10K run and Mataderos Market

Blake and I participated in a 10K run around the port region of Buenos Aires near our apartment. The run supported the Italian Hospital and raised money for children with cancer. Later that day we went to a famous market on the edge of the city called the Feria Mataderos. It is located in a neighborhood called "Nueva Chicago" because there are a lot of slaughterhouses there for all the cattle (named after Chicago in the U.S.). The market had live music, traditional dance classes, food stands, lots of artisans, and gaucho races. The gauchos (Argentine cowboys) rode their horses full speed down a street covered in sand and tried to put a small stick through a ring (the size of a bottle cap). If they got the stick in the ring it would release from the string hanging on a support above them and everyone would cheer. It was really entertaining. The gauchos ranged in age from about 14-older and were dressed in very traditional clothing. We are headed back to the states for a brief time to see our families. We will be back again in January until the end of June.

Wineries

We spent a day traveling through wine country and visited two wineries for tours and a third one for dinner. We started by visiting a family-owned, boutique winery called Roberto Bonfanti. The 2 Bonfanti sons run the winery and gave us an incredibly detailed tour of the vineyard, the cellar, and the fermentation rooms. The entire tour was spoken in Spanish and we followed pretty well. We had to stop periodically to translate in English and make sure we knew what was going on. They spent a long time explaining how to properly pour, see, swirl, smell, and taste the wine. We bought some of their Malbec and Cabernet Sauvignon. Their entire production is done by hand including putting the labels on the bottles, corking them, and wrapping them individually in tissue paper. They were very proud of their product. They only sell by word-of-mouth and therefore not through distributors or restaurants. The second winery we visited was a large production company called Norton. It is a mass producer of wine distributed around the world. It has an incredible view of the Andes and excellent estate, one of the oldest in Mendoza. We took a tour, this time in English, of their facilities and had a tasting at the end. We bought one of their special wines made from the grapes picked at that location called Perdriel. They have many vineyards around the Mendoza area and now in China. We had dinner at another large winery called Tapiz in the evening.

Puente del Incas

Along the way we stopped at one of the most impressive sights, Puente del Incas (Bridge of the Incas). This is a naturally forming bridge over a rushing river that is constantly changing because it is a series of sulfur springs--you can see from the coloration (orange, browns, and yellows). We were not permitted to cross the land bridge but could see a lot from across the canyon. There was a hotel built under the bridge in the early part of the 20th century, that is no longer functional. You can see where the sulfur has covered entire sections of it. While we were there, the company NIKE was in the process of filming a new commercial. There were about 40 horses and an army of men dressed in "Civil War"-looking uniforms. They repeatedly filmed them running across the old train tracks as if they were chasing someone. Watch for the commercial sometime in the U.S. We traveled almost all the way to the Chilean border and then turned around. In order to cross at that point you have to set up an appointment in the town prior to arriving and pay $100.00 US dollars fee/each to enter the country.

Through the Andes toward Chile

We spent a day in our rental car driving on a very picturesque road through the Andes Mountains toward the Chilean border. There were a lot of colors in the mountains and several unique stops along the way. We were especially fascinated by an old passenger train track that had metal/tin tunnels built around it. They were originally there to protect from the immense amount of snow and ice and to prevent rocks (that fell from the mountain sides) from blocking the tracks. Unfortunately the plan didn't work, because the tin tunnels were destroyed and barely standing in many places. There was still 3-4 feet of snow inside of them. On the road we traveled we got much closer to the highest point of the Andes, Aconcagua--but only about 2,900 meters. Sadly, there is a cemetery along the way where people who attempted to climb to the top have been buried.

Mendoza

We traveled with Roger and Debbie to the "wine region" of Argentina. We took a bus for 14 hours across Argentina toward the Andes Mountains. We stayed in a beautiful guest-house on a property called Casas Glebinas, shown in the picture. It was located in a small wine-making town called Chacras de Cobria. The casa had 2 baths and 2 bedrooms and all original pieces of artwork. The property had a total of 5 homes, 3 of which they presently rent out to guests, and it had wonderful gardens and a swimming pool. Mendoza is lined on the west by the Andes Mountains and is located in the shadow of the highest point called Aconcagua at 6,959 meters above sea level. The city of Mendoza is filled with tree-lined streets that form a canopy over everything. The flowers were in bloom, so the city and its large park were very green. We got a recommendation for dinner one evening from the owners of our guest-house. The set up a reservation for us at an incredible restaurant where there were 5 courses. It started with a vegetable, meat, cheese, and bread buffet and followed with 4 more courses including dessert. There is a photo of the spread of food that we had. It was very delicious!

and more...

New Artwork

We have been traveling, so we have not produced as much artwork. These are some of the most recent paintings and drawings.

Buenos Aires Marathon

Blake ran in the Buenos Aires International Marathon. It was 42.2 km or 26.2 miles through the city. He ran very well and made it under his goal time 3:46 hours. We were really proud of him!! His dad, Roger, and wife, Debbie, were here to support him. The weather was around 50 degrees and there was a little wind. This was Blake's first marathon.

