Rio de Janeiro from Sugar Loaf

Angra dos Reis, Brazil

Ilha Grande, Brazil

Ilha Grande, Brazil

Paraty, Brazil

Foz do Iguazu, Brazil

Foz do Iguazu, Argentina

Devil's Throat

Montevideo, Uruguay

Colonia, Uruguay

Punta de Mujer, Buenos Aires, Argentina

Buenos Aires, Argentina

Floralis Generica, Plaza Naciones Unidas, Buenos Aires, Argentina

Tigre, Buenos Aires, Argentina

San Isidro, Buenos Aires, Argentina

La Boca, Buenos Aires, Argentina

Centro, Buenos Aires, Argentina

GTE Day +5 – Love you GAPers!

Thank god for late checkout because I slept right through the normal 10am checkout time. I didn't wake up until 11:15. I gathered my things and went to checkout. While I was doing this, I was given a gift certificate for 1 free night. Really? Stay for 1 night and get a GC for another? Wow! You rock Krista Hotel! It was good for me or anyone else. I checked out and headed back to Bab's place to pack up my big pack. Justin and I were leaving at 8pm that evening but that meant we had to leave around 5:30 to get to the airport. We also were going to meet the rest of the remaining GAPers for one last lunch together at 1. We got our stuff together and met Andrew, Hannah, Elizabeth, Lydia, Amanda, and their friend Pippa (short for Philippa) for lunch. Milkshakes, smoothies, and awesome sandwiches. A great trip ending lunch. I had also brought with me the Krista Hotel gift certificate and in speaking Andrew, decided to give it to Hannah. She hadn't been feeling all that well and the hostel experience wasn't going great so Andrew said she was in need of a nice break. She was so happy when I gave her the gift certificate. She almost cried. It was sweet. I also had to buy 1 last present for Julia's birthday so after lunch Babs directed me to a few places to find some nice baby clothes. Then we headed back to her flat for the last time to get our stuff and wait for the cab. We said our sad goodbyes to Babs (but she's coming to the states in July) and headed off to Buenos Aires airport for the 18 hour total flight back to San Francisco.

But while we were at the airport, we met another American named Kim who was also flying through Houston so chalk up another friend met while traveling! I still think it's the best part about traveling… meeting truly amazing people from all over. The people I've met on this trip will be friends forever. We've already decided to meet up again in September in London for a reunion. I can't wait to see them all again! I love you guys! You are all amazing and thanks for making this trip unforgettable!

GTE Day +4 – San Telmo Market

We all woke up late, 11am knowing it was our last full day/night in Buenos Aires. I also woke up with an idea in my head. I told Barbara and Justin that I would be moving out that night and into a hotel for 1 night so they could have the place to themselves. I had found a place nearby for $40 US for the night so would just leave my big backpack and pack an overnight pack. They pretended to be sad but I'm sure they were pretty stoked. Then we got ready to head back to San Telmo for the Sunday market. The Sunday market in San Telmo is the street fair of street fairs. BLOCK AND BLOCKS of amazing street vendors selling leather goods, wood sculptures, jewelry, etc. It was pretty amazing. I bought gifts for everyone for about $130 US including some really nice leather goods and jewelry. I had been coordinating with Amanda and her friends and I also knew Hannah and Elizabeth would be there but without phones. I was walking down the street with Justin and Babs behind me buying gifts when all of a sudden, I turned around and they were gone! Shit. I looked around for 10 minutes then decided to head back to the square (the center of the market). We had all talked about it so I hoped they would figure out to try and find me there. I also knew Amanda was there with her friends. I found them quite easily, but Justin and Babs were nowhere to be found. I was sending Justin texts but when he didn't respond, figured he left his phone at Bab's place. I knew where I was and how to get back to Bab's place so I was ok with spending the day with Amanda and her friends. We spent the day walking around looking at the amazing goods for sale and watching the street artists when we decided to stop for ice cream (dulce de leche for me this time!). While we were standing out front, I spotted a familiar face walking in the crowd. Hannah! (Again, what are the odds?) We all reconvened and Hannah and I decided to head back on the metro to Palermo SOHO and I'd make my way back to Bab's flat to get my overnight pack and head to my hotel. I got back to Bab's place around 8pm and they were acting like guilty parents for losing their kid at the mall. It was pretty funny. I guess they didn't have a very good day because they spent the day looking for me. I told them I had a great day. LOL! We caught up for a bit and I grabbed my stuff to leave for the night. Babs and Justin wanted to check out my new digs so they came with me. Thank god they did. The place was 3 blocks away but when we got there, it wasn't a "boutique hotel" but was an apartment building. The night guard had no clue what we were talking about. And since my reservation didn't have an apartment number, he couldn't even find out what apartment it was supposed to be. He also didn't speak any English so Babs had to do the translating. Love that girl. After 30 minutes, we told him forget it and I'd find other accommodations. Fortunately, there are 2 other legit hotels less than a block from Babs place. Though more expensive. The first was $280 US a night. Uhh, no thanks. The next was $130. Sold. It was a super cute boutique hotel called the "Krista Hotel". They even bring you a plate of cookies and a glass of water upon check in. Nice big comfy bed (no more futons), AC, WIFI, it was beautiful. Though the shower was shit. What is it with showers with crap water pressure down here? It was a shower, but I was literally cupping my hands to catch water and throwing it on myself. But I fell asleep early (midnight) saddened that I would be leaving this amazing city the following day.

