Eleven Mile Canyon 7/29/11

It's been almost a year since our last post. There's no excuse. But we'll try harder to get things online this next year.

Camping is so good for the soul. It's hard to do with a wee one. But it's so beneficial to our family. Worth fighting for. It's good to pee outside. It's good to smell like campfire. It's good to teach Ella all these essential camp things. It's good to get dirty, chase chipmunks, and sleep outside.

We often choose Eleven Mile Canyon because it is only an hour away. We spent last night in a primitive site, far from anyone else. It was a quiet night with gentle wind and short time of rain.

A "Chickmunk" sighting.


Trying to coax it out of its hole with chips.


The view from our tent.


Freezing River. Freezing.


Our yearly Throw-The-Pooch-In.

Camping at Eleven Mile Canyon

Oy vay. We've been back in the US for over a month now, and I haven't even posted about our last month in Argentina. So I could I can do one of two things:

1. I could wait to start posting about life now until I get to all that we did in June.

Or...

2. I could pick up with life now and post about the past, well, sometime in the future.

The latter sounds like a more productive plan.

We packed up the Subaru on Friday for another round of camping. We ended up at Eleven Mile Canyon. We stayed in the primitive camping area at yet a different site. Each time we've camped at Eleven Mile, we've managed to find different sites, so it's sort of like going someplace new every time. This time we were tucked into a little canyon, all by ourselves. We were somewhat sheltered from the louder neighboring campsites.



Miss Ella has developed a crazy fear of bugs. She spent the first 10 minutes of our trip screaming at the top of her lungs because she saw some ants on the ground. Trying to find the best way to help her through, I remembered that she's generally impressionable and if mom and dad seem to enjoy something, than it's alright for her too.

"Bugs are Ooooohhhkaaaaaaay," became our mantra. We said it with big smiles on our faces. Fortunately, it didn't take too long to convince her. Next time you see Ella, say, "Bugs are....." and she'll finish the sentence for you. We also had to make a "Camping is fun" mantra as well. Here's Her Royal Cuteness in the morning amidst 'smeeping bags' in our tent.



At playing with the lantern at night.




And Tyler being camera shy.



Junuh had the most fun while on the trip. He filled hours chasing squirrels up trees and standing guard as they jabbered angrily at him from a branch. We love our dog.



We played in the river. The water is freezing, but Ella is never deterred by that.







The weather was gorgeous, bringing out the best of Eleven Mile.





Savor the rest of summer, everyone! We sure are.

Time Keeps Flying By

Tyler and I have been sick the past few days. It's a huge bummer when you're trying to soak in your last days somewhere, but así es la vida. We leave this Wednesday evening. Two and a half days. Here's what we've been up to this past week.

We visited Tigre with our friends David and Kim and our new friend who's name I can't remember (sorry!). Here's Tyler looking dapper in his new fadora.



Tigre is a bit like Venice with lots of walter channels. You get around primarily by boat. Don't jump, Ella! Don't jump!



They have parks in Tigre too. Nothing makes my girl happier than a slide.



Except maybe a swing...



Huddling 'round the stroller. Me, Tyler, David, Kim, and Ella.



Chau, Tigre. The train that runs between BsAs and Tigre takes about an hour. And only costs $1.35. That's Argentine pesos, too. Muy barato!



We had dinner with David, Kim, Naoko, and Henry at a Peruvian restaraunt. They had fabulous ceviche and roast chicken. We've been so blessed to have friend here. David and Kim (whom we know from the States through Lindy Hop) are taking a year long trip around the world. Henry and Naoko live here in BsAs and are fabulous tango dancers and very fun to dine with.



Here's me and my yoga instructor, Gabriel. He's from Columbia and has a fabulous accent. He's also a stickler for *perfect* alignment in each pose. I could get sore with him in child's pose. It's good for me.



After tango class on Wednesday, we got to hit one of our favorite cafes one last time...Cumanas. This, my friends, is cazuela. So. Very. Good.



I'll try to squeeze in a post about our trip to see the ballet at Teatro Colon. The cheap seats there mean you can't actually see the stage from your seat. Whoops!

Iguazu Photos

I just realized I never posted pictures of our trip to Iguazu. We've been so busy crossing things off our list, I suppose. But, alas, here they are. It was a rainy day when we visited the park, so the pictures are a bit soggy. Keep in mind that our pictures don't do the falls justice. The power, the roar, the extreme wild beauty was so hard to adequately capture on film.

Here's a bit of back ground on Los Cataratas del Iguazu care of wikipedia: The waterfall system consists of 275 falls along 2.7 kilometers (1.67 miles) of the Iguazu River. Position is at latitude (DMS): 25° 40' 60 S, longitude (DMS): 54° 25' 60 W . Some of the individual falls are up to 82 meters (269 ft) in height, though the majority are about 64 metres (210 ft). The Devil's Throat (Garganta del Diablo in Spanish or Garganta do Diabo in Portuguese), a U-shaped, 82-meter-high, 150-meter-wide and 700-meter-long (490 by 2300 feet) cataract, is the most impressive of all, and marks the border between Argentina and Brazil. Two thirds of the falls are within Argentine territory.

We only visited the Argentina side.













It was wet. Ella tolerated the rain and her glorified trash bag. Bless her.










To get to the Devil's Throat, you walk about 1 km over a series of bridges over the river.









Ella got very scared. It was loud and wet. Poor baby burst into tears and started crying, "Go home! Go home!"









Tyler and I rewrote and declared our wedding vows here. This trip was our anniversary celebration.



Ella did love the hammock at the hostel!

A picture Blog of Boca

To cross another thing off the list, today we visted Boca. Boca is a barrio of Buenos Aires known for a couple things: Color, is one. As you can see.









Every restaruant has a performer (or performers). Musisians, tango dancers...oodles of entertainment.



Ella enjoyed trying on hats while Tyler looked for his fedora.



And then she flirted with the salesman.



The second thing Boca is famed for is futbol. The Boca Juniors, more specifically. Here Tyler and Pea are at the ginormous Boca Juniors stadium.



Futbol is a HUGE deal here.



Huge.



Yes, I'm pretty sure this is Paron, Evita, and Diego Maradona.



Here's Maradona's start at the stadium.



Tango is a big deal too...



...in...



And here's some fake laundry hanging to dry. Random, I know.



For lunch we had (drum roll) choripan!



The barrio of Boca once tried to form there one republic. The national army put a quick stop to it. But often it's still referred to as the Republic of Boca.



Hola and chau!