Today we didn’t have anything planned until 2pm, so we got to sleep in and eat the free hotel breakfast! It doesn’t do any good to pick out a hotel with free breakfast if you have to leave every day before it starts. Yesterday was Uruguay and tomorrow is the airport.

We spent the morning wandering around the area near our hotel, helping our friend get to the ferry terminal, and eating lunch.

While we were taking pictures of the Obelisk, I found a Dollar! Yes a very crispy, yet folded in half, George Washington. This trip is starting to pay for itself!

We decided we were going to try an empanada place that had tons of empanadas in the window. We went in and decided to sit at a table in the back rather than stand in the front bar area. (This is common here just like some places in Spain) Anyways we sat down, opened the menu, and couldn’t find any empanadas. It was all pizza. Page after page of pizza. Pizza is very common and popular in Argentina because of the large number of Italian immigrants (I think about the same time that Italians were also immigrating to the US). We decided to go for a Fuggazza with ham and cheese. We asked what it was, and the waiter pointed it out on someone’s table and told us it was onions, ham, and cheese. Sounds interesting and delicious. thetwinsontour like to try new things that are interesting and delicious. They brought out our pizza, and it looked like a culinary delight. Then we each grabbed a slice, and there was cheese everywhere. Everything goes better with cheese, but this was like a lifetime supply of mozzarella– all shoved into one grande pizza. The first slice was yummy, but I didn’t even try to eat any of the oozey cheese that was dripping onto my plate. Then I went for a second piece. Still tasty. Then, there was half a pizza left– 4 slices of magical mozzarella. And I just couldn’t eat another bite. The waiter asked if we wanted to take the leftovers with us, and all I could do was stare at that half a pizza with my mouth hanging open. Did I want it? hmm, we did have a minifridge in the hotel. But, when was I supposed to eat leftovers in Argentina?? After several seconds of hesitation, I said yes. I do hate for things to go to waste. But, as I walked out of the pizzeria, with half a pizza in my hands, that had to have weighed 10 pounds, I knew I was never going to eat it. So, you know what I did?? The very first homeless person I saw got my leftovers. There was a mother with 2 little kids huddled on the sidewalk– I said Señora, bent down to her level and handed her my pizza. She looked at me and said gracias. So, leftovers solved.

Then it was time for our panoramic city tour– we drove around town in a minibus– trying to take pictures of all the sights through the glare of the bus window. Fortunately we did get to get out and walk at a few of the locations. By far and away, the best place was La Caminata. This is old tenement housing that is painted in bright, bold, vibrant colors– almost on par with the twinsontour’s kitchen, which is lime green, lemon yellow, and turquoise– so gorgeous it makes me smile every time I sit down at my kitchen table. Unfortunately, I only had about 15 minutes here to snap my selfies, but it was enough to know that this neighborhood is my kindred spirit– at least when it comes to paint colors.

Next up was La Recoleta– the cemetery. This is one of the most famous sights in all of Buenos Aires– it is all aboveground mausoleums, some of which are hundreds of years old– and they are passed down through the generations. The value of the fancy ones can be up to 50,000 US dollars or more– if you can find someone willing to sale off their ancestral plot. Most notable of all this noteworthiness is that Evita Peron is buried here! (Evita– like in the movie with Madonna and Antonio Banderas– or the very first Broadway musical thetwinsontour ever saw because it was starring Ricky Martin).

We topped off our evening with a dinner and tango show spectacular with other girls from our boat– who we had befriended through the magic of Facebook. First we got a quick tango lesson– steps one and two were pretty easy to get, but when it came to steps three, four, five, six, seven, and eight–with a whole bunch of twisty, curvy, back and forth nonsense, I knew my dreams of being a professional tango dancer were being ground to dust. We did at least get steak and a delicious dessert for dinner before the show. And the show! First there was a whole lot of tango dancers. then some musicians jamming out to tango music, and then some singing. Finally there was more dancing. but then there was more music. And then singing. And this went on and on and on. I didn’t think it would ever end, but 2 hours later, it finally did. It was nice– and a must do Argentinian activity, but really, it should be half as long as it was. Fortunately, the tango show was only 4 blocks from our hotel, which was great for us since we were walking back to our hotel after midnight.

