A day for exercising the body & the spirit

A walled city where none of the streets are level, they either go up or down, not too steep, but definitely make walking interesting, especially since they are also cobblestone and extremely narrow. God forbid you meet a car coming or going. I actually had the zipper on my jacket clipped by the passenger-side mirror of a fairly quickly moving vehicle as I tried to edge around a corner that interrupted what little sidewalk was present, thus forcing you into the street. Too close a call for me!

Welcome to Toledo! It is a city with 2,500 years of history and somewhat frozen in time about 700 years ago. In fact the city is so well preserved it has been declared a national monument. The ENTIRE CITY! And the Spanish government has forbidden any modern exteriors. (Of course like any government, I guess they are exempt for the new entry they added to the Alcazar when they renovated it into a national military museum is extremely modern. It totally clashes with the rest of the building and the entire city!)

We spent a marvelous day wandering the streets of Toledo (which is exactly what you do. Even with the Guide Maps it is nearly impossible NOT to get lost. At some point it seems every tourist does so, some multiple times, or they just give in and wander and take what the city provides, which is actually a treasure around every bend or corner in the maze of streets.) For a city whose life-blood is tourism, the signage to assist visitors in getting around is extremely poor. You will start down one direction because a sign designates that way to the Mezquita, for example, and then you never see another sign the rest of the walk. Yet along the way there are multiple forks in the road and you enter numerous small plazas with numerous entrances and exits. I have had a far easier time navigating the lakes and streams of the Boundary Waters Canoe Wilderness Area in northern Minnesota than I did navigating Toledo.

Perhaps it is actually designed as a tremendous spiritual exercise?! After all, it is a walled city. Three sides are bounded by the Tajo River. It is set on top of a hill. So you really cannot get "lost" but will always bump into an edge with an option to head back toward the center. It becomes a problem if you are a goal-oriented, accomplishment-driven American who feels you must see "all" of the sights, or at least a major portion of them. So this spiritual exercise of the streets of Toledo will either drive you mad, or it will begin to break through your "expectations" of what must be achieved and experienced and begin to lead you to slow down, grow patient, go with the flow and simply experience what the city, what life, has to open up before you and, if you slow down enough to look for it, surprise you with.

We did see some of the sights: the Cathedral (huge, immense, awe-inspiring, although after a little while inside, it actually began to feel "oppressive" for Dianne), the Synagogue which houses the National Jewish Museum, a second synagogue which was once a mosque, a Christian church, and for a while served as the stables for Napoleon's horses, and the Mezquita, a very ancient ruined mosque which also was once a Christian church and has some remaining Christian frescoes on the ceiling and the walls.

But we also enjoyed a delicious and slow-paced lunch at a little restaurant where the inside was packed with locals and the outside tables filled with tourists from Germany, Italy, USA, and several other places. We ordered the Menu de Dia (a three course meal). We each had the traditional Catalan Soup; Dianne had a veal steak that looked exactly like a Palomilla and I had venison stew (Toledo is known for its wild game options for dining). It was all washed down with a cheap bottle of Red Table Wine and topped off with flan. It was good and the afternoon sun warm and enjoyable and a nice respite in the middle of the day.

We also enjoyed a surprising invitation immediately after arriving and walking up the hill to the Cathedral, by a very friendly man who told us all about a little shop of artisans just 2 minutes away where we could watch them working, for free! We decided to accept his invitation, since it was only open until noon and it was already 10:30 a.m. He walked us down the hill about two blocks to a charming little shop in a back-alley where we were introduced to two gentlemen working on gold damascene jewelry. We then entered their shop and of course purchased some very nice quality craft work from craftsmen who have been plying their trade for 25, 30, and 48 years! It was a pleasant surprise!

Toledo was a good experience at just the right time. It invited us to slow down and soak in the location, rather than keep driving to achieve all the notches we could count on our traveler's staff. After today I feel we are beginning to find that balance we wanted to achieve between sight-seeing and simply living in and soaking up the surrounding culture and environment which is Spain.

Amazing Art & Food in Madrid

El Prado is a museum to rival the Louvre, the Uffizi in Florence, the Art Institute in Chicago and the New York Metropolitan Museum of Fine Art. We spent six hours tracing the evolving career of Goya, from a hired artist for the Royal Court, to an artist who made political statements, to a disturbed man painting his darkest nightmares after living through the horror of the War for Independence from Napoleon, and then viewing the works of Vasquez, El Greco, Ribera, Titian, Fra Angelico, Raphael, & others. Dianne "discovered" a Mona Lisa anonymous knock-off that looked every bit as good as the more famous portrait. It is clearly the same model in the same pose without the landscape background and from the same time period as Da Vinci's painting. There were surprises around ever corner.

But, as amazing as the art museum was, what I really want to share with you today is about the food of Madrid. We embarked on our first "Tapas Crawl" this past evening. This is a Madrileno custom where friends travel from one pub/restaurant to another, drinking wine/beer and eating tapas (basically a Spanish appetizer). At each stop they usually get a plate or assortment to share, or just small individual servings called "pinchos." Anyway, if you are a Madrileno (that is a native to the town) and know where you are going without needing to scope the establishments out and try to size them up, and you are with a group of friends, it sounds as if it could be a fun evening. But as a couple of tourists unsure of the language, the food, and the pubs/restaurants it was actually a somewhat daunting endeavor.

The first place we stopped was a vinoteca (a wine bar) where we had a delicious Rueda Verdejo (a white wine). But, though they had a tapas menu on the table, the waiter did not return to take our order. We did not see anyone else eating in the place, so we assumed perhaps the kitchen was closed (they were advertising on the door for "help") but when we went to leave I asked the waiter if there were "no tapas" tonight and he look rather flustered as though he had missed a sale. We then checked out several more places, all of which either seemed over-priced or what I could understand of what was offered I wasn't sure I wanted to eat. We finally got off the beaten path and discovered a wonderful little neighborhood place: La Tia Cebolla Taberna (Auntie Onion's Tavern). While it appeared rather rough around the edges we dove in. The wait staff was very helpful and we enjoyed a free offering with our vino rioja (red wine) of fruti del mar (a seafood salad, which included octopus slices). This beginning was good, so we proceeded to order and then enjoyed a lovely salmon & brie on toast and the house specialty a Don Paco, which was a hot open faced sandwich of toast, tomato slices, ham, covered with melted manchego cheese, flavored with pimiento powder & basil flakes. Both were very healthy servings and were wonderful. They filled us up so our crawl basically ended there (I don't imagine a true Madrileno would end the evening after just two stops!) except for the cafe we stopped for a hotel/bar near our own hotel. I am not sure we are fans of the Tapas Crawl, but we have experienced it!

