Guys, it’s been a month since we last wrote…please don’t be mad at us, it’s just that we’ve been traveling all around Argentina (and even Uruguay) and we had such a great time that we didn’t even have time to sit down, relax a bit a write a few lines to you. This doesn’t mean we don’t miss you, on the contrary! So here goes a little “condense” of what we’ve been up to lately:
We spent Christmas in Buenos Aires with Claire’s family. We went to an open air mass a few blocks from home – the church had closed an entire carrefour to be able to welcome everybody! Huge - It was really nice but strange at the same time because it was 8 pm and it was so hot! Didn’t really feel like the white Christmas we usually spend in Switzerland. We had dinner with the extended family (40 people!) and at midnight they threw fireworks and Claire’s cousin Ramon put the sweaty Santa Claus costume to give the children their presents! What a show... poor Ramon... On the way home, we saw alot of people partying in the streets – another big cultural difference!
Then on the 26th we organized a little “parilla” or “asado” which is the traditional argentinian BBQ for Alex’s 30th b-day!!!...can’t beleive the 20’s are over...some people say the 30’s are the best...time will tell but the 20’s were awesome! Unfortunately you will not see the pictures of the b-day party. Not because they were indecent or unproper for internet broadcasting...but Claire’s purse was stolen on the following day with the camera in it...damn! Anyway, a 4-month trip to Latin America without anything stolen from us would not have been a real trip so it had to happen at some point! But for the record we had an awesome party and even 2 of Alex’s cousin from Colombia came as well since one of them (Diana) lives here in BA and the other one (Maria Emilia) was visiting Argentina with her boyfriend (Gabriel).
A couple of days later, on the 30th, we left for the countryside (traditional holidays in Argentina). We first visited the Bouquet’s in Tandil (5 hours drive from Bs As) where we had a really great time, mostly at the swimming pool and on the tennis court. They have a huge corn and soy plantation that we visited horseriding, it was just so big...like scary big: 2500 acres! We drank a lot of “Terma” which is the same as Martini but without alcohol...at first it tastes a bit weird but then it does the trick and before you realize it you get addicted...we also ate “Lechon a la Cruz” which is a little pork that you kind of crucify and then cook for 4 hours on the fire...lot of fun, except for the one who cooks because it was 30º plus the heat from the fire!
The Bouquets and the Petouds: Lucia, Horacio, Alex y Claire
The corn field
Mercedes, Mathias, Lucia saying goodbye to the Mielistas!
Then we left for Marajui which is close to Mar del Plata. Julio and Pia welcomed us in this beautiful place - one of the most exclusive country clubs in Argentina! - for 5 amazing days where we enjoyed the family picnics at the beach, the golf, the (freezing!) sea, long walks, and the traditional asado with all of Pia’s sisters and their families. Very relaxing (not that we need to relax anymore after 4 months holiday!.. but we´re not tired of relaxing!)
Claire with Pia and her sisters and niece
Joaco a.k.a El Asador
Julio reading Alex some jokes from his Blackberry!
And while we were in Marajui Julio and Pia offered us to stay at their house in Punta del Este (kind of the Latin American version of St-Tropez)!! so we caught a boat to Uruguay and stayed there for 5 days. We were expecting a little village but it’s actually quite big. So we rented a scooter and went from one white sandy beach to another and just enjoyed this amazing place and its great restaurants & nightlife. We also met with some of Alex’s friends and colleagues who were there for vacation or work! We had an amazing dinner at Jimena’s parents place in Punta Ballena. They had a friend visiting for a day and he runs a trendy restaurant in NYC’s Meat Pack District and this guy cooked us an incredible meal with 6 or 7 dishes including a grilled fish that you can see on the pictures...wouah!
Claire ready to jump on the scooter
Jose Ignacio beach...
Jose Ignacio's lighthouse
Punta del Este and its buildings
Alex sunbathing on the lawn in front of our apartment in Punta
The amazing fish cooked by the NYC chef!!
Last but not least we spent 5 days in Claire’s cousins campo, at Jorgito and Maty’s, with 4 other cousins. It was really awesome to spend time at their swimming pool, teaching their 2 year old how to swim while we discovered a new addictive drink: the Ganzia (similar to the Terma but this time with alcohol!), and just sharing argetinian jokes with our family. The girls also had alot of fun cooking sessions: home-made pizza, tropical salads, and yet another asado! Let us tell you a fact: you NEVER get tired of eating asado! Jorgito and Maty had read in the blog that Alex had had a small horse incident while we were in El Calafate... so they decided to help Alex to try to gallop again and prepped the horses for us! They gave Alex a super nice horse, who litteraly transformed Alex into a real gaucho – he had even gone shoping and bought traditional “bombachas” – gaucho’s pants! Thank God his colombian hat reminded us of his origins... Alex loved it so much that we decided to go horseriding again at midnight with the moonlight... another amazing experience!
Jorgito and Claire in the "chatita" - 1929 Ford A which belongs to Claire's father
On our way to a bar to drink Ganzia...
Happy gauchos!
The horses also had too much Ganzia ;-)
Now we’re back to Claire’s aunt’s place in Buenos Aires, and we will be flying to our last destination on Saturday: COSTA RICA!
