The Beach

So Im down to my last week and Im wondering what to do...but not really! I know exactly what I want to do I wanna go to the beach. So I book my bus to Uruguay and get ready. I started off in La Paloma. A very small beach town with not much going on. I really wasn't feeling it and wanted to leave pretty much as soon as I got there. So I went to the bus station and ordered up a fresh ticket to Punta Del Diablo. My buddy Robbie traveled thru Argentina last year and recommended the place. I booked my hostel at a place that looked good and I was on my way the next day. We roll into Punta Del Diablo and the first thing that went thru my head was "Fuck YeAH!!!!" Very small, quaint fishing village like something out of a movie. Big waves and lots of sand and boats on the beach. After once again wandering aimlessly looking for my hostel..(.when will I start taking down directions??) I make it to the hostel. It is amazing. Its like a hotel except its 10 dollars a night, right on the beach and our rooms windows open up to see the ocean. I just hung on the beach and chilled, played a little soccer and frisbee with some Argentines on holiday and partied it up pretty good. I met some really great people for my final stay and had a great time. I couldn't think of a better way to end this journey. It will be sad to go home but I am kinda excited. Its been a long time away and I am ready to get back into the kitchen and start working. I know who I was before this trip but who I am now...I am not sure. I have deff changed for the better, I am very proud of myself and can't wait to do it all over again.

Big, Big Falls!!!

After hangin out down on the farm I decided that I better make the trip to Iguazu. It was a tough decision because it meant losing two days on a bus for 1 day at the falls. Iweighed the options many times and cane up with this. 5 or 10 or 20 years from now when Im sittin back watchin the tv and a clip of Iguazu falls comes on Ididnt want to say...Oh yeah I was right there but I didnt go...I coulda seen that. So I ordered up the bus and took off. I got to the park and walked through the rainforest snapping pictures hearing the distant roar of the falls. After a small little train ride Iend up walking across a steel walkway going up to Garganta Diablo. The biggest fall there is. This walkway will take you right up to the edge on top. You can see the mist coming over the treetops as the roar grows louder. A few mor meteres and I am there! It is amazing, beautiful, loud and the mist soaks you ever few minutes. There are about 20 different falls and they look like someone designed them on the computer. I sat there for about a half hour just taking pictures or staring into the mist below. I am suprised more people dont die here because all of a sudden you just wanna jump into it. It seems so peaceful. I then walked the lower route where you can acctually get right next to a fall and almost reach out and touch it. A little later Ijumped on a boat and they took us right under a smaller fall and into the mouth of the Diablo. Everyone was laughin and soaked at the end. Ithen walked around a bit longer and headed back to the hostel. Have to get on a bus in the morning!

La Pampas ...and my day at the farm!

