I’m definitely not a disciplined blogger. It’s June 2nd and the last time I posted a story was in late April and it was about an event that took place in February....oops.
To catch up - I left the wonderful friends I made at Vines of Mendoza in Vista Flores, Argentina in early May, and have since been to Easter Island, La Serena, Elqui Valley, and Santiago - all in Chile.
Fast forward to May 20th, where I receive an extremely hot & humid welcome to Cartagena, Colombia. Every day is the same - 90 degrees/90% humidity...the sun is blazing hot and the humidity sucks the energy right out of me.
The old walled city of Cartagena is a sight to see. It’s surrounded by an extremely thick wall with canons on top and inside the city are brightly colored Spanish Colonial buildings - blue, green, yellow, purple; some a little more subdued with ochre, amber, rose. All in various stages of being - newly remodeled to what could easily be condemned, right next door to each other. Full bloom bougainvilleas hang from balconies or intertwine in the narrow wooden lathed columns that provide security on the exterior of the windows.
The sounds of the city are non-stop...taxis honk to get your attention, street cart vendors shout out what they have for sale (mangos, avocados, ice cream, water, cigarettes, etc.), music is everywhere and at all hours..every. day. of. the. week.
Some vendors push their carts throughout the streets, so when you hear them hollering “mango”, you simply go outside and buy what you want. And you have to be careful to not hit your head when you go outside. Most houses have a door, then a smaller door inset into the larger door. You use the smaller door to enter/exit the house and if you’re any taller than me, you’ll probably hit your head if you don’t duck. It’s for privacy, but it doesn’t make sense to me because most people leave their windows wide open and you can see everything in their house. Why wide open? NO AC. If you have AC, it’s usually a unit in a BR. The house I’m in doesn’t have a 4th wall, so the kitchen & LR are completely exposed to the heat...there’s a roof, but no exterior wall, so no use having an AC unit in that area.
Kids are always playing soccer - many of them hang out in the various plazas. They have small, casual pickup games and they play bare-footed or in flip-flops. It’s amazing to see their footwork and skills, especially in flip flops - their feet move so fast!
If a car pulls over to let a passenger out and it blocks traffic, even for a few seconds, the other drivers are on their horns immediately. The police station across the street from me is almost within touching distance - that’s how narrow this street is. The smallest car you can think of would block traffic on this street. Well, the cops were loading a truck with gear, which blocked the street for about 10 minutes - almost every driver was on their horn....full on honking at the cops!!! It’s quite hilarious. I don’t know if I’ve ever seen people honk at the cops in the states.
I’m in a small B&B - the owner lives here and rents out 2 rooms. I’m pretty much a slug and don’t do anything other than go to Spanish class in the afternoon. It’s like living with somebody’s aunt and her housekeeper/cook...and the housekeeper’s brother, who does odd jobs around the house, provides security, and escorts the guests at night, if they want, to a restaurant or the club down the street. There was a huge fiesta in the main plaza one night and since I’m solo, he went with me and we hung out together.
Most days I also eat lunch with them - they’re teaching me to make some Colombian dishes and I’ve made Chinese and Italian food for them. Did I mention it’s blazing hot here - well, almost every day they eat some type of soup for lunch. I’d love a cold salad or sandwich, but no - soup...HOT SOUP! Or something fried - my face is breaking out like a teenager.
The more I travel, the smaller the world gets. While walking in the old city, I ran into two guys from Louisiana, who were also working at the winery in Argentina. Had no clue they’d be here and I haven’t seen or communicated with them since late March. Then I ran into them again at a fiesta, where there were ALOT of people. What are the odds?
Ahhhh, that’s life in Cartagena.
Wednesday, June 6, 2012
Sunday, April 22, 2012
OH...to be 21 Again
Remember when you could work all day, go out all night and not get home until the sun was coming up....yup, it’s common here.
