Argentina

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We spent 10 beautiful days, November 5th - 15th, in Argentina visiting 3 cities: Buenos Aires, El Calafate, and Bariloche.  

After a 6 hour flight from Bogota we landed in Buenos Aires.  We stayed for a day in the city in which we walked through the streets of Palermo and had lunch at La Cabrera for some tasty bife de chorizo, chorizos, and Malbec wine.  We met up with our old friend Derek, aka El Chinito, from our tour in Mexico for drinks and fried empanadas which were delish!  The next day we hopped on a plane to El Calafate, a city in Patagonia, Argentina with incredible sunset views of Lago Argentino.  We stayed for 3 days at Blanca Patagonia just a couple of miles from the center of El Calafate.  The food in the town was fantastic with it's rich Italian influence -- we had homemade pastas, fish wrapped in a buttery pastry and cooked in clay, and empanadas (of course), to name a few. On our first day in El Calafate, we took a trip to Los Glaciares National Park to get an up close view of Glaciar Perito Moreno.  On the next day we took a "Safari expedition" to the mountains just outside of El Calafate to explore Patagonia's native wildlife that include Darwin’s Rhea and Guanaco (similar to llamas).  We also stumbled upon a large fossil deposit, thought to have been deposited by moving glaciers, and had a tasty lunch overlooking the mountains while drinking Malbec wine from the region (of course).  Annika quickly befriended our Safari driver.

We then flew to Bariloche, a city in the province of Río Negro, Argentina, situated in the foothills of the Andes on the southern shores of Nahuel Huapi Lake.  We stayed at the wonderful Lirolay Suites on the shores of Lake Nahuel Huapi.  The food again was incredible, especially at La Salamandra Pulpería where we had ojo de bife, empanadas, and choripan accompanied with Malbec wine of course.  We rented a car and on our first day we drove to the outskirts of Bariloche around Lago Moreno with incredible views of the mountains and lakes.  The next day we took a longer drive through Villa La Angostura, a small and beautiful town with a nice downtown and a European ski resort feel to it, and later along Siete Lagos road (7 lakes drive).  This road is filled with breathtaking views of snow capped mountains and clear water lakes and goes along the shores of the Espejo, Correntoso, Villarino and Falkner lakes.  Annika especially enjoyed throwing rocks at one of our many stops along the lakes.  

On our last day in Argentina we flew back to Buenos Aires and explored the Puerto Madero neighborhood where we met up with an old high school friend of mine, currently working in BA as CFO of an oil company (dealing with lovely unions) We had lunch there -- one last bife de chorizo and Malbec wine (of course).

We highly recommend this trip to our family and friends and if we continue to stay in this continent, will definitely head back.

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Buenos Aires
El Calafate
Bariloche

El Calafate
El Calafate
El Calafate
El Calafate
Her new friend
Her new friend
Los Glaciares National Park - Glacier Perito Moreno
Julia eating an olive!
On a 'Safari expedition' just outside of El Calafate
Bariloche - Lift in Cerro Campanario
Bariloche - Cerro Campanario
Bariloche - Road trip through 7 lakes drive
Bariloche - Road trip through 7 lakes drive
Bariloche - Road trip through 7 lakes drive
Bariloche

Videos below

Bariloche - Annika throwing rocks
El Calafate - Los Glaciares National Park
Just shy of the end of the video you can hear the sound of thunder from ice falling into the lake
Bariloche - Road trip through 7 lakes
El Calafate - Hiking towards fossil deposit

Halloween at the Embassy

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Got a lot of catching up to do as it has been a bit since our last post.  For Halloween, we headed to the US Embassy for a little trick or treating.  Embassy was very kind in keeping with this tradition so that American's posted abroad can participate, although, Bogota also celebrates Halloween, or Dia de los Niños as it is called here.  Annika was dressed as a mariposa.

Salt Cathedral of Zipaquirá

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Just outside of Bogota is a town called Zipaquirá known for an underground Roman Catholic church built within the tunnels of a salt mine.  Before the church was built, the miners had carved a sanctuary as a place for their daily prayers before going to work.  Construction of the church began in 1950 and was completed in 1954, and dedicated to Our Lady of Rosary, Patron saint of miners.  With Suzan in town, we decided to do something touristy and took her out for a short adventure.

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Isla de Providencia

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For the July 4th (long) weekend, we travelled to Providencia, a small Caribbean island that's close to Nicaragua but officially part of Colombia. Annika took to the calm beaches and warm water...and enjoyed seafood at every meal--fish, Caribbean lobster, shrimp, octopus, and calamari. We stayed at the Hotel Deep Blue, which is not a beachfront property but which has an incredible view of the very picturesque Crab Cay. With almost no internet service and little cell phone reception, it was a true getaway, and well worth it.

