I'm leaving already! I've been here a month, and I will be heading home in a couple hours. It's been awesome here, and one of the best times of my life. I think I've expanded on my worldly experiences, especially in regards to food. Steak will never be the same again. Neither will coffee.
The past week has mostly been me eating a lot of food and buying some last minute things to take back. I did go to the Japanese Gardens here, which were pretty cool. I have also gotten a new appreciation for cafes. They probably won't be the same back in the States, but I will be a frequenter of more cafes in the future.
I wish I could stay longer. In fact, I wish I could live here. I definitely would if that was a viable option. I'd like to live in a different part of the world for a few years, maybe I'll have that opportunity someday. America's not going anywhere. Anyways, it'll be nice to get back home too, I have a huge pho craving that I need to satisfy. And I want Chipotle.
Monday, March 7, 2011
Saturday, March 5, 2011
Uruguay and stuff
The week after the San Telmo, I did a lot of shopping, like back to Calle Florida and the mall here, Alto Palermo. Alto Palermo is a pretty big mall, but the stuff they have isn't any cheaper than it would be back in the States. I was craving Chinese food, so I went to this place in the food court called Magic Dragon, but it was terrible. It was worse than Panda Express, cost more for less food, and it didn't even taste as good. I was pretty disappointed. But it's okay because I needed a break from steak and just tons of meat in general. I think I was the only person that ate there. No one warned me.
The next day, on Wednesday, we actually went to the Chinatown here in the Belgrano area. It's a small place but they had a bunch of stores and small restaurants. There was also a place called Comida de Taiwan, or Taiwan Food. They had bubble tea there, but it closed up right when we got there. We ate at probably the best Chinese restaurant they had, since it was packed and really busy. We had to wait about 10 minutes for a table. Before we ate, we went to the supermarket there to buy some things. I bought some pineapple bread and sarsaparilla. Some guy asked me what a good soy sauce was, probably because I was Asian. I told him Kikkoman was awesome, but just because it was the only one I recognized.
On Thursday, we took a short 1 hour flight to Uruguay. We took Buquebus Linea Aerea from Aeroparque Jorge Newbery. We got to Uruguay pretty late, and then had to wait about an hour until a van arrived to take us into Punta del Este. We got to a bus station and then roamed around the area to find a restaurant before we checked into our hotel. There was this quiet Parilla restaurant, like a grilled barbecue place. We ordered the giant meat parilla dish to share. Also some morrones (red, green, yellow peppers), provoleta (grilled cheese), and something else I don't remember. I got an awesome beer. Then we took a taxi to the hotel and checked in. Unfortunately there was only one bed, so I slept on the floor both nights, sigh. And there was no AC so it was so hot and humid. But the people were really nice, it was like a big home.
The next day, we woke up and ate some seafood at this local place. Like paella, calamari, this weird quiche, etc. Then went around to see a couple beaches. The weather was a bit muggy, an anomaly since it's usually sunny all the time there. Bad luck I guess. We went to two beaches, first Playa Brava, and then Playa Mansa. Playa Brava was awesome and more active and they had this really cool landmark called Los Dedos, or The Fingers. They're just these giant stone fingers emerging from the sand. Jeff and I went into the ocean for like 20-30 minutes and it was freezing. There were only a few people actually in the water. And it was brown and super salty. But still, it was pretty fun, and it's been a while since I've splashy splashed in the ocean.
After that we just strolled around the hood, got some coffee, walked around some more, sat at this restaurant on Playa Mansa and got drinks and watched the sunset. It was really awesome. And I figured out the sunset setting on my camera so the pictures look good. Then, we walked around the local town and did some shopping. There were lots of people. We ate at this restaurant pretty late. We were the last ones to leave, at around 1AM or something. I had the ravioli and some beer. Delicious beer.
That's about it for Punta del Este, we left the next morning at 6 AM. I checked us out, and talked to one of the guys that worked there. He was really cool. Sometimes I didn't really understand what he was saying, but after he repeated and said things in a simpler way, I got it. Also there was a nice dog there that looked really old, and was blind I think. He was awesome.
Friday, March 4, 2011
Continuing
After the first night, I went to the waterfalls again the next day. I walked some more trails and went to see the Garganta de Diablo again. It was really hot and humid both days, around 90 degrees. That night I went to this restaurant that everyone says is awesome, called Aqva. It was really cool, the owner was there and sat me down. He was really nice. Cool atmosphere, good service, and tasty food. I got this pork tenderloin that was stuffed with cherries and plums, a Quilmes, and then a cafe con leche afterwards. And then the waitress gave me a free poster.
My flight got delayed the next day, AND I was at the airport like 3 hours early, so I waited for a super long time to get out of Puerto Iguazu. And I didn't understand really what was going on, so I wasn't sure if the flight was delayed or if they just left without me.
I don't remember what happened that night. Probably went out to eat somewhere awesome. That saturday night we went to see a giant tango show at the Plaza de la Republica. 8,000 seats filled with thousands more standing around. That was really cool. After that we roamed around the area for a while. I found a comic book store, and all the comics and mangas were in spanish.
Sunday we went to the San Telmo Market, which was huge and endless. Lots of vendors lining the streets and random people playing music and dancing. I bought some tango music. TANGHETTO.
I don't remember what happened that night. Probably went out to eat somewhere awesome. That saturday night we went to see a giant tango show at the Plaza de la Republica. 8,000 seats filled with thousands more standing around. That was really cool. After that we roamed around the area for a while. I found a comic book store, and all the comics and mangas were in spanish.
Sunday we went to the San Telmo Market, which was huge and endless. Lots of vendors lining the streets and random people playing music and dancing. I bought some tango music. TANGHETTO.
