Beer, Wine, and Luxurious Living

Day 96
We left Valparaiso or Valpo, as the cool kids call it, in the morning for Santiago. We spent the day roaming the streets and getting lost, we also learned how to take the city buses for free (the dumb American card never gets old).

Day 97
We woke up excited because our moms were arriving today. We left our hostel and went to the hotel where we were planned to meet them. Once they arrived, we set out sightseeing. Despite the negative things we´d all heard about the city, we found it to be very clean and quite lovely. That night we enjoyed a highly anticipated sushi dinner.

Day 98

We decided to go wine tasting at a vineyard just outside Santiago, Conche y Toro. Though our tour guide didn´t seem to know a tremendous amount about wine, the vineyard was excellent, the wine delicious, and the cellar beautiful. After the wine tour we headed back to Santiago and had dinner at Phone Booth Pub, a restaurant that was highly recommended in the guide books. After filling up on sandwiches and beer we went back to the hotel to wait for the night bus we would be taking to Pucon.


Day 99
We arrived in Pucon around 9:30 the next morning, checked into our hotel, and then went to have the most delicious breakfast, eggs and sausage instead of white toast. We then spent the remainder of the day exploring the charming city and then made plans for white water rafting the next day. We were exhausted from traveling the previous night so we took a nap and relaxed for a few hours and then got ready for a wonderful Parilla (traditional meat bbq) and trout dinner. After dinner we walked around and explored some of the late night craft markets that were scattered around the city.

Day 100
We woke up, walked around a bit, and then ate lunch at a place that served burgers the size of your face. After stuffing ourselves, exactly what we´d planned not to do, we went back to our hotel to prepare for our white water rafting adventure. River rafting definitely was a highlight of the trip, thanks to the tour group we went through, Politur. The rapids were huge and at one point everyone fell out of the raft except our guide and Valerie, Molly´s mom, who was holding on for her dear life. Kristin even managed to get stuck under the boat for a few seconds. After our raft´s experience on the rapid, we watched the next raft flip as it went through the rapid loosing all passengers and paddles. As a result, the guide of that raft got stuck going through the next rapid alone with no paddles. It was all very exciting. We spent that evening bar hopping and ended up eating dinner at a nice Italian restaurant.

Day 101

We woke up early to prepare for our long journey to San Martin de los Andes, Argentina that day. Traveling took all day, but the scenery made the journey worth it. We crossed through the Andes via Lake Panguipulli and Lake Pirihueico. We docked in San Martin, a beautiful lake side mountain town that seemed as though it could´ve been in the Swiss Alps, around 8pm and were starving. We quickly checked into our hotel and headed out for a pizza dinner. After pizza, we found ourselves at a pastry shop where we could over heard a local punk band playing at the street fair that was going on.

Day 102
We spent the day walking around, but being a Sunday, the city was rather shut down. So, we resorted to picnicking and lounging by the hotel pool. We also finally were able to reserve an apartment in Buenos Aires! After that, we headed to the bust station from where we´d be heading to Bariloche. We arrived in Bariloche around 11pm, and after what seemed to be a hopeless attempt, got a taxi to our hotel. We quickly checked in, and rushed out to see if we could find an open restaurant.

Day 103
We woke up and began our exploration of Bariloche. We found the city to have wonderful views, but also to be very touristy, and very expensive. After walking around for a bit and having lunch, we stopped for ice cream, where after consuming too much ice cream, Molly was forced to swear it off for life. Shortly after, we got another bus to Puerto Madryn, where we had a tour booked to see Peninsula Valdes, a wild life reserve. This bus trip turned into one of our more interesting bus experiences when our bus was stopped at a random check point. A drug dog, one who clearly needs to get his nose checked, smelled drugs on or around Kristin´s bag and four others on the bus that lead to Kristin having all of her things searched through and scattered while her mom, Linda, was having a mini breakdown. Luckily, being the law abiding citizens we are, there were no drugs to be found.

Day 104

We made it to Puerto Madryn a little behind schedule due the chaos from the night before. So immediately upon our arrival, we were rushed onto our tour bus because the group had been waiting for our arrival. The tour was good, but dragged on a bit due to so many hours on a bus. However, it was totally worth it to be able to see penguins, one of our new favorite animals. We also saw a surplus of elephant seals and sea lions. Then, while the other on the tour paid way too much money to go on a boat trip to see more of what we´d already seen, the wise four of us sat at a beach side restaurant, drank beer, and people watched. We finally arrived back to Puerto Madryn but with no place to stay, so we made the smart decision to head to Trelew, a city an hour away form where our flight to Buenos Aires would be leaving out of in the morning. We arrived in Trelew with low expectations, but ended up staying a rather nice hotel and eating at a restaurant, Glam, that would become one of our favorites. After dinner we retreated to our rooms to prepare for our flight the next morning.

