TravelStream™ news feed for member lisaludwig on TravelPod's free travel blogs service http://www.travelpod.com/syndication/rss/lisaludwig en-us Copyright ©2009 TravelPod.com Mon, 03 Mar 2008 14:44:39 -0500 http://www.travelpod.com http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/lisaludwig/pacificcircle/1204569480/tpod.html http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/lisaludwig/pacificcircle/1204569480/tpod.html#comments Travel Blogs http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/lisaludwig/pacificcircle/1204569480/tpod.html Mon, 03 Mar 2008 14:44:39 -0500 Andrew and Lisa's adventures in Hong Kong, Australia, New Zealand, Chile, Argentina, Uraguay and beyond.

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Buenos Aires, Argentina

Here we are... Our last days of our trip.  I cannot believe that it has come to an end.  It has been an incredible journey and what better way to end it than in the fashionable, modern, relaxed city of Buenos Aires.  We had two goals on Wednesday... one was to go to the Recoleta Cemetery, one of the  most well known attractions in BA and the other to go to American Express to exchange our travelers checks so as to pay our rental company (who for some unknown reason cannot accept a credit card) for our apartment.  We emerged from our apartment and went to a local cafe for some toast and cafe con leche and walked down Puerrydon to the cemetery.  Constructed in 1822 the cemetery is truly a work of art.  Upon entering the cemetery, Andrew and I were confronted with a massive city of the dead.  With over 4800 Vaults, one more extravagant than the next, we had to get a map to find our way around the streets that held past presidents, military men, explorers, poets, priests, writers and wealthy families.  We spent the better part of two hours wandering around the streets, looking into the tombs that held so many caskets, skylights, sculptures, marble statues, crucifix´s and old photographs of the entombed.  In our journeys we also came upon Eva Peron´s grave.  It was pretty difficult to find, but we managed to follow a couple of American´s who were with their guide and finally found the reserved grave of the woman who Andrew Lloyd Weber made world famous.  After spending two hours in the cemetery, we made our way towards American Express on Alvear St. filled with fancy apartment buildings, exclusive hotels and expensive boutiques.  It was 4pm by the time we made our way into a restaurant for lunch.  We chose a restaurant right near the Four Seasons that was fantastic, but also expensive for Buenos Aires.  By the time we were finished with lunch, I had a feeling Am Ex would be closed, which of course it was since it is only open from 10am-3pm, so we made our way down Av. Santa Fe where we shopped our way home.  After what amounted to a 7 hour walk to American Express, we returned with no cash, a lot of bags and a wonderful experience at a world famous cemetery.  Of course we were not very hungry for dinner, so we made our way out for a snack around 10:30pm before heading to bed.We woke up on Thursday to rain, thunder and lightening.  It was windy and gross outside, so there was no need for us to rush in getting ready.  It was in fact a perfect day for a Museum.  We had heard that the MALBA museum was well worth it, so that is where we would head today. We took a cab through the rain drenched streets of Buenos Aires to the MALBA, a beautiful Modern Art Museum that features contemporary Latin American Artists.  We were starving and were looking forward to visiting the cafe that the Lonely Planet says is quite fancy, only to find there was in fact no cafe.  Looking at the torrential storm from the windows of the museum, we decided to brave the rain to head to the fancy shopping mall two blocks away.  Upon exiting the museum we ran the whole way, but were still soaked upon entering the mall.  We made our way to the top floor, admiring the fabulous shops along the way, to a very modern cafe where we enjoyed a healthy lunch before returning the museum.  After making our way through the excellent exhibits that reminded me a lot of a smaller MoMA, we returned to the shopping mall where we proceeded to do a little more damage to our credit cards before walking in the late afternoon emerging sun back to our place.We had decided to go out in Palermo this evening and we had been told by friends that the super trendy Restaurant called Olsen was great.  They had recommended it for breakfast, but seeing that they specialized in Vodka, we figured it would be more suited for dinner.  We hopped in a Radio Taxi to Palermo where we entered the super hip, super trendy restaurant with its cool bar lined with Vodka´s from around the world kept at 18 degrees below zero.  We honestly felt like we could have been in New York City with the crowd that entered the restaurant.  We scoped out what I could only describe as the very "interesting" menu and opted for the open faced sandwiches with a Vodka pairing, Gnochi and ahi tuna.  Andrew was not overly enthused by the menu and when our open faced sandwiches arrived with smoked salmon, caviar, egg salad and shrimp, pork with jelly and cheese and pears matched with shots of bloody mary, absolut pepper, green tea vodka and raspberry vodka, all I can say is I think Andrew was happier doing the shots than eating the food.  The shots helped though, as we made it through our meal successfully and though I wouldn´t say it was a great dining experience, it certainly was one I will never forget.  Next time we will go for Sunday Brunch and have a bloody mary...Friday was what could only be referred to as American Express day part II! We walked down Av. Santa Fe back to the American Express office, stopping for a light brunch at Cafe Francais across the way.  Upon entering the office, we were confronted with a line of 50 people.  With 2 people behind the counter, this was going to take forever.  It was explained to us by some strange man from Oregon who was sweating profusely that it was the last day of the month and it was a Friday.  A very bad day to come to the office.  I wanted to curse Tomas from BA4U and his need for cash to pay for our apartment.  With Wells Fargo charging me $5 every time I take out cash and the banks only allowing me to take out less than $100 at a time, I was not willing to budge on my commitment to get these travelers checks cashed.  Seeing no choice but to abandon the line, we went to customer service and asked what our options were.  The woman responded that there was a place to cash the travelers checks at the Sheraton two blocks away.  Already hating the Sheraton for stealing my money in Iguazu, it was either give them 2% in commission or waste a couple hours in line.  We opted for the Sheraton.  Of course the morning shift was switching over to the afternoon shift and they were closed for 45 minutes. We met a nice man who said he had been trying to exchange money for days... apparently we were not the only one´s.  We also saw our travel agent friend from Rhode Island which was fun.  Finally after an hour of waiting at the Sheraton, we were allowed to exchange our money in a 15 minute process that was almost unbearable.  After the debacle was over and done with, we made our way to Plaza de Mayo... La Plaza 25 de Mayo sits in front of La Casa Rosada (the Pink House) in other words the government buildings. This plaza is a central meeting place for many of the people of Buenos Aires and has also seen a lot bloodshed in the past. It is here that the "madres de los desaparecidos" (the mothers of the people who were disappeared during military rule in the 1970's) fought for justice, and where people came to demand security from the government during the economic crisis of 2001. The plaza truly bears the scars of decades of pain - broken pathways, graffiti demanding justice and a noticeable security presence. La Casa Rosada is heavily guarded and a large cordon ensures that you can only get close enough to take a general photo. By the time we got there, we were exhausted and we saw the green line of the Subte in the distance that would take us back to our home. Efficient, fast, but hot, we made it back safe and sound and got ready for another dinner back in Palermo at my favorite restaurant in the whole world... Lo De Jesus.  We took a cab to Palermo and made 8:30pm reservations for dinner and spent the next 2 and a half hours walking around the shopping district filled with its bars, restaurants and boutiques.  We shopped and went to happy hour at a fantastic white place called Mott where I enjoyed a champaign cocktail and Andrew enjoyed a Cuba Libre.  We made our way over to Lo, where of course we were the first people there and enjoyed yet another unbelievable dinner of an antipasto platter followed by their signature Fillet with cracked pepper and an excellent red wine.  As we were finishing our dinner our friends from Patagonia were peering in the window at us.  Anne and John Fyfe had come to the place that I had told them about and I was so excited to see them.  We talked about our travels, where we had been and what we had done since our time in Patagonia over 10 days before and on our recommendation they sat down to enjoy their meal as we left content that we had officially crushed Lo de Jesus for a second time.Not much to report from Saturday as it was a fairly lazy day in the neighborhood.  But we did have the most amazing dinner.  On Abe´s recommendation, we went to a Tango show at the Faena Hotel.  I am not sure what was more spectacular, the show or the Hotel.  The hotel was just amazing.  It reminded me of a much hipper Clift Hotel with unbelievable lighting, decor and despite being super modern, it had a classic old world Argentinian feel.  I kind of wished that we had opted for one night in a hotel in BA, as this would have been it!  We entered the small smoky room with its red lighting, small tables and felt like we were in some old French cabaret during a speak easy era.  We enjoyed a fantastic three course meal with all of the champaign and red wine you could drink and watched unbelievably talented dancers perform variations of the Tango that would make your head spin to music performed by a live band dressed as if they were out of the 1920´s.  It was a fantastic experience and if you ever find yourself in BA, it is a must do.As for must do´s and don´t do´s, on Sunday we went to the San Telmo market.  Held in one of the oldest sectors of the city, we had been told that San Telmo was a bit touristy and overpriced, but it is on the list of things to do on Sunday´s as we had learned that almost everything in the city is closed on Sunday from the week before.  We stopped at Cafe Tortoni, the oldest cafe in all of Argentina dating back to the 1800´s and a favorite haunt of literary greats, for breakfast and coffee and made our way over to the crowded San Telmo market.   There certainly was a lot of interesting things for sale and it could have been compared to 500 garage sales lined up on the streets of San Telmo.  It was cool though, as there was music and tango in the streets, mime´s, stilt walkers and other interesting activity.  If you only have a few days in BA, it is not a must, but it was interesting to see the difference between the different neighborhoods in BA. We walked back home through the empty streets and got ready for dinner. We opted to go to Cabana Las Brisas for our last dinner.  It was to be the last dinner of our trip and Cabana Las Brisas in Puerto Madero was the perfect spot.  Though overpriced, it has arguably the best beef in Buenos Aires and with views of the harbor, a wine list celebrated with an award by Wine Spectator and great service, it was a must.  We sat at the bar as we waited for a table to be ready and made our way outside where we enjoyed a fantastic dinner with wonderful food and excellent Argentinian wine.  It was the perfect way to end our 2 months abroad.Monday: the day of our departure... sad, sad, sad!  We went to Mark´s Deli in Palermo for our last hurrah.  We took the subway and walked in the cool overcast morning to a restaurant that had been recommended to us by multiple people and it proved to be the perfect place for our last lunch.  We made our way through the shops in Palermo one last time to make sure we didn´t miss anything and made our way through the streets of Palermo and Recoleta back to our apartment to pack and get ready for our midnight flight home.  I am in an internet cafe right now about to head back to our place and back to Andrew.  With many amazing memories, quality time with my new husband, so many new experiences and our horizons widened, I think we are ready to go home and get back to the real world.  This has been a great experience, one that I wouldn´t trade for the world.  Upon returning home I hope to write my overall thoughts on this trip.  In the meantime, Ciao and we´ll see you when we get home!
]]> http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/lisaludwig/pacificcircle/1204231320/tpod.html http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/lisaludwig/pacificcircle/1204231320/tpod.html#comments Travel Blogs http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/lisaludwig/pacificcircle/1204231320/tpod.html Mon, 03 Mar 2008 13:37:57 -0500 Andrew and Lisa's adventures in Hong Kong, Australia, New Zealand, Chile, Argentina, Uraguay and beyond.

