This place is crawling with them....

I am becoming more common every day....

This time, I was in Neuquen for the PAR field operations family picnic and look who showed up! And no, that is not me in the suit!

B.

Learning to slow down

Today I learned why locals walk so slowly.

Up until now I have often been frustrated by the slow pace of people on the sidewalks. They walk two or three abreast and you are forced to wait and go around them. No one is in a hurry.

I now know why.

When it is 36 degrees and the humidity is above 85%, any effort above a saunter will have you in a dripping sweat in no time.
We have also needed to learn to avoid the 'drip' of the air conditioners above the sidewalk. When the air conditioners are on, they generate condensation. Some units have tubes which drain the condensation down the wall but many just drip away....leaving a distinctive puddle in the middle of the sidewalks. With some apartment buildings having 20 air conditioners sticking out of the walls...that is a lot of dripping.

So, in the summer on the sidewalks, we have to stickhandle around the locals, avoid stepping in dog sh*t, not trip into potholes, avoid major sweats from developing and dodge dripping air conditioners! Its only November, January & February are the hot months!

Still enjoying our time in BA.

B.

What a difference a year makes!

It was exactly a year ago this week, I was standing on the top of Lake Louise preparing for the World Cup Downhills.

A year later - you can find us living and working in Argentina. Today in Buenos Aires, it is 36 degrees...above zero. You cant hide from the heat. Our apartment has air conditioners in most rooms. You fire those babies up and they rattle & hum. Being from Calgary, we are not 'air conditioner' people. It will take some getting used to.

Last night was one of those evenings where it stays warm all night. You might get one or two of those nights a year in Calgary. Here, I think we will get 5 months of them! It was 27 degrees when we woke up this morning.

We have noticed that the sun is different here. It is way more intense. My little bald head took a beating before I finally put a hat on.

We were out sailing in the Rio de la Plata last weekend and my hat (not a toque) came in handy.

Anyways, I have been monitoring the progress of the race prep at Lake Louise. The webcam at the mountain provides a great view of the last 400 metres of the course and the finish corral.

In fact, I just caught this morning's Jury meeting in the finish area......

Work has been progressing nicely - the Men's first training run is scheduled for today. I am sure all will go well but just to be sure, I will keep an eye on the FIS Live Timing website later today.

B.

Salta - continued

Our Salta trip (continued)

This is the Franciscan Church, which while colorful during the day was pretty spectacular at night.....
We werent able to take pictures inside most churches in the country but some are truly remarkable structures. The art work and gold decorations areamazing. I actually bought post cards as a reminder.

Following the trek to the Alto Plano (Purmamarca & Humahuaca), we returned to Salta for a bit of down time and spending time touring in Salta. The city is layed in around a central square which has a park and numerous outdoor patios to sit in to watch the world.

We made sure we sat in this patio, it reminded us of being in Valley Ridge at our local pizza joint.

We toured a couple of museums in Salta. One is famous for the three children that were found mummified on the top of a nearby dormant volcano. It appears that the children were left there as part of a sacrifice. They only have the remains of one child on display at any one time. The preservation of the body is remarkable due to the altitude and lack of moisture where they had been left.

This museum, on the other hand, had an interesting weathervane on the roof.

The Goblin Irish Pub is down a side street from the plaza. A much quieter spot, out of the way of the rush of the plaza but the beer was just as cold!

Monuments are an interesting thing if you take the time to examine all elements of them. There is a monument to General Guemes in Salta that looks out over a portion of the city. We were with a guide who spent 30 minutes describing this monument alone. What was pretty cool was this little perro (dog) who was part of the story as well. Despite his size, he didnt escape the grafitti which is prevalent everywhere.

They also have moving advertising in Salta. This guy has speakers on the front of his trike and he just drives around town with his little billboard. The noise from the speakers just adds to the noise of the street.

We took a city tour and went out to San Lorenzo which is a suburb of acreages (and castles) outside of town. we stopped here for lunch.

B.

Beginner's Luck or Best in Show?

We were invited to a special party hosted by Mary Pat & Tom.

It celebrates Halloween, the Great Pumpkin and/or the competitive spirit in many of us.


