CM3's Argentina Adventure

Mar del Plata - Day 24

It's 9:30 AM. Everyone is sleeping. I've been up since 8 am. I've had my facturas, simple pastries mostly filled with dulce de leche which I buy at a store on the first floor for $.25 each. I still don't know how to light the stove, so I had them with grapefruit soda instead. I LOVE Paso de los Toros (that's the brand) Pomelo light soda. It's delicious and you can't tell it's a diet drink at all. Alas, they usually don't have it at restaurants (just like Fresca). But it's soooo good.

As I mentioned *yesterday* I'm planning on getting ready for the beach now so I'm ready when my brood wakes up. The plans for today are to go to the beach in the morning. Have lunch and then go to Balcarce in the afternoon. Balcarce is a nearby town where they have a racing car museum in honor of Juan Manuel Fangio (I think that's his name), Argentina's most famous car driver. I have to call my cousin Marina to see if she wants to go see a show with me later tonight.

The windows here don't really open, but I can see a cloud cover. Ack!

... 10 PM. The day didn't go as planned. Big surprise. Not.

We went to the beach, again to the "Playa Popular", the one right outside the apartment. "Popular" doesn't mean "popular" as in liked by many, but "people's", as in "people's park". Rented a sun umbrella for $15 and bought a thin beach mat for $22. It was a very hot day, which made the water wonderful. It also made the beach and the sea very, very crowded. It was hard to body surf, though Mike had fun doing it. I stayed closer to shore and only took a few waves. But it was fun.

Mika hates the beach. She hates how the wind blows sand into her eyes (but today there was barely any) and she's afraid of the waves. At times she's willing to play on them, jump around, run towards them and against them, but then she remembers she's scared and she's a sourpuss again. She won't even try to body surf. At least not yet. It's pretty sad, for us, who love the water so much. And the waves, even if crowded, are so good.

Camila is content playing on the shore, she loves the wet sand, looking at the other kids and the attention she commands from passersby. She is gorgeous and people don't fail to tell her. She is trying more and more to walk, stands up for longer, takes her little steps with more assuredness. She also crawls after trash on the beach. Ack! The waves don't faze her unless she gets water in her eyes, and then she cries for a little bit. But she's all in all good.

Both girls love to play in the sand together. Camila is amazingly good at using tools. She tries to put pen to paper, fork to food (and succeeds, though getting fork to mouth is harder) and imitates her sister in the use of sand toys. She is certainly paying attention to what others are doing. While they played, Mike and I took some moments to relax on the beach. It was quite nice.

Mika was hungry. She wanted "choclo" or corn on the cob. We saw the choclo man go by twice, but weren't alert enough to get him before he went away. I should have run after him. I didn't and Mika didn't get her choclo.

At 1:30 we realized that if we wanted to go to Balcarce we had to leave right then. The girls were playing well, though Camila was exhausted, so we didn't go. Soon after, however, Mika said she wanted to go home. They were tired, so we did.

Showers, getting the sand off. Camila went right to sleep, Mike went to do internet, Mika played around and talked to me. It's horrible to say this but I get so tired of her talking to me. There is just so much I can hear her. She does need her own friends she can talk to, and I need a break from my child. Or drugs.

After Camila woke up, got dressed and re-sunscreened up, we went out to meet Mike and to walk. We'd seen that there was a "Princess" show and knew that Mika would want to go, so we headed towards the Museo del Mar, where the show would be. But on the way we realized we were low on Argentine money - so off to the money exchange. We learned that you cannot change money without identification, largely as a result of US banking regulations. In fact, the bank accounts of the money exchange we used were closed after September 11 even though the money exchange had done nothing wrong. We really need to repeal most, if not all, of the Patriot Act.

After getting money, we checked out rental cars from Hertz (240 pesos with a limit of 400km daily) and Localizada (170 pesos with a limit of 400 km). Guess who we're renting from?

We stopped for a brief bite to eat at a sidewalk cafe, where Mika took off her shoes and pranced about. Camila was tired, but really wanted to be free to crawl and walk and make us nervous as she placed random bits of detritus in her mouth.

Then off to the Museo del Mar to buy tickets for tonight's showing of El Libro Mágico de las Princesas. The Museo del Mar's claim to fame is its collection of 30,000 sea shells. Margarita was reluctant to pay to go into a museum of sea shells, but she and I were both amazed at the collection.

The shells were collected by Benjamin Sisterna over 60 years and were the basis for the creation of the museum. There is a tide pool containing an eel, snails, crab, and fish. Huge aquariums along the walls of two floors provide a great view of the sharks, rays, and other fish contained within. Camila, in particular, was fascinated and a bit hesitant, until she realized that the fish couldn't touch her and vice versa. At the top of the museum is a display of art made from sea shells, and a play area. Unfortunately, the large play structure was being repaired but Camila and Mika both had a great time on the smaller structure.

The top of the museum (a level above the play structures) is billed as the "lighthouse watcher" and perhaps it was at one time a good place to catch a 360-degree view of the city, but nearby high-rise apartments have all but blocked 180 degrees of the view.

It was nearing 7pm and we still needed to eat before the 9:10pm show, so we grabbed a taxi back to the apartment, and then headed off to Crans Montana once again. Mika and I ate and grabbed a taxi to the Museo del Mar while Margarita took care of the bill.

Once at the Museo del Mar, Mika was excited to see Cinderella handing out flyers for the upcoming show.

She got even more excited when she saw Belle and Sleeping Beauty walking up the street. At 9:10pm, Mika is typically sleeping or preparing to go to sleep, but hey, we're in a city where the museum stays open until 2am! I am not kidding. As the previous show, Aladino y La Lampara Magica ended, Mika got to see the cast of the show and had her picture taken with Jasmine.

The El Libro Mágico de las Princesas show had better costumes, sound, lighting, and perhaps a better script, than Humor en Custodia, which we had seen previously. Mika was tired and sat down during the middle of the audience participation dance number, but was thrilled to be touched by the fairy godmother's magic wand. The cast seemed to be amused that I had brought Mika by myself and was not embarrassed to get up and participate in the dance number. After the show, Mika got her picture taken with more of the princesses.

