We're alive!!

Hola amigos.

We saved the best sights in India for the last few days with the pink city of Jaipur and the Taj. We'll be happy to tell stories of our time in India - just let us know whether you want the stories to be mild, spicy, or very spicy.

We enjoyed a nice flight from Delhi to Madrid. We had beautiful weather in Spain where we relaxed and enjoyed tapas, wine, paella, and cheese.

It was off to South America 3 days later. After another long flight, 14 hours, we settled into Buenos Aires. With rapid inflation in the past few years, prices have become expensive here but there are still some good deals to be uncovered.

Buenos Aires has been Tara's favorite part of the trip so far. We've enjoyed walking around all over the city, exploring the neighborhoods, architecture, parks, cafes, free concerts, spontaneous demonstrations / political rallies (even at midnight), and hunting for clothes for our Patagonian wilderness trip. Most of the citizens here are of European descent (especially Italian) as are the influences.

The food in BA has been tasty. We've been trying some all you can eat parillas. A parilla is a giant grill with all different meats being cooked. The wood smell is wonderful and the meat is juicy and savory. Meat is almost a religion in South America. They also have a big salad bar, fresh fish to cook as desired, sushi, paella, and all different kinds of pasta.

Menorahs are present in all of the parks along with posters on building walls for Hanukkah (or Januka as they spell it here) and they are busy decorating for Christmas.

We journeyed to Punta del Este for a few days in between our time in BA. PDE is similar to Monaco and they call it the South Beach of South America. We arrived a couple of weeks before the high season begins so we happily enjoyed the town and beaches being quiet. We took some beach walks and I was able to do some ocean swimming. The water is very cold due to the southern location.

We arrived in Patagonia last night (El Calafate) after a 3 hour flight from BA. The scenery at the bottom of the world is majestic. Today we're off to see the Los Glacieres National Park (Perito Moreno Glacier) and a 3 hour hike. Tomorrow we have a 9 hour hike in Mt Fitz Roy in the Andes. The sun rises at 5 am and sunset is at 11 pm, although it doesn't get completely dark until 11:30 or so. In certain parts of Patagonia, winds can reach 100 miles per hour.

Tivon