The Spanish diet is heavy on meat (much like Argentina) except that this time it is weighted toward pork rather than beef. That is very clear when you visit the Museo de Jamon (yes, that is the Museum of Ham!) This deli/restaurant is a Temple to Ham, with large leg portions of pigs hanging from the rafters and almost everything on the menu incorporating some type of pig: ham plates, ham sandwiches, chorizo sausage, etc. This is mostly a dried, salted, type of ham which is much closer to prosciutto than to our ham steaks or spiral cut hams in the US.

Overall, we have found the food very good. We had a most exquisite gourmet dinner our first evening here. We started with mushroom croquettes, followed by two cuts of veal which were wonderfully prepared, and ended with a cheesecake dessert which was basically a form of upside-down cheesecake in a bowl topped with a delicious cream and berries, along with cafe espresso para mi y cappuccino para Dianne. The owner, waiter, and chef were all very young and most attentive. It was a wonderful introduction to Spanish cooking. I fear we will not lose any weight on this vacation!

The Final Day of Sabbatical

Sitting in my home in Miami, on the last day of my Sabbatical, I am drinking the espresso I made (which does not even begin to approach the marvelous quality of the coffee I enjoyed in Argentina.) I have been home for six days and South America has begun to feel like a hazy dream. It truly was a dream life I enjoyed for 12 weeks. I never would have imagined I would fall so deeply in love with that continent and those countries, Argentina and Peru. I can begin to understand, I think, why British and European travelers fell in love with places like Africa and Asia. It is related to the exotic, yet familiar, nature of new lands. It is related to the level of hospitality one encounters from the local people (always a surprise, for we have this inbred idea that other people, especially foreign people, are never as warm, welcoming and hospitable as we are ourselves.) It is related to one's willingness to invest oneself in a locale and truly embrace it as a home. It is related to the good experiences one has and whether they outweigh the bad. It is related to one's ability to fit in to the culture, to embrace the language, to understand the thinking of the local people. When all of these factors come together in a positive manner, then one will find oneself in a new home, where one feels quite welcome and an integral part of the community, not just an outsider. You discover the place becoming a part of you and you a part of it. That certainly happened for me with Argentina.

It is perhaps the most amazing event of this sabbatical. Although, actually learning to understand and speak the Spanish language in just 12 weeks time is certainly an amazing feat for me, considering my struggle with learning other languages in more traditional educational settings in the United States. Before this sabbatical, I had never really thought much about South America. I was aware of it. I knew people from various countries in the region. I had enjoyed many different movies set in South America and I had a vague sense of the history of the region. But I never had a strong attraction or desire to visit. There were always so many other more exotic, more interesting places on my list. So it was actually quite serendipitous that I chose Argentina as the location for my sabbatical and now I am so glad that I did. In 10 weeks time it became a second home, a second country, for me and it will always have a very special place in my heart.

Now I am engaged in the task of reconnecting with my life in Miami. It is clear to me that I am in a stage of withdrawal and mourning from my life in Argentina. I cooked parilla for my wife and daughter one night, grilling vegetables and a piece of vacio (an Argentine cut of steak I actually found in Publix) and it felt familiar and almost as good as the Argentine grills. I have been eating Argentine and Peruvian chocolate I brought home and looking for ways to order more or find it here in Miami! I have been trying different roasts of coffee beans to find the rich, espresso roast I enjoyed in Argentina. I have been buying various Malbec wines from various Argentine wineries, looking for the quality I enjoyed in country.

Even as I try to hold on to my experiences in Argentina, I have begun to reconnect with my life in Miami. I have played golf at least once and it was good. The four-month lay-off does not seem to have hurt my swing. I have spent most of my time with my family and I have been catching up on chores around the house which needed attention. Today is the official last day of the sabbatical and tomorrow I officially return to work. Sunday I return to leading worship and I understand a Bienvenido a Tu Casa luncheon has been planned for after worship. It will be a joy to see the folks of the church and to begin reconnecting with them. In truth, I have the feeling the sabbatical will continue to unfold and even though today is the official end, the impact and affects of the sabbatical will continue for months to come.

Final Post from South America!

Dianne is packing, and I am trying to hang on to my South America time by writing one more post for the blog. We had a wonderful final day in Lima, Peru. We began the day with a harrowing 30-minute taxi ride to Lima central and the Plaza de Armas. It is quite impressive, lined on two sides by yellow colonial buildings with Moorish balconies, on one side by the Cathedral and Archbishop's residence, and on the fourth side by government Palace. We toured the Cathedral, which was quite impressive and somewhat macabre. In the crypt below the central nave there is a display behind glass of quite a few human skulls and apparently the rest of the bones of the bodies buried there. No names, no indication to whom the bones belonged. There are also quite a few displays of religious art, including religious artifacts made from gold and silver.

Just as we were finishing our tour of the Cathedral, I heard music floating through the door from the main plaza. Emerging into the sunlight my gaze was drawn to brightly colored uniformed band members behind the bars of a wrought iron fence surrounding an apparent government building. Inquiring of the guard at the Cathedral door I learned that the music indicated the daily changing of the guard at the government building. It was about a 30 minute ceremony with lots of music, goose-stepping guards, trumpets, flags, etc. Unfortunately it all took place behind the iron fence and the riot police kept the tourists and school children gathered to watch, on the other side of the street from the fence. Still, it was quite an impressive ceremony.

Following lunch near the plaza, we caught another taxi back to Miraflores and visited LarcoMar, a shopping mall built into the cliffs overlooking the Pacific Ocean. It is a stunning setting, but a sad place from my perspective because it looks as though it was clearly built and financed by American money. The majority of the stores are US brands and it feels it could be in Anytown, US as much as in Lima, Peru. But the gelato we enjoyed was delicious, as was the coffee. And both were even better as we were sitting at a table overlooking a beautiful spring afternoon sun shining over the Pacific Ocean.

