Cruise: Day 1

Time to set sail!!!! 13 day South American cruise!! ! Woo hoo!!!!! Here's a look at our itinerary!!

We woke up around 7/8 am at our apartment in Palermo and started to get ready. Pedro watched the tv to keep up with what was happening in the news. As our luck would have it a country / city wide strike was planned for all union employees. That meant issues with all public transportation (busses, subways ect) a notice was even out out that flights could be cancelled going in and out of buenos aires. The news showed images of people flooding the streets so entering the city was virtually impossible, therefore shutting the city down. School was also cancelled and banks were closed.

We left the apartment around 10:30/10:45 to allow ample time to make it to the ship just in case we had issues with cabs or detours. Luckily.......NO PROBLEMS!! We had a great cab driver who got us there as quick as can be thanks to my smart husbands recommendation of taking an exteriors route to the cruise port.

We were inside the terminal and waiting to board by 11:30. It was awesome! The waiting area was quite a sight!! Almost everyone was over 50, the majority being 65 and over. We were 2 of about 10 people between 20-30. I guess a cruise to the end of the earth doesn't really appeal to our age group. Lines started to form around 12 and we were on the ship around 1:00. We met 2 very nice couples while we were waiting. One from buenos aires and one from Australia.

Once on the ship, we dropped our bags and headed straight to the lido deck for lunch. The buffet was great!! When we finished eating, we explored the ship...our home for the next 2 weeks. We were sailing on the Holland America ms Veendam. A cruise ship really is like a floating city. Our "city" had...a gift shop, piano bar, martini bar, champagne bar, espresso cafe, new York times library and cafe, windows media lab, wine cellar, jazz lounge, nightclub, gym, spa, food and wine magazine culinary center, casino, swimming pool, hot tubs, steam room, sauna, theater basketball court, tennis court, and 6 different restaurants / places to eat, not including the 24 hour room service menu.

Around 3:30 we made our way over to the wine cellar because they were having a complimentary champagne reception. Who doesn't love free champagne. They were also doing a raffle. We got there just before the drawing and got the last 2 tickets that were handed out. Guess what.....we won the bottle of champagne they were giving away! What a great start to the vacation.

Celebrating my win!!

After the mandatory safety briefing, we went straight to the spa for another raffle. Yes yes.....I like to try and win free stuff : ) !! They were giving away a bunch of different services and since you had to be present to win (there were TONS of entries from passengers who toured the spa, but didn't go back for the raffle) it was taking a while. One of the trainers decided to have a little competition to give away the next prize, a Body Composition Analysis reading and consultation. We had to do squats. Well....I put my game face on and went at it. We all kept picking up the pace and I decided to kick it up into plyometric squats. Yup....I won!!! Thank you Insanity workout!!! I couldn't have done it without you!!!

We finished just in time for sail away. The view of the skyline as we were leaving Buenos Aires was just stunning. It was such a calming feeling to drift away and watch it get smaller and smaller knowing that I was on yet another adventure of a lifetime with the love of my life!

Skyline of Buenos Aires

Dinner was fantastic!! I love being handed a menu and ordering anything I want!! Dessert was a tasty apple strudel with vanilla ice cream! Yummy!!! We also shared a cheese plate!!

As soon as we finished we were off to the theater for the welcome aboard show. It was a little sample of all the groups and performers on the ship. I knew right then and there I was going to have 2 weeks of awesome music and performances.

Before bed we made one last pit stop...the piano bar. I...was...in...heaven!!! Jamm the Piano Man was belting out show tunes!! The request book listed gem after gem. I would have been happy with anything that he played. The best part.....the cover of the book said..."if you would like to sing a song, just let me know"!! We all know what that means : ) but now tonight....bedtime!! We have a big day of sightseeing ahead of us tomorrow in Montevideo, Uruguay!

Oh what a day of traveling!!

Well...we finally made it back to Buenos Aires safe and sound, but it was a LONG day of traveling!!! I'm officially exhausted!!

