Pisco with my girls: Buenos Aires, Uruguay and Easter Island

After flying back from Patagonia in the middle of the night, I was granted 36 hours by the travel gods to do laundry, repack, skype and sleep. In that order. Fortunately, the packing list for the second half of my February travels consisted of almost completely different clothing. But nothing could have prepared me for Buenos Aires because, as far as I know, there exists no article of clothing that can cool a person off.

Luckily, we hit the normally humid and sticky Buenos Aires summer at the height of a heat wave, which inadvertently induces a sweat wave. At approximately 40 degrees Celsius, cold showers and floor fans stood a snowball's chance in hell in abating the heat. Our hostel was a self-proclaimed "party hostel" in the heart of the leafy Palermo district. However, the top bunk of a dungeon-like dorm room did not really lend itself to the party hostel atmosphere. In fact, the strange traveller, who slept below me and whose name would stump the national spelling bee champion, insisted on going to sleep early and flicking the lights on just as early the next morning. Hostel aside, Buenos Aires is a lovely place with plenty of shady streets and delicious food. Among the favorite food spots was the Club Eros athletic club. A signless old gym that serves hearty steaks alongside an indoor soccer court proved to be a cool local experience in a sea of tourist-catered restobars.

Pocitos Beach, Montevideo

We quickly moved on to Montevideo, Uruguay which is about a day's trip across the Rio de la Plata and down the coast of Uruguay. Montevideo, well the Pocitos neighborhood, is a very nice area that boasts a beautiful beach and tall apartment buildings. Playa Pocitos ended up being a great place to relax and sleep the day away. However, the seemingly scarce quantity of bars and restaurants soured the lovely image of this area.

Brava Beach, Punta del Este

After two nights in Montevideo, the bus took us to Punta del Este. Nicknamed the Miami Beach of South America, this rather expensive destination offered better beaches and better night life. There are really only two reasons to go to this town. To sit on the beach all day and to go to a club or bar all night. If the swarms of Brazilians and Argentinians don't deter you, the fact that its not socially acceptable to arrive at a club until 2:00am might. Either way, it was a blast. Being one of two Americans in the hostel was a little unsettling only because the amount of Portuguese being spoken was isolating and nauseating. Apparently, Brazilians don't like to be in town during THEIR OWN Carnival. Instead, they inundate the sleepy country of Uruguay all at the same time.

Parrilla, or grilled meat, in Montevideo's Port market

As we left Punta del Este, it rained. Even though nobody ever really likes rain on their vacation. There arose a slight sense of satisfaction that as we left it rained, giving us a strange cathartic feeling of not missing anything. We boarded the bus once again, this time back to Montevideo, but to another part of the city. Our mistake. Unfortunately for us, we stayed in downtown Montevideo at the exact time the whole city gets up and leaves because they have two days of national holiday for THEIR CARNIVAL. What the hell? Perplexing. Nothing was open and no one was around. So, we trekked down to the Old Town where we found pedestrian streets, a market with huge racks of grilling meat, more Brazilians, and outdoor cafes who are subject to aluminum chair burglaries by the local homeless population. Yes. At dinner one night a guy tried to make off with two chairs from a neighboring restaurant, but was chased by two waiters and the delivery guy on his motorcycle. Its an interesting place, Montevideo.
We returned to Buenos Aires for two more nights. Thankfully the heat had subsided and the city instantly became more enjoyable.

see the long ear?

Easter Island: This deserves a section all its own because, well, it is absolutely unlike any other place. A five hour flight straight out into the Pacific Ocean from Santiago, La Isla de Pascua/Easter Island/Rapa Nui is considered to be the most remotely inhabited place on earth. Needless to say there are a burgeoning tourist industry and a two mile long airstrip built by NASA to accomodate the space shuttle... in the most remotely inhabited place on earth.
Obviously, the airstrip isn't this islands main attraction. The Moai, or the creepy but extraordinarily famous stone heads that look out for eternity, are the focus of every tourists trip to this place. There is a crazy history behind the lost culture that created these heads (well actually heads, torsos and arms). Somewhere along the way a group of people with long ears settled the island and then eventually enslaved the people that landed on the island later with short ears. Its the first instance of cultural or racial division that I've heard of that stemmed from ear size. But who am I to know? As a result, the short ears were forced to carve hundreds of these huge heads (and torsos and arms) and haul them to the shore. But obviously, they got really pissed at some point in history and rebelled and tipped them all over in protest.
Despite the history of the island, it is absolutely beautiful and well worth the trip.