Woke up at 7am for work at the winery and had a great day....especially since it included an asado (BBQ) for some clients/prospects for lunch. Sparkling wine, grilled pork, Torrontes wine, steak, Malbec wine, chicken, veggies, guacamole, wine, dessert, more wine and more wine. Then a short horseback ride among the vineyards. Yes, I was ready for a nap.
A little bit more work, then back to the Posada del Jamon for a quick rest before going to an asado fiesta for 2 guys from Louisiana. They picked me and one other gal up around 9pm, then we went into the little town of Vista Flores to buy massive amounts of meat and other stuff for the asado...then we drove about 15-20 minutes to La Consulta, a slightly larger town. There we pick up another person (5 of us in a compact car) and drive to the asado, where there will be about 15 of us.
We’re in a park-ish setting and we gather in an area that has a cement floor with a thached bamboo roof and some picnic tables, and a place for a BBQ nearby. No gas BBQs here - wood or charcoal. Did anybody bring paper to help start the fire - NO. We ask a group of guys nearby for paper (YES, they have extra), but they see us struggling, so they bring hot coals over for us (YAY - that saved us about an hour). Finally, our fire gets roaring, it turns into embers, and we put the meat on the BBQ. It’s about 11pm.
What about cups - OOPS, nobody thought about that. What size are the beer bottles here - one litre. Yes, we “pass the bottle” of 1 litre beer or 1 gallon jugs of wine around and each take turns with a sip or two, while we watch the meat cook.
Plates...oops, only brought a half dozen of those, along with forks & knives. Doesn’t matter - they slice the meat as it comes off the BBQ and you eat it as it’s sliced. If you have a fork, great...if not, use your fingers to get a piece. Salad is tossed in a huge Rubbermaid bin - I’ve yet to see dressing in the store - only oil & vinegar. Bread is on the table....more meat comes off the BBQ...eventually a whole grilled chicken, and of course more beer & wine are passed. Did I mention that we started eating just after midnight???
I think we finally finished eating around 1:30 or 2am...then the impromptu dancing starts and it’s a blast. I don’t know what style they’re dancing, but they’re good...not salsa, not tango, but something that looks way better than what I can do. No matter the style, we all have fun.
But wait, the dancing isn’t over....it’s about 3am, if not later and some of us head to the local nightclub. Yes, the beers here are also 1 litre, so we continue to pass a large bottle around to each other. Dancing, more beers, dancing, more beers. The crowd slowly thins and we leave some time after 6am....get home just as the sun is coming up, and crawl into bed.
I definitely remember the days in college where staying up this late was a common activity during the week and on the weekend....it’s so much tougher on the body now....Oh to be 21 again.
Woke up at 7am for work at the winery and had a great day....especially since it included an asado (BBQ) for some clients/prospects for lunch. Sparkling wine, grilled pork, Torrontes wine, steak, Malbec wine, chicken, veggies, guacamole, wine, dessert, more wine and more wine. Then a short horseback ride among the vineyards. Yes, I was ready for a nap.
A little bit more work, then back to the Posada del Jamon for a quick rest before going to an asado fiesta for 2 guys from Louisiana. They picked me and one other gal up around 9pm, then we went into the little town of Vista Flores to buy massive amounts of meat and other stuff for the asado...then we drove about 15-20 minutes to La Consulta, a slightly larger town. There we pick up another person (5 of us in a compact car) and drive to the asado, where there will be about 15 of us.
We’re in a park-ish setting and we gather in an area that has a cement floor with a thached bamboo roof and some picnic tables, and a place for a BBQ nearby. No gas BBQs here - wood or charcoal. Did anybody bring paper to help start the fire - NO. We ask a group of guys nearby for paper (YES, they have extra), but they see us struggling, so they bring hot coals over for us (YAY - that saved us about an hour). Finally, our fire gets roaring, it turns into embers, and we put the meat on the BBQ. It’s about 11pm.
What about cups - OOPS, nobody thought about that. What size are the beer bottles here - one litre. Yes, we “pass the bottle” of 1 litre beer or 1 gallon jugs of wine around and each take turns with a sip or two, while we watch the meat cook.
