De Plaza hasta allá

I returned to Plaza Huincul to say farewell to my friends there. I then went on a short road trip to Moquehue, another mountainous region close to where I was living. Here with my friend Lidia and her daughter Virginia en route.









It is an incredilbly tranquil, picturesque place. I worked a little more at learning to relax more (I am getting really good at it:)







Lakes and mountains- my favorite combination! Veronica, my friend from Tucuman (up north) and I are posing in front of Lago Moquehue.















... and working on our dance moves.









From there I headed back to the coast to meet other friends from Plaza Huincul who had rented a house near the beach. Four days of eating, laughing, drinking mate, singing, and playing with the kids. Here with Carina, Patricia, Guillermo, Guillermo, and Mandioca.
















Mmmmm... homemade noodles. I made an apple crisp for them which only one of them had previously eaten. It was a big hit!












The six kids treated us to a varitey show- complete with magic tricks, breakdancing, jokes...












...and a choreographed dance. JD and Lauren, it reminded me of our performances!!

Corn on the beach!!














Here with the crew- we got into a discussion of bands from the US. Their argument was that almost all good (English speaking) bands come from England or Ireland. I knew that I was not the best one to think of all of the great bands that the US can boast, but I did my best. (however, many that I thought were from the US are British!)

Summer Travels...

After my fabulous time in Bariloche I went back to Villa La Angostura to meet my last host family- who now are just good friends! Here I am at Cajon Negra, in el Parque Nacional de Nahuel Huapi, with Mónica and Ileana.









Lago Nahuel Haupi (ie: paradise). We climbed one of the peaks in the background but right now it is too small for me to remember which one it is:)











After my stint down in the lake district, I headed north to Córdoba with Mónica and Angel. I got to meet the rest of her family that lives in this great city, and eat some more fabulous home cooked meals. It was, once again, so great to be taken in so openly by this family.








After the city I headed to the Traslasierras, the mountainous region outside of Córdoba. I stayed in Mina Clavera and also visited Nono and Los Hornillos. Rivers, smooth rocks, and beautiful greenery made this place live up to its reputation. I met a local who took me to this great swimming hole. The water has smoothed out the rock to make parts of it a natural waterslide!






This area had been highly recommended by many of my Argentine friends. It is a very popular summer vacation destination. I loved it because the tourists were all Argentine- I don´t think I heard any English while I was there!









These two brothers from La Pampa, Gustavo and Hugo, were my neighbors in the campground where I stayed. They kindly invited me to eat an asado with them the first night and we hung out the rest of the time. On our way to visit friends of theirs in a neighboring town, the car broke down. While Gustavo fixed the car, Hugo gave me a roadside guitar lesson. He is a music teacher in La Plata and he taught me to play a chacarera- one of the types of Argentine folk music. It was fabulous!

More in BsAs

This is the San Telmo market on Sunday... the streets are filled with artisans, artists, antiques, tango dancers, and a whole slew of other street performers. Not for the claustrophobia prone, but a wonderful way to spend a Sunday!









On the last business day of the year they have a tradition of cutting up paper and throwing it out of the office building windows. This translates to an insane amount of trash (paper) in the streets. We found it amusing that the people do this, only so the city can spend tax money paying people to clean it up!













... or just to use a blower to move it to the other side of the street! (this was a windy day so the blower seemed a bit counterproductive)











This is me on New Year´s Eve with the party favors that the restaurant passed out. Yes, in my hand is a large plastic carrot maraca. It was a fantastic dance prop but sadly was ganked off of our table.









Fortunately Ralph´s blue sparky plastic corn maraca was not stolen (see his left hand). New Year´s just won´t be the same now without plastic vegetable intruments! We had a blast dancing on the sidewalk of Puerto Madero and watching fireworks over the water.














Here with mom and Shirley in La Boca- one of the original neighborhoods of Buenos Aires. It is a wonderfully picturesque area and near the Boca Junior stadium, one of the main teams in Argentina









We made some purchases at the Recoletta artisan fair. Shown in the back is the famous Recoletta cemetary, where Evita is buried.











Ralph and I at a tango show-dinner. We had front row seats which made us just want to get up and dance with them!











Taking a break for lunch and a beer in Recoletta... This was my family´s last day in Argentina, and my mom was very disappointed that they did not serve the national beer, Quilmes. Fortunately we were able to find another bar and they savored their last few glasses on Argentine soil (it was later discovered that you can purchase Quilmes in Colorado!)