After finally enjoying a dramatic sunset we made our way back to El Señorío del Sulco, where we had a gourmet dinner our first night in Lima. We wanted to ensure we had a wonderful final dinner and we were not disappointed as Dianne dined on a suckling pig roasted in a pisco sauce and I enjoyed a lamb shank along with a mashed corn side dish. They were accompanied by another fine Peruvian Tacama Blanco y Blanco wine and topped off by a very sweet, but tasty pudding desert. A fine way to close out our adventure in Lima, in Peru, in South America.

Tomorrow we board a Lan Peru flight for Miami and back to our normal reality. I am sure I will be processing and enjoying this adventure for months to come, perhaps years. I hope you will continue to visit this blog, as I will continue writing reflections as I reenter life in Miami and in my work as local church Pastor. I firmly believe that Sabbath Tango is not just a theme for my Sabbatical, but for my life and work and I will try to explore that theme in the days to come.

Eating Our Way Through Lima

Lima has turned out to be a very nice, very relaxing, very enjoyable final stop on our visit to South America. Dianne and I both had very low expectations of Lima based on what we had read or heard about it before we arrived, but we have been pleasantly surprised by what we have found. Perhaps it is the neighborhood where we are staying, Miraflores, which is clearly a middle to upper class neighborhood, but we have found it very clean, feeling very safe, and very attractive. There are lovely parks. There are gourmet restaurants with stunning settings. There have been neighborhood-type restaurants where we felt like we became part of the family in the time of just one meal. Plus, unlike Cusco, you can walk the streets and not be constantly accosted by street vendors and beggars. We even found a large handicraft market in Miraflores with pretty much the same crafts we saw in Cusco and we were able to shop at our leisure without too much pressure, even from the attendants of the different shops. It was much more relaxing and a much more enjoyable experience. (Plus we found some really nice bargains!)

Our time in Lima is definitely very relaxed with an emphasis on eating really good meals. Last night we ate at El Señorío de Sulco, listed as a three-fork restaurant in the Footprints Guide, yet written up as a "five-fork" restaurant, reputed to be one of the finest in Lima. We would agree. The food was delicious, truly gourmet, and the service was first-rate. Dianne had a very delicious roast duck marinated in a dark ale & corn beer sauce. Steve enjoyed a very traditional Peruvian Roast Beef dish, cooked in an interesting collection of herbs and served with sweet potatoes. We enjoyed another bottle of very fine Tacama vineyards Peruvian Tinto Wine. We had heard that Peruvian wines were not very good and while we would still rate the Argentine wines the best we have tasted in South America, the Tacama wines are very tasty and very good. We satisfied our desire for sweets with a very tasty flan with caramel & pecan topping.

Today we had a really fun lunch. We decided on a café/bar named Shehadi Pizzeria. It sounded very Middle Eastern, but the menu listed clearly Peruvian dishes. It turned out to be owned by a Lebanese-American from Brooklyn who has been in Lima for 3 years. There was a picture of the Brooklyn Bridge painted on one wall. The wait staff was extremely attentive and bent over backwards to be sure we had a good dining experience. The food was excellent. We both had dishes that were Peruvian, but with a Lebanese twist.

Finally, tonight we were able to finagle a table on the outside deck of La Rosa Nautica, a Lima dining establishment which is built on a pier sitting over the Pacific Ocean. The deck was quite comfortable and allowed us to hear the waves breaking on the beach while watching the lights of Lima blink at us from the towering cliffs overhead. La Rosa's main dining room was totally booked for the night (we did not need reservations the night before) but they had some tables available outside. The waiter here was a bit snooty, but the Sommelier was quite helpful in choosing a very nice Tacama Blanco y Blanco which was very delicious. The food, though, was wonderful. Dianne enjoyed a very tasty and smooth Fettuccine Alfredo with shrimp while Steve was delighted with the Sea Bass Rosa Nautica, baked in a delicious white sauce with shrimp and sea scallops and mashed yellow potatoes. We topped off the meal with an exquisite Chocolate Mousse pie with lacuma sauce, all of which was very rich and very delicious.

We have one more day in Lima, one more day in Peru, one more day in South America. Then on Saturday we board an airplane to fly home to Miami. This has been a most amazing, constantly surprising, consistently enjoyable experience for me and for Dianne. We are not ready for it to end and I know that the memories we are gathering will stay with us and unfold for us for years to come. From all the sights, all the delicious food, to all the wonderful people we have enjoyed a very rich experience. One more day to go! We don't plan to waste it.

Surprising Reactions to Lima

Gray skies that blend into a gray Pacific Ocean are the backdrop for our first day in Lima, Peru, yet our impression of Lima has raised our impression of Peru as a whole. While I still believe Peru is a country with tremendous poverty, it is clear there is money in this country from what I have already seen in Lima. Just the drive from the airport was through streets very busy with both automobile and pedestrian traffic. There was significant evidence of retail and commercial activity that looks much more like what I am used to in the United States than any other economic activity I have seen elsewhere in Peru or Argentina. Lima is clearly a city that is not dependent on tourism for the engine to drive its economic activity. It is also a city that, while still not up to US standards, is closer to those standards than even Buenos Aries, at least in terms of what I experienced.

As we drove to the little Bed & Breakfast where we are staying the next three days, we passed through the San Isidro district which is clearly a middle to upper class neighborhood, where there are many embassy compounds and clearly up-scale living accommodations. Our lodging is just two blocks from the road that run along the bluff overlooking the Pacific Ocean. After checking in we went out to get some lunch and walked along the bluff. There is a beautiful park complex, filled with walkways, play areas for children, beautiful flower beds all in bloom (after all, it is springtime here in Peru) and stunning views of the Pacific. Even with the horizon blending one level of grey from the water into another level of grey from the clouds in the sky, the waves breaking on the beach below were still impressive. Along the walk there were small well-kept homes squeezed between high-rise apartment buildings, with even higher-rise buildings popping up here and there. It is clear this is where some of the money in Peru lives.

