dulsdleche

7th day - The Great Uyuni Adventure - Bolivia (first day)

2010-06-05T07:38:00.013-03:00

We crossed the border to Bolivia, to start our great Uyuni adventure..

It started pretty interesting as we should have been picked up at the Argentina border
by one of the Bolivian employees.. who never turned up
hehe.. our first experience with Bolivian hospitality turned out a little different then planned
after a few hours of waiting and a few calls,.. a little fellow turned up and helped us to pass the border in no time..

After a fast ride to Tupiza, we directly took of on our adventure..

we got on board with Juan, his wife and two ladies from Buenos Aires
to start our four day tour through the amazing landscapes of Uyuni

after driving a few hours through an interesting mountain landscape,

Juan found us a nice place to picknick..

the kitchen... his wife had already made lunch

lunch

say cheeese

how cute.........

yeah, thats when i fell in love with llama's =)

5th day - Purmamarca (first part)

2010-03-20T10:23:00.019-03:00

the 4th day we spent it in the city

fixing travel tickets, and trips

one of the trips we booked is this one, a 2-day trip to Purmamarca, a little town in the province of Jujuy

we get to the town on the first day, and on the other one we go to Humahuaca, and back to Salta

so...too many photos to do in just one entry, so ill post the first day first, and then in another one, the second half of the trip

we wanted to take the "Tren a las nubes" (train to the clouds) which is very famous there, its a whole-day trip, like 12 hours, covering over 400km, and reaching over 4000mts over sea level

but it was closed because of rain season (luckily we didnt get any of it)

this trip that im about to show, covers a part of the train route, so at least we got to see a little bit of it

to the photos...

those are the train rails

we came from the road on the left

i really like how that turned out :)

us with a nice background

lovely day for a trip

we got to a little town, which had crafts, and bathrooms (both for the women, hihi)

after that we got to some ruins, where we had to climb a little, and thats when you feel the altitude

one of the many graveyards we came across, lennie was really interested in those

they leave paper flowers, if not they would die very quickly

little lizzard

huge cacti in those ruins

a touch of color in that sea of brown

thats from the top, there you can see all the ruins

thats one of the many llamas lennie fell in love with

food stop in San Antonio de los Cobres

thats the town

more empanadas

"llamita, llamita, llamita, llamita, llamita" thats how she tried to lure them nearer

they seemed that didnt care very much

yup, we're heading that way

heading to Salinas Grandes, a salt desert in Jujuy

thats the place

we had lunch there, a quick one

and went straight to shooting, we didnt have much time

its quite an impressive place

those little pools are the places from where the salt is extracted

awww

lennie wanted to jump, i dont know why...she could barely do it :P

she also made me jump...

she was pretty happy there :)

i was happy too, you cant see it here, but believe me :P

difficult faces shot, we get those more than often

on with the trip, whe wot to a place that had a sign with the altitude, so we saved that moment

that was the place

a little later we got to a place where the road looks really interesting

lennie didnt like me doing that, so i did it whenever i could :)

so, finally, Purmamarca

a little town lost in time

but really eye catching

the hills in the background make it even more interesting

and the cats in the windows spy you all the time...

we got up a little hill, in front of the "Cierro de los 7 Colores" (hill of 7 colors)

thats it, but its better in the morning (next blog)

such a beautiful place

right there up that little hill we had a little sweet moment

yup, little sweets, we bought them in Salta, most of them with dulce de leche

and you guessed it, empanadas for dinner

im the big fan of them, i wanted to try them wherever we went, they're a typical food in the north

so...thats it i think...

hope to see you all next time, the continuation of this trip

greetings, groetjes, saludos

gonzalo

3rd day - Cachi

2010-02-22T14:49:00.019-03:00

3rd day now...Cachi

it also started pretty early, but as every other day, it was worth it

the first stop was at a bridge

nice place, but it was a little cloudy

as the day went on, it got better

there were some nice flowers there, at least i liked them

so we continued the trip

it was beautiful, lots of green everywhere

the next stop, another bridge, we had to get down of the van so it could cross it

yup, another beautiful place

you may tink that you would get tired of seeing one great view after another, but you dont, it makes you want to see even more

thats the bridge

and thats why there is a bridge

saltas rivers aren't so impressive :P

more flowers that i liked

and a nice shot of len

i also took the opportunity of shooting those two little girls

i asked, nicely, and they let me

so, on with the trip

thats the view from the window, we came through there, very courvy

a while later we had to make a pit stop, there wherent going to be any bathrooms later

that was the place

lennie went, i didnt

i took photos of the weird things they had over there :P

that guy was with us, he wanted to walk a little, so he kept on while we took a break

next stop, Cuesta Del Obispo

that was a breathtaking place...

