Caroline & Conor Go RTW

Party With Mr. Puffy Pants

By Caroline

We got to the tour agency at 9:45 after the worst ride on the subway I have ever experienced. It was so crowded and I couldn’t have moved my arms if I tried to.

If that wasn’t bad enough all the other trains were behind so at every stop our train had to wait 10 to 15 minutes for the other trains to start catching up. I was definitely glad when that ride was over.

At about 10:30 we boarded a bus and headed off to Estancia Don Silvano. It was about an hour drive and on the way there our tour guide Christian walked around and let us sip some Mate from the special cups.

I wanted to try some but I was reluctant to sip from the communal straw. I decided to take a drink even though I might get all sorts of germs in my body from the old grandmas who drank before me.

Mate is like an herbal tea but a thousand times stronger. It caught Conor and I off guard. Christian was standing next to us and watching our reactions so we had to paste smiles on our faces and tell him it was very good.

Once he walked away though I poured what was left of my orange TicTacs into my mouth to get the taste off my tongue.

After that little episode we arrived at the Estancia. We got out of the bus and saw a bunch of guys wearing puffy pants. We were given meat empanadas and some nasty juice.

The puffy pants men led us to an area where we could choose from two activities: horseback riding around the property or a horse drawn carriage ride. We all chose the horse back riding.

My horse was pretty calm and gentle so I was happy. The puffy pants guys rode in the lead and whistled so the horses would follow. After about 15 minutes of riding we got off and we could wander around the Estancia alone. It was really pretty, especially because it is spring here.

About 20 minutes later we got ushered into lunch.  The table was set with bread, potatoes and salad. Then they brought out the first course: sausages.

There was one sausage that was good but the other was a blood sausage. It was sooooooo NASTY. Conor cut his open and all these bloody weird shaped things fell out. It made me want to puke. But this was only the first course.

While we were eating there was a performance. There were different dances from the different parts in Argentina and the music that went with them. Then they brought out the second course: chicken. The chicken was really good.

You would think that was enough but right after we ate the chicken here came huge platters of steak. I’m sure the steak was good but I was too full to eat it. For dessert they served ice cream.

I can’t believe how much they eat in Argentina.

After everyone was done eating we got taken to bleachers on one side of the Estancia to see the puffy pants guys ride their horses. They had races and played a game where you had to start at one end and have your horses run full speed while the rider has to get a stick through a ring at the other side. It was cool to watch.

After the show was over we were served Mate again (I poured my behind the building to get rid of it) and cookies. Then we got back on the buses and headed back to town.

That just left me with one question. Why are there no fat Argentineans?

Xul Solar

By Conor

Last Wednesday we visited an art museum about Xul Solar. Xul Solar wasn’t his real name it was just a name he made for himself. His real name was Oscar Agustin Alejandro Schulz Solari.

Xul had a eccentric way of looking at the world  which means he thinks his own way, for example, he made up his own time zone, made up his own language (he also could speak many other languages), and had a hobby for founding religions.

Xul’s paintings were really interesting and expressed a strong point of view. For example one painting is of tall stairs leading up to a mountain top but at the top there is nothing. I interpreted that painting as the stairs of life, they climb higher and higher but at the top all you find…is nothing.

Xul’s methods of painting were watercolor and tempera which was die mixed with eggs. He also made sculptures, one featured in the museum was a life size skeleton made out of wood!

Going to Xul Solar museum was probably one of the coolest things I’ve done in Buenos Aires because I actually liked his art and I don’t usually like art!

Scenes from Buenos Aires

By Caroline

Here are some of our favorite pictures we took wandering around Buenos Aires.

Dog walkers are everywhere, with lots of well-behaved dogs.

A corner store in our neighborhood.

Antique glass for sale at the San Telmo market.

From the Japanese Gardens.

Freddo has the best ice cream we’ve ever tasted - love the dulce de leche flavor!

Statue from one of the city’s many parks.

Crazy tree roots!

Enough said.

Argentina Zoofari!

By Conor

On the way to the Lujan Zoo I didn’t know what to expect.  I had read that at the zoo people could pet wild animals.  I hoped that they weren’t mean to the animals to make them behave.

When we got there, the first thing we did was go to the elephants.  The zoo keeper explained that these were Asian elephants and he explained how to ride them.

Caroline and I were the second to last in our group to ride the elephant.  It was really cool because it feels like you are riding a wild animal.

After the elephants we headed to the camels.  Since the camels there had only one hump, we had to sit in chairs hanging from him.

Next was one of my favorites, the monkey cage.  When I sat down for a picture, the zoo keeper dropped seeds on my head.  The next think I knew, monkeys were climbing on me, jumping on me and eating the seeds off my head.  One even hung by its tail off my arm!

Next were lions and tigers.  I wasn’t old enough to go in the adult tiger cage, so I hung out with a dog named Pupsy.

After that, we went to the baby lion and tiger cages - and I could play with them.  They were so cute!!  The baby lion cub was so small, but the tigers were much bigger.

Next was a surprise.  We walked around a corner and saw the first baby bear the zoo ever had.  They were unbelieveably cute!!  They stumbled around and tried to bite my pants.  I loved them.

Finally, we went to a big pen with deer, cupabaras, sheep, ducks and emus. It was a great trip.

Help Wanted: Dog Walker in Buenos Aires

By Caroline and Conor

There is no shortage of dogs - or professional dog-walkers - in Buenos Aires, Argentina.

Peru's Floating Islands

By Caroline

If you ride in a boat about thirty minutes away from mainland over Lake Titicaca you start to see what look like hay stacks with houses on them. That morning we had woken up at 5:30 and got in a car to go to the boat that would take us out on Lake Titicaca to the Uros islands.

These islands are also called the reed islands because they are entirely made out of reeds that grow around the area. I got out first and stepped on the reeds sure that they would sink but it was stable and sort of bouncy. The houses on the island were simple and made of reeds and mud.

There were only a few people living on each island. It seemed weird to imagine that the kids living on these islands have to take a boat to school everyday. It was beautiful seeing the floating islands out on the highest lake in the world.

Cuy - It's What's For Dinner

By Caroline

In Peru (and Ecuador) guinea pigs (cuy) are a very popular food.  At our house, guinea pigs are pets, not dinner!

Incredible Incas

By Conor

One thing that makes you realize how great the Incas were is how much they knew so much about the earth.

For example, at Machu Picchu there is a strip of grass that nothing is buillt on because the Incas knew that under the strip of grass was a fault line.  If they had built something there and an earthquake had happened, everything they built would have collapsed.

They also figured out how to move enormous rocks from one mountain to another.

The Incas were such good builders that they were able to fit rocks together and build strong structures with no cement. The rocks just fit perfectly together.