When we got back to the apartment, we found that Beatriz had left some gifts for Mika and Camila for Three Kings Day. They are so nice.

Tomorrow, we rent a car and head off to explore with Betiana.

Mar del Plata - Day 23

Woke up late, everyone at once. Breakfast. We were sunburnt and Mike went out to get lotion, didn't find any but reported that indeed, it was a warm day. He was reluctant to go to the beach but I wanted to, so we agreed that we'd only go to play in the water. We'd take towels and our clothing but nothing else. If we bring stuff we're always afraid someone will steal it so one of us tends to stay with the stuff. It was warm, but there was still a cloud cover so the water felt quite cold. I played on the shore with the girls. Camila liked eating the sand but otherwise was underwhelmed by the sea. Mika is scared of the waves, though when Mike was holding Camila she was willing to play - run towards and away from the waves. Mike bodysurfed again and had fun. I was too chicken to get into the water until the end, but it was great. I sooooooooooooooo wish Mika could enjoy it. Today is a nice day and I hope we can go to the beach as well, as soon as I'm done blogging/eating facturas I'll get our bag ready and then myself so I only have to deal with the kids when they wake up (today is Friday) and go again.

Margarita's sunburn

Eventually Mika got too cold/tired/bored and we came back home. We took showers, I put Camila to sleep, Mike went to drop off the laundry (U$3 per load, washed, dried & folded) and do internet.

Camila woke up, Mika couldn't fall asleep, so we went out to find Mike who wasn't thrilled. Then we went for lunch on the peatonal, and later we walked a bit around downtown. Went to the merry go round and the park.

It started raining. Came back home.

Kids still didn't go back for naps. Went out to get some toys for Día de Reyes, today, when the 3 wise men come down in their camels and leave presents for the kids on their shoes. Toys of all kids are ridiculously expensive in the US. I got some cheap, non-branded make up for Mika for U$2.50 and a Piñon Fijo (a clown) sippy-cup for Camila for U$2. Got another book for myself at the book outlet, just $2.66 - new books are outrageously expensive, and start around U$7. OK, maybe not that expensive for us, but they look it.

Came back home, read some more, my aunt and cousin Marito came.

We socialized for a time, they left and we went out for dinner. We went to the best tenedor libre yet (Crans Montana), just half a block away from the apartment. It had a very wide variety of food (relatively speaking) but the vacío was by far the best. All for less than U$4 per person (half for kids). We shared a bottle of cheap wine, it wasn't great, it tasted cheap, but was drinkable. We'll probably go back again, and indeed, the place was super popular, it was good we went early.

We really prefer going to tenedor libres as, in addition to having good, cheap food, you don't have to wait for the food, making eating with the kids a much more pleasurable experience. Plus with all the variety I can usually find something Mika will eat. Yesterday it was cantaloupe, the other day it was tomatoes. She will eat some more, though usually so she can get dessert.

Came back home, put the kids to sleep, went to sleep, Mike went to do internet. The 3 kings came during the night; so far nobody is awake to know.

Mar del Plata - Day 22

Woke up early. Blogged. Camila woke up. Nursed and read one of the books I'd bought the day before. It's actually a Spanish translation of an English-language book on the massacre of Tandil, whereas a group of gauchos murdered 36 foreigners in 1872. I'd never heard of it before, which is not surprising given my absolute lack of knowledge of Argentine history. The book goes on circles and repeats itself a lot - I imagine it started as a paper that the author decided to turn into a book without too much effort - and it doesn't seem to have anything to add to the subject, but for the uninitiated like me it's interesting enough. It does help me understand the history of the pampas much better.

Eventually everyone else woke up. Went downstairs to get some facturas for breakfast. Had breakfast. It was windy but we decided to go to the beach anyway. We mostly hung out on the sand, the girls had a great time playing, I gathered trash. Realized I shouldn't have bothered searching for towells, people selling them (as well as hats, sunglasses, suntan lotion, jewelry, food of all types, drinks, kites, umbrellas, etc. etc.) came over every so often. The $4 mats we bought self destructed. The water was too cold for me but Mike had a great time body surfing. Mika was afraid of the waves.

Came back home, the girls had too brief naps, Mike went to do internet, I read more about the Tandil massacre (around and around). Girls woke up, went to find Mike, had lunch - bad pizza -at a place where you can eat while you watch a movie (Madagascar). Decided to walk up the beach front, in front of the famed but closed Hotel Provincial. Tons of street vendors, got some cheap jewelry. Several street musicians - or rather, real musicians who promote themselves through street shows. Saw a tango singer, a bolero singer, a vals group, and a cumbia singer. Had no idea that the cumbia was popular in Argentina. Wondered if this is a new development or a difference in class. The area of Mar del Plata where we are staying - the traditional downtown area - seems to have become the lower class neighborhood. OK by us. Mika had fun, though didn't really join in the dancing. Saw several more living statues, had to limit how many she could approach. Got some Balcarce alfajores on the way back, we prefer Havana all in all. The hojaldre (similar to phillo dough) alfajor was particularly lacking. Got tickets for a revista show later that night. Called Marina about babysitting. Came back home. Cleaned up. Had dinner here with aunt & cousins - Camila slept through most of it. They brought ice cream - we particularly liked the sambayon kind.

Marina and Betiana stayed with the kids while Mike and I went to see the revista show, Humor en Custodia. I'd heard about revistas all the time when I was growing up. Its starts, called vedettes are big celebrities and in a culture that is even more celebrity-focused than the US (just try to find a magazine here that doesn't focus on them) they are hard to avoid. Still, I wasn't too sure as to what a revista was beyond having scantly clad women and comics. I'd heard them compared to vaudeville, though as I'm not exactly sure what vaudeville is either I'll just have to accept the comparison at face value.

There are three theaters within 1/2 block of our apartment building and the three of them are showing revistas, in addition to other shows. The biggest one - or at least the one with the largest billboard - stars Moria Casán, who is shown wearing a tight leather outfit in the poster. Her face looks scary - kind of like a man - but her body looks great, specially when you consider the woman is in her 60's. I'm not sure exactly how old she is, but she was at least 40 when I left 22 years ago - she was a big star then as well. The other revista was led by Graciela Alfano, who had been a big star of cheap comedies when I was a little kid. She has to be at least in her 50's, though again, you wouldn't believe it from the poster. Her second is Adriana Salgueiro, who had become a popular TV-girl when I was here last, which means she must be at least 10 years older than me - you wouldn't believe it by her picture. We chose the showed we did, starting Beatriz Salomón, because I'd never heard of her and thought that that might indicate she might be younger. No such luck, the woman was in her 60's as well.

