Tuesday, January 31, 2006

Buenos Aires

Our adventure had started with a very shaky flight. Finally on Sunday January, 15 we arrived safely but tired in Buenos Aires. Our host mother, a 76 years old women is very friendly and she is a real good cook. We are living in the quarter “Belgrano” , where a lot of Embassies are located. The 11 million city is very clean however there is no fresh air. (=buenos aires).



Monday was our first schoolday in the quarter “Recoleta”. Our american flatmate helped us to find the school. It isn’t easy to navigate in this big city, particularly in the first few days. Our school is small and is well organised. We attend a semi-privat course which helps us to improve our spanish but on the other hand it is also very excausting. After 4 hours studing spanish we have another 2-3 hours homework. Once Leila, our teacher brought Mate to class, the Argenine National drink; a tea like beverage made from the herb mate.

We are exploring this huge city in our spare time by sunshine and hot weather. Buenos Aires is definately the Paris from Southamerica. For us it seems we are somewhere in South Europe. The city has different quarters (Barrios). First we went to the poor part “la Boca”, which is famous for the colourful houses consisting of corrugated sheet iron, Maradona the soccer star and of course the tango.

With Justin, our flatmate from San Francisco, we went to a flea market in the quarter “San Telmo”. Once the elegantest neighbourhood, nowadays are a lot of antique shops and tangocafes located.

Recoleta, another quarter, looks like a french town. However this district is famous for its cemetery. The tomps are almost small houses. The most famous gravestone is the one from Evita Péron.


The main sights are located in the center. Casa Rosada is the presidental palace. To cross Avenue 9 de Julio is always challenging, with more than 14 lanes and 140 meters it is the widest street in the world.


The food hear is phenomenal. A delicious diner costs about 8-10 USD includig wine. The local speciality is a grill platter with beef and sausages prepared on the fire.

Buenos Aires is nice and exciting however we booked a flight to the Iguazu Falls. We are looking forward what life has prepared for us.

Hasta luego

Peter und Simone

Monday, January 30, 2006

A dream comes true

PANAMERICANA -
A dream we have had for a long time finaly comes true. Our dream started with the flight from Washington DC to Buenos Aires in Argentina where we are attending a Spanish language course for three (3) weeks.
After inproving our spanish we are going to start our "real" trip. First of all we planed a weekend-trip to the waterfalls of Iguazu; at the border to Argentina, Paraguay and Brasil. Than we planed to travel south along the atlantic coast to the most southern town of the world, Ushuaia. In Peninsula Valdes we hopefully can observe their animal diversity.
After Ushuaia we basically travel north. We are going to use puplic transportation.
From Mexiko we will fly back to Washington to pick up our car and other stuff. From there we are going to continue our journey by car. we consider to by a trailer as well.
In Summer 2007 we probably will arrive in Alaska, which is our final destination. If we do not run out of money and time, we may drive thru Canada back to Washington DC, bevor we are going to fly back to Switzerland.


We are going to publish further blogs, where you can virtually attend our journey. Hopefully we can add some pictures as well.

We are looking forward to hear from all over the world.

Take care

Peter and Simone