That is all for Day 3!

love,

thetwinsontour

Ps, sorry no pictures included. We are several days behind (of course) and adding pictures seems to make our blog app crash.

Today was a highly anticipated day for thetwinsontour because we got to throw in a surpise bonus country on our trip. Well it wasn’t really a surprise. Months and months ago we found out that Uruguay was only a one hour ferry ride from Buenos Aires. From that moment, we knew it was destined to be our 63rd country!

Once again the Argentians proved their love of a good line (or a mob of chaos loosely disguised as a line) at the ferry terminal. The website says you have to arrive 2 hours early for the ferry. We got there a little late at 6:25 for our 8:15 ferry. But you know what we couldn’t do? Get in line to check in! They only check in one boat at a time. We had to wander around and wait for the opportunity to wait in line. They didn’t start that process until 7:00, and that was just at one of the windows. By the time I realized it (like 7:00 and 30 seconds) the line was wrapped all the way around the waiting hall. Then they opened a 2nd window, so we hopped in that much shorter line. What a mistake! It was more a mass than a line, and people formed lines off of lines and refused to merge because they were adamant that they were the ones in line. Anyways that much shorter line took significantly longer than the line wrapped around the building. Everyone around us was getting worried about missing the boat because it was taking so long. I even sent my sister to another line to see how fast it was. We finally made it through the check in and thought we were in the clear with just enough time to spare. But guess what? We had to wait in another line at passport control! That one moved much faster though. Then we thought we would be able to jump on the ferry right in time for the 8:15 departure, but there was another line! They didn’t start boarding anyone until after 8:15. I have no idea if that is normal operating procedure or if they were just late that day.

Visiting Uruguay was worth the effort because we have never been there and also because it was a beautiful old town that dates back hundreds of years to the Portuguese, then to the Spanish, and back to the Portuguese a couple of more times. I’m pretty sure the old town was also a UNESCO world heritage sight, so you know it has to be good. You can tell who built the buildings by the materials used. The Portuguese used stones and the Spanish used bricks. There’s also some differences in the construction of the cobblestone streets, but don’t ask me what.

Anyways Colonia was delightful, and I am sure it is much different than the rest of Uruguay. We stuck to the area around the old town wandering around taking pictures, eating ice cream, and going to a few souvenir shops looking for a good magnet for the collection. It was very laid back and was not crowded at all. There were far more street dogs than local people. So apparently street dogs are very well taken care of because you pay a tax every year for each dog that you have. Those taxes are used towards the veterinary care of the street dogs. The dogs are very friendly and will let you pet them. Apparantly most people just live in Colonia as a summer home for a couple of months a year. These people have dogs. Then when they leave at the end of the summer, they leave the dogs behind? I know, it doesn’t make much sense to me either. How can you be rich enough to have a second house, but not be rich enough to take care of your dog? They just follow the tourists around and lay at their feet in the sidewalk cafes waiting for a bite to eat. For being street dogs they all looked well fed.

Speaking of being well fed, our guide let us eat little berries off a tree. I have no idea what they were, but they were tasty. For lunch we ate the national dish of Uruguay for lunch and it was super delicious! Chivito is thinly sliced (and very chewy) beef, topped with ham, mozzarella, and a not runny fried egg sandwich. There was also some lettuce, tomato and mayo on there, but that is not what made it a culinary delight. It is also typically served with fries, but that costs extra and thetwinsontour don’t care for fries.

Oh yes, we had some ice cream as well. Everybody knows the twinsontour love ice cream. Besides have you really visited a country if you haven’t had any ice cream there? We found a scenic little ice cream shop at the end of a cobblestone road with a view of the river. There were several other ice cream places around, but this one was the most picturesque and Instagram worthy. We went a little exotic and got wine flavored ice cream! It wasn’t as good as I had hoped, but it was definitely unique. They also had beer flavored ice cream which sounds gross to me. Anyways the wine ice cream was actually a milk based ice cream with a mild wine flavor. I think it would have been amazing as a sorbet because I don’t know anyone who drinks milk and wine together. It was called crema tannant which is a kind of wine.

