Argentina, part one of a million

I think I will just warn readers (if there are any) that I'll probably sound like a broken record. Argentina is awesome.

A W E S O M E .

I guess I will start chronologically because I don't know how else to dive in.

We went for our honeymoon, which I would do again and again, though in most respects it's not a great place for a honeymoon. There is too much to do and the newlyweds need a location that offers far less temptation for activity.

It's an 11 1/2 hour flight to get there, 10 1/2 back. At least it's a direct flight to Buenos Aires. We flew to B.A. on Monday night and got there about mid-day. It's 3 hours ahead. We spent the night in B.A. but I will come back to that. We flew economy because I wouldn't let Jeff buy business class seats. It's an absurd waste of money and I have Ambien, so what do I care?

The next day we took a 3 1/2 hour flight to El Calafate, in southern Patagonia. Our destination was Los Notros, the only hotel in Parque Nacional Los Glaciares. It was a horrible flight. I hate flying and this was up there with the bad ones. We were crammed in like lemmings. We bought business class seats only to find out that there is no business class on regional jets so we got the ones that were picked over by economy fliers. The absolute suckiest seats on the plane, way in the back where they added in extra seats and the middle aisle got really skinny.

The only good part of the flight was the view. I had my face plastered to the window the whole time. I watched the terrain change from gigantic metropolis to the pampa (their agricultural heartland), to way under-populated countryside, to steppes. I felt like an astronaut. It was marvelous.

We finally land at El Calafate. Truly a frontier town. The airport had a single runway, ending in Lago Argentino, that largest lake in Argentina. Apparently Lake Titicaca in Bolivia/Peru is bigger. But it must be like an ocean to be bigger because Lago Argentina is gigantic. Like Great Lakes gigantic, easily. Here it is from space: http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/Image:Lago_Argentina_from_space.jpg

So, we get off the plane on this single airstrip and I really feel like I am at the end of the earth. This place is so desolate. But magnetic.

The airport at El Calafate

The hotel has a driver that meets us. An older couple from London, Ben and Ruth, were getting a ride, too. I was pooped. We hadn't started the relaxing part of the honeymoon yet. We had been travelling a lot. Los Notros is going to be the big relaxation. Nothing to do but stare at the glacier. I asked how far the drive to the hotel was. Jeff said it wasn't in El Calafate but in the park, it was a ways. Like 45 minutes? Yeah, at least that. So, I asked the driver. Two hours. Two hours!? I was so tired! When does my vacation start?! I was horrified.

But again, I spent the ride with my face plastered to the window. I felt like I was on the moon. The terrain was so different. The countryside was all hills and valleys and vast. We were driving due west, toward the Andes, and began seeing mountains. The landscape is indescribable - everything is enormous. I felt miniature, like I was visiting a land of giants. Coming from a girl from New York City, surrounded by huge buildings, I think that says something.

Once we drive into the park, we were more than half way there. About five minutes from the hotel our driver told us we were going to stop and look at the glacier.

Our first glimpse of the Perito Moreno Glacier

Perito Moreno glacier is special for many reasons. The first is that it's the only - yes ONLY - glacier left on the planet that is not receding. It's not advancing, it's stable. It's also the largest glacier in the world that you can get to by land. This area is the most temperate area of any major glacial site in the world. In fact, it's an ice cap, and the only other ice caps are in Antarctica and Greenland. The latitude is the southern hemisphere equivalent of London. The ice cap can exist this far north because of the weather. The warm humid air from the south Pacific blows over Chile and bumps into the Andes, meets the super dry air of the Patagonian desert, the temperature of the air lowers and then the humidity turns into precipitation which in turn becomes crazy amounts of snow. Ergo, glacier HQ.

Our driver spoke no English. When we stopped, I asked him how much the glacier advances every year. His response: six feet per day. Give it a minute.

That's nuts! Everyone thought my Spanish was crappy and my translation sucked. But I asked again and that's the answer. But it's not advancing because so much calves off every day.

I think I could talk about the glacier forever. More on the park and Los Notros later.

More Desert Fun!

I read through the reviews of The Boulders on tripadvisor.com and one of the reasons we chose The Boulders was because it had such universal good reviews. We found an intriguing review from a New Yorker who recommended a restaurant called Binkley's, which we went to Friday night.

The random reviewer recommended the tasting menu, so we went for it. The food was good, and compared to NYC prices, it was well worth it. The chef had worked at the French Laundry in Napa and the menu was interesting and tasty. But there were some annoyances that made the whole experience sub-optimal, as Jeff would say. I'm just going to put it right out there, this is going to sound snooty...

