Austin, Las Vegas and the Grand Canyon March/April 2014

Austin riverside

Nico, Manjeet and Marisol in Austin

A natural pool and rock formation near Austin

The star of Texas in Austin

Manjeet, Almu and the grandkids Manjeet and Nico were going to be in Madrid for a short period and decided to invite us to join them on their way back home to Texas. How could we say no, even though we had been with them only a few months before. So it was that one very early morning in March we set off for the Madrid airport, and as we waited for the connection to London and on to Austin, The gang of four showed up as prearranged at the departure gate! Nico and Manjeet ran to us to give us heart warming hugs and we really enjoyed their company on the long flight between London and Austin.

Nico with Manjeet Sr and Manjeet Jr

Celebrating Almu's birthday!

Once in Austin we proceeded to do what any tourist in the US would do. We ate a lot, did a lot of shopping and generally got around thanks to our TomTom GPS which was invaluable, reliable and made us look like we knew where we were going on each outing. An early outing was to revisit the lovely city of San Antonio where we caught up with a lot of Mexican culture and food. This was followed by the celebration of Almu's birthday and then there was the Grandparents day at Manjeet's school, where Manjeet told us all about the good work he has been doing at school and treated us to a lunch as well.

In San Antonio

The following week we flew to Las Vegas to sample the hedonistic environment and to enjoy the amazing interiors of the theme hotels such as the Luxor's pyramid type structure and the Venetian's fabulous canals and gondolas. Our favourite was the Bellagio with its lake and the music synchronised fountain and the most beautiful lobby with the Chihuly glass and butterfly garden. There was also the opportunity to see a show or two and we opted for the Magic show by David Copperfield and it was excellent. The highlight nevertheless was our prearranged helicopter ride to the GrandCanyon. On a windy day when it was doubtful if the helicopters would fly at all, the conditions improved just in time for our flight and with a little luck we were given the best seats at the front of the helicopter. The experience was unforgettable and words cannot describe the sights and the feelings evoked by the ride. Oh, and I forgot to mention that I managed to win seventy dollars from the Luxor blackjack tables.

The Hoover

Front row of Helicopter

Colorado in the Canyon

Which way to Las Vegas?

Chihuly at the Bellagio

The Venetian

Bellagio Fountain

New York (in Las Vegas)

The pyramid of the Luxor from the inside.

Soon it was time to fly back to Austin for one last visit to the malls and the outlets and to celebrate the birthday of Manjeet's friend Christof, which took us to a Golf entertainment facility. Now there is an idea for Europe and Spain. You go as a group and you are assigned a table with sofas in a booth much like the driving range at a golf course only more luxurious and a lot more noise. Electronics allow you to register the players while the bar staff take care of drinks and food. You then play a game (think bowling alley) in which all players take shots and score points for hitting target areas on the range. This is done by electronics on the golf balls which associate each shot with the relevant player and is then picked up on the target areas and the scores displayed on your screen. Amazing.

Golf in Austin

I have to tell you that after Manjeet won the first game (even though he has never played golf!) I came back strongly in the second game to score one of the highest scores for the whole day at the facility. That was some round as there were in excess of a hundred booths with a waiting queue and un interrupted play all day. Christof was impressed and we had dinner afterwards!

Our time was up and we flew home - 24 hours of nonstop cars planes and taxis.
We had a smile on our face but the air hostesses on the American Airlines were something else. Marisol called them 'dragons'.

Uruguay - February 2014

After the visual feast that is the Iguazu, we headed further southeast to Montevideo in Uruguay. The distances are not great but all the lugging of suitcases and going via Buenos Aires meant that we spent the whole day in making our way. There were delays in BA, including a frightening storm, but finally 2 hours late, we arived in Montevideo late at night. It was a relief to find Pochin and his daughter Alejandra from Chile, waiting for us.

 Marisol with Pochin and Alejandra

 

 Pochin at the BBQ

Our hosts live only a short drive from the airport and we were soon being wined and dined. Pochin's wife Marta has a good reputation as a cook and Pochin makes excellent red wine as we were to find out.  They started us  off with a party at their huge bbq installation at the bottom of their garden and over the next week we made a lot of mileage. Alejandra was in her element showing us all the things that only someone who had grown up in a place can.

Old Montevideo - Misiones Street

Montevideo is a big sprawling city and is probably home to more than half the tiny population of Uruguay. What is immediately striking is that everything is so expensive. It is a miracle that people can afford to live here. Another striking thing is that there is no national health facilty, only private medicine and very expensive medication, just like in the US.

Independence Square

There is plenty to see as there is a huge 'old city' which has been declared a 'heritage' zone, somewhat neglected and looking worse for wear. The central square known as Plaza Independencia has some fine buildings including a 'palace' (Palacio Salvo) which was built by a family with interesting histoty. One of the owners was assasinated by his son-in-law for obvious reasons, but he did not get away with it, and languished in a prison for many years.

 The 1930s soccer pitch center and goalpost

And now for the World Cup football fans: did you know that the first World Cup was held in Montevideo in 1930 and the very first game was played on a field which was on an inclined pitch. The very first goal was scored on the uphill by a French player! There is a post in Montevideo to mark the center of that pitch and an angled post to mark the position of the goal post where the goal was scored.

