Quartzsite Desert

Yesterday we drove to Quartzsite, parked the RV in a parking lot and drove the Jeep around to scout for the perfect site to camp in the desert.  West of town was a popular area according to some blogs John reads but we could still see the interstate and it was a rocky, rough area. North of town was nice but a lot of other people thought that too.

So we  parked in our tried and true area east and south of town.  We felt we had the perfect site, situated close to some willow trees that blocked the southern winds but still got some sun. Turns out we are on a short cut along the main south road so about 20 cars a day drive past us. According to John that is a “super highway”!  Ha!

We spent most of the afternoon researching solar panel and satellite dish installations.  After talking with a couple of installers then doing some research on the internet John decided that Quartzsite is not the place to have that work done. Then while riding our bikes today we found an RV service place that has portable gas heaters for RVs. Since it was the gas furnace that was taking all our power and got us to thinking we needed solar panels, supplementing our heating with a portable heater may prevent us from needing the solar panels. And its less than half the price. Unfortunately they can’t install the gas line until Wednesday so we will be here a while.

We spent a lot of this morning riding our bikes around town but on the way back to the RV we butted heads with a 30 mph southernly wind.  Enough of that kind of work! For a while this afternoon the wind was really strong & we were forced to close up the RV and turn on the generator to run the AC otherwise the entire RV would be full of dust.

It was supposed to rain this afternoon and evening so we planned on eating out.  So far only one short shower at 8:30.

White Tank Mountains

We left Mesa yesterday and drove a whole 65 miles from the east side of Phoenix to the west side of Phoenix.  The dividing line between the Phoenix Basin of the Salt River Valley and west AZ Hassayampa Plain is the White Tank Mountains west of Sun City and Luke AFB.  We are still in Maricopa County and staying in their White Tank Mountains Regional Park.  This is a very large park with lots of hiking trails, picnic areas, playgrounds and horse riding trails but only 40 campsites.  Luckily they just recently added electricity to each site and people haven’t learned about it yet so we were able to get a very nice site.  

The giant saguaro guarding our campsite.

Yesterday afternoon John rode his bike all over the park while I hiked a short 1.5 mile trail out of the campground.  This is a very pretty desert area with lots of cacti, desert bushes and flowers. We especially enjoy  the humming birds buzzing John’s orange shirt and mocking birds serenading us as the sun is setting and illuminating the Phoenix valley.

Today I convinced John that we could hike an 8 mile loop trail.  We geared up with back packs and hiking poles but probably didn’t bring enough water.  It was a fairly arduous trail that went up over 2,000 foot elevation.  We hiked around Mesquite Mountain and along Willow Canyon.  No water, lots of cacti and brush, rough path in places and quite a few people.  According to my hiking app on my iPhone we hiked 8.2 miles over 3. 45 hours ( with rest stops and lunch it was over 5 1/2 hours) with a pace between 21 minutes per mile to over 30 minutes per mile the last three miles.  Imagine that!

Val Vista Village

VVV is where John’s mom spends part of the fall, all winter and part of the spring, its nice and warm or at least warmer than in Missouri.  It’s a nice retirement community with spaces for RV’s of all sizes as well as park model homes like the one Marje owns.   They have lots of outside planned activities such as card clubs, arts and crafts classes, computer club, golf, tennis, shuffle board and pickle ball and the list goes on.  There are three pools plus one indoor pool, spas, massages, exercise rooms, hair salon, cafe, and daily music at the courtyard gathering place.

Being in the middle of Mesa we were able to take care of the small repairs and purchases needed in an RV.  Plus we enjoyed being with John’s mom as well as enjoying the warm weather and warm atmosphere of the park.  We took daily walks and bike rides, ate out a few times and shopped at REI.  A very relaxing 5 days.

City of Rocks

We opted to take four days to get to Mesa so we stopped early on Tuesday at City of Rocks State Park in New Mexico. As we drove over the hill towards to park entrance we saw how the park got its name. 

 

Look close on the left & you will see our RV parked right up against the rocks.

 

Once we got the RV nestled up against a rock we explored the area some before supper. The night sky was gloriously full of stars, the air clear and cool and the night sounds lulled us to sleep.  Wednesday morning found us geared up for a 5 mile hike around the perimeter of the rock formations in dry, winter desert. 

