Life in the Pacific Northwest: South America

Craig and I were lucky enough to have a dream become a reality. It all started 37 years ago when Craig was born in Bariloche, Argentina. His family was living there for a year while his dad had a job assignment there. Being married into the Simmons family now for 12 years I have enjoyed hearing the stories from their experiences while living there. Craig and I thought it would be great to go and see the area with his parents and any siblings that could make it. So last month we went to Argentina with Craig's dad and mom, two older sisters, and their spouses!!

We all flew to Dallas on a Thursday to take the international flight to Buenos Aires. I have now had that experience of 'trying' to sleep on an overnight international flight......I don't think I need to comment any further.

We arrived in Buenos Aires Friday morning. (It's a 4 hour time difference for Craig and I). While driving into the city we were told that 2 million people drive into the city everyday. It was 'entertaining' to witness how they drive.....inches away from the other car, in between lanes, with mopeds whizzing by. We were very glad we didn't get a rental car for this city!

After we checked into our hotel we went out to see the sites. We walked down to La Casa Rosada - resident of the president of Argentina on the Plaza de Mayo where they have political demonstrations.

We walked up and down the famous Calle Florida. It is a street stickly for walking and shopping-no cars drive on it. It was fun to watch the various street entertainers. One was a band that had a Jamaican sound.

We really enjoyed watching the tango dancers!

My pictures don't do justice. It was amazing how many people were there!! It seemed we were always walking against the crowd. Plus the buildings kept going and going.

Saturday morning we flew to Bariloche! What a surreal moment to finally be in this place. We stayed in this nice hosteria. We chose to eat lunch at Tarquino down the street. It was a unique restaurant with amazing wood work. We choose a table in an upper loft.

So there are many stray dogs in Bariloche. I had to take a picture of this moment where one dog is sleeping on the sidewalk while another is looking for food.

Downtown Bariloche is very touristy. There are many cute shops. -One had my name-

There is Swiss influence in the city- from the architecture to chocolates. La Mamuschka was the first chocolate shope we went to.

We were amazed that the clinic where Craig was born was on the same street of our Hosteria. It has changed a lot, but it's the place. We all had fun telling the locals that Craig was born here 37 years ago. They were surprised and called him El Barilochense.

This is it. The house the family stayed in 37 years ago. It was even for sale! We couldn't believe it. Since no one was living there we got to walk around the property and take pictures, and reminisce. What a fun moment.

This is Lake Nahuel Huapi that their house overlooks. They came down here a lot to play when they were little.

We drove out to the famous beautiful Llao-Llao hotel at the other end of the lake outside of Bariloche.

On our drive back we felt like walking a bit and seeing a river-Cerro Lopez.

Can I just say this part of the world -the Patagonia area- is breathtaking. This is a photo looking down of the other side of Llao-Llao

While we drove towards the Cerro Tronador (Thundering mountain) we drove through the real Bariloche. It makes we realize how blessed we are in this country. The poor here are rich compared to other countries.

We saw Cascada Los Alerces-some beautiful waterfalls. The water was an amazing turquoise blue. At this point we were close to the border of Chile.

Our last day in Barioche we drove to Cerro Catedral, the largest ski area in South America. We took a tram up to the Refugio Punto Nevada for some scenic views....and hot chocolate and alfajores in the ski lodge. It was quite windy and chilly.

Tuesday night we all flew back to Buenos Aires. Craig and I decided to zip over to Uruguay Wednesday morning to spend some time there. This is where Craig served his mission. We knew we shouldn't pass up this opportunity while we were down there.

We took an hour boat ride from Buenos Aires to Colonia. Then got on a bus for a two hour ride to Montevideo. Colonia was Craig's first area where he served! It was fun for him to drive through this area. The bus even drove past the church he went to.

In Montevideo we stayed in a hotel on the main downtown street, 18 de Julio. So again, we checked into our hotel and was off walking around seeing the area. It was fun to compare the architecture to that of Buenos Aires. You could definitely see the Spain influence in their buildings. We enjoyed the statues and parks, and stores of the downtown.

This picture is taken infront of the plaza where Craig spent his last day of his mission-where he did his last minute shopping and ate his last meal!

One of the few horse pulled wagons where the kids had their 'finds' from the trash.

So Craig had a Uruguayan companion that currently lives outside of Montevideo, but he works in the city. So Wednesday after work he came to our hotel and the three of us took a taxi to his home. We took the scenic route along the beaches of Montevideo. We also drove by the mission home where there is now a temple on that block.

It was so much fun to meet Aldofo's family! We got a kick out of how similar our families are. They got married the same year as us, have four kids, he serves in the bishopric, and she in the primary!

Their daughter, Julianna, was a hoot. That's her doing Craig's hair. She was NOT shy. She did our hair, brought me flowers, taught we Spanish words, etc. We spent the whole evening there and dinner with them. Around 10 we headed back to our hotel so we could get back to Buenos Aires the next morning.