I have to admit that I've been perversely obsessed on how all these actresses have been able to stop the passage of time and look just like they did 20+ years ago. As I mentioned last time I came to Argentina, I was surprised at how little the country had changed in the 20 years I was gone. Same looking cities, same stores (though yes, there are many new ones), same fashions, same music - and same stars. But having those stars looking just like they did 20 years ago is freaky. Now, this seems to be something mostly confined to female stars, mind you. I haven't seen many male stars I recognize on billboards here, but I have watched several movies back home with names from my past such as Federico Luppi, Ricardo Darín and Arturo Puig, and they were definitely looking their age. But then there is Mirta Legrand, who was a HUGE star of black and white film decades before I was born, and who must now be in her 80's, and she looks at least 30 years younger. She is also hosting the /same/ program she was back then, and had for years - almorzando con Mirta Legrand, a show where famous people go to have lunch with her and talk about whatever topics (or at least that's how it was two decades ago). There is another one called Soledad Silveira who was a famous soap opera actress back then too, who I've seen in the magazines also looking at least twenty years younger than her real years.

But of course, billboards and magazines lie, the women are air brushed and made to look nicer, so I was very curious at seeing one of them in person. Boy, was it a fright. I don't know how Beatriz Salomón looked when she was a young woman but right now she looks like a plastic doll, and a grotesque one at that. Her face has been pulled to the point there is no plasticity left, she can barely change her expression. Not that you could see much of that face, as her eye-make up was so over the top that covered half her forehead with dark eye-shadow, and her collagen-injected red lips and fake teeth pretty much filled the lower part of her face. Her hair was a long blond wavy wig that didn't do her any favors, but the most grotesque part of her body were her breasts. These were huge, of course, and completely immobile. She went, but they stayed. It was like they were made out of hard plastic. The rest of her body must have been hers, I assume, but she had such difficulty moving, was so stiff in her one dance number, that she still couldn't break the illusion that she was just a horrible plastic doll.

I was horrified as to why someone would do that to herself - and I'm still holding the same question as to the other actresses. But in her case the answer seems to be even more grotesque that I could imagine...

On our way back from the show Mike and I were talking about how American actresses don't resort to such extremes, and he brought up the example of one who has: Cher. To which I responded that she seems to be a favorite of transvestites and gay men, rather than straight men who in general do not consider her attractive. Well, apparently there may be more to this, as Beatriz Salomón was married to a plastic surgeon who was recently caught exchanging surgeries for sex with transvestites. The idea that that man might have been encouraging her to become that plasticized, transvestite-look-alike doll for his own pleasure is horrible. And yet fascinating, there is certainly a book and a movie on what these old actresses are doing to themselves.

But they start young. In addition to the main vedette, the show had 3 other vedettes of different ages - the youngest of which might very well have been in her 30's. They all looked like Barbie dolls. Not like the human version of a Barbie doll, mind you, but like the dolls themselves - or what the doll would look like if she had thick eye-shadow and long eye-lashes that covered her eyes. Their hair, mouths, teeth and boobs were all clearly fake. And indeed, those boobs were just as immobile as those of the star. I really can't understand why they don't chose models with *some* mobility, some bounce, some outside possibility of passing off for real. And I don't understand how anyone can find them attractive. I'm not sure they do, of course, it may all just be a big joke on them, which makes it even sadder.

Apart from its morbid appeal, the show itself was somewhat fun. It consisted of two or three long sketches with tons of very explicit sex jokes, sophomoric but fun if you got into the spirit of it. There was also a comic who cracked half-way funny jokes, a guy who did immitations, and a song-and-dance number for each of the four vedettes. These were just apalling. The women were all lip singing (something that became clear half way through the first number when the audio equipment broke), and doing it badly. None of them could dance, so they went through the dances as if they were exercise routines. Their breasts, of course, didn't follow.

But it was opening night and they were all so nervous and mostly I felt so sad for them. Though I still would like to see another show, and see if other vedettes look just as gross close up.

As a final note I should mention that this show, as apparently all other shows, was open to children. Suddenly it became clear as to why there are no babysitters in Argentina: people do really take their kids everywhere. In addition to the scantly clad women, the show's humor was mostly sexually explicit, but this did not dissuade many parents from bringing their kids, from age 2 or 3 onward. Now, a 2 or 3 year old would probably not understand anything, but I really didn't think the humor was appropriate for an 8 or 12 year old boy. Oh well, I guess I've become puritanized.

Mar del Plata - Day 21

It was cloudy on our first official day in Mar del Plata. Cloudy and windy. So much so that after breakfast we decided to go shopping rather than hitting the beach. We still had several things we needed to get, the most urgent of which was towels. There were none in the apartment. I can't tell you just how hard it was to find towels, we walked and walked and walked through downtown and couldn't find any store that sold them (other than a place that sold character towels for u$8, which we thought was too much). Finally, after at least an hour of walking around, we came across a general store that had them. They were thin and rough and I thought too expensive at about U$4 each, but Mike said we should get them. And really, by then we thought we wouldn't be able to find any at all. We also stocked up on other things we needed, like plastic glasses, a cheap (and I do mean extremely cheaply made) kettle, a plug for the bathtub and some other stuff I don't remember. We spent well over U$20 on this stuff!

Right after we got out we realized that there was a large Norte supermarket next door, and there we could find better towels for much cheaper (got a nice one for less than U$3), and probably all the other stuff as well. Oh well, live and learn. We did manage to get a couple of pillows there so that we could throw away the two disgusting ones we had at the apartment.

We were soooo tired by then, but managed to come back to the apartment.

We went for lunch at one of the tenedores libres near our house. Once again we had some great food for very little $ - they didn't even charge Mika. Of course, Mike did find a bandage in his food - but he doesn't seem to have gotten sick yet.

