Lost in the Andes

After several delays involving red tape our adventure has begun. As promised I will send updates so you will know that when we got to the end of the earth we did not just fall off. We flew out of Houston to Miami on Tuesday and then on to Santiago Chile. En route somewhere in the night we crossed the equator and began what we hope will be, if nothing else, an incredible adventure.

The military has a saying that regardless of how much work has been done by the airforce and navy with bombing etc, no invasion has really begun until the army has landed: thus ¨Boots on the Ground¨ . Even though we had been preparing across the sea and flying over with internet queries now it was boots on the ground time.

   We landed in Santiago after an uneventful flight to find that the concept of daylight savings time and what it means to the inhabitants of the northern hemisphere is just the oposite of what it means to those down under.  Remember the seasons are the opposite down here so the daylight hours are getting shorter here as opposed to longer in the North. If this seems difficult to understand don´t worry: the airlines don´t get it either and even though our flight arrived on time we missed our scheduled flight to Mendoza and had to
spend the day in Santiago International airport waiting for the next flight. We flew to Mendoza that evening....our luggage didn´t. We arrived at our hotel with only the clothes on our back and two days reservations and slept the sleep of the dead (tired).

Abraham Maslov developed the well-known theory that we need to satisfy certain basic needs to be motivated and understand the next set of needs. Think early missionaries filling the need of food before there is a need for spirituality or ¨Is a man struggling for a breath of air worried about hunger?.

So- put the following needs in the order of importants, hotel has no vacancy after tomorrow, a garden spot in the
country, internet connection, local cell phone, local bank account, clean underwear. Turns out staying out from under a bridge at night was number one and clean drawers was numero dos. So after renting a sixth floor flat in the downtown area for a month we hired a cab to take us to the Argentina Wallmart for clean panties. Now we could concentrate on higher needs: we went to a lovely patio style restaraunt for a lunch of Sauvignon Blanc and smoked salmon. We then took a nap as everyone does down here and wondered around downtown orienting ourselves until the dinner hour of 10pm. After a meal of Red wine (Malbec) and pizza we arrived back at the Hotel at about the same time as our luggage. Life was good again. Buenos Noches.

La paz means peace in spanish and we have settled into the peace that come from having your basic needs met. We are in a 6th floor apartment downtown which is in a stately old building. It is not modern but has marble floors thru-out
except for the two bedrooms which are teak or mahogany parque. All the doors are mahogony. Our balcony looks out over the park which we can see only the trees.  The kitchen is granite countertops but old formica cabinets.

   One particularly interesting feature is a white appliance that we can´t figure out. We dont know whether to put dishes or clothes in it for washing or if it was another elaborate touche washer like the bidets in all the bathrooms. We are taking several days rest before beginning the process ofhouse hunting etc. We would be getting fat from all the fine dining we have been doing except that we are walking everywhere. The highlight of Day 3 was when we attended the meeting at the local Kingdom Hall. I don´t understand much but when a friend asked me if I got anything out of the meeting(through a sister who was translating) I pointed to my head and shook it no...then pointed to my heart and shook my head yes. The friend put his arm around me and I knew he understood. La Paz.

I was walking down the street next to our departamento as apartments are called here when I first saw it: a message to me. It had to be for me because everyone else here speaks Spanish including Kristi and the message was in English. Some Argentine tagger had used English to make sure that the only person in Mendoza who didn’t speak Spanish saw it. “To be a rock and not to roll”. But what did it mean. I was soon to learn.

In those last frantic weeks as we pared down our belongings to what would fit into a 5 by 5 storage I kept promising my beautiful life partner that when we got to the Promised Land we would kick back and relax for as long as she wanted. Well this week was payback time. Do you realize how hard it is for me to sit back and relax….its like asking a three year old to sit still? No looking at property, no setting up back accounts, no traveling, ok ...deep breath..I can do this.

In the mornings I go for a café pecuno (small strong black coffee) at one of the many sidewalk café’s around. Then I walk or run errands like drop of the laundry. When I get back mi esposa and I go shopping or just walking until we stop for lunch. Sometimes it is at a beautiful courtyard resto/bar across from us where we have a glass of white wine and un sandwich. Then siesta and more site seeing. In the evening while it is still light we go to the park. Sometimes we play scrabble there. Later when the dinner hour of 10pm arrives I take her to a nice restaurant where we delight in local wines and parillo or grilled meats. Next day we start over. Well and for my sanity I squeeze in a few hours of work on the internet and I walk up and down the apartment stairs 6 flights.

As I write this drinking my wine I bought for 3 pesos (1 dollar) a bottle and look over at Kristi gazing out the balcony window as the sun sets I think yes I can do this. Then it hits me…what that punk with the spray can was trying to tell me. Sometimes it’s good to be a rock and not rolling this way and that. Just breathe.

After busy week of roaming the countryside, thought I´d log in for an update.  We have seen some beautiful country and have decided to continue to get the lay of the land for a while with more travels before we narrow our scope to a particular place. 

Wow are we learning a lot.  Its like a whole different country down her.  Oh and the thing in the kitchen; the superintendant said it came over with Christopher Columbus.  It turns out it is a clothes washing machine.  Glad we didn´t get in it.

Speaking of old things, the elevator is one of those old kind that you have to close a cage door on and then it goes to your floor...well aproxima.  Yes that means what you think: approximate.  We are on Piso 6.  I don´t mean that it takes you to the 5´th or 7´th floor but perhaps 6 and one half or 5 and one half then you climb up or down to get to 6.

And which way does water swirl when it drains south of the equator.  Turns out there is a real influence caused by the globe that you can see when a hurricane swirls.  I´ts always the same way north of the equator and  the opposite south of the equator (typhoon).  However with small things such as the toilet bowl the shape of the bowl or the direction of the inlet plays a much larger roll and so it can go either way.

Anyways I have been conducting my own experiments  where I drain a glass of wine through my lips but it makes me cross-eyed trying to see which direction it swirls so I have to repeat.  But then after a couple of trys I find I don´t care anymore and so I still don´t know.  Don´t worry; I will persevere.

I won´t bore you with the busses and trolleys but we are beginning to figure it out though it has been a bit difficult.  Bottom line is a place can´t be all that bad where they have ice cream stores on every corner and the McDonalds sells wine.

Hasta la Pasta,

Marco