Gaucho experience in Tacuarembo, Uruguay

Caught the early morning bus from Montevideo, departing the city limits before first light. One of my favourite aspects of travel has always been watching dawn break having left a city behind and seeing the colours of the country appear through the breaking day. Low lying early morning mist made the picture complete as the flat, dry pampas grassland greeted the rising sun. Mile upon mile of cattle country stretched ahead.

For the next couple of days we are staying on an estancia (cattle ranch) and it is all Judy Bailey's fault. For non Kiwis Judy Bailey is a former news reader and highly respected mother of the nation.  A few years ago, our Judy took part in Intrepid Journeys where celebrities explore far flung places and visited Uruguay.Note to self, I said as she galavanted round the estancia on horseback, herding cattle, cleaning sheep of unwelcome pests and eating phenomenal steaks.

I'm not sure what I've let us in for but yes Judy, I blame you.

Tacuarembo Day 1

Yvytu Itaty

Remote barely begins to describe this place, Tacuarembo is apparently a city of 50,000 but this is spread across the whole district and it certainly doesn't give the impression of being that size when arriving at the bus terminal. Pedro was there to meet us along with another couple who were also staying. The hour trip to the estancia was largely on grass tracks across the pampa passing only the occasional farm building. For the last half hour there was not a building to be seen until Yvytu Itaty came into sight. We were greeted by Nahir and her mother Laura and given a tour before a sumptuous lunch.

An even greater welcome from Toro the farm Pitbull and the working cattle dogs was awaiting us.The dogs joined us at we want for a walk across the fields as Pedro saddled up the horses for an afternoon ride.  Clear blue skys stretched to the horizon in all directions with barely a tree to break the line of sight as we head of to check on the cattle and move some to a new area.

One of the party had a particularly spirited horse which was very keen to break into a decent speed of trot, combine this with a particularly spirited tourist keen to push the boundaries and you have a dangerous combination. Pedro had to offer frequent instructions to slow down.  The horses were incredibly tame and event the spirited one obeyed every command so there was nothing to worry a less experienced rider and it is a perfect ride for your first time on a horse. Pedro was the perfect guide pointing out any item of interest.

At times the only sounds were distant insects and the quiet creak of leather in sync with the horses motion, absolute bliss.

As we headed back after a near three hour ride dusk started drawing in and the temperature dropped quickly, soon more wildlife appeared and the cattle dogs were onto a rabbit and after a short chase soon had their evening feed.

Tea and torta (cake) awaited us back at the ranch. It was clear we were not going to go hungry on Nahir's watch.

Nahir, Paero and Laura were brilliant with helping the four of us us try out some Spanish and the phrase books were a constant companion which caused a lot of laughter all round. Our companions Ken (re named Carlitos to everybody's amusement) and Julie both giving it a good go with the Spanish.

We spent the evening around the fire sharing stories around the fire with Ken and Julie, from Chicago though Julie is originally from Nottingham, they seem to have a similar outlook on life to us and were great company. A late meal of pasta and the now ever present beef was delicious as was the accompanying Tacuarembo vino.

A combination of intense darkness, complete quiet and sheer relaxation meant we didn't make the predicted start time and the morning ride was delayed. On the agenda this morning, sheep herding. Oh yes, gaucho time. The more spirited member of the group was disappointed to have been relegated to a much less spirited horse, clear punishment for encouraging the antics of yesterday.

The ride first took us past original stone buildings from the 1800's where rifle slots can still be seen in the walls. Picking up the sheep it was amazing to watch Pedro use the dogs to guide them across the estancia as we brought them back towards a paddock at the ranch house. Having made it part of the way the flock decided not to enter a required gate but with a deft flick of the reigns I brought my horse round and cut the escape off. turning again to bring them in the right direction.

Gaucho spurs earned!

I continued 'helping' Pedro bring the sheep into the paddock. Julie added to the fun dubbing my new found talent 'mad skills', as if I needed more encouragement. Pedro's declaration that he couldn't have done it done it alone (as if!) left me in no doubt that a Gaucho life was for me.

More of Nahir's delicious soup and cake was just what was needed after our hard morning's ranching.

A couple of hours at the house playing with Toro, my new best friend and catching up on some writing and just taking in the serenity. All this serenity!  Toro is a great dog, normally I will give as much space as possible to a pitbull whether on leash or not but this fella is so friendly and just wants attention, bruises on my thighs are plenty evidence of the power of these animals but equal evidence that not all temperament temperaments are as reputed.