Towards the end of the hike we decided to shower and then move on down the road a ways to Roper State Park in Arizona so we would have a short drive into Mesa on Thursday.  We have stayed at Roper before.  It's located on a small lake stocked with trout, has a couple of hiking trails and a natural hot spring spa. 

We arrived at Val Vista Village shortly after lunch. The first order of business will be to wash the RV!

Here We Go Again

A family tradition when camping was to eat hamburgers and baked beans on our first night out.  Now that it is just John and I the tradition has change to steak and a good wine on our first night out.  Granted, we left home last Thursday and have been visiting our daughter and family for three days but now we are on the road headed west.  And the wine and steak are really good!

Thankfully the weather is very nice for Feb. in Texas so grilling outdoors was pleasant forJohn.  We are camped in a city park in a town near Lubbock. Just as John is about to finish the steak our ancient neighbor comes over to borrow a pair of pliers so he can unhook a stuck connection and depart. Note: Never, never ask a 75 year old man how he is doing!  He will tell you more than you really want to know!

Cry for me Argentina

Or better - I’m crying because I have to go home! Thursday was our last day in Buenos Aires and we all agree that we have enjoyed visiting this lovely city and we would like to come back and explore more of Argentina.

It poured down rain most of the morning so we stayed in, played bridge and read books. Lunch was at a small cafe around the block from the apartment and across the street from the fine restaurant where we dined last night. John had seen news crews with cameras on this street a few days ago so he asked the owners, who speak English, if they knew why. Three men tried to rob the restaurant but one of them got punched in the face by a waiter. The owner laughed and said she thought it must have been a very slow news day!

Susanna and I went shopping as we both wanted to buy souvenirs or remembrances for ourselves or our daughters. Since it is nearing the end of summer in Argentina there were lots of sales on summer clothing so we found some really nice bargains.

The check out from the apartment went smoothly and our ride arrived on time; the drive to the airport went faster than we thought it would during rush hour so we had lots of time to get checked in and then to wait. Our flight left BA at 9:30 pm and arrived 10.5 hours later in Atlanta, two hour layover, then a 2 hour flight to KC. The flight attendant welcomed us to “Alaska!” As cold as it is, it sure feels like we flew past Missouri!

Jack and Mary picked us up at the airport with a sign reading “Sedalia Four” like we were greeted in all the airports on our trip. The drive home seemed to go quickly with all the talk about our stay in BA and all the fine memories we shared of the early parts of the trip.

We have had a great experience in South America and John and I would have no problems traveling with Susanna & John or Mary & Jack in the future. But for now we can’t wait to give our kids and grandkids a big hug and then take off in the RV to warmer climes!

MALBA

Stores and museums do not open early in BA. I guess because everyone is up late at night! So a leisurely morning, walks around the neighborhood, and a bank run filled our time until the museum opened at noon.

Museo de Arte Latinoamericano de Buenos Aires (MALBA) was a highly recommended museum by almost every tour book I read.  Modern art is so strange sometimes. And the artists description and reasoning for their work is highly confusing.  But we spent the requisite two hours looking at the art.  

 

It was a very hot and humid day so the walk back required us to stop for beer.  We love the corner bars and cafés. 

 

The rest of the day was spent napping, finding a place for dinner and playing bridge.  And the place we found for dinner was the perfect place for our last dinner in South America. We shared several seafood small plates which rather confused our waiter but we had fun and enjoyed our food without being stuffed.  On the way back to our apartment we stopped for a drink at an tiny eclectic bar. 

Recolota Cemetery and Tango!

Hey no rain today!

On the top of my list of places to see in BA is the Cementeria de la Recolota (Recolota Cemetery).with over 4,000 crypts there are a lot of famous Argentinians buried there but the only name I recognize is Eva Perón.   All of the crypts are above ground and one can look inside many of them to see the caskets, even the caskets below the floor of the crypts which is still above ground.  The crypts are very large and elaborate, some in black marble but most white marble, granite or even clay and brick.  Greek, Roman, and Egytian styles, modern and ancient, a pantheon and many other domes, lots of angels and personal busts.  