So I roll into General Pico (and when i say roll in im not all hip hop gangster...im comming there on a bus dammit!!!) Where you say?? General Pico..In La Pampas..The place nobody goes in between Buenos Aires and Mendoza. A beautiful place mostly shrubs and small trees. I met 2 brothers when I was in Bariloche...Diego and Facundo really cool guys and we talked of cooking, we talked of girls, we talked of music...you know the shit guys talk about...Somewhere once or twice or fifteen times i chatted of meeting a cool Argentine family where I could experience the culture. They really had no help for me but we agreed I would meet them in Cordoba where they lived, they^d put me up and pay for a big spread Id cook for them and friends...Sounded good to me!!! Free food, Free drinks and Im sure they'd bring some chicks!!! Well that never happened... but what did happen was Diego emailed me sometime while I was down south..The email subject read...Are you still looking for sexy food!?!? Now with the amount of spam I get and not having Diego's email on file..I thought...ahhh spam and almost deleted it...but I read it and it was an invite to hang with him and his family in the ever so famous La Pampas!!! I emailed him right back...hoping that this email had not ben sitting in my inbox for ever and he had forgotten...Yes!! Definitely! Im gonna go LOST here and Flashback!!! So I roll into La Pampas and its not like some hip hop...ahhhh you know...and Diego picks me up at the station...we go out for beers and they say the hottest Argentinian girls are in Rosario...well I bet half come from La Pampas...they were young...but DAMN!!! The next day we wake up and were off to the Carceneria for Pork Matambre, and Blood Sausage (which was amazing) both acct. We chowed til we were fat. We then went to the army camp where Diego's dad has a few horses and I tried to play Polo..See I have rode a horse maybe 4 times in my life the last time was 9 years ago in Atlanta. I felt just as out of place as I did then except this time I had a polo mallet in my hand. I smacked the ball a few times but my main concern was..don^t fall off this horse! I made it back to Diego's house in one piece...No problem tomorrow we^re off to ride his dads equestrian horses..bigger and faster!!! But tonight we go to his uncle Luis^ house to dine. He is cooking from his legendary Disk. A cast iron disk, kinda like a wok which he acct made up a sorta Chinese chicken stir fry but without the chino flavors. It was delicious. We ate, we drank, we laughed....Diego translated! I left thinking these people were great. The next day Diegos dad cooked up a mean Milanese (mmmmmm more meat) before we headed out to ride the horses. This time it was a little more brutal..We acct rode them and ran and galloped and all that stuff...My ass screamed for mercy!! In an hours time Diego and I were both worn out...It could be for the fact I forgot to mention we were out till 530 that morning and both a little foggy rollin in. But no biggy nothin left to do but go to the farm and watch a lamb slaughter!!! We head back over to Luis^ man I love this guy..super friendly always laughin just a cool soul. and He^s ready to go...Its Luis, Diego, Luis 3 kids and me. Luis runs back inside to grab a i dunno 1938 pistol and some shells... I felt like Michael Corleone and I just ordered a hit on this poor animal...I feel this car ride wouldn^t be happening if it wasn^t for me. We head to the farm...and we get there. We are greeted by a skinned lamb hanging in the garage. Head attached bloody... My stomach turns...I need to see this I tell myself...I turn around and there are 5 lamb in a truck hog tied...You^re just in time we^re going now! Ok here we go and everyone looks at me!! Diego says...Some people wanna go to Disney world...you wanna see lamb slaughtered...Some Dream!! And with that the farmer raises his knife and slits the lambs throat...GOOD!!! Blood pills into a pan and the eyes go blank...They then proceeded to bleed, skin, gut, and hang this animal in roughly 15 min. All pieces and parts are saved except the entrails which go to the dogs and chickens. Every piece of this animal is used for something or another. We continue to watch the other 5 slaughtered as we walk around the ranch..I geek out and take a bunch of pictures and everyone thinks Im nuts. We then take our lamb home and Diego's pops is havin an asado at his house with beef, pork and a nice hack of our fresh lamb. MMMMMMM More meat. I love it. Also the general of the Argentinean army is there and he is a really cool guy. Very friendly made me talk spanish even tho he knew english and Diego said If he wants you to leave the country....you just go! There was no disco this night..I was tired and full....Its cool cause tomorrow is the last day in La Pampas!! You know what that means...ASADO!!!! We had the rest of our lovely lamb at Luis^s house...Such a great family. He cooked up the lamb and some pork sausage while his wife made Brain sausage from Vaca (cow)... All in all that day I ate.. Pork Sausage, Beef Brain Sausage, Leg of Lamb, Rack of Lamb, (now the good stuff) Lamb Liver, Lamb Kidney, Lamb Tongue, then the best which im not sure which...The Lamb Eyeball and the brain scooped out of the skull...It was amazing. Luis is the man..He laughed and called me chancho due to my love for pigs and his family was very receptive and hospitable. It was everything I wanted out of Argentina and more. So much thanks...so much love...Viva La Pampas!!!!!

GOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOAAAAAAAAAAALLLLLLLLLLLL!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