An afternoon ride to take the sheep back out to pasture was needed and our more spirited rider was promoted back to the spirited horse. Joy! Clear evidence that the mad skills shown herding earlier in the day were needed to complete the job!

A gentle pace was taken, soaking in the atmosphere of following the sheep into the setting sun. Pure bliss. Taking time for Pedro to administer some antibiotic to sheep parts we won't talk about here.

The only disappointment was the continued lack of armadillo action.

Over dinner Pedro when announced that our final 'work' would be cow milking, four of the broadest grins you could imagine spread across our city dwelling faces.


Tacuarembo day 3

I rose early and went for a walk to enjoy the sunrise, a few minutes after setting out Ni heard the loud thump thump thump of an animal charging in my direction, I turned just in time to see and sidestep a leaping Toro! He'd have taken me straight off my feet if I hadn't moved. After giving him the fuss he was after we continued strolling side by side in the early morning sun, checking on the cows on the way. Man, dog, sunrise and acres of farmland, there is something complete about that.

Breakfast at the ranch to give us the strength for the task ahead was as usual a sweet affair including last night's left over rice pudding, one of Nahir's specialities.

All round success with the milking! Not nearly as hard as I worried it might be, I had been gripped by fear of being the only one to fail! We proudly added providing for the working animals to our list of successes as the farm puppies and of course Toro feasted on the bounty.

I can't help but reflex on a society where so many of us spend our lives indoors, in offices. I'm not judging it but it makes you think about the alternatives.

Only after adding a flag photo was it time to say our goodbyes. Quite emotional to be leaving  people who had opened their home to us an made us feel so welcome. These are wonderful people and I already miss them.

Montevideo, Uruguay, a game of two halves

Montevideo Day 1

Caught the morning ferry from BA, I have always thought arriving in a new country by sea is one of the romantic ways of travelling. My notion of watching Montevideo appear through mist over the River Plate, the smell of sea spray in the air weren't quite met. It turned out the cheap seats were down stairs with no forward view or access to sea air.

Montevideo was probably not alone in being quiet on Easter Sunday but I'm not sure many capital cities would have been this quiet. Benefits of this being early in the trip and being a bit older is that we allowed for the reasons for it being quiet otherwise we could have formed an early negative impression. It just didn't seem to have a lot going for it, most restaurants and bars were closed in the evening as well as shops being scarce in the day.

One bonus was stumbling across a free tango show from some of the city's more experienced dancers.

Montevideo Day 2

A city transformed into a lively, busy, energetic place! The difference was superb and we immediately felt more charmed and much happier. Our first port of call was the Muso Andos 1972, a tribute to the 1972 plane crash high in the Andes which killed 29 people but was made famous for the miraculous survival of 16 people as re-told in the film Alive. A storyboard re telling of the story with artifacts including sunglasses survivors and the sleeping bag made out of air conditioning insulation which made the 10 day trek for help possible.

Lunch was a trip to Mercado de puerto, though recommended as a good place for lunch the Parillas here seemed aimed at tourists with larger budgets than ours. Huge open flame grills stacked with ribs, steak and all kinds of sausage at every turn, it was quite mouth watering. We settled for a couple of Empanadas sitting on a bench and quite satisfying they were too!

We managed to line up a catch up with Joaquin, one of Daniela's students from way back. It was great to see him, I'd met him a couple of times at sporting events in NZ. Armed with more tips on things to see and do we were glad that after the next couple of days our plans become more fluid for a few days.  Turn east or west at Tacaruembo?

Buenos Aires part 2

Buenos Aires day 4 19/04/2014

A superb brunch at Coco Cafe in Palermo. The tarta espinacas con brie was particularly delicious and we are enjoying the strong black coffee here. Again the waiter was jovial and patient with our attempts at Spanish. It seems the locals don't mind if you are not fluent as long as you give it a go.

We had enjoyed staying at a friend's apartment but with an early start for the ferry to Montevideo we relocated to a hostel nearer the terminal to make things easier.  The hostel is located in an old building and appeared everything we needed. We soon had three differing opinions on how to get a taxi and two opinions (different from official advice) on how long we should leave for check in. All of which suggested we should be relaxed about the whole thing. Latin time!

We spent the afternoon checking out Puerto Madero the swanky, rejuvenated docklands area which is the place to be seen.  Even by rejuvenated dockland area standards I have never seen so many chic restaurants in one strip.

