Our New Apartment in Buenos Aires (October 25)

After our tour of Mendoza and Bariloche, we came back to our new apartment via a 12 hour over night bus ride. This trip was just fine in big fluffy wide comfortable seats with meals included and served as we drove. We were exhausted but kindly welcomed by our landlord that evening. As you can see above our new pad is quite modern, extremely clean and well just perfect for our needs(3 bedrooms, 3 bathrooms, an office, laundry, balcony and complete well equipped kitchen)!

Lago Nahuel Huapi, a GLACIAL remnant (October)

We were so excited when I discovered that there was a GLACIER in the Nahuel Haupi Park. So we planned an excursion which was a full day bus ride most of which was through this beautiful park. Above you can see the glacier on the mountain down through to the lake. It was quite spectacular walking so close to it. Never dreamed I would see one someday!

Bariloche, after 3 weeks in Mendoza we headed south (October)

Fine wine and a fire to end the day... I miss having a fire. We've been in warm weather for so many years don't forget. This was a pleasant change!

Not quite the ocean but a beautiful lake.

South of Mendoza, Bariloche is located in the north of the Patagonia region which was about an 18 hour bus trip for us leaving from Mendoza. Remember October in the western hemisphere is Spring time. So, the flowers and trees are in full bloom. But now we're really south, so it was cooler spring weather ranging from in the 30's at night up into the high 60's during the day. We had the best view as you can see the snow capped mountains out the back of our cabana(It was called "Cabanas Rayentray" for those who may go I highly recommend this one!). A couple evenings we were able to use the fireplace! Remember we've been in the tropics for so long I miss having a fire....it smells so good!!

What shall we have for dinner tonight? (October)

Well we absolutely loved going to this very clean and well organized market downtown in Mendoza. Throughout the Caribbean and South America, you can really get a good look of what you are really eating when it comes to meat! In addition to fresh meats of all kinds, they had a great variety of fresh vegetables, fresh herbs, fruits, cheeses, homemade bread and of course wine.

Birthday dinner in Mendoza! (October)

For my 44th birthday, Randall took me to a very special restaurant in Mendoza. Everyone knows it by the chefs name--Frances Mallman. Excellent wine, wonderful menu, good food and well the best evening together! We had a tour of wine cellar and a great view of the kitchen and grill. I highly recommend this restaurant. Later we saw that it was written up in a restaurant magazine as ranking in the top ten in the world...

Cerro Aconcagua, highest summit in the western hemisphere(October)

Randi picking flowers after horseback riding through the Andes...

Sign for Aconcagua which is behind us in the clouds!!

Being in Mendoza for 3 weeks in October, we were able to relax but also do a lot of sight seeing. Because Uncle Franky wants to someday climb this beast of a mountain called ACONCAGUA we had to go see it. This trip was a full day on a bus making many stops along the way through the beautiful Andes mountains. We traveled up to the Chilean boarder which is the beginning of a tunnel through the mountains on route 7. Another trip on the same route we went horseback riding and had a picnic. You see a sampling of our trip in the pics above.

Primo Vodka Made from Malbec Grapes (October)

While perusing through one of many flyer's in Mendoza, we discovered a VODKA made here. Randall loves vodka so off we went to tour the PRIMO VODKA facility. Brand new to Mendoza and soon to be shipped to the United States, this is quite a unique vodka. Made from the Malbec grape, it has quite a distinct flavor. Instead of extracting all the flavor as they do when making vodka from potatoes, grains or any carbohydrate, it keeps a hint of the Malbec taste. This is because it goes through the distilling process 3 times compared to other vodkas.

Mr. Hugo's Wine tours on Bike rentals- (October)

One of our excursions outside of the city was to rent some bikes from Mr. Hugo. He gives you a map, some water and a bike for the day. We made it to about 5 different wineries and had fun exploring the countryside! Almond trees and Olive trees are grown here intermingled with the grape plantations. You can see them behind the kids in the above picture.

Mendoza here we come!! (October)

After many tiring days walking and searching for a new apartment, we found one!! So we stayed at the "bachelors pad" for 7 days, moved out and into a hotel we had stayed in 3 years ago. The only dilemma with the new apartment is that it would not be available for over a month. That lead to the question of what can we do for a month? Travel! We are here to see more of Argentina anyway. Now we had the opportunity to travel and see other parts of Argentina. Where do we go first? Wine country here we come! About a 12 hour bus ride from Buenos Aires and an easy to find apartment right in the center of Mendoza was just what we needed. Above you can see just one part of over 1,200 hundred wineries located at the base of the Andes.

First week in Buenos Aires, Argentina (September)

After arriving in Buenos Aires on September 18th, we entered what was to be our new home for the next several months. Thank goodness we didn't "prepay". Old furniture, small shower, bright blue kitchen and few pots and pans didn't quite suit our desires. Now we didn't come down here to have the same experiences and expectations as in the states! But, we all decided we wanted a different home. While it was in an excellent location, it had little to be desired on the inside. I referred to it as the bachelors apartment.

Just Getting Started....

Hi everyone! Today is December 16th and I'm just getting started on our "blog"! I'm going to quickly summarize our last 3 months with some pictures and share some of our travels. Bare with me, it may take me several days to get this done the way I want it and learn this new program. The dates don't match what we have done so in (parenthese) I put the correct months. When I get caught up the dates will correspond with our adventures!