hotel art

this enormous painting was behind the desk in the hotel in santa cruz. its weird and fascinating.

From bolivia!

my mom loved it because the horse is painted very life-like. but she wanted me to take a picture of only the left side.

bolivian kid´s prison

From bolivia!

not really a kid´s prison. this is the ticket booth for the stadium in cochabamba.

From bolivia!

rubia y negro

found a local micro-brew in argentina that had beers specific for lkm and me.

From city & country - buenos aires & salta

From city & country - buenos aires & salta

family time

From bolivia!

lkm and i arrived in santa cruz, bolivia, last week. it was the only occasion on our trip that we had someone at the airport picking us up. my folks arrived a day earlier, and we planned to spend a few days around santa cruz before going to cochabamba where my mom´s family is from.

we traveled from santa cruz to concepcion, a pueblo about 5 hours away. there´s a string of jesuit missions in the pueblos of chiuitania. they were built a couple hundred years ago and recently were restored. we were with my mom, dad, tia vicky, and gradfather fernando.

From bolivia!

the missions were made of all wood from the surrounding area. the hand-carved columns were massive. the mission looks even bigger with vicky standing in front... she´s probably 5 ft on a good day. i´m a giant in this family.

From bolivia!

stayed a place with an huge garden, including an orchid greenhouse. this is fer... he wandered around all day looking at the plants and flowers. he´s 94 and healthier than the rest of my family.

From bolivia!

From bolivia!

From bolivia!

From bolivia!

From bolivia!

From bolivia!

old men in front of concepcion mission.

From bolivia!

fer is also a bird whisperer.

From bolivia!

salta

From city & country - buenos aires & salta

salta is in northern argentina. its a region similar to a high desert and looks like the area around new mexico, utah, and colorado. we met up with hunter and nyree (who were on their "luna de miel"), rented a car, and toured around. the region was gorgeous.

From city & country - buenos aires & salta

From city & country - buenos aires & salta

From city & country - buenos aires & salta

the devil´s throat, an astounding dry gorge.

From city & country - buenos aires & salta

the car rental was the way to go. we traveled from salta south to cafayate, a wine producing area. we rented a VW Gol. or GOOOOOAAAAAALLL!!! if you prefer.

From city & country - buenos aires & salta

From city & country - buenos aires & salta

stopped at a winery on the drive. it seemed like the middle of the desert, but after driving a few kilometers off the main road we found vines.

From city & country - buenos aires & salta

From city & country - buenos aires & salta

From city & country - buenos aires & salta

From city & country - buenos aires & salta

cafayate is a dusty little argentine town. good food, dirt roads, and quiet. good place to spend a few days. we rented bikes one day and toured around.

From city & country - buenos aires & salta

From city & country - buenos aires & salta

From city & country - buenos aires & salta

From city & country - buenos aires & salta

gotta play sand if you got a playing surface.

From city & country - buenos aires & salta

we also got hunter and nyree hooked on settlers

From city & country - buenos aires & salta

remote control repairman

have you ever heard of such nonsense before? really now. this really grinded my gears.

From city & country - buenos aires & salta

would you get your news from this guy? he also looks like he giggles everytime he introduces himself.

From city & country - buenos aires & salta

malba

From city & country - buenos aires & salta

malba is the buenos aires museum of modern art. very interesting stuff in the museum. i took this next picture when we got there and was quickly told not to take any pictures. so i only got a few pics. i like this one... a 7 headed person looking at a painting of a 7 headed person.

From city & country - buenos aires & salta

this bench was amazing. its wood planks stretched up and down a floor, connecting to other wood benches on those levels. the wood draped along the walls like spaghetti.

From city & country - buenos aires & salta

found some interesting city trash cans right outside the malba.

From city & country - buenos aires & salta

buenos aires street shots

thought we´d see this sort of thing in bolivia, not buenos aires.

From city & country - buenos aires & salta

in a street market in la boca, lola got friendly with some shopkeepers. she got some training in how to sell knockoff shoes.

From city & country - buenos aires & salta

there were a couple of real life representations of animals throughout the city. here are 2 of our favorites.

From city & country - buenos aires & salta

From city & country - buenos aires & salta

book city

finally uploaded a bunch of pics to picasa. here´s some more of buenos aires.

From city & country - buenos aires & salta

buenos aires is home to the largest book store in south america (maybe the southern hemisphere, i forget). with lkm´s mom and aunt, we spent some of our last day in buenos aires at el ateneo, a converted theater stocked full of books. its lkm´s mom´s dream to work in a book shop like this.

From city & country - buenos aires & salta

the balconies had great little coves to sit and read all day.

From city & country - buenos aires & salta

also found an interesting little lights store in the palermo district of buenos aires. the owner used mesh wire, scrap metal, and beads to make animal lights. i´m trying to convince lkm to abandon her law career and open a shop like this in san francisco or portland.

From city & country - buenos aires & salta

From city & country - buenos aires & salta

the big city

spent a week in buenos aires with lkm´s mom and aunt. the city is huge and lively. tons to do... a week certainly was not enough.

haven´t been able to upload the lionshare of the pics yet, but here´s a few:

giant flower in one of buenos aire´s parks:

From the city and the country - buenos aires and salta

river plate soccer stadium:

From the city and the country - buenos aires and salta

we went to a match- river plate v. estudiantes. it was the end of the season and the match didn´t matter, but the home crowd still turned up in force. flares, banners, and constant singing and chanting. awesome crowd.

famous cemetery in recoleta:

From the city and the country - buenos aires and salta

the cemetery was huge. each grave was more like a small house, or castle. some were over a hundred and fifty years old and included whole family lines. great architecture in a city of the dead.

plaza de mayo in front of the casa roja (argentina´s white house... which is pink).

From the city and the country - buenos aires and salta

its an amazing city and we had a great time with lkm´s family. ate a ton of great food and wandered through buenos aires. more pics to come.