The highlight was visiting the Museo Frigata ARA Presidente Sarmiento. An old tall ships built in Birkenhead in the late 1800's and commisioned for the purpose of acting as a training vessel to enable recruits to be trained, educated and tour the world at the same time showing the world Argentina was a growing and prospering nation. Quite possibly the best two pesos I'll ever spend.  The chance to tour any boat is always something I'll jump at but to see the craftmanship ( craftpersonship?) in detailing the wood and brass finishing was fascinating. Cheesy tourist photo at the helm was taken unashamedly. Imagining the voyage which took the young crew to Southampton in the 1800's and Auckland in 1902 conjers up the romance of a navy life mixed with the realities of how tough a life sailing across the oceans would have been.

Definitely one of the top picks of things to do in Buenos Aires.

San Telmo was the chosen area for a big Parilla steak dinner at El Desnivel. The steaks truly are superb and you won't go hungry that's for sure! Another cheesy tourist photo in front of the silver fern flag hanging up, apparently the All Blacks ate here when they played Los Pumas. Maybe the All Blacks tour manager bought the Lonely Planet for the trip too.

Buenos Aires part 1

Day 1 Buenos Aires

Flight from Spokane to Buenos Aires was uneventful, though a reminder that you always get what you pay for.  I might have thought that a I got a bargain with paying $400 less than flying through the States but clearly Air Canada have their eyes fixed on service levels of the lowest budget airlines, ok if you are flying shorthaul but lowest quality plane, seats, food, entertainment and service aren't a bundle of laughs on a 14 hour flight. I was glad I wasn't in the mood for an argument when the steward tried telling me I didn't know the difference between a Bloody Mary a Virgin Mary and a Ceaser. May just be different in Canada so I let him be right.

Arriving in BA we had the usual issue of not being able to immediately obtain small denominations for tipping the porters, using them and tipping clearly expected. Glad we always have a supply of US$ as back up.

Taxi got completely lost. Surprise? Good job it was paid as a standard rate upfront. The driver was good humoured enough to deserve a tip despite the added time, just a bit of an unguided tour for us.

Made it to Seb's apartment in the suburb of Palermo glad of a clean up after 29 hours on the go.

Had a wander to check out the nearest metro station ready for the morning and had a good walk around Parque 3 de Febrero.Clearly the place to work out on a Wednesday night, walkers, runners, cyclists and roller bladers all doing circuits if the lake and an array of talent, ability and fitness on show! The roller bladers with tracks set up to practice (show off?) their skills reminded me of Central Park, NYC.

A good intro to the vibe of the city.

Day 2 - 17th April

A reasonable start with a bit of apprehension for a trip to the Italian consulate to sort out some paperwork.  Can't help but think that Enzo would have seen the funny side of us spending our first morning not only negotiating a three way language barrier but doing it with government officialdom!  Surprisingly this turned out to be time consuming but uneventful. We thing trying to explain the process properly appeared too much like hard work so the option of just signing what we needed was taken. Works for me.

Finally it was time to do some sightseeing so it was time to negotiate Florida, a busy, tourist mecca street where shady money changers mix with tourist touts looking to lure you in to a tango and dinner show. An aborted attempt here to get a local SIM so I'll have to rely on WIFI for a while, which hasn't seemed to be as obviously abundant as I'd expected. I'm sure I'll track it down.
Having made it back to Plaza del Mayo where a tribute to the fallen soldiers of the South Atlantic conflict is backed by banners supporting the cause of veterans.

In the east, the stunning Casa Rosada (Pink House) which is home to the presidents offices and known through the musical and film Evita as being home to Juan and Eva Peron. With a stroke of luck the president had made Easter a five day weekend and cleared off on Wednesday so the normally weekend and public holiday tours were on. Result.

If you get the chance, the tour is recommended, I am a sucker for high ceilings and marble staircases though some of the rooms are now decorated in more modern style and look set up for conferences which isn't surprising as they are used as presidential offices, you even get to go through her actual office and the more eagle eyed amongst us spotted children's pictures on the wall.

The even more unexpected highlight was to see Eva's personal rooms and to stand on the balcony she preached from. A quick blast of Don't cry for me Argentina (yes Madonna filmed it here) was hard to resist. The view over Plaza de Mayo is superb.

After concluding the tour a trip to the interesting suburb of San Telmo seemed evidence that the city was winding down for Easter and was very quiet. We'll head back another day.

