Category Archives: Traveling

Traveling: Ushuaia, Argentina

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Ushuaia - The end of the world

Ushuaia – The end of the world

Ushuaia is the southernmost town in the world and we had the pleasure to explore it before we left on our cruise to Antarctica. It’s a small town, but there are many activities to do in the area. Main Street is full of restaurants and shops and the snow-capped mountains behind it provide a cozy ski town feeling.

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Some people decided to hike up to Martial Glacier, where you have beautiful views of Ushuaia below, but knowing we would be seeing massive glaciers in just a couple more days, we decided to go to Tierra del Fuego National Park instead. The park can be reached by car of by train, the Tren del Fin del Mundo (End of the World Train). Since we only had a day there, the fiancé and I plus a couple from Australia hired a taxi to take us inside and show us some of the lakes and overlooks. Yes, the worse way to explore a national park, but it worked out really well as we were trying to conserve energy for our run anyway. The taxi driver would take us to a trail, we would hike for a little bit, and then he would take us to a different spot. It was a beautiful day at Tierra del Fuego, the land of fire, which got this name because natives would warm themselves up with huge bonfires near the shore a few hundred years ago.

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After checking our e-mails one last time before losing all connectivity with the world, we boarded the cruise ship , did a lifeboat drill, and said goodbye to Argentina. The Beagle Channel and the Drake Passage were ahead of us: now nothing but water was separating me from my dream.

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Argentina on top, Antarctica on the bottom

Argentina on top, Antarctica on the bottom

Traveling in Buenos Aires, Argentina

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Buenos Aires is a city of almost 3 million people (14 million in the metro area!) so my first impression wasn’t that great: lots of concrete and traffic like any other metropolis. However, after doing a city tour with the group, I found many places worth seeing.

Buenos Aires with mom, dad, and the fiance

Buenos Aires with mom, dad, and the fiance

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To hit many landmarks at once, we headed to Plaza de Mayo, a city square that celebrates the 1810 Mayo Revolution, a movement that started the independence process. There, once a week, the moms of Madres de la Plaza de Mayo still meet to protest against the disappearance of children during Argentina’s Dirty War in the 70’s.

Facing the plaza is La Casa Rosada, Argentina’s White House. This not where the president lives, but it is where she works. Christina Fernández de Kirchner has been involved in a lot of scandals lately, so she did not make an appearance at Evita’s famous balcony when we were there. Speaking of Evita, the late former first lady is celebrated everywhere from murals on buildings to statues on plazas.

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Also near Plaza de Mayo is the Catedral Metropolitana, Buenos Aires’ main cathedral. Inside it’s just like any other church in South America, full of sculptures and gold, but outside it doesn’t have any towers, but a classical colonnade. This is a very historical building as well: it houses the mausoleum of independence war general San Martin and it’s the church Pope Francisco came from.

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An unexpected tourist attraction in Buenos Aires is a cemetery. La Recoleta has beautiful mausoleums and graves and one can get lost looking at all the details of each. It is also the home of late presidents, Nobel Prize winners, and Evita Perón, who is buried in the Duarte Family mausoleum.

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As far as shopping, Buenos Aires has many options. Calle Florida is a pedestrian street with lots stores, including shady money exchange places: all you hear is “¡Cambio!” (“change”) all day long. Nearby is Galerías Pacífico with high-end stores and murals from famous artists like Antonio Berni. Then for some culture, it is good to check out El Caminito in the neighborhood of La Boca, where its colorful buildings give an exciting feeling to the area, which is packed with street artists.

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Argentina is also a synonym for tango. This sensual Latin dance was born in Buenos Aires in the 1890s and exploded in the world in the 30’s with Carlos Gardel. Many places in the city have traditional tango houses called milongas, but we went to a dinner and a show option at El Querandí, where several couples and a live band went through the history of tango while a three-course dinner was served. We only had a few days in Buenos Aires, but I feel we experienced the best the city has to offer.

Cheers to Argentina!

Cheers to Argentina!

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Eating in Buenos Aires, Argentina

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Argentina has a huge Italian influence, so some of its best food items are pizza, pasta, and gelatos. Of course we tried all of those things. The fiancé’s top choice for Italian was Filo, near our hotel, but the best pizza I had while there was actually a “fuegan” lamb one in Ushuaia, the southernmost city in the country.

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Buenos Aires is also known as the “Paris of South America”: it has lots of cafes full of delicious pastries and empanadas (a mini calzone). You can’t go to Argentina without having alfajores, which is dulce de leche (caramel) between two cookies and then dipped in chocolate and/or coconut flakes. There is a coffee shop chain called Havanna that sells some of best, but we also tried some from Café Tortoni, a coffeehouse opened in 1858 by a Frenchman and that is now a historical (and touristy) monument of Argentina.

