Thank You

Well, this will be our last post from South America, our dear friends. We leave tonight on a bus to Buenos Aires and leave tomorrow afternoon to return home. We have to say that this has been an awesome experience. We've learned alot about how life works down here, some things good and some, well, different. But in the end it boils down to sincerely appreciating home. Not just California, but our families and friends... and Mexican food. Gracias por todo!

A few more

Bariloche Bari Bari-locheeeeeee

Me at the top of Bariloche

Jay on his way to the top of Bariloche, We love to hike

Breathtaking

It was a cold night, I was not happy

not so safe

A few pictures to hold you over til we get home!

Torres Del Paine, the start of our two day hike from hell!

Daniela at the start of the hike, looking Super excited!

On the boat over looking the south side

The amazing Perito Moreno

Our boat over to the Glaciar

Another angle

and another

Jay being amazed

The top of Perito Moreno

Perito Moreno

Who wants pictures?

Me too, me too! We'll have them up asap. We've been on the receiving end of a dicey asado for the last couple of days, but as soon as we download our 435 pics and pic our favorite 30-40, you'll have em'!

last weary backpacking leg

We are headed back to Uruguay! After Mendoza we headed up to Salta in norhtwest Argentina and did a day trip to a little town called Humahuaca which is 60 miles from the Bolivian border. We were at 10,000 feet and eating llama and trying coca leaves like natives. P.S. the coca leaves weren´t that great, but the llama was tasty! We were only there for one day and then we headed to Córdoba to check out all of the Jesuit churches. We have never felt more religious than going to 6 different churches in 4 hours! Oh so holy... Anyways, we are headed out this after noon to Montevideo and guess what! We A)got a great deal on the trip and B) we have the top front two seats on the bus, which means that we will have a driver seat view of the trip! I´m excited, but it may be chilly so we´ll bundle up. Oh and they´re CAMA seats.

Pictures to come and 10,000 of them!!

Wine, Chocolates and Olives, Oh My!

Just wanted to give you all a little update on where we are right now. As you know, we have been in Mendoza for the last two days wine tasting and are now trying to figure out if we want to go to Salta or Cordoba next. Either would be fine, but let me tell you the best part of the last two days. We rented bikes and went wine tasting!!! We camped out at a little spot outside of town and walked 10K to find the street with all the bodegas (wineries), the campground was a little farther out than we first thought, but it turned out fine in the end, the policia picked us up and took us to the bike place. We did winetastings at four different wineries and even went to an olive oil plantation where we found that the making of olive oil is ridiculously simple. The best part is we did the whole circut with out falling off our bikes. This morning we went to a chocolate factory were everything is hand made and we bought Absinthe. Little Green Fairy, here we come! We will let you know where we ended up in a day or two. Ciao!

Moving On

So we have been in Bariloche for two days. Bariloche is home to the seven lakes. Our hostel, Pudu, is on the top of a hill which over looks one of them, Lago Nahuel Huapi. On our first day here we hiked (without packs this time) up to Campanario. The hike is only 45min. when you get to the top it over looks the most spectacular view. We sat, had a beer, took pictures and made it back down. Then we went on a bamboo trail that lead to Lago Escondido. After a 6 hour day of hiking we ended the day with some pizza, beer and a movie at the hostel, not to bad.

Today we walked to the bus stop that went to Villa Coihues and while waiting we met a guy from Canada who was going on the same hike, so the three of us decided to do it togethter. We walked off the bus and met up with our tour guides (three local dogs) that walked us to the waterfall. Then all six of us walked to Catedral (4 hour hike). We then left the dogs and went back to Bariloche for beer and chocolate...

Bariloche has been really great to us. We have met some really friendly people and if you are ever here you must stay at Pudu Hostel, the owners ROCK and they have a bar with some local beer that is really good! Tomorrow we will be on our way to Mendoza! Where we will have some WINE!!! We can´t wait!

today

we arrived in Calafate this afternoon and needed a drink so we went to a little bar and enjoyed a little somethin! We will be here until tomorrow night and then we are off to Bariloche. Hey did you know that they have flamingos here! Well they do and we are going to walk the lake tomorrow so we can take a picture of some for you. Well we love you all and hope all is well! Talk to you soon.

Downhill is just as bad as uphill....