We got the feeling that tasting menus were few and far between in the area. The waiter made a big deal about it, and I mean, Big Deal. Like, maybe they are the only restaurant in the state, if not in the Southwest, that does this. (Since they told us what a tasting menu was as opposed to asking us if we were familiar with the concept...) OK, you have a Tasting Menu - We Get It. Tasting menus have tiny portions, so we would get a course, a lengthy description of it, told how delicious it would be and then 12 seconds later another visit to inquire how it was and a reminder of how unusual and tasty it must be. Ummm, isn't it up to us to decide if it's good? By the time we were finished with the meal, we were so sick of the service we couldn't wait to leave. The service was technically good, friendly, no one was ever rude and we always got what we wanted, but it was like dining with a group of waiters. We were never left alone and they were just too proud of the food. The food was good but it leaves you questioning: if the food is so good, why can't you let it speak for itself? Why do you have to remind the patrons of how inventive it is?


A drink came on a flashing disco light-cum-coaster.
It was fun but you'd think they invented liquor with
the fuss they made over it.

When I had called the hotel earlier in the week to ask about hiking I was told it was best do it in the morning because the monsoons come in the afternoon and/or evening. Monsoons! What are they nuts? It's the Southwest. Don't they know monsoons happen in, like, India? Well, they showed me.

As we left Binkley's, the wind whipped up. A wall of sand was coming toward us and, for real, a tumbleweed rolled right in front of us. We got in the car and it started to hail. Giant chunks of something were falling out of the sky. The wind went crazy. I drove 17mph back to the hotel. We had to stay in the car for a half an hour waiting for the hail to stop. Cacti had been blown over, tumbleweeds were flying through the air, trees were down. It was bizarre. And the next morning, the grounds of the hotel had been torn apart. Debris everywhere, trees and cacti fallen all over. It was all cleaned up in a few hours but the place got hammered. And the weirdest part: any sign of water was gone. It must have hailed and rained inches and inches an it was all gone. Nary a puddle. Welcome to the desert, I guess.

We had met a little friend on the property who had chosen a strange place for a nest. It was in a cactus about chest high.






We figured this dove was an old bachelor bird. Crappy nest, weird spot, strange taste. We were worried about him after the storm so we went to check on him. He may be a she, and she ain't single.


See the baby? There was at least one other in there, too.

Another local:

Calgon Take Me Away (again)

Sigh. A really big sigh. All these politickses is makin' me cragy. CRA-gee I tell you. We've barely been back from the Arizona spa adventure and I need a vacation immediately. It's of my own doing: I can't stop watching the news, scanning the internet and reading blogs. I'm not sleeping well, I'm having nightmares - I'm a mess. But this wont be a political blog. I don't have the constitution for it. And, boy, are you lucky.

So, The Boulders.

Yep, boulders. They had a lot of 'em.

Must've been hard to get them all there

after they built the hotel.

It was nice. It was really nice. It was not as posh as I had expected but it was all very nice. There really isn't anything you could complain about. And it was much needed, especially for Jeff who has been working like a slave.

The spa was great. It was a little new age-y but I was able to get past that (it is the Southwest after all). Our bill was a lot higher than we anticipated because we couldn't stop spa-ing. And I am pleased (or slightly freaked out) that Jeff had just as many treatments as I did.

Let's see. I had a reflexology massage, a lymphatic massage, the Shirodhara, a deep tissue massage and a facial. The reflexology and lymphatic massages were new to me and they were both great, especially the reflexology. It's just your feet which is where all of the meridians end, according to eastern medicine. The Shirodhara was a disappointment. I think my therapist was new. She was a little spastic and too chatty. (Yeah, yeah, but *I'm* not a massage therapist, OK?) The deep tissue massage was incredibly painful both during the massage and for days after. I really don't need one of those ever again. And it's a DO NOT RECOMMEND. Jeff had one, too, and said his didn't hurt. But I don't believe him. I think he's just trying to act tough. And since he never makes a post or even a comment (hint, hint) you'll all just have to take my word for it. The facial was super. I had temporary facial excellence.

The hotel itself was quite nice. There weren't many public areas: just the lobby and restaurant, the spa, and the golf and tennis club. The rooms are set all in their own little buildings, or casitas. Our room was sizable, with a seating area, had a nice little balcony and a big bathroom. It had good amenities and was well-appointed but it wasn't Four Seasons posh or anything. It was no Llao Llao. (That place screwed me for all future travel.)

It had several pools, which were all fine, but they could have been nicer. I guess I thought they would be a little bigger and a little more luxurious. I don't even know whatthat means. It's just a feeling. The one by the spa was the nicest. It had sweet giant towels.

The food was very good. It's a little remote so they could have easily gotten away with so-so and expensive food but, instead it was good and expensive. Coming from NYC nothing much shocks us, so it didn't strike us as exorbitant but the restaurants were no bargain.

It's a big golf place so I think a lot of the resort was lost on us. But we were too busy at the spa to care.

View of some of the golf course (there are 2 courses, actually).

One of the tees. I think it looks like a bum.

The grounds are well-maintained and very attractive. I mean, it's a full on desert (the Sonoran) so we are talking a handful of trees and bushes and lots and lots of cacti. It was nice to be in such different surroundings. I think it really helps you relax when everything seems so different from home.