GTE Day +3 – Touring BA

We got up and Justin and I had the intention on heading back into BA Centro to catch the open bus and check out the tourist sights. The open bus runs every 30 minutes and if you stay on the bus lasts 2 and a half hours. But you can get off anywhere you want to look around and just hop back on the next bus. It costs 70 pesos (about $18 US). I like riding buses. You can see an awful lot of a city riding a bus. We started walking the 15 or so blocks to the zoo when we came across Andrew, Hannah, and Elizabeth (what are the odds?) They were heading into SOHO to get lunch so we agreed to meet up for dinner later that night back at La Cabrera since Andrew didn't really get to eat there and Justin and I were down for eating one last massive steak before we left Buenos Aires. We said our goodbyes and continued walking down to the zoo where one of the open bus stops supposedly was and waited…and waited…and waited some more. No open bus. Barbara finally asked around and a few vendors who were there said they hadn't seen the bus at all. Maybe it wasn't running that day? But on a Saturday? That seemed odd to me. However it was a) Saturday B) Argentine Labor Day C) a free concert was playing there in an hour so the "normal" bus stop was blocked and D) there was a protest in Centro that afternoon. Mmmm… Barbara proposed an alternative. Jump on the normal bus to La Boca (the furthest area from where we were) and she'd narrate plus La Boca is a touristy area so for sure we'd catch the open bus from there. That sounded good so we jumped on a normal bus headed for La Boca for 1.20 pesos (or 30 cents US!) It took a little while to finally get there (about 40 minutes) but it was fun seeing different parts of the city. We got to La Boca around lunch so walked the 2 blocks it consists of and stopped to eat. La Boca is a port city that is one of the oldest in Buenos Aires. It was where the immigrants came first and the area is filled with brightly colored homes. Barbara explained the reason for this is when immigrants first arrived the only paint they had was whatever was left from the ships they arrived on. They painted whatever colors they had and that tradition has lived on. It's a fun little area. We ate lunch at a local restaurant then jumped back on the bus to head back towards the city and stop at the Plaza de Mayo on the way. Oh and on the way in the normal bus what did we see?... The open bus. I mockingly shook my fist at it as Barbara and Justin busted up laughing…

The Plaza de Mayo is the area where the Presidential Palace is located and it's painted a bright pink. When we arrived, we were surprised to see that it was pretty much deserted. That was when we noticed the large police barrier and presence. There was a protest scheduled for that afternoon to fight for higher wages. We walked around the square for a bit and it was an eerie sight. The main avenues in the city were completely empty. I joked it was a "24 Days Later" moment referring to the zombie movie when London has been wiped out and the streets were deserted. We were walking down the middle of some of the normally busiest streets in Buenos Aires. On the way, we passed the famous Café Tortoni so we stopped for a cup of coffee. While inside, the protest started outside so we walked out to check it out. I imagined a hundred people or so… NOPE. Try THOUSANDS. It was impressive. They were banging drums and carrying banners. But completely peaceful. It was pretty cool to see actually. I was tempted to jump right in and join them! It was starting to get late so we took the metro (subway) back to Palermo SOHO since we had to meet up the gang for dinner in a few hours. We got back to Barbara's flat and I got a text from Andrew saying that he and Hannah had a slight relapse of their stomach problem and that dinner was probably out but could we still meet up back at Bab's place for drinks and to catch up. Justin, Babs, and I were still hungry so we told them to meet us at the restaurant and we'd come back afterwards for drinks. Then we headed off to get us some meat! We got to Cabrera and tried to get a table at 8pm. Well first, they didn't open until 8:30, and second, they were booked solid for the ENTIRE NIGHT!! DOH!!! So we walked around the corner to another place that wasn't quite as famous as La Cabrera but served up similar food. But they also served up a roasted veal rib that Barbara said was her absolute favorite. Justin got the Bife de Chorizo and Babs and I shared the veal ribs. They were OUTSTANDING! The flavor was amazing. Definitely another great meal! Around 9, we saw Andrew, Hannah, and Elizabeth walking up so they joined us for the rest of the meal then we all headed back to Bab's flat for drinks (and so Andrew could check out the hammock). On the way, Hannah started complaining about blisters so the girls grabbed a cab and Andrew, Justin, and I walked. It made for a HILARIOUS video of Andrew later in the evening that is on my Facebook page. Go check out the video titled "My name is Hannah".

