Bariloche- Patagonia!

So we went on one of our last adventures within Argentina recently.
When we arrive here in Buenos Aires, everyone told us to go and visit San Carlos de Bariloche. They said it was just one of those amazing locations.
We wanted to go there for skiing in our first year, but it didn't happen because of the Volcano eruption in the Andes in 2011 and it poured ash all over Bariloche- it was even effecting flights in airports in Sydney at the some the ash was carried so far! So we waited.

Breakfast by the fire in our mountain cabin!

This trip to Bariloche (Patagonia) was AWESOME! We relaxed and enjoyed ourselves sooooooo much!! It is a must go to destination! absolutely! wow! So so beautiful!
If you are reading this and thinking of visiting- we rented an awesome place just off the Circuito Chico which was fantastic! We rented through www.airbnb.com which has some INCREDIBLE accommodations for great prices!
We stayed here - https://www.airbnb.com/rooms/1007015

and TOTALLY recommend!! that coolest place- it's own little fire place and the view from the bedroom was amazing! We were so snuggly warm and felt so close to the mountains and nature but having all the comforts! I totally recommend!

We also rented a car which is something else I recommend people do! It gave us complete freedom and it is incredible to drive around! We also miss driving together since we don't have a car here in Argentina. So it was great to sit back together and drive in some of the most scenic routes I have ever seen!! The alpine forests were gorgeous to stroll through and we loved the freshness.

Haha! Our awesome rented car

Now, we went in low season, as it wasn't snowing, but wintery and cold. We had a couple of spectacular blue sky days that were nothing short of amazing! We also got days of rain, but snuggled near the fire, found a day spa to relax in and spent lots of time going for tea and treats and some amazing chocolate shops!! So so very yummy!

You must check ourt Rapa Nui- http://www.chocolatesrapanui.com.ar
Some of the best chocolate I have had in a loooonnng time- definitely the best I have had in Argentina (which is not big into good quality chocolate here in Buenos Aires).

So it was a wonderful 5 days of sipping mate, small walks, relaxing and waking up to incredible views! We loved eating all the smoked trout! wow! it is so good!! We ate at some great restaurants! I have some suggestions:
- La Salamandra Pulperia- our favourite!
- Berlina- German beer house and great food!
- Rapa Nui- some of the best ice cream and chocolate I have ever had
- Holly Restobar- great for lunch, right on the water views! gorgeous (good banana smoothie)

I cannot say enough how awesome Bariloche is! We felt so refresh after the mini break away! It is so clean and beautiful!

Now being back a month since the trip- I am missing that time. It was so so beautiful and freeing. We are so blessed to be able to duck off to places like this. It was easy to fly to Bariloche from Buenos Aires and quick too! Not expensive at this time of year for flights too.

Punto Panoramico- Amazing view point- came here a few time to sit and sip maté

It was pretty amazing stoking up the fire in the morning, doing yoga, drinking yummy herbal teas and breathing in fresh air to some of the most impressive views!
I will always remember this cruisy cool time in the Andes mountains, surrounded by gorgeous lakes and together with my amazing man!

This kind of seems more like a location/holiday review than our personal experiences.. but I will let our photos speak for themselves-
Here are some little snippets that we cheekily got up to:

Llao Llao 5 star Hotel

- We went to Llao Llao hotel which is a 5 star hotel- we went there just to walk in and have a look and see the view while having lunch in their fancy dining terrace. It was a pretty impressive place to walk into. It helped speaking english and looking like tourists, as they were very welcomed. haha! The salad bar lunch was incredible!! amazing cheeses and salads and smoked trout of course! okay okay- enough about the food...

Llao Llao

- The gelato/ice cream at Rapa Nui will be a memory forever- The 80% dark chocolate flavour with the lemon pie (layered on top with fresh italian meringue like a real lemon pie) was incredible!! incredible!
We sat in the cafe as we ordered ice cream, and then hand picked truffles and chocolates and then fancy herbal teas... we sat in the warm on a comfy sofa with a huge screen in there watching one of the important Barcelona games.. the place filled with locals doing the same as us, to escape the cold, eat some sweet treats and catch one of the favourite futbol clubs in Argentina (thanks to Mesi, the famous Argentine player for Barcelona).