We checked out of our hotel in Santiago around 11am and headed to the airport. Check in went smoothly aside from having to shuffle around the weight in our luggage that needed to be checked in. Before we knew it we were on our way!

Adios Santiago!! We'll miss you!

After a quick hour and 15 minute flight (turbulence and all), we arrived in Cordoba where we needed to change planes. This was a pain because we had to get our luggage from baggage claim, then clear customs and border control. I was a nervous wreck since we only had 1 hour between flights and lets just say....no one was doing their respective jobs with any urgency.on a positive note...thanks to our cruise documents, didn't have to pay the fee for the Chilean visa since we were "in transit". That saved us about $160 each!! Woo hoo!!

Soaring high above the clouds!!

Once we made it through, we had to go through security again to check in for our next "domestic" flight to Buenos Aires. For some reason or another it was hotter than you could imagine in the airport. Even the airline representatives were fanning themselves behind the counter. It only got hotter as we made our way to the gate which was in the area of the terminal that was under construction. Yup....you guessed it.....no working air conditioning. And......flight delays because of terrible weather in Buenos Aires! After about 2 hour of waiting, we were on our flight. It was a bumpy one that's for sure. It made our 1st flight feel like a ride on the swan boats at the amusement park. This flight my friends was like riding the biggest and baddest roller coaster around with a mind blowing light show (crazy lightening) to give you the full thrill-ride experience. Just when we thought it was over, the pilot announced that the runways were backed up and we were being put into a holding pattern until we were cleared to land. Yup.....you guessed right again....the holding pattern was right through that roller coaster storm cloud. 30 minutes later we were finally making our decent to the airport!!! Sadly...some of the passengers did not have the stomachs to stand the ride and left the evidence right in the isle instead of the pretty little paper bag in our seat back pockets.

Needless to say, it felt REALLY good to get off that plane. 

We made it safe and sound to Beunos Aires!! 

While waiting for our luggage we saw an interesting site on the luggage carousel....a dog in a crate. It came out through with all of the other checked luggage. The doggie was freaking out, so someone took it off the conveyer belt and set the crate on the ground. It took about 10-15 minutes to get our luggage and the dog was still there UNCLAIMED!!! Wow...

Poor little doggie!!!

Cab time!!! The airport was a complete madhouse from all the weather delays. I have never in my life seen taxi lines do long. We found the shortest and waited....for an hour and a half. Turns our all the rain flooded different areas of Buenos Aires which caused cars and cabs to get all messed up. Certain parks we passed looked just like lakes with trees growing out of them! I tried to take a picture out of the cab window. It isn't great, but you can at least get an idea.

A flooded park and the splash from driving down the street.

It feels sooooo good to be back in the apartment after 12 hours of traveling! Time for food then some much needed sleep!! Cruise blog posts start tomorrow!! Be on the lookout!!

Life on a ship!!

Yes yes yes....I realized I haven't posted anything about our travels in the past 19 days. I have a good reason I swear!!! I was on a 13 day South American cruise with my wonderful husband. I didn't know how living on a ship for that long would be, but it was FANTASTIC!!!!! Ahhhh! Time if our lives!!! We started in Buenos Aires, Argentina and ended up in Valpariso, Chile, traveling through Patagonia, around Cape Horn (the southern most tip of the America's before hitting Antarctica), the Chilean fjords, glacier alley, and up the coast. In the next few days I will be posting with lots of details and pictures of the trip...(we are still in Chile exploring). In the meantime, here are a few pictures of what to expect!! Enjoy!!!

Yummy food!!

Cooking demos and classes in the culinary center!!

Towel animals!!! 

SUPER AMAZINGLY CUTE WILDLIFE!!!!!!

Stunning views!!!!!!

SOUTH AMERICA ROCKS!!