As the cloud cover moved off and it got a little less windy, we hit the beach. It was too cold to go into the water, but the girls had a pretty good time playing with the sand. Mika objected as the sand got into her eyes, however. The blowing sand made Mike miserable as well.

After a while we left and came home, showered and so forth and went down for a LOOOOONG afternoon nap. It was so long that it was around 8 pm when we collectively woke up. We went out for dinner, at another nearby tenedor libre where we had a quite pleasant dinner, Camila notwithstanding.

Mike had meant to blog that night but he was really tired, and despite our long nap we all went to sleep fairly early.

To Mar del Plata - Day 20

We arrived in Buenos Aires soon after 6 am. The kids had rested quite well. Camila, in particular, had slept very well in her seat and only woken once during the night. I, unfortunately, had great problems sleeping. It wasn't for lack of comfort, the seat was very comfy and the movement of the bus was soothing. But I think I was a tad worried about Camila half-falling in the crack between our seats (she was too big to fall there) or going flying through the air in case of a jolt. So I kept waking up and around 5 am or so I woke up for good.

We were all in such good shape when we arrived to Buenos Aires - earlier than Mike had thought - that we decided to go on and come to Mar del Plata. Our original plan had been to stop in Buenos Aires for a night - but the hassle of getting a hotel room and getting our luggage to and from it seemed greater than that of just getting in another bus. Alas, the only ones I could find for that day were semi-cama, which is their code for regular reclining seats. That didn't seem too bad when we thought the trip was just 4 hours long, but it turned out to be 6 instead! And it left 1/2 hour late to boot. Oh well, with so many people going on vacation at the same time, it's amazing the buses were not even later.

The journey to Mar del Plata was nowhere as comfortable than the journey to Buenos Aires. For one, the kids were awake. Mika once again proved to be a wonderful traveler, it helped that there was a six-year-old girl in the seat behind us, so she had a traveling companion for the trip here. But Camila as usual was fussy, uncomfortable, wanting to crawl around and put things in her mouth, and getting frustrated when we didn't let her. Still, all in all the trip wasn't too bad. It helped that Mike let me sleep for the first half while taking care of the kids, and I let him sleep for the second half. I got the better end of the deal, as Camila slept for an hour of my half, but all in all we made it to Mar del Plata in better shape than I'd had thought.

The plan here was to stay in the little apartment my mother has in the city, and which she usually rents to students in the winter and vacationers in the summer. So we stopped by my aunt's work to pick up the keys and then made it to the apartment.

We knew that the place was in pretty bad shape, though I was still hoping it was better than I'd imagined. It wasn't. The apartment itself is tiny, with a bedroom that's just large enough for the two twin beds, a night table and a dresser. The bathroom is so small that you have to go inside and close the door before you can even sit in the toilet. But the problem is not its size but that it's in real need of repairs. The whole thing needs to be repainted, the paint is peeling off in parts. The bathroom is full of mold, and the mattresses on the beds are just disgusting. It's not the type of place my mother would stay in, but we're hardier sorts.

After dropping off our stuff we headed to the beach, just to check it out. The apartment is one short block away from the beach. According to my cousin Marina the city beaches are populated by the less-well-to-do (to put it kindly) and the nicer beaches are to the south of Mar del Plata - but that's a 40-minute ride by bus (I imagine considerably less by taxi, but still too much). And if they don't get too crowded, the beaches here are good enough for us. They are very broad with thick yellow sand mixed with pieces of shells and whole shells.

Unfortunately Argentinians seem to think nothing of dropping their cigarette butts at the beach, so I've started to bring a bag where I can put all the garbage I find around us. I don't care if Camila puts sands in her mouth, but I don't want her putting cigarette butts there.

The sea itself is great. I've been at many beaches in my life, in the Pacific, the Mediterranean, the Caribbean, the Aegean, the Red Sea and the Gulf of Siam, but for sheer fun I have to say the beaches in the Buenos Aires Atlantic coast are my favorite. The problem with most sea beaches is that there are little or no waves, so that the bathing in the sea is not very different from a big lake. How fun is that? And many Pacific beaches suffer from the problem that they are either too rough to allow for safe swimming (specially with kids) or they are in quiet waves with, again, almost no wave action. The beaches here, on the other hand, offer a great compromise. There is a lot of wave action, but of limited size, with waves that break multiple times - so that kids can safely play at the edge, while adults play a little further afield. They are also devoid of disgusting seaweed.

On the bad side, Mar del Plata and much of the Atlantic coast is often too windy. We weren't planning to go to the beach that afternoon, we just wanted to check it out, but it would have been too windy to go into the water anyway. Mika wanted to do it anyway, so we went to get out feet wet, but she fell and got her clothing wet so we had to go back to the apartment for her to change.

We then went to have lunch and found that food in Mar del Plata is quite cheap, no doubt given the enormous supply built for the great summer demand. There are also plenty of tenedores libres here. We did some shopping - sand toys, sunglasses for me, a couple of books - and checked out the "human statues" in front of the Cathedral.

We've met these "human statues" at crowded spots throughout Argentina. These are usually men who dress themselves as some type of character (an Angel, a warrior, a king, and even Charlie Chaplin), and are all one-color (often golden, silver or white). Their hair, their faces, their clothing and even the stuff they have with them are painted all that color. They stay very stiff but when a kid (it's usually kids) put a coin in their box, they slowly move to greet the kid, sometimes twirl them around and sometimes even talk to them. Usually they give them a very small gift at the end. Michaela loves them, though I think she particularly enjoys the little gifts (tiny glass hearts, dice, doves, etc.). That afternoon she had to stop before the three statues at the plaza.

Meanwhile Mike got his caricature painted - you'll all get to see it when you visit us. It was quite funny. The caricaturist was quite excited about drawing his face, and indeed he drew a huge crowd while he was doing it.

They also had some gorgeous terra nova (I think) dogs at the beach. These are HUGE, black dogs, similar to golden retrievers but larger and black, that are used to rescue people from the water. They were fundraising for their rescue program. Lord, I want one of those dogs. They are just soooo beautiful.

We were really exhausted by then, so we headed back to the apartment. Almost right after we arrived my aunt and cousin Betiana came, and a little bit later on my cousin Marina arrived. We had a great time just talking and socializing for an hour or two.