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Iguazu, Argentina

We woke up fairly early to get to the airport.&nbsp; Our flight was not until 12:30pm, but being the nervous flier I am, I made Andrew leave our place by 9:30am and we were at the airport by 10am.&nbsp; With no bags to check we had an early lunch and looked at all the cute shops in the airport to kill some time.&nbsp; Our flight was on time and we were in Isuazu an hour and a half later.&nbsp; We were staying at the Sheraton Iguazu, a place I had booked three months before, as it is the only hotel in the National Park.&nbsp; The trade-off for being in the only hotel&nbsp;inside the park was the expense that came with staying there.&nbsp; It was astronomical what they were charging us, but seeing that we were in an apartment in Buenos Aires, we could rationalize the expense for one night.&nbsp; Upon reaching the Sheraton, a place that actually looked a little run down, I began to wish we were staying at the Yakutinga Lodge which our friend Udo in Patagonia had told us about... but we were greeted with the most spectacular view of Iguazu Falls in the distance beyond the reception area and I had to let it go!&nbsp; We could not wait to check out the falls, but were dismayed by the fact that our room was not ready yet.&nbsp; When I asked the woman at reception why we were paying so much to stay in a place where check out was at 10am and here it was 3pm and the rooms were still not ready, she simply told us that they cater to their rewards members who can check out whenever they like.&nbsp; After requesting a free beer while we waited, I felt vindicated when it was reluctantly given to us.&nbsp; It was a minor victory in a place where I felt we were being ripped off.While enjoying our beers, we made our way down the hall to a man who was seated at a table that booked excursions.&nbsp; We had heard that the boat ride under the falls was a MUST and knowing that we would have our hotel room to shower upon our return that day, we decided to opt for the Jungle Explorer Excursion right then and there.&nbsp; The Jungle Excursion would pick us up from the foot of the hotel, take us through the jungle to our boat which would take us up the rapids of the river below the falls and actually soak us in the falls themselves.&nbsp; It was leaving in half an hour, so we made a quick change and were off.&nbsp; The ride in the open air all terrain vehicle was great, mostly because we didn't have to walk 40 minutes to reach the boat that would take us into the falls.&nbsp; We knew we would be walking a ton the next day, so it was worth it to pay for the ride.&nbsp; We got to the river about 20 minutes later and boarded a large speed boat covered in bees.&nbsp; We put on our life jackets, tried to ignore the hundreds of bees on the boat and after a few minutes of worry and fear of being stung we were speeding up the rapids towards the falls.&nbsp; It was exhilarating.&nbsp; The Falls were just beautiful and being below these massive water falls was so spectacular.&nbsp; We made our way into a cove to snap a few pictures.&nbsp; It was late in the afternoon and the sun was starting to dip in the horizon.&nbsp; It was still 95 degrees out so when we went around the bend to take our first dip in one of three waterfalls, it felt very refreshing.&nbsp; The water was everywhere and everyone was having so much fun.&nbsp; We made our way back into the cove shortly after taking a couple dips in the nearby falls and prepared to enter an absolutely enormous roaring waterfall.&nbsp; Andrew and I looked at each other with our eyes and mouths wide open when we figured out what we were doing.&nbsp; The driver roared the engine and we were soon fully immersed in the massive waterfall.&nbsp; It felt like one of the hardest downpours you could imagine and a few moments later the sheer force of the fall had pushed us out.&nbsp; We did it two more times and were just drenched.&nbsp; I was up to my knees in water in the boat and everyone around us was clapping, so we too joined in the applause.&nbsp; It was so much fun!On our wet walk home via the lower trail back to the Sheraton we stopped to look at some of&nbsp;the amazing falls.&nbsp; They weren't the main falls, otherwise known as the Devils Throat, but a mere part of the 275 falls in the system.&nbsp; It is said that after seeing Iguazu Falls, Eleanor Roosevelt once said, "Poor Niagra".&nbsp; Poor Niagra is right as it is almost impossible to describe this place.&nbsp; The amount of water that goes over these falls in peak periods is equivalent to 1.3 Million square feet or&nbsp;6.5 Million Liters per second.&nbsp; Imagine that!&nbsp; After reaching the upper part of the trail we admired the gorgeous butterflies as there are over 100 different species in the park and encountered some Tapir like animals that are part of the Raccoon family surrounding our trail called Coati.&nbsp; There were at least 20 of these creatures, many of whom were babies that were pretty darn cute.Upon returning to the Sheraton we were able to finally enjoy our room (certainly not worth what we paid, but fine for the night).&nbsp; We watched part of a crappy Meg Ryan movie before heading to dinner at 9:15pm.&nbsp; When we had asked earlier that day if we would have any issues at the restaurant without reservations and being told it would be just fine... there was in fact a 20 minute wait.&nbsp;&nbsp;We weren´t&nbsp;very hungry, so&nbsp;we headed to the bar for a pizza and a club sandwich and went to bed.We woke up the next morning ready to tackle the falls.&nbsp; After breakfast we&nbsp;checked out of our room and caught&nbsp;the train that would take us to the magnificent "Devil's Throat," or <i>Garganta del Diablo, which can be seen and heard from a half mile away.&nbsp; After a short ride, we got ahead of the tour groups and walked over the long footbridge over the rivers that feed into the falls and approached the roaring falls that sounded like fifty helicopters taking off and mist that flew 50 feet in the air.&nbsp; It was almost impossible to take pictures as we were getting drenched by the spray.&nbsp; Andrew and I could hardly hear each other, so after standing in awe for about 10 minutes we retreated back to the train.&nbsp; Finding a huge line for the train back, we opted to walk through the jungle by the train tracks.&nbsp; It was still morning, so it was a cool 80 degrees and very manageable.&nbsp;We made our way back to the lower trail where we took a boat over to San Martin Island to get a vista of the 7 massive fall systems down from the Devil´s Throat.&nbsp; We got a close look at San Martin Falls which was the water fall that had showered us the day before and snapped a few shots of huge Iguana´s and beautiful birds that resided on the island.&nbsp; We returned to the Sheraton after a much needed ice cream and Gatorade to check in for our even more needed massages that we had booked that morning.&nbsp; We changed into our swim suits and took a dip in the pool and followed that with a relaxing 50 minute massage.&nbsp; Rejuvenated and refreshed, we had a 5pm lunch and headed to the airport for our flight back to our home in Buenos Aires.&nbsp; Upon getting back to our apartment we had a bite at a local cafe and rested up for final days in Buenos Aires.&nbsp;
]]> http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/lisaludwig/pacificcircle/1204227780/tpod.html http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/lisaludwig/pacificcircle/1204227780/tpod.html#comments Travel Blogs http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/lisaludwig/pacificcircle/1204227780/tpod.html Thu, 28 Feb 2008 15:41:00 -0500 Andrew and Lisa's adventures in Hong Kong, Australia, New Zealand, Chile, Argentina, Uraguay and beyond.