Must see...Palacio Barolo

In every city we travel to, we always look for a place with a birds eye view of the city. Well....The place to go in Buenos Aires is Palacio Barolo. It once was the tallest buildings in South America and is still today, one of the most beautiful on Avenida de Mayo. The building was designed by eccentric Italian architect Mario Palanti and primarily made of materials imported from Italy. The design of the building was based on Dante's Inferno. It's doors opened to the public in 1923. The entrance of the building is supposed to be Hell, with the patterned circles in the floor simulating fire. Intricate angry looking dragons line the entire lobby. A warning as you begin reading this post....there are LOTS of pictures!! They speak a thousand words right?? Better than me rambling...I'll let them speak for themselves. Well....for the most part : )

The entrance to Palacio Barolo and "Hell" 

Looking up at the ceiling from the lobby

One of the many very angry dragons in the lobby

The medallion in the floor designed to symbolize the fires of Hell

We left the lobby and began our journey up "into the heavens". Keeping in true Dante fashion, floors 1-14 represent purgatory, where floors 15-22 were designed to represent heaven. After walking up the first 7 or 8 flights (breathing heavy up the winding staircases of purgatory) we realized those old looking elevators do actually work (more on those later) and hitched a ride. A nice gentleman in a suit on the way back to his office opened up the elevator door and invited us in to join him to floor 14. That was as high as this particular bank of elevators would go. We got off here are walked around  some hallways - all painted white, until we found yet another spiral staircase that would take us higher. We traveled up the staircase through "heaven" on foot. The higher we went, the more narrow the stairwell became. At last, we reached the highest point, the rooftop lighthouse that is meant to represent God and Salvation.  

A view of Buenos Aires from the  lighthouse tower

Another view from the tower

My favorite view of all....Plaza Congreso

Another view of Congreso 

It was very difficult to get a picture in such tight quarters, but we did it!!

Upside down reflection of the city in the giant beacon lens

I figured out a way to get myself  the picture!!

As we were  looking around...this cardboard Batman cutout was found on top of the light! We got a good laugh out of this one! Batman lives in Buenos Aires!!! Who knew??? TO THE BAT MOBILE!!!!!

After about 30 minutes or so taking in the spectacular views, we headed back down to earth. The picture below will give you an idea of just how narrow the hallways actually were. Not recommended for the claustrophobic......at all!!!

A shot of the stairs we are about to walk down...8 floors of them until the elevator!

At the base of the light tower was a room that was pretty much a giant circle with the entrance to the staircase inside. Throughout this space there were a bunch of old things. Not quite sure why they were there, but I thought they were pretty cool. See or yourself....

Yes...a box of dirty lightbulbs.... I dunno....it looked pretty neat sitting there

Not 100% sure what this was......

Or this one........

It said "Barolo".....I had to take a picture!!

Stopped for a quick photo  at a little window balcony on our way down

Ah!! Now on to the elevators...I said I would get to those later : )

Honestly...as I said before, I did not think these elevators actually worked. they looked like something from an old vampire horror film. There was a one person elevator (did NOT ride that) that went straight down through the center of the spiral staircase we were walking down. When we got back down to the 14th floor we boarded the larger set of double elevators that looked a little more "friendly". They did however remind me of the ones from the Tower of Terror ride in Walt Disney World. When i said that.....(out loud of course!!) the people in the elevator weren't to happy with me to say the least! Oh well! We were descending into Dante's "Hell" after all. Happy to report we made it to the bottom safe and sound and our visit to Palacio Barolo was...for lack of better words....

SIMPLY HEAVENLY

A look down the single rider elevator in the center of the spiral staircase

A look down the double elevator shaft.....I told you it looked creepy!

The 14th floor elevator entrance...Tower of Terror written all over it my friends!

The view of the elevators in the hotel lobby

Let's get cookin'...Empanadas

I always knew that empanadas were a staple in South American Cuisine! Well my friends.....Empanadas are EVERYWHERE here in Argentina! You can find them on every corner - In the bakeries, pasta shops, pizza shops, deli/kiosks, coffee shops and all restaurants. The most common varieties here are Carne (beef), Pollo (Chicken), and Jamon y Queso (Ham and Cheese). For about $5 or $6 pesos each ($1-1.25 American dollars).....you can beat this on the go snack. Heck...grab a few and you have a bargain meal!

