Photo Bloopers #2

A failed Titanic moment.

I never expected the photo blooper post to have so much success!  I guess it is time to get back at my lovely wife with this failed attempt at acrobatics aboard the ferry from Buenos Aires to Colonia.  Apparently "somebody" doesn't know how to jump straight up in the air and leaped to the right!

Natalia and the Police.

Just as the title says, Nati just loves messing with police vehicles, I just hope I never find her inside one.  As you all may remember from THIS post, we were leaving a restaurant and sure enough there was a police car outside.  Well here she is again in Recoleta trying to open the "popo's" ride.

Simultaneous Vacation.

After a couple of weeks in Buenos Aires, Natalia and I parted ways as I was headed back to Dallas for my last week of work.  Luckily I didn't have the same issues we had with the flight on the way in.  I arrived in Dallas on Sunday and was ready for work the next day.

I walked into the office and as we had a meeting that morning, I informed the boss that my contract ended that coming Friday and it would be my last day.  I will spare you all his reaction.  I worked for one more week and prepared to head out to Alaska.

Cell phone photo but here is what the bike was looking like when I was loading it up.









As I have already posted most of the trip on my other blog, Another Irregular Trip, I will only summarize here and add some photos from the highlights.

One of my first stops was the Crazy Horse Memorial in South Dakota.  I doubt we'll ever see it finished, but at least I got to see the face.

The next stop was Mount Rushmore.  Not as impressive as Crazy Horse, but still worth checking off of the list.  Quite a bit more touristy as well, especially being the 4th of July weekend it was packed with tourists.



While still in South Dakota, I figured I would stop in Sturgis, home of the famous motorcycle rally.  I have never been to the rally, but have seen pictures and video.  Interesting to see the streets empty this time around.

Skipping ahead a bit, this was taken right as I crossed the border into Canada.

"The beginning" of the journey.  After riding through a pretty heavy storm for two days, I made it to the beginning of the Alaska Highway.

Entering the Yukon Territory.  Some of the worst road I've been on (for this bike anyway).

And finally made it to the Arctic Circle!

The map of the route.  I only made it back to Portland, OR as I started having trouble with the motorcycle and decided to play it safe.  I flew back to Dallas and had the bike shipped (It should be here any day now).

A Three Stars Hotel (Trip to Uruguay 3)

After the excitement faded of, it was time to rest.  Remember our hostel situation? Our last minute booked hotel, offered the following:

1.      Internet connection only in certain corners of the room.

2.      “Vintage” accommodations, with a strong 70’s vibe. Complete with flowery, bright pink covers, and “retro” furniture.

3.      Missing buttons remote control, which I solved pushing inside the holes with a pen or bobby pin. Other buttons didn’t work.  To change the channel you could only go down.

4.      The bathrooms have had some fixing done, and it showed….  Just not in a positive way.

5.      Water had no pressure. What came out of the shower was a coooold drizzle. Taking a shower was a torture. 

This was supposed to be a 3 stars hotel?  Hostels seemed better, and were half price!  We were annoyed.  Our pockets were sore…..*sigh*



Our room.  No internet on this corner.



To be fair, I have seen worse. There were some positives:

1. Hotel was conveniently located, close to shops, restaurants, and historic quarter.
2. Our room had a great view.
3. The heater was working! The remote had to be held directly in front of the unit, but we slept in a warm room.
4. Breakfast was included.

Nope, it just does not balance things out.  It was too expensive for what they offered.

We were the only ones in the dinning area next morning.  I was wondering what we were going to do that day and the next one. After all, we had seen most of the town main attractions.  While silently eating our barely average breakfast, Jose Luis proposed to… leave. We cancelled our reservation for the second night, and turned in the remote control, the keys, and an electrical converter to the person at the front desk. No questions asked.  That small, white rental car we got immediately after was an instant mood fixer.  No more silence, just laughter and excitement. See you later Colonia!

Mood Fixer

Railway Awesomeness

Going through the photos from our recent trip to Buenos Aires, I came across this one.  We were about 15 feet away from witnessing a taxi cab being struck by a train!

Pictures!

It is hard to describe Recoleta's Cemetery.  You have to see it, or at least, see some pictures.  Enjoy.

Party in the sky

A scene from the party.