We stayed at Bab's place until midnight when we were supposed to go meet Amanda and Lydia back in SOHO. We headed out to meet them and their new friends who were joining up with them fresh from Bolivia. Well, the night turned into a really LONG evening since it took us 2 bars and 3 and a half hours to get 1 drink. I don't think I've ever gone out for drinks and gotten sober. After that disaster, we got home at 4am ready for bed and our last full day in Buenos Aires.

GTE Day +2 – Tigre, San Isidro, and the worst Chinese food ever

I woke up today not really knowing what I wanted to do. We've got 3 days left so at some point I know I want to see the "touristy" sights and from Andrew and Gary I know that the open bus is the best way to do that. Barbara also mentioned going to a town about 20 minutes outside of Buenos Aires called Tigre which is also on the water and is the town people escape to during the weekends. Being Friday, she thought it might be a better day to go since it would be less busy. That sounded like a pretty good idea. Barbara called her mom and asked if she could borrow her mom's car to drive us there (chalk another one up for having a local guide)! We took a cab to her mom's place about 10 blocks away and picked up her mom's car. It was a little teal Renault (I called it jellybean). Funniest little car I've ever seen. But it got us there! We stopped along the river and ate lunch on a beautiful day. One of the things Barbara had suggested to the group to try at some point is a "parrillada". It's basically a little metal grill (think a hibachi) that is stacked with a bunch of different kinds of meat. We got Bife de Chorizo, sausage, blood sausage, kidneys, intestine, etc). It's awesome. After lunch, we walked down the street to a little ice cream shop called "Viva Toscana". The cutest little ice cream shop ever. Not to mention, the best fricking ice cream ever. I just got plain chocolate, but the dulce de leche (caramel) was amazing. I now know to order that anywhere I go. We finished our ice cream sitting along the river then Barbara wanted to show us around some of the areas and the nice houses. We drove around a bit and she took us to San Isidro to look out over a beautiful skyline of Buenos Aires. It was actually the same part we had travelled a few days earlier from Colonia on the ferry. We got coffee on the lawn of the local inn and just enjoyed each other's company and the impressive views. Then we hopped back into Jellybean and headed back to Barbara's mom's place to drop off the car and head back to Barbara's flat. We got back around 8pm and realized that we hadn't made any plans for dinner so we debated what/where to eat. We finally settled (I don't know how) on Chinese food. Sushi was the other option, but take out sushi sounded a little suspect to me not to mention I still had the amazing sushi dinner with Sam in the back of my mind and didn't want to ruin that. Anyway, we should have gotten sushi. Probably the worst Chinese food I've ever eaten. It made Panda Express seem like 5 star gourmet food. What's amazing is Chinese people actually cook it! It just sucks! LOL! We ordered fried rice, chow mein, sweet and sour pork, and egg rolls. I think I tried a little of each and stopped eating. Even the egg rolls were bad. Come on now? How do you screw up egg rolls?!? (On another note, the grocery store across the street from Barbara's flat is owned by Chinese. Now, there is nothing funnier than seeing a Chinese person speaking Spanish… with a Chinese accent. It's TFF!!) I went to sleep knowing at least tomorrow I'd get to go back into the city since I didn't get to today. Tomorrow is basically the last day to do so since Sunday is a big market in San Telmo that Barbara wants to take us to. 

GTE (Gap Tour Ends) Day +1 – Justin’s sick

I woke up today after having some strange dreams. I blame that on some cookies Barbara gave us last night that she said contained the same ingredient that's in LSD. They weren't illegal, they were store bought cookies in the package, but she said that whatever is in LSD is also in these cookies. My dreams really weren't strange in a weird way, but I did have a dream that I was on my way back to Rio de Janeiro. Ok, and so was Sam… Maybe that was more of a fantasy than a dream? Anyway, I got up on my own power which meant lying on my futon for a while. When I did get up, I heard Barbara walking around and I pulled out my earplugs just in time to hear her say "He isn't well". I asked if she meant Justin and she said his stomach wasn't well. Turns out he was up a few times during the night throwing up from something. All 3 of us ate the same dinner and Barbara and I were fine so we figured it had to be lunch. Again, Barbara and I had the same prosciutto and brie sandwich and were ok. Justin on the other hand, had a chicken sandwich and salad. We guessed it had to be the chicken. He was down for the count and spent most of the afternoon sleeping and running to the toilet to throw up. A few hours later I got a text from Andrew saying they were going to get together later that evening for Gary's last night. I sent him a text back telling him about Justin and he sent another back saying he and Hannah were in the same condition. They both had a vegetarian patty with salad. The common denominator for the 3? The salad. I told him I'd meet them later for Gary's farewell but Justin and Barbara were maybes. As the evening approached, Justin felt just good enough to join the group for 1 drink (water in his case). When we finally met up with the group, almost all of them were drinking water. Lydia and Amanda were actually on a 24 hour detox only drinking water. Quite the change from the hard drinking group from a day earlier. We stayed for an hour or so then said our goodbyes to Gary as well as coordinated with the others as to when we'd see them all again (hopefully Saturday). Andrew took a particular interest in the hammock that Barbara brought back yesterday and she and I hung this morning. He seems to fancy the idea of sitting in the hammock reading a book. Not a bad thought at all. I'm going to try to see some of the city tomorrow. There is an open top bus that tours the city for 70 pesos. It runs every half hour and you just get on, put on a set of headphones, and listen. It's a 2 and half hour tour that hits all of the major sights. You can also get off at any of the stops and just wait for the next bus if you want to walk around and see some of the sights up close. Sounds absolutely perfect.