This was further confirmed for us when we entered Francesco's restaurant for lunch. Escorted to the second floor, we were clearly under-dressed for the clearly businessman's lunch site. Sitting in our blue jeans and long-sleeve t-shirts, the waiter, sommelier, bus-boys, servers, everyone associated the restaurant, were nonetheless very helpful and very pleasant. Not wanting to over-eat so we could enjoy a very nice dinner later, we did "tapas", choosing from the appetizers and enjoyed more than enough for lunch. Dianne began with a traditional Peruvian Pisco sour and I had, on the recommendation of our Taxi driver that it would be could for clearing up my cough, a Pisco Puro (a shot of straight pisco). We followed with a shared Crab Meat Tamal and then Dianne enjoyed a Pepper stuffed with shrimp and melted mozzarella cheese while Steve enjoyed a baked potato stuffed with seafood (octopus, shrimp, scallops, and crab). The setting was first class, the service superb, and the food exquisite. An outstanding lunch. A great way to begin our stay in Lima.

While we have not ventured too far, our impression of Peru has improved dramatically already with our exposure to the San Isidro and Miraflores neighborhoods of Lima. We are both feeling better than the past few days, possibly due to our return to sea level from the heights of Cusco in the high Andes. It is another amazing aspect of this sabbatical for me that I began my time in South America on the Atlantic Coast in Buenos Aries in August and I am ending my visit on the Pacific Coast in Lima in October. And I did not have to fly as far to do so as I would have had to in the US. And in just three days I will be back on the Atlantic as I return to Miami. What an amazing adventure this continues to be.

Here is a link to a Kodak Gallery Album with a few pictures of the Pacific Ocean coast near our Bed and Breakfast here in Lima: http://www.kodakgallery.com/I.jsp?c=6d2p4u6.bxf8wjty&x=0&y=3aijbm&localeid=en_US

From the "magical" Ollantaytambo

Sitting at a balcony window overlooking the Plaza de Armas (the main plaza) of Ollantaytambo with a huge mountain overlooking the town from the other side filling most of the window, I bring you another post from Peru! Dianne and I have truly been transported into another world, and it even feels, another time. This little town is at the juncture of two river, three valleys, would be extremely hard to approach in secret, and fairly easy to defend. It is completely sensible that this place has been settled by human beings for tens of thousands of years and still today. The mountains surround the town, almost embracing it in their arms, providing a true sense of divine protection.

We spent the morning climbing up and down more than 200 stone steps to visit the palace/fortress/religious sanctuary of Ollantaytambo. There is evidence of at least three different construction techniques, indicating most likely at least two other civilizations or cultures pre-dating the Incas in constructing this place. There are also marvelous examples of Inca construction, with the uncompleted Temple of the Sun and Temple of the Moon. We had a wonderfully informative impromptu history and archaeological lesson from Eugenio, one of the docents, or guards, at the ruins. The knowledge of the stars, the movement of the sun and moon, of geometry, algebra and other sciences involved in the construction is amazing. And so much of what they knew appears to have been lost! How sad for the rest of us.

After the morning climb and tour we had a disappointing lunch before visiting the local market with the people selling their handmade jewelry, woven crafts, etc. Much of the work is beautiful. Dianne purchased a few souvenirs and I practiced my Spanish. We then hung out in the main plaza waiting for the electricity to return so we could visit the Internet cafe and check email and I could post to the blog. Again, I am really sorry there are not pictures, but promise by late Sunday or early Monday there will be some added. So keep checking back for them.

Last night we had a truly gourmet dinner at the little Bed & Breakfast where we are staying. Dianne had a chicken dish that had a sauce which included the muña herb of which I wrote yesterday (the one that also is good for headaches!) I had an Alpaca Tenderloin in an elderberry sauce. It was pretty good (though not as good as Argentine beef, of course!) The meal was delicious and we plan to eat there again tonight.

The Bed & Breakfast is, literally, right on the train platform so when we leave at 7:00 a.m. for Machu Picchu tomorrow we do not have far to walk! Again, we have no idea what our Internet access will be in Aquas Calientes. Supposedly the town is very small and very primitive, although we did make hotel reservations on-line. But if there is no post until Sunday night or Monday, you will know it had been a difficult thing to do in that town. (Either that, or we were too physically tired after visiting Machu Picchu!)

Here are two Kodak Gallery Album links. The first takes you to pictures of the town of Ollantaytambo and the little Bed & Breakfast where we stayed: http://www.kodakgallery.com/I.jsp?c=6d2p4u6.2avaio92&x=0&y=3ehek9&localeid=en_US

The second takes you to pictures of the ruins at Ollantaytambo: http://www.kodakgallery.com/I.jsp?c=6d2p4u6.7i5a09ra&x=0&y=2ytn8q&localeid=en_US

With Tango & Delicious Steak We say Adios, Buenos Aires!

Dianne is trying to fit all of our "stuff" into three suitcases, evenly balanced below 20 kilos each so we don't get charged a tariff at the airport tomorrow as we leave Argentina for Peru. We closed out our time in this marvelous city with a Tango lesson this evening, followed by the most amazing steak dinner either one of us has ever tasted, ANYWHERE! We each had the lomo cut, which is a thick sirloin type cut: Dianne's was cooked in a red wine sauce with a chive & mushroom risotto. Steve had lomo from the grill accompanied by grilled vegetables. Both steaks could be cut with a butter knife and truly, melted in your mouth. The most tender, flavorful, delicious cuts of beef we have had in Argentina or anywhere. They were accompanied by a delicious Malbec, Terraza de los Andes Bodega, and followed by the heavenly Argentine coffee and two marvelous desserts: for Dianne a Rice Pudding which came in five small containers, each with a different garnish - strawberries, dulce de leche, chocolate shavings, raspberries & blueberries, and kiwi! Steve had a creme brulee with flambead bananas! What a truly marvelous way to close out our Argentine adventure!

In the morning, at 6:00 a.m., the Taxi driver (Sergio) will be here to pick us up and take us to Ezieza airport so we can catch our 9:15 a.m. flight to Peru. We land in Lima, have a brief layover, and by 4 p.m. will be in Cusco, high in the Andes. I have very mixed feelings about saying good-bye to Argentina. It amazes me that in 10 weeks, even with being robbed in the midst of that time, I have moved from questioning why I ever decided to come to this city and country to having fallen in love with both. I would come back, and I hope to some day. It is a wonderful city with a rich history, an exciting present, and I hope, a bountiful future. It has rich culture, delicious food, and an amazingly varied terrain. It has much to commend.

