Author: DawnO

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“I feel lucky every day”

On Sunday I took the bus to Montevideo and was picked up by my friend Javier. I met him and his dad Hugo while walking the Camino de Santiago last year. It’s amazing to think that we only met for 4 days but have stayed in contact. One of the great things about Facebook!

We went straight to the 40th anniversary of Hugo and his wife, which was held at a winery just outside of town. I enjoyed a Uruguyan steak, wine, dulce de leche, and meeting many amazing people who were interested in speaking slow Spanish with me. There were even opera soprano and tenor singers who performed.
I think we look better than we did with hiking clothes and back packs!
I have been lucky enough to be hosted by Javier, his wife Mari-Noella, and his 3 kids (Juan Agustin – 8, Felipe – 6, and Mari-Amelia – almost 2). They live in a huge home with a live in nanny (from Peru) and a pool. The boys have been learning English is school so we practised speaking together. I guess afterwards Juan Agustin said, “Dawn speaks much better English than papa.”. Too cute.
On Monday we drove along the coast of Uruguay past Punta del Este, a beach city. It feels very European here. I kept having to remind myself that we weren’t on the Mediterranean. The coastal views are spectacular and we had the chance to go to a house built by a local artist (looks like a mix between Santorini and Gaudí architecture). We also had the famous Chivita for lunch (a thin, very tender piece of beef in a bun and garnished with lettuce, tomato, cheese, bacon, and a fried egg). I enjoyed spending the day with Javier, Emelia, and Javier’s Uncle Milton.
At one point we were sitting, watching the waves and I said to Javier, “Do you feel lucky to be able to be sitting here?” and he replied, “I feel lucky every day.” Me too. I’m so grateful for this amazing life.
Today I went into the center of Montevideo to check out the ‘old town’ area. It’s a mix of old buildings and new buildings and reminded me a lot of Havana. I was enjoying wandering around until it started to rain in sheets! I took cover in a cafe, then eventually made my way to Javier’s office, lunch, and the airport. I’m ready for the long trip home.
Next blog posts should be from Morocco in February. Hasta luego!
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Colonia

I arrived in Colonia de Sacremento, Uruguay last night and got right into taking some night shots of the beautiful city.

Then I got up early this morning to see the sights without having to fight through the crowds of ‘day trippers’. If you’re ever in Colonia you’ll be glad for this tip!
For lunch I splurged on a patio table in this tiny restaurant right beside the main tourist spot. I felt like I was in a secret garden because I could see these hoards of tourists walking by, but they didn’t notice my little window. At one point a brilliant blue hummingbird flew in and was checking out the plants on the wall beside me. I had the local wine called Tannat and an artesian meat and cheese plate. There was only one thing missing… and he’s singing and dancing on stage in Medicine Hat!
I had a nap in the afternoon to try to shake this cold I picked up, then I spent golden hour listening to a band play in a park.
Tomorrow I’m taking the bus to Montevideo. I’m looking forward to a couple days of reconnecting with my friends Hugo and Javier who I met while walking the Camino last year.

 

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Sunny days, steamy nights

Other than all the learning I’ve been doing, I’ve been able to explore Buenos Aires a bit more.

When I was researching tango shows I had almost given up. The ones that I found all started at 11pm or later and many were in different barrios (neighbourhoods) in the city. If you know me at all, you know that I am not a night owl at the best of times, especially when having to manoeuvre myself in a foreign city (and, disclaimer in case my boss is reading, I wanted a fully rested brain for ideal learning).
On a whim, I searched something like ‘afternoon tango shows’ and came up with Cafe Tortoni. This show starts at 8pm, is in my neighbourhood, is the least expensive of shows I found, and is in a historic cafe with a theatre that seats only 65. Call it kismet.
I’m so glad I went! Check out these artsy photos:
And in case you actually want to see what was going on:
There was a guy who played a big drum with amazing stick work:
And he also spun these long ropes with beads on the end so they sounded like tap dancing when they hit the ground (this was super cool, though, because I was sitting about 5 feet away, my enjoyment was slightly affected my my fear that he was going to accidentally let one go and one would hit me directly in the eye socket):

 

Today when the course ended I took the bus to a famous neighbourhood called La Boca. Though it’s a bit of a tourist trap it was cool to see the painted buildings, some local artists, and one of the beloved futbol stadiums.

Now I’m sitting in the sunshine waiting to board the ferry to Colonia de Sacremento, Uruguay.
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Lessons from Street Art

Yesterday on my way home from my course I went to the Plaza de Mayo, which is the main government square in Argentina.

