Tag: food

Forgotten coast

When the summer ends and all the millions of tourists go away, everything that is possible is taken away (even ATMs because in the winter nobody needs money) and the rest is closed, the coast of Uruguay seems abandoned and forgotten. But in its peace we find our joy. Endless kilometers of sandy beaches, blue water, seals and pinguins all of that is for us.
Here we found Punta Rubia, a small village that didn't sound like anything special but we didn't find a place in nearby La Pedrera so we decided to stay there. To our suprise it was our favourite place up till now. Surrounded by forest, dunes and beaches with no roads just dirt ones, it was a perfect place to stop and relax. And we did that at La Casa De la Luna, a really extraordinary hostel run and owned by extraordinary woman- Paula. Not everyday you meet people that love what they do and are full of joy and energy. She took her time to show us around, gather mushrooms with us, take us for a ride through the whole coast and talk endlessly by the fireplace. For us to get to know people like her, makes this trip totally worth it because the people are the most amazing part of the world not places.
Afterwards we hit the road to famous Cabo Polonio. And it was a bumpy ride. There is no road going there so you can either walk (good luck with 7 km walk through dunes) or take a truck that will survive it all: beach, dunes, grass you name it. Back in the days Cabo Polonio was a fishing village, nowadays it is an alternative piece of the National Park where (as we thought) mostly artists and fishers live with no electricity. Unfortunately we felt a bit like in a coffee shop in Amsterdam as the aroma of weed was filling our hostel, central part to the beach and many other places. Obviously just like in Amsterdam everyone was proposing us marihuana. But forgetting about that it was a truely beautiful place with it's interesting, colourful architecture, huge colony of seals and sea lions and the charming lighthouse. And there was plenty of space for everyone to feel in the end if the world as only 50-60 people live there. Strolling through the beach we were wondering how is it possible that this peaceful place with no electricity*(1) swells up to 10 000 people in the summer....
We end our journey through the Uruguayan coast in yet another charming town that is Punta del Diablo. Remarkable how gorgeous this coast is...

*(1) Not totally true as they do have it but only for the lighthouse, but with LED lamps, solar panels and wind energy you don't feel the lack of it to much

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Montevideo, Uruguay

Our first steps in Uruguay

It's incredible how a year ago we knew nothing about Uruguay and now we are here! This country, when compared with other South American countries, has only 3 mln people from which almost half lives in Montevideo. And what suprised us the most: the people of Uruguay. They are really genuinly kind, well educated, proud of their country and curious about others. Everywhere where we go and look lost even for a split of second someone always comes and asks if we want some help or advice. We have even met an older man who stopped just to find out something about us and recommend us places to go, wine to drink and offered help if we needed it. And they all seem to have time to talk, to explain, to laugh, to enjoy life.
Speaking about places, we were not impressed by Montevideo even though it's safe, clean and not that busy. Also Punta del Este was not our favourite, actually we really did not like it. The beauty of coast was absolutely ruined by huge apartment blocks, hotels, resorts all with fancy names (Trump Tower, Gold Tower), all different but all equally ugly. But then everything changed as soon as we saw small coast villages. Truely charming with the views of the sea, mostly wooden architecture and peace which is disturbed only in the summer for two months. Art is a great part of the Uruguayan coast, many of the houses here are pieces of art: colorful, full of imagination and smart usage of materials that we Europeans would throw away. Talking about art we couldn't skip Casapueblo. This massive white building was created without previous plans and against straight lines by Carlos Paez Vilaro, famous Uruguayan artist, taking almost 40 years of his life since 1960. Now a big part of it is a fancy hotel, mostly by its price, 200 euro for a double room because the inside of the rooms are not really impressive (investigated via booking.com:)). In the remaining part there is a museum and the house of the family, where the wife and children of the artist live even after his death in 2014. Vilaro was very passioned about the sun which he expressed not only in his paintings but also in Casapueblo where everyday at sunset a ceremony in honour of the sun takes place. It's accompanied by music and a poem written and read by the artist himself and most importantly stunning views of the house changing colors as the sun goes down.

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Glaciers, El Calafate, Argentina

Ice ice baby

After a short visit in the hippie village El Bolsón, for a rest in the forest surrounding it, we hit the road again.
Now after a 26 hr bus ride through nothing (barely even trees, not to mention humans) and many police controls (searching for illigal vegetables???!!!) we reached El Calafate. A small town to which people come to see one thing: the GLACIERS!!!:) They are all situated in the National Park closeby. Till now it's the most expensive nature wonder we have ever heard about (if they would invest all the money in ice, they could probably build a glacier). So entrance to the park: 26 euros per day, bus to the park 25 euro, boat excursion to see glaciers 135 euros (you can only see one by bus). Experience and emotion when a piece breaks off the glacier and hits the water: priceless!!
Yesterday we visited the most famous one, Perito Moreno, one of the few glaciers that is still growing and not a little bit but 2 m in the front part per day!! And it's massive! Depending on the source the dimensions change. But just for an idea we talk about kilometers wide and long and 50 m high. And actually you can really admire it from many angles as the infrastructure of the viewing points it's also a world wonder of its own (Chinese wall in Argentina). But what suprised us even more was the rich flora and fauna surrounding the glacier!! Birds, trees, grass, even a cow where you would expect nothing! And when a piece breaks off it's like New Years Eve (both emotionally and when it comes to the sound). Thankfully due to low season we were only us, Perito Moreno and... maybe a hundred of others instead of thousands in the season.
Today driven by the beauty of Perito we took a boat trip to two other glaciers: Upsala and Spagazzini. Upsala is right now in retreat due to global warming which gives you a true Titanic view: icebergs everywhere, big ones small ones, light and dark blue.
Spagazzini is the tallest one in the park (130 m). Breathtaking!:) what nature can create:)