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Buenos Aires, Argentina

Well here we are, officially on our last leg of our journey.&nbsp; We sadly left Bariloche on Saturday evening for Buenos Aires.&nbsp; I wasn't exactly sure what we were in for, as we had rented an apartment that my friend Puja from work had recommended as she had stayed in the apartment in late 2007 and loved it!We were met at the airport by a transfer that was booked by the apartment rental company we had gone through called BA4U.&nbsp; We had a very warm welcome from a gentleman who was holding a sign with our names on it who said "Welcome to Argentine!"&nbsp; With that we were whisked off into the city.&nbsp; Luckily we arrived at the domestic airport which was only a 20 minute drive from our place, vs. a 50 minute drive from the International airport.&nbsp; It was Saturday night in Buenos Aires and the city was starting to come alive.&nbsp; Our driver made a couple turns and we were suddenly on a 12 lane one way road.&nbsp; I am not sure if Andrew or I had ever been on a 12 lane road before.&nbsp; There seemed to be absolutely no order as nobody seemed to stay in their lane and what was a 12 lane road would at times be a 15 lane road.&nbsp; It was amazing.&nbsp; I had heard that if an American wanted to rent a car in Buenos Aires that they must have nerves of steel and eyes in the back of their head.&nbsp; I now knew why.&nbsp; What was more amazing was the beautiful marble sculptures and endless parks that were on either side of us.&nbsp; It was beautiful and I truly felt like we had arrived in Paris or Rome.&nbsp; After a quick turn by the famous Recoleta cemetery, our driver told us we were a couple minutes away from our apartment in Recoleta.&nbsp; Upon arriving at our apartment, Andreas from BA4U was there to meet us and take us up to our home for the next 9 days.&nbsp; We went up to the 4th floor on Av. Pueyrredon and entered a spectacularly modern studio apartment.&nbsp; After looking around, I could not believe this place was costing us $50 a night.&nbsp; It was modern and better than any hotel room.&nbsp; It had a huge bed, flat screen TV, small kitchen and living area and a very modern bathroom.&nbsp; It was perfect.&nbsp; Andreas&nbsp;took us through our map of Buenos Aires and gave us some recommendations for places to get steak.&nbsp; With that, he was gone.&nbsp;&nbsp;It was when Andreas left that I was reviewing our map and I noticed a small logo in the corner that advertised the best gay way to travel and then I saw recommendations for bars such as Toms&nbsp;Cruising Bar and it was at that point that I discovered we&nbsp;had a gay map of Buenos Aires and I loved it!!&nbsp; Needless to say I was made exclusive holder of the map.&nbsp;&nbsp;We made our way downstairs to the Pizzeria on the corner.&nbsp; Already we were adapting to the Buenos Aires lifestyle as we were sitting down to dinner at 10:30pm.&nbsp; This was when things just got started and the place was packed with adults and children alike.&nbsp;We had a great pizza, a couple of diet cokes and went back upstairs to unpack to go to bed.We woke up on Sunday morning energized.&nbsp; Andrew grabbed us a couple coffees and croissants from downstairs and we decided to make our way to Palermo, which is known for its hip cafes, trendy boutiques and fabulous restaurants.&nbsp;My friend Abe, who had lived here for a year gave us some excellent restaurant recommendations as well as some other friends of our friend Dave, so we felt pretty set on where we were going to shop and eat.We made our way down the narrow one way streets, past beautiful classic buildings and churches.&nbsp; It was so quiet on the streets and everything seemed to be closed.&nbsp; Undaunted we walked to Palermo where we discovered that yes... pretty much everything was closed except for a beautiful corner restaurant that was on our list called Lo De Jesus.&nbsp; Hungry for lunch, we sat down at an outside table and decided to enjoy ourselves with a lunch paired with a bottle of wine.&nbsp; After being jealous of Andrews steak in Bariloche, I decided that I was going to order a steak for lunch and ordered one of their special Fillet Mignon's.&nbsp; Andrew ordered the lasagna and I called him a Wuss for not ordering the steak.&nbsp; He had once said that he was going to eat 20 steak meals in Buenos Aires and this&nbsp;was putting him off on a bad start.&nbsp; He came to regret his decision as soon as my eyes started to well up with tears upon my first bite of the most amazing, delicious, flavorful steak I had ever put into my mouth.&nbsp; It was so good that I actually had to compose myself before my second bite as tears were blurring my vision.&nbsp; Being the good wife that I am, I gave Andrew some of my steak to enjoy and he too could not believe how good it was.&nbsp; By the time we got up from lunch at around 3pm, the area was starting to come alive.&nbsp; Stores were starting to open and the streets were filling up.&nbsp; We walked around Palermo, hit the Lacoste store and a number of other fabulous stores for Andrew.&nbsp; The mens shopping here really is amazing and I am quite jealous.&nbsp; After a long afternoon out, we walked most of the way back admiring the architecture and the truly modern, yet classic European feel of the neighborhoods.&nbsp; After relaxing at our place we made our way down to the Waterfront, an area called Puerto Madero, which is a hip new area filled with fantastic, but expensive restaurants.&nbsp; It is right near the historic Plaza de Mayo, which is known for being the area where citizens gather to air their grievances.&nbsp; We walked the length of Puerto Madero before being one of the first to arrive at our 8:30pm dinner reservation at La Caballeriza, a fantastic restaurant made to look like a barn and dedicated almost solely to meat.&nbsp; Yes, this would be the first time I would ever have Fillet Mignon for both lunch and dinner.&nbsp; We watched the cooks turning huge steaks, ribs, sausage, entrails, sweetbreads, potatoes on the Parilla through the window outside... this place was a meat lovers dream!We were seated at a booth overlooking the waterfront and we ordered a bottle of La Linda Malbec which was fabulous and so inexpensive compared to the steak houses we are used to.&nbsp; I think our bottle of wine cost us a whopping $12 and that was towards the high end wines.&nbsp; Our steaks were just fantastic, not as good as&nbsp;my lunch, but excellent compared to everything I know.&nbsp;I have to admit, I felt a little bit gluttonous after a second steak meal, but it was our first day in Buenos Aires but when in Rome...&nbsp; I knew I would have a reprieve upon our departure to Iguazu Falls the next day, so I went to bed quite happy with myself.&nbsp;
]]> http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/lisaludwig/pacificcircle/1203788100/tpod.html http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/lisaludwig/pacificcircle/1203788100/tpod.html#comments Travel Blogs http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/lisaludwig/pacificcircle/1203788100/tpod.html Sat, 23 Feb 2008 13:15:48 -0500 Andrew and Lisa's adventures in Hong Kong, Australia, New Zealand, Chile, Argentina, Uraguay and beyond.

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Bariloche, Argentina

6am our wake up call came the day that we were to do the Lakes Crossing from Chile to Argentina.&nbsp; It was one hour earlier than I had ordered it, punishment for not trying to order the wake-up call in Spanish, but what can you do.&nbsp; We knew we were in for a long day, so what was one more hour?&nbsp; So I got up and took an extra long time to get ready and woke Andrew up at 7am.&nbsp; We were picked up by a fancy Mercedes Bus at our hotel at 8am.&nbsp; Our bags were ticketed with the red tag which meant that we would be doing the Lakes Crossing in one day versus two.&nbsp; We boarded our first of four buses that would take us to the first of three ferries that we would take to get into Argentina.&nbsp; Our path was going to be Puerto Varas to Petrohue, over Lake Todos Santos to Puella over Lago Frias to Puerto Allegre to Puerto Blest over Lake Puerto Pañuelo and on through Lago Nahuel Huapito Bariloche.&nbsp; The trip was to take us a little over 12 hours.&nbsp; We soon learned that one company has a monopoly on the trip and well into the trip we also learned that a little competition wouldn't hurt, especially after crossing the border.&nbsp; We stopped at a set of waterfalls about an hour outside of Puerto Varas.&nbsp; An unnecessary stop if you ask me, as the bus abandoned us for an hour when in fact seeing the waterfalls takes 20 minutes max.&nbsp; I gather they had to drop the bags at the pier and this was one way for the driver and the guide to buy some time.&nbsp; We did get some nice views of the Osorno volcano, so it wasn't all that bad.Upon re-boarding the bus, we were taken to Lago Todos Los Santos, where we had an hour and a half ferry ride to the 100 person town of Puella where we had lunch and some people stopped for the night before continuing their journey.&nbsp; Lunch at the hotel was short but good and 45 minutes later we were back on a 4 wheel drive bus where we would travel 27 kilometers in an hour and a half over the Andes mountain range where we would pass through customs.&nbsp; Passing through Chilean customs was a breeze.&nbsp; Organized, fast and convenient.&nbsp; Argentinean customs on the other hand was a little bit of a mess.&nbsp; Our guide gathered all of our Passports and took them into a hut on the banks of Lagos Frias that was being remodeled.&nbsp; I actually think it may be in a 10 year process of remodeling.&nbsp; Regardless, our guide left us for 45 minutes to defend ourselves against the bees as they stamped our passports and took the smallest bags to be checked by customs.&nbsp; The whole process was unbelievably unorganized and soon enough there was a very large, very noisy tour group from Israel that joined our trip.&nbsp; After a hellish trip through Argentinian customs after climbing over the Andes and losing an hour at the peak, we were pretty ready to be in Bariloche, yet we had two more boats and two more buses to endure.&nbsp; Yes, it was beautiful scenery, yes it was a beautiful day, but seeing that we were still only half way there was painful.&nbsp; Another short boat ride, another short bus ride and we were at Lago Nahuel Huape where we boarded an already crowded smelly ferry with people who were on a day trip from Bariloche and found a seat next to the rear gas filled engines of the boat.&nbsp; The one saving grace on the ride was the seagulls who entertained us by eating crackers out of children's hands and meeting a very nice girl who works in Providence, RI where Andrew is from for a family whose son Andrew used to play baseball with and was in Andrews sisters class.&nbsp; Small world.&nbsp; She was doing the Lakes Crossing as part of research for her agency Colette Travel. She had heard some nightmare stories from her clients about the trip and the company that makes the crossing and wanted to see why there were issues.&nbsp; Upon our arrival in Bariloche I think we all came to understand why people were not happy.&nbsp; As all the locals disembarked the boat, we were kept on the boat an extra hour to wait for the last bus to take us to Bariloche.&nbsp; Again, everything was so disorganized and we were worried that with this as our introduction to Argentina, what the rest of our trip would be like.&nbsp; But after finally getting on the bus at 8:30pm to take us to town, we were enamored by the beautiful views, the enchanting swiss chalet style architecture and the lake and mountains in the background.&nbsp; Immediately we knew we would like Bariloche, even if it would be 9:30pm by the time we would arrive at our hotel.We were transferred from the bus station to our hotel and immediately made 10:30pm reservations at a restaurant Andrew had read about named Kandahar, owned by an ex-ski racer from Argentina.&nbsp; All of the frustrations melted away as soon as we had our first sip of Malbec and first bite of the most unbelievable steak empenada.&nbsp; If I could describe heaven, our empenada would be it.&nbsp; I had a delicious homemade Gnocci, but had a little food jealousy when Andrews spectacular steak arrived.&nbsp; His steak was perfection, Andrew went as far as to call it a work of art and yes, we may be eating steak for our remaining 10 days in this country after that experience.&nbsp; By the time we finished dinner at Midnight, we were exhausted and we retreated back to our hotel, where yet again it was unseasonably warm, but had learned to order a fan and slept clear through until 9:15am... the latest we had slept since Abel Tasmen in New Zealand.We took our time getting ready and walked around the adorable town of Bariloche.&nbsp; We had one of the best coffees we had ever had at Antigua Cafe near our hotel with an unbelievable croissant.&nbsp; Yes, we will be fat upon our return home.&nbsp; All the great effects of the walking, hiking and athletic activities will disappear in Argentina as we plan to eat as much as we possibly can, especially when 2 delicious coffees and croissants cost about $3.&nbsp; We browsed through the shops, visited the handicraft booths and had a fantastic Mexican lunch of Steak Fajitas and Margaritas before leaving for our 7:50pm flight to Buenos Aires.&nbsp; I think we could have certainly spent a lot more time here in Bariloche, but seeing that the best ski mountain in Argentina is 20 minutes away, all I can say is that I have a feeling that we may be back.
]]> http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/lisaludwig/pacificcircle/1203783600/tpod.html http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/lisaludwig/pacificcircle/1203783600/tpod.html#comments Travel Blogs http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/lisaludwig/pacificcircle/1203783600/tpod.html Sat, 23 Feb 2008 12:27:22 -0500 Andrew and Lisa's adventures in Hong Kong, Australia, New Zealand, Chile, Argentina, Uraguay and beyond.

