Shin splints

Our time in Buenos Aires has been fun so far! We are splitting up the days with a day trip to Colonia, Uruguay which is only a 1 hr ferry ride away.

On the night we arrived, we got to the house/apartment we were renting in Palermo Soho (area in Buenos Aires) and acted like we were in war torn Syria or something because we were all jumpy at every noise and creek because of the reputation this city has of being unsafe. The housing is very secure here even in our area, which is safe to walk around in at night, etc. We have 2 sets of locks with a long narrow hallway before you actually get to the house/apartment where it opens up at the back with other homes off shooting off the hallways as well. From the outside, it doesn't like anything at all and one of the other places that we can see into, even has a pool but you would never know from the street.  In our defense, a lot of the city is very poorly lit which probably adds to the crime although the terrible economy is what probably drive the desperation for some quick cash.

Inflation here is astronomical so Argentinians horde American dollars. It is the strangest thing. The official rate is $8.5 peso to $1 USD but you can Exchange money for up to 14 to 1 (non-bank) and maybe more if you're a local and know where to go (probably someplace shady that we wouldn't go).  Even restaurants and clothing stores will accept US at around 11-13. As a result, everything is cheaper than we expected which is nice since Chile was definitely more expensive. We didn't use public transportation here although it's supposed to be safe and efficient as taxis are pretty cheap especially with four people. 

Palermo is a great area with lots of restaurant, bars, small hotels and boutique clothing stores from local Argentinians designers. One store we went into had 5 rows of clothes and each row was from a different designer who was actually there and who you paid directly. Prices for cute unique items is very reasonable because of the dollar at the moment. Although the big international brand hotels are situated at Puerto madero and some in Ricoletta, Palermo is a more interesting and safe area, in my opinion, that has more reasonable prices for everything as its catering for locals and tourists alike. 

Tango lessons were an interesting experience! We went to Salon Canning near our apartment. We only pseudo understood the instructions as they wee mostly in Spanish. What a difficult dance! It would definitely take a long time to master but nonetheless, fun to watch the pros! Marta, our geriatric instructor, can still bust a move! You see random tango dancing in the streets in tourist areas as well with live music as well so we didnt to a Tango show per se. 

Travelling with Shy and Arif has been interesting. Arif's new nickname is "Shin splints" - his feet always seem to be  hurting and always wants to take a taxi even for a short distances instead of walking. They've been great travel buddies so far though. 

We did a city tour which was a quick and dirty overview of all the tourist sites including the Recoletta cemetery including Evita's tomb, the women's bridge, Caminato street in La boca, the Pink House, San telmo, etc. The cemetery seems like an odd place to visit but it's more like a cemetery of grand looking mausoleums where members of a family can be buried together (Often above ground). 

Because of the economy, some of the high end stores etc have shut down in Recoletta which was known to be the Paris of Latin America. It would have been nice to have one more day to explore BA a bit further including the more touristy areas. 

We ate like Kings and Queens while we were here! Of course Argentina is known for their beef and we definitely had our share of it! Even Shaila has good luck with vegetarian options even at the steak houses. See my post on BA food! We had a bit of a cockroach incident on the last night in BA and it was Shaila, the vegetarian, that saved the day! 

Santiago Food/restaurant Review

Astrid Y gaston - $$$$

Very good (lamb, king crab spaghetti and crispy banana desert). Also in Lima and Bogata 

Fuente Almero - $ 

Chilean sandwiches. Id miss this despite good reviews on tripadvisor. 

Galindo - $

Good Chorillanas ("Chilean nachos"- french fries topped with sirloin, egg and onions) and spicy shrimp

Tiramisu - $$

Big Pizza place in Las Condes area. Wasn't too impressed despite good tripadvisor reviews. Pizzas could be shared

Ruca bar - $$

Tasty but don't go hungry as its tapas. Not close to other restaurants, etc

Jewel of India -$$$$

Tasty but very very overpriced for the portions etc. "Indian piquante" was also very spicy

Uncle fletches -$$

Awesome burgers! 

Feliz Ana Neuvo!

Happy new year in Spanish! Arif and Shaila arrived on Dec 30 and the rest of our trip has been been as a foursome! 

New Years Eve in Santiago was an awesome time! Everything here starts later in the day. People seem to wake up later and must start work later as Starbucks doesn't even open until 8 am in some areas, lunch is around 1 pm and most people eat dinner after 9 pm. So the New Years party started at 12:30 am! The nice thing about that is people spend the evening with family and then go out after! We went to dinner (Ruca Bar) then to watch fireworks near Entel Tower. There were tonnes of people in the streets lighting what we're basically fire balloons/kites - a bunch of them light up the sky but we saw a few fall and nearby burn little kids. That definitely wouldn't "fly" in North America but interesting to see!