Day 105
Flew into Buenos Aires and got ourselves a room at the Art Deco Hotel. After checking in, we walked to Florida Street, one of the most touristy streets in BsAs, at lunch at a Havanna, the most popular coffee shop in BsAs, and then walked to where our future apartment is located. After that, it was time for some serious shopping. Thank you Linda and Val! Merry Christmas! For dinner that night, we ate a traditional Argentinian feast that consisted of meat and vegetables. After dinner we attempted to find wine, but to our disappointment we learned that you can´t buy alcohol after 10pm. An important fact that Kristin had forgotten. Luckily, our hotel didn´t operate under such regulations and we finally got our wine.

Day 106
We woke up and went back to a store from yesterday so that Santa Val could buy Molly the boots she was still thinking about. After that we headed to the Recoleta Cemetery, where Evita Paron is buried. The cemetery basically looks like a little mortuary village. From there, we had our worst lunch ever, mainly because the service was TERRIBLE, and then headed to a very interesting exhibit at MALBA, the modern art museum. The exhibit was by Marta Minujin, a hippe prolific artist. After the museum we headed back to Florida Street to recheck out some of the leather stores from the day before. This turned out to be agonizingly painful because the street was so crowded, so we headed back to the hotel to rest up and prepare for our night. We had dinner at a restaurant in the oldest plaza (Plaza Darango) in Buenos Aires, it was in the San Telmo district. We then headed to Tango Porteño, where we had reservations for the tango show that evening. The tango show was fantastic and the free wine was even better, we tangoed our way home that evening and slept soundly.

Day 107
It was our mom´s last day so we wanted to make it action packed, but after roaming the streets of the Palermo district for a while we collectively decided that we were tired and would be happier at the hotel room. After several hours of relaxing, we headed to an early dinner and then it was time to say our farewells. After sending them off in a taxi to the airport we vegged for the rest of the night in the hotel room that our lovely mothers so graciously paid one extra night for.

Day 108

We woke up and went to the Recoleta Street fair where we both indulged in several purchases. After shopping it was time to check into our new apartment. It was smaller than we thought it would be, but had everything we would need. The biggest downside seemed to be the air conditioner leak that was continually flooding our apartment, we´ve since fixed it though. After getting a few necessities for our apartment, we cooked dinner and began to prepare for our night out. Two djs we´d learned of were playing at Crobar that evening so we were excited to get our dance on to some electronic music. However, we were disappointed by both the quality of the music and the crowd of people there. It still made for a fun night though and a quality hangover in the morning.

Day 109
We woke up, nursed our hangovers for a bit, and then attempted to go to the San Telmo Street fair. This plan failed when the wind picked up and the flood gates opened. After attempting to wait out the down pour, we finally hailed a cab and luckily, made it back to our apartment just in time to catch the start of Titanic. Once back in our beds, it turned into a pretty useless day, which was exactly what we needed after the life of hectic luxury we´d been living.

Day 110
We had a slow morning, but finally pulled ourselves together to head to the discount leather district, where we both successfully found leather jackets. They´re a bit similar, so thank goodness we´ll be living on opposite sides of the country upon our return to the USA. We headed back to our side of town, read in a coffee shop for a bit, and then got ready for La Bomba de Tiempo, an outside drum circle that happens every Monday night. We got home at 10, cooked dinner, and then went to bed.

Day 111
We spent the morning writing our blog, took a break to go shopping, and then came to the Internet cafe to type it. Unfortunately, the computer deleted it so we were too annoyed to retype it that day.

Day 112
We woke up with plans to go Tigre, a place about an hour away where´d be able to relax in the sun and lay by some water. Unfortunately, this was ruined by the endless rain and thunder that was going on outside. So instead, we spent the day buying groceries and finding a place to get our laundry done. It was the evening that was really the best part of the day, we went to see Chicago live. It was in Spanish, but so much fun! Although we didn´t understand everything that was said during the play, we knew the plot so it was easy to interpret.

Day 113
We woke up planning to go to a museum, but were distracted by the shopping on the way there. As a result, we ended up with some really cute things and still have intentions of going to the museum, just on another day.