After leaving the cemetery we stopped for a cold drink and I realized my reading glasses were gone!  I think I dropped them in the taxi so I will never see them again. It's really hard to read indoors with prescription sunglasses!

Our next cab driver ripped us off with a meter that ran up too fast.  What should gave been a $6 ride cost us $12!  But we didn't have to walk to get to the Botanical Gardens. John had no interest in looking at trees and flowers so he walked back to the apartment while Susanna & John and I strolled through this quiet park.  It was a short walk home. 

We had a big evening with a steak dinner at a place in San Telmo Barrio before attending a Tango performance at El Viejo Almacèn, the oldest and most traditional tango show in BA. Sitting in the balcony we had a great view of the stage and not many other people around us.  These dancers are so impressive with wild kicks, fast moves and sexual inuindo.  Had a great time!  Remember I've mentioned the late nights in BA, well dinner was at 8:30 and the show didn't start until 10:15 pm.!

Barrio Norte, Retiro and Puerto Madero

It rained again this morning but stopped about the time we were ready to go exploring.  Today's tour was a walking tour of Barrio Norte, Retiro, and Puerto Madeo.  This is the very center of BA with lots of traffic, shops, restaurants, bars, colleges, and sky scrapers.  We saw old churches, palaces now used for offices, and lovely, shaded parks.  Plaza San Martin has a statue commemorting General San Martin who is to Argentina as George Washington is to the US.

We lunched beside the Rio de la Plata (La Plata River) and enjoyed the old wood ships and odd shaped pedistran bridge named Puente de la Mujere.  Its form supposedly reminds one of a male dancer pressing into his female partner in homage to the tango.  I don't see it!

We probably walked 5-6 miles before grabbing a taxi back to the apartment for naps.   It didn't help that we drank two bottles of wine with lunch.  Our new favorite white wine is called "Torrontes" (tore- rrrr-ron-tays).  Susanna and I are ready to ditch the guys and go shopping soon!

San Telmo

San Telmo is an area of Buenos Aires that was considered the first suburb of the city and was built along the river.  It was originally settle by sailors and those in the fish industry but the rich liked the area too and built big houses and mansions there.  In 1871 a Yellow Fever outbreak devestated the area, lots of people died and many more moved away from the river and into newer districts like Barrio Norte.  It wasn't long before the abandoned mansions were converted into tenement housing for the poor.  Today it is seeing a revival.  Artists, antique dealers, restoration of old homes, tango and tourism is helping to renew the whole area without taking away its charm and curtural identity.

Today, it again started out with pouring rain that cleared up in the late morning.  But because of the rain, our first stop was the Museo de Modern Arte.  Some pretty weird stuff showing.  We then wandered around for a bit and took in the San Telmo Antique Fair on Plaza Dorrego before visiting the indoor Mercado de San Telmo where we found fresh fruits & vegetables next to leather coats and antique/junk shops.  When we came out of the building, the vendors on the street had increased in number as well as the number or tourists.  

After lunch we toured El Zanjón (Spanish for creek) which is a 1840's mansion that was built by a rich family, then turned into a tenement house for 23 families then sat empty for 30 years.  When a gentleman bought the house, he was going to restore it as a home until tunnels were discovered running beneath the foundation.  These tunnels were built to cover unsanitary creeks that ran through the area and then these were used as foundations for homes.  The restoration of the house and tunnels took almost 20 years but they now have this great representation of what life was like 150 years ago.

We dined at La Cabrera, just below this apartment, then watched the Bronco's succumb to the Seahawks with the sound muted as we didn't understand the Latino talking heads.

City Center Sites

Shortly after we got up this morning the rain storms rolled over and it rained until shortly after noon.  That didn't stop us from taking off walking and exploring the city although we didn't leave the apartment until after 11 am.  It was a good morning to catch up with blogs and video chat with the grandkids.

We walked 10 blocks in rain to the closest subway stantion only to discover that it was closed for repairs.  A local said to take the bus but we opted for a $6 (60 peso) cab ride to Plaza de Mayo which is near government buildings and commemorates the Argentine liberation from Spanish rule on May 25, 1810.  We visited the La Catedral Metropolitana and entered Casa Rosada where the president holds meetings.  The reception was a gallery of photos of past Liberators of South America and Argentina.  The National Bank and Edificio la Inmobiliaria are also near the plaza.