Ah, Torres Del Paine. A beutiful spot that is picturesque from every angle. We arrived at around 10am to find the sky clear and the wind gentle, perfect. We, being the intrepid explorers that we are, started our hike from the eastern section of the "W" at Lago Amarga with the goal of Base Camp Torres that was a simple 7 hours away, uphill. p.s. we bought nice sleeping bags in Puerto Natales, knowing that it would be colder in the park than in town which was already chilly. We made it to Torres tired and back/foot sore and decided that we would go to the lookout for the torres first thing in the morning. It was around five and we made our selves a little backpackers dinner of soup with bread, salami and cheese. Tired, but very proud of ourselves. As the sun set behind the mountains we crawled into our newly purchased bags, which are rated for 2º Celcius. Let us tell you about the FREE campsite, it had no lights (but we did have a flash light), the only running water (which was very good and cold water) was the strem and a lovely bathroom the didn´t flush! It was so out of a movie and we loved it! After jumping in the tent we anticipated the morning. What we didn´t anticipate was how FREAKIN COLD it would get that night. The ground was freazing our feet also freazing. We both got maybe four hours of sleep and that was in painfully short increments. Sounds pleasant right? Then around 3am the rain started and it got really cold, and damp. We finally woke up and made coffee while still rolled up in our bags and wondered what we got ourselves into. Finally we stepped out of our tent and look up to the torres to see nothing but clouds. We started up to the lookout which was one hour for camp to not be able to make it up because of the rain. It had washed the trail out. We were pretty bummed, we should have gone up the day before when it was clear. We started back down the trail on the way to the next campsite, 10 hours away, when we looked at each other and said enough. Our feet hurt, our backs and shoulders hurt we were cold and tired. It was time to go back and call it quits. We walked back to the starting point and caught a shuttle to the bus pick up. Along the way we over heard another trekker who had also started the W but could not finsh say that last night was the warmest that they had been through. The shuttle driver said that night it was -5º C down outside of the mountains. After hearing this we knew we made the right decision. We had come at the very end of the season and right before snows were to really start, and we were cold. He also stated that at this time of year only pro-trekkers do the W, which we are not! It´s all good. We have trail names now though! I´m "Ñandu" and Jay is "Guanaco" as in "You can do it, Ñandu!" and "Let´s go, Guanaco!" Cool, huh?

So we came, we camp but we only conquored one night...

this trip keeps getting BETTER

so we only have a second to write so let us tell you that yesterday was the most amazing Easter ever, we will fill you in later and our pictures are breathtaking! We are off to Chile in about 45min. We will be camping/hikking in Torres Del Plaine(google this place). We will be hikking the "W" which take about three to four day. Well we will talk to you soon, love ya

Happy Good Friday

Yesterday we took a long ride to Estancia Haberton. It was a lovely but super long! Today we walked round town, we made it to some local streets were we had some cheap lunch! Tomorrow we will be off to El Calafate(goggle it) at 5am. So on Easter Sunday we will be on Perito Moreno Glacier!!! Keep you posted and have a very Happy Easter!!

Ps. Pam save us Easter candy! We love you!

Not to bad for our first day....

So camping was a no go because it is way to cold and it´s closed until summer..haha... We are staying at a hostel and this morning we met a nice older man, Nico, and he took us to Martial Glacier (for 50 pesos). We took a ride half way up and walked the rest of the way up (it took us 4 hours, good work out). It was a 45º angle al the way up! We also were the only ones who went all the way up to the glacier!!! It was the most amazing view! Tomorrow we are off to Estancia Haberton with new hiking shoes for me! So stay tuned...

Traveling cheap can get expensive...

Alright. We are here in Buenos Aires and we have more news after being stumped for 20 minutes at how to type an @ sign so we could log in. I love traveling... This has been our trip so far: A long chilly bus trip here. A missed flight. A phone call to the airline letting them know we wanted to change flights. Them telling us it would cost us to change right now and that we should have told them earlier.(We tried, they didn't pick up their phones). A cab ride to the airport because city busses don't come all the way out here, and finally breakfast/lunch. Good Times! Alright. We'll talk to you all soon, or later if we miss something or get lost somewhere...

You´re going to love this...

So we haven´t left the bus station and we have already missed our flight tomorrow!!!! Just like us to do something like this so what are we going to do... get drunk... we will fill you in later...

Ushuaia? Doesn't that mean "Frozen foreigners"?

We are off to Ushuaia and our great Argentina road trip now. Ushuaia is the southernmost city in Argentina and except for a small naval port across the channel in Chile, is the southernmost city in the world. We were going try to take a boat down to Antarctica, we'll see. I'm stoked because it's around the same latitude as the middle of Canada so it should be chilly and we are going to camp! There will be no hostels for this group because we want to save as much money as we can. We really don't know what we are going to hit up on the way back so we aren't to sure of how long we'll be gone. We are think it will take about three to four weeks and this is all we have planned for now: A) Take a bus to Buenos Aires tonight. B) Fly down to Ushauia. C) Head North. There are a few places we want to see, like Torres del Paine in Chile, but after that there is no set plan. It's all fly by the seat of our pantalones. We are going to try and write every few days but no promises..... so if you don't hear from us in four week someone better start lookin.....

Pam and Jay go to Uruguay!