After that we had planned to go to dinner but we all realized we weren't very hungry but were quite sleepy, so we all went to sleep.

Villa Carlos Paz - Day 19 (New Year's)

We took a taxi to the aerosilla but it was still closed. This was after the tourist office told us it would be open after 12pm.

So we hiked to the main street and catch a bus (3 pesos each) to Playas de Oro again.

Marga and I got in a fight about where to sit. I took Mika and Camila into the water, where we mett a bunch of young girls of 9, 11, and 13 years old - two of whom are named Michaela.

As we leave, sky darkens, storm coming.

Take taxi to aerosilla. Aerosilla starts just as we get there. Begin ride up. Ride stops as we approach the stop. Camila begins crying as something hits my chest hard. I look down and all I can tell is that it is big and white. I look around for source and then realize that hail is beginning to fall. I yell to Marga that hail is starting to come down. She and I protect the kids as best we can while we wait for the aerosilla to start again as we are pelted by hail. Mika get hits hard on her leg before I help retrieve her at the top (as the personnel tried to tell me to go away). We waited out the hailstorm and rain until blue skies appeared.

We saw some small creature chomping on grass as we hiked around the top.

Since they weren't taking photos during the hailstorm, I went back down with Mika and came back up so we could get our picture taken (5 pesos). They also put the digital image on our memory card for no extra charge - I wonder how long that will last.

We were the second group to ride the aero tren - barely worth the 4 pesos. The engine doesn't have enough power to make it up the slight incline without backing up first to get a running start. The aero tren doesn't offer much of an additional view - but if we come back when the kids are still young, we'll probably take them on it again.

A cave and a labyrinth are also somewhere at the top, but we didn't find the cave and we couldn't be bother to go the labyrinth since we had already spent two hours there.

At the bottom, we briefly argued about where we could catch a taxi. Alas, since it was January 1, there were few taxis, so we hiked to the main road. We managed to stop a remis. We had planned to take it back to the hotel and then to the bus station, but he was headed to Cordoba, so we decided to take it back to Cordoba instead of the bus - for 25 pesos. A quick stop at the hotel, after telling the driver how to get to the hotel (with me wondering if I actually could pull it off), and off to Cordoba, but first, as is common, a stop at the gas station - or in this case, the LNG station. Many vehicles here have been converted to LNG (or is it CNG) and there are plenty of stations.

Rides down the freeway can be quite entertaining with our remis going 140 kph while some cars that look like they will soon fall apart going 60 kph. And of course, no seat belts in the car work. So I'm in the front seat, while Marga is behind the driver, Camila is sleeping in the backpack in the middle, and Mika is somehow lying down behind the passenger seat. Is it safer for Marga to hold Camila in her arms? Would it matter in an accident? Oh god, how I do not want to find out.

Back in Cordoba, I hop out and grab the luggage at the hotel, where it has been sitting in an unlocked room (eek!). Fortunately, nothing seems amiss and I head back to the car. Of course, the trunk of the car doesn't open, so the suitcase goes into the front seat, while we spread the remaining luggage around, with me becoming quite intimate with the stroller in the back seat. We're glad the bus station is quite close.

It is almost midnight of the first day of 2006 as I write this from the comfort of a bus on its way to Buenos Aires. Our bus trip from Cordoba started with a somewhat frantic search for diapers on a day when most stores were closed. Fortunately, we secured some Kimbies at a store about four blocks away from the bus station.

When we finally made it to the bus, we were surprised to find that one of our seats, 36, didn't exist. At first, the Urquiza (the bus company) personnel told us that the seat was upstairs while the other two seats were downstairs. We found this unacceptable, since we specifically requested and were assigned seats close together. It turns out that the bus had been changed, so the configuration was slightly different. After Margarita had some words with the Urquiza personnel, we were given seats on the same level and in front of each other.

The bus itself is new - we can tell by the fact that everything works and the off-gassing. Like most coche cama (sleeper) buses, each row consists of two seats on the left and one on the right. However, on this bus, the seats completely recline and there is a leg support that lifts up so that you end up lying down on a completely flat surface. Blankets and pillows are provided. There are separate lights and air controls for each seat and there is a place to plug in headphones, though this wasn't working - at least at the start of the trip. There are even seat belts - and Mika is using hers. There are drink holders for each seat and a curtain can be drawn between the two adjacent seats.

There is a refrigerator and what is essentially a kitchen, but these appeared to be unused. The bathroom works and smells quite nice, thanks to the automatic dispersal of jasmine from an air freshener periodically.

If I could make some suggestions to the bus companies and the bus manufacturers:

• Make the curtains close completely. The way they are now allows light in and this is particularly annoying at toll plazas and bus stations.


• Add power outlets, as they do now on planes. Then business travelers (or anybody) could use a laptop or other electrical device without worrying about a battery. On an 10-hour bus trip, that would be a really good thing.


• Allow the arm-rests between seats to be raised. It would nice to snuggle with the person seated next to you sometimes.


• Have instructions available in a seat pocket. How else would you know that you could lie completely flat? And what is that other switch for that causes an annoying noise to be generated?


• Put curtains on the aisle row to prevent aisle passengers (1/3 of the bus) from being disturbed by other walking down the aisle - especially important if you happen to be between other passengers and the bathroom.

Villa Carlos Paz - Day 18

Growing up, I'd heard a lot about Carlos Paz. It was the alternative vacation destination to Mar del Plata and the other beach cities in the Atlantic Coast. Those plays and baudeville-type shows ("revistas") that didn't travel to Mar del Plata for the summer, would go to Carlos Paz instead. I was never too sure what people did there, but I wanted to find out. And as Carlos Paz is only 45 minutes from Córdoba, we figured it was worth it to spend a couple of days there.

Our first plan had been to rent a car and visit the different villages in the sierras - Cosquín, La Falda and in particular La Cumbre, which has become a center for paragliding and other aereal sports (you can guess who wanted to go there). But there were no cars available at any of the 6 or so car rental companies in Córdoba, so that plan was not to go. We settled for taking a minibus to Carlos Paz instead, which is really at the foothills on a pretty good road.