Parque Nacional Nahuel Huapi

From Bariloche back to Buenos Aires we traveled on a bus for 24 hours. On our way we traveled through a huge national park and an area of Argentina called Patagonia. We were able to get some really interesting photos of the area and its diverse landscape.

Bariloche, Argentina

Once we traveled through the Andes mountains we arrived in a ski resort town called Bariloche. This town was one of the most picturesque places we have ever been. It is a town at the edge of the 2nd largest lake in S. America and is completely surrounded by snow-capped mountains. It was really cold and windy here and not really high tourist season. The city is popular as a winter destination for its skiing and sledding. In the summer people vacation and utilize the lake. It is a very "German-style" town because of the number of German settlers that immigrated to this location. It reminded us of Vale or Aspen in Colorado. We took a ride up to the top of the mountain in a gondola. At the top there was an incredible view of the skiing mountains and the lake as well as the city below. They have a restaurant that circles very slowly, 360 while we were eating. We took a really long hike back down the mountain. While we were in Bariloche, the country voted on their next president, Christina Fernandez. She is the wife of the current president. So now both Chile and Argentina will have female presidents.

Cruce del Lagos

We took a whole day to travel from Chile through the Andes Mountains to Argentina on a trip called Cruce de Lagos. This trip took us on a series of 7 buses and boats through the incredibly serene lakes of the Andes, past volcanoes, waterfalls, and completely uninhabited locations of these two countries. The air and weather was very cold, because we were in the still snowy region of the mountains. The roads that we traveled by bus are impassable about half of the year because of the amount of snow and muddy roads due to the melt off. It was an adventure. The water in the lakes was an emerald color due some natural coloring from the evergreen trees that covered the mountains. At one point we got to see an avalanche actually occur. A large chunk of snow fell from the top ridge of one of the cliffs and cascaded down to the water like a waterfall.

Chiloe Island

We rode a ferry over to the largest island in Chile, called Chiloe. It is known for its interesting beliefs and stories that are used (almost like mythology) to explain happenings and occurrences in the people's daily lives. We drove along the coast and through several small towns. The primary industry of the region is fishing so we could see this lifestyle penetrate everything as we drove around the area.

Region of the Lakes

In the southern part of Chile the coast turns to a series of thin slices of land amongst a series of lakes. Even further south there are series of islands that can only be reached via ferries. We traveled by bus about 14 hours south along the only highway--#5 (the same north/south interstate that travels all the way from Alaska through Central America and ends in Tierra del Fuego at the tip of S. America). We stayed in another port city called Puerto Montt. This was the starting destination for tourists to see the volcanoes and lakes of the region. We rented a car for 2 days and traveled around these lakes and saw some amazing waterfalls. The winter snow is in the process of melting so the streams and rivers were filled with bright blue, very cold, fresh water. The entire area is known for its micro-climates of fog, rain, snow, and then sun. We saw several rainbows as we drove in and out of rain, haze, fog, and sunshine. The entire country of Chile is also covered with a yellow flowering bush. Apparently it is a very invasive and "hard to get rid of plant" that the Germans brought to Chile 150 years ago. You can see this plant everywhere because it blankets the landscape. We happened upon an area where there were many forts built to protect the coast hundreds of years ago.

Valparaiso, Chile

We traveled to Valparaiso, a port city on the Pacific Ocean about two hours away from Santiago. This town at one time was the largest port on the Pacific Coast of South America. Once the Panama Canal was built it lost a lot of its business, however it is starting to revive itself now with shipments and imports from Asia, especially China. The buildings here were built entirely on the side of the mountain. There were communities where homes appeared to be built one on top of the other. We hiked many hills, very steep inclines, and stairs to explore the city. The area in which we stayed at our bed and breakfast is known for its colorful buildings and famous murals of graffitti. The city hired local Chilean artists to paint the large retaining walls of many of the buildings with scenes of life in Valparaiso and Chile. We were fascinated with the architecture, because it was so different than other cities we have seen so far. In order to travel up to their homes, the people use incline rail cars. They are located all around the city and are used daily by residents and tourists. Next to this city is a resort town that we rode to on a coastal train for 5 km. It is called Vina del Mar and is a large tourist destination in the summer for beaches and vacation homes.

Santiago, Chile

We traveled to Chile for about two weeks. We began our trip in Santiago, the capital, which is located in the mid-north of Chile. We then continued to travel down the coast and eventually across the Andes mountains to Argentina again. We particularly liked the food in Chile because there was a lot of fresh seafood and more variety in spices and food styles than in Argentina. We toured the city antique, flea, and fish markets and hiked in the city park. The park is very large and has a lot of hiking/biking trails as well as a zoo and tram up the side of the mountain. At the top there is a large, ominous statue of the Mary overlooking the city. The weather was really warm in this part of Chile. We noticed that the sun feels hotter here and that we get sunburned easier. The city architecture in general was not as "European" in appearance as Buenos Aires. Surrounding the city, 360 degees, are the Andes mountains, so the entire city sits in a valley.