We wondered around and made our way to the Avenida 9 de Julio, the grandest of Latin American avenues which is 12 lanes wide and takes at least two crosswalk cycles to cross.  This is where we saw El Obelisco which commemorates the 400th anniversary of the city's founding.  

Susanna and I talked the guys into touring Teatro Colon, one of the world's top opera houses.  It was completed in 1908 and refurbished in 2010 at a cost of $60 million.  This is where the locals come to see and to be seen during the opera and ballet season (April - Dec.).  Much of the architectural detail was designed by Italians using mostly Italian marble with accents of gold leaf, massive chandeliers, and stained glass domes.  The accoustics in the La Sala (auditorium) are considered perfect.

As it nears 8 pm we will walk around our neighborhood in search of a good place to eat dinner.

Buenos Aires

We left Tupengato Divino Lodge at 7 AM without any coffee!! (we think the owner overslept).  We had to fly from Mendoza, Argentina back to Santiago, Chili then to Buenos Aires, Argentina meaning lots of lines back and forth thru immigration and customs!  We also said goodbye to Jack and Mary as they headed back to the US. today.

Buenos Aires (BA) is a city of 12 million people so you can imagine the traffic at 5 pm on a Friday.  John & Susanna and John & I have rented a small apartment in the Palermo Viejo area of the city for the next six days.  It's located over the La Cabrera Restaurant one of the top 10 rated in BA. It has a small wading pool on the patio along with outdoor seating and a grill.  There are two bedrooms and baths, livingroom and kitchen.  Perfect for the four of us.

We  ventured over to the local grocery store (1/2 block away) for snack and breakfast foods then toasted our new adventure in BA.  About 8 pm we strolled around the area and settled on an Italian place for a very light dinner. There must be over 50 restaurants & bars within 3 blocks. 

More Wineries

George, our unofficial guide, arranged for two cars to take us around the valley today.  We started with a visit to KDS Hecha Mano where high quality knives and scissors are hand made.  We were shown the steele plates that are cut into strips, then cut to the basic shape of the knife, fired in 1000° C kilns before being honed into a knife blade, buffed and shined.  They make their own handles from special woods or antlers.  I believe we all made a purchase or two!

The Masi Winery is an Italy company and most all of their wine is shipped to the parent company in Italy.  They grow Malbec, Torrentes and Corvina grapes.  They have a unique process called Proxximiento whereby the grapes are picked then placed on racks to reduce some of the liquid in the grape and to grow a special mold on the skin.  The corvina grapes are then placed in a tank to ferment.  Then the Malbec grapes are picked, dried and placed in with the fermented Corvina grapes to ferment again.  This double fermentation is unique to Argentina.  For this reason and because this is an Italian wine as opposed to an Argentinian wine, they are having a hard time breaking into the Argentine market.

We had lunch at the Bousquet Winery with food and their wine paired.  After all that wine and food, the girls all went back to the lodge and the guys went to the Atamisque Winery where they learned another way of producing wine.

This winery had a unique setup to the fermentation tanks that none had seen before. There was a concrete floor above each row of tanks and with the tanks a level below the crushing area. After crushing they transported the juice to the tanks using a very large cone shaped container. Their purpose was to avoid pumping the newly crushed grapes which could supposedly stress the fruit. The guys tasted a seriously good Cabernet Sauvignon here. 

Dinner was at the Blousson Bed and Breakfast in the Andean foothills.  They prepared a lamb roast that cooked 14 hours in an adobe oven.  It was wonderful.  The owner is a new vinter with 7 acres of  Malbec grapes and his first wine in 3 barrels, aging for another 2-3 months.  He explained all he had done so far and then let us tast his wine straight from the barrel.  It was very good!

Winery Tour in Uco Valley

After a late breakfast we headed on a tour of two wineries near us.  Our guide, Cecilia, informed us that these two wineries were the iconic vineyards of Uco Valley. Salentein (Sal-in-teen) is owned by a Dutch company and Andeluna, which is owned by Mr. Lays of Frito-Lay/Pepsi.  