I decided to take a stab at making them at our apartment. I tried a few times, testing out different filling combo's and different dough options. After lot's of taste testing (best part), we decided that the empanada discs from San Jose pasta shop were hands down the winner!! This pasta shop makes everything fresh and from scratch everyday. We are a little spoiled for sure. I will go into more detail about this amazing place in another post. I paid $9.50 peso's (Under 2 American dollars) for 12 discs. When you open them up, they smell just like fresh homemade pie dough.....heavenly! I am going to be at a loss when we get back to the states!! Guess i'll just have to start experimenting with dough when we get back : )

Fresh empanada dough

 I found it easiest to prepare the fillings the night before so they are cooled down when you are ready to fill the dough. This time we used ground beef and mixed half with rice and half with potato. I cook the ground beef the same I would if I were preparing it for taco's. Brown it in a frying pan, drain any excess fat and season the meat any way you like. Here's where you get creative - everyone here has their own "carne" recipe for the filling that makes their empanada unique. Be daring an have fun with this part! The taste of your filling will make all the difference!

Here is an example of what my 2 fillings used looked like.

Beef and rice filling

Beef and potato filling

The next step is stuffing the empanadas. I typically get 2 1/2 - 3 tablespoons of filling in each one. I find it easiest to place the disc in the center of your palm and use that as a little cup so the filling doesn't end up falling everywhere. Here's a couple pictures filling each kind and closing it up. 

Stuffing the beef and rice

Stuffing the beef and potato

Almost there...

Once you have the empanada firmly pressed closed, you can use whatever technique you like to "decorate" the edge the same way you would for a pie crusts edge. The most popular method used here in Argentina is the rolled method. I've been practicing that one a lot and think i finally have it down. Here's a couple finshing touch pictures below.

The rolling closure

Fancy pie pinch I learned from my mom while making pierogi's growing up

Once all of your empanadas are sealed and pinched or rolled, place them on a baking tray and put them into a pre-heated oven, 350 degrees or so. It's kind of hard to tell here since there isn't a temperature gauge on our oven. Our options are high flame.....or low flame....fun times! Keep an eye on them and bake until they are a nice golden brown. Yes!!! They bake empanadas here! WAAYYY better than the deep fried ones we are used to in the United States. Trust me...i like my deep fried treats more than some people may realize, but baking empanadas is the way to go!

Fresh out of the oven!!

Cooling off a bit

Dinner is served

ENJOY!! I know we will!! 

Overnight bus to Mendoza

Two days after arriving to Buenos Aires, my awesome husband surprised me with a trip to Mendoza. I did not understand at all what was actually happening or where Mendoza was since I was so exhausted from traveling and completely jet lagged.

Well.....It's an AMAZING destination and this post is all about the trip to get there. There are lots of pictures!! (low resolution, but enjoy!)

Living in the states, I'm not to familiar with overnight busses. This one was pretty awesome! We boarded the bus around 8pm. And it was a little over $100 American dollars for a one way 14 hour trip in 1st class. We had our own little section with a privacy partition and seats that reclined to 180 with a foot rest and everything!!

We checked our bags under the bus and were ready to go!!

When we boarded the bus, we were all given a little bingo card. Once we were on our way, we began the game. The 1st person to get a full card wins a bottle of wine from the Mendoza wine region.

Well.....Pedro won!!!!!!! It was pretty sweet!! What a way to start the trip!

After the game was through they started to serve us dinner. It wasn't as bad as expected. They started us off with a cold platter of appetizers along with our choice of red or white wine. Out next course was a platter of hot appetizers with more wine. After we finished, our dinner was served. It was a choice of steak and rice pilaf or chicken with mashed potatoes. We ordered one of each so we could try both. They were actually delicious. Dinner was a brownie or dulce de leche cake. As we were finishing up, the movie started. The movie of choice was the Adam Sander Jennifer Aniston, Just Go With It. Very cute movie!! What made it better.....they served us champagne as we were watching and it was in english with Spanish subtitles. (they love American movies here!!)

As the movie ended we drifted off to sleep. As we woke up we were given cappuccino's. What a way to wake up!!

MENDOZA HERE WE COME!!!