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Puerto Varas, Chile

HOLA!&nbsp; So I think we last left off our last night in Puerto Natales.&nbsp; Just so you know... my apostrophe doesn't work, so bear with me on this entry.&nbsp; Es Typico.&nbsp; So our trip from Puerto Natalas to Puerto Varas did not get off to a good start.&nbsp; We woke up early to have our last breakfast at the Hotel Remota as we had to leave the hotel at 8:30am to catch our 1pm flight from Punta Arenas.&nbsp; Typical Chile, there is a small airport in Puerto Natalas, but the Punta Arenas airport does not allow flights to go in and out of the area as they want to keep their business, so we were to drive south for two and a half hours to fly north to Puerto Montt.&nbsp; It is so strange how things work in South America.&nbsp;&nbsp; Another interesting thing we found out was that the Hotel Explora, the premiere hotel in Torres Del Paine must close in 12 years as they only paid for a 30 year lease.&nbsp; So there you go, the most well known hotel in the area that has been open for 17 years will be closing in 2020, so go while you can, although I think that I would still recommend Remota to anyone going to the area, despite what I am about to tell you.We had breakfast and went to the reception to catch our van to the airport.&nbsp; There was a large group from Spain that was at the Hotel, so many of the Vans were reserved for the day, all that was left was a tiny Hyudai Minivan to take us and 6 other passengers to the airport.&nbsp; There we were, 8 passengers that needed to get to the airport in this tiny van with all of our luggage... so Andrew and I climbed in the front seat that was made for a small woman and her child and the remaining 6 passengers climbed in the 2 small rows of seats in the back.&nbsp; We strapped a large container to our hitch that would carry our luggage and with that we were off.&nbsp; About a minute into our ride the lady from France behind us starting coughing.&nbsp; Not your typical cough that you might have when you have a cold, but a whooping cough that sounded more like walking Pneumonia or possibly even something worse.&nbsp; There Andrew and I were, cramped in our tiny little seat in a cesspool of germs for the next two and a half hours.&nbsp; Our driver who didn't speak any English offered us a piece of gum and we watched the scenery pass by, hoping, praying and wishing for the ride to be over.&nbsp; Every time the woman coughed, I would bury my nose in Andrews sweatshirt and count to 30.&nbsp; Upon FINALLY arriving to the airport after what turned into a 3 hour drive due to the sheer weight that was put on the vehicle, we checked into our flight to Puerto Montt and were off to our next adventure.&nbsp; It was a good 30 degrees hotter in Puerto Montt which was a welcome change.&nbsp; A driver met us at the airport and transferred us to the beautiful Hotel Bellavista in the small neighboring resort town of Puerto Varas.&nbsp; Upon checking in to the hotel, yet again, we had the best room on the top floor in the right corner of the Hotel.&nbsp; We had a beautiful view of Lake Llanquihue and a spectacular view of the snow capped Osorno Volcano and the neighboring Volcano Calbuco.&nbsp; We spent most of the afternoon walking around the small town, checking email and we made reservations at a small restaurant in the middle of town called Las Buenas Brasas, known for their delicious steaks and grilled fish. Yet again, it was 8:30pm and we were the first people to arrive at the restaurant.&nbsp; We ordered a couple steaks with Papas Fritas, I had a Pisco Sour and Andrew his usual beer as we dined on our spectacular, perfectly grilled steaks and delicious roasted potatoes.&nbsp; We were in heaven.&nbsp; When we got back to our hotel the beautiful full moon was rising and I took a picture right before bed, not knowing that 10 minutes after taking the picture, the last lunar eclipse of the moon of the decade was happening right over the volcano in the distance. Because it was unseasonably warm in the area, we didn't sleep very well, so we were a little groggy when we met our guide Nestor and driver Luis for a day in the island of Chiloe. We were picked up from our hotel at 8am and we made our way down Interstate 5, the same Interstate 5 that starts in Alaska, passes through Canada, California and Mexico and goes through Central and South America and ends in the town of Quellon on the island of Chiloe.&nbsp; We were not going all the way to Quellon, as it was pretty far from Peuerto Varas, but we got pretty darn close.&nbsp; We soon found out that our guide was 34 years old and played in a tribute band to Tool!&nbsp; They were evidently pretty popular in the area and we spent much of the 45 minute ride to the ferry talking about music.&nbsp; He knew everything there was to know and was a huge fan of Metallica, Korn and Primus.&nbsp; It was pretty funny considering he was a pretty clean cut guy.&nbsp; Our van drove right onto the ferry from the main part of Chile and we took the 25 minute ferry ride to the Island.&nbsp; Of course they had tried to build a bridge here once and when the private company that was building the bridge asked for some money from the government, the plans were squashed.&nbsp; The ferry service was great though.&nbsp; It was not anything like the time Nestor had to wait for 3 hours with tourists in his van to get to the Island, as we were on and off the ferry in a very short period of time.So we made it to Chiloe, an old Spanish colony which remained a stronghold long after Chile gained its independence.&nbsp; The people of the island who are known for being very friendly still have very traditional beliefs that the Spanish Catholics passed along that were meant to keep the people of Chiloe from getting into trouble.&nbsp; There are all of these mythological creatures like Trauco, a repugnant forest gnome who can kill with a look and is irresistible to young virgins giving them impure dreams and a child out of wedlock and La Voladora, a witch messenger who vomits out her intestines at night so that she is light enough to deliver messages for the Brujos who corrupt normal people.&nbsp; By the next morning, she swallows her intestines and resumes her female form.&nbsp; It is pretty wild.&nbsp; We traveled through the town of Ancud which we would re-visit in the afternoon.&nbsp; Our guide asked us if we wanted to visit the museums, churches and Pilifatos of Castro or visit the penguins and seals in Punihuil on the coast.&nbsp; Evidently he was not supposed to give us this option, but of course I wanted to see the penguins and because we were a private tour we were able to take the long unpaved road out to the colony.&nbsp; We passed by many small farms with large bulls trying to get into the cattle enclosures, tiny piglets, Llamas, dogs, sheep, horses and so on.&nbsp; Upon arriving at the coast, our guide secured a private boat that would take us out to the colonies.&nbsp; Since we did not have much breakfast we grabbed some Empaniadas from the small restaurant on the beach.&nbsp; One of the empanadas was called Empenadas de Loco, which the waitress explained was like "pollo".&nbsp; So we ordered it, ate it all but did not like it very much.&nbsp; When our guide came to get us he explained that it was Abolone, something that Andrew nor I would eat under normal circumstances, but when in Rome...We boarded our small boat with the driver, another guy, his son, our guide and our adorable driver Luis, who had to have been the best dressed guy who had ever been on the boats before.&nbsp; He was wearing Khakis, a button down, tie, vest and had his wellies on to get out to the boat.&nbsp; He was the last to get on as he did not want to get wet.&nbsp; I on the other hand opted for the cool waders and boots that the drivers wore.&nbsp; After getting over a few small waves we were off.&nbsp; We approached two small penguin colonies with the boats and saw the babies who were much uglier, furrier and larger than their parents.&nbsp; There were two types of penguins residing there, the Magellanic Penguin and the shoot, I cant remember the other one right now, but I will.&nbsp; They were so cute, waddling around and basking in the limited sun.&nbsp; We then headed out to sea to check out the seal colony.&nbsp; They were pretty lazy seals, a few of them were swimming around and fighting, but most of them were just lounging.&nbsp; On the way back we visited more penguins and saw quite a few otters crushing shells on their chests and enjoying the contents as they floated on their backs.&nbsp; They were adorable.&nbsp; After our fabulous excursion we headed back to Ancud for some lunch overlooking the water above the fort and went to the local market which sold fish, sea weed, local specialties and handicrafts.&nbsp; It was around 4pm when we started our journey back to Puerto Varas.&nbsp; Andrew and Nestor talked a bunch about music as I napped in the back seat.&nbsp; We said goodbye to our great guide Nestor and Luis and took his advice and went to Restaurant Ibis overlooking the lake for a great dinner of Chilean Sea Bass.&nbsp; On our walk home at 9:30pm, the moon began to rise.&nbsp; It was the biggest, most beautiful full moon Andrew and I had ever seen.&nbsp; It rose directly between the two volcanoes and the view was just remarkable.&nbsp; Yet again we wished for a few more days in Chile, alas we had to make the crossing to Argentina.&nbsp; Sniff, sniff! Argentina would be our last stop on this great journey and I think both of us are not yet ready for it to end.
]]> http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/lisaludwig/pacificcircle/1203542280/tpod.html http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/lisaludwig/pacificcircle/1203542280/tpod.html#comments Travel Blogs http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/lisaludwig/pacificcircle/1203542280/tpod.html Wed, 20 Feb 2008 20:13:41 -0500 Andrew and Lisa's adventures in Hong Kong, Australia, New Zealand, Chile, Argentina, Uraguay and beyond.

