’s house neighbors works as a chef.  On the way, photos of us were taken by bemused people, sometimes discreetly and sometimes not.  Though Halloween goods are sold everywhere, we didn’t see that many people dressed in costumes.

As it turned out, the party at the restaurant was supposed to be classy so everyone except for us was dressed in black.  The Japanese, just like taking care of their clothes, took dressing up seriously, while the overwhelming gaijin (foreigner) contingent was somewhat less impressive (though there were two men dressed up in very great women’s dresses with copious amounts of make-up).  Our bright reflective vests and believable costumes seemed to be a hit with the discerning public.  After some fine dining, we descended to the after-party in the basement where cheap punch was served from a bucket and the dominant language was English.  Some ridiculous investment bankers came in (still employed) and ordered 3 magnums of champagne (they referred to it as bubbles).  We caught the last train with the chef back to our house.

Saturday, the day of our departure, was a surreal day.  Our flight departed at 3:30 in the afternoon, but we landed in San Francisco at 8:30 in the morning, also on Saturday.  We were greeted by rain and gray skies and got to relive those few hours.  In the evening, after a much needed early afternoon nap, we recounted stories of Halloween (which seemed so distant already) to some friends.  Saturday, was probably the longest day we’ve ever lived.

The trip to Japan was great.  Traveling there is easy and with a vocabulary of about 10 words you can get around.  The language is simple to pronounced (unlike Chinese) and the people’s innate politeness makes it very manageable.  We were very grateful for being able to stay with Maya and Darshan, as well as couchsurfing with Shoji.

Until next time!  Sayanora!

Wall Art in Tokyo

Foliage in Kinkaku-ji

We couchsurfed in a neighborhood south of Kyoto called Rokujizo, which while fun, was very different from our previous couchsurfing experiences because our host, Shoji, didn’t actually live in the house where we were staying.  Instead, he and his family lived in a house about 15 minutes away, and he opened up his second house as a guest house for couchsurfers to stay for free – up to 8 people could fit.  While we did get to meet Shoji when he picked us up at the local train station, he hung out for only about a half an hour – though he seemed like a great person, and obviously extremely generous to open up this house for free.  He manages to improve his english and we got to enjoy living in a traditional japanese house, with tatami mats and the whole shebang.  We also enjoyed getting to know the other couchsurfers who all had great travel stories.  Darshan and Maya joined us in Kyoto on Friday night and we had a great weekend with them, going to Nara on Saturday and seeing loads of deer and two amazing gardens, and then having a sleepy day in the rain on Sunday in Kyoto, exploring a local park and more gardens.

Window Reflection at a Garden in Nara

For me it was great to just wander around and see the gardens and parks and temples – though they could get tiring so we had to break these up with frequent tea and cake breaks – there are great coffee shops in Kyoto.  On Monday we took a series of trains up to the mountains north of Kyoto and got off in a small town called Kibune, where we did a nice walk over a mountain to get to Kurama – another small village – where we went to a traditional outdoor onsen (hot spring spa).  On the train ride up, Simon was feeling especially weak and had a pain in his chest that convinced him he was suffering from tuberculosis…I recommened some advil and then we had a nice nap and woke up, Tb free, in the moutains.  After making sure we were all fully recovered and healthy in the hot baths, we headed back to Kyoto where we had the traditional dish of nigiyaki – a pancake like thing topped with scallions, beef bits, red ginger and bonito flakes.  We then started celebrating Simon’s birthday for real with a stop at a bar where we had some great sake served in a bamboo container.  (Every night we went out to eat or drink we were generally at very small places and were pleasantly surprised by how friendly everyone was, buying us a drink and offering us some small tasty local food.  It was a contrast to how reserved we’ve noticed the Japanese to be on the street or in public.  We really enjoyed the feeling of being in a such a small bar that you can easily interact with the other patrons – it probably also helped that the people who were chatting with us had had already a drink or two, but it was great and we managed to get some great tips on dishes to try and sights to see.)

Yesterday we wandered through the Nishiki Food Market in Kyoto and then hopped the Shinkansen (bullet train) back to Tokyo were we celebrated Simon’s birthday in style with Darshan and Maya.  The evening included all you can eat and drink shabu shabu – you get a hot pot of broth and you cook yourself thin slices of beef and pork and japanese vegetables.  After this, we hit up a karaoke place where we had a private room on the seventh floor in the Ikebukuro neighborhood – with the neon signs down the streets shining into the room.

All into the karaoke

Today we’re heading west of Tokyo to Hakone, a resort type area where you can hike and see views of Mount Fuji.  We’ll be staying in a traditional ryokan – the only night we’ll actually be paying for a our place to sleep – and we’ll be back in Tokyo tomorrow to get ready for Halloween in Japan.

We’re going to try to add some photos soon, and get ready to see loads of photos on our smugmug page when we’re back in San Francisco.

Sayonara!