A Quiet Final Weekend in Buenos Aires

Since returning to Buenos Aires from Iguazu Falls we have been spending a very low-key weekend in our apartment in Palermo. It feels rather strange to have become homebodies while we are half a world away from home in Miami, in a fabulous city, which we may or may not every return to visit. But Dianne returned from the jungle with a developing sinus infection and I am trying to nurse her back to health in preparation for the next leg of our adventure in Peru. So, she has been taking the antibiotic her doctor sent along for such an occasion; getting plenty of rest, drinking lots of liquids, and taking it easy. We have seen a lot in Buenos Aires so this respite will not really result in her missing too much. And, we have not been totally couch potatoes, going out each evening for a delicious dinner.

On Thursday night, after returning from Iguazu Falls, we went to this little "resto-bar" in the neighborhood which has music every night, most of it Argentine Folk music. This night at La Peña del Colorado there was a very gifted singer and professor of music performing, Silvia Zabala. She had a wonderfully rich, strong voice and lots of energy. She was accompanied by two gifted guitar players and throughout the night she invited them to take the lead at times, invited a friend in the audience to share some songs (and she, too, had a marvelous voice), and invited two other musicians who play with one of the guitar players in a separate group, to do a few numbers. The bar was fairly intimate, the food was delicious. It was traditional Argentine food: Dianne had a pumpkin squash casserole, Steve had a tamal and a beef & tomato stew (which, interestingly he did not order, the waiter just brought to the table. We thought it was a gift from him, or maybe his sister who was seated at the table next to us, but then he charged us for it! Oh well, it was delicious and it worked out fine! I probably say that because the bottle of Malbec was so wonderful that I could go with the flow.) We interacted some with the waiter's father, sister and her boyfriend and we truly had an evening where we felt as though we were regular resident of the neighborhood.

The next night we went to La Nazarenas, a very classy Parrilla-Asador Restaurant downtown. The service was impeccable; the wine, another Malbec (the fourth bottle for the fourth dinner in a row, all marvelous, each one different in taste, body, aroma, etc.), was superb; the steaks, tender and juicy; the grilled vegetables, delicious; the fine crystal wine glasses, a very classy touch. It was a very special dinner. Unfortunately, we did not get to continue our evening at a Tango Milonga because Dianne was not feeling well, but dinner was a treat.

Then last night we went to a very nice restaurant in the neighborhood, Don Justo's. Again the setting was very first class. The food was excellent: Dianne enjoyed Pollo Don Justo, which was a chicken breast marinated in Portuguese sauce, covered with peppers and mozzarella; Steve had Salmon stuffed ravioli with mushroom sauce. Instead of Malbec, we enjoyed a bottle of La Rural Trumpeter Chardonnay, one of the best chardonnays we have ever tasted! We topped this dinner with a crepe filled and covered with dulce de leche and wonderful Argentine coffee. Would that American coffee was as rich, full-bodied, and smooth as Argentine coffee!!!

Yesterday the weather began shifting to the rain that had been forecast for several days and it continues today. So, we are resting and working in the apartment. I have organized all the photos from Iquazu Falls (all 700!) and have added links to the previous post about our visit to the Falls to Kodak Gallery Albums. If you have read that post previously but did not see the links to the photos, I encourage you to return to it now and enjoy the photos. You will be amazed and not be disappointed, I guarantee it! I plan to cook spaghetti for lunch (lots of restaurants are closed on Sundays until dinner time) to use up the food because we have to leave this comfortable apartment tomorrow. We will go to Caseron Porteño, the hostel where I began my stay in Buenos Aires 10 weeks ago. We will stay one night there before boarding a flight for Peru on Tuesday. We have two more nights to enjoy the delicious Argentine cooking and then we are off to a new world, a new culture, a new country.

Off to the Jungle!

Tomorrow morning at 6:30 a.m. we are being picked up by our faithful taxi driver Sergio (although we have not found a bad taxi driver yet) to be driven to the "other" airport, Aeroparque Jorge Newberry, where we will catch our Lan Argentina flight to Puerto Iguazu. It will be 3 days and two nights in the jungle on the border with Brazil and Paraguay, enjoying the incredible Iguazu Falls. We will be communing with the abundant rainforest flora and fauna, including mammoth butterflies, mischevious coatis, talkative parrots and jaguars. It will be a very interesting break from the city.

Today was a very laid back day of getting ready for this side-trip. Steve did laundry in the morning at his favorite neighborhood lavadero (laundromat). Dianne explored the local shops. They went to Steve's favorite lunch place when he was taking classes in Buenos Aires, Nuevo Martone on Avenue Corrientes, and Dianne met Marcello and the gang. They then dropped in on Senora Restelli, with whom Steve stayed when he was in school here. (She was quite impressed with the improvement in Steve's spanish and she was very sweet to Dianne.) Then they went to visit the school and Dianne met Ale, Steve's teacher and Norma, the secretary. They then walked down to Calle Florida and visited several shops, Plaza San Martin, where Dianne asked a police officer why all the officers were standing in a circle around the statue (she learned there was some sort of demonstration to take place in a little while.) After catching a taxi back to Palermo, they had a marvelous dinner at 1810 Cocina Regionale with a nice bottle of Malbec, delicious empanadas, a stew and a squash chicken pot pie, topped off by a very rich dessert with dulce de leche and merengue and two cafes. It was a very enjoyable day.

Tomorrow we are off to Iguazu as already shared, without the computer. So we will probably not post pictures or information about the Falls until Thursday evening.

A Slower-Paced Weekend

After three very full days visiting parks, taking Tango lessons, walking the central historic district, touring museums, Dianne and I realized we needed to slow down. So the past two days we have taken a more relaxed approach to the city. Each day we slept later and then spent the afternoon attending a craft fair. Saturday it was in La Boca, home of the Italian immigrants (who seem to have been replaced by Peruvians). Sunday it was San Telmo, with their Antiques Fair and street performers. In La Boca we ate a leisurely lunch at an outside table of a Resto-Bar and watched two Tango Shows being presented, one across the street and the other down the street, by performers for other restaurants. Dianne had delicious beef medallions in wine & mushroom sauce and Steve had ravioli with meat sauce, and both enjoyed a a glass of full-bodied Malbec. Then on Sunday lunch was a very tasty, and very filling (Dianne could only eat half of hers) Steak Milanese consumed in the marvelous Bar El Federal (pictured above), dripping with ambiance and old Buenos Aires atmosphere. The days were both filled with bright sunshine, the weather could not have been more perfect. We returned to our apartment tired each evening, yet not worn out. They were more like the days a resident enjoys on the weekend instead of the hectic days a tourist feels driven to cram full of every possible experience available in a city before one must leave, quite possibly never to return. Tomorrow promises to be another day similar to the last two as we will venture downtown briefly, but also spend time preparing for our trip this week to the jungle in northeast Argentina and the spectacular Iquazu Falls.

