Got Gas?

We just returned from a 6-day, 5-night trip to the Argentine Patagonia. It ended up being approximately 1,500 miles roundtrip from our house in Buenos Aires to Puerto Piramides on the Peninsula Valdes in Chubut Province. The drive was so far that Claire asked us (before we got there) if we had driven so far that the people were going to speak English. Unfortunately for her, the answer was no.

Day 1

We decided to leave late morning on Tuesday in order to get on the freeway (where they go about 50 mph) after the morning rush. We left at 10:00 am and were excited to be on our way on our first legitimate Argentine family road trip. We started out lucky as the first two tolls we came to were unmanned due to an ongoing tollbooth workers' strike (SWEET - saved us about $.60 between the two tolls). After making our way out of the city, and getting our kids settled into movies (we love our car), we made great time to the city of Azul, where we filled up with gas. Then we made it the rest of the way to Bahia Blanca to spend the night. Upon arrival in Bahia Blanca, there were long lines at the gas stations (a common and frustrating theme -- see below), but luckily I found a Petrobras (GO BRAZIL) station that had plenty of gas for me. We piled into the Land Plaza Hotel in Bahia Blanca and spent the night.

Day 2

After a relatively good night (with 5 people in the room), we hit the road early. Just south of Bahia Blanca, you cross from Buenos Aires Province into Rio Negro Province, the beginning of Patagonia. To mark its entrance, there are produce/meat controls where they inspect your car to goods that they don't want you bringing into the region. Well, just like California, they don't let you bring fruit. So we lost our apples and pears -- and Candace was really mad. About 100 miles later, they inspected our car for meat, but let's just say that the inspection was very cursory and I was not about to volunteer anything... it was our lunch and dinner we were talking about. As you enter Patagonia, towns (or what pass for towns) are few and far between and you really have to be aware of your fuel levels. Every time we got to 1/2 tank, we filled up at the next station. At one "town" of two gas stations (a Shell and a YPF), NEITHER had gas. The Shell said it hoped to have some in the next hour or so, but there was a town about 5 miles out of our way off the freeway with an Esso station. We tried our luck and were able to fill up.

We were able to then make our way to Peninsula Valdes and Puerto Piramides where we were going to stay for 3 nights. The Peninsula is a World Heritage Site and is described as being "mostly barren"... ain't that the truth.

The big draw is that the gulf is the largest breeding grounds for the Southern Right Whales. So we hopped on a boat with two other families we knew who went, and went whale watching. We had done this before--unsuccessfully-in Southern California and so we were hoping to see something. Well, we saw about a dozen different whales, and we saw one and her calf for about 1/2 hour right next to the boat. Not 100 feet next to the boat... like 5 feet from the boat. They were jumping, blowing air, showing off their tails, and just plain hanging out. It was a blast.

After the whales and exploring around the beach, we hit the sack.

Day 3

Having knocked out the big draw to the area, we set out to see some Penguins, and to get gas since the only gas station on the peninsula (a YPF) had been without gas for 5 days when we got there, and the nearest gas station was 55 miles away towards Puerto Madryn. So off we went. After filling up, we thought we would cruise down past Trelew to Punto Tomba to see one of the largest concentration of Magellanic Penguins in the world. It is a desert-like area where the penguins come ashore, dig nests under bushes to lay and incubate their eggs.

While it was really neat to see, the drive was about 90 minutes LONGER than we thought it would be and we likely would have rethought our day had we known. At one of the many Argentine Police checkpoints, we were not only asked for our documents, but also what our gas situation was for going further south into Patagonia. In the end, we saw the penguins, we spent the last 1.5 km of the walk alternating between carrying a crying Caroline, a crying Sam, or a complaining tired Claire. It was AWESOME!!!! We had enough gas to get back to the Peninsula and were pleased that our friends had texted us that the YPF on the peninsula had been restocked with fuel.

Day 4

This was the day set aside to explore the Peninsula. We hooked up with another family and drove to Punta Norte to see a sea lion colony. Then we drove along the beautiful--and I mean beautiful--eastern coast to an elephant seal colony where we went for a nice hike along the cliffs. Afterwards, we went off road to a hidden lookout point that came recommended from some friends who had gone the year before. The point overlooked the whale watching area and we just let the kids dig for shells while we watched the whales from the shore.