and not because we were 3348mts over sea level...

because of that!!

you could only say "wow..." looking at that view

that was amazing...

there even was a little church...theyre everywhere...

after a while we had to leave, sad but true...

next stop, a little place full of cacti

and a pretty long straigh

to the left, colorful mountains

to the right, cacti, all over the place

she is used to my beard, so it was not a problem to do that

same for me ;)

can you tell who took which? ;)

that was the last stop before we reach Cachi

thats in Cachi, the main church

nice doors and windows there

we had lunch there in cachi, in a little but very cute place

it was also very yummy

we had our first Salta for the first time, and we both liked it a lot

oh, mirror, click!

lennie has that with cars interiors

after lunch we went for a walk, to get to know the place

those corner doors caught our eye

as you can see its very easy to like that place

i think that was the police station

len shooting some graffiti

me a corner door

some shops...

and that thing on the right:

dried out cacti

its wood is used for various purposes, for lamps, decoration

i personally didnt like it pretty much...

inside the shop

hehe...that difficult face...

more reflecions

as i said before...salta people...very tired, they have to take naps wherever they can

i always sit in the shadow

lennie in the sun

so that concludes our day

and for the night

we went to the main plaza, there are lot of little places to eat, and theyre all out on the street

so its nice to sit there after a long day a relax a little

cute, right? ;)

len was curious for a drink there, "sex on the moon"

with dulce de leche

now you can see why she was interested :P

tasty

last shot of the day, the main cathedral

it has nice lighting, makes it more interesting

so, thats it for today

next time: Purmamarca

you dont want to miss that

saludos, greetings, groetjes

gonzalo

2nd day - Cafayate

2010-01-29T16:30:00.016-03:00

second day...

it started early in the morning...

the night before we had arranged a trip to Cafayate, it included a visit to a winery, and taste a few of their wines

in the agency they told us that a van would be coming to pick us up around 7-7.30am

we were tired from the day before...we got down 6.50 for breakfast

the guy was already there...

he told us to have breakfast, he would wait

5 minutes later he went to pick up all the others and come back for us later

so we had a nice breakfast :)

mmm...medialunas :)

so, after that delicious breakfast we head to the trip

great guide, very funny, and he let us sit in the very front of the van, we had the best view :D

after a little while we had to do a technical stop, to buy drinks or go to the bathroom because we were not going to see any of that for a while

so, right next to the place where we stopped was a little chourch

we went in

it was nice, and luckily we had a perfect day

we continued the trip, doing little stops to appreciate the landscape, and to know a little bit about the place

that guy was selling crafts, as in every other place we went, theyre all over the place

a little bit later, another stop

there was a lot of landscape to appreciate, around every corner there was a different thing to say "wow"

bare with me on this one........

if you look really carefully....you can see the silhouette of a mummy lying down formed by rocks

its the upper part of the middle rocks

going from right to left you can see the nose pointing out, the mouth, chin, then the arms, body, and feet...

if you dont see it, dont worry...

beautiful place at that stop...

next stop, La Garganta Del Diablo (Devil's Throat)

its called like that because of how the rocks were eroded by the water

and all the rocks are red as youve seen so far, they have a high content of Fe

its quite an impressive place, really high...and deep...plus the name scares you a little ;)

len shooting it

crafts....

thats inside, we werent allowed to go further because it had rained recently and the ground might be weak

incredible place

but after that, we went to a more incredible place

El Anfiteatro (amphitheater)

its like the devils throat, but safe to go in, and with more space

plus, it has the peculiarity of working like an amphitheater because of how it is formed

appart from that, it is a great place to be, beautiful

there are always people playing music, it sounded awesome!