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The fiancé had been a vegetarian for over 2 months when we went to Argentina, but he broke his streak when we went to a parrilla, an Argentinian steakhouse. Argentines are said to eat the most meat in the world and always boast about the quality of their beef. Asado (or barbecue) is a way of life that comes from the gauchos (cowboys). Of course our meal was accompanied by some wine: Malbec is also an Argentine way of life.

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Running in Buenos Aires, Argentina

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We arrived in Buenos Aires, the capital of Argentina in the morning and met some of our fellow Antarctic marathon runners right way. They already had a group run scheduled for that afternoon, leaving from the Plaza Hotel where we were staying and going 2-3 miles toward Puerto Madero, by the waterfront. As tempting as stretching my legs after a 15-hour flight was, I was more excited to spend time with my parents who had flown from Brazil to see us. We ended up walking all the way to Puerto Madero together and some of the runners passed us by. They looked like the serious kind! Oh my, would I be able to keep up with them in Antarctica?

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Puerto Madero is now one of the poshest neighborhoods in Buenos Aires. The waterfront by river Río de la Plata has seen a renovation in the last few years that brought high-risers and lots of restaurants to the area. Another landmark, Puente de la Mujer, is a beautiful harp-like bridge that links both sides of the docks.

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Walking a little further east, the four of us also made it to a natural reserve called Reserva Ecológica Costanera Sur. This a huge marshy area with a large sidewalk perfect for strolling on a nice afternoon. Buenos Aires is the second largest city in South America, behind only São Paulo (Brazil), so this green area full of birds and trails is a welcome escape from the busy streets nearby.

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Knowing that my marathon was approaching, I did go on a jog a few days later. Although humid, it was an incredibly satisfying run, watching the sunset from the Women’s Bridge and passing steakhouses in Puerto Madero. Hmm… the juicy smell… time to write about eating!

Buenos Aires Jog
Puente de La Mujer

More: Antarctica Fundraiser for Big Brothers Big Sisters

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As you know, I am achieving my dream of traveling to all 7 continents by the age of 30 very soon: not only I’m going to Antarctica in March, but I’m also running a marathon there. I am incredibly excited about the trip, but even more excited to have an opportunity to team up with the mentoring organization Big Brothers Big Sisters to help children in my community.

As a teacher, I see on a daily basis how adults can help shape children lives by being there for them. The Big Brothers Big Sisters program positively influences children self-confidence, provides stability, changes their perspective on life and encourages them to set higher goals. The high school graduation rate for children living in poverty in Washoe County, where I live, was 56% last year.  Recently I was pleased to learn that 75% of the age eligible “Littles” graduated last June. Since I joined Big Brothers Big Sisters, my “Littles” have also enriched my life in countless ways and I would like to keep supporting this organization.

In the spirit of my upcoming Antarctic adventure, I’d love for you to join me in making a difference in a Little’s life. Your contribution to Big Brothers Big Sisters will help provide one-to-one mentoring programs for at-risk youth in northern Nevada.

Join me by following this link and making a donation and don’t forget to check out my Antarctica journey on this blog Run, Eat, Travel, and More.

Thank you for your support! E.M. 🙂

www.runeattravelandmore.com

http://bbbsnn.kintera.org/antarctica

Ps.: Since I don’t have Facebook, I’ll love your help sharing a link to the fundraiser there!

Outing with with my Little

Outing with with my Little

Running, Eating, and Traveling in Napa/Sonoma, California

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I went to Napa and Sonoma for my friend B.’s 30th birthday and couldn’t have enjoy it more! It was a beautiful day in the 70’s to do my long run (10 miles in 2 hours). I left from the house B. was staying in Sonoma and with the help of Google Maps and I found the bike trail downtown, passing some missions, the city hall and lots of wineries.

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For some wine tasting we went to Arrowood in Glenn Ellen. Our wines were paired with cheeses and spreads that complemented each other so well! Dinner was at The Girl and the Fig, one of the restaurants I had ran by earlier when I was downtown. Because of my 10 miles, I splurged on a juicy steak.

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In Napa it was all about visiting my friend V. who lives there. She is an amazing cook and had made “empadão“, a Brazilian chicken pie. Amazing! Then she rode with me to Tahoe to go to M.’s baby shower, another Brazilian friend. Busy weekend of celebrations!

V. and I looking at wedding venues in Napa
Empadao de frango – Chicken pie
M.’s Baby Shower

More: Antarctica Countdown

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As you all know, I love to travel and have been to six of the seven continents. This March, the fiancé and I will be going on a trip to my last continent: Antarctica!

Antarctica is a huge land in the South Pole. To get there, we will be flying from the US to Argentina, and from there we will embark on a 10-day cruise. 99% of Antarctica is covered by ice: in fact, 90% of the world’s ice is there!

But, what is there to do in such a far and cold place? Each day we will explore the continent with a group: from kayaking to penguin and whale watching, there will be a lot to learn. On March 9, we will even attempt to run a marathon (26.2 miles!) on ice! Check out this article for 10 reasons to do this crazy trip: http://www.runnersworld.com/photos/10-reasons-run-antarctica-marathon.