Tango Night in Buenos Aires

In the heart of one of the traditional barrios of Buenos Aires, Balvanera, old place of poets and compadritos, near the home barrio and stomping grounds of the most famous Tango singer from Buenos Aires history, Carlos Gardel, Dianne and I immersed ourselves in Tango, the dance of passion and the music of nostalgia. The evening began with a group Tango lesson at Complejo Tango. The L-shaped room was packed with about 40 people, almost all novices, taking the lesson which made for very tight confines, especially when couples started moving and practicing their dancing. But, it gave us a good taste of what a crowded "milonga," public dance hall, will be like if we venture into that environment. The teacher was very good, the class very enjoyable and helpful and we are getting better, growing more confident, in our ability to dance Tango together.

We received our certificate of completion, which meant we were allowed to stay and enjoy dinner and the show (the teacher's joke that if you did not learn well enough, you did not get your certificate, and thus could not stay!) The maitre d' escorted us to a front row table, right next to the stage on the corner, one of the best seats in the house! The dinner was delicious, with a nice bottle of house red wine (a blend of Cabernet & Malbec), very fresh greens and tomatoes in the salad, a tasty and tender steak, followed by a wonderful dessert. (Dianne had wine soaked poached pear with vanilla ice cream and Steve had a white chocolate mousse with red raspberry and currant sauce!)

During dessert the show began, with three energetic young couples dancing Tango and three smooth voiced singers crooning nostalgic songs. Dianne was sung to two or three times during the show, winked at by one at least once, and the show proceeded on the stage and all around us with action periodically taking place in the midst of the audience. Actually, the show began with the three male dancers performing some solo and group numbers, illustrating the beginnings of the dance as an all male dance performed while men waited for their turn in the local bordellos in Buenos Aires. (Tango has a very checkered past!)

The evening was wonderfully fun. The restaurant and show were set on the third floor of this building in what felt like a converted loft. It was designed with wrought iron balconies overlooking the stage. On one balcony the Tango orchestra of four musicians played the live music and on the facing balcony were more tables and chairs (which were not filled this night). It was an excellent introduction to Buenos Aires culture and history, share in more enjoyable fashion.

Today we will probably enjoy more Tango as we are headed to La Boca, one of the oldest barrios in the city, near the mouth of the Riachuelo River. La Boca was settled by Italian immigrants and is one of the barrios that claims to be the birthplace for Tango. It is also home to the famous La Boca Juniors soccer club, which made Diego Maradona famous. The "Caminito" is a kitschy-tourist oriented location, with brightly colored buildings and Tango dancers performing in the streets for the tourist. It will be a nice, relaxing day. We have been keeping a pretty busy schedule since Dianne arrived and have begun to realize the need to slow down a bit and absorb more deeply what we experience.

My last day of language classes!!!

Today I accomplished one goal of my sabbatical! I completed my six weeks of Spanish language classes. Yo apprendi mucho y yo comprendo mas espanol que antes mi clases. Es necesito yo practicare mi espanol cada dia, para que mi mejorar. (I have learned much and I comprehend more Spanish than before my classes. It is necessary I practice my Spanish each day, so that I improve.) I plan to do that especially these next two weeks while I await Dianne's arrival in Buenos Aires. I return there tomorrow (actually, I get on the bus at 2 p.m. and arrive in Buenos Aires at 9:30 a.m. Sunday). I have rented an apartment for a month and will spend two weeks alone as a Porteno, practicing my Spanish, enjoying the city, and just spending time reflecting and being. It will nice to have absolutely no requirements on me or my time, not even the simple one of class. I do need to practice my Spanish, continue my exercises, but that is not a have-to, that is a desire on my part. I do want to explore more of the city, but again, it is not a have-to, but a desire on my part. I did some of that my first three weeks, and I will do more when Dianne arrives, but these two weeks, pure and simple freedom for me!

I celebrated the end of my classes. Not that I am happy they are over. In fact, there is a sadness in me. Especially at the completion of these final two weeks. I strongly connected with my last teacher, Ani Kantar. I am not sure why, but she was an excellent teacher. Perhaps, it was because my skills had improved to the point where we spent much more time conversing and I got to share more and learned more about her than I did with the other teachers. I appreciate all my teachers, for each one helped me and gave me good instruction, but Ani and Ale (my second teacher in Buenos Aires) were special and hold a special place in my heart. I will always be grateful for the skill they helped me gain in learning to communicate in Spanish.

So, my celebration included: a bife y chorizo plato at Rock Chicken (the Argentine "fast food" place I pictured in the last post on food.) This was a beefsteak and pork sausage with a lettuce, onion and carrot salad and a glass of red wine (house). Then I had a celebratory drink at the Pilgrim Bar (again, pictured in the last post, through the Kodak Gallery link of pictures of Bariloche town.) I taught the bartender how to make a Rusty Nail! They had the ingredients, but had never heard of it. I taught him my recipe, which is stronger than most bars in the States, so any future requests will get a very strong Rusty Nail. It is very interesting here, when you want ice with a drink, most places provide you the ice in a mini-ice bucket! Very cute! And you add what you want. That is the explanation for the picture above! After the drink I walked across the street to the best helado joint (ice cream) in town (according to the guide books), Jauja. Since there are strong Italian influences in Argentina, most of the ice cream is like gelato, and this place is definitely that way. I had Chocolate Profundo and Praline. Excellente!! I have topped all that off with a cafe grande at Tante Frida's while I work on my computer. All their coffee, unless it is specifically labeled "Cafe Americano" is like espresso, even more than cafe cubano, and it excellent! Even a large size, is just more of the same! I love that caffeine!!!

