Christmas and New Year: Hermanus

Christmas time!

 Christmas and New Year is always a wonderful time to spend with family and friends. We arrived in Hermanus late on 23rd December. On 24 December Woolies opened at 6am. Andrea, Paulet, Jean and I were there before 7am, battling the crowds for brussel sprouts and cranberry sauce. Christmas lunch for 16 people sorted, we still had time to celebrate Christmas eve at Bientang's Cave. On Christmas Day we were feeling very nostalgic as this was to be our last round of parties in the Perdeput.We have sold it! We are blessed to be able to spend great times with our wonderful friends and family. We love entertaining and have so many great memories of all the braais and parties at the Perdeput. It's a simple place but it's proof that good times are all about who you are with and not about how lavish your surroundings are. It was great to celebrate Christmas SA style with our US visitors and to have the Boones from Switzerland with us for New Year.

Bientang's Cave

Janet and Victor

Arjen, Harry, Xander, Justine

Gavin, Paulet, Clarissa

The Hermanus area will always be a favourite. We had lots of time to visit our favourtie spots like the Saturday market at Hermanus Piertersfontein and Creation winery. We took a trip to Somereset West to Mont Marie to see the Smit clan and another trip to Hout Bay to stay with Denise and Bert on their boat. We popped over to Betties Bay a few times and hung out like locals at Soul Cafe with Di and Marjo.

On the boat...

Kalagadi in Summer

On 16th December we set off for Kuruman, driving through places like Ventersdorp and Sannieshof and stopping for lunch at Barberspan. It was great to be travelling in SA with Stefan and Andrea again and to have first timers Larry and Jean on tour with us. Paulet, Gavin and Clarissa too. Kuruman has become a dump! We did visit the neglected Moffat Mission station where Livingston proposed to Mary Moffat but it was sad to see how everything is falling apart. Luckily we were staying on a game farm a few kilometres out of town. Once Jean got over all the trophies in her bedroom and we all got over the fact that we got macaroni cheese instead of a braai for dinner, it was fine. At least the drawers in the back of the bakkie were filled with wine. After a grocery stop in Upington we made it to Twee Rivieren in the Kalagadi Transfrontier Park. It was hot! Vrek warm as they would say there! Luckily we were in air-conditioned bungalows and not camping. Note to self and everyone else : never go camping in the Northern Cape in December. On the first game drive that evening we didn't see much and began wondering if the trek was worth it. However, the next morning we had a couple of amazing lion sightings. It's thrilling to realise how much is out there in the desert. All in all we had 8 sightings of lion, 3 of cheetah and lots of birds. There were plenty of gemsbok, springbok and wildebeest and I just loved all the desert giraffe. We spent 2 nights up in Mata Mata and a fourth back at Twee Rivieren.Back through  Upington, we stopped for lunch at Bezelel wine estate. The bobotie was great, the wine not really. The Orange River area is just too hot to make good wine but the table grapes and sun dried raisins are exported all over the world. We spent a night at Augrabies Falls National Park. (It's been about 18 years since we were last there.) The falls were not very full but the canyons at sunset are stunning. We drove to Tankwa Karoo National Park via Calvinia for lunch. The wilderness cottages are isolated, peaceful and romantic with the best vistas across karoo landscapes.The next day we continued our drive south, with a stop for wine tasting and snacks at Gabrielskloof wine farm in Botrivier before arriving in Hermanus.

Kalagadi

Tankwa

Two weeks in Joburg

" No pic needed! South Africa is home. I have been back 5 days and I know I belong here. Have had 3 awesome braai parties with awesome friends, just went to Spur for dinner with folks which cost less than 10 GBP per head, staff and car guards super friendly. Then looked on Facebook and saw gorgeous pics from  friends' son's wedding on a wine farm in Western Cape!   From the Uber drivers who took me to the (eek!) dentist  today, to the sunshine and the affordable wine and lamb chops...I am loving it." Gail's Facebook post 05.12.16.

You can get a lot done in 2 weeks in Johannesburg:

Medical checks and Xrays√

Dental work√

New Passport and ID card√

Taiwan and Thailand visas√

Banking and Forex√

Admin! Admin! Admin!√

Weekend at Zebula√

Fishing trip in Dullstroom√

Family Christmas Party√

6 parties at friends√

8 restaurants√

Shopping- lots√

Mendoza to Buenos Aires to UK

We took a more direct road back to BA, stopping over in Villa Mercedes en route. Villa Mercedes is a provincial farming town with no tourists. The only decent hotel in town was a business hotel with casino attached. We enjoyed ourselves at a street cafe watching all the locals out strolling or joy riding up and down main street. Hours of driving through the pampas we finally saw the big scale beef farming Argentina is known for. We were surprised how much water there is and saw plenty of birds along the route. In fact, we enjoyed quite a bit of bird watching all over Argentina and next time we will go to a few places just for the birds. Back in Buenos Aires we spent our last 3 nights in St. Telmo at the highly recommended St. Tehlmo Boutique Hotel. On Sundays a huge street market takes over Avenida Defensa and the surrounding area with antiques, crafts, clothes and food. It's a must do if you are ever in BA. And of course we continued enjoying the Parillas and the Bares Notables for a few more days.