 El Entrevero

Tango at the FunFun

In Montevideo there are two or three museums but they were generally uninspiring and could do with more resources. One of our friends had told us about the El Entrevero sculpture in Plaza Fabini and the music and tango at the Funfun Bar, so naturally we had to look those up. The bar had a stage about the size of a small table on which the Tango dancers performed with great accuracy as their feet came within an inch of my drink and my face on several occasions, as we had a ring side table! There were miles of beaches and spectacular sunsets and a market area at the port which housed  a fantastic array of restaurants. Montevideo is a nice place but could not be described as a major tourist attraction.

 Beach and Sunset

A curiosity church with curved walls

About a 100 kilometers east lies Punta del Este which is much more a holiday resort. Property here is booming and even billionaires from the US are building here. Our hosts have family connections here and we spent a lovely day being entertained and shown around. Notably we saw a lovely building which was a cross between Greek Islands and Gaudi and later we visited the home and studio of a famous artist, Pablo Achegurri who happened to be working on some huge sculptures with Carrera marble.

 The Achegurri Studio

A strange building in Punta del Este

Marta and Pochin were celebrating their 50th wedding anniversary on St Valentine's day so we stayed over an extra day to go to the party and meet some more of their friends and members of the family who are curiously related to Marisol. It was also a chance to sample more of Marta's food and Pochin's excellent wine.

 At the 50th Anniversary Party

More photos from Uruguay
The very next day we said goodbye to our hosts and Alejandra and began the epic return that would, for reasons that only a travel reservation system can explain, take us the way we had come, through Buemos Aires, Santiago, Madrid and finally Bilbao and a short drive home.
More photos from Uruguay

Argentina - 2014

After an action packed two weeks in Chile, Marisol and I took a short flight to Buenos Aires to spend the next week in Argentina. There was a general sense of aprehension as we had read a few horror stories which ha warned us of the dangers of using credit cards and the difficulty of using local currency which threatened false notes and shady wheeling and dealing. Armed with a multitude of suggestions we made our way not trusting anyone or anything, got ourselves a few pesos, and arrived at the Santiago airport to find that due to torrential rains in BA the flights were affected. In our case we found that our flight could only take 75 percent of the passengers and that one of was on a waiting list for a boarding pass further enhancing our unease. We were however treated to a nervous lunch and as the flight time approached we were thoroughly relieved to be both on the same flight!

A couple of hours flight and a short taxi ride later we found ourselves at the Panamericano Hotel on 9 de Julio street in Buenos Aires.

 9th of July street in Buenos Aires is 100 metres wide!

The street outside the hotel was the widest street we had ever seen, perhaps a hundred meters across, with various lanes in each direction, a separate section for buses, service lanes on either side and pedestrian walkways all over and the edges. One had to think twice about crossing this road as it took several traffic lights and a good few minutes before completing the task. Marisol had read up the guides about Buenos Aires so we proceeded immidiately to explore all the landmarks and historic sites. BA is nicely laid out and it must have been a great city in its hayday. The Cathedral and the Casa Rosada residence of the president are both elegant but modest buildings in the Mayo Square. Most of the more impressive buildings are banks or government related.

 Buenos Aires Mayo Square

 The Casa Rosada

Several of the roads in the center were pedestrianised with hundreds of people trying to drum up business for the parallel currency market that buys foreign currencies and preferrably US dollars at prices which were 50 percent higher than the official rate. There was a constant drone of 'cambio, cambio' in the air. For shopping the prices were cheap relative to Europe and elsewhere, though the press places the inflation at 30 or more percent!

 The Recoleta Cemetary

Puerto Madero

Over the next few days we explored the Puerto Madero where the waterways and restaurants create a lively calm neighbourhood and which has seen major new property development with impressive prices much like the docklands in London, and the historic area of Recoleta where the impressive cemetry is a popular tourist destination which houses elaborate tombs of many famous personalities including Eva Peron. There is a lot to see including the shopping at the Galerias Pacifico, the theatres including the Rex in front of our hotel, coffee shops and restaurants, the local beef is the best in the world and the museums which go from the Latin to fine arts and the contemporary.

 Cafe Tortoni in BA

We also met up with our friend Melina from London days who now lives in BA and she took us to a lovely retaurant not far from our hotel. Soon it was time to pack our bags and head for the Iguazu waterfalls about a thousand miles to the north.
We arrived in the afternoon on a terribly hot day, it was too late for going to the falls. We decided to visit the falls the next day. Fortunately the next day started out cloudy and we had  a little respite from the 40C heat. The falls lived up their reputation of being the most spectacular falls in the world. We spent about 5 hours going up and down the excellent trails built by the Argentinian side. This allowed us to see the amazing scene from several angles. It was impossible to look at anything else although there were butterflies and birds and other wildlife to see.

Iguazu Falls

Later the sun came out and once again it became impossible to be out and about and we decided to skip the visit to the Brazil side of the area. Instead we headed for the luxury of the hotel, airconditioning and swimmingpool instead. A romantic dinner and the next day we were ready for the next stop on our itinerary. Montevideo in Uruguay.

More photos from Argentina