Anyway, I am in a great mood having reached a conclusion and feeling like I have truly achieved something. Bariloche has been a great stop on my adventure. Each stop has been wonderful. Buenos Aires was a great beginning. Cordoba was wonderful for helping me learn the history. And Bariloche is gorgeous, very peaceful and tranquil, and was truly the cherry on top of the marvelous treat that has been Argentina.

I would really like to come back and spend more time in Bariloche. Of course, I would want to come back to my 6th floor apartment looking out on the lake!!! But where ever I stayed, this place would be a wonderful place to spend some time in the summer, trekking in the mountains, visiting the glaciers on Mt. Tronodor, enjoying the Lake. In fact, I would love to return and spend more time in Argentina, period. Those of you who have read from the beginning may remember my first impressions of Buenos Aries and Argentina were not positive. But I can truly say that after six weeks of living here, in three different locations, with four different families, I have come to love this country and the people. Learning the language has definitely helped, but also, spending a healthy amount of time, six weeks, has been important. You cannot truly get to know a place intimately in a two week vacation. It takes time. It takes the experience of living in a place long enough to begin to feel like a resident, to truly gain an appreciation for a location and its people. Unfortunately, most of us do not have the luxury of that sort of time when we are able to travel and visit a place. I am very thankful for the gift of this sort of time through this Sabbatical.

More on Food

I have not been doing many tourist-like activities this week. Since I have moved downtown and on Wednesday we moved my classes into town, I have not been walking as far or visiting as many tourist locations. I did visit the Museum of Patagonia yesterday, which was very interesting. Sadly, the story of the Spanish encounters with and dealings with the Indians is the same as that of the US government. Once the railroads and refrigeration came, they could expand the cattle ranches in the pampas and so they needed to move the Indians out of the way. So they did. With violence. The pictures of the Indians in the museum from the late 1800's looked just like the pictures of the Indians in the US West from the same time period. Same faces, same clothes, basically the same people. I also visited the Cathedral, which I will say more about in another post.

So, I want to share more about the food. I did not tell you about parrillas and asado and postres. Parrillas and asado are the pride and joy of Argentina. Parrillas are "grills" and asado is "barbecue." They are often used interchangeably, although there are differences. Asado is often roasted meat cooked over an open wood fire on a spit, in fact lambs are cooked in a splayed-out fashion that is quite dramatic. Parilla is a form of grilling meat, similar to our grills, but always with wood or charcoal, never gas (as far as I can tell.) So, in essence they are the same thing, although Argentines will argue with you if you say that.

Parrilladas are basically steak houses, and also the term for a dish of grilled meat. At parilladas you can get steaks, although the cuts all seem to be different from the way we cut steak in the US. There are lomos, vacios, asados, bife de chorizo. (Lomo = loin; vacio is a sort of strip steak, asado a cut from the end of the ribs; and bife de chorizo, a large steak.) There are also other cuts, especially in the fancier restaurants. A parillada dish of grilled meat though usually includes more than just steak. It usually includes a variety of pieces of the cow or lamb, including: chinchulinos, a piece of roasted intestine; tripe, also intestine; higado, liver; corazon, heart; mollejas, sweetbreads (usually brains); and chorizo, which is similar to Italian sausage, and blood sausage, which does seem to be sausage that has actual blood in the casing along with other stuffing (it is very moist, even after cooking, and is very dark.) This is the national dish. I did have parrillada one day in Cordoba, and it was OK. I did not gag or get nauseous. The parts were all edible, but honestly, not my cup of tea. I would prefer a nice, juicy steak rather than all the innards, but I can say I tried it. I don't plan to try it again, unless Dianne wants to, and then I will since, actually, it is usually served as a dish for two or more people. (In Cordoba the owner of the Parilla was nice enough to split one for me.) The steaks are delicious. The beef is supposedly all grass fed on pampas grass, not in feed lots and not pumped full of chemicals. They pride themselves on the natural state of their beef. I have yet to encounter a tough or stringy steak.

As I mentioned, they do a lot with pasta, as well as chicken (almost everything they do with steak they do with chicken, and they also do more traditional chicken dishes) and they have pizzas galore. They have lots of wine available, the reds are the best, and in many places you can get cheap house wine by the glass or jar, which is not bad, and of course wherever you are ordering meat you can get bottles of wine, in a wide range of prices. They also serve water with or without gas and gaseosas (which are sodas).

For desserts they do flan, and rice pudding, plus tiramisu, and tortas (which are cakes, in a wide variety of styles, all very large portions and very rich looking.) They also have helado (ice-cream) which, because of the influence of their Italian immigrants, is basically the same as gelato! And, in Bariloche, they do chocolate! Wow, do they do chocolate. You cannot walk down a block on any street in the downtown without encountering a chocolate store. Some of the larger stores have two or three locations (smaller satellite locations in addition to the main store). I taste tested my way through many of the stores searching for the best to buy for family back home and definitely Mamuschka is THE BEST! They have bonbons filled with liquor that is like getting an actual shot of whisky once you bite into it! Not just a taste. And their tablets of dark chocolate are divine. The second-best I found is a small shop on the other main street, "Chocolate de Pueblo" and the third best was a small shop where you could see them making the chocolate out my the school, but I have not returned there, so I only tried it once. There is even a chocolate museum in town, operated by Fenoglio, one of the large chocolate stores, but I did not visit. I have definitely been following the new physician guidelines for preventing strokes by consuming a small (I stress small) quantity of dark chocolate each day while I am here. (I have also lost weight, so I promise you it has been a small quantity. Besides, the chocolate is so rich that you really do not need, nor can I, consume a large amount.)

I am including a link to a Kodak Gallery album with pictures of Bariloche town that give you a feel for the city itself, aside from the spectacular views of the mountains and lake. The pictures above are of two parillas, the one in Bariloche of which I spoke, and the small one in Buenos Aires, with examples of the meat on the grill. Follow this link to the pictures of Bariloche: http://www.kodakgallery.com/I.jsp?c=6d2p4u6.2m4f8m3a&x=0&y=8z6e2g&localeid=en_US

The Food in Argentina

One of my readers asked for some more information about the food in Argentina. I have included some comments in other posts and if you want to see those, hit the label "food" at the bottom of this post and it will call up all posts with that label. As I reviewed them I realized I had not been extremely descriptive, so I will give a capsule here and try to include more info about food as I go along from this point. In a nutshell, Argentine food is heavy on meat, especially beef, but also chicken, pork and lamb, as well as venison here in Bariloche, in the mountains. (I had some venison stuffed ravioli last week in a little Italian restaurant where the owner's horse was tied up outside. I wanted to ask him if he rode the horse up into the hills to shoot the deer, but it was beyond my Spanish language skills! Anyway, the venison in such small chopped up quantity in each ravioli and covered with tomato sauce, was not really very unique, but still, very tasty.) Most of the food is very tasty!

