Buenos Aires, Argentina

We finally slowed down and stayed over two weeks in Buenos Aires. It was such a welcome change of pace. One of Merritt´s best friends, Grant was on tour in the U.S. and he graciously let us stay at his apartment/office while he was away. We enjoyed the simple things like cooking a meal, renting a dvd, and having a homebase. His companies Zizek and http://www.whatsupbuenosaires.com/ were bustling during the day and we got to meet the fantastic group he works with as well as his neighbor Eduardo who took us on two great tours around Buenos Aires. There´s nothing like going out with a local born and raised in B.A. On a Sunday afternoon he took us to the Feria de Matederos, a cool festival with tango and folklorico performances, local food, tons of crafts for sale, and then a gaucho competition. The guachos (cowboys) ride down at full speed and then try and put a pin through a hoop above a platform, they range from young boys to old men. Everyday was different, we toured around the city seeing the sights and went to two awesome music shows, one a percussion ensemble and the other a 5 piece band with stand up base, horns, and cool harmonies. Other fun activities were tango lessons and a Milonga (local people dancing Tango), an earth day music festival in a lovely park, Puerto Madero - a neat port area with restaurants, La Boca (area of town painted bright colors), neat museums, and a local food market that´s been around since 1900.

Then after a week at Grant´s place we had some visitors! We moved in to an amazing apartment in Palermo Soho (a very hip area) with Mom and Dad Lamar and Hayley and Alexandra came too! The five us took over the town, stumbling upon a huge Labor Day parade/protest, eating delicious steak dinners, learning to Tango, touring ritzy Recoleta and the famous cemetary where Evita is buried, and the fun San Telmo Fair. It was so nice to see familiar faces and there were lots of laughs as we hung out on the roof top terrace of our amazing apartment! We were blessed with perfect weather during their visit and we took full advantage of walking around the streets of B.A. Our family and friends then took off on their own journeys and Grant arrrived back to B.A. from his music tour. Merritt cooked up a yummy steak dinner with blue cheese gnocchi and grilled veggies and we had a dinner party at Grant´s friend Anna´s place. Merritt then stayed an extra night longer than me to see Grant DJ into the wee hours of the morning at the weekly Zizek Show. It was the first time Merritt and I have been seperated for longer than a few hours in almost 5 months, wow! Our time in Buenos Aires was memorable and we hope to return again someday.

Birthday in Mendoza, Argentina

Wow! What a great way to spend your 28th birthday. Merritt and I arrived at Hostel Damajuana in Mendoza, Argentina and promptly went to lay out by the pool for a perfectly sunny day! That night the hostel hosted an Asado or Barbeque and about 35 of us all sat down to a HUGE meat grill, salad, wine and bread. At midnight we were talking to some girls from Iceland and and I told them it was my birthday and the whole table starting singing me Happy Birthday in English, how nice. We got up super early on my birthday for a full day of adventure. Originally, our plan was to kayak and zipline but when we arrived they said we didn't have enough kayak experience for rapids. So we quickly changed our plan and headed out to whitewater raft on the Rio Mendoza. This was the slow season for the river but it was VERY fast and Merritt and I were in front which made for a wet ride. Somehow I always ended up getting hit by all the rapids and by the end I was practically drenched, which he thought was pretty funny. It was a blast and very different from our last experience in Chile but equally as fun. We returned to Rafting Argentina's headquarters and sat out in the sun overlooking the lakes and mountains and enjoyed a huge lunch. Then it was off to part two, ziplining across the lake. We went on 6 huge cables way up high that stretched on for what seemed forever. The last one was the longest and best and as I looked out at the aqua waters and the sun starting to dip over the mountains all I could think was, this is the way to spend a birthday! That night we went out for some Mexican food (hard to find here) and ordered fajitas that were great but the tortillas were questionable, ah how we miss Texas. The waiter surprised me with a margarita as big as my head and I was lucky to even finish half of it. Merritt also took me out for 4 enormous pieces of cake, chocolate, cheesecake, and mil hojas. We ate a couple slices that night and then the next day when we peaked in the fridge half of it was gone! Oh well, that's hostel life with a shared fridge. The next few days we visited the huge San Martin park, lovely plazas, and more time poolside. On our last day we went to an amazing winery for lunch called Ruca Malen in a town called Lujan right outside of Mendoza. We had a six course meal and I had mine paired with different amazing wines for every course. It was delicious and we spent the rest of the afternoon strolling around the vineyards. Our 5 days in Mendoza were very relaxing as well as adventurous and just what we needed.