Buenos Aires day 3 18/04/2014

A lazy start to the day, empanadas for a snack before heading towards Recoleta Cemetary, probably Buenos Aires most famous site and most popular tourist destination.

It is hard to describe this huge necropolis with nearly 5,000 tombs of the wealth and well to do.  Not content with simple headstones, the military and political leaders which make up a large proportion of those buried here have build vast edifices of stone and marble, towering above you, angels, statues and ornate carvings top these enormous tombs, often fronted and flanked with stone pillars. Hours could be spent wandering through here, though of course one grave is the reason most of the throngs of tourists come here. Only 32 when she died, Maria Eva Duarte de Peron is laid to rest in one of the more modest family crypts and visited by thousands of Argentinians wanting to pay respects to a political leader who, however you look at it changed a nation, most foreign visitorors are following the trail of Evita.

After discovering the Museo de belas artes was close for the holiday we sat in the park listening to live music, hanging out with the locals as it was clearly the thing to do. The less alcohol centric culture was clear when the vendor with a chilly bin full of cervesa wasn't mobbed on sight.

All helped by the second empanada fix of the day (do you feel a theme developing)

Buenos Aires has an easy going feel to it, thepeople seem relaxed and have been very friendly, showing great patience as we continue butchering their language. I do enjoy the feel of a place where families are out together at night, where peopleshare an ice cream or a coffee at 10 pm as much as a beer.

Long Haul to Spokane 5 things we learned

Having lived in New Zealand for twelve years, travelling frequently back to the UK to see family along with other trips I feel I've got a reasonable handle on long haul travel but there is always more to learn. Our latest epic flight was Auckland - Brisbane - Los Angeles - Seattle - Spokane and here are a few things I thought about on the way.

1) Direct flights trump air miles.

We are largely loyal to one carrier as we have a credit card which earns air miles which when combined with regularly using that airline has provided us with free flights to the UK and several trips to Australia. Air miles are a seriously worthwhile perk.  However, flying three hours in the wrong direction plus layover when connecting beyond LAX is too out of the way to be worth it. If there is a direct option, take it.

2) The Airbus A380 rocks.

Travelling on a 747 for the first time in a few years is a reminder of just what a leap forward the A380 was. It feels more spacious, the seats feel bigger and more spaced out it is quieter and the entertainment system is way ahead. If you are flying long haul, check the plane it makes a big difference.

3) Alaska Airlines customer service is outstanding.

Planes break and delays happen, fact. A re fueling issue at LAX meant we knew we would miss our connection to Spokane from Seattle.  Alaska couldn't have been better, re booking and then reshuffling flights, providing a phone to let people know of changed plans and following up with an official apology and voucher for future flight. The statement "You had a right to expect us to deliver you to your destination on time and we let you down." says a lot.

Having battled Emeritus for weeks after being delayed for over 24 hours before they eventually, reluctantly game us a few air miles accompanied by the get out that it was a goodwill measure and not an admission of fault when they had directly been at fault for a large part of the delay. Emirates may have good in flight service but they could learn a lot from Alaska about customer service.

4) Sea-Tac is a cool airport to hang out at.

Live music from local musicians (look out for local strangers), huge windows letting in lots of natural light and big wooden rocking chairs to chill out in while taking in the view. Rocking chairs I tell you! Seattle Tacoma, airport, you literally rock!

5) Nothing beats the friendly face of a loved one at arrivals.

OK, we knew this already but it never gets old, it just gets better.

Why Spirit of Enzo?

In April 2014 we left New Zealand and set out to travel South America, more about how and why this decision came about will follow later but being a couple, let's just say beyond our 30's, it isn't the standard pre or post university gap year. We hope to see as much of this vast continent as possible with the FIFA world cup in Brazil featuring heavily.

During the planning of our trip my father in law Enzo was the biggest supporter of our trip. He loved the idea of playing by our own rules, not those laid out by standard convention. He loved the idea of the adventure and more than anything he was thrilled that we are going to the FIFA world cup.

Sadly and devastatingly Enzo passed away a few weeks ago just before we were due to depart. As such a strong supporter of our plan we are bringing him along for the ride in the name of our blog and look out for pictures of his Italian flag along the way.

I'm writing principly as a personal journal and if some of our friends and family tune in along the way that will be great, if we provide some useful tips to fellow travellers along the way so much the better.

Welcome.