The town itself failed to impress us. It seems to be in need of some serious urban planning. There is a nice river that goes through town, but only a few areas around it are developed (by which I mean have grass or even a walkway). Walking from the center of town towards its giant coo-coo clock (one of the few attractions of the city) involves walking through areas without clear sidewalks, and of no interests to the tourist. Hotel spring out throughout town without any concern to location beyond just being in Carlos Paz. It does have a small downtown, so at least there is a focus and some energy, but all in all Carlos Paz itself is not really a place you go 'cause you like to hang around there.

But after we found a hotel (downtown, a pretty grimy 2-star place for $90 a night) we headed towards the "beach" by the river bed and understood why people bother coming here. It was quite nice.

The river flows slowly and without much force, the waters are pleasantly cool and quite clear, and it's shallow enough in most places for kids to play safely. On the shores there is a choice of grassy hills and man-made beaches (separated from the river by cement walls), as well as crowded pic-nic/bbq areas. For those who didn't bring their slab of beef with them, there are restaurants and cafes around. Nothing fancy, mind you, you'll find no Southern-California beach-chic here, but servisable enough. This, btw, is a description of Playa de Oro, the beach where we went to on advise of the tourist office as being good for kids, there are other beaches which I'm sure are worth checking out.

Mike and the kids had a great time playing in the water while I read a magazine outside. As usual, Camila attracted lots of attention and she was quite taken by a woman who seemed to hold her for much of their river time. Mike suspects that Camila was cold and she liked being with the woman 'cause she was holding her up in the sun. But in general, Camila is quite willing to go with strangers and pretty much anyone who pays attention to her. Usually, though, she starts squirming and complaining soon enough, but she seemed happy that time.

After the beach we tried to go to the Aerosilla, which takes you to the top of a hill from which you can have a nice view of Carlos Paz. According to Lonely Planet, everyone in Argentina has a picture of themselves in that aerosilla (and I'm pretty sure my mom has one too) so it seemed like something that needs to be done while in Carlos Paz. We like doing terribly touristy things from time to time. But alas, it was closed. New Year's Eve and all that. The nearby Casper's house (something for kids in celebration of the cartoon ghost) was also closed, so our only choice was to head to the coo-coo clock. We took a picture with it, but I can see why the Lonely Planet guys think so little of it.

We walked back to the hotel, passing by downtown and trying these great alfajores called La Quinta. For those of you who have been uninitiated, alfajores are one of the best Argentine culinary inventions. In reality, they are just glorified cookey sandwiches, with two cakey-cookies around a thick filling. When that filling is jam of some kind, the alfajores are less than impressive IMHO at least. But when it's dulce de leche, and a particularly good dulce de leche, they can be delicious. Many of the older provinces seem to have their own type of alfajores (Patagonia, being only settled by white people after the extermination of the indigenous people in the very late 19th and early 20th centuries, doesn't really have much in the way of culinary traditions of its own). Those from the Northwest (Salta, Jujuy, Tucumán) consisted of smallish, flakey cookies covered in some sugar bath, and while we tried them over and over they failed to impress us. But the ones from Córdoba are another matter altogether. The cookies are firmer than the usual commercial cookies, though softer than the maisena cookies they resemble. But what really makes them star are the rich, thick layer of dulce de leche. Those at La Quinta were particularly yummy. La Quinta also had a Santa Fe alfajor that was absolutely delicious. We swore to go back there for more, but alas the next morning it was closed and then we didn't have the opportunity. For some devilish reason it seemed to be the only brand of alfajores not available at the many kiosks selling such things at the Córdoba bus station.

After some down time, a nap, some showers and so forth, we were ready for our new year celebration.

We headed across the river from our hotel and found several street-side restaurants where we could have dinner. We chose one that looked particularly nice and that had the added advantage of having frogs playing around its front "garden". Mika and her daddy (and later a little boy eating at a nearby table) had a blast playing with the frogs, chasing them, trying to touch them, looking for them, etc. We all enjoyed seeing people go by and jump of fright or surprise as they came across one of the frogs on the sidewalk.

It was well past 9 o'clock but we were the first people in the restaurant. It offered a fixed menu for $25 each - which included a picada, a bife de chorizo and an ice cream desert. We accompanied that with some champagne (didn't ask the price but it ended up being around $25, it tasted cheap but I'm not picky champagne-wise) and all in all had a pretty good New Year's Eve, Camila's whining nonwithstanding.

It was about 11 when we headed home. Camila and I went immediately to bed, while Mike took Mika to light some fireworks they'd bought. Poor Mike, throughout our whole trip here he'd been tempted by the many fireworks available for sale at practically every street corner (lighting fireworks is a popular way of greeting Christmas and New Years in Argentina), but he had to limit himself to buying a few small ones. In any case, they made it back and into bed before midnight, and we all greeted the new year sleeping.

Córdoba - Day 17

We woke up relatively early that Friday, but between showers, breakfast and what have you, we didn't get out of the hotel until past 11 am. Then we spent over an hour at a nearby pharmacy trying to get Mike's medicine (he had been unable to bring as much as he needed for our whole vacation, fortunately his medicine was available in Argentina at little more than the co-pay he pays for it back home) before heading towards the famed Jesuit buildings. But once again, it was too late to visit them. We did get a quick look at their church, but a mass was going on so we didn't linger. We got to look at the patio of the University of Córdoba, but the museum was closed, as was the Montserrat school, one of the first secondary schools built in the continent. Oh well, it was just not to be.

So after stopping to get me another pair of sunglasses and a hat for Mika we returned to the hotel where we had lunch and Mike played around in the computer while we attempted an afternoon nap.

In the afternoon we went to the zoo, which was built a long time ago and still kept animals in little cages. It was quite sad for the animals, but Mike did get to see a couple of animals he hadn't seen before, such as a yacaré (a small alligator), a yarará snake (one of the our deadliest) and dwarf ñandúes. Both girls seemed to enjoy themselves.

After the zoo we went to the bus station to buy tickets for Buenos Aires. Unfortunately we couldn't find suite class tickets until Jan. 5th, so we had to settle for "coche cama". The ticket vendor assured us that the coche camas to Buenos Aires were better than those from Tucumán.