Ah, parents. They give you so much in life and what do we give them in return? A chance to visit a foreign country! Awesome, right? I know, I know, we rock =) My parents came to visit last week after hearing how much fun we're having. Actually, they bought their tickets right after Dani and I left. My mom is a teacher so she had a week off for spring break and my dad is a genius at time-off management which enabled them to fly on down. We only had a week so we packed as much fun stuff in as we could and gave them a taste of our temporary home.
Right off the bat we fed them a parilla, a bottle of wine and ended the night at for a tango show. On Monday we jumped on a bus and went to Colonia. It was all pretty fantastic, including the part were we dragged mom to the top of the lighthouse were you could see Buenos Aires in the distance. Our next destination was Punta del Este, in all of it's fabulous-ness and we took a side trip to Punta Ballena along the way. The trip to Punta started off like this: A great photo op., a tour of Casapueblo and Holy Crap! this place rocks! Dani and I had not been there yet. It's the home/studio of Carlos Paez Vilaro and it looks, in the words of Dani, "like a meringue pie on a hillside." It was beautiful. clear skies, golden sun and blue ocean from the vantage point of a shaded white balcony. After that we walked down to the rocks where Patti ( Dani aunt) had us jump from when we were there last. With all intentions just to freaking mom and dad out with the height and proximity of rocks and caves. But in an unexpected turn, the sun was warm and the water clear so we could pass up, I jumped. I even got dad to jump from the rocks. After a little coaxing Dani got in too and mom took pictures of us all. We planned on staying for only one night but ended up there for two and I have a feeling that mom and dad know now what makes Punta so special.
We got back to Montevideo (did I mention that we stayed in Palacio Salvo? Google Uruguay and it's the tall off-kilter looking building you'll see everywhere.) and went wine tasting, hit up the fort, a few churches, the cemetery, and did I tell you that we EAT ALOT! I think by the end of the trip mom and dad became vegetarians....

We both really want to thank you for coming down! After three months we really needed some Cali family! Now all we need is for Alex (Dani dad) to visit... no pressure Alex!

weather anyone

Last weekend we went to my aunts chacra (small farm) when we arrived it was one of those sit out side with a book and a glass, no bottle of wine kinda days and we planed to do just that! We started with a lovely lunch which was followed by a lovely nap, Jay went outside to read his new book and enjoy some fresh air. A few hours later I woke up to a dark sky, poring rain and the most out of control wind! At one point it even stated haling, which my aunt told us never happens. It was amazing, it was weather!! We sat outside watching the storm roll in until it got a little dangerous. We came in to find out that the power was out. So we got some candles and spent the rest of the night read, eating and talk via candlelight. It was very little house on the prairie and we loved it!

Some Fam!

Last week the Wiedemann army got together to welcome my Grandmother's sister from Venezuela. There was about 40 people at my aunt house. The ages ranged from late 80's to some year old cuties. It was quit a mix of people. Pati, my aunt, decided to start thing early because of the older crowd. At about 5:30 people started coming and to our surprise the old out numbered the young and they all partied until about 1am. It was so nice to see people that I haven't seen in about ten years.

The pictures above:

my grandmother who is 84, her cousin who is 80, my grandmothers sister Martha who is 80

me, my cousin Clu, Vero, Ale and my Cousin Andy's little girl Maia

Trabajando con las manos

There are few things that I do less than manual labor. I haven't had a lawn to take care of in years and the last few jobs I had involved a tie or at least a button up shirt. But that's not to say I'm averse to it. If I need to I'll get my hands dirty and work up a sweat. I might not do it as long as the next guy, but that's mainly because I'm out of shape and I find the comfort of the shade far more enticing. Yet here I am in South America, on vacation, mowing the lawn. Now this isn't an ordinary lawn, this is a lawn that has been through at least ten REALLY good rains in the last 3 weeks and has REALLY responded to it. Well. It looked like a jungle.

There are times in your life that you just need, NEED to get off your butt and move. Not just move but actually do something. Something that when you are done you can look back on and say, "I did that.". Where as you sit back with a nice cool drink in the waning afternoon light you are filled with a sense of accomplishment. Yesterday was one of those days for me.