- Showing up at La Salamandra Pulperia restuarant around 10pm and discovering the place is packed with people, so no tables except a small coffee table with a small sofa for two (we grabbed it) and enjoyed talking about our future and relaxing and ordering the yummiest salad and mushrooms on damper toast. So yum and so fun and so together.

- Just driving and stopping and getting our and googling in awe at the view and mountains before us and then jumping back in the car and driving 2 minutes up the road and finding an even more jaw dropping view.. haha.. great times

- Waking up together and opening the curtain in front of us and having snowy capped mountains saying good morning to us while snuggling under the covers. It was like being in a movie! too perfect

- Smoked trout- this must be the 50th time I have mentioned it- but we LOVE fish and smoked trout here is the real deal! so fresh

- Fires! I love fires! and I have never stayed in a place with our own little fire place. Or we would find a cool place for lunch and their would be a roaring fire to welcome us. So good

View from our bed!

Simple lunch of smoked treats in our cabin by the fire! mmmm

- We drove on a dirt road for twenty minutes thinking we were going to get the car stuck in all the mud, but made it to this little mountain village called 'Colonia Suiza' which was a village colonised originally by the swiss. We enjoyed the markets and little shops and lunch and we bought 3 amazing rustic wooden boards for chopping or serving. They are our Argentine pieces. real special and will always make us think of this time in our lives.

Okay I could keep going but will end it here.
xo
Love Miki

Wow! It is 2013!!

I can't believe it has been MONTHS since our last update! I think I have been avoiding the update due to the fact that there is just TOO MUCH to update about!
So I have wacked together a video to sum up our 2012 travels. Please keep in mind that it is full of our random memories and I really hope you enjoy!

Well I hope this is the start to being a frequent updater of our blog! Because life here in Argentina is still happening!
We frolicked across the globe for 2 months in Dec to Feb and have so much to catch up about!!
So stay tuned people!
Hope you enjoy our crazy video with some fun footage of the places we travelled and explored last year!
Big hugs,
~ Miki
xo

Video Episode No. 1- Our travels living in Argentina!

So over the last two years living and travelling in South America, we have taken 1000's of photos and a couple of random videos along the way on our cameras and mobile phone.

Here is our very first 'Travel Diary- Part 1- Travels in 2011'

I thought over each year I could edit up the footage and put it together so we have a visual and fun memory of where we adventured too!

My aim is to include our own music (quite random and made spontaneously...) and all photos and video is our own.

Be warned- This first video is really quite random- but every time we watch it, it makes us laugh and has a lot of funny meaning!

(You can click on it will take you to youtube.com to view it if that is better?)

Hope you enjoy- and in the next couple of weeks, Part 2 for 2012 travels will come out soon!

Big hugs,
~ Miki

A School Tour, Uruguay & A New Season

Awesome sunset in Uruguay!

So to catch up on the last 2 months since arriving back after our amazing trip to Brazil (and now in October- my heart tells me I should still be playing and having fun in Brazil! haha)

Driving on the bus through beautiful wintery Cordoba

August was a month of the blues- not blue skies but hard work at school which was much more stressful than it ought to have been and also no sunny days. It rained or was overcast here in Buenos Aires for the whole month! Everyone was walking around dragging their feet- I thought I would have been refreshed after the holidays, but work and school hit everyone pretty hard. It was busy busy and cold. Doesn't sound like the exotic latin life does it? But that is life and the seasons it brings.
Life now here is very normal and all the travel we do it the exotic part!