We had a week back in the UK to enjoy London and a fit in a quick trip to Cardiff to see the Springboks get beaten by the Welsh. At least from December we have had the rugby sevens Blitzbokke and the cricket Proteas to cheer on in victory!

Sunday market

Crocheted cactus anyone?

Mate cups and straws(bombillas)

Mendoza

Mendoza is the wine capital of Argentina and the main reason we visited Argentina. Neil is on a quest to visit all the major wine growing regions of the world! The city is low rise and very green, with lots of trees and many squares and parks. Everything is a bit dilapidated but charming enough and although there is no distinguishing architectural style, let's face it it's no Stellenbosch, it's still a great place to stroll around. We loved it. There are 2 main nightlife areas, Sarmiento Ave, where our hotel was and Villaneuve, with all the trendy bars and restaurants. Mendoza has some excellent restaurants; our favourite was Azafran for a set food and wine pairing menu.

Mendoza Street Cafes

Neil helping street artists, Villaneuve

Mendoza is known for Malbec and there are about 4 or 5 different wine growing areas around Mendoza City including Maipu, Luyan de Cuyo and the Uco Valley which nudges up against the snowy Andes. We took a few days; exploring region by region and visited quite a few wineries. The architecture of some of the bodegas is impressive and quite a few have restaurants but our favourite meal was at the small Bodega El Azul, for very quirky food paired with their own wines. For a good Malbec you need to pay about US$50 from the estate. Many of the best wineries are foreign owned by big conglomerates and focus on the export market. Argentina is the 5th biggest producer of wine by volume, 90% of which is for the local market and pretty poor quality. We visited Lopez in Maipu, one of the local producers. Even their premium reds are matured in very large oak barrels that they have been using for over a hundred years. At the opposite end of the spectrum we visited Terrazas de Los Andes owned by Chandon, who have pumped a great deal of money into renovating the old cellars and have started producing some excellent wines.

Terrazas de los Andes

Bodega Jean Bousquet

Bodega El Azul

Stuffed Squash Starter, El Azul

Bodega Salentein

Uco Valley

One day we drove through the Andes to the Chilean border and visited the Aconcagua National Park. The scenery was stark and the wind and weather were just ghastly. We lasted about 20 minutes before heading back to the car. If you are thinking of trekking up that hostile peak, my advice would be DON'T. But do go to Mendoza for the food and wine; that comes highly recommended.

Aconcagua National Park

Road Trip in Argentina

Most tourists do not self drive in Argentina and even locals were flabbergasted to find out we were going to drive to Mendoza from Buenos Aires. Neil says you don't really know a country until you have driven it; stopping off in a few places off the beaten track. We picked up a car at the domestic airport in BA and made it out of the city and onto Route 9 with ease. We have given up carrying the GPS and just use the offline mapping on Neil's phone backed up by Google maps on my phone. Now the 2 phones yell at each other! We found the driving to be slow on the single lane highway but the roads were not very busy.

Argentine Highway

We headed to Rosario, a university city on the River Pirana and the birthplace of Che Guevara. The river is not pretty and hasn't lent itself towards creating any pleasant sort of waterfront area. There was a big Fiesta Collectividade happening with food stalls, music and shows representing various different world cultures. The rather stark National Flag Monument links the downtown shopping and dining area with the river. We spent the night in the less than Majestic Hotel. I have found hotels.com to be very useful on road trips as you can book anytime; even just before checking in and their prices are always better than the walk in rate. Plus for every 10 nights, you get 1 free. We had dinner at a wonderful  local parilla, Mejor de Centro; a co-operative owned by the staff who wanted to keep working after the owner closed down.

Flag Monument

Parilla at the Fiesta

The next day we continued West stopping in Alta Gracia to visit the Casa del Che museum. This is the house where he grew up and displays document his life as you move from room to room. Also in Alta Gracia is one of 5 or 6 Jesuit "Estancias" in the province of Cordoba. These missions developed commercial farming in Argentina in the sixteenth century and profits were used to fund the church and mission work. They employed hundreds of black African slaves on these farms.What happened to all these black people and their descendants is not talked about in Argentina.It is said that they were placed in battle front lines in wars with neighbouring countries and still today it is common for people to keep their African heritage hidden.