We tried to have dinner at the bus station but we couldn't find any restaurants (I don't know why, the second floor is filled with them) so we headed back to the hotel, where I had a little breakdown when I discovered that I'd lost a $50 bill! Since then we've made a point of my having transfer all my $ to Mike immediately. We got some pizza and empanadas at a nearby take-out place (though we still had to wait forever for them to be ready) and then ate them at our hotel before turning in for the night.

Córdoba - Day 16

Ask any Cordobés and he'll tell you that Córdoba is Argentina's second city. I'm not sure if that's in terms of importance, population or sheer size but I do know that Rosario, in nearby Santa Fe province, disputes that title. But there is little doubt that Córdoba is a city proud of itself, with people who see themselves as Cordobeses as much as Argentinians and who, due to their very characteristic accent, can be recognized as such by anyone. Córdoba is one of the oldest cities in Argentina and home to its oldest university. Perhaps for that reason we've found it to be one of the most progressive - with laws prohibiting smoking in public places (fines to be imposed as of 2006) and mandating the wearing of seat belts in the front seats of cars.

I'd heard about Córdoba all my life, of course, but I had never visited. That is somewhat surprising as, as a child, I'd been to many parts of the country (the Cuyo area, Patagonia, large parts of Buenos Aires province and the Mesopotamia) and the Córdoba hills (here called sierras) are a very popular vacation spot. In any case, I was curious so I decided to break our journey from Tucumán by stopping there for a couple of days. The other possibility had been Mendoza and the Cuyo area, but I heard so many wonderful things about that region from so many different travelers that I decided to save it for a later trip.

Córdoba itself was less exciting that I expected it. Part of the problem is its sheer size, Argentine cities seldom grow well. I imagine that's because they expand as needed, as more people, mostly poor, move in and build cheap housing on the outskirts which later becomes incorporated into the city. The need for cheap housing is probably what leads to the building of ugly apartment buildings, resulting in a city that looks scattered and not esthetically pleasing. Though, again, Córdoba is not alone in this.

We started our first day in Córdoba by having a fight over the baggage claim tickets at the bus station. It got so heated that the guy in charge of collecting them scurried away long before we were done. A good thing, all in all, as we never found the tickets.

Finally we made up enough to get into a taxi and head towards the hotel. It was called the Victoria Hotel and it was located in downtown Córdoba, a couple of blocks away from the central plaza in a peatonal, or a street closed to car traffic. The hotel had been recommended in Trip Advisor, and it turned out to be OK, but it was older and with simpler rooms that we'd have liked. We almost never fail to be disappointed with the quality of Argentine hotels - specially given their prices and the starts they are given. But we're probably too demanding. Our room at the Victoria Hotel (U$33) was adequate, it had a double bed, a single bed, a TV, a table with two chairs and a large bathroom, which lacked a shower curtain but made up for it with a squeeshe. It didn't have AC but the ceiling fan proved adequate. It was a very simple room, and the window looked into an internal wall, but it turned out to be comfortable enough during our stay.

We spent most of our first morning in Córdoba sleeping - we were all exhausted after that bus trip. We got out around 11:30 and walked up the peatonal, stopping at a streetside (or rather street middle) cafe for some drinks and a tostado de queso, a grilled cheese sandwich for Mika. She often orders them when she's hungry in the middle of the day, but she seldom actually eats them.

After that we went to the tourist office, in the old cabildo building at the plaza. The woman working there was very helpful in pointing out what to do in Córdoba with kids - they even had a children's museum, though we didn't actually ended up going. We tried to go and visit some of the Jesuit buildings - but they were closed by then, so we had lunch at a somewhat health food restaurant called Mandarinas. They make their own delicious bread, and Mike had a sandwich on homemade spinach bread with grilled chicken and other goodies which was quite good, specially as it tasted quite different from most Argentine food. I had some gnocchi with four cheeses sauce which were good too. We had some ice cream on the way back, of course. Argentine ice cream is very, very good - specially their dulce de leche ice cream - so we seldom go a day without having some. I do tend to order the smallest cup available so I won't feel guilty getting some later in the day.

Back at the hotel Mike checked their internet connection, though as our server back home was down there wasn't much we could do yet, and then we all went down for a long afternoon nap. Usually I'm not very good at taking naps, but I guess I'm generally sleep deprived as while I've been here I've been taking naps almost every day. Of course, the cities tend to be dead between 1 pm and 3:30 pm so there isn't much else to do most days.

After our nap we hurried back downtown to take the city tour which I thought was leaving at 5 pm. I was wrong by an hour, however, so we checked out the Cathedral and were going to check out other of those famed Jesuit buildings when we were caught by a rain storm. Fortunately we were under a roof when the rain hit - it came down very fast - so we avoided getting wet, and as we were right next to a cafe we had more drinks and anoter tostado while we waited for it to subside.

We made it to our city tour in time, though we had to travel at the bottom of the bus as it was still raining. The tour was quite interesting in that we got to find about Córdobas most important buildings, its history and so forth. We visited the main Franciscan/Capuchin church, built in a neo-gothic style, and once again I was amazed at how beautiful and ritzy it was. I don't quite understand why the Franciscans, of all denominations, who are supposed to take a vow of poverty and be somewhat detached from the materiality of this world, have such ostentatious churches. I'll have to ask a Franciscan when I see one.

Among the tour participants there was a family from Bolivia with a 5 year old daughter, named Nicole. Mika instantly took to her and the two girls spent the whole tour playing together. Mika had such a great time, at one point she came and said to me "that kid is very cool". Alas, we had to depart at the end and not see her again. It's very clear that Mika misses playing with kids a lot, unfortunately we haven't come across as many as I'd wish. Mika is really feeling it.

We had wanted to have dinner at our hotel, but it didn't serve dinner, so after settling down I went out to get something to eat. It was then that we found out that Córdobas city center is completely deserted at night. Clearly the dining scene has moved to other places. After walking around town, I ended up getting some food at the restaurant by our hotel. Of course, that meant I had to wait for it to be ready, and then we didn't have any silverwear so we had to eat the food with our hands. Oh well, it could have been worse.

We all slept reasonably well that night, Mike, who was without children, in particular.

