Hola de Buenos Aries

Big billboards

Big monument. On world Aids Day, they cover it in a condom. (seriously)

Big Beef country

Big Buildings. They have a different kind of plus 15's.


New part of BA. High end hotels, shops, apartments.

The enemy is among us.

Sunday San Telmo Market. Big Crowds!

Knife Sharpener Guy.

Hot Rods

Si, mi Espanol es muchos buenos. But, don't ask me what they reply to me, as they speak so darnded fast! I am enjoying the Spanish lessons, however, and it is helping me to read some of the signs better, etc.

Every culture is different, and the people who live here have a different lifestyle than we are used to in Canada. First of all, they only sleep an average of 4-6 hours per night, which is very efficient, but I can't for the life of me see how they can manage without more sleep! They don't eat dinner until at least 9:30 pm, and even that is early for them, most of the time, its 11pm or midnight! Brent and I tried to go to a special BBQ place at 6 for dinner, and they don't even open until 8:30 pm! We hear traffic, and people visiting at 3 in the morning, all the time. I think BA is "The City that Never Sleeps" , not New York! My Spanish teacher can't believe that I go to bed at 10 pm and get up at 8:30 am....

We have twice seen a young man surrounded by his friends, covered in some kind of egg/flour creation, which is quite comical. We were told that this is to celebrate either graduation from University, or an upcoming wedding.

The people here are very friendly, and really like to show off their English when they get a chance. There is a couple of servers at Starbucks who recognize me and say, Hey, Canada! How are you? I tell them how good their English is, and they tell me that their teacher would be proud.

Today, we went to rent bicycles and take them to an ecological reserve, where there are 10 km's of trails and over 200 bird species living in the park. It was nice to just pop across the street and be in a completely tranquil area. We cycled along the ocean for a while, too. The breeze was nice, as the weather was the best day we have had yet. About 25 and no wind or clouds in the sky. My arm held up really well. It is much better riding than walking, as long as the road isn't too bumpy, it's just like at spin class, but much more interesting!

Around Town

Perro Mobile

Muchos Perros

Japanese Gardens

Women's Bridge. The whole bridge swings open to allow large ships to pass through.

Japanese Garden Bonsi

Big Coy

Japanese garden

I know it may seem a bit morose, but this graveyard is very intersting.

This girl was pronounced dead by 3 doctors, and was put in a coffin in one of the mauseleoms. The next day, a caretaker heard a noise coming out of her mauselom and contaced the family. When they opened the coffin, she was dead, but had been alive and was trying to escape. The family designed this new mauselem and the statue is of her. Her hand is on the door, as she is trying to get out. They told us that her ghose has been seen wandering the cementary in a white dress.

This person died on her honemoon. She was at a ski resort that had an avalanche and she was napping in her room when it covered the hotel. She was buried with her favorite dog. If you rub his nose, it's suposed to be good luck. That's why it is shiny.

Looking into one of the mauseleums. Some even have stained glass celings!

Evita's grave. Her family's grave.

Amazing statues. Stand for sadness, the future, the past and infinity.

Eat, Pray, Love. Oh, the food here! All for $20.

The best barbequer in BA!

We have been wandering not so aimlessly throughout the city. Brent and I went to the Japanese Gardens, and wandered around in the peaceful setting. Brent went to Peurto Madero, a new section of the city, with a bridge dedicated to women that swings to let the larger boats through. We had a great tour of the Recoleta Cemetery and took photos of the graves we saw. This is the third most famous cemetery in the world, second only to one in Paris and one in Italy. It is the smallest cemetery in the city, but hosts 21 presidents, and other famous and wealthy folks. Including the fellow who figured out how to take lactate out of milk. No, his mausoleum is not shaped like a cow. These mausoleums are purchased by a family for up to $50,000 and hold up to 100 coffins at a time. When they get too full, they either move or cremate the remains. They can also sell these to another person, and move all of the remains to another location. The cats are said to keep the spirits inside the cemetery.

Where Are We?

Cemetery and creepy cats

BMW 5 Series Hearse

Part of a high end hotel in Ricoletta

A Day in the Park

"Central Park"

For Mom

More Park

Italian Marble Statue

Buenos Aires is the 9th largest city in the world, with a population of 13 million. To us, it feels like New York, with the busy streets, subway, thousands of cabs, a central park, high end shopping, and apartments instead of houses. The difference is that it is cheaper than New York and hardly anyone speaks English!