she wouldnt work as a sniper, right?... ;)

another one joined and they all 3 played something

right outside of it there is a little place that sells llama salamines, and goat cheese

he is looking at that hand as if he is thinking of cutting it :P

last stop before the winery

the frog rock, sometimes they can be so clever with the names...and have such imagination to find things like that...

everybody shooting this:

more gread landscapes...

next, the winery

we went to "Vasija Secreta"

the lady gave us a tour of the winery, and its history

the winemakeing machines

where they use to storage it

and we could sample some

thats the white one, the "torrontes" variety, only found here in Argentina ;)

then a malbec, meh....we didint like it

and a cabernet, that was yummy, peppery

after the tour we went to the little town of Cafayate where we had lunch, not the best part of the day

tamales....

meh....we dont like them

empanadas on the other hand

....yumm!!

we had some dips, the red one was very spicy

neither of us liked the tamale...

but at least we had a nice lunch :)

later we went to walk around in the town, the guide was going to pick us up in front of the main chourch

"go away!!!"

the lief in Salta is very agitated...

on our way back to the city

thats what she was trying to shoot

i tend to do that...

thats our guide's glasses

he showed us how he had fun when he used to live in the mountains

doing that, he was very good at it, dirt skiing, with shoes

so, last stop before getting back to the city, another technical stop, bathrooms and all that

there was a little place were there were goats, and a little gray cat

thats the cat

thats me

those are the goats :)

thats the bathroom, the gentlemen one

tiring trip

we got back late

went to the agency to book another trip for the next day

then to the hotel

and slept till 5-6 of the next day

which will be shown in a few days

next chapter: Cachi

greetings, groetjes, saludos

gonzalo

Back together in Argentina (the upper part of it) Day 1 - Flight

2010-01-25T19:03:00.015-03:00

as some of you know, lennie came back, and we took a trip to the north of Argentina, to Salta, from there we took trips to know the place, Jujuy, and even Bolivia, all that will come in future posts, so be patient, there are lots of pictures to go through (4000) so itll take some time...

right know she's in Bolivia doing her research for her Master

so ill be doing the blogging for now (gonzalo) :P

so...lets get started

lennie got reunited with her beloved cañoncitos :D

thats still here in la plata, the morning before the flight

before going on a trip its a must to have something to eat, so i did some sandwiches

so here is a step by step on them (i was just happy to use her new lens, mine is pretty old and used)

yummy, right?

after that we went to the airport, we got there early so not to have chances to miss it ;) (we have some history with that...)

so while waiting we got a little thirsty (im sure she's laughing right now, knowing that im going to tell this story)

i went to the food court to get something to drink, i approached one that gave you a glass of coke if you baught a special combo...

i asked the lady if i could buy the glass alone...she asked in the office...came back and told me "yes" so she filled it up and gave it to me, i tried to pay for it, but she told me "nah...take it, go"

so i ran away to where we were with a huge smile :D

and here it is!

whe also were a little hungry, but the sandwiches where in the bag that went to the plane...so we had some pringles

she faked that she was taking my picture...

so happy with my free glass :D

and that new lens is great!!

talking with my grandmother...

she used it during almost all the trip, shes very happy with it :)

there were lots of free chairs...but maybe the floor was chillier...it was a hot day

she had to study a little, so we did that a little while, i helped her with some translations, and finished it on the plane

in the bathroom, washing the glass

just in case...its good to know

on a little truck going to the plane

getting up in the plane

we were almost in the back row, with a wall in fron of us, and the turbine on our side...but we took some nice pictures of the view

not that one :P

that one, beautiful clouds

and the city's overview

we have videos of the trip too, its nice to see things move sometimes ;P

there we are with the plane on the back, thats when we got off of it

waiting for the luggage, we were the last ones

we finally we got to the hotel, nice place, but the walls were a little thin....

and we had the room that was in the middle of the upper hall, right in front of the stairs, so we heard every step that happened in the wooden stair....

this was taken on the last day, so it wasn't as tidy as the first day

it was a nice place....compared to the other places we saw :P

so thats it for the first day, the flight day

next will come the trip to Cafayate, a wine making region, famous for the "torrontes" variety (white)

hope you enjoy it, next blogs will be landscapey

groetjes, greetings, saludos

gonzalo

Sandra Gamboa

2009-05-27T15:37:00.013-03:00

Sandra Ayala Gamboa, a 21 year old girl from Peru, was raped and found death on february 22th in 2007 in La Plata, Argentina. The young girl came to La Plata at the end of 2006 with the idea to study Medicine and to acompany her boyfriend who was living in the city.
It has been more than two years since the body of Sandra was found in a deserted gouvernement building, and still nobody has been convicted.

