We’ve been too busy traveling, exploring and trying not to freeze to death (it’s VERY cold in Chile) over the last week to be able to post at all. I only have a few minutes now, but there are SO many things for us to catch up on, por ejemplo:
Wine tasting in Buenos Aires with Anuva — Awesome!
Wine tour with Trout and Wine in Mendoza — Awesome!
Mendoza overall
Santiago, Chile — Aside from it being extremely cold, we really like it here and think we might come back and spend a few weeks
Walking tour in Valparaiso, Chile with Michael the German pirate (that’s what he goes by)
Argentine wine vs. Chilean
Argentine food vs. Chilean
Special thanks to those of you that have sent us so many fantastic suggestions for these cities!
And probably other stuff too.
No time now, but should be able to start pulling this stuff together over the next week and we have tons of great pictures.
Aight, gotta run, just didn’t want anyone to think we had disappeared.
…because clearly we don’t get enough wine here. We’ll have to get up very early tomorrow (by which I mean ~9am!) and head to the airport. A few days in Mendoza followed by a few days in Chile to finally settle once and for all who has better wine. It’s a hard job, but someone has to do it.
Any suggestions for Mendoza, Santiago or Vina del Mar/Valparaiso?
Either they have been doing some extreme experiments in genetic engineering down here, or South American animals are just very different. To be fair, the zoo did not seem all that well maintained, so it’s very possible that the animals are escaping frequently and doing some of their own ‘genetic engineering’ if you know what I mean.
In reality, there are at least 2 reasons why this zoo is worth checking out:
1) The crazy, crazy animals
2) The fact that many of the crazy, crazy animals roam free throughout the grounds rather than being confined to a cage
Let’s start with a few of the crazy animals (which also happen to be roaming free):
Exhibit A: Duck + Turkey = Durkey?
Duck? Turkey? Durkey?? And no, this is not a one-off weird looking duck, there are tons of these running around and they all look the same
Exhibit B: Beaver/Gopher/Hedgehog = BeapherHog?
This is kind of like a giant hedgehog...
...except that it has webbed feet in the back, bright orange teeth and an attitude.
Exhibit C: Our personal favorite, the Rabbit/Deer = Dabbit?
What are you???
They are decently big and they run free all over the zoo. They seem a little skittish, but friendly. And very, very weird.
The above three animals (Durkeys, BeapherHogs and Dabbits) are all over the zoo, just kind of hanging out. Other animal hybrid creations apparently are less friendly and need to be kept in cages. For instance…
Exhibit D: The Tapir
Tapir = cross between anteater and wild boar? He looks sad--it might be because he's so weird looking.
Seriously, what are you???
Exhibit E: These guys
No idea... kind of like the rabbit/deer things crossed with the giant hedgehog things. You may recognize the guy in the front as the actor that played Mr. Beaver in The Chronicles of Narnia movie
Exhibit F: Anteater thing
I think you are an anteater, but I have no idea. What I do know is that you could very easily wear a traffic cone as a helmet.
Nice piece of tail
Exhibit G: Satan goat
Do not mess with this goat, it will haunt your dreams
Exhibit H: These guys
And on the seventh day, god had some extra spray paint to get rid of...
In addition to having animals that you’re unlikely to have ever seen before, there are some animals that would be normal-ish except that they seem to have gone a bit crazy. For example:
Exhibit I: Smiling Llama
He has lots of personality...
...or possibly is just unable to close his mouth due his abnormally large lower teeth
Exhibit J: Flaccid Camel
I swear, this has never happened before...
Exhibit K: Acro Elephant
Hard to capture in a photo, but this elephant attempted to perform a head stand for a good 3 minutes. He almost fell down a few times. Then he started running around his pen erratically (often backwards). Could have had to do with the roaring lion that was next door, or he is just crazy.
There were lots of other more normal animals as well of course like lions and tigers and birds and stuff. You can check out the rest of our photos in our photo gallery: Buenos Aires City Zoo Photos
Just because the lemurs and the baby hippo were particularly entertaining we took a couple of videos:
Lemur fight:
Hippo teeth:
Logistics
The Buenos Aires City Zoo is located in Palermo right next to the Botanical Garden–The main entrance is right next to Plaza Italia and it costs AR$15/ticket for a general entrance or a little more if you want to go into the special attractions (which didn’t seem to be worth it). It’s fully outdoors, so probably not fun in the rain.
It’s cheap, it’s centrally located and it has most of the craziest animals we’ve ever seen. It’s always a bit depressing to see caged animals and some of these animals looked pretty unhappy, but overall we enjoyed the zoo far more than we thought we would. It shouldn’t be on the top of your list of things to do on a short vacation here, but it’s a fun way to spend a few hours and we’d highly recommend it.
Anyone out there have any idea what some of those animals are?
We went to see the show Fuerza Bruta tonight at the Recoleta Cultural Center. This is a show by the same company that did De La Guarda several years ago in New York and many other cities. Fuerza Bruta is also playing in several other cities around the world, so you too can have the unforgettable experience that we had…
Before I describe it in any detail, here are some quotes from Jen and my sister on their experience this evening:
“This show challenged every sense of personal safety and self preservation I have both as a patron and a physician”
and
“That is probably the most uncomfortable hour I’ve ever spent”
-Ashley
“Ummm, what the f#*%?”