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Puerto Natales, Chile

We departed Santiago early on Saturday morning and flew to Punta Arenas via Puerto Montt.&nbsp; Luckily Karen came in to the departures check in with us as nobody seemed to speak English at the LAN check in desk.&nbsp; Evidently we were 10 kilo´s overweight and had to pay $60 to make sure our bags made made it to our destination.&nbsp; Upon finally arriving in Punta Arenas, we were pretty hungry as we hadn´t eaten since our Dunkin Donuts coffee and donut in the Santiago airport.&nbsp; Not really knowing what the heck was going on, we decided to wait it out as we needed to figure out who was picking us up.&nbsp; The whole airport cleared out and it was just us left with a nice looking couple who also happened to be going to Remota, our hotel near Torres Del Paine National park.&nbsp; I could have sworn I had seen a Remota Van a half hour before when we were getting our luggage, but I couldn´t understand why it wasn´t in the parking lot.&nbsp; Andrew said,"Maybe they do loops", which made sense to me as I had no idea where we were or where Remota was.&nbsp; As I said before, we just do what we are told, show up and enjoy the adventure.&nbsp; I was starting to think that having a couple phone numbers and doing a little research before arriving at a place might be a good thing.&nbsp; Within 40 minutes of landing there it was, the Remota Van.&nbsp; Long loop I thought.&nbsp; Upon getting in the van and asking our driver in our broken Spanish, "Quantos Tiempo a arriver a Remota".&nbsp; He responded two and a half hours in Spanish.&nbsp; Andrew and I looked at each other and laughed.&nbsp; "Maybe they do loops.." Evidently the Van I saw did a loop to get gas in Punta Arenas before the long drive to Puerto Natalas.&nbsp; Seeing that there would be no places to eat amongst the vast expanse of wilderness, dry arid land with sheep, llamas, ostrich and cows on either side of the road, I offered Andrew some Nerds which we snacked on while we looked at the scenery out the window.We arrived at Remota on the banks of Lago Sarmiento and were taken back by the spectacular architecture.&nbsp; It literally looks as if it had grown out of the ground and was simply amazing.&nbsp; Apparently it had just won a very prestigious architectural award and I could certainly see why.We were greeted by Cynthia the manager and shown to our beautiful room with an amazing view of Torres Del Paine in the distance.&nbsp; The room was all white with dark wood finishes and yellow accents and Andrew and I were excited that this was our home for the next 4 nights.&nbsp; We walked around the hotel and visited the spa and beautiful indoor infinity pool and outdoor jacuzzi´s.&nbsp; We walked around the lobby, dining room, relaxation areas and spent an hour with one of the guides who took us through the various excursions that would be available to us.&nbsp;He took us on a virtual tour of the park and made recommendations which we took.&nbsp; After hearing our options, we settled on the glaciers and lakes excursion that would give us the perfect introduction to the park as it covered a lot of ground in 10 hours and had limited hiking.With our excursion settled we grabbed a pisco saur at the bar, enjoyed some cheese and hors dóuerves and settled in for dinner which began at 8pm.&nbsp; With a nice menu of local Patagonian fare, we had a great meal and followed it up with a 9:30pm dip in the pool and relaxing jacuzzi.&nbsp; The sun was just setting and we caught glimpses of large mountains in the distance through the low lying clouds.&nbsp; What a way to spend a vacation!We woke up early the next day and had a delicious breakfast before boarding the van that would take us around Torres Del Paine.&nbsp; With us were Udo and his wife Karen (Udo is a famous photojournalist who has done books on Chile and Argentina as well as San Francisco, not to mention done pictures for National Geographic and other popular travel publications).&nbsp; They were there with their friends Gunther and Christina and they were celebrating Gunther´s 50th birthday.&nbsp; Udo claimed he was not working, but judging from some of his photos, I wondered if I might see them in a travel magazine sometime soon.&nbsp; We were also joined by a nice young Australian couple who was pregnant with their first baby and an annoying British couple who felt as if they were entitled to the best service in the wilderness.We drove for about an hour and a half to the entrance of the park.&nbsp; The mountains in the distance, though partly covered in clouds were spectacular.&nbsp; On our way towards the mountains we encountered Llama like creatures called Guanachos crossing the road, were circled by Condors, saw flamingo´s at a large salt lake and passed by huge lakes, glaciers, and mountains.&nbsp; We walked out to see a beautiful waterfall and snapped pictures of the scenery.&nbsp; It was unbelievable, if it is possible, even more amazing than many parts of New Zealand we had visited.&nbsp;We had lunch by a beautiful lake and hiked for an hour in strong winds aside Gray Lake to see rare Icebergs that had come off of the massive Gray Glacier that is part of the Southern Ice Fields in the distance.&nbsp; Amazingly the massive icebergs only represented 10% of the actual ice and the other 90% had displaced so much water that the beach to get out to the island was practically gone.&nbsp; On the half hour hike back to the van we were pelted by rain and lake water in what our guide said was 100 KM per hour winds.&nbsp; Udo took some amazing pictures of the people trying to brave the gale force winds in their colorful jackets, hunched down at an angle trying to stay on their feet.&nbsp; Oh how I would love to be a photojournalist capturing this moment.&nbsp; On our way home Udo captured another great moment.&nbsp; Andrew who had fallen asleep on the ride home had shifted in his seat and had gently laid his head on Gunther´s shoulder.&nbsp; Gunther leaned his head on Andrew´s lovingly and another fabulous photo was snapped.&nbsp; We all erupted in laughter when Udo showed us the shot that had resulted.&nbsp; Andrew groggily looked up to see what everyone was laughing at... when his eyes focused he smiled and could not believe his misfortune.&nbsp;"Don´t worry" Udo said, "This picture will only be published in Europe".&nbsp; Poor Andrew.&nbsp; It was a great bonding moment for the group.&nbsp; Upon returning to the hotel, we hot tubed and took a sauna before heading into pick our next days journey.&nbsp; We had dinner overlooking the beautiful mountains, but as the window pane bent, we decided that this was one of the windiest places on earth.&nbsp; Having opted out of the 9 hour hike to the towers in the park, Andrew and I decided to take it fairly easy with a 3 hour hike to the Milodon caves, followed by an afternoon of horseback riding on an Estancia (farm) with a genuine Gaucho (cowboy).&nbsp; We woke up at 7am and headed to breakfast ready to tackle the day.&nbsp; It looked like a nice day out... overcast, windy of course, but clear enough to see the mountains in Torres Del Paine fairly clearly.&nbsp; After breakfast, our small group was met by Phillipe, who we soon learned had spent 7 years in the United States and was supposed to marry a girl from Wisconsin in early December, clearly that still had not yet happened.&nbsp; He had been sponsored by Patagonia for Rock Climbing and had appeared in the catalog numerous times.&nbsp; We could tell, as a lot of his gear was from Patagonia. I had made a new friend by the name of Ann Fyfe.&nbsp; A wonderful mother of two from San Mateo, CA who works in the health care industry at a hospital in Mountain View.&nbsp; Her husband and son had left her to go on the 9 hour hike and like the smart woman she was, she decided to join us on our excursion.&nbsp; Mel and Matt from Australia and an absolutely lovely couple from the UK were also with us.&nbsp; We had a great group!&nbsp; Philippe guided us over a mountain, under and over fences separating estancias, all while he educated us on the flora, fauna and geology of the area.&nbsp; We saw some ancient cave drawings (looked a little like red crayons on rocks to me) and had beautiful views of the lakes and valleys below.&nbsp; It was a little warmer this day as we did not need 10 layers on to keep us warm.&nbsp; After three hours of hiking we made it to the Milodon cave, an ancient cave that housed humans dating back over 1,000 years ago.&nbsp; We walked through the cave and saw a big prehistoric creature cut out of wood that represented the Milodon that lived around the time of the Sabertooth.After our hike we headed back to the hotel to enjoy a delicious lunch of salad and grilled chicken and around 3pm headed out for our riding excursion with Phillipe.&nbsp; We were taken to an estancia about 10 minutes outside of Puerto Natales where we were met by a fabulous Gaucho who introduced us to his horses and numerous, dogs, puppies and kittens.&nbsp; After explaining to the Gaucho that it was Andrew´s premiero tiempo on a horse, Andrew became the last to hop on his middle aged mellow horse.&nbsp; I got the smallest of the bunch, but it was explained to me that it was because I was the smallest of the group which made me happy as we have been eating a TON and I am currently not feeling so small.&nbsp; After the 7 of us were on our horse´s we were off with a slow trot towards the mountains.&nbsp; We went up our first mountain that was covered with cows chewing their cud.&nbsp; One of the sheepdogs had followed us as well as a little one year old street mut that looked a little like a white benji who we came to find was named Chubi.&nbsp; I LOVED this little guy.&nbsp; Having followed the back hooves of my horse for a few minutes he broke off to bark at the Cows who looked inquisitively at us.&nbsp; This tiny dog actually scared the cows and they would run off when he would bark at their feet.&nbsp; We passed through valleys and a couple more mountains before reaching an enormous mountain overlooking the many many miles of valley´s lakes and the National Park.&nbsp; It was a fabulous view and it was at that moment that I was so happy that I could cry.We got off our horses to take some pictures and Andrew and I played with our new buddy Chubi.&nbsp; He was our new best friend.&nbsp; Phillipe and our Gaucho made a small fire and cooked up some Matte, a very strong South American tea that you share through a silver straw.&nbsp; We sat by the fire, chatted and sipped on Matte for 45 minutes in the cool late afternoon before getting back on our horses to trot back down the mountain to the Estancia.&nbsp; As we hopped back on our horses, one of the horses let out a fart that had to have lasted almost a minute.&nbsp; Andrew was about 10 feet from the horse´s rear end and I thought he was going to choke he was laughing so hard.&nbsp; Everybody loved it, except for the person that had to ride the horse.&nbsp; Andrew´s horse, Morena seemed to need little to no direction whereas my horse needed to be held back a little from getting too close to our Gaucho´s horse´s rear end.&nbsp; The Gaucho said something to me, at which point I asked Phillipe to translate.&nbsp; After a 5 minute conversation between him and the Gaucho I asked what he had said.&nbsp; He said,"Make sure to keep your horses nose out of his horses ass."&nbsp; The rest of the way I had to really focus on keeping my horse in check.&nbsp; In the second valley the Gaucho whistled and the sheep dog took off in a sprint and started rounding up all of the cattle in the distance.&nbsp; It was amazing to see a dog round up so many cattle in such little time.&nbsp; A few minutes later, Chubi entered the mix and started barking and chasing the cattle, only he was chasing them in the opposite direction of where the sheepdog was rounding them up.&nbsp; Poor Chubi.&nbsp; Our Gaucho just shook his head.Towards the last stretch of our ride I was the first of the group as I wanted to keep my horses nose to ourselves.&nbsp; My horse took off in the fastest gallop I have ever experienced.&nbsp; Her ears went back and the wind was ripping through my hair.&nbsp; It took all of my strength to simply hold on.&nbsp; The english style of riding I had learned at the age of 12 was replaced with mayhem and I kept telling the horse "Whoa".&nbsp; After a couple minutes of galloping the home stretch, I was out of breath and there he was..&nbsp; Andrew, the first time ever on a horse, taking over the lead from the rear and he looked really good doing it.&nbsp; When he finally reached the fence, he looked a little frazzled.&nbsp; He said, "Did you see that"?&nbsp; I said that I did and that he looked great.&nbsp; He said something about his horse being able to beat the horses in Hong Kong and quickly got off his horse.We said goodbye to our Gaucho and Chubi and on the way home Andrew explained to the group in the van that it was official!!&nbsp; "Lisa is trying to kill me," he said, "and you are all witnesses as I will be pressing spousal abuse charges upon return to the states".&nbsp; He explained that on this trip he had been forced to ice climb, get in a two person kayak with me for his first time in a kayak and brave 9 foot swells, hike 36 miles when the longest hike he had ever been on was 2 hours max, river rafted for the first time after a harrowing drive over sheer cliffs, not letting him sleep past 7am day after day, having to drive long distances on the other side of the road and now this... cantering in the middle of the wilderness after having never been on a horse before.&nbsp; I think at that point Andrew had enough.&nbsp; I know deep down that Andrew is secretly happy about all of the above as he smiled while telling his stories of bravery, well, maybe all but the waking up at 7am part.&nbsp; Upon our return to the hotel, we started to feel a little pain from the ride, but ignored it, ate another great dinner and went to bed early.The 3rd day included an excursion that was just OK.&nbsp; It was taking a boat out on lake Sarmiento.&nbsp; It was an easy day.&nbsp; We were supposed to do the French Valley hike, but we couldn´t bring ourselves to do a 7 hour hike as our body and back ached from the muscles we used on our ride.&nbsp; So we boarded a small boat at 8am.&nbsp; A nice spanish teacher from Boston gave me Bonine to quell any urges to get sea sick and we departed to see the glaciers on the other side of the lake.&nbsp; We traveled on the boat for 3 and a half hours before getting to the first glacier.&nbsp; We chatted with Ann and John Fyfe and our new friends who were in their late 20´s, Rachel and Dan from New York who were at Remota for a week for a break from their busy jobs.&nbsp; I slept for a little bit due to the Bonine I think and though the first glacier was beautiful, we had really seen a lot of glaciers on this trip.&nbsp; We got off the boat when we got to the second glacier and had a 20 minute hike in the pouring rain to see the glacier up close.&nbsp; Reverting back to our days on the Milford we were the first people to get to the Glacier, we snapped a few pics and headed back to the boat to dry off in the cabin.&nbsp; Our guide Isabel looked perplexed as she saw us heading back and asked if we had made it.&nbsp; We said of course.&nbsp; Yes it was beautiful, but we weren´t about to stay there in the pouring rain to wait to see it move an inch.&nbsp; We had a delicious late lunch at an estancia on the banks of the river. I have never seen Andrew so happy when he saw the piles of meat grilling in the kitchen.&nbsp; It was like Christmas and we were starving.&nbsp; We had a wonderful lunch and of course the South American´s were taking their time eating so had to be rushed through their meal before the waters got any more rough.&nbsp; So we boarded the boat back, I passed out, Andrew read a book JFK had written that Dan had brought and we got back to the hotel almost more tired than when we left.&nbsp;We swam one last time in the pool and enjoyed our last dinner at the hotel over our bottle of Shiraz we had bought outside of Santiago.&nbsp; We did LOVE the Remota and were sad to be leaving.&nbsp; We hope to one day return to Torres Del Paine as it is an incredible place.&nbsp; If only they would turn down the wind.
]]> http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/lisaludwig/pacificcircle/1203537720/tpod.html http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/lisaludwig/pacificcircle/1203537720/tpod.html#comments Travel Blogs http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/lisaludwig/pacificcircle/1203537720/tpod.html Wed, 20 Feb 2008 16:56:10 -0500 Andrew and Lisa's adventures in Hong Kong, Australia, New Zealand, Chile, Argentina, Uraguay and beyond.