Sandra´s mother, Nelly, thinks that behind the murder of her daughter is ¨somebody with power¨ and that would explain the existence of the ¨pact of silence¨ to keep the impunity. She tells us about irregularities in the political and juridical investigation. Not all evidence has been investigated and there seems to be lack of interest to solve the case. But Nelly doesnt give up her hope and every 22th of the month she gathers in front of the house where the lifeless body of her daughter was found to ask for justice and attention for the case.

The following photos are taken at the 22nd of april

Hipodromo

2009-05-13T10:39:00.015-03:00

Hot town, autumn in the city

2009-05-09T17:22:00.002-03:00

Evo Morales

2009-04-28T12:51:00.015-03:00

The Bolivian president, Evo Morales, visited La Plata yesterday. He came to town to receive the title Doctorado Honoris Causa from the Universidad Nacional de La Plata. The university gave him the title for being a symbol of the struggle to defend the latin american towns.

looks like I wasnt the only one who wanted to see a glimpse of the Bolivian president

guess you guys were hoping to see a picture of the president himself, but I´ll have to dissappoint you..
I just got a quick glimpse of him leaving his car, no photos

Ushuaia: Tour del farao

2009-04-24T11:34:00.003-03:00

during our trip to the south we made a boattrip over the Beagle canal

leaving ushuaia´s harbour, giving us a nice look on the town

the mate is always pressent

we first navigated to the Isla de los Pájaros, the island of the birds

and saw the Isla de los Lobos, the sea lion island.

finally navigating to the Les Eclaireurs lighthouse,
misleadingly known as the lighthouse of the end of the world

after which we anchored on the shore of an island with pinguins
being able to see them ´wiggle´ around

finally the boattrip ended at the harbour of Estancia Haberton,
the oldest settlement in Ushuaia

we left with a little van back to ushuaia and stopped on the way
to see the ´bandera´ trees (or flag trees)

Tejidos

2009-04-18T14:58:00.006-03:00

Showing of some of the weaving I´ve been doing here in Argentina, because Karen has been giving me Mapuche weaving classes.
Weaving on a Witral, weaving vertically

As you can see on the left, this one has a patern on it

And some tejidos I made here Guatemala-style, weaving horizontally

thanks to Vera for giving me the rope
and to Gonz for the photos

Happy Easter

2009-04-12T21:46:00.002-03:00

Happy Easter to you all!
Here in La Plata there arent much Easter Celebrations as far as I noticed, nothing like I experienced in Spain and in Guatemala where Semana Santa is celebrated with religious processions threw the city.
I only noticed some difference in our bakery:
they had some special sweets during these days..
and of course I had to try this typical Argentine sweetness

like this Rosca de Pascuas, the original one is a type of sweet bread with pastery cream

we bought the one with dulce de leche and chocolate of course
The bakery also made some huge chocolate eggs, I guess I´ll have to try those next year.
They´re in different sizes and prices, nothing like those small dutch chocolate eggs..
(some are 30cm high, filled with little chocolates for about 50 euro!),

So stop drooling you guys, and come over to try some, there still are some left..

El Clasico Platense

2009-04-11T16:16:00.003-03:00

Last sunday we went to see ´El clasico´, a football match between rivals Estudiantes and Gimnasia, two football teams from the same town, La Plata, both playing on a national level.
Football is a big sport in Argentina and lot´s of Argentinians are very passionate about it.
I heared about a couple who at their wedding used the colours of their favorite football team and met Lara, a 15year old girl, who had a photoshoot and of all places chose the stadium of her favorite football team as the place, wearing of course a shirt of the team. And after seeing a documentary about Argentina ´barra brava´, I got curious to this extreme football fanatism. And a game like ´el clasico´ would be the perfect moment to be able to get the best experience to that argentine football passion in La Plata.

the football experience already started getting to the stadium,
where the streets are filled with little stands selling
hamburgers and choripanes (chorizo sandwiches)