-Jen
This show is very, very strange and unless you are looking to go to a rave, but can’t find one nearby, we’d suggest you stay away. It’s possible that we were simply not drunk enough to enjoy the show appropriately, but I’m fairly certain it would take quite a bit more than mere alcohol to adequately prepare yourself.
What is it?
Not a simple question to answer. We had heard lots of hype about this show and many people had told us how much we would love it. The most frequent description was “it’s like Blue Man Group meets Cirque de Soleil.” No it’s not. I can understand why people might say that–all 3 shows are very difficult to describe, but where Cirque de Soleil has unbelievably talented acrobats performing crazy feats of athleticism and grace and Blue Man Group provides comedy, weirdness and fun, Fuerza Bruta is more like an interactive modern art exhibit with the intention of being provocative for the sake of being provocative. There were parts of it that were cool, but mostly it was just uncomfortable and felt like being at an overly intense dance club–except that we weren’t really in the mood to be at a dance club since we thought we had gone to a show.
Another way to describe it would be like this: A theater special effects guy came out with a few cool live effects and said “Hey, that would make an awesome show.” So, they took their 5 effects, added a heavy trance back-beat, made the audience stand up the whole time and moved massive set pieces in and out of the middle of the audience, pushing them up against each other and into walls; threw in some very intense jumping around with non-stop strobe lights and occasionally pulled people out of the audience to break foam ceiling tiles over their heads. Oh yeah, also they hosed down sections of the audience at times and there was a weird water sequence that resembled soft-core porn. Sound awesome? We saw at least one audience member that had to be carried out, and it’s hard to imagine how more people don’t get hurt on a nightly basis (incidentally, there were no safety warnings at all–if you are epileptic, you may be in danger just being in the same city where this show is playing).
But, seriously, what is it?
It’s kind of like Blue Man Group meets Cirque de Soleil… Just kidding, it’s nothing like that. Anyone that tells you that is just trying to see if they can trick you into going. It’s ~60 minutes long, and can be broken down into the following 5 parts:
1) Guy running on tread mill, occasionally being shot and occasionally jumping through boxes full of confetti
If only you could have heard the music...
2) A couple of girls jumping around against a crazy wall from harnesses with strobe lights (this was actually pretty cool)
3) A bunch of people jumping around crazily for a very long time and breaking stuff; then smashing ceiling tiles over the heads of each other and audience members for another very long time.
4) A very see-through plastic pool lowered from the ceiling with scantily clad women running and jumping around in the water above the heads of the audience. This went on forever. Then it seemed to stop and people clapped. Then it started again and went on forever again. Jen thought this was kind of like soft-core porn as the girls were not wearing many clothes, the clothes they were wearing were largely transparent due to the water and the audience was encouraged to grope them through the bottom of the pool.
It did not look this cool during the show
5) Back to the guy on the treadmill jumping through some more boxes. Then a bunch of people came out and bowed (apparently the ‘actors’?). We thought that meant it was over, but then they cranked the music again and started hosing down a section of the audience from above. We were near the doors, so we left. The rest of the audience was right behind us.
That’s about it. They were all pretty cool effects for the first few minutes, but most of them went on WAY longer than necessary and the level of intensity, threat of forced participation and general feeling that several people (including you) were highly likely to get hurt at any moment made it such that it wasn’t fun–if there was some sort of warm-up to get you energized and a higher level of trust that you wouldn’t have a table dropped on you, it might work. Unfortunately, it starts with crazy intensity right from the beginning, and I think unless you are expecting to be at a rave, it would be hard to really get into it (though, to be fair, some in the audience clearly seemed to have been better prepared than us).
Here in Buenos Aires, tickets were only ~US$15 each, so if you’re looking for something crazy, this is it. That said, I’d recommend just going to a dance club instead–far less likely that anyone will break anything over your head or attack you with a hose (unless that’s your thing).
We’ve written mostly about our travels on this blog, but we thought that after recently passing our 4 month anniversary of quitting our jobs it would be good time to write a little about what it feels like to be unemployed. Not having a job is an interesting experience, especially with such an abrupt change after the super high intensity jobs that we left. Our feelings about it have gone through a sort of cycle over time:
Month 1: Honeymoon period
Weeks 1-2: Like a normal vacation–high intensity site seeing
Weeks 3-4: Time to relax–basking in the glow of not having to get up in the morning
Month 2: Need something to work hard on (e.g., studying Spanish)
Month 3: Getting more comfortable with downtime. Beginning to wonder how long it will be until we start getting bored
Month 4: Lots of downtime. Starting to get bored and feel a little bit like we are in limbo; beginning to think about future
Month 5: ?