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Santiago, Chile

We arrived in Santiago a little out of it, as we had arrived 5 hours earlier than we had left Auckland, yet had a 12 hour flight.&nbsp; Try to figure that one out.&nbsp; Neither Andrew or I slept well, but what can you do?&nbsp; We went through customs and despite our business class status, it took over 45 minutes to get our bags.&nbsp; I had felt a fleeting feeling of whether or not we were doing the right thing coming to Chile after New Zealand as we had such an amazing experience and I wasn´t sure if anything could top it. After finally getting our bags after a long time of watching cute customs dogs get trained near our baggage claim we encountered the bright early afternoon daylight upon exiting the customs area and saw a frenzy of Chileans waiting for family members and loved ones, mixed in with drivers waiting for their fare.&nbsp; We wondered what the person who would be picking us up looked like and all I can say is Andrew was quite pleased when we saw adorable Karen, brunette and blue eyed in a sundress holding a sign with our names on it.&nbsp; To Andrew´s great delight, she gave us both a Chilean welcome, a kiss on the cheek.&nbsp; Andrew smiled and said, "I think I will like it here."&nbsp; With that we were whisked away by Karen and our driver to be taken to our hotel in the Los Condes district of Santiago.&nbsp; With 16 Million people and Chile and 6 Million of them living in Santiago, we thought we would be in for an ugly polluted city.&nbsp; We were amazed that there was no traffic on the way to our hotel and everything looked modern and nice.&nbsp; It wasn´t as clean as New Zealand, but it was really quite nice. Karen checked us into our hotel that was on a small street in one of the financial and residential districts in the city.&nbsp; We were escorted to a nice suite at the top of Plaza El Bosque where we would spend the next 2 and a half hours taking a nap before heading out to explore our neighborhood for a place to eat.&nbsp; We woke up around 5pm, fairly hungry, but knowing that South America eats late, we knew we had to wait.&nbsp; We scrolled through the 90 or so Spanish channels airing episodes of Alf, Bay watch and various popular movies from the US in Spanish and settled on CNN to catch up on some news.&nbsp; We emerged from our hotel around 7pm to check out our neighborhood that was filled with nice restaurants and settled on Tiramisu, a fantastic pizzeria that Karen had recommended.&nbsp; Being the early birds we were, the place was not open until 7:45pm, so we walked around a little more before finally being seated outside on the street where we enjoyed a couple great pizza´s, local wines and local beer.&nbsp; We made our way back to the hotel after a very&nbsp; nice dinner to try to get ourselves acclimated to the 8 hour time difference.&nbsp; I woke up around 4am, unable to sleep, as did Andrew because I was tossing and turning and we chatted a bit before finally heading down to breakfast at 7am.&nbsp; We were very pleased with the breakfast at the Hotel as it had great coffee and was different than the past 28 days.&nbsp; We were picked up from the hotel from our guide Maria and our driver Luis.&nbsp; Today we were visiting Emiliana, the only certified bio-dynamic winery in Chile specializing in organic wines, followed by a trip to Valparaiso and Viña del Mar.&nbsp; It was Valentine´s Day and it seemed like the perfect day for a romantic trip outside of Santiago.&nbsp; We drove about an hour and a half to Emiliana in the Casablanca Valley that was found in 1982.&nbsp; We were greeted by another Maria who explained all of the elements that go into making organic wine and how the Casablanca Valley is the sister Valley to Napa as it is on the same longitude as Napa and is excellent for growing white wines and a few reds that can sustain in cooler conditions.&nbsp; She introduced us to the Alpaca´s that act as a clean up crew after the harvest and let us pet niña, a month and a half old Alpaca who posed for a picture.&nbsp; I could not believe how soft she was... and so friggen cute.After a tour of the vineyards and the animals we went inside to try the wine.&nbsp; We learned about the various inexpensive wines that are made at Emiliana and really enjoyed them.&nbsp; We were told about their wine called Ge, a premium Syrah, Cab, Merlot and Carmeniere blend that is the only place in the world that makes it in a certified bio-dynamic state.&nbsp; The wine is based on the stars and the moon if you can believe it, where each day in the calendar year is dedicated to the roots, the vines of the fruits.&nbsp; It was fascinating.&nbsp; I should also note that it was the first time Andrew had tried Carmeniere, a specialty of Chile, as all of the vines in France were killed by disease and not other country specializes in it.&nbsp; It is quite a good wine.After our wonderful visit to Emiliana, we were off to Valparaiso or Valpo as the locals call it.&nbsp; Maria explained to us that we would either love or hate Valparaiso.&nbsp; I had a feeling that we would love it.&nbsp; Upon our arrival in Valparaiso we learned that 250,000 people lived there and it was a major port town back in the 1800´s and had a TON of history, but now is mainly used for the Navy.&nbsp; There were 10 or so Hillevator´s or ascensor´s that would take people to their colorful homes and neighborhoods clinging to the steep hillsides and many parts of it are declared historic sites by UNESCO.&nbsp; Aside from the graffiti, the city was beautiful, full of vibrant colors, cobble stone roads, art mosaics on the sides of buildings by famous artists, steep hills and beautiful views of the Ocean below.&nbsp; We had a full tour of the city with it´s beautiful views and Maria took us on a steep Ascensor and at the top we walked back down through the tiny streets and colorful houses to where Louis was waiting to take us to lunch.&nbsp; We had decided to go to Apollo 77, a small restaurant way up on the hillside with great views and a little bit of a crazy menu.&nbsp; We decided to have lunch the Chilean way as it was Valentine´s day and we needed to enjoy our meal.&nbsp; We ordered a bottle of Sav Blanc and ordered scallops, and the local fish with strawberry torte for desert followed by espresso.&nbsp; It took us two hours to get through our lunch, which may be the longest lunch we had ever had.&nbsp; It was wonderful.&nbsp; We met Maria and Luis after lunch and headed to Viña del Mar, a beautiful coastal town that neighbors Valpo. It was 10 minutes away from Valpo, but very different... much more modern, a crowded beach, a little like Miami if you ask me. It was fashion week there and they were setting up the runways near the ocean.&nbsp; I think Andrew wanted to stay.&nbsp; We saw a Rapa Nui there, that is one of the rare one´s outside of Easter Island.&nbsp; Maria explained that This is where many people from Argentina as well as Santiago residents spend their vacations during the summer.&nbsp; I was wondering why Santiago seemed so empty and there was my answer... it was summer vacation and the city was empty. According to Maria, it was the best time to be in Santiago.We arrived back at the Hotel around 6pm and cleaned up for our special Valentine´s Dinner at a restaurant called Nolita.&nbsp; Karen had made reservations for us at 8:30pm, early for dinner according to people in Santiago, but we were starving.&nbsp; We got dressed up and slowly walked to dinner.&nbsp; Nolita was adorable.&nbsp; Very modern, very hip and it had a GREAT menu.&nbsp; We had a couple pisco saur´s, ordered a Carmaniere, fabulous Calamari, shrimp and Chicken Parm.&nbsp; It was about the time that we finished our main courses that the place started to fill up.&nbsp; It was 10:15pm and people were starting to come in.&nbsp; By the time we left around 10:45pm the place was almost full.&nbsp; There were a few spots left for those who had the 11pm reservations. Again I was up at 4am... this time I went back to sleep and when I woke up at 7:15am, Andrew was gone.&nbsp; Poor guy.&nbsp; To my delight, he had gone to Starbuck´s which by the way, he had to wait to have open at 7:30am.&nbsp; Where were we that Starbuck´s did not open until 7:30am on a weekday.&nbsp; At any rate, we had our coffee, another great breakfast and were met by Louis and Karen in the lobby at 9am.&nbsp; Today we were going to tour through the Acancogua Valley where there are 4 large wineries that date back to the 1800´s.&nbsp; Karen explained to us that the Acancogua Valley is famous for its red´s as the climate is quite hot.&nbsp; Our first visit was to Vina Errazuriz that was founded in 1870.&nbsp; It is owned by a very famous Chilean family and the current president of the estate is a 6th generation Chilean wine maker.&nbsp;&nbsp; We were met by Pedro who spoke perfect English and took us on a tour of the vineyards and showed us the difference between the California vines, the French vines, Italian vines, and the differences between the hillside and valley vineyards.&nbsp; We walked up to the top of one of the hills and took in the beauty of the vast vineyards.&nbsp; It was such a special wine tour.&nbsp; In the states we usually walk into a winery and taste the wines and walk out and go on to the next.&nbsp; Here on the other hand, the wine tours are so informative.&nbsp; They take about an hour and a half and you learn so much about the estate.&nbsp; We tasted about four delicious wines and fell in love with the Max Reserve Shiraz which we bought a bottle of to bring with us to Patagonia.&nbsp; Karen then took us to a small town called San Martin de Los Andes where we went to In Situ, which has ancient Inca rock drawings in the middle of one of its hillside vineyards.&nbsp; The views of the huge snow capped Andes Mountain range beyond the vineyards was quite a site.&nbsp; The Acancogua River, that comes from the 21,000 foot Acancogua Mountain ran right along the vineyards at In Situ and it was quite a site.&nbsp; After our tour of In Situ, we made our way to lunch at a large historic home that has become a fabulous 8-room hotel in town that attracts tourists coming to the area to ski during the winter.&nbsp; I will have to look up the name as it was a beautiful home.&nbsp; We had the place all to ourselves and we were seated under a varanda by the pool next to the vineyards.&nbsp; It was a fabulous place to have lunch.&nbsp; We were joined by Karen and Louis and we enjoyed a wonderful avocado salad, fish and steak and a fabulous sweet papaya salad with our merlot from In Situ.&nbsp; It was truly a very special way to have lunch.&nbsp; It was right there, under that Veranda that I decided that maybe Chile was better than New Zealand...We returned back to Santiago after lunch where I picked up a converter with karen´s help (yes I managed to blow mine up using my blow dryer, terrible luck if you ask me).&nbsp; We were back at our hotel around 6pm, where we relaxed and still full from lunch reluctantly decided to order room service as we were exhausted.&nbsp; It had been two and a half wonderful days in Santiago.&nbsp; Next stop Patagonia!!&nbsp;
]]> http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/lisaludwig/pacificcircle/1203112980/tpod.html http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/lisaludwig/pacificcircle/1203112980/tpod.html#comments Travel Blogs http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/lisaludwig/pacificcircle/1203112980/tpod.html Wed, 20 Feb 2008 16:11:48 -0500 Andrew and Lisa's adventures in Hong Kong, Australia, New Zealand, Chile, Argentina, Uraguay and beyond.

