Difunta Correa in Argentina

Along the roadside all over Argentina, it's common to see little shrines with water bottles. Difunta (deceased) Correa (family name) refers to a popular legend. In 1840, this woman's husband was forcibly recruited to fight in the Argentine civil war. When she received word that her husband was sick, she took her baby child and followed the tracks of the soldiers through the desert. When her supplies ran out, she died. Her body was found days later by gauchos who were driving cattle through the desert. To their astonishment, her child was alive, still feeding from her miraculously full breast.

Correa is an unofficial saint, not recognized by the Catholic Church. The little shrines have a figure of a woman and a breast feeding baby, and the practice is to bring a bottle of water and leave it at the shrine for her as you drive by. Mike and I are standing near the shrine with water bottles in our hands.

Golfing in the Andes Mountains

This is a 5 star Jack Nicklaus designed golf course with almost no one playing it. The Argentines are not really avid golfers, and tourism is still pretty low here...so this is an "if you build it they will come" course that knocked our socks off. They also have beautiful homes built around the whole area of San Martin de Los Andes. The workmanship is incredible, and in this setting it takes your breath away.

We stayed at El Casco Viejo, a rustic elegant 3 room B&B. It's really set up as a fly fishing lodge. Fabulous food and hospitality. Apparently this is where Jack Nicklaus stays when he comes here to fly fish and play his course.

Horseback riding in San Martin de Los Andes

San Martin de Los Andes is a wonderful ski village in Argentina, surrounded by pine trees and mountains (usually snow capped, but in February it's summer here). We had a small herd of wild horses come up to us while we were riding. They nuzzled our horses hello, then moved along to peacefully graze in their acres and acres of room to roam. These are very content horses.

Having said that, in the morning when we started, Mike's horse was cold and wanted to run to warm up. At that moment, we were in a thick grove of deciduous trees with lots of dead branches at eye level. Every time Mike pulled back to slow down his horse, the horse would rear like crazy. To avoid being speared by the branches, Mike had to walk his horse through the forest. It was actually pretty dicey there for a while...these were not your typical nose-to-tail American tourist horses.

Buenos Aires is a BIG city!

Over 12 million people, or about 1/3 of the population of Argentina live here. This is a tiny part of their skyline from the Ecological Park which buffers the city from the river. From the Puente de Mujeres (Bridge of the Woman) you can see that the river water is very muddy, not too appealing for swimming but nice for summer breezes. In general, the city is very clean with ample green space and good mass transit...and tons of cabs. We had no problemo!

Street Art in Palermo, Buenos Aires

Creative way to cover up air conditioners, isn't it? The dog looks like he thinks it needs watering...

Holding La Flor de Metal in Buenos Aires

I hold in my hand La Flor de Metal, a huge metal flower sculpture. The really cool part is that it acts like a real flower...it closes at sundown and opens at sunrise every day. At night, there are pink lights in the base and flower stamen that make it glow from the inside. Beautiful!!

Caminito St. in La Boca, Argentina

Great street art saved this neighborhood, which was a dismal abandoned railyard and landfill - a real eyesore. In the 60's, artists were brought in to paint the corrogated metal buildings in bright pastel colors. Life sized charicatures of figures real and imagined line the streets and pop from balconies and the top of buildings. Restaurants, shops and musicians followed, and now it is one of the top tourist destinations in Buenos Aires. Very charming!

Doing the Tango in Buenos Aires!

Tango originated in the low-class areas of Argentina as a way for prostitutes to attract customers. Now it's an art form, and wildly popular here, with many different versions (although we have yet to see anyone clenching a rose in their teeth).

The lunchtime tango in the restaurant was amazing...the dancers not only performed well, but they dodged waiters with trays of food and drink missing them by only inches.

Mike enjoyed his Tango pose...Senor Suave, nada mas!

La Recoleta Cemetary, Buenos Aires

Here lie the graves of the most influential and important citizens, including several presidents, scientists, Nobel prize winners, famous athletes and wealthy families. Eva Peron is buried here. The cemetary is old and elegant, with elaborate marble mausoleums, decorated with statues in a wide variety of architectural styles. About 15 acres total, it is laid out like city streets, with wide walkways in between.