Look! More boulders!

A typical view around the hotel.

However, it struck me as a sad and lonely landscape. The Phoenix area is growing by leaps and bounds but - maybe it's my New England roots - it somehow struck me as not quite right for humans to live there, especially in the numbers that they do. It was a very inhospitable-looking environment and felt totally uninviting. I know different landscapes speak to people in many ways so rock on, desert-lovers. I just can't be counted among them. The landscapes that speak to me are the twinkling lights of a city at night or the craggy, pointed peaks of tall mountain ranges. Both sort of odd for a girl who is terrified of heights.

We went for a hike not far from the hotel. Only cacti

and desert shrubbery for miles.

That's enough for now. Next up, monsoons, flora and fauna and dinner at Binkley's. And anything else I forgot.

Labor Day Weekend

I have a love/hate relationship with Labor Day. Who doesn't love a long weekend? But people always say it's the end of summer,which gives me cry-feeling just writing about it. I console myself that I technically have another 3 weeks of summer.

I have to preface this with a giant cheer for our honeymoon to Argentina but it was a tiring trip. Kelly warned me that I would be exhausted and needed to do nothing for the first few days which I passed on to Jeff, honeymoon-planner-extraordinare. But it just didn't work out that way. It was a fabulous trip but it was tiring. I got one - yes ONE - day of lying by a pool and having some spa action (recall: facial excellence). I'll do 49 posts on Argentina alone and you'll see in the photos that I look pretty pooped in every picture. For the first few days we got up in the DARK to go tooling around on glaciers. That's just not right.

So, I have been needling Jeff to go on a trip where I can lie by a pool or a beach and get lots of massages. A trip where my hardest decision is whether I stick with Swedish massage or should I try Shiatsu for the first time? Well, amen, it's happening. We are taking an extended long weekend to The Boulders Resort in Carefree, Arizona, near Scottsdale. Here is a link: http://www.theboulders.com/.

Jeff said we could ge where ever I wanted. He is so nice. (And possibly dumb. I could have chosen something crazy.) We pondered London but plane tickets are mental. I adore London being an uber anglophile myself and, yet, Jeff and I have never been together. I'm not sure he could stand it. We pondered Madrid, but again, plane tickets are mental. We pondered Miami but enh, we go there a lot. We pondered the Florida Keys and I even made a reservation at a hotel. Plane tickets were cheap but the hotel got hot and cold reviews and then there is that old possible-hurricane issue. We pondered Vegas but we have been there together before and decided that it was best saved for going with a group (helloooo, anyone up for that?). Basically, I tortured Jeff over the various possibilities...

It came down on The Boulders because of the spa, The Golden Door Spa. It's fabulous and it is at at a handful of hotels around the country. I first went to one in January with Cynthia and Jodi at the El Conquistador Resort & Casino outside of San Juan, Puerto Rico (home of future post). The moral of the story is that we knew there was a spa there but we knew nothing of this fabled Golden Door. It was f a b u l o u s. So, I have been obsessed with staying at hotels with this spa ever since. Ergo, The Boulders.

I've never been to the southwest and it's probably super cheesy of me to go to a place where I may not even leave the grounds (though they do have hundreds of acres!) but it's what's happening. It's a AAA 5-diamond hotel and I think we are paying about $150 a night. It's off-season (read: sweltering and Jeff's skin might literally just decide to give up and peel right of his body). In high season it's upwards of $475/night. I love a bargain!

Check out the spa menu. The Shirodhara is happening. It rocks on and on and on. But what else will I get???!!!!

Travel Excellence

We've been talking about having a travel blog for a while. Even though our vacations are Totally Awesome (TM) it's not really so we can tell everyone how super we are. (Though we are, indeed, super.)

We have a lot of friends who travel to really fabulous locations that the average bear wouldn't necessarily consider and we are hoping that we can use this as a forum for our peeps to post fun ideas and experiences and give each other feedback. Like a Trip Advisor but for Awesome People only. And if you want to go somewhere and you see someone has commented about it, please ask us if they have the same travel taste. Some people like to be uber active and others not so much, etc. We hope it'll prove to be a fun forum.

And the name. Now that I think of it, I think the story really wont be as funny to other people as it will be to us. When we were in Argentina for our honeymoon we stayed at The Most Amazing Hotel: Llao Llao (it will get it's own post someday). Oddly, at this super fancy hotel their English language spa brochure was alarmingly Asian-sounding (as in bizarrely translated for those who think I am simply offensive.) There was a facial whose title was just Facial Excellence and it was all about achieving facial excellence. So it became our running honeymoon joke - we have to achieve dining excellence, sleeping excellence, etc., etc. Yeah, you had to be there.

So, let's see if we can all achieve Travel Excellence! Woo!

First Post

I'm still trying to figure out how this works. I think there will be a lot of changes and updates as we get used to this. I also have to figure out how to sign Jeff onto this since that was the whole point. Small steps here. Yes, and we need photos.

So there.