Che's Motorcycle

Estancia Alta Gracia

We stayed over in Cordoba, the second largest city in Argentina. Here the Jesuit Block including the church and the university ( the oldest in South America) are World Heritage Site designated. We watched a massive Gay Pride Parade pass by in the streets and the city was filled with live music stages and streetparties all night. Amidst all this we noticed quite a number of young girls dressed up in ball gowns having photo shoots with their families outside some of the prettier buildings around town. Our waitress told us they are debutantes, or Quinceaneras; 15 year old girls following a tradition of celebrating passing from childhood into womanhood. Nowdays this involves lavish parties if you can afford it whereas historcally it would be to prepare a girl for marriage. The next day we drove on to Mendoza.

Cordoba Cathedral

Gay Pride Parade

Street party

OutWest

Buenos Aires

It's always exciting for me to visit a place for the first time, and flying to Buenos Aires from London for me was a first to South America and Argentina. Our travels have taught us to stay a few days in a place to get a feel for it rather than roaring around trying to fit everything in in 3 weeks. I have also learned not to trust Tripadvisor too much; it's a self perpetuating tourist trap most of the time. We don't always get it right but I would rather have authentic than bland anyday. And so it was we found ourselves in the hipster barrio ( neighbourhood ) of Palermo Soho for the first 4 days of our trip.

It took some walking between  various Kioscos ( corner stores ) and Personal ( cell phone company ) shops to sort out a SIM card with data; due mainly to our very poor command of Spanish. English speakers get lazy expecting that wherever we go, people will speak our language. Well that's not the case in Argentina. Without Google translate we would still be simless, I fear.

We set the bar extremely high by having our first lunch at Parilla Don Julio,  a few blocks from our hotel. A Parilla is an Argentine steakhouse and can vary from an outdoor braai on the side of the road to a stand and eat hole in the wall joint to a traditional local restaurant to a trendy modern place. One thing they all have in common- meat is cooked on real coals. Don Julio falls into the traditional yet upmarket category and we soon learned that whilst Argentinian steak is really excellent; it doesn't come cheap. And don't expect any sides thrown in, it's all extra. You have to wash it all down with a bottle of Malbec of course. Here again a good bottle will set you back at least US$50; usually quite a lot more. Cheap Argentine wine should probably be avoided but more on that when we get to Mendoza. At local parillas the cheaper cut to eat is Asado de Tira ( short rib ) served with bread  and chimichurri ( a garlic and chilli sauce. )

Parilla Don Julio

Palermo Soho

Asado de Tira

The Subte, Buenos Aires underground is cheap and easy to use. Catching Linea 4 from our hotel to downtown Plaza de Mayo was most convienient.
Buenos Aires was once known as the Paris of South America and you can see why with it's wide boulevards and neoclassical architecture. It's a little faded and down at heel, like an aging tango dancer dreaming of the good old days. Just like Argentina itself whose status in the region and booming economy are things of the past. For us it was a stark reminder of how one bad leader can destroy an entire country in a relatively short time. Beware Zuma; you are well on your way to doing just that to our beloved South Africa!

Art in the Subte station

Casa Rosado

We visited the historic buildings like Casa Rosada, where Evita stood on the balcony to address her people and Theatre Colon. We traipsed the streets of Barrio Centero, Barrio Retiro and Barrio Recoleta; where we visited the Cemetiro Recoleta. It's named one of the best cemeteries in the world and whilst you may not think cemetries are touristy places, it is nevertheless very impressive.
We caught a taxi to La Boca, the famed Italian slum settlement, known for it's brightly coloured corregated iron buidlings and a high crime rate! It's so touristy now and the police only allow the tourists to walk the few blocks filled with tacky Boca Juniors ( the famous football team ) souvenirs and fake bars serving overpriced warm beer.

Cemetiro Recoleta

La Boca

The neighbourhood with the real old BA feel is San Telmo, which we loved. All over BA and especially in St. Telmo we really enjoyed whiling away time in the many Bares Notables. These are historic cafes, bars or tango halls that are listed buidlings; the great thing being that they have to preserve the original interior and decor as well as the structure. From the grand Art Nouveau tea rooms to the grungy bars where Hemingway hung out, we drank a lot of coffee and local wine. Argentines have a very sweet tooth we discovered and they love sugary pastries and cakes with their coffee or Mate ( local herbal tea ) especially for breakfast. If you remember eating caramelized condensed milk out of the can as a kid, you will love Dulce de Leche ( sweet milk ) served with most desserts and spread on toast for breakfast. Other foods worth mentioning are the Empanadas, savoury pies with fillings ranging from chicken and beef to cheese, vegetables and corn; street food Argentine style.

St Telmo

Cafe La Poesia

Cafe La Biela

Empanadas