Visiting Evita's grave in Buenos Aires

Eva "Evita" Peron was the first lady of Argentina in the 50's and is still revered by the public. She was a stage and film actress prior to marrying Juan Peron, where she became vocal as a leader for women's suffrage and labor rights.

Her remains have been moved numerous times, under great secrecy, now resting with the family Duarte at the famous Recoleta Cemetary in Buenos Aires. Her grave is the only one we saw in the cemetary with a huge crowd and fresh flowers.

By the way, the Argentinians we spoke to were NOT a fan of Madonna's portrayal in the movie.

Buenos Aires Zoo

This was a very different zoo experience. First of all, there were more kids than we've EVER seen at a zoo, the place was packed. The reason is that they sell food for the kids to feed the animals...ALL the animals. They buy a bucket of food pellets, and then slide them down the chute (see the girl feeding the llama?) or feed them by hand (see the boy feeding the deer). The unfortunate part is that it evolves into getting an animal's attention by throwing pellets, and then throwing popcorn, and then throwing whatever they have in their hands. It's pretty chaotic, and seems cruel to the animals.

The photo of the boy crouching by the rat? Ugh. That is a big nutria rat, which are native here (although we saw them only in the zoo, thank God). The kids feed those too...their word for it in Argentina translates to "otter" although it is definitely a member of the rat family.

Where's the BEEF? In Buenos Aires!`

The beef is plentiful and grass fed in Buenos Aires. Dinners here also have great salads - they like arugula here, but it's a meat and potatoes kind of city. We had steak for three nights in a row...there are more steakhouses here than there are coffeehouses in Seattle, hands down.

Safe cracking in Vegas

A dubious start to our latest trip...with an hour and a half to go until flight time, we couldn't get our passports out of the safe we'd so carefully brought with us in our long road trip all the way from Seattle to Vegas. Somehow the travelling, cold/heat or whatever got to the tumblers and they would NOT open. We had to call a locksmith, who took a nailbiting 40 minutes to arrive at the entryway to Trump Tower, where this spectacle occurred. The locksmith broke into that safe with a 2 ft. screwdriver and a sledgehammer in about 3 minutes flat...so much for the "safe"! We made it to the airport with seconds to spare only to gleefully find there was a flight delay. It puts a whole new perspective on flight delays when you realize they can be a godsend!!

Zabriskie Point, Death Valley

Rolling mud hills front the Funeral Mountains. This hike is only a few miles from the Furnace Creek Inn, the national park lodge where we stayed. The ranger told us about a hiker last year, fit and in his 20's, who hiked this with a liter of water in the middle of summer. His wife called for help 3 hours after he was supposed to be done with his 3 mile hike...it should have taken him an hour. The rangers found him 4 1/2 hours after he had started, dead from heat exhaustion and dehydration. This is a woefully unforgiving land in the summer.

The LOWS of Death Valley

This is Badwater Basin, the lowest spot in the Western Hemisphere...282 ft. below sea level. It's bizarre to walk through a landscape so barren. It's surrounded by mountains of up to 13,000 ft. in a 15 mile radius around it, and all the rainwater in those mountains empties into Badwater, washing down the moutains, forming huge salt beds once the water evaporates. By the way, the reason Death Valley is so dry is that storm systems have to pass over four mountain ranges before they get here. For the most part, the storms are very weak by the time they reach this desert.

Death Valley Borax

Remember Borax? It was a popular household cleaner that at one time was "mined" in Death Valley, originally these huge wagons pulled tons of borax from Death Valley with teams of 20 mules. Eventually a closer, cheaper borax mine was discoverd. Walking around the borax flats is like walking on snow. It's very weird that it's warm, yet you are leaving footprints in the white residue.

Golfing below Sea Level

Golfing in Death Valley @ 214 ft. below sea level means that this is a tough course! The ball doesn't go too far, and the unusual wet conditions added to the difficulty. Having said that, the snow capped mountains made it so scenic that all was forgiven. How often do you see palm trees and snow capped mountains at the same time??