As Gonzalo is a Gimnasia fan, it made me a little fan of that team too.
unfortunately the tickets in the Popular stand, standing places behind the goal,
where the biggest fans are, were already sold out,
the good thing: we had a better view over the game and some seats.

people started entering the stadium

when the teams came on the field the crowed got really exited,
they started cheering a lot and there were blue smoke boms

and fireworks

the audience behind the goal got decorated in blue and white

the other side in red and white

although we were in the sitting area, people kept standing

things got agressive when the captain of Estudiantes was trying to take a corner
and police had to come out and protect him from things being thrown at him

at half time the game was still 0-0, but shortly after..

gooaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaallllllllllllllllllllllllll!!
(I guess argentina football tv-reporters are choosen on
the length on which they can pronounce the word ´goal´)

1-0 for gimnasia

lots of happy people all around us, even the kids

Gimnasia seemed to be winning and some Estudiantes fans
were already leaving the stadium, cheered away by Gimnasia fans
but in the very last minute, Estudiantes made a goal,
making the score 1-1,
leaving the Gimnasia fans who thought they had already won,
disappointed..

Marcha por la memoria

2009-03-30T17:43:00.003-03:00

March 24th 1976 will remain in the memory of every argentinean as one of the darkest days in history. On that day a military junta overthrew a democratically elected government. In memory of that day a march takes place every year in various cities in Argentina. We documented the one in La Plata. Besides remembering the disappeared people, the goal of the march is to demand real answers to the whereabouts of Julio Lopez (and every other missing person), who went missing more than 33 months ago, just hours before he was going to give his final testimony on the eve of the conviction of Miguel Etchecolatz. He was the first military officer to be sentenced to life in prison for crimes against humanity and genocide committed during the 1976-1983 military dictatorship in Argentina, since 2005 when the Argentina´s Supreme Court overturned immunity laws for former officers of the military dictatorship.
Lopez's testimony of his detention as a political prisoner from 1976-1979 in clandestine detention centers was key in the conviction of Etchecolatz. Testifying before a court in La Plata, Lopez described the prolonged bouts of torture under Etchecolatz's direct supervision.
Since the return of civilian government in 1983, lawyers, relatives of those who "disappeared" while the country was under military rule and members of non-governmental organizations investigating those "disappearances" have been threatened, harassed and attacked.
Will impunity ever end...?

Life on Corrientes

2009-03-16T18:17:00.008-03:00

one of the most bussiest corners of Buenos Aires.
The subject of our documentary photography course.

Corrientes is a street full of restaurants...

theaters and entertainment

that of course attracts a lot of children..

and tourists..

who cant always find their way

even for the locals it´s a challange.

where there are tourists, there is money

the place to be for a streetvendors

like in every buenos aires street,

the huge magazine/newspaper stands color the sight

but it also has a less colourful side, the ´cartoneros´

people making a living by collecting cartboard to sell

there´s a lot of movement in the street and an interesting variety of people

although some people don´t notice any of it

Prison museum

2009-03-15T13:55:00.005-03:00

In Ushuaia...

we got thrown in jail.... :(

a jail built by its own prisoners.

and we had to share the cells with one of the most interesting characters..

he organized an escape of the building

that one was one little bastard, he killed little children pulling a thin lasso around their necks

the cute one on the left is one of the most poisonous ones, she used to flirt with the guards to be out of her cell

thats how the cells are distributed, in two floors, really confy

the central heating, although it only heated the hallways, it didnt get into the cells

a man who got old prematurely being locked up there

the original bathrooms where the prisioners used to wash their faces

and those community showers, with those big showerheads gonzalo really liked

the map that shows the "Isla de los Estados" where the famous "end of the world" lightouse is situated

a scale model of the lighthouse, although they never got to build the column with the light

the lighthous rebuilt on real scale

thats lennie shooting a lamp

thats the beautiful ushuaian landscape, which you can appreciate just by taking a stroll down the street

really gorgeous...

bluest skies ive ever seen so far

that boat got stuck on shore, its very attractive
they tried to make it a club and some other things, but every try failed

in holland they take dogs for a walk, over here we take lambs ;)