Plates...oops, only brought a half dozen of those, along with forks & knives. Doesn’t matter - they slice the meat as it comes off the BBQ and you eat it as it’s sliced. If you have a fork, great...if not, use your fingers to get a piece. Salad is tossed in a huge Rubbermaid bin - I’ve yet to see dressing in the store - only oil & vinegar. Bread is on the table....more meat comes off the BBQ...eventually a whole grilled chicken, and of course more beer & wine are passed. Did I mention that we started eating just after midnight???
I think we finally finished eating around 1:30 or 2am...then the impromptu dancing starts and it’s a blast. I don’t know what style they’re dancing, but they’re good...not salsa, not tango, but something that looks way better than what I can do. No matter the style, we all have fun.
But wait, the dancing isn’t over....it’s about 3am, if not later and some of us head to the local nightclub. Yes, the beers here are also 1 litre, so we continue to pass a large bottle around to each other. Dancing, more beers, dancing, more beers. The crowd slowly thins and we leave some time after 6am....get home just as the sun is coming up, and crawl into bed.
I definitely remember the days in college where staying up this late was a common activity during the week and on the weekend....it’s so much tougher on the body now....Oh to be 21 again.
Tuesday, March 20, 2012
PLANES, TRAINS, AND AUTOMOBILES
Yes, they have them in Argentina. Do they work....well, not always. So far on this trip:
1. A PLANE delay, but the good news is they gave me a free lunch and a credit to my credit card. The lunch was a very dried out beef milenesa. Even with a real metal fork & knife (in the airport), I couldn’t cut through the dried out meat without shaking the beer out of my glass. And the credit...well, still waiting for it to appear on my credit card.
2. A TRAIN that caught on fire. On the way home from a day trip to Tigre’, 30km N of Buenos Aires, the train caught on fire. I kept wondering what that burning rubber smell was.
3. A BUS that never arrived. No wonder some people are out so late in the evening...the bus never comes, at least not the one you want. Ok, ok, so I didn’t leave the bar until 1:30 or 2am, which is really early for Buenos Aires, but after 30 minutes of waiting the bus never came...and the metro stopped at 10:30pm. I think I finally got home around 3am....again, still early for here!
4. A TAXI that ran out of gas. Decided to catch a taxi after the bus never came, and half-way to my B&B the driver said “finito”. I’m thinking, no, we’re not there yet. He puts the car in neutral and coasts to the curb. Oh, I get it...no mas petrol. So, that night, in order to get home, I took a bus that never came and a taxi with no gas. Better to rely on my feet than on their transport system.
BTW, pics of Puerto Iguazu (waterfalls) have been added to my photo site.
Ciao!
1. A PLANE delay, but the good news is they gave me a free lunch and a credit to my credit card. The lunch was a very dried out beef milenesa. Even with a real metal fork & knife (in the airport), I couldn’t cut through the dried out meat without shaking the beer out of my glass. And the credit...well, still waiting for it to appear on my credit card.
2. A TRAIN that caught on fire. On the way home from a day trip to Tigre’, 30km N of Buenos Aires, the train caught on fire. I kept wondering what that burning rubber smell was.
3. A BUS that never arrived. No wonder some people are out so late in the evening...the bus never comes, at least not the one you want. Ok, ok, so I didn’t leave the bar until 1:30 or 2am, which is really early for Buenos Aires, but after 30 minutes of waiting the bus never came...and the metro stopped at 10:30pm. I think I finally got home around 3am....again, still early for here!
4. A TAXI that ran out of gas. Decided to catch a taxi after the bus never came, and half-way to my B&B the driver said “finito”. I’m thinking, no, we’re not there yet. He puts the car in neutral and coasts to the curb. Oh, I get it...no mas petrol. So, that night, in order to get home, I took a bus that never came and a taxi with no gas. Better to rely on my feet than on their transport system.
BTW, pics of Puerto Iguazu (waterfalls) have been added to my photo site.
Ciao!
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