The last "Official" day

I set my alarm for 7:45am to get up and back down to the lobby for the GAP Awards ceremony. Of course when I got there at 5 to 8, nobody was there. Wow...big surprise... A few people made it before 8, but most arrived closer to 8:20. The awards were quite a bit of fun once it got started. I won the first prize for being the "Alpha Male" of the group. What can I say? I'm a leader. :) Other prizes included "Biggest Player" (which I was also nominated for??? I've been told it was due to me being the only guy in the group to consistently be seen talking to various women outside of the group), "Best Dressed", "Worst Dressed", "Drama Queen", etc. We were all tasked with buying a prize for each category. I had to buy the prize for "Most likely to survive a Lydia Nuclear event". Of course the winner was going to be Amanda so I found a nice pink scarf for 30 pesos or about $8 US. It was a very deserving prize. Suzanne even commented that it was a "nice" prize, not a gag prize. Everyone in the group definitely has set their place within the group and the awards were quite appropriate. After the awards, we said goodbye to James (who was still super sick) and Sarah, who were off to New York City. The rest of us packed up and checked out. Justin, Barbara, Thom, and I were heading to Barbara's flat in Palermo Hollywood, Andrew, Hannah, Gary, and Elizabeth were heading to the hostel they were all staying at. And Lydia and Amanda also heading off to their respective hostel. But after getting to our respective accomodations, we'd all reconvene for lunch in Palermo SOHO again. We got to Barbara's flat and it is the cutest little flat you can imagine. 2 story studio. 1 and a half baths, dining area, little kitchen. Cute as hell, but watch out for the low ceilings. Justin has already crowned himself twice going to the bathroom on the 5'9" door frame. The only thing the flat did not have was WIFI. She has high speed internet, but it's hard wired. Justin and I were thinking the same thing as we walked out the door to meet the others for lunch... Wireless router... Little did we know there is a computer store 4 storefronts down. I stopped as we walked past to look in the window and mentally remembered what they had.

We met the others back in Palermo SOHO for a quick lunch. I had a WONDERFUL prosciutto and brie sandwich and a bottle of Agua Mineral sin gas (plain bottled water). The others were unable to check into their hostels so early so after lunch they all departed to do some shopping and check in and Justin, Barbara, Thom, and I walked back to hang out until it was time for Thom to catch a cab to the airport and head home. As we approached Barbara's front door, we made our way back to the computer store a few fronts down and bought a wireless router for 200 pesos. We went back to Barbara's flat with Justin ready to do his thing and set it up. Strangely, the router didn't include an Ethernet cable so Barbara said she'd grab one when she went back to her mom's house to get some clothes after Thom left. We sat around talking for a bit until 6pm when a cab came to take Thom to the airport. 4 down from the group. Thom and I became pretty good friends on this trip and I was sad to see him go. Barbara left soon after Thom to get some clothes and Justin and I stayed at the flat. After a few minutes, Justin decided to take a look for himself and found an Ethernet cable in the back of the closet. SCORE!!! 20 minutes later WE HAD WIFI!!! WHOOP WHOOP! Barbara came back and brought a hammock back with her so we'll soon have a hammock to lounge in with WIFI. HELLOOOO FACEBOOK! ;) We decided to stay in during the evening and Barbara cooked for us. She made ravioli with mushrooms, ham, and green onion in a creme sauce. I thought it was actually quite good even though she said it wasn't. But I know her mentality. If I'm cooking and something doesn't turn out the way I want it to, I also have a tendency to say it's bad, even when other people say it isn't. After dinner, I turned down my futon and got ready for bed though stayed up for a bit typing out a few pages for the blog and get caught up with the last couple of day's events. Tomorrow is the official first day after the tour and while I'm sad to see my friend's leaving, I know that some are still in the city and I'll get to see them before we depart in 4 days.