Tucumán - Day 15

I had one reason to go to Tucumán, and one reason only: to see la casita de Tucumán, the not-so-little house where Argentina's independence was signed in 1816. I'm not particularly sentimental about historical places, and I know little enough about Argentine history (or US history for that matter) to realize that I have no idea at all what independence actually meant, and whether it was ultimately worth the cost. As I grow older I find that I think fewer and fewer causes are worth the lives and suffering of so many people. But still, I grew up drawing (badly)that historical house year after year, and I figured it was worth seeing it and crossing it off my list.

Once again, it took us quite a while to get out of the hotel that Wednesday morning (I'm personally very quick to get ready, but Mika and her namesake are slow as turtles), but after another bad breakfast (this one without even real OJ; at four-star prices, it's the least they could have done) we headed out towards the casa, which was conveniently located a couple of blocks from the hotel and has now been turned into a museum.

It was a bit, OK, a huge disappointment, to realize that the original casa, the one I'd gone to see, had actually been destroyed over a century before and the one before us was a building built in its place by the federal government some years afterwards. Only the large room where independence was actually signed was kept intact. Fortunately the museum included some pictures taken by a European photographer in the 1860's which showed how the house looked then - extremely sad and run down but otherwise just like in the drawings. We chose not to take a guided tour of the house, as Mike's Spanish was not up to par, though now I kind of regret it as I ended up my tour of the house with as many questions as I started. Why did Argentina rebel from Spain? Why did it take them six years to declare independence? How were the deputies for each of the provinces chosen? How were the armies who fought the Spaniards recruited? And didn't anyone think it was kind of ironic that the government was using its own slaves to repair the house where independence was going to be signed to the tune of freedom? If anyone reading this can recommend a good history book that'd answer these questions, by all means do so.

So we toured the house, did some shopping at the gift shop and the stalls around there, and then set off to the shopping area in downtown Tucumán in search of a place to have our nails done. I have to say that I'm impressed at how large the shopping area in downtown Tucumán is, and how extremely busy it was that Wednesday morning. Mike wondered how come all those people were shopping rather than working, and I didn't have a good answer for him. But certainly the Tucumán, if not Argentine, consumer economy seemed to be in full-swing there. Once again I was surprised by the sheer number of stores selling toys, party supplies and other relatively expensive, non-essential items. Whoever said the Argentine middle class is dead has not taken a good look at the businesses it's supporting. It's amazing to me that any city with half a million inhabitants can support so many stores of those kinds - and keep in mind that those were just the ones downtown, there are also huge mega-malls on the outskirts as well as stores in all neighborhoods.

Well, it may be that the $ spent on paper plays and barbies is what would otherwise be spent to fix the sidewalks, keep houses painted and so on. For Tucumán, even more than other Argentine cities we visited, looked pretty grim all in all. The whole city (save for the façades of some old and important buildings around downtown and the gorgeous Municipal building) seemed to need in need of some upkeeping. Grant you, humidity - and Tucumán is a very humid city - is very hard on buildings of all kinds, and San Leandro is probably looks worse all in all, but we just didn't like Tucumán that much. We did appreciate the number of bookstores there are around downtown, though, we even briefly stopped in one that had a cafe for some drinks, but I figured I'd leave all my book shopping for Buenos Aires.

We walked and walked and walked through downtown until Mika was really tired without any sight of a salon, but we finally found one on our way back to the hotel. Everyone there was pretty amused that Mika wanted to get her nails done, but they graciously complied and Mika behaved quite well through the whole operation. She also looked terribly cute - and with her blond hair was a rarity in Tucumán. She's also been wearing one of those decorated braids that hang from the hair, so she's looking pretty hip. She was quite happy with her nail job and the pink nails that ensured. I do hope this is not going to become a habit, I have no problem spending U$3 here to get her nails done, but wouldn't want to have to spend U$15 back home for it.

Alas, we had to hurry out of the store once she was done as we had to pack and get out of the hotel by 2PM.

After we did that, we went out for lunch. I'd seen a restaurant that had a slide in front the previous evening and figured it'd be the perfect place for lunch. It turned out to be a tenedor libre or buffet, so so much the better. During our previous trip we'd seen tons of tenedores libres all over the place and had eaten at them quite often. This time, however, we hadn't seen any at all so it was pretty exciting to find one. Unlike US buffets, Argentine tenedores libres actually serve good food at incredibly cheap prices. Here we feasted on asado, chorizo, milanesa, fried fish, baked chicken, potato croquettes, fries, fresh fruit and desserts all for less than U$3 each. The whole meal, including four sodas and one water, came to U$11. Mika had a very good time at the slide as well. Camila, as usual, was difficult. She wants to get out, but she's at the age where she puts everything in her mouth and you wouldn't believe how many things there are for her to find around. At this place (Splendid), there were large potted plants with little stones covering the dirt. Yummy!

After lunch, we tried to go to the science museum, where they were supposed to have life-size replicas of dinosaur skeletons, but it was closed for repairs, so we headed to the sugar industry museum instead. The whole Tucumán economy is based on sugar cane and we figured we'd never had the opportunity to see a sugar cane museum again. Unfortunately, this was the lamest museum in the history of all museums, and gave us absolutely no insight into how sugar is, was or will be produced. At least it was free.

After stopping at a nearby confiteria so Mika could go potty (and play in the playground), we headed back into town (Mike on foot with a sleeping Camila, us by taxi).

After a brief visit to the supermarket for supplies for that evening's bus journey, we hung out in the plaza for a little bit. Mika delighted us with her homemade songs and we enjoyed the people watching. Soon enough it was time for the sound and light show at the casa de Tucumán. This was hokey but quite cool and it did kill an hour. Mika fell asleep but Camila didn't, so keeping her quiet and in place was a challenge. But it was quite fun and both Mike and I enjoyed it.

Some dinner and a taxi journey afterwards, we were on a bus heading out of Tucumán towards Cordoba.

The bus (belonging to the Urquiza company - which we'll take again to Buenos Aires) was not as nice or as comfortable as AndesMar, the bus we'd taken to Tucumán, a fact that didn't make me happy. Still, I think the journey could have been comfortable enough if it wasn't for having to sleep with Camila in our arms - the seats weren't wide enough to have her beside us. She did wake up many times and Mike, in particular, was quite miserable. But alas, we made it.