These benches look like they’re covered in fancy upholstery, but they’re actually decorative concrete.
This afternoon I had the awesome opportunity to do a ‘street art tour’ in a couple of areas in the north of the city. I didn’t realize how much history and political information I would learn from graffiti but I guess when you think about it, it makes sense. People use art to express themselves, so what better way to check the pulse of the people than looking at the street art?
This was one of the most interesting to me:
The ‘ghost-like’ paintings at the top are a well known symbol in Argentina, representing the Mothers of the Plaza de Mayo. We learned that in the late 70s and early 80s, many Argentinians who were vocal against the dictatorship government disappeared. It is believed that they were tortured and killed, though their bodies have not been found.  About 500 of them were young pregnant women. The mothers of many of the missing banded together and protested by silently walking around the Plaza de Mayo wearing cloths on their heads as shown in the painting. They still do this weekly to highlight human rights.
It is believed that the kidnapped pregnant women gave birth, then were killed and their babies adopted to ‘politically agreeable’ families. The Mothers organization has set up DNA testing and have found something like 240 of these missing children.
Pretty moving, especially to think that I am the age of one of these missing children.
The tour also covered numerous sites and a couple of street art galleries.
Even Argentinians know that this US election is crazy…
Otherwise I’ve been filling my brain with great info at my course, and filling my belly with great food! My strategy has been to walk along until I see a restaurant that is filled with Argentinians. This strategy has not disappointed thus far.
‘Break a leg’ to the cast of Rock of Ages, which is starting tonight in the Hat. I know Rob’s going to kill his role as a gay seeming German!!
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Buenos Aires through the blood-shot eyes of a sleepy Canadian

In United Airlines’ defence, I knew they were crappy and I still booked with them. My trip from Medicine Hat to Buenos Aires took a total of 42 hours, 4.5 of which I was able to spend in a horizontal position.  I thought I was in luck because I was upgraded (I thought it was Business, but it was Economy Plus), which I guess was a more comfortable place to spend 3 hours sitting on the Tarmac prior to being herded off the plane, standing in line for 2 hours, sent to a hotel at 4am to get up at 9am to get back to the airport for the noon flight.  As you can imagine, I was pretty tired when I arrived at my guesthouse in the middle of the night on Sunday.

So when I got up this morning I did what I do best – wander around the city on foot. I got my bearings in my neighbourhood, checked into my conference in the fancy waterfront Hilton, then hit up the world’s most beautiful theatre turned bookstore.
Next I headed to the Recoleta cemetery which is filled with elaborate above ground graves, including one housing the remains of Evita.
After sampling some Argentinian wine and snacks at my conference welcome party, I headed back home for an early night to bed. The lit up waterfront reminds me of Vancouver and my ‘theatre district’ neighbourhood is full of nightlife and energy (the opposite of me tonight!!).
Now time for an epic sleep. This brain’s gotta rest so it can take 4 days of learning!

 

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Portlandia

The city of Portland gets a high five, or at least a ‘hang loose’, from us. How could we not love a bike friendly, food mecca, funky city filled with genuinely helpful people?  Many times local folk have come over to strike up a conversation, give recommendations, and help with directions, all with a ‘lovin’ life’ kind of vibe.

Yesterday after another morning tennis match we headed downtown to the converted warehouse area called the Pearl District. We had a heavenly visit to Powell’s book store, one of the largest independent bookstores in the country, where I drooled over the travel section and new releases. We then rode over to Brewcycle, where I had rented us 2 seats on a 15 seater bike brewery tour.  We had an eclectic group made up of 10 people from a social media advertising company (most of which played Pokemon Go while we biked along – “Did you know we’re going slow enough that this is going to count for my walking distance?!”), a couple from LA, a local Portlander, and us! My favorite part of the bike is that the people are the signal lights, so at every turn the people on the appropriate side of the bike had to stick our arms out. We stopped at 3 different breweries for tasters. One of them had ‘reduced gluten’ beer, which has some enzyme in it that destroys the gluten particles. Say what?! So far RobO’s guts are still happy (though his head is NOT due to a bit of a hangover).
Working hard to go up a hill!
Our next stop was tasters and eats a Gluten Free brewery called Ground Breaker.
Our final stop on the day was at the First Thursday festival, an array galleries, art vendors, food trucks, and street performers. After a wander through we enjoyed sitting in a park, spectating a game of bocce, followed by an early night to bed. Beer drinking in the sun takes a lot out of a person!

 

Today has been a relaxed final day in the city: tennis, food trucks, hanging around our funky neighbourhood, Indian food, ice cream. When I suggested this Indian place to RobO and described the location as being right beside the Salt & Straw ice cream shop (see last blog for details) his eyes lit up.  He says, “That’s perfect. If the Indian food is really spicy we can just go next door for ice cream afterwards! It’s like doing jumps with your motorcycle right across the street from the hospital!”  How can I argue with that logic?
In case you’re curious, we each sampled many of the flavours that we didn’t try the last time. The olive oil? Surprisingly good. Fennel and maple? Also good. Vanilla? Boring. We settled on the Cinnamon Snickerdoodle (me) and Freckled Woodblock Chocolate with caramel sauce (RobO).
Tomorrow we fly back to Calgary, then stop off in Drumheller for the Blue Rodeo concert. I guess then back to the grind until next time!
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In our own backyard

We spent this long weekend only about 4 hours from home. Maybe some of these sights will tempt some of our international friends to come visit us and our beautiful Rocky Mountains!