We spent about 2 hours there, got a family picture, and finished the trip on a high note. Can you see our car on the cliff?

Day 5

We got up and got on our way. Full of gas. We arrived in Bahia Blanca, found a sidewalk cafe near the main square in the city for some dinner, went back to the hotel pool to get out some energy and went to bed.

Day 6

While expecting most churches to being their meetings at 9am, in Bahia Blanca they all started at 9:30. Not wanting to just sit there waiting for church, I found a ward about 50 miles away (on the way) in Coronel Dorrego. So we went to Sacrament Meeting there, filled up again in the town of Azul, and made it home about 5:30 pm.

It was an excellent trip. It is a popular destination for expats over Thanksgiving because the Argentines don't get the same days off. I think I have mentioned before that when there is a holiday, it seems like every Argentina goes on vacation, so it pays to sneak away on American holidays. Last year it was the beach, this year it was whale watching. Who knows where next year will be?!!??

Our kids were troopers in the car. Sam was a zombie for the last three days... Going to bed late, waking up early, not really knowing which way was up or down, but he had a blast. Caroline was the toughest to please. Our lodging did not have a large living area so there were frequent "No, Caroline"'s being sent her way.

We are glad to get out and see more of what Argentina has to offer. At Punta Tombo we were farther south than all of Australia, including Tasmania. It was a great adventure. On another note, I have made previous mention about the Chilean ash cloud from the Puyehue volcano that erupted in June of this year. It is still spewing ash and still affecting flights in Argentina. Well, for 2 of our 3 days on the peninsula, the ash cloud was very present. It made for gray days. The barren landscape was noticeably prettier with a blue sky. The below picture was taken from a boat about 7pm (still daylight in the southern hemisphere's late spring) straight at the sun. The ash is real.

And I won't even go in to how happy Candace was to return to a clean house. We left in a flurry with things everywhere.... and we came home (thanks to our awesome maid) to a spotless house.

No Double Duty

So my family does a quarterly newsletter and I have not submitted an entry for the last year. I decided to submit something this go round and thought I would just copy/paste it below instead of trying to do double duty:

Greetings from Down Under. No, we didn't move to Australia, but since technically we live further south than almost all of Australia, and south of the southern tip of Africa, and since Argentina has no catchy phrase worth printing on a T-shirt, it will have to do. Argentina and Australia have a lot in common. They both start and end with an 'A' (like all the A countries except for two... answer below).... That's about where the similarities end.

A is for awesomeness. There are a lot of awesome things about living abroad in Argentina and there are some not some awesome things. We have now been here for 16 months and I think we have a handle on what's good and what's a hassle about living here. Both lists are considerable, but when all is said and done, we are happy here.

R is for ridiculous. Working for the State Department means that I follow local politics very closely. We really all blessed to be from a country where law and order are implemented and respected. While traffic laws exist, they are neither respected nor enforced. When the spouse of someone we know had her passenger door window busted and her purse snatched while she waited at a red light, it was about 50 meters from two police officers, who did nothing. She went to ask them to pursue the offender, they shrugged and said, "This is Argentina. These things happen."

G is for guests. We are looking forward to some. Mike and Danielle are taking the plunge to visit us from Germany over Christmas. It will be a blast.

E is for excursions. Argentina has a lot to offer from the northeastern tip of Iguazu Falls to the southernmost city in the world, Ushuaia. From beaches to mountains to glaciers to grasslands. As a family, we have done a few smaller trips, but will be going to Patagonia to go whale watching over thanksgiving.

N is for nocturnal. The Argentine culture is much more nocturnal that the American culture. When Candace and I go to dinner, most of the restaurants where we live open their doors at 8pm. When we arrive at 8, we are the ONLY ones there... and it's only when we are finishing that the restaurant begins to fill up. Typical dinner time is about 10pm or so... and teenage kids stay out until 4 or 5 in the morning...

