Yesterday

Here's what we did yesterday... it was a very full day of preparing for my boyfriend's solo art exhibit, Mind Your Hands, at Galeria Popa in Buenos Aires.  I can't reveal all the details but I can show you some of these photos.  We have a few more full days to go before the show opens on Saturday!

Walked about 12 blocks to the nearest bus.

Stopped by the shop/garage that is making the vinyl letters for the show.

Walked to the best restaurant in the neighborhood and got choripan
(cheap, GOOD, family owned, and have home made hot sauce).

Jojo (one of the gallery owners) and Nena (the dog) joined us for lunch (almuerzo in Spanish).

Walked to the frame shop and stopped to take a picture of ourselves walking down the street, at my moms request!

For 50 pesos ($12usd) we arranged for this truck - which seriously looked like what Gonzo and Camilla
would drive in The Muppets- to meet us at the framers and drive the art back to the gallery. 

Some guys helped load up the art into the truck.

 

A muppet looking dog whimpered to us from a balcony.

None of these are Mike's so we cleared out the gallery space to make room for the arriving prints.  More to come!  

After a long days work, we attended another artists opening in the Palermo neighborhood.

The crowd - dressed to impress.

It felt like we were inside a Sephora bag...the stripes were cool.

BACK in South America

Wow I haven't updated this in a long, long time.  That's because I thought our travel adventures were coming to an end but I was wrong.....  I am writing this entry from the 10th floor of an apartment building in Buenos Aires after arriving here only a few days ago from California.  

View from our room.

We flew home from Argentina about a month ago, even traveled to Hawaii for 10 days, San Francisco for one week and back to Los Angeles before getting on another flight back to Buenos Aires.

We are here because Mike has been offered to have a solo art exhibition at Galeria Popa in La Boca, Buenos Aires!  It feels great to be traveling like normal people - staying in an apartment with no huge backpacks on our backs.  Right now we are spending our days preparing for the show at the gallery... more to come!

La Boca, Buenos Aires.

Alfajores..anyone??

por favor, muy rico!

San Telmo, Buenos Aires

After spending one night at a "party hostel" where we tried to get a job, we decided that it would be much more cost effective and suit our lifestyle better if we rented a room in an apartment.  We actually found this apartment on Craigslist...it was perfect!  In a great neighborhood called San Telmo, right next to the subway train, near markets and stores, etc.  Minus the fact that we had to push two twin sized beds together to sleep, this place was wonderful for us!

Show tunes anyone?  Our neighbor across the way was always playing his piano and we were told sometimes in the nude!

Defensa Street Antique Market was within short walking distance from the house.

Lake Titicaca, Bolivia

Lake Titicaca....yes I do giggle every time I say it...ha!  The lake is the worlds highest, 12,500ft, as well as South Americas largest!  We made our way to the lake from Peru as we headed into Bolivia because the  lake sits on the Peruvian/Bolivian border and it was very interesting to see prices of everything DRAMATICALLY DROP and the ways of life change once we arrived in Bolivia.  We spent a few nights enjoying the views of the lake from our room in Copacabana, Bolivia.

As we arrived in Copacabana you can bet that all the backpackers were singing that tune...

Copacabana, Bolivia.

map.

The view of Lake Titicaca from our room!

Inside our room...under $20..not so bad.

Cholitas (older women wearing this exact outfit).  These women were dressed exactly the same and they were everywhere!  Mini bowler hat, cardigan, huge skirt with a baby or goods to sell slung to their backs with traditional woven fabric.  I considered making this a fashion statement back at home....but decided against it!

Near by outdoor cafe.  I want this swing chair!

Getting some sun and coffee at the cafe.

Mas cholitas.

This woman was took her Alpaca under cover when an unexpected hail storm arrived.  Alpacas are SO CUTE and soft!

I pulled this photo off the web so you can see how cute they are!

This is the Bolivians way of crossing the lake.  Yes, that is our bus...the green one on a floating wooden platform.  Good thing they had us get off the bus and cross in separate boats, yikes.

Salt Flats - Bolivia

We took an amazing tour of the salt flats, geysers, hot springs, mountains, desert, flamingo lagoons in a three day tour in a '95 Land Cruiser with a couple of Italians, a Brazilian, Chilean and Argentinean (who all loved reggae and singing songs in the car...which drove us crazy)...which I am surprised that we made it out of that car ride alive with the way the Bolivian guide would drive!

Abandoned train that used to carry salt and other exports to Uyuni, Bolivia.

Before stepping onto the salt flat we were taken to a village where each building and even the furniture was made out of salt blocks.

The salt got to this truck.

Tours of Land Cruisers were everywhere - this one was leaving the flats.

Walking on the salt flat with about 2" of warm water covering the entire flat.

One of the many flamingo lagoons we saw during the tour.  I had never seen flamingos in the wild and were surprised to see them flourish in such cold weather.

Desert rocks.

Mike and I looking at one of the flamingo lagoons...it was freezing!

Geysers at 4 am.