San Francisco / Point Reyes CA - Jan 2020

Shawna, Keith and Ria

Rakesh turned 50 in January and we were told he didn't want to celebrate so we went to CA to 'not celebrate' his birthday!  Shawna went out there early, arriving on Monday night, and worked out of their house for the week.  Keith arrived on Tuesday evening late as he had some properties to visit and he stayed downtown.  He joined Shawna at Rak and Sim's place Thursday evening, first stopping to pick up Ria at her basketball game.  We ordered in ramen that evening and hung out.

Rak and Sim

On Friday, Rak and Simran left mid-morning and then Shawna left at noon to pick up Ria and meet Keith at Souvla for lunch where we had yummy salads with lamb.  We then drove up to Point Reyes and met Rak and Sim at the house there.  We had rented this house a year ago and really enjoyed it so decided to rent it again.  After relaxing and getting settled in, we drove to Point Reyes for dinner at Stelina where we shared ceviche, mussels and pasta.

House Rental - Strauss Farms Ranch

On Saturday, we had a light breakfast at the house and then went to Tony's for lunch where we had the clam chowder and mussels - yummy!  We then drove into town and met up with Simran's friends, Rachel, Pierre and their son Emilio.  We went over to Limontour Beach and walked around for a couple of hours and then returned to the house for a quick nap.  That evening, Rachel and her family came to the house and they made fondue - so we ate a lot of bread and cheese for dinner - it was yummy but our tummies were quite angry with us the next morning!

Limontour Beach

On Sunday, we had breakfast at the house and then drove into town again to walk around.  We grabbed lunch at Stelina - this time sharing a salad and soup.  Simran's parents joined us at the tail end of lunch and then we drove back to the house to relax.  That afternoon, we all went over to Bodega Bay for the crab feed, which is a fundraiser they do in town.  We had the 3pm seating and you are allocated 1.5 hours before they kick you out for the next seating.  We started with a salad and bread which we really didn't eat and then they bring out bowls of cold and hot crab - the cold was made with vinegar and herbs and the hot was made with marinara sauce.  We ate all we could and then they served us ice cream.  That evening, another set of friends joined us at the house and we relaxed, drank wine and ate a big salad that Rakesh made - he was craving crunchy vegetables after the meals we had over the past couple of days!

Fondu

On Monday, our flights were at 1pm so after having breakfast and packing up, we hitched a ride with one of Simran's friends who dropped us off at the airport.  Keith flew to Orlando for work and Shawna returned to Chicago.  Another great weekend - even if we weren't 'celebrating' anything!

Crab Feast

Argentina - Dec 2019

Lago de Los Tres Hike - Fitz Roy Mountain - Calafate - Patagonia

Another trip formerly known as Mendoza!  We had originally planned on doing the Northern part of Argentina - Buenos Aires, Iguazu, Salta and Mendoza - but decided that we wanted more outdoor activity so we opted for the Southern route instead. We started out with a few days in Buenos Aires and then went down to Patagonia and Bariloche. We flew to LA on Thurs evening and worked out of the hotel (Hyatt Regency LAX) on Friday and then flew from LAX to Buenos Aires on the overnight flight Friday evening - we did not get an upgrade but we sat in Main Cabin Extra which was not too bad.

Buenos Aires

Accommodations
Bulnes Eco Suites - Located on the Southern edge of Palermo, this place was spacious and clean. We had a king sized bed in a large room with a table and small kitchenette. The room included breakfast which was served at a cafe next door - we were not huge fans of the breakfast which consisted of a croissant, cheese, ham and scrambled eggs so we opted for Starbucks the other mornings.

Activities
We arrived early on Sat morning. It did not take long to clear customs and then we took an Uber into the city.  Our room was not yet ready so we dropped off our luggage and went for a long walk. The city has a lot to offer and parts of it are quite beautiful with European style buildings.  Unfortunately, the country is going through another economic crisis so there were several homeless people on the streets but fortunate for us, the exchange rate was in a our favor so food was quite inexpensive.  While here, we did the following activities:

Mansion in BA

• Japanese Gardens - We walked around to kill some time - its not very big nor impressive.