Salentein is a very large winery with huge vineyards not only in Uco Valley but throughout the Mendoza state. Their winery was built less than 10 years ago and is all stainless steel tanks with state of art equipment.  Some of their better wines are fermented in giant oak barrels and they age a few wines in French oak barrels.  They produce some 'young' wines that are not aged as long as most wines and these are the ones that most young Argentinians drink.  Following their tasting we walked through their art museum.  

At the Andeluna winery we got a short tour before have a great lunch that paired with their wines.  Of couse, this was a long, drawn out affair with four courses so by the time we finished it was after 4 PM.  Naps, pool time, bridge and supper at 8 PM filled out the day.

Tupengato Divino

George and driver picked us up at the hotel in a 15 passenger van and then drove us toward Tupengato in the Uco Valley south of Mendoza.  This wine region is in the Andean foothills.  Much of the area appears to be desert like but with lots of water from the moutain snowmelt, they have lots of irrigation.  Almost every square mile of land is covered with vines or fruit trees.

George was able to get us into a winery tour at the Tapiz Winery which is a mid-size winery specializing in Malbec but also has several other varietals.  It was an extensive tour with tastings from vats before tasting from the final product.  Unfortunately we were not too impressed.  One interesting thing we learned though was that they fertilize their vines with llama poo.  During the fall and winter when the vines are dormant they let herds of llama graze between the rows and leave their poo to work into the soil.  During the growing season the llama feed elsewhere.  They then sheer their wool and make blankets and shawls from that wool.

Lunch was again an extended affair with wine pairings with the food.  This time we had wine from La Azul, a very small boutique winery, at their restaurant.  The food was either baked in a clay oven or grilled over an open fire.  We had  pickled chicken, a cheese and olive quesedia, a meat empanada, steak and caramel crepe.  All wonderfully paired with wine.

Our lodging is at Tupengato Divino lodge which has only 4 rooms but a well known and visited restaurant.  Each room has its own patio, there is a pool and outdoors dining with great views of vineyards and Andes mountains.  There are also 3 dogs, 8 puppies, 1 cat and a horse. Luckily they were agreeable to fixing us a very light dinner but again we ate late between 9 & 10. We watched a huge lightening storm to the south and in the middle of the night it rained hard. Considering they have about 320 sunny days a year it was a rare occurrence. 

Mendoza Centro

During breakfast I read up on things to do in Mendoza and then we decided how we were going to travel the next few days.  It was decided to return the rental car and take up the services of George whom John J made contact with upon recommendation of the lodge we are going to tomorrow.  He will get us a van and driver.  

Our morning stroll took us through Independence Plaza in the center of Mendoza.  There are four other parks at the four corners off the square that commorate the various peoples who occupy Mendoza.  A pleasant pedestrian shopping area found the girls trying on leather jackets and other shopping while the men walked and waited.  My tour book highly recommend a wine bar that has wine paring under the tutalage of a sommlier who selects the wine from their cellar rather than a menu.  We were seated at a round table made from an old wine press in a small room where all four walls held wine racks. Our lunch at Azafán took almost three hours but was a wonderful experience and great food.  Naps were necessary after that big lunch!

The custom in most of South America and especially in Argentina is to have lunch between 1 and 2 pm and then dinner after 8 PM  In fact, most restaurants don't open for dinner until 8 or 8:30.  But since we had such a large lunch we found a place where we had wine and tapas plates.  Even then it was near midnight before we fell into bed.

Travel Day

We spent most of the day on airplanes. 5 hours back to Santiago then a short flight to Mendoza. An hour getting through immigration and customs then trying to figure out how many Pesos to get from the ATM.

The last obstacle was the rental car. They just don't have large vehicles in South America. So to get from the airport to the hotel we rented a cab to drive three of us while the luggage and other three followed in the van. We didn't get lost and have a car to travel around. Our next stop will be in Uco Valley so we will have to find a way to get our suitcases delivered to the inn.  Arrived at hotel 6:30 pm. 

Restaurants don't even open until 8 or 8:30 pm so we had a very late (as in 10pm) but very good steak dinner.