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Below is the video of our trip or you can click here.

Texas Visit June 2017

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After 3 tours or roughly 6 years of living at high altitude and in eternal spring, we decided to spend 2 weeks in South Texas during the month of June to remember what heat and humidity feels like.  Every day during our visit the high temperatures were at or above 100F and on one special day McAllen, Texas hit a record all time high of 111F.  We found shelter from the heat by spending some days at the beach in South Padre Island, driving to Blue Hole in Wimberly, Texas, and visiting a friend's swimming pool.  Cigars, scotch, and dominos were still played outside but we just had to wait till the cooler late afternoon.  Annika of course loved Abu's cooking, Vince's special pancakes, and took kindly to a medium-rare tenderloin steak.

It was great to visit the family but thinking our next trip will not be during summer months -- basically April through September.

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South Padre Island
South Padre Island

Video with the Cubans below or click here to view.

Drone footage of South Padre Island below or click here to view.

Video of Blue Hole in Wimberly, Texas below or click here to view

Villa De Leyva May 2017

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Slowly, slowly, we're getting out to see various parts of Colombia. We took a one-night spur-of-the-moment trip to Villa de Leyva in May. Its whitewashed colonial buildings made for a refreshing backdrop, and we spent the two days more or less just meandering through the small town. We also took a field trip to El Infiernito pre-Columbian archaeological site with its...em, "monuments". We stayed at the Casa Terra and would highly recommend it.

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Video link here

Christmas and New Years Vacation

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We spent the holidays in South Texas, Christmas in McAllen and New Years in Austin.  While "winter" in South Texas can range in temperatures from 30F - 90 F, the change was welcomed.  Once again Annika loved Abu's cooking and once again she loved "mi boat".  Oh and my lovely wife got me a new toy for Christmas!!

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Videos Below

Austin Visit

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Annika and I left the family in McAllen and drove up to Austin to meet up with Michelle, Vince, and Julia, who was in town to celebrate her birthday.  Along with eating a ton of great food in Austin, we enjoyed taking Annika trick-or-treating for Halloween, visiting Lady Bird Johnson Wildflower Center, and watching Tio Vince and Annika paint.  Annika was also estatic to ride mi boat (my boat) down the Colorado River.  

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Videos below

McAllen Visit 2016

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Annika and I spent a week in McAllen to visit the family.  Annika of course devoured every meal made by her Abu, and enjoyed running on the tall Texas grass, naps with Abuelo, playing with her cousins, and more of Abu's food.  Even though I had to work during the week, I was still able to enjoy quality time with my parents (playing dominos and smoking cigars) and family.

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Pereira, Colombia

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For Columbus Day weekend, we took a trip to Pereira, Colombia located in the foothills of the Andes in a coffee producing area called the Coffee Axis (eje cafetero).  To get away from the city life here in Bogota, we stayed at Sazagua hotel located just outside of the city with beautiful gardens, tropical flowers, and a nice pool which Annika loved.  Although it rained just about every day, we did take a couple of excursions: Cocora Valley, Aguas Claras Nature Reserve with its wax palm trees (the national tree and symbol of Colombia), lunch on the bank of the Aguas Claras creek that included delicious tamales, drinking the best coffee at Jesus Martin in Salento, and finally to Don Manolo Coffee Farm where we saw the coffee fields, harvesting, and processing of Colombian coffee.

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Sazagua Hotel
Sazagua Hotel
Aguas Claras Nature Reserve
Aguas Claras Nature Reserve
Aguas Claras Creek
Coffee shop Jesús Martín
Salento
Don Manolo Coffee Farm
Don Manolo Coffee Farm
Don Manolo Coffee Farm
Sazagua Hotel

Annika's First Haircut

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Tired of Annika's hair constantly getting in her face, and her giving us a hard time combing it, we decided it was time for Annika's first haircut.  Julia found a place especially tailored for toddlers and their tantrums, where kids sit in little cars and watch TV while the hairdresser cuts their hair.  SUCCESS!!

Before the haircut on mama's lap, watching Dora!
Still watching Dora...
Comfortable enough to sit in a car and still watching Dora (the only way this gets done)
The Result

Annika's Rocking Chair

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The Grand MiMi (Suzan) gifted Annika a rocking chair that she had personalized with Annika's name.  Annika, however, wanted to take part in the creative process and was not content until she, too, had personalized her rocking chair.  So the Grand MiMi helped Annika paint the back of the chair, and Annika proudly points to her artwork nearly every day.

A couple of videos...