• Evita Museum - A small but nice museum about Eva Peron.  Not all of the signs are in English so it may have been better to get the audio tour which we did not do.  The museum focuses on the highlights of her life.

Evita Museum

• City Walking Tour - We took this four hour tour with BA Walking Tours which took us around Retiro, Barrio Norte and Recoleta neighborhoods, including the Recoleta Cemetery.  We learned quite a bit about the history and politics and heard some interesting stories, including the one about Eva’s corpse being confiscated and hidden in multiple places.

Recoleta Cemetery

• Food Walking Tour - We did this three hour tour in San Telmo with Parilla Food Tours.  On the tour, we learned how the economic situation is impacting restaurants - they hire less staff which makes the service take even longer than usual!  We walked through the San Telmo Food Market which is more restaurants stalls than actual groceries.  We then ate a meat embanada (from Pedro Telmo which was not ready for us so they brought it to the next restaurant) and choripan (a sandwich like a hot dog) at Il Nonna Bachicha.  There, we also tasted Gambia which is a sweet liquor that tasted like ginger ale and Quilmes beer which is a local brewed beer.  At our next stop, Gran Parilla del Plata (which used to be a butcher shop), we tried the butter beans, grilled cheese and grilled beef (two cuts) along with Alamos Malbec.  At our last stop, Bar el Federal, we tried three desserts with dulce de leche - crepes, flan and alfajore (which is a cookie filled will dulce de leche).  All of the food was quite tasty.

Dulce de Leche Extravanganza!

Choripan

• San Isadiro and Tigre Tour - We were picked up at the hotel (late) and then boarded a boat that went up the Tigre river (the third largest delta in the world) to see the summer/weekend vacation homes of the rich residents of BA.  Many of the homes were small but cute and built on stilts.  We disembarked in Tigre and had a snack of empanadas at a restaurant there and then walked around the 'fruit' markets which are now mainly stalls selling wicker/wood products.  We drove back into BA, stopping to visit a small church along the way.  

BA from the River

• City Center - We walked around the city main square first looking at the 'Pink Building' where the President works and then walked inside the metropolitan cathedral on the square.

Pink Building

Restaurants
La Mar - We had enjoyed this place in Lima so we stopped for lunch and shared ceviche, shushimi and a mix of potato dishes. The place was not as cute and lively and the food not as good as the one in Lima.

Tegui - One of the top 50 restaurants in Latin America.  The place is hard to find as the door is surrounded by graffiti with no windows. Once inside the decor is hip. We had an eleven course tasting menu with three appetizers in addition and wine pairing. The service was great and the food was beautifully prepared. A few of the dishes were very tasty, interestingly we preferred the non- meat dishes such as tomato with fig and ricotta with herb sauce. The best part is that it was only $100 per person - a steal for what we got!

Tegui Dish

La Biela - Cafe located across from the cemetery. We stopped here for lunch sharing the cheese and meat tray which was quite large.

Osaka - We had eaten at this restaurant in Lima and loved it so decided to try it again - it was equally as good. It’s a Peruvian Japanese restaurant with very tasty dishes. We shared the salmon shashimi with lime and sea salt, a pork boa bun, grilled veggies with ponzu sauce, grilled tenderloin with mashed potatoes and grilled white fish with rice.  All of the dishes were very flavorful!

Patagonia Sur - Located in San Telmo, this is a Francis Malmann restaurant - it's quite small and filled with antiques and books.  We had enjoyed his food so much in Chile that we had to try it again.  The restaurant offered an eight course tasting menu paired with wine - not nearly as cheap as Tegui.  The courses included: chilled garlic soup, beet salad with goat cheese, crab leg salad, eggplant Milanese with quail egg, butternut squash ravioli, black hake fish and steak with potatoes.  Everything was very tasty.

Antwerpen - We had reservations at a sushi place for Christmas Eve but showed up to find the restaurant closed.  So we walked around with limited options of places being open and available.  We found a few bars around Palermo Hollywood square so we plopped ourselves down at this one and had pizza and fajitas - neither of which resembled these items in the US but tasted better than our low expectations!