That pretty much sums up our day in Uruguay. Of course there were a few more lines to wait in to catch the return ferry, but I will spare you those details.

Love,

thetwinsontour

Today we arrived in Buenos Aires Argentina, one step closer to Antarctica. Yesterday it was 90, today it was 70 with random spurts of rain that wasn’t worth getting the umbrella out for. So the weather is a lot liked Kansas, but in reverse. Its spring here and the Jacaranda trees are full of beautiful purple flowers. I wish I had a Jacaranda tree in my yard! It would be so lovely with the bright purple trim on my house. My old house. My new house is beige for the time being. Yuck!

Getting out of the airport in Buenos Aires is a hot mess mostly due to the fact that they love to make you wait in lines (like the Black Friday checkout line of Kohl’s kind of line but without all of the fun shopping). We had to wait in line for close to an hour and a half just to go through passport control, and we didn’t even get a $5 crockpot or $7 sweater. But the good thing about that is we didn’t have to watch with bated breath as everyone’s suitcase but ours spits out on the conveyor belt while wondering if ours made it to the same destination as us, or if our luggage took the scenic route to Lithuania because by the time we were done all of the luggage was neatly lined up on the floor waiting for us. I guess now is a good time to mention that horror of horrors, we had to pack an extra suitcase! It is quite impossible to get all of the long johns, fleece lined pants, mountaineering boots, gloves, glove liners, waterproof pants, waterproof jacket, neck gaiters, stocking cap, wool socks, sock liners, hand warmers, toe warmers, trekking poles, and penguin hoody necessary for a trip to Antarctica in just one suitcase. I didn’t even have room for snacks in the first suitcase! So together we have 3 suitcases which makes maneuvering anywhere, especially into a tiny hotel elevator, a little difficult.

Despite all of the airport chaos, we had a very successful first day. We made it to the hotel by 12:30 and didn’t have to wait for a room to be cleaned. So then we were able to hop in a taxi and grab a quick lunch before our Graffiti walking tour at 3 o’clock. For lunch we had Argentian hamburgers. There are tons of hamburger places around. We may have eaten a cheeseburger, but it was a damn good cheeseburger made with authentic Argentinian beef.

Somehow our 2 hour walking tour took almost 3 hours, but it was a good tour. We absolutely adore graffiti tours. Here in Argentina a lot of the graffiti is politically motivated, which I won’t go into. But, apparently there are no laws against graffiti. They are big on poster art here– they print their artwork on posters and slap it on a wall. Since it is paper, it is much more temporary in nature than spray paint. And, it can be much more universal since you can print works from all over the world. Also popular is to paint the sides of businesses- like butterflies on the side of a florist shop.

By the time we were done we were equally ravenous and exhausted. So, this part is for my mother’s benefit, you know how she worries that we don’t eat enough when we travel. Our guide had pointed out a place that has the best choripan in the city. (chorizo + pan = sausage and bread, so a sausage sandwich) I’m not a huge sausage fan, but I was hungry, it was close, it was fast, and it was highly recommended, so that’s what we ate. We got the guava choripan. It had guava sauce and plantain chips! When in doubt always go for the plantain chip option. Someone PLEASE open a restaurant or food truck that puts plantain chips or fried bananas on EVERYTHING! Thetwinsontour love plantain chips!

So for the culinary review: it was literally a big fat sausage cut in half on a bun with the aforementioned ingredients plus lettuce (iceberg, not romaine) and a tomato. Do you know what happens when you put lettuce and condiments on a sandwich? It slides all over the place. It was one of the slipperiest sandwiches I have ever eaten, and I made a mess eating my lopsided sandwich. The sausage was mild and tasty. The plantain chips are really what set this apart though! Always plantain chips. Always.

So after that we hopped a taxi back to the hotel, found a supermarket to buy candy and yogurt for breakfast (the yogurt, not the candy) and an ATM. Unfortunately that took much longer and involved more steps and backtracking than anticipated. But we spotted a place we want to try for dinner tomorrow.

Goodbye for now from Argentina!

love,

thetwinsontour