We were back on the plane.   After so many hours in the same space, sharing the same bathrooms, walking the same hallways, making the same long lines, going to the same hotel, all of the passengers kind of became familiar with each other.   As we greeted our neighbors, others were talking about the news and trying to be positive about reaching our final destination.   Many passengers were chatting.  Everyone sat quickly, and seemed ready to get this over with.  We had, hopefully, 5 more hours of flight.

The plane took off.  There was no entertainment this time, due to the flight being an irregular one.  I decided to listen to music.   Jose Luis was busy on his computer.  The chatter became louder, as well as their laughter.  I looked.   A group of passengers were visiting.  It seemed they were having fun.  I saw one of them reaching for their luggage.  To my surprise, it was a guitar!  Sure enough, they started singing!

This shameless “serenata” got many of us out of our seats.  Children and grownups clapped, sang along, requested songs, and laughed.  Some of them even walked around singing La Bamba!  Some of the flight attendants joined for a while.  As one of them said, it was a “party in the sky”.  It was only when we were about to land that we went back to our seats!   Everyone clapped when the captain announced, “welcome to Buenos Aires”.

Lima, Peru - Natalia's view.

Our plane got delayed one more day due to volcanic ash.  After waiting in Bolivia for some time, we flew back to Lima.  That meant about 3 more hours on the plane, plus waiting at the airport trying to find out how the airline was going to handle 200 passengers stuck in a city they were not traveling to.  Everyone was exhausted!

It was about 1am when we arrived to the designated hotel, The Ibis in Miraflores.   Every single person in the hotel was extremely patient and welcoming. They smiled, fed and accommodated a huge group of tired travelers.   Impressive.

Next morning, having time to kill before our afternoon flight, we decided to walk around.  Miraflores’ streets looked busy.  People walking, businesses were open, street vendors and heavy traffic.  El Parque Central was colorful thanks to the gardens placed around the plaza.  Not far from there, we saw another park, this one facing the Pacific Ocean.   This second park is part of a tiny mall, so we decided to try some Peruvian food.  The ceviche was outstanding.

Maybe it was the breathtaking sight, the sound of the waves or the crisp air.  Maybe it was the delicious food, or the kindness of Peruvians, but all tensions were gone.   We got a good taste of Peru, and now we plan to come back for more. 

We were back at the airport at 2:30 pm.  If all goes as planned, we will land in Buenos Aires close to midnight.

Lima, Peru - Jose Luis' view.

Tuesday, June 14th

We landed last night in Lima, Peru.  Three days pretty much gone to waste on an already short vacation.  I felt like Tom Arnold on Soul Plane (You won't know unless you've seen it).  I'll post pictures later.  Anyway, we managed to get off of the plane fairly quickly and headed to the terminal.  American Airlines had no idea that we would be arriving and only had one person working the counter to set us up with a taxi and hotel room for the night.  Luckily we were very close to the front of the line as there was only one employee working the counter.

We got our vouchers, got in the cab and headed to the hotel.  We got a few tips from and old woman who rode in the shuttle with us, and contradicting advice from a younger woman who confirmed what every traveler should already know:  there is crime everywhere, just needs to be aware of one's surroundings.  The older woman said that we must not read the newspapers.  "People get killed over sneakers."

We arrive at Hotel Ibis, highly recommended.  It's a new hotel, they were actually in their "soft opening" so the staff was extremely helpful.  I hope it stays that way as the hotel was really nice.  The room was small, but it had what we needed.  Did I mention in an earlier post to remember Peru is on 220v?  The hotel staff let us borrow the only converter they had so we could charge our devices.

I had a pretty good ham and cheese sandwich that night, saw a little TV and went to sleep.  Woke up around eight so we could head down for breakfast.  Buffette as usual, not bad at all.  They also offered us free lunch, but we decided to try out one of the restaurants/tourist traps by the coast.  We both had ceviche, which was really good and the fresheshestest.

We walked through the city, not too far from the hotel as we needed to make it back to the hotel where they would take us back to the airport.  2PM.  Sure enough, another line.  We got our boarding passes and headed to the "soul plane".  It took off pretty fast, short taxi and we were in the air (still are, I guess as I'm writing this on the plane).

I am not too religious, but I pray that we can finally land in Buenos Aires, book a hotel, get some rest and start our vacation.  I also need to continue planning next month's trip to Alaska.  That will be interesting as well.

Volcanoes and things.