El Calafate

Accommodations
Mirador del Lago Hotel - A nice (better than we expected) hotel located on the far end of town on a hill with views of the lake.  Our room was spacious with a king bed and seating area.  The staff were quite nice.  Breakfast was included which was pretty good.

Mirador del Lago Hotel

Activities
We lucked out on Christmas morning to catch an Uber to take us to the airport - we gave ourselves plenty of time so we arrived at the airport early.  Our flight to Calafate was on time - we mostly slept the entire flight.  Once there, we took a shuttle to our hotel and after checking in, walked around town which is a lot cuter than we expected.  There are lots of small hotels/inns and restaurants.  It is very windy so had to always bring a wind breaker and sunglasses to protect the eyes.  While here, we did the following activities:

• Perito Moreno Glacier Tour and Hike - Took about two hours to get to the glacier with a few stops along the way.  Once there, we had about two hours to walk along the catwalks to different view points - pretty amazing glacier - one of the few that is remaining steady due to the amount of wet snowfall they get every year.  The glacier, which is part of the third largest ice field in the world (after Antarctica and Greenland), is about 40-70 meters above the water line and double that below the water and moves about 2 meters a day in the center.  It has both a north and south facing wall.  The part of the glacier that separates the two sides ruptures ever three to four years due to the pressure of water from the northern lake - it then rebuilds the wall and the process starts again.  After we walked around, we had lunch which we brought from the hotel - not good (sandwiches and salad).  Then the group took a boat across the lake with views of the north facing wall and geared up for our 1.5 hour hike on the glacier.  We hiked up fairly high so we can see the expanse of it.  We got back to our hotel around 6:30 PM - long day but totally worth it.

Perito Moreno Glacier

Hike on Glacier

• Upsala Glacier and Estancia Cristina Tour - Truly an amazing tour but a very long day - pick up at 7:30 AM and back to the hotel at 8:15 PM.  We drove about an hour and then boarded the boat that took us to the Upsala Glacier where we saw icebergs along the way.  We could not get very close to this glacier but it was still very impressive and massive!  We then went to the Estancia which was a ranch built in the early 1900s by the Masters family and is now a lodge and restaurant.  We did a tour of the museum which told us about the ranch and then had lunch.  After lunch, we took a 4x4 up the mountain and then walked about 20 minutes to an amazing view point to see the glacier below.  The rock formations were stunning with beautiful striations and colors.  We returned to the boat and then the bus took us back to our hotel.

Upsala Glacier

• Glaciarium - Glacier Museum located a few miles outside of town.  It only took us about 45 minutes to see the whole museum.  It is well documented but we didn't learn too much since we had heard quite a bit about the glaciers on our tours.  The video showing the rupture of the Perito Moreno Glacier was interesting.

On our last morning, we slept in a bit and relaxed in the room and then packed up to drive to Chalten.

Restaurants
Patagonia Brewing Company - Had lunch here.  Cute bar with outside seating.  Each had a beer (which was good) and shared the grilled cheese appetizer and a meat/cheese board which was different than we expected (lamp, meatballs, fries and cheese) but still tasty.

Yum - Beer!

La Lechuza - Had dinner here on Christmas night.  We were not that hungry so just wanted a few slices of pizza.  The restaurant was packed so took a little while to get seated.  We shared a prosciutto pizza which was just OK.  Another couple from PA asked if they could sit with us so they would not have to wait for a table so of course we said yes.  We chatted with them a bit before we left.

Mi Rancho - Very cute restaurant in town and one of our better meals on the trip.  We shared the gnocchi with mushrooms and the Argentinian steak with potatoes - very tasty!

Estancia Cristina - Remote ranch only accessible by boat - we had lunch here as part of our tour (see above).  We had empanadas to start and then pasta and lamb with roasted vegetables for an entree.  The food was quite good.

Estancia Cristina

La Bahia - Restaurant in our hotel.  We had breakfast here every morning (buffet of hot and cold items - pretty good) and had dinner here our last night.  For dinner, we shared the pork belly appetizer and the salmon for an entree.  The salmon was very good.