The city has a real European feel to it, as well. The architecture reflects several influences from Spanish, French and other cities. There is a strong Italian influence as well, and many Italian restaurants to tempt us. We went out for pizza the other night and found a great spot, with dark wood, candles and the windows wide open so we could watch the action on the street. We decided to sit inside and had a large pizza and drinks for $20. We couldn't finish the pizza. It was overloaded with cheese, although tasty, it was way too much for us! Part of the bill referred to either "cutlery" or "covered", which we think meant that we paid extra to sit inside. Hard to say, but at the price, we were not going to question it

We have been spending most of our days walking the various barrios (neighbourhoods) of the city. Our barrio is called Palermo, and we are close to most of the tourist sights, and the other high end barrios. We spent a day in the park, walking the paths and watching families, couples and singles as they enjoyed the "Mothers Day" holiday in the sunshine. It is early spring here, so the 25 degree weather and blue sky brought the people out. They have a huge rose garden in this park, and it will be stunning in a couple of weeks when all of the buds open.

One thing we don't see a lot of here is littering. The streets are clean, and the city has a full force of garbage workers who keep the cans empty. In the evenings, they go through the garbage and split it up for recycling.

We have had no problems navigating the streets with our maps, although Brent is much better at it than I am.

I have made may way twice to my Spanish lesson location, which takes me about 45 minutes to get to by foot/subway combined. I blend in much better by myself without blondie by my side, as there are no fair-haired men wandering around the city. Brent really stands out. (but we already know that!)

I had my first two hour Spanish lesson, one on one, and really enjoyed it. I am learning mostly grammar right now, along with pronouncing letter combinations, numbers, etc. I feel like I am learning how to read all over again, just like grade 8!!!

Brent spent his lesson money on a satchel, which is better for carrying the laptop around in, as well, will make a better carry on bag than our tacky packsack.

After one week, we are settling into our apartment, and love the pace of life.

I am keeping up with my daily physio exercises, and have to watch how far I walk in a day, as that is when the arm gives me the most grief. Pace myself, right Mom?

Anyway, we hope to tour the large graveyard next week, after wandering through it in the rain the other day. It is where the famous are buried, one such person being Eva Perron. All of the tombs are above ground, and have gates on them, some glassed in, some open, and you can see the caskets right there. Very erie. Of course, lots of cats running around, too. Pet Cemetery all over....

By the way, we love to read your comments on our blog (thanks, Tara!) and look forward to seeing them when we open it up- so don't be shy!!!

photos

Swishy Apartment. Guard house on the front.

View from our balcony

LR

Brent's workshop

Nance's workshop

Nance's next job

My crew

Evita's balcony. The presidential pink house

La Boca Stadium

We have Arrived in Buenos Aires

La Boca: Famous Football Player, Evita, and some other dude.

La Boca Neighbourhood

We left Calgary at 9:30 am on Tuesday, and arrived at 7:45 am on Wednesday. Air Nance booked us a very smooth journey through San Fransisco, where we only had about 30 minutes to wait for our flight to Lima. After landing in Lima, we went straight to our connection, which went smoothly. We were lucky to secure seats for two all of the way, so we had room to stretch out, and get up without disturbing anyone. Brent slept quite a bit, but I only slept for about an hour.

Our VIP car service met us at the airport, and wisked us to our apartment. It took a good hour to get through the city, as it was rush hour, and we passed through three toll booths, and slowed for the traffic. We were both sitting there wondering how we would have navigated the traffic on our motorcycles, deciding it would have been very stressful to do.

We are very pleased with our accommidations, a beautiful new apartment building, with full security, a rooftop pool, a gym, air conditioning. We are the first to stay in the aparment, and there are even suites on our floor that are still being worked on. The gym is not open yet, so I negotiated a reduction in the rent, and the pool is not open yet, as it is still "spring" here and apparently too cold for swimming!

I am having issues connecting with the wireless system in our apartment, so we have had to resort to going to McDonalds for coffee so I can get on their wireless system here. Not like at home, as we are sitting in a private cafe, drinking Espresso Largo, which they serve with small cookies and sparkling water. There is even a private guard in this area!

Once we had rested up from our flights, we have been touring the different areas of the city by foot, discovering that there are many neighbourhoods close by for shopping, dining and stopping for coffee. Most of the shops we have seen in our area are very high end, with an abundance of men's stores, which Brent has enjoyed going through. I truly have never seen so many men's stores, and all upper end. My shoulder is holding up pretty well with all of the walking, and on average, we have been doing about 10 km per day. The coffee stops help, and the pain fades quickly after a good shot of esspresso!

