Home Away From Home

It has been a while since I wrote on this blog as a real blog, i.e., not from the tiny iphone! The good thing about using the laptop to do it is I can upload pictures but not sure I can think of any right now! I am in Barcelona today, for another 24 hours. It barely feels like I am in Barcelona though, I guess because last time I was here was perhaps 15 years ago and I do not remember much of it. Also because I do not know many people here, or I was late in telling them I would be here and then it does not feel like I am in someone else's "home". In the end, I am just somewhere having some meetings and coming back at some point. And then again, it is Barcelona, the Barcelona everyone talks about. The city is full for a convention this week and even the hotels for me and Laura had to be far apart. Restaurants are full and we were lucky to get some nice tapas at Muncho's last night. But maybe we will make a reservation in El Solo tonight, or maybe we will take a stroll ...

Yesterday we took the morning to go to the floating islands. The name on its own is weird but it is exactly what they are. They are made out of reef and they float! Over 2000 people live there since at least 1200 B.C.. It all started when someone got tired of leaving the fights going on in the shore at the time of th Incas and just "moved out" of the city and into the lake. Now thtey still live there, but it is a lot of work. They build new houses every 8-12 months (or at any after storm), they cover the floor of the island with reef every 2-3 weeks. The good thing is they live out of tourism since they are so special. When you sit to listen to the explanation you can see and feel the island floating with the waves of the touristic boats that pass by. And then you go into their houses and dress their clothes (you are not exactly given an option) but is quite fun. They have hats for the single and hats for the married to make sure you know from the distance! But they are very...

We now reached the third and last country in our journey. We crossed the Bolivian border this afternoon amidst complications and surprises to find out that Mexicans need a visa for Peru. After all, we had not had visa problems in at least a week so something needed to add some spice to the trip. We are now in Puno, a little town by the Lake Titicaca and hope that Tevia can get it all sorted in La Paz on Monday. The visa should theoretically take 15 minutes (if that is what it takes to Saudi Teeba) so she should still make it to Cuzco and go to Machu Pichu with us. It is funny that not a day goes by without something. Teebs is lying next to me still in stomach pain and spent the day sick, perhaps food poisoning or whatever else poisoning. She finally had the rice we brought her and seems to be doing better given she is asking me where I learned to type this fast. :-) Today is a short one, as I am trying to catch up with emails. But I already uploaded the pictures for Bolivia !

Iguazu seems to have been a long time ago. After a heavy party night in Buenos Aires we took of to Bolivia and life has changed substantially. We left Pato behind and got two new travel companions, Kunal and Thomas. And we went to the desert... not figuratively speaking, really... After a 12 hour transfer from La Paz to Uyuni, we took off the next day to the Salar de Uyuni and were impressed how a vast amount of salt can look like snow and be so cool. We took all these artistic pictures and stopped for the night a Hostel that is made of salt walls. Again we met Anouroop and Boney in the middle of nowhere with no previous warning and they told us this hostel was luxurious compared to the following night and started getting scared... We sorted it out with red wine and live music. Yes, a random Canadian guy played the guitar and guess who (me) played the drums... It was fun but I had bruises in my fingers the next day. But at least that helped us warm up for the night. The next day we wen...

Today we took (another) early start and came to Iguazu. The day started in the best way when Teeba was in the Aeroparque waiting for us. After all the mess of being rejcted an Argentinian visa, not being able to change a flight after travelling the first leg and not being able to buy a one way since it arrived to Bolivia too late, we had lost hope. Or else, we had accepted that higher forces were keeping her away and she should just stay in Ecuador with her friend Pamela. But I guess she fought it one more time after knowing that the Visa had been aproved in Argentina and it was the stupid New York Monica that did not gie it to her. And with only Pato (and Pamela off course) in the game, she showed up. I was happy but not too surprised, since Pato was way to stressed yesterday and I mentioned she was coming by surprise to face the denial of the remaining girls. Moreover, I learned how to hope the best from Teeba (other than in April Fools) so this was more of her. We passed out on the ...

Yesterday the internet in Argentina did not cooperate so no update. The day in Mendoza was great, with the nice and small family Vineyard of Altos de Hormigas being one of my favourites. They were very nice and the Malbec reserva the one that finally convinced me to like Malbec! We still had one more vineyard to go, Familia Zucatti, where we had a great lunch but the tours was already too much, we prefered to walk around on our own. But again, very different and very worth it! Today, we added Tevia to the group (after she came in my room at 5am) and repeated the Cemeterio since Tev and Shilps had not seen it, and then Malba. Surprise, surprise. Buenos Aires is not a small city but we still managed to run into Nitin and Ted in the Museum! We had a nice lunch with them and went for some more sightseeing in the afternoon. We went to Plaza de Mayo where the Casa Rosa is, walked down Calle Florida, the shopping street and up to Plaza San Martn for an excellent night view of the city. No...