Waiting, Waiting, Waiting

Our itinerary said we should take the 12:30 catamaran across Lago Pehoe and then we would be picked up by a driver who would have all our luggage we had left at the Hotel Las Torres. So we had a whole morning to kill. We were all tired of hiking so we read, played bridge, played spades and napped. We waited.

The catamaran ride was short but when we arrived at the little loading area there was no one there to meet us.  The lady at the cafe spoke enough English that she was able to radio the hotel who then called the local travel agent who then got all the mess straightened out.  We waited.

Our driver came around 6:30 pm but did not come inside the cafe where we had again played cards, napped, and read while waiting.  When we got really tired of waiting, Jack walked around the parking lot and found our luggage in the back of the van.  We were all a bit miffed that the driver waited outside for he next catamaran, thinking we would be on it.

It was a long 5 hour drive to Punta Arenas.  After 3 1/2 hours we needed a baño (bathroom) but there was nothing open in the little town where he stopped at 10:30 at night.  The driver saw two women and a young girl walking and asked directions (we think as he spoke only Spanish).  They directed him to their home and invited us inside to use their toilet.  The young girl was so excited to have this happen in her home!  We tried to pay but they wouldn't accept anything and instead they gave Susanna a decorative coaster as a gift. What gracious, friendly people!

We got to our hotel at midnight.

Gray Glacier

Last night's dinner was less than mediocre and this mornings breakfast was just as bad and the lunch was questionable. I think we have been very spoiled by all of our previous stays.

Late yesterday Mary pulled a muscle in her right leg. Not badly but she didn't want to stress it any more so only John & Susanna and John & I hiked up the valley to see Gray Glacier.  It was quite a hike as the infamous winds of Patagonia were blowing at gale force all day!  We had to lean into the wind going up the valley. There were a few protected areas where it wasn't  too bad but otherwise we walked in the wind for the whole 9 km, 5.4 miles. But it was worth it. 

When we reached Gray Lake we spotted several iceburgs floating along the shore line. At the Glacier Mirador (view point) we had a great view of the blue ice of a huge glacier!  But what got everyone's attention was the extreme wind blowing off the snow, across the lake and up the cliff face.  John suggest that John J. could jump off the cliff and the wind would blow him back!! Ha! We then got pushed all the way back down the valley.

The wind is still blowing hard as I write this. We witnessed water spouts on Lago Pehoe (pronounced 'pay way') in front of the lodge. It's been fun making new friends. We met a young couple from Chile, a single woman from France traveling by herself, a photographer of Taiwanese descent who has lived in northern Chile for 17 years, a group of 6 from Alberta, Canada, and a group of 7 men from NY.

On To Refugio Paine Grande

I guess it rained last night because everyone is talking about it but I slept through it all.

We had a nice hot breakfast then headed on down the trail towards Italian Refugio and then on to Paine Grande. We should have hiked up French Valley as part of the 'W' but that would have been too long of a day for us.  As it was we traveled 13.1 km or about 7 miles in 5 hours. We had some beautiful scenery to keep us entertained and the hike was not overly strenuous so we did some talking.

Jack noted that Mary would like some more bridges across the streams and bogs and that John was hoping his broken sunglasses would hold out until we got back to civilization. At a little past the half way mark we had been using more foot bridges and John found a pair of lost sunglasses laying on a rock.  Jacks comment then was they both got their wishes but he was having a hard time thinking of something to wish for himself!

Pain Grande Lodge is a grand looking building but all the rooms have  bunk beds for six people so the Sedalia Six are sharing the same room for two nights. Should be interesting sleeping with numerous snorers including John and I.  There is only one restroom with showers for the women and one for the men.  All the rooms are labeled with Spanish names, our room is Espada and the restrooms are Mujeres (women) and Hombres (men).  After drinking a couple of beers the men decided to shower then meet in the bar before supper.  John J. confessed that he doesn't know Spanish very well so when he came out of the shower and saw no urinals and one lady standing at the sinks he said, "This isn't the men's room, is it? No!"  We all howled with laughter and his wife, Susanna, just kept shaking her head!  Later that evening we heard that another guest had done the same thing.