Chalten

Accommodations
Chalten Suites Hotel - Pretty decent hotel (one of the better ones) located right in town.  Our room was large and clean and had a great view of the mountains.  Breakfast was included with fruit, bread, pastries, scrambled eggs and bacon.  There is no AC (none of the hotels here have it) so we slept with the balcony door open - while it made the room cool, we did wake up a few times to noise from the streets.  Only bad thing about the hotel was that the bathroom had an odd smell when you first walked into the room.

Activities
It took us about 2.5 hours to drive to Chalten - the scenery is supposed to be amazing but it was quite cloudy that day so we did not get to see the full glory of the peaks - we did, however, see it on our drive back a few days later.  After we checked into the hotel, we walked around town which is surrounded by mountains and is quite cute - a total backpacker mecca.  It reminded us of Telluride in scenery (though not as upscale).  We also went to the info center which was helpful to get information about the hikes in the area.  This was our most active part of the vacation where we did two days of hiking:

• Lago de los Tres - This hike which goes to the base of Fitz Roy is 12 miles and took about 7.5 hours (including stops) to complete it.  It was a beautiful hike with stunning scenery the whole way.  It is mostly undulating until the last hour which is fairly steep.  We had lunch at the lake before returning back to town.

Lago de Los Tres Hike - Fitz Roy

• Lago de Torres - This hike which goes to a glacier lake and mountain glacier at the base of Torres peak is about 13 miles and took us 6.5 hours (including stops) to complete it.  It actually is a bit shorter to the lake but we continued on to the lookout point where you get better views of the glacier.  The hike is mostly undulating, not very steep, but the last part to the lookout point is quite windy.  We had lunch at the lookout point before heading back to town.  The scenery was also gorgeous throughout.

Lago de Torres Hike

On our last morning, we got up early to drive back to Calafate - made it to the airport in about 2 hours.  The drive was beautiful.  We then flew to Bariloche.

Lago de Torres Hike

Restaurants
Bourbon Smokehouse Bar - Lively place with nice views of the mountains. We had a couple of beers which were quite good.

Maffia - Pasta restaurant recommended by our hotel.  We shared the lasagna and goulash - the portions were huge (we could have just had one entree) and the food was just OK.

Que Rika Bakery - We stopped here both mornings before our hike to buy empanadas and cheese bread for the hike - very yummy!

La Zorra Tap Room - Another great place to have beer - we stopped here after hiking to have a few beers.  Shawna enjoyed the wheat beer.  They also had decent wifi (which is hard to get in this town).

La Vineria - A wine and beer bar that also served tapas.  We had dinner here one evening, sharing the hummus, meatballs and cheese/meat tray.  We also shared a brownie with dulce de leche for dessert.  Food was OK.

La Cervercia Chalten - A very cute outdoor beer garden but was a bit expensive and did not have wifi.  We stopped here after our hike on the second day to have a few beers and split a tomato/mozzarella salad.  Beer was quite good (another place that had wheat beer for Shawna).

Beer seems to be the theme!

La Tapera - Very cute restaurant that had great food.  We had dinner here our last night.  We shared the lamb ravioli and lamb stew - both very tasty. We also shared the flan with dulce de leche for dessert.

Bariloche

Accommodations
Lirolay Suites - Cute boutique hotel located outside of town.  We had a very large room with a balcony that had great views of the lake.  The hotel does not have AC but it was cool enough at night with the windows open.  The bed was also very comfy - best hotel of the trip!  Breakfast was included - the typical cold items available but you could also order eggs and bacon to be freshly made.

Lirolay Suites

Activities
It took us a while to get the rental car when we arrived - we then drove into town to walk around a bit.  We were not that impressed with the town itself but the area outside of town along the lakes is stunning!  We checked into our hotel and had a bottle of wine on the balcony, soaking in the views of the lake and mountains around us.  We continued to make this part of the trip active:

• Kayaking Tour - We got a later start since it was New Year's Day.  The guide picked us up at the hotel and we were joined by four other guys traveling together.  We drove to the starting point and then spent about 4 hours of kayaking along the lakes in the Nahuel Huapi National Park.  We took a break at one stop to have some melon and then took another break at a different spot for lunch (which was better than we expected - empanadas, vegetable quiche, local beer, brownies and a fruit tart).  We could have swam but we had not packed our swimsuits so instead we just put our feat in the water to cool down.  The scenery was beautiful and the weather cooperated until the last 30 minutes when it started to rain and then hail the last few minutes before we landed at our end point.  