So last night me and a few hostel buddies rolled out to see Mendoza take on the fury of Buenos Aires bad ass hail to be reckoned with Boca Juniors. I say hostel buddies cause you meet people in the hostel and sometimes you meet cool peeps and sometimes its more aquaintance style. Although there was Richard a bloke from England who was really cool! So we grab a cab and they drop us off right in front of the stadium. Perfect!!! No Walking! All I do is walk so this will be a great break considering we will be STANDING in the ...i dunno end zone, goal zone...wtf do they call it??? As soon as we get out of the cab we hear the drums...boom boom boomboomboom and the trumpet and the singing. We look over to see the crowd jumping the flags waving the crowd just loving it. The game dosn´t start for 30 min. This is when we find out that thats the Boca Juniors side. We have to walk to the other end...Simple enough not a big stadium. A mile and a half later we get to the gate... But its cool were happy to roll in. We get into the stadium and as i walked through the tunnel it was like every movie in America where they say how the grass was so green! It hit me like nothing before, so strange to see this different type of field with the goal, the fences and then the look to the right and the Mendoza crowd going crazy. The crowd was loud, the banners were bright and you could tell that this was life to these people. I am sorry but American Football has nothing on this crowd performance. Maybe Saturday Game Day on a huge rivalry but thats outside the stadium. These fuckers sing the entire game..Great songs...Catchy! You wanna sing but you just dont know the words. The game was alot of fun, Many yells of ¨Puto¨and Moreno were yelled. Mostly at the ref but sometimes the players of the Mendoza squad. There was one goal scored by each team and we were lucky enough to see both on our side. Richard said it was boring and uninventive and I told em it was cool I was from the US we all think its boring! So we leave the stadium and begin looking for a cab, we walk and look, we ask and follow directions and walk there and look. We ask to borrow phones or people to call and everyone says no. 15 cabs pass as we walk and dont stop as we yell TAXI!!! So we walk and look...When we find out we´ve been walking the wrong way we turn back walk and look. 2 hrs goes by...we get a cab and make it back to the hostel. Then I fell asleep!

Cerro Fitz Roy and El Chalten

So we are off to El Chalten!!! The mountains are steep, jagged giants that play amongst the clouds. The weather changes every 20 min the winds howl up to 80 miles an hr daily and everything remains in place, no telephone poles are blown down the houses are intact, winds that would crumble Florida!! The Patagonia frontier!!! The place I chose to do my first ever 3 night trek into the wilderness. We roll into town and the sky goes from partly cloudy to torrential down pour. We arrive at the hostel and they tell us tomorrow will be a very bad day, and promises that the next day would be better and the day after that great! We decide to just stay at the hostel and delay our trip one day, we go to the store and I buy all kinds of good food you wouldn´t think about taking camping. But there was no way i was spending 3 days in the cold and eating dehydrated meals. We also grabbed a bottle of Jim Beam. The day has arrived and we strap on our packs and head up the mountain. The weather is nice..a few clouds in town but nothing too bad. Jenny and I are moving up the mountain...passing people without packs and just cruisin along when suddenly the clouds start movin in. The next thing I know we are walking thru an open area exposed to the elements. That being A forceful wind blowing rain, sleet and SNOW! WTF! We are getting drenched but the walking is keeping us warm. We finally make it to the camp site which was nestled in the trees and it seemed much calmer. We set up camp...freezing cold and get into out sleeping bags, drink whiskey, eat half the food and play rummy. It wasn´t bad but if I had to do this tomorrow I was going back to the hostel. I fell asleep to the sounds of heavy winds and snow. Around 3 am I woke up from the roots digging into my back and Its silent! I can acct hear the river in the distance. Jenny gets up to use the bano and comes back all excited. You could see every star in the sky, the entire milky way and not a cloud to be seen. We wake up at 5 am and set out to see Fitz Roy, the peaks I have seen in countless pics all around Patagonia. Jenny says it will be ab easy trek and the next thing I know we are climbing a pretty descent mountain covered with ice and snow from the previous evenings activities. We make it to the top right before the sun breaks and watch these magical peaks change colors from a ghostly gray to a deep orange to yellow and back again. I must of snapped 100 pictures and we just sat in awe. The most amazing thing I´ve ever seen. It´s also very cold since we are standing in ankle deep snow! Did I say it was summer?? We cruised back down and chatted with folk on their way up...Sissys couldn't make sunrise! Turns out one guy had camped in the snow and rain for 4 days waiting to see it and with last nights weather he decided not to wake up for sunrise...He was pissed. We got back to camp and had Tortillas with avocado salami and cheese a couple hard boiled eggs and then set off on an 8 hr trek. It took us through a massive boulder field up to a huge glacier then along a river, through a really cool forest up to a refugio overlooked by mountains and waterfalls. We made it back to camp and I was ready to die. A couple shots of whiskey and I crashed out on the roots and slept like crap. We couldnt move the tent because the site was full, the downfalls to camping in a big tourist destination. The next day we moved camp to the base of Cerro Torre. The camp was amazing but the peak was covered in clouds and never came out. We chilled for the day, woke up the next morning and started our descent back to town. I cant wait to take a shower!!!!