After an early start to get to the airport on time and being over-charged for not being Argentinian, we managed to get ourselves (and our bags) to Mendoza. We were greeted by Sheraton's nice service (and special corporate rate) and followed after a strong breakfast to te Vinyeards. We started with Catena Zapata, one of the biggest in the region. Inside the Mayan architecture building everything is modern and we had a great tour. The Chardonnay 2007 took us to the amazing view of the terrace and we said goodbye with a Malbec 2006. Mercedes, our guide, was really nice and clearly proud of the vineyards 4th generation. We then took a nap on the way to Salenteim, a very different style, modern architecture, with even a museum. As we saw the amazing table they gave us by the sun, the decision was unanimous: let's skip the tour and just sit and have a lunch and wine. The Sauvignon Blanc took us through lunch, and actually went well with my Rib Eye but the Tempranillo we started with ...

After 48 hours flying, me and Chrstine arrived to Buenos Aires, sleeping on 4 hours slots. After 6 hours straight in a bed (finally) we walked around Recoleto, saw the Cemitery and Evita Peron's grave, had a coffee in La Biela, had a massage and even managed to run into Anuroup and Boney in the middle of the Street. Short update today, we need to go out for dinner!

I am now at JFK and I am really not sure what time it is. The clock says 6.56 but it could be 11am for me. It it is hard to tell since I have been sleeping on 2-3 hour slots for the last 24 hours and I will continue alike for the nest 24 or more. I do not get to Buenos Aires until 5am on Friday so a long way to go awaits us. Christine is passed out in the bench and I am kind of jealous. But instead I am taking care of UK taxes, accounting and related emails. At least I should sleep fine on the plane. The lady got us both windows after she realized we valued sleeping more than sitting next to each other! It is clear where I was last week... Portugal, that is why I did not blog! Maybe some other times with B.'s pictures from kitesurf!

I am, promise! Packed two bags, one to stay, one to come back. Have my readings, my writings, my cases, my slides, my files, my ipod, my german texts, my glasses my pens and pencils, my flying socks, my passport, my I-20, my Euros, my chargers, my phones, my jacket, my handback, my make up and my lenses. Done!

It was a long weekend, short if you think about having to come back, long from the perspective that it started Friday at 5am and just finished. After some troubling events to make sure we packed and made it to the airport on time (including Maria), the hope of getting somewhere warm and sunny out of the Boston snow storm made us dream through the 2 flights. And there we were, Turks and Caicos! From moment 1 (which means zero is excluded) I found the service to be better than in the Caribbean, though still far from I would expect from a country that is meant to live out of tourists. Moment zero was the one we found out the cabs from the airport were "government regulated" and per person but we eventually overcame hat situation (by paying). Restaurants were generally the ones with the best service, the rest had indeed a lot of room for improvement. But what do you ask when the sea varies between shades of coral blue and green, the temperature is a minimum of 25C and your only d...

Still suffering jet lag, pictures only Thursday morning, city tour Thursday early afternoon, first ceremonies @ Raj Palace Friday morning, Mehendi @ Raj Palace (yes, Thursday night missing, coming soon @ Amber Fort) Friday Night, Sangeet @ Raj Palace Saturday Morning various cerimonies @ Raj Palace Saturday Night, Wedding

Me and Teebs took off on Tuesday, anticipating a fun weekend and some warm weather. It is easier to be better weather than Boston but we never imagined the 35ºC (we don’t do Fahrenheit) that would greet us. If you think landing at midnight would deter us from enjoying the first night in Miami, you are wrong. The impeccable sound system in the room lead the way for a quick make up and no later than 1.30 we were at Mansion. We met Teeba’s friends and had one of the most fun nights in a long time… Pictures? Not available, hehe We started our tanning mission on Friday and we had no clue where the announced storms were. We kept the warm up for the weekend and had a (too) expensive dinner at Forge, thinking the restaurant would turn out in a club. It never did so we ended up at Mint, another one in Teeba’s endless list of clubs we were supposed to visit in our 5 nights in Miami The girls arrived Saturday and that is when my trip diary is interrupted by big blanks. I am not allowed to tell an...