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I was up early and decided to go for a ride on the way to the office. I found an amazingly beautiful beach called Cahoon Hollow. Weather was hot and the sun was bright, and it wasn’t even 9am! Cape Cod is such a beautiful place to be in the summer, especially the less touristy Outer Cape.
the vertical dunes / my feet sink in the sand / master cleanse day three
FYI I don’t have lice, but we found this product at the local pharmacy!
Here’s a sampling of some photos from my trip to Bariloche. The bulk of the photos are online here. I went to Bariloche, Chocolate capital of the lakes region of Argentina. My week there was absolutely beautiful. Then I crossed the border (and the Andes mountains) into Chile to renew my passport. The whole trip was full of breathtaking vistas: mountains, lakes, waterfalls, volcanoes, animals. From Puerto Varas, Chile, I went back Bariloche and caught a bus to Puerto Madryn on the east coast. I was able to visit some friends there and also see the largest penguin colony in South America in Punto Tombo.
I can’t believe it has taken so long to go to a fútbol / soccer match! But finally I went with some friends to the first game of the season, Boca Jr’s vs. Argentinos Jr’s at the Diego Armando Maradona stadium, which happens to be the smallest stadium in the city. It was a really entertaining game (final score 2-2), though we spent way too much money to sit on the Argentinos side (Boca is the favorite and has the craziest fans). But half the fun is being surrounded by the ardent fans, cheering, swearing, chanting, singing. I want to keep an eye out for a Boca Jr’s / River Plate match, South America’s answer to the Red Sox / Yankees rivalry. That game outta be great. GOL!!!!!!!!!
Well, it’s done.
Two months after my minor back pain turned to severe ciatica, I hobbled my way to a Diagnostic Clinic and got an MRI that showed 2 herniated discs / one ruptured. I don’t have health insurance, so I had to weigh the pro’s and con’s of South American health care versus returning to the states. This weekend, more than three months after the MRI, I got micro-discectomy surgery at Hospital Rivadavia, here in Buenos Aires. The hospital is ugly but charming, public and free, and the doctors are good. They took out part of the disc that had ruptured and has been pressing against my nerve. Not sure what caused it, something in the gym or years of bad posture working in an office maybe, probably both. Now I’m home recuperating, resting, ordering ice cream delivery and enjoying air conditioning. And yes mom, I’ll continue to take my vitamins.
Meandering across the mighty and murky mouth of the Rio de la Plata, by ferry, I made my second trip to Uruguay last month. Bakersfield’s own Taylor Hurst had been visiting, and got it in his head that three weeks in pre-summer Uruguay was a good idea. So after talking him off that ledge, he crossed over for about a week. Nicole “If you steal my rocking chair you’re going down” Contos and I met up with him in Montevideo. It’s a tame enough town, lot’s of trees. We found an old marketplace near the port that had been renovated into various eateries, and feasted on some Uruguayan asado. A local we met on a bus had insisted that their beef was better than “ours” (Argentina’s) so we had to put it to the test. Viva la Argentina! After 2 nights and a thwarted effort to mingle with the second princess of llamas, we headed east. Bussing up the Costa del Oro, we arrived in Punta Del Este, the beach resort where I would vacation each summer if I was a wealthy Argentine. Loved all the modern boxy houses. Summer is a beautiful time to be at Bikini Beach, or stalking Shakira in Jose Ignacio. We were in town just before the Christmas rush of tourists, and most establishments remained closed. We rented a small Chevy, picnicked on the coast near some caves, visited Casapueblo (designed by an architect friend of Picasso), and generally ran amuck.
My corset photo was something of a shocker to my friends and family. “Sullen, gaunt, possessed” to quote a few. Note to self: stop taking photos at 3AM, tired and unbathed… unless of course I’m smiling. Hence this mini gallery of recent, post-corset shots stolen from facebook.