Current observations
These will likely continue to evolve (see #5 below), but as of now at midnight after a glass of wine, here are some current observations on what it’s like to be without a job for a little over 4 months (in no particular order):
No more back/neck pain–we thought we were just getting old, but it turns out it was the job. Now we feel younger and more energetic all the time, the difference is amazing. It took 2+ months for this to be noticeable
In the absence of a job, some things that used to be exciting diversions now feel like work–e.g., planning a trip
Time goes by very quickly, no matter how you spend it
Eating in restaurants all the time makes you want to not eat in restaurants
Perspective takes time and distance and it doesn’t stop evolving
Rehab is the right word for the process–it takes time and has many ups and downs; if you don’t stick to it, you don’t get anything out of it
A few weeks away is NOT enough for a meaningful reset
It takes effort to force yourself to not have relapses and seek out other things to optimize/achieve/stress about (e.g., mastering Spanish, planning every detail of a trip, etc.)
Different things matter; life is short
With this much time to think, it’s easier to see what really matters; and without the distractions of a busy life/job/etc. it’s much easier to incorporate these realizations into your daily life and future plans
We used to be very “driven.” That’s not necessarily a bad thing, but if you’re going to be driven, make sure that the destination is a place you want to go (hint: if you’re not enjoying the ride, it’s probably not)
Student loans are a bitch
Not having a cell phone is awesome
It is borderline criminal that there are not empanada delivery joints in the US
Career Breaks and Lifestyle Design
All in all, we would highly recommend this type of sabbatical or career break or whatever you want to call it to anyone. I’ve been reading a lot about a growing movement called Lifestyle Design which is essentially the idea of getting creative to proactively design the kind of life that you want rather than pick from one of the established paths; many proponents highly recommend “Career Breaks” like this on a relatively frequent basis. I’m intrigued.
I’ll be writing more about this and providing links to success stories as I explore it further; here are a few for starters:
The perfect dinner in Buenos Aires can be achieved by following these 15 easy steps:
Step 1: Pick a good restaurant
(El Estrebe is our favorite parilla in Buenos Aires)
Step 2: Good entradas--rucula and hearts of palm salad on the right; the thing on the left is a giant slab of provolone cheese covered in bacon, ham, onions, tomatoes and a bell pepper
(Provoleta is one of the best food inventions in the world)
Step 3: Great wine--this excellent Cabernet Franc from Vinas de Narvaez in Mendoza cost ~US$8
Step 4: The perfect steak -- we ordered one Bife de Lomo (~filet), they cut it into two halves for us to share at the table using spoons--seriously. This massive steak for 2 people cost about US$12
Step 5: You've gotta have good chimichurri (on the right) and good criolla sauce (lower left), not sure what the white stuff is, but the other two are phenomenal
Step 6: Apply sauces, and cut into steak to revel in how perfectly cooked it is. Note: it will always be perfectly cooked, this is Argentina and while they may not be able to run an airline, they do know how to cook steak
(If you’re curious about how they run an airline, check out Aerolineas Argentina)
In case you were wondering, the other half turned out pretty good too
Step 7: Make sure your plate looks like this when you are done
Step 8: Don't be stingy with the Chimichurri and Criolla--it should look more like this when you are done
Step 9: Don't forget to enjoy your awesome and crazily cheap wine
Step 10: Not having desert would just be silly; Flan with Dulce de Leche will do the trick for US$4
Step 11: Make sure to savor every bite of the flan nice and slowly
Step 12: Finish your Flan. Or else...
Step 13: If the waiter offers you complimentary Limoncello, drink it
Step 14: If you failed to finish your wine due to the complimentary pre and post dinner cocktails (and/or the bottle you had at lunch), ask for the rest of your bottle to go. They will happily cork it and bag it for you to enjoy at home
Those are all cakes, I think this speaks for itself
As the premier source for Worldcup 2010 information, we know that many of you have been eagerly awaiting a post from us on the outstanding Round of 16 game featuring Argentina early today; well, buckle-up, cuz here we go…
It's game time in Buenos Aires
I have to say that the during the first 15 minutes or so, we were a little worried… Mexico looked pretty good and the level of play was extremely intense–far more intense than the US/Ghana or England/Germany game seemed to be to our highly (un)trained eyes. After that, to summarize, Argentina crushed them.
We were proud to wear our jerseys and excited that the team was back in their home jerseys (and, a little drunk)
We’ve written before about #10, Messi, and mentioned how he seems to be more or less unstoppable when he has the ball. We are not soccer strategists, but it has occurred to us that if we were playing against Argentina (which is unlikely), and wanted to win so badly that we were willing to forget about sportsmanship, our strategy would be to injure Messi as early in the game as possible. It appeared that this strategy may have occurred to Mexico as well–they didn’t injure him, but they were able to more or less shut him down by having 2-3 guys jump on him every time the ball came near him. The bad news for Mexico and the rest of the remaining teams is that it turns out there are some other guys on the Argentina team that also know how to play.
The energy of the crowd and frankly the entire city/country when a game is on is incredible.
This is what the crowd looks like for a goal
...and, this is what it looks like when the game ends; the whole kitchen staff came out and started a parade. It was awesome.
It’s even more exciting with sound so we took some video at the end of the game, which in no way captures the experience, but is still pretty cool:
In case you missed the game because you have ridiculous priorities in life, actual game highlights are here:
Next up is Germany on Saturday. We already have our reservation to go back to this same place.