So I have named this post 'A school tour, Uruguay and a New Season'- I will highlight these three areas below:

A School Tour- La Gira de Musica - Cordoba, Argentina  

(The Music Tour to Cordoba Argentina)

My beautiful students for the Junior Music Tour- At one of our school concerts in Rio Cuarto, Cordoba

So last year I had proposed to St George's College to organise a Choir and Music Tour within Argentina. This was approved and this year has been big efforts to pull off a successful trip! As I was planning and getting students signed up- I realised all the other tours on at the same time across the secondary school. It meant that during the week I was given to take the students on tour, only the ES1 and ES2 (years 7 & 8) students were available to go. All the other years had things on. So I changed the idea to a 'junior music tour,' which was awesome! I rounded up a talented group of 26 students (12 and 13 year olds) who Chris and I had trained up in bands and as soloists. We also joined all the students together to form a choir and we rehearsed after school to learn contemporary style music that young kids have fun listening to and singing along to. And given the limited amount of time we had to prepare the music, the songs had to be well known and relatively easy. 

I pull the funniest faces when conducting!

The school promotions officer has also helped me out by connecting me with schools that were linked with St George's- these schools were in Cordoba, a province (or state) in the centre of Argentina. So on a big big bus, we all went on our Music Tour- performing and singing and having fun activities! We drove 10hours on a saturday night, and returned home to Buenos Aires on the Thursday- It was a short tour with only 4 days to do performances.

The tour was a huge success and a real highlight for the year for me! I am so so proud of these students and it is such a big milestone for a music department to host something like this when we began with nothing- and I literally mean nothing! It is a big fulfilling feeling seeing where Chris and I have brought the music departments in both the primary and secondary within less that 2 years. Not meaning to blow my trumpet and pat ourselves on the back- It feels good when we have worked so hard and to have students engaged and loving music at the school is a be reward to me! yippeee

If you want to have a fun look at what we got up to, here is the link to the video I made about the trip:

Click Here- The Junior Music Tour 2012- Video

Showing the kids how the Flying Fox is done! haha

Uruguay- Holiday to Punta Del Este  

The famous hand in the sand at the main beach of Punta

After the tour was our week off school holiday period. We had booked the ferry and bus to take us over the rio (river) and into Uruguay! We have friends of the school who let us use their apartment in Punta Del Este and their little vintage car and we made the most of it! 

It really had been our first holiday in ages where we just stayed in the one spot for a week and did nothing. 

Beach strolling and mate drinking

It actually stormed like crazy with ferocious high speed winds and hail and rain.. which kept us inside the warm cute apartment for like 4 days.. the final 3 days it was still pretty cold, but we had walks on the beach and sunsets and even a bit of lying in the sun at the very end which was rad!! 

We were both sick and slept so much- it was a total week of respite... out of Quilmes and by the sea. A much needed break!

Punta Del Este is a very interesting place! We were there in September which was coming into the shoulder season- but hardly anyone around. There are sooooo many crazy big apartment blocks that front onto the Atlantic sea.. I don't like it... other than smelling salty water and enjoying the blueness of the sea... it was so built up at set up for the summer season. And the prices of shopping or eating out were CRAZY! we bought 2 pieces of cake (only pieces) for over $30!?! Didn't know that until we got the bill.. dang!! hahaha

Conquered the thumb!

strolling the beach and smelling the salty air and catching up together after
some very busy weeks was the best!!

So we cooked in the apartment all the time and enjoyed being really simple- the cake was splurge enough! haha!!

Of course we saw the famous mano (hand) sticking up out of the main beach! It is THE tourist attraction. My favourite part of the whole trip was strolling the beach with my man at sunset, sipping at mate as the locals and collecting seashells.

It was this part that made Punta so beautiful and memorable!

I actual think we were pretty out of it for the week- just sleeping like bears in winter- but being refreshed by sunshine and sea salt!

Tick- another destination seen and done! (yippeee)

Beep Beep! As we drive along the coastal road!

A New Season

So the final chapter of my early morning blog- Spring has arrived- it has been a mix of cold rainy weather and then sunny blue sky warm days- which give me too much excitement I just can't handle it!! haha- So looking forward to summer!

The green has arrived again on all the trees and Quilmes is looking prettier- I think even the birds are singing happier songs! 

