jojojo!!!!!

santa clause came this year all the way from pinamar, argentina to villavicencio, colombia!! on christmas eve we had a wonderful time, great food, lots of gifts for the kids and the visit from this charming character from the south pole :-)

back in colombia

on the way back from argentina to panama we stopped for a week in colombia and we were lucky to spend the christmas week with my family in the farm. we had a great and very relaxed time. we continued eating as much as we were eating in argentina... we also said good bye to the long running showers with water from the spring and generally tried to enjoy to the last drop the last days with family and the luxuries of land life before going back to our boat.

pinamar

definitely the main attraction of our trip to argentina. this is not the place where esteban was born, or the city where he has lived most years of his life, but for some reason, which i now understand, it is the place esteban always refers to as his hometown. the town is small almost all year round, but it quadruples its size during the summer season specially in january and february. tourists from all over argentina come to this wonderful place to enjoy their summer vacation. the beaches are quite nice, the houses are spectacular, the neighborhoods are full of green, the shoppes, stores and restaurants come to live and the sand dunes are something hard to describe, not to mention they are a great playground for the motorbikes!! we visited the many little cities around as well such as carilo, madariaga, mar de las pampas, valeria and ostende among others and they are all surrounded by the same beautiful flat lands of the country side. all the sights are really out of this world. but the highlight of the place is the people that live in it, specially the family and friends that made our stay an amazing one and to all of them many thanks for that!

port of mar del plata

this is the artisan port within the main commercial port. it is where the local and traditional fishermen work. it is a very picturesque place with a very distinct and nasty fish smell coming mostly from the sea lions that are quite the show; specially when the street dogs get close to them and try to bark them away. we must have spent an hour at least watching the lions getting some sun in the pier and fighting the dogs back.




the orange fishing boats supposedly do not go out very far into the ocean because of the tough sea conditions in this part of the world. the "sudestadas" or strong storms with gale winds from the south east get really nasty. it is said that every year some of these boats vanish with the storms and never come back. during easter, the families and folks that did make it back to shore, throw flowers to the ocean as a tradition to honor the fishermen that did not make it through the storm. i was actually very curious and wanted to see a sudestada in the time we were in the coast but, was fortunate enough to have had a beautiful and calmed weather all the time.

the happy city

mar del plata is a summer city in the atlantic coast four hours south of buenos aires. it is the biggest summer spot in argentina today and was also the preferred vacation destination for the argentinean aristocracy during the last century. this is evidenced by the architecture that is still intact and the most magnificent and solid houses like those seen in european destinations in travel magazines. i adored this city and its vibe (not for nothing i think its referred to as la feliz -the happy city-) and would even like to think of coming sailing to this place; if it were just a little closer to the equator and warmer of course!

la plata

talk about going to unexpected places..... we ended up in this city accompanying ale to a friend's graduation, and I am so glad we went!!!! not only we had a great time but we met really nice people and ended up visiting one of the biggest and most amazing cathedrals i have ever visited. some european churches are really minuscule compared to this one. turns out this cathedral is the second largest in america and the towers are over 112 meter of altitude. what a surprise, in la plata, argentina, who would have thought..!

carilo

carilo is a small town within pinamar. it is a beautiful little village with unpaved streets, forests and very big summer houses. there are no street lights in order to preserve the natural aspect of the place. my parent's in law sonia and barco took us on a tour around the town. we had lunch, walked...froze a little (it was still cold) and took advantage of the beautiful craft shops to get ahead on the christmas shopping...

buenos aires

after spending months in panama and at sea, we arrived to this huge but amazing city in argentina. buenos aires is among the 10 largest cities in the world and it definitely feels like it when you are walking on the streets. we enjoyed the now so distant city life, the shoppes, the restaurants, but mostly the time we spent with friends and family. agus, noe, cata and juan a special thank you for making your home ours!!

argentina !!!

home away from home. we went to argentina for several weeks to get my argentinean passport and also visit family and esteban's old and my new friends. in all we spent 50 days in this amazing country and simply had a superb time with everyone. esteban had not been back home for many years so it was very pleasant for me to see his happy face seeing his town all over again, all the changes, his old room and stuff, and of course his friends and family. at the end, the 50 day stay we originally felt to be too long to leave our boat, became a very short stay. time really flies when you are having so much fun!

pie de limon

as the final days approached before leaving panama to argentina we had to completely finish our food supplies in order not to leave any for possible rottens during the two months the boat was to be alone (not that we had so much food left to begin with).... and as you can imagine in a boat we do not have all the kitchen utensils one would need to make pastries and all sorts of fancy food... so we have to be creative and use what we have :-) at the end, using the tools at hand and two left over lemons we created lunch, which was a healthy and really delicious lemon pie!!!

the making:



the result:

red frog marina

the end of october was approaching and we needed to fly to argentina soon; so we moved the boat from the anchorage in bocas town in isla colon to the beautiful red frog marina in isla bastimentos. this marina has exelent facilities and the most amazing beaches just minutes away walking or going by dinghy. this marina will be home to puerto seguro for the next couple of months while we fly to argentina and then to colombia for christmas.

video of the marina:



video of the beach:

cayo nancy

another beautiful cay in the bocas del toro area. while snorkeling and trying to catch dinner esteban spotted a big shark, he couldn't tell which one it was, but he was certainly on board of the dinghy in no time after seeing the scary animal.... and with no dinner. i think we had pasta that night. because this cay is just across carenero we went on a short dinghy ride to swim and enjoy the sights!!

isla carenero

isla carenero is a small island across isla colon. the pickled parrot has the best burgers and pineapple juice and the beach is surrounded by swamps but pretty nice. a great place to spend the day!