El Calafate and Perito Moreno

After the grueling 27 hr bus ride we finally make it to Calafate. From the looks of it its a one horse town. A few houses scattered along the hillside a lake that is such a crazy shade of blue green it looks surreal and stunning mountains as a backdrop. The bus rolls down the hill into the town centro and its actually a little bigger than it looks, Ok maybe a 2 horse town. We get off the bus and make our way to our hostel, its a nice little place on the hill and has a great view of the lake. We get settled in and make plans for the ¨Big Ice¨ tour the next day. We fig we need lunch and dinner so we head to the store to some merch. We have Steak and Veggies on the grill and then crash out early. 27 hrs on a bus acct takes alot out of you. The bus arrives at 7 am and brings us to Perito Moreno National Park. We take a small walk out to observe the glacier. The glacier is massive and the shades of blue and white are like nothing I´ve ever seen. The glacier protrudes down the mountain and all the way into the lake. Every once in awhile you hear a ´crack and a rumble that sounds like thunder. It´s quite eerie. The walk takes you along to diff vantage points and I am watching this 1 piece that looks like a slice of bread hanging off a loaf. I think how it would be cool to see it fall in, and not 1 min later there is a loud crack and down goes the slice of ice. Its roughly 10 stories high and hits the water with tremendous force. The wave that results is powerful and rushes down the glaciers edge sounding like loud tearing paper. We then get on a boat and cruise over to start the glacier hike. We get our equipment consisting of gloves a safety harness, in case you fall into a crevasse and our crampons which are spikes that go over your shoes to grip the ice. The wind id ripping and it starts to snow!! Oh great 4 hrs walking on one of the worlds biggest ice cubes and its snowing. Once we get walking we warm up and we see our first crevice. It is filled with crystal clear water and has the coolest shade of electric blue. We walk around for 3 hrs checking out diff ice formations, rivers, waterfalls under the ice and spikes in the ice that look like Superman's fortress of solitude. Quite an amazing site. We have lunch on the ice and then head back to the boat. The tour ended with a scotch on the rocks which was acct a piece of the glacier. I had 3!!

3 blog night...El Bolson

After gettin out of Bariloche I thought my next stop should be El Bolson. El Bolson is a really cool town surrounded by rocky peaks and know for its artesenal brews and small town hippie feel. As soon as I got in I felt pretty comfortable even though I hadn't a clue where I was going. Whenever I get off a bus in a new town its kinda a pain in the ass to try and figure out the city, the busses, the cabs and the streets. After a day or two its all so easy. I found the bus stop fairly easy and when the bus came I thought I was supposed to take I was ÿelled at by the driver telling me something or another way to fast! The next bus came with the exact same results. A hand jesture led me to believe I was on the wrong side of the road so I went to the other side. I waited for a good half hour and came to the realization the bus might not be coming..I should grab a cab...but I havn´t seen a cab in the hour I´ve been in town...I did see a taxi sign though. I stood there for a good 20 min gettin pissed and upset and muttering to myself how this city sucks wtf are the cabs!?!? I then go to the tourist info center and they inform me the only way to get a cab (Remise) is to call for one. Hmmm this info woulda helped me an hour ago. I get into their cab and off to the hostel feeling much better and enjoying the town again. Upon arriving at the Hostel Publeito I meet a couple guys and they are all going back to town to check out the town fair. Pretty much a bunch of hippies sellin hippie stuff. We walk a bit and my amigo Lee finds the beer stand. We have 1 then 2 and then Jeremy and Brian want to get waffles. Lee and I kinda look at each other like WAFFLES?? But we go with and whataya know the ice cream waffleria sells EL Bolson beers...12 diff varieties. Lee decides to buy 1 of each and we all have an El Bolson beer tasting. They were OK Nothing to special but we continued to order more beers and then partied into the night. The weather in Bolson was crap so this became an everyday ritual, the drinking that is. Lee and I would plan treks to the mountains wake up and see it was raining or snowing or the wind was blowin some 85 miles an hr. A few days in a couple girls came in Jenny and Ava and they were from Seattle. Jenny lives in Ballard and Ava in Wallingford. We chat a bit and I was telling them I planned on going south to Calafate. Jenny was wondering if I was camping and I told her I had no gear. Ava was returning home to Seattle and Jenny had a bus ticket to Calafate in 2 days. She had a 2 man tent and if I wanted to roll along I was more than welcome. I thought about it that night, booked my 28 hr bus ticket the next day and left for Calafate. I need a break from drinking anyway!