Finally...

Where do I begin!??! First of all read Ken Follet’s “Pillars of the Earth” – its incredible. It takes you through every emotion and really gives you an idea of the kind of lives that people lived in the 1100’s. It has religion, politics, love, deception, greed, war – and its just over one thousand pages long. Don’t worry – I just plowed through the last 650 pages in one day. Its that addictive. I promise.

Moving on… I don’t feel like recapping the past few weeks in too much detail because it would be a bore. Just quickly - I went to Punta del Este and visited the Sanchez family – my dad and their dad met when they were just 5 years old. The kids and I basically consider each other cousins and each other parents are like aunts and uncles. Did some harness jumping - its EXCELLENT and exhausting. 3 minutes had us wheezing. Saw some stunning homes out there. It really is a beautiful place. Makes me want to get a tan and throw away all my high heels. Did some documentary work (hehe) shooting a walter-balloon war. Check out this moment I captured...jusssst before a balloon was launched... Its pretty common in Punta when carnaval rolls around. Who knew?

The next weekend Tammie flew in and we immediately took off to Mendoza by overnight bus. I got my clothes stolen at a hostel and I’m still feeling the impact of the loss. I overpacked with all my coolest stuff and tons of underwear. All gone. My best jeans (that really hurt), two pairs of my cutest shoes, and two of the best dresses I bought here in BA that are irreplaceable at this point. Here are some UGLY pants that have a giant giraffe painted on the leg - they were the only ones I could find that evening. The pant design is actually very cool - but come on...a giant giraffe on a coral background?? Well, I did this pose because I had a flashback to my stronger days of sword class when Melissa Rose and I were in karate! This pose isn't right, but close enogh. Its when you are wiping the blood off your sword ;) Anyhow – pointless to dwell on that. We did paragliding as I mentioned before. Looks like that dog from Buenos Aires in a previous post has a cousin in Mendoza! This dog was at the base of the mountain we were going to jump from. Here we are waiting on top of the mountain. I'll tell you something - the scariest part of the whole thing was the drive up the mountain. A rocky ride and MUCH too close to the edge of the precipice!!! We were rattled like maracas after that drive. Wonderful wonderful. You float through the sky – I don’t think I have to describe it that much more. We also did rafting and had a gorgeous Brazilian rafting guy who was also hilarious. We were pretty much the most unattractive rafting group – and we were a lazy bunch at that. Well, Tammie and I really tried, but the two guys up in front were useless.

Gorgeous Marcos our guide as seen here: would yell “Adelante!” meaning “row forward” and when he felt we weren’t at 100% he yelled “Adelante, MIERDA!!” and my heart would just melt.! Hahah!!! Seriously. Here's our sorry group doing a cheer...

We went to a gorgeous winery called Familia Zuccardi and had lunch at the restaurant in the middle of the vineyard. Excellent food and a stunning environment. Great wine as well. I bought a port – not sure when I’ll open it.

Tammie took off to Chile and came back that following Friday. We went out with Naila and her friend Paola who was amazed at our youthfulness I guess. She is 30 and feels a bit hopeless - and of course seeing Tammie and I just being ourselves kind of gave her a bit of a kick. So again, Friday at midnight (officially March 11 at the stroke of twelve, no?) myself, Tammie, Naila and her friend Paola went to Eh, Santino! Thats where I had seen Maradona a few weeks ago...Here's a picture of me eating. At this point I am not nearly as cherubic as I am now. You see, little did I know that I would be eating out for lunch and dinner for the next 8 days...tsk tsk tsk

Saturday night we went out again to this crazy club called Amerika. No Paola this time - dont think she would've dealt well with the trannies, gay guys and girls. You name it, they were there. At first I was not into it, but then the foam came down and I became accustomed to the music so I had a good time. There was also the preppy Bs.As. element in there as well. I had a 24 year old preppy boy congratulate me on not having wrinkles at my age. Thanks, I guess....


Mike flew in on Monday night and with the three of us around each other it was non-stop. Here's a rare photo while we AREN'T eating. Here as you can see we are crossing the world's wides street: 9 de Julio Both Mike and Tammie have eaten their weight in steak. Here's a picture of Mike with his brand new blue mohawk (and Tammie got purple streaks!! yeah!) eating a stuffed milanesa. Basically its fried breaded meat that has been stuffed with ham and cheese. It was a monster. A couple of quotes from Mike "I think they saw into my dreams when they made this" AND in reference to not being able to finish it: "I think I've met my match". I am seriously a solid 12 pounds or more fatter than when I got here. I’m in a state of panic at this point!!!!!! I keep joking and staying that I’m getting ready to hibernate.

Randomly walked by one of the country's most famous sportscasters - forogt his first name, but his last name is Fantino.
I never have the nerve to talk to celebrity types - but Tammie went right up to him and told him that her friend, Karen, absolutely loves him etc. etc. So we got the shot!

On St.Patrick's day, in an effort to avoid the mind-numbing thud of electronica, we headed to La Cigale - a french themed place.

We tried to go to the Colon but there were no shows at that time. We tried to go to a soccer match but it rained that day. We visited the Faena Hotel and realized that even though here the exchange rate is great, we are still poor ;). We’ve also made a second home of Mundo Bizarro that you’ve seen mentioned in this blog several times before. Its just the coolest bar in the world. You’ll always have a good time at Mundo Bizarro.

Just something to look at - saw this at the Museo de Arte Latinoamericano Buenos Aires. This is a view shared by most of the world...very strong image. Very unfortunate...

So - wrapping this up...Tammie has returned to the US. Makes me sad of course – she’s an excellent person and an exceptional friend to me. I wish I was more like her – and I’m lucky to know her!!!! Amelia has arrived - I think she's going to spend an hour at the horseback riding club - coooolio!!! Hopefully Mike, Amelia and I will go to Tierra Santa - the worlds only religiously themed theme park!!! Unbelievable. If we go, I'm sure I'll have fotos.
Oh, horseback riding is going well. Did a few smaller jumps at a full gallop today. Nice ;) I’m making progress!!! and I’ve already started phase one of modified anorexia. I say modified because I’m too undisciplined to be anorexic – I suppose that’s a good thing ;)

Here's a little pic of me, Tammie, Mike and Amelia. Amelia had just arrived a few hours previous to this and Tammie would be leaving the next day.