The party we went to was at Castillo Hidalgo, which is at Santa Lucia Hill in downtown (tourist landmark). Because it's on a hill, we were bused up where there were 3 floors of different music. My fav floors were outside where they played chill house music and the upper floor that played a mix of reggae-tone, Latin and hip hop music. Apparently 500 of the 1800 sold out tickets were sold to Brazilians. We befriended a Spanish couple that explained a few things to us so we wouldn't miss out on where to get photos taken, New Years props  and let us know what music was Spanish vs Brazilian/Portuguese. Overall it was an awesome party! We left the party at 5 am which is the longest I've stayed out for as far as I can remember!

The best story of the night is Adam being tapped on the shoulder and the person saying, "hey you're good looking. I'm gay, you are too, right?!" And then to top it off, this guy happened to be an Opthamologist from CALGARY!! Let me remind you that were at a random club in Santigao, Chile. We haven't let Adam live that one down since it happened.

We also did a walking tour (Tours 4 Tips) of the main tourists spots of Santiago which was good overview of the city. Also, checked out Costanera Mall. This time we stayed in an apartment in Provendencia which was nice and central compared to Los Candes (area we stayed in the first few days).

Next stop, Buenos Aires!

City of Graffiti

Valparaiso was a very interesting city and different than anything we have seen before. It's a bit like Hvar, Croatia meets Cinque Terra, Italy in that it's a port city with a lot of hills but that's the closest comparison I can think of. It is made up of 45 hills or Cerros and some of the hills have funiculars or small gondolas that take you up to the hills and of course, long staircases that you can use to get up as well. It is a UNESCO world heritage site now as well. 

When we first arrived and the taxi driver was taking us to where we were staying up in the hills, I wondered why I didn't do more research and just book something by the port but when we got to our place, the view from our room of the Bay Area was unreal and even better at night! We stayed at a B&B called Costal Azul run by the nicest Slovanian couple and can see why they have #1 rating on trip advisor in the B&B category in Valpareiso. It's definitely a change from a hotel but goes back a bit more to the backpacking days! Breakfast was super fresh included home made granola and yummy fresh fruits/smoothies, etc. 

Valpareiso is much more of what I was expecting from Chile in terms of its randomness. It's an extremely artsy place with a Bohemian feel. There is a combination of graffiti and intentionally painted murals on most of the streets of the city. People commission certain painters to paint the facades of there houses.  

The city is apparently the place to be for new years as the city has a population of only 300,000 but usually gets close to 2 million people on New Years with the grandest fireworks festival in all of Latin America. To get around here there are a million buses but they have "collectivo" system which is basically a shared taxi that has a sign above it to let you know the normal route it takes and if there is space, you can jump in. It's quite a good system. Of course they have normal taxis as well, but they are few and far between as the collectivos are abundant and much cheaper.

Back to Santiago for New Year's Eve!

South American adventure

Happy holidays everyone!

We arrived in Santiago on Xmas day so as you can imagine, there wasn't a lot open especially near our hotel, Marriott Santiago. Our hotel is in the Las Condes area which is a business area where a lot of richer people live and is close to a nice mall and park called Parque arauco but it's far from the major tourist areas (metro ride away). The first evening we explored the Bellavista area and ate at a local Chilean restaurant called Galindo. A cool area of restaurants and cafes is called Patio Bellavista. Besides empanadas, we haven't have the best luck with Chilean food so far. There were 2 women that were very nice and started a conversation with us at dinner when they saw us unsure what to do with one of the local dishes we ordered. In general, we have found Chilean people to be very genuinely friendly without an ulterior motive for a tip, selling you something, etc. 

The second day we explored the downtown/tourist area including plaza des armes, Santa Lucia market, main cathedral, and climbed to the top of Santa Lucia hill for nice views of the city and mountains in the backdrop. We reserved some of the sightseeing for when Arif and Shy arrive on Dec 30. We had dinner at Astrid y Gaston (Providentia area) which is a restaurant that was famous in Lima and I had regretted not going to it when we were in Peru because we were on a backpackers budget. It was definitely fine dining but very tasty including a random dessert of crispy bananas with Quinoa, passion fruit honey, ice cream etc with incredible presentation!

We took a day trip to Cajon del Maipo which is a volcano in the Andes mountain range. Although what we actually saw including the waterfalls, canon, mountains, condors, etc weren't very impressive to us compared to what we have in Alberta or New Zealand, it was overall a nice day trip getting to chat with 4 other fellow travellers from Argentina, U.S and a guy whose studying in the US but from Saudi Arabia. Our guide was also fantastic and had such a humble perspective on the world. 