A pumpkin is delivered to your home 3 days before the party. You can carve, decorate, exploit the pumpkin in any way you want as part of the competition. We had heard stories about previous years' winners and knew that simply carving the pumpkin would get you in the door but that was about it.

Picking up a photography, paparazzi, camera theme and utilizing my brother's mechanical skills, we designed and built the Pumpkam used by the Pumparazzi. Simply genius.

The design tested our understanding of 'is there such thing as a Canadian Tire' in Buenos Aires? After several trips to various stores, the Pumpkam became a reality.... We tested it and in 2 boxes, transported it to the party for assembly and use.

The Pumpkam was not the only component of our entry, Mimi was responsible for displaying and describing some of the published photos by this Pumparazzi including work involving our hosts. Here is Tom...
....and Mary Pat:

They have a beautiful home with stables attached for their race horses. The house, yard and horses were all decorated for the evening.

The Pumpkam worked well - in fact here is a sample. I especially like the orange halo cast by the pumpkin itself.

To our surprise, we won the 'Most Creative' Award....The prize was a beautiful engraved silver ice bucket.

I am already working on next year's idea.

B.

North to Salta and beyond

After the trip to Iguazu Falls, we came back to BA for a few days (and some work) and then flew to Salta - which is also in the northern part of the country. It is 2 hours by air from BA.

We planned 5 days in the area which started with a 2 day excursion in something called a Movitrack. The trip was called the 'Safari to the Clouds' - not to be confused with the 'Train to the Clouds'. It is a BIG Mercedes. The roof panels pop open and you stand on your seats and you watch the world go by, looking out the roof.

No, we did not break down but after pounding along on dirt roads for two hours, the driver has to check out all the hydraulic hose connections.There was 12 of us in the rig with a driver and a guide. The four of us got the back part of truck and the rest of them took the lower front end. This would be our guide, Rami showing the way(s) back to Buenos Aires.We arent entirely sure why the other people paid for being part of this trip as they rarely opened the roof to look out. We Canadians, on the other hand, were up there like Cooper sticking his head out the window on a roadtrip!

We stopped in one small town and these two guys drove by. They had 'Alaska to Argentina' stickers on their bikes. You know the 'travel from one end of the Americas to the other' kind of trip.

Now these two guys were a completely different story. We were literally in the middle of nowhere when these two guys pedalled by.

They were smiling while I took their picture and then I think they were swearing and spitting when we drove by and left them in a huge dust trail.

We travelled about 500 km on the first day. We peaked out at 4200 metres elevation (and coca leaves eased any discomfort). A 7 peso bag goes a long way.

The area is known for the different colors of the rock. In one area near Purmamarca, it is known as Siete Colores (or Seven Colors).

On the Gran Salares or Great Salt Flats, we find artisans carving items out of salt. Despite it being 30 degrees C, they were covered up to protect them from the sun.

The salt flats were pretty cool. In the rainy season, they flood and 'refresh' themselves.

Along the way, we would stop and find locals selling wares. This lady sold us a few items to keep us warm as we went to altitude later in the trip.

The shawl came in handy as Cathy was able to apply what she learned in Egypt on her recent trip there.

I did surrender the camera (only briefly) to Mimi to take a couple of photos.....of me!

Next segment - the rest of the trip to Salta.

B.

Where do I begin?

At the beginning, I guess.

We have started to travel here in Argentina.

Our first big trip was to fly north 1600 km to Iguazu to see the falls there. It is on the border with Brazil, in a rain forest, with monkeys in the trees,racoon-like things sniffing around the garbage cans (surprise),toucans flying around,cool flowers.....and butterflies EVERYWHERE!It is also a UNESCO World Heritage site (just like Lake Louise).

This is the view from our hotel - the only hotel located in this national park and worth staying at.

We travelled there with my brother and his wife. Who came to visit from Montreal.

Like every national park, they dont want you to feed the local wildlife. We did the full Iguazu Green Passport of adventures - rafting above the falls, zodiac below (and INTO) the fallstruck through the jungle,and a guided tour of the falls themselves.

One thing we did learn was how to 'Travel Safely in Argentina' !

B.