Tuesday, March 1, 2011
[waotkapwsojg
I last updated before I went to Puerto Iguazu.
Puerto Iguazu was a nice little town, but a little beat up looking. It has some upscale restaurants and hotels though, since it's main reason for existence is to support tourists. I checked into my hotel, the Bosetti Apart Hotel. I decided to stay at a hotel instead of a hostel mainly because I wasn't okay with leaving my laptop behind while I went out each day. I saw a hostel for about $14 a night though, pretty good deal. The first night I went to a restaurant to try the local fish. It was a Pacu, basically a bigger relative of the piranha. It was really good, and came with a Rocquefort sauce and some weird potato ball things.
The next day I got up at 8 AM to go to Las Cataratas de Iguazu. They're campaigning right now to be voted one of the next 7 wonders of the world. I didn't know where the bus station was so I asked someone at the hotel if they could call a cab for me but they said it'd be 80 pesos, one way, which is pretty expensive. But she told me the bus station was only a few blocks away and that each trip was about 7.50 pesos. So I did that and rode the bus with a bunch of tourists and park workers to the waterfalls. It was about a 25 minute ride there (bunch of stops), and then I got there, bought my tickets and got a 50% off next day admission since I was there for a few days.
I first walked through to the visitor's center, got a map and looked at a few of the exhibits they had. Mostly about park development, and the local flora and fauna. Then I stopped by this hut that was selling tours, so I got the Gran Aventura package, which takes you on a jeep tour of the jungley area and then drops you off at a dock by the river for a speedboat tour of some waterfalls. The jeep tour was okay, about 15-20 minutes. The guy spoke in spanish and english. Stopped by some cool looking trees and also showed us a bunch of crazy spiderwebs. The spiders were huge, probably about 8-10 inches in diameter. Scary, but apparently they weren't venomous. Still, imagine that crawling on your face.
The speedboat tour was awesome too, the driver just blasted around the river for a while and there were some really cool sights and pictures of the cliffs surrounding us. They took us to 2 waterfall sites and near the waterfalls so we'd get soaked. I think if we would have gone under the waterfalls we might have drowned. They're mighty.
The rest of the park was a bunch of trails. It had the upper and lower trail. I went on the upper trail for the first day and saved the lower trail for the second. That was awesome, and you could see the origins of the waterfalls from the top river and watch them cascade down the edge of the cliffs. The main attraction was the Garganta de Diablo or Devil's Throat. That was the largest set of waterfalls. It was really cool, and made Niagara Falls look like shit. The water was really brown and murky from all the deforestation that uproots sediment, I don't think Niagara Falls had that problem. Anyway, the power of the falls was impressive.
There were also these little raccoon-like animals running around everywhere called coati. They would just come up to people looking for food. They seemed nice, and some people were even petting them, but they're apparently known to bite. I think they're used to human contact now, since they don't seem afraid at all. I want one.
I'll update more later.
Puerto Iguazu was a nice little town, but a little beat up looking. It has some upscale restaurants and hotels though, since it's main reason for existence is to support tourists. I checked into my hotel, the Bosetti Apart Hotel. I decided to stay at a hotel instead of a hostel mainly because I wasn't okay with leaving my laptop behind while I went out each day. I saw a hostel for about $14 a night though, pretty good deal. The first night I went to a restaurant to try the local fish. It was a Pacu, basically a bigger relative of the piranha. It was really good, and came with a Rocquefort sauce and some weird potato ball things.
The next day I got up at 8 AM to go to Las Cataratas de Iguazu. They're campaigning right now to be voted one of the next 7 wonders of the world. I didn't know where the bus station was so I asked someone at the hotel if they could call a cab for me but they said it'd be 80 pesos, one way, which is pretty expensive. But she told me the bus station was only a few blocks away and that each trip was about 7.50 pesos. So I did that and rode the bus with a bunch of tourists and park workers to the waterfalls. It was about a 25 minute ride there (bunch of stops), and then I got there, bought my tickets and got a 50% off next day admission since I was there for a few days.
I first walked through to the visitor's center, got a map and looked at a few of the exhibits they had. Mostly about park development, and the local flora and fauna. Then I stopped by this hut that was selling tours, so I got the Gran Aventura package, which takes you on a jeep tour of the jungley area and then drops you off at a dock by the river for a speedboat tour of some waterfalls. The jeep tour was okay, about 15-20 minutes. The guy spoke in spanish and english. Stopped by some cool looking trees and also showed us a bunch of crazy spiderwebs. The spiders were huge, probably about 8-10 inches in diameter. Scary, but apparently they weren't venomous. Still, imagine that crawling on your face.
The speedboat tour was awesome too, the driver just blasted around the river for a while and there were some really cool sights and pictures of the cliffs surrounding us. They took us to 2 waterfall sites and near the waterfalls so we'd get soaked. I think if we would have gone under the waterfalls we might have drowned. They're mighty.
The rest of the park was a bunch of trails. It had the upper and lower trail. I went on the upper trail for the first day and saved the lower trail for the second. That was awesome, and you could see the origins of the waterfalls from the top river and watch them cascade down the edge of the cliffs. The main attraction was the Garganta de Diablo or Devil's Throat. That was the largest set of waterfalls. It was really cool, and made Niagara Falls look like shit. The water was really brown and murky from all the deforestation that uproots sediment, I don't think Niagara Falls had that problem. Anyway, the power of the falls was impressive.
There were also these little raccoon-like animals running around everywhere called coati. They would just come up to people looking for food. They seemed nice, and some people were even petting them, but they're apparently known to bite. I think they're used to human contact now, since they don't seem afraid at all. I want one.
I'll update more later.
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