T is for the temple, closed since we've been here. The Buenos Aires temple, built in the mid-1980's was closed about two years ago for renovations. The 18-month project still has no firm ending date. A new temple in Cordoba (8 hour drive from Buenos Aires) was announced and has broken ground, but will be a few years before its ready. So the closest temple to us is in Montevideo, Uruguay. While close on a map, not easy or cheap for a family of 5 for a day trip. Hopefully BA will open in the next 6 months.

I is for international. At Claire's school a couple of weeks ago, we did the annual International Day fair, where the school celebrates the school's diverse international community. I think there are about 40 countries represented at Claire's school. Good food. And it's so neat to see the kids exposed to the world.

N is for nutrition. Food was, and is, a big adjustment in South America. Processed foods are processed differently and it takes a lot of effort to maintain your eating habits when you can't get the foods you're used to. There is plenty of meat and potatoes though... so any Mouritsen would be pleased.

A is for another year. Our initial posting was for two years, but we extended for a third, so we plan to be here until the summer of 2013 in case your travels bring your our way.

What's that spell? A-U-S-T-R-A-L-I-A!!!! Did you figure out the two countries that start with 'A' that don't end with 'A' yet?

Candace surprised me a few weeks ago asking if there were a chance that we could stay in Buenos Aires for a fourth year. Unfortunately for her the answer is now. I'm pleased that she is enjoying herself so much. She does a ton of activities and is always busy with her mostly expat group of friends.

Claire is finishing the first semester of kindergarten and surprises us with how well she speaks Spanish. she'll say things in Spanish (correctly) and then ask what it means. She knows a lot.

Sam is a giant. The youngest, and biggest, kid in his preschool class. Funny as can be... and unfortunately for him, he looks more and more like me every day.

Caroline is mobile. Enough said.

I'm enjoying the work down here and we are keeping busy. We recently passed one year since Lily's passing (on 1 October) and miss her tremendously. It is hard to see Claire grow into Lily's clothes and perfect the tasks (like tieing shows or brushing teeth) that Lily was also practicing. From a temporal perspective, those who say that time heals all wounds have not been wounded deeply enough. From a spiritual perspective, while tears are still shed, we look forward to the day when we are reunited with our little girl who can teach us of heaven. We are so grateful for the knowledge that she is not gone, but has rather taken a commanding lead on us in our family's quest for eternal life together.

ANSWER: Afghanistan and Azerbaijan

What Did You Say?

Can you believe it's already November? I think I mentioned that our pool/lawn guy moved back to Brazil at the end of September. We have an electric lawnmower, but still no extension cord... so, um, it's a good thing that we only have a back yard to worry about. What's worse is that it's getting warmer and warmer and about time for us to start using our pool, but it's not clean. We've called around... and I think we might have found someone... so no need to fret about our situation. I think we'll be OK. Our maid is going strong, we were just having trouble with the lawn/pool guy. It really is a tough life, you know.

I took a few notes the last couple of weeks of a few silly things the his have said. During a Family Home Evening, both Claire and Sam said something worthy of repeating. Just like any other three year old who is trying his hardest to pay attention, Sam is hilarious.

CANDACE: Sam, what does it mean to be an example?

SAM: Flashlight.

Um, OK, I guess we'll go with flashlight. I wonder if he would have phrased it as a question if we were playing Jeopardy. Needless to say, he did not collect go or collect 200 dollars. We talked about it a little bit more.

The lesson was on how people believe different things, and that it's OK and we need to be friendly and nice to everyone just the same. Claire jumped up and gave us a perfect example. She proceeded to give a very long description about how her and her best friend "Maggie" believe different things. (Maggie is also in our local LDS ward.) Claire explained that Claire thinks that the saying goes: "Liar, liar, pants on fire, hanging on a telephone wire" but Maggie thinks the saying goes "Liar, liar, pants on fire, stuck up on a telephone wire." Claire said that even though they believed different things, it was OK because they were BFFs and were made for each other. We were happy that message had sunk in.

The below picture is from Sam's school on Halloween. Guess who the youngest of the group is? That's right.... the giant pirate.