The Land of Fire

2009-03-12T13:08:00.002-02:00

we flew from El Calafate to Ushuaia,
capital of the Tierra del Fuego (the Land of Fire),
it´s the most southern tip of the worldmap

where people talk about ´north´ when speaking about the rest of the world, and the only things south are their backs

waiting for the plane to arrive

of course a little disappointed finding out this wasnt our plane

but at least they give us first class seats in this plane
from where we enjoyed some great views of Tierra del Fuego

great views already from high up in the sky

but taking a walk along the shore wasn´t bad either

a kiss at the end of the world

Chile: Torres del Paine

2009-02-26T10:00:00.006-02:00

we made a day-trip to Chile,
actually to the national park Torres del Paine,
a UNESCO World Biosphere Reserve

after a 5 hour ride,
of which 3 hours we spend crossing the border
we arrived at the park were we almost inmediately had to stop

because a herd of guanacos was crossing the road

len even saw an argentinean on the road

condors flying above us

supposedly the torres del paine should be behind those clouds..

we started shooting Laguna Amarga instead

we saw flamencos

and Len found a pink flamenco feather

nice souvenir

after taking some shots of the lake.. (in pretty weird positions)

but with nice results..
we continued the road and with it the clouds too, luckely

although they didnt completly leave,
we were actually able to see the cuernos (hornes)! :)

which made gonz pretty happy

looks like there was a little cool breeze..

guess the little cool breeze stayed for a while..

hold on to your glasses...the wind might want to steal them

but the wind didn´t bother the guanaco´s

our guide, with those cooool glasses

len shooting those pointy hornes in the middle of a windy bridge

patagonian skies...

so dramatic...

even the road back home was beautiful...

to be continued..
so dont forget to sign to our mailing list!!!

Glacier Perito Moreno

2009-02-16T17:06:00.000-02:00

the next day we visited the glacier Perito Moreno
and actually walked on it!!
it was a really impressive day!
maybe our pictures will give you an idea..

it all started with a 90km ride to get to the glacier,
we first passed the Lake Argentino,
the one which we could also see from our hotelwindow

the last km through the national park, which was already beautiful

we entered the national park, and took some shot along the road.
from a distance it looked like a white spot at the end of the lake
but it´s not untill you get closer,

that the icy spot get´s really impressive

this inmens wall is 30km long about 80 meters high above the water

it´s a very interesting, rough landscape

it´s one of the few glaciers that still grows, about 1 or 2 meters a day
although it loses mass every few minutes,
when big chunks fall off..

a spectacle thats making a tremendous noise

shooting eachother

guess we weren´t the only ones enjoying the great glacier view

smile! together at the other side of the camera-lens

with a boat we went to the other side of the glacier,
passing it´s wall closely

after walking through a forest and over a rocky beach..

we were getting closer and closer to the icy wall,
making it look even more impressive and beautiful

putting on some spike´s

looks like she´s ready to start the mini-trekking

you rather not fall into those holes

guess it´s not necesarry to repeat again
that it was a really beautiful landscape

at the end of the walk our guide cut off some of the glacier ice,
and prepared us a..

whiskey on the glacier rocks.

now that was a real spectacular day!! :)

Estancia Nibepo Aike

2009-02-14T10:53:00.010-02:00

For those who didn´t know, we had an amazing vacation last month in Patagonia,
visiting El Calafate, Ushuaia & Las Grutas.

After a short bus drive, of almost 3000km!,
we arrived at El Calafate

Our first trip was to Estancia Nivepo Aike,
a huge farm within the National Park ´Los Glaciares´

and thus surrounded by beautiful nature,
unfortunately mother nature brought us some rain that day

so we were welcommed with some coffee and cake,
to warm up a little before checking out the shaving of sheep

a gaucho showed us the original way of shaving sheep,
with sissors, a real time consuming job

the clue is to shave it all in one peace, they´ll clean it afterwards
and do the packing before sending it to buenos aires where they´ll process it into clothes

the sheep was actually pretty calm
and didnt mind us watching how she got a new haircut

afterwards we had a nice walk through the hectares of land
the estancia owns

there were several savage horses

and after the walk we had a delicious 'cordero al asador' (lamb)
its that little lamb on the left cooking slowly in a cross

onze ´barrio´

2008-12-18T14:56:00.001-02:00

birthday in buenos aires

2008-12-05T18:55:00.029-02:00

for lennie´s birthday we went to buenos aires
after checking in at the hotel
we went for a walk and strolled over Florida,
a shoppingstreet (no cars allowed),
with streetartists and people dancing tango.

