40th Anniversary!!!!!!!!!
Trip Start
Feb 04, 2007
1
6
15
Trip End
May 26, 2007
Santiago,
Chile
Thursday, April 12, 2007
That is, Chile is the 40th country I´ve graced with my presence. I realize it may seem a bit cliche to try and quantify in any way, shape or form, the pleasure I derive from traveling, but there is a story behind this number I´ve kept track of over the years. When I was 21 years-old, I was fortunate enough to study abroad in Florence, Italy through NYU. Upon arriving, my eyes were widely opened by the culture, food and architecture, just some of the influences that continue to propel me through my travels to this day.
Today I´m writing from Santiago, Chile, which from my sources is the only first world country in South America. I¨m not sure if that is true, but I´ll go with it. My last entry was from Montevideo, Uruguay
40th country
. From Montevideo, we rented a car and took a couple of days to visit Punta del Este. As Joe and I were planning this trip, we came up with five places each that we ¨couldn´t miss,¨ these included carnival in Salvador, Iguazu Falls, Rio, Machu Pichu amongst others. One of mine was Punta (as the locals call it). Commonly referred to as the St Tropez of South America, it for sure lived up to it´s name. From Punta, we drove up the coast to a beach called Jose Ignacio, where money truly isn´t an issue. The houses we saw were incredible with views to match them. At the end of this area, there is a famous restaurant called ¨La Huella¨ which in English means footprint. In the back of the restaurant there is a Lacoste store, which matches the vibe of the restaurant. Extremely Hamptons. People arriving on horseback, no joke. Punta was also the location of my refresher course on how to drive stick shift, by Joe Shamash. I can officially say I can sort of drive shift with out putting too many people in danger.After a hellish journey from Uruguay back to BA, we had the opportunity to have a Passover Sedar with a friend´s family who gladly welcomed two nice Jewish boys into their home. My kind of Sedar, no prayers and the first thing we were offered was salami on white bread. Not Kosher by any means. Following a couple last days and fantastic meals in BA, we headed on an overnight bus to Cordoba, Argentina
Bkies adn Wnie
. We spent a relatively dead Easter weekend there, visiting Che Guevara´s house he grew up in. Born in Rosario, he and his family moved to Alta Gracia, just outside of Cordoba due to his asthma. I can appreciate that.From Cordoba, we headed SW to Mendoza, the wine capital of South America. There is nothing like the experience we had while wine tasting, on bikes from winery to winery. The logo for the company www.bikesandwine.com is a guy cycling, downing a glass of wine. Of course I immediately thought what my Mom would think of this business idea.
Going forward, we are basically going from the easiest of traveling, with super cheap accommodations and excellent cheap food, facilitated by comfortable transportation in Argentina, to the worst in conditions in Bolivia, Peru and Ecuador. Being a 6´3´´ gringo get´s more and more exciting as you go to countries with shorter and darker people. Apparently the buses in Bolivia are nothing short of terrible with leg space suitable for midgets.
I don´t mean to bombard you with photos of anti-Bush propaganda, but it´s really unavoidable here. People love him! Along with these photos, I´ve included some photos to demonstrate the randomness South America has supplied us with.
I hope all is well! Much Love, Michael
Comments
Love the pink panthers
Love the photos- my favorite is the one of you next to the Che statue. So happy you are having a great time. We are so happy you are having shabbat dinner with Wayne's father's best friend in Chile- what a great honor and experience. I hear his daughters are pretty too ( : Love you, Nancy