We went through a company called AndoAndes - although the trip was overpriced for what is was, we had a good time. 

Adam and I haven't taken a vacation in a long time where there weren't a lot of people who spoke English. Someone should make a movie on what tourists looks like trying to explain or ask for something using the few words they know in a particular language mixed with a lot of sign language. It would be hilarious! Even when we are using the correct words, we are often not understood because we don't have the Spanish accent. For example, the guy at Starbucks wrote Adams name as "Aron" on his cup. 

Overall, Santiago is a great city that is totally liveable as its modern, feels very safe but has a lot of culture. Although I wouldn't put it in my top 5 cities to visit or anything, it's a nice place to visit. It's a lot like Calgary in sown ways: cold in the winter, hot in the summer but with cool summer nights and close proximity to the mountains and nature. There is a lot of American influence in terms of restaurants, fast food and cafes (I.e. Pf Changs, subway, KFC, Dunkin donuts, etc.) It's far more organized and orderly than I was expecting compared to Peru and Ecuador.  Santiago isn't a cheap city. In fact very comparable to Canada with a few exceptions. Metro tickets and taxis are a bit cheaper and tipping at restaurants is 10% (automatically put on but you can chose to keep it or not). 

Next stop Valparaiso/vina del mar then back to Santiago! 

A Taste of the Czech Republic

Prague has always been a city I wanted to visit as it know for its architecture and heritage! Upon recommendation from friends, we started off our first day with a walking tour that started in the Old town square, called Sandemans walking tour. It was a great way to learn about the city and got us well acquainted to explore later on. The highlights of the city for me was the Charles Bridge, views if the Palace and just the Old town square area. A famous landmark was the astronomical clock In the middle of Old town square. We also walked through the Jewish quarter, the area of the famous 1988 revolution where communism fell, etc. The palace was far more grand from far - you could probably skip the visit to the roam through the Palace. There is an entrance for a short or long tour but I'm glad we did the short tour. 

If you have a chance, the E bikes and the Segways looked like an awesome way to tour the city especially since there is a good amount of sights to see! I'm hoping to try those in another big city on a future trip!

We weren't that adventurous with food in Prague because we just wanted some yummy tasty comfort food. Our first meal we searched out an Indian restaurant called La Qila which we ended up going to twice in 4 days because it was so good. The waitress was a Canadian girl from Toronto which was so random. In retrospect, we should have been having Goolash, meat and potatoes which is what a lot of Czech food is. Adam was reunited with his Gloria Jean lattes and international brands that you come to expect on vacation. 

This trip wouldn't have been the same without the Tripadvisor off lines aps for Amsterdam and Prague. You download them but when once they are on your phone, you can use them without wifi/data and they will lead you in The direction you need to go. This is great for finding places to eat at that are actually well rated when you're hungry and haven't necessarily planned your next meal or finding exactly where you need to go once you get off the subway/tram without having to ask around as much. It's best you verify the address of some of the locations before you go because it led us in the wrong direction once but every other time, it was accurate and very convenient. I'd highly recommend them but they are only made for some of the most popular cities in the world. 

Last days in Croatia

We had a very short time in Split as it was more of a transit point for us before we left for Prague. Although we were there for a short time, it was a pleasant little place. Almost all the action is again in the City Walls or Diocletian Palace. It is filled with restaurants, shops and of course a lot of travel agencies. 

We stayed at an apartment within the walls. Although very basis with no frills, it was in a great location amongst the Palace and we were walking distance for where we needed to go. The owner was a younger guy, Baldo, who was super friendly and helpful! Baldo recommended that we dine outside the city walls and we are glad that we did. Split apparently has some nice beaches and a beautiful waterfall close by that some other American tourists told us to see on our catamaran ride in from Hvar but we didn't have enough time. 

The Main Street along the water was a lively place in the evening with lots of patios, food vendors, etc. We ate a "fishermans plate" at another   "Konoba" or Croatian kitchen but Adam and I are obviously all fished out and need some Indian/Thai food to restimulate our palates! We stumbled upon a Bosnian sandwich place that was really yummy and worth the long line up!

Unfortunately we didn't do much shopping in Croatia although they do have some of the typical international stores like Zara etc. I imagine Zagreb, the capital city, would be a better place for that! 

Overall, I enjoyed Croatia quite a bit but Dubrovnik is by far the highlight! Friendly people and great weather (too hot at this time of the year) to top it off! It was a refreshing change to not be bombarded with American chains although you really didn't know if you were going to find a good coffee or not which is an important thing for Adam - no Starbucks, KFC, etc. There is only 1 McDonalds in all 3 places we went to and that was in Split.