The Baker parents had a condo in Banff for the week, so we spent our first 2 nights with them, waking up in the fresh mountain air. I’ve been wanting to cycle the Legacy Trail from Banff to Canmore, so we set off, pedalling about 25kms to Canmore, stopping for a mocha, then 25kms back. I was riding my mom’s Canadian Tire cheapy tank of a bike, but my dad’s bike had broken down earlier in the week so Rob had to rent one. He was obviously very disappointed in his road bike, which he aptly named ‘Flash’.  I’m pretty sure he pedalled 1 revolution to my 20!
On Sunday we drove to Emerald Lake in Yoho National Park to start a backcountry camping trip. According to RobO’s Rules of Order he will do 1 ‘sleep on the ground’ trip per year, so I cashed in. We hiked up to Yoho Lake, stayed the night in the on and off rain, then packed up and went the loooong way down. We were too lazy to bring our camp stove and fancy gear, opting to bring pizza for supper instead. I think our BP’s bag hanging amongst the nylon, bear proof bags stuffed with dehydrated camping food was the subject of envy from the other campers. Or maybe laughter!
Smiling before we set out!
Not quite so smiley.
Now we’re resting up our tired legs in the airport lounge in Calgary, waiting to board our (of course, delayed Air Canada) flight to Portland, Oregon. We’re looking forward to a couple of days of biking, brew pubs, and food trucks!

 

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Niceland!

Our final 3 days in Iceland have been spectacular!  On Thursday we drove our little rental car (which we’ve named ‘Silver Fox’) up island to an area called ‘The Snaefellsnes Peninsula’, which is filled with colourful harbour towns, lava fields, black sand beaches, and very impressive mountains.  I think we could be categorized as ‘mountain snobs’ given that we frequent the Alberta Rockies, but these Iceland peaks are a must see if you’re coming to Iceland.  There are no trees so they are raw beauty, and the contrast between the sea and the peaks is stunning.  We enjoyed a mostly sunny day driving the loop before tucking into the fishing village of Stykkishólmur.

The next day we saw the views a second time on our way back to Reyjkavik.  For the afternoon we went to a place with a 360 degree view of the city then took an enjoyable walk down to the beach below.  I guess hot dogs are a ‘thing’ here, so I had to try one!  Our evening consisted of trying some Iceladic beer, Thai food, and seeing some of the sights lit up.
We spent our last day relaxing in the Blue Lagoon. A perfect end to a really great vacation!
One last thing…
What a change from the Alberta gas prices we’ve been used to!  Conversion is kroner:dollar 100:1, which means we paid about $55 for 29 litres of fuel!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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The Scandi-native and his wife-sicle!

When we walk into shops here, locals start speaking to RobO in Icelandic! RobO says, “It must be my steel blue eyes and rugged jaw.”. He was joking, but I think he’s right!  I, on the other hand, am clearly not at home here with my chronic toque head and blue lips!

On our Edmonton to Iceland flight we used the ‘life hack’ of selecting the window and isle seats, hoping that no one would pick the single in the middle. High five for us!

We arrived in Reyjkavik at about 8am, which was about 1am our time. In true Olson fashion we tried hard to counteract the jet lag by spending time outside exploring the city and (in desperation) drinking a couple of coffees. Unfortunately it was really cold and we didn’t see the sun, but we were well prepared with our long johns and toques. We made it until about 3:00, when we crashed for a short nap before forcing ourselves to stay up until 9:00.

Today we woke up fresh and did some more exploring. When the sun peeked out for about 10 minutes we rushed up to the steeple of the church and caught some great views. Our next views were at the, um, educational phallological museum.
Tonight we went on our ‘warm baths, cool lights’ tour, which was a visit to a hot springs, a dinner of traditional Icelandic foods, and views of the Northern Lights. Before we left the forecast showed a 100% chance of cloud cover, meaning we wouldn’t be able to see the Aurora Borealis, but amazingly we got to stop twice on the way home to see them dance across the sky. Almost as amazing was the amount of tourists who were trying to take iPhone photos with the flash on. Our pictures aren’t awesome, but you can get the idea!

 

 

 

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If you like piña coladas, getting caught in the rain…

It’s the end of day 3 in Tulum and it has been action packed!

After a very long travel day we had a good night’s sleep in our little condo. The next morning we walked to check out the sights and ended up walking for hours to get to the beach. If getting a sunburn was on the list I checked it off on the first day! We found an amazing local seafood place for dinner that night.
We were a bit smarter on day 2 and took a cab to the Tulum ruins, followed by some beach time. The beach here is beautiful, but very windy every day so far. A definite highlight was drinking piña coladas at a beach bar.
Today we rented bikes and rode out to a cenote, which is an underground river cave area where you can swim and explore.  This one, Gran Cenote, had little turtles swimming around in it. We rode back to town, lunched at a taqueria, then rode to hotel row along the beach. It was cool to see all of the kite surfers until a freak rainstorm had us cowering under trees for shelter.

We are definitely enjoying the hot weather and the chance to practise speaking Spanish. Hasta luego!