I can't wait for the jacaranda trees to be in full bloom around Buenos Aires! There are small shrubs that are falling over they are soo full and heavy with the brightest blossoms- Hot pink and red flowers! gorgeous!

Since being back at school the weeks are literally FLYING by!!

It is now only 8 weeks till we fly to NYC!! We can hardly wait!

Lots to do before then- but it is exciting!!

We are saving our pennies like crazy so that our trip the the USA can be awesome!

Well until next time mis amigos!

Nos vemos y besos grandes 

xo

~Miki

Happy together- free to be me- love

Salvador- Edition 2 of Brasil

Where to begin?
The second instalment of our Brazilian adventure. We landed in sunny and hot Salvador- please remember that we are travelling in a Brazilian weather which is AWESOME! Tropical and warm and because it is winter, it is not summer holiday season- I can't imagine how more crowded it could be in areas!

We stayed in an awesome BnB which I found on airbnb.com but can also be found on Tripadvisor at Pousada de Bem Estar Esmeralda.
We loved staying here- Such amazing hospitality and beautiful hosts! Very generous, caring and happy people! When we go back we would stay here again!
Not to mention how amazing the french cooked breakfasts were!!

It was a good walk into the cultural centre which I will talk about in a second- we did a lot of walking, but it was so beautiful and easy to feel like you were becoming a part of this vibrant place!
Public transport was great too- but we were lucky we could speak spanish which helped us understand Portuguese surprisingly well. At least we could ask for bus stops and directions etc... Something I think someone who could only speak english would have trouble doing.
But the Pousada/bnb was very helpful and have us so many tips and how to get to places!


A mini side story- but boys be warned- I am talking about jeans and butts... sorry-
I even bought myself pairs of jeans!! Now this is exciting for me because I think jeans are the hardest things to buy! Is any girl with me on this? How hard is it to find a pair of comfy jeans that actually fit correctly in the right spots?! Well Brazil is the place to get them!! Brazilians love their booty- I'm talking women with mean butts! It is fact (and I saw it with my own eyes) that women get bum implants! No joke, they seriously get cosmetic surgery to get an upgrade on their buttocks! which was PERFECT for me because I have booty and I found my magic travelling pants! Jeans that look good and feel good and fit in all the right places!! yayaya!!! and cheap cheap too!!
so ladies with the booty- Brazil is your place for pants and a praised rear end- Hallelujah!

Okay- Back to the travel journey
It was located on the outskirts of
'The Pelourinho' which is the historical centre of Salvador. All the houses, churches and buildings have been beautifully restored in the traditional colonial style of the Portuguese.
We got very familiar with this place as we were staying close by - only a 20 minute walk and we found ourselves in this colourful place!
It was also really evident how rich and vibrant the Afro culture still was in Salvador! In the Bahian food, culture and music and just the people! It was fantastic and so enriching!! You just know you are travelling when in Brazil- and loving it all at the same time!

We also went for 2 nights to a beach side village called Praia do Forte which we LOVED!! It was set up for tourists, but it wasn't tourist season- It suited us just fine! We went snorkelling and ate some of the best pizza I have had in a long time (wood fired thin and crispy gourmet goodness!). There was a turtle sanctuary that was really quite amazing. As you can see I was so amazed I turned into a turtle... Actually, highly amusing, I got stuck!
There were baby turtles that were 3 days old!! absolutely amazing and gorgeous to see them flipping around in a safe little pool! Was cool!

We loved walking up and down the beach fringed with palm trees and swimming and being in paradise! what more could you want!?

It was also cool seeing all the stadiums going up for the Football World Cup 2014! Pretty epic constructions going on and I can guarantee a fire has been set in Chris' belly to get to the World Cup somehow... We would LOVE to live in Brazil- there are some super big draw cards!! But it is a passing thought.. nothing yet on where we will be or what we will be doing yet... Still loving life here in Argentina.

But back to Salvador- hmm what else?! It was just super cool!!!