that evening we had a drink in cafe tortoni
a 150year old cafe (in comparison: La Plata,
the city where we´re living now, is only 126years old)

a real chiq place,
if you´re lucky you don´t have to wait for a table
and can enjoy the nice atmosfere
and tango music playing on the background

gonz really happy at lennies birthday
waiting for his biertje...

birthday girl smiling for the camera
if you watch closely you can see some new wrinkles ;)

the stairs weren´t as chiq as the rest
neither the toilets

we went to see a tangoshow there

thats the man who sang tango to us all night long

next day we went to an amusementpark

thats my latin lover riding a mechanic bull

he was thrown to the ground lots of times :P

and we also did a bumpercartjes deathmatch!!
(i still have all my teeth mom, dont worry) ;)

and that evening we returned to la plata
we had another birthday party
tarta's one, a friend of gonzalo

´n soort van polonaise, ´treintje´ noemen ze dat hier..

en toen begonnen ze de jarige job te slaan..
gelukkig niet met mijn verjaardag,
dat is alleen gebruikelijk bij jongens.... don´t ask me why!

trying to dance at the party...

tired of dancing...

Torneo del pipaclub

2008-11-24T21:15:00.032-02:00

8th pipe tournament in Buenos Aires
the challange is to keep smoking the pipe as long as possible

it starts with the preparation of putting the tabacco into the pipe
and lighting the pipe within a few minutes
all fifty participants at the same time of course

the bar get´s filled with smoke

and when finally lightened,
it´s time to wait until pipe´s go out..

gonzalo´s father participates too

after one hour and 8 minutes there is a winnar..
the only woman who participated! hehe

an interesting sign in the Uruguayan bar where the contest was helt:

Wat is globalisering?
Het beste voorbeeld hiervan is het geval van prinses Diana.
Het gaat om een Britse prinses met een vriend uit Egypte, die een Zweedse mobiele telefoon gebruikte, die een ongeval hadden in een Franse tunnel in een Duitse auto, met een Nederlandse motor en die bestuurd werd door een chauffeur uit Belgie die te veel Schotse whiskey had gedronken...
Ze werden gevolgd door Italiaanse paparazzi op een Japanse motor. De prinses werd geholpen door een Russische arts met een Filipijnse assistent..
Dit artikel werd door een Ecuadoriaan uit het Engels vertaald en op dit moment wordt het gelezen door een Argentijn, in een Uruguayse bar, die zich verveeld en naar Spanje wil migreren.

En dit werd weer door een Nederlandse vertaald vanuit het Spaans om op de blog van haar en haar Argentijnse vriend te zetten, zodat de hele wereld het kan lezen.

First weeks together

2008-09-29T14:01:00.038-03:00

the first weeks together have been pretty amazing.

finally being able to do things together again

like taking pictures of eachother...

my gonzje :)

my lennie :)

and cooking together...

mmm.....bife de chorizo....

and eating together..

monstruo de pollo, mmmmm

sharing alfajores, a delicious chocolate cake

lots of tacos! (theyre also eaten here in argentina =P )

argentinian muesli in argentinian ´yoghurt´which is as liquid as dutch milk

on the new scarf len weaved

argentinian empanadas, you can see whats in them by the way they are folded, see the paper
like meat, ham&cheese, etc.

mani, picadas, they already start eating little things like this before the huge meat is served, im wondering what the normal size of an argentine stomach is...

the one and only...

monstruo de lomo!!

a huge mouth is needed too

mmm

and living together..
the appartment is really great and has amazing views

frontside view

backside view

and we also have great sunrises

another great view from the department.. ;)

we also traveled a little, and visited gonzje's father in Azul

he took us to a monestery

which has beautiful surroundings

no wonder their meet is that big..

such a quiet and peaceful place

and Ariel tought me to make ñocchis

let´s say i need a little more practice for them to turn out the way they should..

and made some aperitiefje already before dinner, which of course didnt start until past 22 o'clock

mmm...those ñocchis were yummy...

chilling together in the bus, enjoying the argentinian landscapes,
heading back to La Plata

where spring has just started

a lovestory to be continued...