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Auckland, New Zealand

This is going to be a super quick entry...After a lovely breakfast in Rotorua on Wednesday, the day of our departure from our beloved New Zealand, we headed out on the road for the last time on the other side of the road.&nbsp; Upon arriving in Auckland, we made our way to the Villa Maria Estate where we were to meet Meg our travel agent and her husband to review our trip with her to fill her in on what we liked, loved and didn't care for over a glass of wine and lunch before heading off to catch our 5.25pm flight to Santiago. There is not much to report from our lunch, besides the fact that it was great to meet Meg and let her know that we loved the trip she planned for us and that we would be calling her when we decided to return to New Zealand to one day visit Dunedin, Queenstown again, Auckland and more of the North Island and Islands off of the North Island.So here are our overall thoughts on New Zealand:&nbsp; It is Clean; lots of fresh air; great bird watching; very green; lots of sheep; large expensive portions for lunch and dinner; breads stink but meat pies are AWESOME, impossible to order coffee... if you go, a coffee with skim milk is a skinny flat white. Beautiful, beautiful scenery... varying topography... mountains, rivers, waterfalls, lakes, hills valleys, snow capped mountains, cliffs, cows, horses, more sheep; one road to each major city or town, very easy to navigate, 1 lane bridges on the inter-state (what´s up with that?), way too many camper vans on the one lane roads; VERY nice people, jokers, love the All-Black´s Rugby team and are very fond and proud of their country.&nbsp; Tons of adventure sports, incredibly outdoorsy;&nbsp; lots of great wine regions, decent wine; small towns, many at least 1 hour from each other with nothing in between, lots of road kill.&nbsp; AMAZING stargazing, but it gets dark very late, 10pm or so, so stars are not out until the middle of the night, eco-friendly.&nbsp; Popular Phrases:Goodonya, good as, sweet as, how ya goin, cool as, loose, brilliant, magic, flash!
]]> http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/lisaludwig/pacificcircle/1202950320/tpod.html http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/lisaludwig/pacificcircle/1202950320/tpod.html#comments Travel Blogs http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/lisaludwig/pacificcircle/1202950320/tpod.html Fri, 15 Feb 2008 16:56:27 -0500 Andrew and Lisa's adventures in Hong Kong, Australia, New Zealand, Chile, Argentina, Uraguay and beyond.

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Napier, New Zealand

I am honestly dying to get this entry done so that I can bring you with us to Santiago where we have had two just amazing days.&nbsp; I honestly thought that our trip could not get better after New Zealand, but it has.&nbsp; But I digress.&nbsp; I must mentally go back to New Zealand.&nbsp; Monday morning, February 11th...&nbsp; Andrew got us some Starbucks coffee in town.&nbsp; We were dying for some filtered coffee as people in New Zealand just LOVE their espresso drinks.&nbsp; We had decided to rent bikes and tour around the area while visiting a few wineries.&nbsp; I called Bike D'Vine and the woman said she would call us back as she was busy.&nbsp; I really liked their program as it included some of the wineries we were interested in visiting.&nbsp; Alas, we never got a phone call, so I figured they didn't really want our business so we went with Bike About, who were at our hotel within minutes picking us up to take us to their location.&nbsp; It all happened so quickly that we had to get some breakfast at a local bakery before heading out on our bikes.&nbsp; We were given some pretty sweet Hybrid bikes, Andrew's even had a nice florescent flag on it complete with baskets, water bottle holders which we would need and maps of the area.&nbsp; We spent the next 4 hours exploring the outskirts of Napier and Hawkes Bay and rode by farms, vineyards, sheep, orchards and we stopped to get out of the 85 degree heat at Park Estate, Church Road Winery and Mission Estate.&nbsp; All of the wineries had decent wine and Mission Estate had just gorgeous views overlooking Napier.&nbsp; It was an enjoyable bike ride and Andrew and I were very happy that we did it, but it was a little too much biking and not enough tasting.&nbsp; So after getting dropped off at our hotel we made a quick turnaround and headed out to the main Hawkes Bay wine region.&nbsp; Andrew's Aunt Cathy and Uncle Paul had met a man by the name of John Hancock (yes, just like the Declaration of Independence's John Hancock) at Boulevard one night and had talked to him about the winery where he is a wine maker called Trinity Hill.&nbsp; We arrived at Trinity Hill, a super modern, rather large winery that was packed!!&nbsp; We started to try their extensive collection when I saw John emerge from the back of the building.&nbsp; We told him about how Andrew's Aunt and Uncle had sent us here and how much they liked his wine and with that we spent the next hour and a half with John talking about his wine's as he poured us tastes from some of the wines they were tasting that day and even some that they were not.&nbsp; He seemed to enjoy sipping his wine just as much as he probably enjoyed making it.&nbsp; It really was a wonderful experience.By the time we made our way home it was 5pm and we were pretty exhausted.&nbsp; We rested for a little bit in our room before heading out for a late dinner on the waterfront followed by a drink at the old school bar in our hotel.&nbsp; Tired, full and happy we went to bed.We woke up on Tuesday morning with the knowledge that it was our last full day in New Zealand.&nbsp; We grabbed a quick breakfast at the Hotel and began our drive to Rotorua, one of the most touristed places in New Zealand, mostly due to it being a center for Maori culture and because all of the activities that you can find in New Zealand seems to be there.&nbsp; We drove through Taupo in a horrendous rain storm.&nbsp; Despite having the windshield wipers on full, we still could not see out the window.&nbsp; It was the second rain storm we experienced aside from our hiking on the Milford Track and I simply did not like New Zealand in the rain.We arrived safely in Rotorua, which we had been told smelled pretty bad due to the high volcanic and geyser activity in the area.&nbsp; The place must have been sitting on a pit of sulfur as the smell of extremely rotten eggs engulfed our car as we approached our hotel which sat directly at ground zero next to Lake Rotorua.&nbsp; Hungry for lunch we departed from our hotel to walk a block to the Polynesian Spa, a spa that was rated a top 10 spa by Travel and Leisure for medicinal therapies.&nbsp; We had lunch at their cafe and after promising Andrew a 24 ounce steak and a good Malbec as soon as we got to Argentina, he agreed to join me in the hot mineral pools, we had 7 out of 26 to choose from with the Adult package and for an hour we relaxed in the hot Alkaline waters enjoying the views of Lake Rotorua on the edge of the pools.Andrew agreed it wasn't as bad as he thought it would be, but still said that he was going to have his steak.&nbsp; We got ready for dinner and were met by our bus that was taking us to the Mitai dinner, a traditional Hangi dinner that included a Maori performance.&nbsp; We had been to a similar dinner in Hawaii and enjoyed it so we had high hopes.&nbsp; After a glass of wine, we were escorted down to a small stream where the Maori tribesman arrived by Waka or War Canoe and headed up to where the performance would be.&nbsp; For an hour we were entertained by the tribesman who explained their culture, about their tattoos, about how they interacted with European settlers and did what Andrew had been looking forward to all night... THE HAKA.&nbsp; Andrew had always loved watching the University of Hawaii football team do the Haka and he was so happy to see it in person.&nbsp; I have to say it was a little bit scary as some of the tribesman looked possessed, but it was pretty incredible.We were taken into dinner, where we enjoyed succulent New Zealand Lamb &amp; Chicken, Potatoes (Rewai), Sweet Potato (Kumara) and stuffing (a combination of Bread, Mixed Herbs, Corn, Carrots &amp; Peas) and various salads, breads and finally a chocolate log.&nbsp; The food was much better than I had anticipated.&nbsp; After dinner, we had opted to pay $11 to go next door to Rainbow Springs to see the nocturnal Kiwi bird.&nbsp; We stopped along the way to see the glow worms and finally entered the Kiwi birds cage.&nbsp; We were shocked to see how big and shy the Kiwi was.&nbsp; Unable to fly, the Kiwi is about the size&nbsp;of a chicken with a super long beak and fur.&nbsp; Andrew and I were obsessed and we just loved the Kiwi and managed to stay in the cage not only with our group, but with the group after us.&nbsp; Unfortunately, the end of the experience was a little bit of a let down as the Mitai dinner folks seriously did not have their act together with regards to the buses to take us home.&nbsp; We&nbsp; waited for half an hour to leave Rainbow Springs which was a bit of a disappointment, but we had a wonderful experience nonetheless.&nbsp; Definitely a great way to spend our last night in New Zealand.&nbsp; Once we finally got home, we packed up for the last time in New Zealand for our short trip to Auckland where we would be catching a late afternoon flight to the fabulous city of Santiago, Chile!&nbsp;
]]> http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/lisaludwig/pacificcircle/1202947860/tpod.html http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/lisaludwig/pacificcircle/1202947860/tpod.html#comments Travel Blogs http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/lisaludwig/pacificcircle/1202947860/tpod.html Wed, 13 Feb 2008 19:52:46 -0500 Andrew and Lisa's adventures in Hong Kong, Australia, New Zealand, Chile, Argentina, Uraguay and beyond.