 

 

 

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Parque Llao Llao, Argentina

Bariloche

Bariloche is a town situated in the Lake District which is a very popular tourist destination during the summer for climbing, trekking, fishing and during the winter for skiing. Judging by the amount of hotels, hostels, apartments to rent and season houses it is really the argentinian top destination and it's not meant for the poor. All of the houses are gorgeous, with beautiful views and there is no garbage on the street. Now (April& May) it's practically dead, as in autumn there are not many tourists. Although in the next few months it will probably remain quite calm due to recent vulcano eruption in Chile which covered Bariloche with ashes.
But we still love it here:) The whole area is covered with forest so the rainbow of colours is absolutely spectacular (even with ash on it). The town itself is only a start point because all of the breathtaking views are just outside of it, all reachable by public transport. So we enjoyed mountain views (like from Cerro Campanario or Cerrito Llao Llao), lakes (really many), forests (Parque Llao Llao especially arrayanes trees which have really intense cinnamon colour, unfortunately they lose it when they dry out so no chance for some nice furniture).
Tempted by all of the excursions offered in the neighborhood we decided to take one to Isla Victoria and a bigger forest de Arrayanes (both in National Parque Nahuel Huapi) as there was no ferry to the island. During the trip we discovered the biggest passion of South American tourists. And I don't mean enjoying picturesque nature. Nope. Feeding seagulls is their biggest entertainment. The whole way on the boat all of them were trying to feed them with crackers, bread etc stretching themself like crazy to take the best picture. And not just one. Millions. The whole time in the boat (1.5 hr to the island and 1.5 hr back). Now we know why all the homeless dogs are so fat. And off course after all of this feast the birds needed to poo and who is a better target than a gringo tourist:)

 

 

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Buenos Aires, Argentina

Chimichurri

French fries have their mayonnaise or ketchup. Duck has its cranberry sauce. Chicken has its wine sauce. And steak has, according to the Argentinians, chimichurri. This sauce isn't only perfect with a steak but also with beef in general and game meat. In my opinion it is one of the most versatile and delicious meat sauce there is.
This is though my interpretation of the recipe. But then again every "madre" in Argentina has its own so there isn't really an official one.

Ingredients:
- big bunch of oregano (fresh is better then dried)
- big bunch of parsley (same as above)
- a few twigs of rosemary (same as above)
- oil (olive oil or just normal vegetable oil, I don't think you will taste that much of a difference)
- 2 cloves of garlic
- 4-5 lemons (juice only) most people use vinagre over here. I'm not a big fan of it so I use lemon juice
- salt
- pepper
- chili (either dried or a fresh rawit or even a jalapeño) (add how spicy you want it)
- water

Recipe:
- now when it comes to quantities you need 1/3 of water 1/3 of oil and 1/3 of acidity. I used 200 ml of water, 200 ml of oil and 200 ml of lemon juice
- chop the oregano, parsley, rosemary, garlic and the chili and add all to the liquid mixture
- season to taste and if it's too acidic add more oil or water
- leave it in the fridge overnight to get the best result

Use the sauce with a steak or actually any kind of meat 😉

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Miramar, Argentina

WWOOFing

WWOOF is a worldwide organization that permits people like us the experience of living on a farm with locals. And thanks to it we have stayed an amazing month on a farm close to Mar del Plata in Argentina. It's been different from our expectations as the farm is just beginning but we had the time of our life. We felt at home with the family that hosted us. We enjoyed our time over there cleaning, digging, renovating, planting. We truly hope that at some point we will be able to come back there and see the place flourishing! But what we enjoyed the most were people!!! We felt like we were a part of a big family. The hosts are truly inspiring people with lots of ideas and they were always open to talk about everything which allowed us to understand Argentina a bit more. And than the friends of the family. Especially our Euge who showed us really a lot around Mar del Plata and made us laugh on every kilometer of the way. And of course people with whom we volunteered!!! Kathi our German friend who was like a Chinese tourist taking pictures of everything (just like me:))) and a Canadian couple who were full of initiative to do things and with whom we created a nice group:)
On the farm I also became a huge fan of dogs. One in particular: Dingo. We found him on the side of a road when we were going to the city and we saw him again in the same place on the way back. Later he followed us to the farm. He was kind of crazy, scared and skinny but after few weeks at the farm he seemed to resemble a normal dog a bit more but still very enthusiastic. Deep down inside I hoped I could take him home with us. But our trip has just began and it's time for us to hit the road again. This time to Bariloche:)

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