Yesterday, we met our friend, Roy, for lunch. He is a wealth of information on BA, and helped us to buy minutes on our cellphone, which we can use to call him or text him. The lunch was also an experience, with three different yummy cuts of beef (ribs, steak, and something else) which we shared, with some side dishes. We will be meeting Roy tomorrow to go on a tour of the Market area, that only happens on Sundays.

Today, we took a 3 1/2 hour tour of the city through the company we rented the apartment from. It was very worthwhile, and helped us to decide on which areas of the city we would like to return to see. We took the subway down to meet our tourbus, and it was easy and safe to use. Oops, maybe not that safe. On the way home, we experienced our first unsafe moment. We were getting on in a very touristy area, and the subway platform was not busy. When our train arrived, we went to get on, and all of the sudden there were 5-6 other people pushing to get in the same door as us. I just figured that they all push to get in, even though there was lots of room on the train. I heard Brent say, hey, hey! And turn around. As the door closed, there was a large man looking at Brent, holding his hands up, as if to say, "what?" The other people who were trying to get on, did not, and disappeared on the platform. So, here's what happened. As we were getting on the train, the big man stopped in front of Brent and 3 others pushed against him, as if trying to get on the train. One person picked his back pocket, even opening his zipper that closed the pocket, and took out his "mugger" wallet. This is a "fake" wallet that he was carrying, that had fake credit cards in it (they all say, your name here on them) and a small amount of cash. (less than $20) Even though we weren't concerned about the theft, we still felt violated, and realized how quickly something can happen in the middle of the day. We do not carry our passports, or any large amounts of cash on us, and always put the money in separate pockets and areas on us. Even so, we will be uber dilligent in the future about our belongings.

More photos to follow! I'm having computer issues again.

Progress Report

Fernie Views

Our Fernie Condo

Birthday boy plays disc golf.

Beautiful Winnipeg

Doogie the Cowboy

Saint Annes

Free Camping

Hi everyone!

Here's what we have been up to for the past weeks. I flew home to Calgary and went into the hospital for surgery. I was all prepped and ready to go, and when I met my surgeon, he told me that he wasn't going to do the surgery and sent me home. There is quite a bit of controversy on the type of injury I have as to whether surgery is beneficial or not. About 50% of surgeons opt for surgery and the other (you do the math) prefer to let the bone heal on its own. Very confusing and frustrating. I was also told not to do any physiotherapy on the arm. I finally got in to see a sports medicine Doc, and he suggested physiotherapy, and seemed to agree with the surgeon on waiting to let the bone heal. The physiotherapy was a Godsend, as it really helped me deal with the pain, and get the arm moving again. After 4 weeks, I have now seen the surgeon again, and the bone is healing, but still broken. He gave me the go ahead to resume travelling, although definitely NOT on the motorcycle, and I have to keep up the physio. No problem there!

In the meantime, Brent headed back to Quebec to pick up his motorcycle and arrange for my bike to be shipped back home for repair. Brent had a great ride back, and I was envious of his good weather and stamina for riding long distances. He stopped just outside of Quebec City and stayed in Saint Annes, where he was thrilled to get free accommodation at a local campground, if he was on a pilgrimage to see the beautiful church there. The church was stunning, and filled with old crutches stacked up the columns in the church from people who claim to have been cured from visiting the church.

Bent also stopped at our friends place (Brian and Tania) again in Winnipeg, and became a really cowboy, enjoying a beautiful horseback ride on their acreage, with nice weather.

He stopped to visit his Mom in Wolseley and raved about her homemade donuts, as well, helped out with yardwork. Finally, he had a quick visit (one night) in Saskatoon, where he stayed with our nephew and got to see our latest grand-nephew, who is growing like a weed! A quick dinner with friends and he was on his way back to Calgary.

We have been living in Fernie at our condo, and are fortunate that we have the second location, as we have a friend living at our house and didn't want to disrupt her life too much! It is definitely fall here in Fernie, and we are anxious to get rolling again, and miss the snow all together.

We plan to fly to Buenos Aires and rent an apartment for a month while I continue to recover, and then tour around South America. Since we won't have the bikes with us, we are considering flying east around the world, as flights and our interests take us. Kind of a mystery tour, ending in Calgary mid June. Stay tuned for our updates via this website!

And, thanks friends and family for all of your support and kind words during this time!!!