Claudia's boyfriends name is Martin and he does lawn work in the area. Yesterday he came by to cut Grandma's lawn and I practically begged him to let me help. Imagine that. A skinny dude trying really hard to ask in beaten up spanish if he can please, oh please push the lawn mower around. After some eyebrow raising and Martin actually verifying in english (P.S. - The people down here speak a hell of a lot more english than they let on), he gassed up the mower and let me have a go. So I started and realized that mowing a lawn was a lot like riding a bike. You never really forget. After a couple of passes it hits me, I'm working! I'm actually working! Yes! I can just see my cool drink waiting for me. Sitting on a small table all by itself, afternoon sun glistening off the cool condensation running down the sides from all the ice inside. It would have to be citrus of course, probably lemon. Then I ran over a cactus. No big deal, I just didn't see it under all that grass. I realized that in order to finish, I needed to actually pay attention. So I kept mowing while Martin edged and my lofty desires of accomplishment soon were broken down into reality, hot and dirty. The mower ran out of gas and Martin and I switched places. I felt that even though I didn't finish the lawn, I finished a tank of gas. I had accomplished something! So there it was, I was too tired (out of shape) to make that delicious beverage and in the evening I went to bed a little worn and a little itchy.

I woke up this morning still itchy. There was something in the back of my knee that was irritating the hell out of me. I thought, Allergies? bug bites? No. Cactus spines. Apparently the cactus I had run over threw up a cloud of spines that had either lodged in my shorts, or landed in the crease of my knee and were worked in by walking around. Nurse Dani was able to pull a few of the more offending spines out but they are those really tiny, fuzzy type that elude you no matter what you do. In the end I feel great. I own that lawn now, at least half of it any way. I got hot and dirty. There were trying times, but I got through them. I realized that I didn't need some plantation owners dream of drinking a mint julep on my porch. I received the real reward for a job well done. Cactus spines. In the back of the knee. =)

Go to Brazil.

There it is. That's my post. Go to Brazil. Actually, go to Florianopolis, it's beautiful. Here's a little back story on Brazil for everyone. The last 6 months I lived in Huntington Beach I lived with my friends Rafa, Jessica and Eduardo. Rafa and Eduardo are Brazilian and some of the funniest people I know. Before I left they were both saying, "You have to go to Brazil, you have to visit." To be honest, before I met them I really had no desire to visit Brazil. Then I ate some Brazilian barbeque, chicken hearts...amazing, and I knew what I had to do. Brazil, here I come! Daniela has been to Brazil before, to Rio and Sao Paulo, and she didn't have the burning desire that I had. But after a little talking she came around. Especially after people told her that Floripa had crystal clear water and white sand beaches.
Now the fun part begins. I'm an American, therefore I needed to get a visa to enter Brazil. Did I have to jump through hoops and put up colateral? No. I had to fill out a stupid little form and wait 2 hours in the Brazilian Consulate here in Montevideo after which I pay them $170. Why did I have to do this? It used to be free, they would just stamp your passport at the border for 90 days and off you go. I have to do this because it is called a reciprocity fee. The US charges Brazilian citizens $170 to process their visas. Thanks, Uncle Sam! I guess it could have been worse. The US also requires people to provide proof of stability in their home country so they won't over stay their visas (house, job, kids) Oh, and here's why it took two hours.... When we arrived at the consulate there was only one person in front of us so we thought, this will be fast! NO NO NO, the guy in front of us whipped out 20 passports for visas!!! We looked at eachother and know we should of brought a book. Well, the guy was Julio Inglesias P.A. and he was getting VISAS for the crew. Julio Inglesias was performing in Punta del Este and after the weekend he needed to be in Brazil. At the end of two hours one of the 20 VISAS was denied! Julios passport didn't have anymore pages so he couldn't get the VISA!!! As Dani said " good job P.A., that's a good way to get fired!" I'm just glad it wasn't mine!
Back to the trip, Floripa. Just a short 18 hour bus ride away. It was beautiful. We stayed in a town at the top of Santa Catarina island called Canasvieiras which had what all beaches should have, people selling booze and chorizos from carts. Our tour guide was named Pretty, well his name was John Angel, but he was to suavamente for us so his named changed on day two. The rest of the people on the bus were Uruguayans including two from Solymar, where we are staying, who know Daniela's family and ate at her aunts restaurant (again, small country), and I picked up the nickname "USA" about halfway through the trip. I could go on and on about how pretty and green it all was but I'll let the pictures do the talking. Here's what you need to know: Bring good sunscreen, stay away from the buffets, if you see black beans and rice, the beans go on top of the rice. Cachaca is pronounced Ca-SHA-sa, and bring a pair of goggles in your back pack because every beach is different. Now I can't wait to go to Rio!

A little Wine at noon...

We got up at about 10AM, had something to eat and went to Juanico for a little wine tasting! After a short ride we arrived at a small winery. Juanico is the name of the town as well as the winery. The winery is about 12 Acres. It is in a small town and 90% of the town works at the winery. We took the Spanish/English tour but really all we wanted was to drink some wine! After the tour we sat down to enjoy a sip or seven. For 250 pesos (about $10) we, along with a guy from Brazil and his girlfriend from Uruguay, received a little wine lesson, four different choices, and a cheese and salami platter. After a couple of hour of getting to know each other and a little buzz we went back into town. This was a lovely afternoon treat!!