In search of umami, Author at In Search Of Umami

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:)

Spegazzini glacier, El Calafate, 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:)

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:)

Made in Argentina

In Europe everything is "Made in China". Well here not, it's "Industria Argentina". Coca Cola, cigarettes, tools, machines, cheese, you name it. Due to import restrictions it's actually difficult to get any foreign products and if you find them they are really expensive. Like for example nuts of all kind which come from Brasil, their prices are truely nuts, way more expensive than in Holland (and noone would call Holland a cheap country). The same goes for chocolate of any kind which hurts us the most:( and pure chocolate we still haven't found!!! But it goes further than that: Argentinian government wants to encourage the people here to spend vacation in their country and to do so they established a 35% tax on tickets abroad and everything you spend abroad. So for example going on vacation you buy a ticket to USA for 1000 dollars and in fact you have to pay 1350 dollars and than 35% on everything that you pay by card. If you would like to take some dollars with you, you need to request dollars explaining why you want them and if you don't earn enough, you won't get them. Also if you would like to buy something online from abroad, it's tax free only under 20 dollars, above that you have to pay ridiculous taxes.
For rich people it gets complicated too. Say you're Argentinian and you want to buy yourself a Ferrari while you're on vacation in Italy. Well first you will pay a lot to actually enter the country with it and than you will have to pray that it doesn't break because if yes it will be impossible to get the parts to fix it. Tough life:)

Mate

Polish people love their vodka dutch people love their liqorice and argentinian people absolutely loveeee their mate. Yerba mate is dried, chopped leaf of llex paraguayensis which preparation is a ritual and social event:) it's prepared in a gourd which needs to be almost filled with yerba and then hot water needs to be poured over it (not boiling because than it burns the yerba). There is always one person who prepares mate and later on is responsible for refilling it and passing it to everyone. Everybody shares the same gourd and the same silver straw with filter on it (so filtering with your teeth is not necessary). It tastes a bit like really strong green tea, bitter and really herby. Argentina is the biggest producer and consumer of it which is visable everywhere! Doesn't matter if one goes to the beach or skiing, there always needs to be a thermo with hot water and mate gourd. That necessity created an unbelievable market for hot water. We have seen signs with (agua caliente -hot water) absolutely everywhere! In kiosks, hotels, gift shop, you name it!

Away from civilisation

Here we are in the middle of nowhere on a farm that we found via WWOOF. The closest "city" is 23 km away. And it's definately adventurous. There is no internet, no heating (and its not warm at night), no warm water to wash the dishes and obviously no washing machine. What we do have is mice, snakes, frogs and plenty of problems because everything is falling apart. We even had a gas explosion from an old kitchen stove, so we got an opportunity to use what we have learned at Shell, who would have ever thought... (Hopefully we are not gonna practice it anymore as the kitchen stove is exchanged now).
But we are surrounded by amazing people. The farm belongs to a family (couple in their 50' and children in our age) and they are exchanging every week so that someone from the family can be here to lead the volunteers (us and 2 other people). Incredible people who want to share everything with everybody which makes the experiment warm and pleasant. Jandirk is particulary enjoying cooking classes from Vivi (the mom).
Actually the farm is not existent at the moment as it was left unattended for years so we start from zero building a greenhouse, chicken house and making the houses liveable. It makes it even a more interesting experience to see it's growth and learn. And after a day of work we can chill with the horses, read all of the books that we ever wanted and stare at the stars.
I heard once that everywhere you can find a sky but the one that we have found here is incredible. Every night it's seems like an open air exposition, full of stars and constellations...:) and while lying on the grass enjoying it, we smell mint which grows here wildly everywhere.