We did have one special night in a really really nice hotel in The Pelourinho. Amazing rooms and HUGE bed and nice pool with an amazing view and you can see. The food wasn't so hot.. very bad food actually which was a bummer- But very nice hotel! We had a great afternoon pretending we were king and queen by the pool with the view watching the sunset. special stuff!




At this point in our second week of the trip we are thinking we never want to leave Brazil!! We were eating and drinking so much tropical fruit and eating Acai (have I explained what that is yet? I can't remember?!) Just being happy together.

Totally glad we picked Brazil as a country to travel while living here in South America. We would definitely (and hopefully) get back there!!

Besos a todos,
Miki
xo

Skip June and hit July with BRASIL! Pipa Edition

June was a continuation of work work work.. Chris had so many events he was managing in the Theatre over this month- Each week there was some Musical or play production or concert or big important assembly.. It was a little too hectic! But not here to complain, just trying to paint a picture of how busy that month was- I don't miss it, put it that way.

I put together a big event called 'The Big Sing' after directing the College Musical. It was a hugely successful night with all Choirs of the school coming together, community choirs, special guests and soloists- it was one might vocal showdown! haha 

It is after successful events like that that just make both Chris and I (speaking for you here babe.. haha) feel so full in the energy we put in. It is this extra curricular stuff that makes this job worth while! But it is so much on top of all the other normal demands of the job... need to find the balance. But loving the work journey as we go! Lots to learn and grow and develop- it's awesome!

So we are just going to skip June completely for now because compared with July, you'll forget I even mentioned work stuff.

WE WENT TO BRASIL FOR 3 WEEKS! and it was the best ever!!

Where to begin? 

Well I am going to talk about each week in separate posts. This edition is:

- The Pipa Edition -

We spent the first week up on the North Eastern Coast of Brasil, an hour South of Natal in a beautiful paradise tiny town called Pipa.

The best way I can describe it is a 'Latin Byron Bay'- a tiny Bohemian, tropical, natural town by the sea, with nothing to do but swim with dolphins, eat eat eat yum yum food, surf, swim, lay in the sun, swim some more, read books in a hammock, eat, swim.. okay you get the idea- just completely what we wanted and what our tired bodies needed!

We stayed in the most AWESOME Pousada!! I have reviewed in Tripadvisor.com if you are interested in knowing more about it. It was called Pousada Pomar da Pipa and was so beautiful and awesome!! We would fully go back!!

Our days in Pipa were spent swimming in the beautiful clean aqua sea. We had very hot sunny weather and the water temp was warm and lovely! Lots of places to eat fresh delicious seafood right on the beach. We did spend one afternoon (probably one of my fave days of the whole trip) at a place called The Beach Club in Pipa (to the right of the main beach, past all the tourist lunch umbrellas on the sand). 

We laid all afternoon around on the sun loungers, ordered fresh pineapple juices, order my first cocktail (a cocktail virgin.. sad I know.. But I don't drink.. so there you go)- It was a Caiparinha, Brazil's national cocktail drink.. it was okay.. Fresh juices were way better!

We had grilled prawns and salad and spent all afternoon, swimming, eating, taking funny photos as you can see and just being holiday tourist bums! loved it!!

The restaurants in Pipa are great and had many great meals, from hot corn cooked fresh on the street, to salads and lots of bean dishes, to grilled seafood and yummy yummy fried 'cassava' chips- like a tropical potato, more starchy but sooo good when fried!!

We laid in our hammock a lot together for siestas and to escape the sun a little.. It was just a paradise holiday!

I recommend Pipa to EVERYONE! It was superb!

We rented a moto one day which was super fun to cruise around the coastline together- it was magic!

The coastline in Pipa itself is amazing- big red cliffs with white sand beaches and blue blue sea! Had some fun taking photos and exploring!

It was a treat week of unwinding and doing/going wherever the wind carried us. 

Stay tuned for the second week in Brazil- Salvador de Bahia Edition!

Big hugs,

Miki

xo