Kayaking Tour

• Short Circuit Drive and Hikes - We got a late start again as it was quite foggy in the morning.  We drove around the scenic 'short circuit' and stopped along the way for a few activities.  We hiked up Cerro Campanario which is steep but only took about 30 minutes - there are great views at the top - we then opted to take the chair lift down.  We then stopped for lunch and beer (see Patagonia Brewery below) which then slowed down our activity for the afternoon.  We did a short walk (about two miles) through the Sendero de Los Arrayanes Forest to see the famous Arrayanes trees with red bark but there were only a short section of these trees so the walk was not that great.

View from Cerro Campanario

Sendero de Los Arrayanes Forest

• Cerra Lopez Hike - The worst hike of the trip due to the number of flies and wasps that were buzzing around us that day.  We were quite bummed because the hike is supposed to be beautiful.  We hiked up about an hour (very steep) to the first hut - Refugio Negro - which is very cute and has great views of the lakes below.  We exerted more energy swatting away the bugs than the hike itself! After relaxing for about 10 minutes and seeing others coming down the mountain swatting the bugs as well, we opted to go back - this time taking the gravel road down which is longer but less steep.  We still had a problem with the bugs but not as bad as the hike up.

Cerra Lopez Hike

Restaurants
Heladeria Jauju - We had read that this ice cream place was the best in Bariloche and possibly the best in the country so we had to give it a try.  When we arrived, we had to pay for the serving size we wanted and then had to take a ticket to wait our turn to get served.  It took about 15 minutes before our number was called.  Shawna tried the double dulche de leche and Keith tried the dulche de leche with brownies - both quite good.

Gennow Cerveceria - We struggled to find a place on New Year's Eve to get a drink before dinner.  This place was open so we stopped to have a beer - not that cute of a place but the beer was good.

Huacho Restaurante - Shawna had booked this dinner for New Year's Eve - it was one of the few places that was open that was not offering a crazy price for dinner.  We arrived at 8:30 PM and had to wait for others to arrive as they wanted to serve everyone at the same time.  The meal was three courses and included wine - we started with a small appetizer of bruschetta with eggplant and then moved on to the three courses: chorizo sandwich for appetizer, stuffed lamb with mashed potatoes for entree and pear cake for dessert.  The food was not great but we did enjoy the chorizo sandwich.

Manush - A lot of restaurants was closed on New Year's day as well so we went to this place which is a beer pub.  It was packed but thankfully the service was fast!  We had a few beers and split a pizza which surprisingly was quite good - it actually was the first pizza that resembled a pizza!

Patagonia Brewery - Large brewery with a great location and views of the lake.  We stopped here for lunch (grilled cheese and sausage platter) and a couple of beers.

Patagonia Brewery

El Boliche de Alberto - Keith was hankering for some meat so we went to this simple but really tasty parilla.  The menu has a variety of meat options that you could order in half or full portions and then you could order salads or potatoes as a side.  We ordered a half portion each of the flank steak and lamb and a side of french fries.  The meat was very tasty - in particular the lamb.  We were quite impressed with the production at this restaurant - they were very efficient until it came time to pay for the bill!

Meat sweats!

Punto Restaurante - We stopped here for lunch after our failed 'buggy' hike and it was quite a treat.  A great location with beautiful views and one of our better meals of the trip. We shared a trout dish with lemon sauce and rustic potatoes - very tasty - and had a couple of beers.

View from Punto Restaurante

Butterfly - Really great meal.  We had dinner here our last night.  It's a small restaurant located on the water with nice views.  The menu was an eight course tasting menu and we opted for the wine pairing (six glasses).  The food was very good.  We had zucchini salad, shrimp, trout, potato soup, lamb stew and two desserts.

Dinner at Butterfly