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Wellington, North Island, New Zealand

Well, seeing that we are already in Santiago, Chile... I would say I am running a little bit behind.&nbsp; Regardless, I am going to do a couple super quick blogs to catch you up on where we are at.So we woke up at the adorable California Inn and got ready for our trip to the capital of New Zealand, Wellington where we would be spending one night.&nbsp; We sat down at the breakfast table with two other couple´s from the UK and had delicious homemade Muesli, Frittata, seasonal fruit, Venison Sausage and fresh squeezed juice.&nbsp; Unfortunately just as we were finishing breakfast, the guy from Europcar came to pick us up to take us back to the airport where our rental car was.&nbsp; We quickly packed up, and got on the road to Picton in our flashy electric blue Ford Falcon.&nbsp; We decided to take the scenic shortcut to Picton via the Queen Charlotte Drive, an incredibly curvy road that took us over mountains, by lakes and through valley´s.&nbsp; After one of the incredibly sharp turns on the road, there it was... the Inter-Island ferry in all of its glory.&nbsp; It was a MASSIVE boat.&nbsp; A lot like a large cruise ship.&nbsp; Andrew turned to me and said that calling it a ferry was an understatement.We returned our Europcar and made sure to do a full walk around the vehicle, so as to not get another $1,000 charge and boarded the Inter-Islander with its 10 floors, bars, restaurants, cafe´s, video game lounges&nbsp;and 2 cinemas... one of which we took full advantage of to watch Atonement.&nbsp; With about 15 other people in the movie theater, it was a great way to kill 2 out of the 3 hours that we were on the boat.&nbsp; I LOVED the movie and had to take a few minutes after it ended to clean myself up as I had been sobbing.&nbsp; I am far too sensitive to emotional movies.&nbsp; I threw my sunglasses on and we went to the top deck, where we soon found that we had almost arrived on the North Island.&nbsp; We picked up our bags, our silver Ford Falcon and drove the 5 minutes or so to get to the James Cook Grand Chancellor.&nbsp; Wellington was a lot larger than most of the other cities we had been to and the Grand Chancellor was the largest of all of the hotels we had stayed at in New Zealand.&nbsp; After freshening up, Andrew and I headed out to have dinner at a place Meg our travel agent had recommended: Monsoon Poon a super hip Asian fusion restaurant in downtown Wellington.&nbsp; I found it to be a cross between Left at Albuquerque and Betelnut, with cool music, great drinks and food and great looking people.&nbsp; We had passed by an adorable little white Victorian House a block or two away from our Hotel and decided to have our cab driver drop us off there for an after dinner glass of wine.&nbsp;The place was called Boulcott St. Bistro and was a French Bistro and wine bar that opened in 1991 in a fantastic 130 plus year old home.&nbsp; We sat at the wine bar where we talked to the bar tenders who gave us wonderful recommendations on which wineries to head to in Martinborough the next day.&nbsp; After some fantastic wine and a few free tastings on the house, we left happy, wishing that we had a little more time in Wellington.&nbsp; Unfortunately if you are doing New Zealand in 18 days, there just simply is not enough time to do all that we wanted to do... therefore a trip back is mandatory.&nbsp; We left Wellington the next morning after an enormous brunch at the Hotel and made our way over a huge mountain to Martinborough, an older New Zealand wine country dating back to the 1890´s.&nbsp; The area is known for its Pinot Noirs, Chardonnay´s and Sav Blanc´s and upon arriving at our first stop, Martinborough Winery, that we went to based on the bartenders recommendation at Boulcott St. Bistro.&nbsp; The wines were great and the lady behind the counter gave us a list of 5 other must try wineries in the region... when I say region I actually mean in the surrounding 6 blocks.&nbsp; We made our way to Ata Rangi where we were greeted by Rata, an adorable 16 week old yellow lab.&nbsp; We tried their excellent pinot Noir´s and desert wines and then went to Paliser Estate which had an adorable little garden setting and award winning wines, that I didn´t care for too much.&nbsp; We then went to Stone Cutter, where we were served by the wine maker himself and met a 70 plus year old couple from Bordeaux who own their own winery.&nbsp; We tasted a couple recently bottled wines and purchased an 04 Pinot Noir that we enjoyed.&nbsp; Our final stop was Vynfields where we had lunch.&nbsp; We just loved this spot.&nbsp; We went down a long drive past the vineyards to this adorable little Victorian with tons of picnic areas for lunch, beautiful views and great organic white wines.&nbsp; We sat and had a lovely lunch in the garden and enjoyed a fabulous platter full of fresh meats, cheeses and freshly baked bread.&nbsp; We took the more scenic route out of Martinborough and continued on to Napier where we would be spending the next two nights.&nbsp; Somewhere in the middle of nowhere, Andrew decided to pass a large truck.&nbsp; It was maybe the 4th time he had passed a car in the two weeks we had been in the country, but of course, just as we raced past the truck, there it was... a police car in the oncoming traffic lane.&nbsp; We knew that since we were approaching 140 KM´s per hour we were going to get pulled over.&nbsp; We knew we were bound to get a ticket at some point, but I kinda wish it had been me, as I was the one who was consistently over the speed limit.&nbsp; So there we were, in the middle of nowhere, pulled over on the side of a two lane highway, in the grass, with about ten cows peering into our car wondering what the hell was going on.&nbsp; As the burly bald policeman approached our car, I saw him start shaking his head and look very disappointed when he saw the Europcar sticker on the back of our Falcon.&nbsp; Andrew rolled down the window and passed the guy his California Driver´s license, at which point the cop said, "How many days are you here for?" to which Andrew replied, "18 sir". The guy started laughing and told us that he HATES pulling over tourists and due to some new police car technology, he couldn´t let us off the hook.&nbsp; He did tell us that we didn´t have to pay the ticket, so long as we never come back to New Zealand, but we all knew that was out of the question, since we loved it and were certainly planning on coming back.&nbsp; The cop went back to his car shaking his head, so upset by the fact that we were American tourists on Holiday and issued us a $170 ticket that we would plan to pay as soon as we got to Napier.&nbsp; He apologized and said have a good rest of your trip and with that we were off.&nbsp;After an incredible iced coffee in the next town to cool us off after our encounter with the law, I took over the driving and we were in the adorable art deco town of Napier in no time.&nbsp;&nbsp; Upon arrival at the adorable County Hotel right near the ocean, we had a glass of Pinot Noir to take away the sting of the ticket and Andrew began to sing "breakin´the law, breakin´the law" and went on and on about how he was on the lamb.&nbsp; We walked around the adorable town that was leveled in 1931 by a 7.9 earthquake that added 40 Kilometers to the surrounding area.&nbsp; The town was completely rebuilt in the art deco style and was just charming.&nbsp; We made our way to a fantastic Mongolian BBQ place that was packed called "WOK U WANT".&nbsp; Andrew and I chose all of our own ingredients, squirted all of these sauces into our concoction and a guy cooked it all up for us on the grill.&nbsp; It was delicious.&nbsp; It included a great ice cream cone to finish off our meal and with that we were back to the County Hotel to get some rest before a day of wine tasting in Hawke´s Bay the following day.
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