Argentines do lousy breakfasts. They are heavy on coffee or tea and medialunas (crescent pastries) or toast. You can get yogurt or fruit or cereal, but eggs and bacon are extremely difficult to find in a restaurant (at least for breakfast, more about that later.) Also, OJ in restaurants is extremely expensive! Muy carro! The pastries are very good, and the coffee is excellent. I have yet to really have a bad cup of coffee. They do their own form of espresso, called cafe chico, or mediano, or grande (all indicate the size) and they also do cordito, capucino, americano, submarino (which is coffee with a spoonful of chocolate to stir into), and other varieties I cannot remember. (I have not seen a Starbucks here yet, though!) They don't need one, as their coffee is great.

They do a variety of things for lunch. Some eat a large meal, some eat small. They have sandwiches that look terrible: extremely thin slices of white bread in triple and quadruple layers with micro-thin slices of ham or ham crudo (sort of like prosciutto, but not really), and cheese. They are not very tasty, I had one on the bus. They do other ham and cheese sandwiches on pan de francais and other sorts of bread as well. They also do lomo sandwiches, which are either a beef or chicken tenderloin. If you get these completo they come with tomato, lettuce, ham or bacon, a fried egg, cheese, and mayonnaise. (Ketchup you have to ask for and they seem to ration it. I have never received more than 2 -3 small packets at a time when I have asked for it. Mayonnaise, however, they seem to love and I have seen them dip papas fritas, french fries, in it.) Lomo sandwiches, as you can tell, are usually HUGE and delicious. I have yet to be disappointed in one and have learned that if I order it, it will be a large meal for me. Most of their portions are really big.

For lunch or dinner, the entree is usually some sort of beef, (of course their steaks are delicious) or chicken. A common form of preparation, beyond just grilling, is milanese, which is a breaded and fried tenderloin hammered very thin. This also can come with a variety of sauces. Along with the entree they rely very heavily on potatoes, or pasta, and to some extent rice. In addition to papas fritas (french fries) they do papas puree (mashed potatoes) and other forms of potatoes that I have not tried. They also do mashed calabazzas squash which is very good. They do salads, too, but they are pretty basic, lettuce, tomato, onion for the most part with oil and vinegar to put on it. They do not have the myriad variety of dressings as the US.

Besides the original Spanish immigrants, the next largest group was Italian, and that is evident in their prolific use of pasta. Almost every restaurant has some sort of pasta dishes on the menu, usually spaghetti, ravioli, gnocchi, lasagna, and cannelloni. However, their cannelloni is usually made with a crepe more than an actual pasta noodle. They do a variety of sauces, tomato, cream, 4 cheeses, with or without meat. Sometimes the meat is chunks of roast beef, not hamburger. (Oh, you can also get hamburgers and hot dogs, but my thought is "why?").

This has become a rather long post, so I will end it for now and later in the week tell you about the pride of their menu, Asado and Parilla, which are Argentine barbecue, but nothing at all like US barbecue. I will also share a little about their postres, desserts, which I have not partaken of very much, as well as the chocolate in Bariloche! (I am still taste-testing that!)

The pictures above are of my favorite lunch cafe/bar in Buenos Aires, and you can see a bit of the food served. Then the bar in San Telmo (a barrio in Buenos Aires) where I had my first HUGE chicken lomo sandwich. Finally, the Italian Restaurant in Bariloche with the horse out front where I had my venison stuffed ravioli.

The places I stayed and worked

Now that I am in Cordoba, I want to try to catch you up on some things from Buenos Aires. Tomorrow or the next day I will share with you more of my impressions of Cordoba. The pictures I have posted are of the places I lived and worked in Buenos Aires. As you can tell, they are not real exciting, but they do, at the end of my time in those places (lo siento, sorry) let you know where I went home to every night, where I went to learn Espanol (although I have been corrected by my hostess and her amiga in Cordoba that I am learning Castellano, not Espanol, lo siento, again. They seem very big on their historical connection with Castelon, or is it Castillo, in Spain, from which the language originated here in Cordoba. This was the original location of education, culture, and the monied elite in Argentina long before Buenos Aires became a center of government and the country.) But I digress to Cordoba, let me get back to the past three weeks in Buenos Aires. The first picture is of Senora Vivi Restelli, my hostess for my three weeks in Buenos Aires at the language school. The apartment of Senora Restelli is in the second photo. It was on a busy avenue, Avenida Cordoba about 10 blocks from the school, on another busy street Calle Callao, just around the corner from one of the primary avenues, Avenida Corrientes, which in this area is the heart of the theater district. (It is the Buenos Aires equivalent to Broadway.) Her apartment is the balcony immediately above the door to the street. (I posted pictures of the inside of her apartment in an earlier post the beginning of August. ) [So you get a true feel for my life here, I do not have Internet access for my laptop, no WI-FI in the home where I am staying, so I am writing this while sitting outside at a cafe where I have internet access, but no power access, and so I am doing this while eating. I am enjoying a marvelous steak Milanese Neapolitan with mashed calbasas squash and I just got my sleeve in the squash while typing! Such is the life of a traveling pastor on sabbatical! By the way, you did catch that I am sitting outside. It is a glorious 70+ degrees out today. Feels like Miami!!!]

Anyway this post has become far longer than I intended. There is also a picture of the building the school is in (at least the one I attended, it is supposed to move to a new location the first of September). The school is located behind the third set of windows above the Libreria Santa Fe. Finally, there is a picture of the building which houses the dance studio where I took Tango lessons, again, not real exciting, but it is located on the fourth floor up from the ground. It turned out to be a wonderful stay and experience, my first three weeks in Buenos Aires. Senora Restelli is a fascinating woman who reads a lot, thinks deeply, has some off-beat ideas, but was a marvelous hostess. It was a pleasure and joy to stay with her and I got a very good idea what many, many Buenos Aires residents are like.