Monday, June 13
So our flight was delayed.  We woke up at around 4:00AM to get to the airport by 5 as the flight was now scheduled for 7:00AM.  While Natalia was taking a shower, "smartness" kicked in and I decided to check the flight status online.  Delayed again, to 7:45PM on Monday!  Another day lost!  Of course I called the airline just to be sure, and they said that the information on the website was incorrect.  The flight was still scheduled for 7:00AM.

We arrived at the airport and luckily there was no line at the counter or through security.  But sure enough once we got to our gate all the people from our flight were there.  And a few minutes later the airline announced that the flight would not be leaving at 7:00 but 7:45.  Not too bad, only that most of the restaurants at the airport weren't open yet.  Coffee it is.

Once they started boarding the plane, I noticed something that not even "my people" do:  hoards of Argentinians crowding the gate.  Really!?  Like you're not going to get on.  Staff had to ask them to move out of the way to let 1st class board.  They litteraly took 3 steps to the side, all at once.  At least they are coordinated.  So off we go to board when they call our group, pushing through the crowd.
Once seated on the plane, the lady behind us felt like she needed to spray herself with perfume, I can only assume that she might have not showered that morning.  And to counteract that pungent aroma, the one in front of us felt that flatulence was required.

Breakfast was a lousy piece of bread, yoghurt and OJ, looks like we might not be having lunch, so we'll have to wait for another "feast" a few hours before we land.
On the upside, we are finally in the air and I was able to get some work done.  Nothing like maximizing airtime.  Time for a nap.

Off we go.

And sure enough.  Lunch was provided.  Tasty chicken with mashed potatoes.  But now the flight has been redirected and at 5:30PM CST, we are sitting on the runway in Santa Cruz, Bolivia.  30 to 45 minutes to refuel and decide where they will be taking us next.  I'm hoping they don't, and we get set up for the night here in Bolivia.  I could definitely use this time to gather my thoughts and plan the next move.  We still have no place to stay in Buenos Aires, we put off making a reservation for this same reason.  We have no idea when we will get there.  It seems that by the time that we do arrive, I'll just have to ask the pilot to turn the plane around and take me back home, I need to show up at work.

N: I ask myself if in siutations like these in which we are all pretty much stuck in this tight space, tired, with a pain in the coochini, and a little bit hungry, if it si appropriate to discipline other people's children.  Sigh...

JL:  I say yes.  Especially when the parents are just as bad.  Why is everybody complaining? The lady behind us apparently knows exactly what the pilot should do, and where he should take us.  Why dare they land here in this aweful place?  They could at least have taken us to Ecuador which is much nicer.  LADY!!  IT'S 9:00PM HERE!!  THERE IS NOTHING TO SEE!!

I've come to learn that I can only tolerate Argentinians in small doses.  I am indeed, as my wife calls me, a "Pelioneer".

I declare shenanigans!

We're back home.  We were about to enter the Park n' Fly near the airport when I decided to check the flight status.  CANCELED!  Now we have to wait until 7AM tomorrow morning to leave.  One day gone to waste.  As we were driving away from the airport, the airline called to "inform us" of the flight status.  I guess I should have at least gotten a hotel room out of them.  Too late now.

News Update

So far nothing new in the news.  Nobody can either confirm nor deny if we'll be able to get on a plane heading south.  I still haven't packed, but I guess I need to get to it now, if anything to go sit in an airport playing scrabble with my lovely wife, until they decide to call us over the intercom announcing that they are only waiting for us to take off.

And the parking situation has not been decided yet.  Either shell out $150+ to park in an enclosed location such as The Parking Spot or the Park n' Fly, or pay half of that to leave it exposed outside of a hotel near the airport. Shenanigans.

Off to pack it is then.

And we're off!

Well, it is a done deal.  We are off to Buenos Aires in a few days and will be updating the blog more frequently with photos, reviews, and other random information from our travels abroad.  If there is anything that you would like reviewed while we are over there, send us a message and we will try to check it out.

Saludos

A change in plans.

Looks like the whole visa thing for Spain did not pan out.  We ran out of time & there is no way we'll get it in time to make the trip.  So Argentina it is!  The upside is that it will be less expensive than traveling to Europe, and we can visit Uruguay (which was one of our original choices) while we are down there.

Dates are still set for June 10 through June 24.  Then it's Alaska in July on the motorcycle! Follow me ad Howler on our journey here:

Irregulars

Natalia will stay in South America, more than likely in beautiful Colombia!