I’m really excited, but also very nervous because I haven’t been training at all! The race is less than a couple of months away, so I decided to focus on training for a half-marathon instead. As the fiancé keeps telling me, we can just walk the latter half… unless we get frostbite! BTW, the marathon benefits “Oceanites“, an organization that researches the impact tourism has in Antarctica, among other things.

Check out my Antarctica Half Marathon Training. As you can see, I should have started before the New Year, but that didn’t happen, so I’m a week behind. No matter what the outcome of the race is, just achieving my goal of seeing all 7 continents by the time I’m 30 will be a huge accomplishment!

Check out this video of last year’s trip:

 

Traveling: Philadelphia Museum of Art and Longwood Gardens, PA

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Unfortunately the fiance got sick while we were in Pennsylvania, so we didn’t do a lot of sightseeing together, but his family did take me to Longwood Gardens, which was pretty impressive! It’s a huge botanical garden in Kenneth Square, PA that they decorate for Christmas every year. There were beautiful outside trails, tree houses, and greenhouses full of  exotic plants. We went in the evening to see all the Christmas lights and they even had a fountain show like the Bellagio one in Las Vegas.

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Then in Philly I went to the Philadelphia Museum of Art for the day, the one with the famous Rocky steps. The museum has art from all periods and parts of the world, such as Japanese tea houses, Islamic arches, Medieval monastery pieces, etc. There is an impressive collection of Impressionism and Modern Art, with work from all the greats: Monet, Renoir, Van Gogh, Picasso, Miro, Dali, Pollock, etc. My favorite thing to do at a museum is spotting something I teach my students about and in this case was the ready-made sculpture “Fountain” by Marcel Duchamp, which is nothing more than an upside down urinal. The museum was also having a special exhibit with photographs by Paul Strand and different choirs singing Christmas songs throughout the day.

Philadelphia

Philadelphia

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The ticket to the art museum also gives you admission to the Rodin Museum, a small house full of the French’s sculptures, including “The Thinker”.

 

Eating: Napa, California

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Napa is known for its wineries, but its food was the center stage of our trip there last weekend. Following my friend V.’s recommendation, we went to this indoor public market called “Oxbowl“. With so many places to eat, we couldn’t decide and ended up having three lunches in two hours: oysters at “Hog Island Oyster Co.“, duck tacos at “C Casa” and mushroom pizza at “The Kitchen Door“. Everything was paired with wine, of course. In the afternoon we walked around downtown, where they were having a Cajun Festival, but were too full to try their grilled oysters. Later in the evening, our host D. went to “Napkins” with us, a delicious restaurant (bison sliders!) that turns into a lounge at night. On our way back to Reno, we found time to eat even more, stopping in San Francisco to have breakfast at “The Ramp” with my friend J.

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2014 Summer in Reno: running, eating, and more

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I finally spent most of the summer in Reno this year and while I had plans to run everyday, go to the beach in Tahoe, and take short road trips here and there, I spent most of my time relaxing, going to Artown events, and eating. Not that I didn’t want to run: I tried, and one week I even did over 15 miles, but July in Reno is just way too hot, over 90, to be exercising outside. Even at night it was crazy hot, so all I could do was walk around Virginia Lake at 10 pm with the boyfriend. Not that I didn’t want to go to Tahoe either: I took the boys there as soon as I came back from Brazil, and then I had to work at the college for a week. I tried going to the beach after work everyday, but, of course, it rained non-stop that week and after that I just gave up; however, we did spend the day building a raft in Tahoe for our first day back to work.

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Nevertheless, it was a great summer with art shows, plays, and concerts. Every July there is an art festival in Reno called Artown. There are so many events to choose from! The boyfriend and I went to an art show of a Brazilian artist (Marcio Decker), a local performance of the Broadway show “Avenue Q”, and another play called “The Complete Works of William Shakespeare”, which attempted to show the audience a fun and quick version of all of Shakespeare’s comedies and tragedies in less than 2 hours. Artown is not only for people: one day at the park they had the dogs do some paw painting. Slick and Parker are quite talented 😉 Finally, this summer, I went to a Lady Gaga concert at Harvey’s Outdoor Arena. Super fun, although I was expecting more craziness from her fans!

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I shouldn’t even start naming all of the restaurants the boyfriend and I have been to this summer. I think I only cooked twice in the past two months: my Brazilian pancakes for dinner, and American pancakes for breakfast. I think even the boyfriend was at the kitchen more than me, making lasagna and chicken croquettes. It was nice to seat on the porch watching all the Midtown action, or having friends over for some s’mores in my backyard. Speaking of friends, we went to a fun French party at the O.’s: nutella crepes, croissants, and lots of cheese, and another great get-together at T.’s where we watched “The Wizard with Oz” paired with a Pink Floyd soundtrack.

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As for the restaurants I wasn’t going to name, I have to give a shout out to at least a couple. A new favorite breakfast place is Little House on Center Street. For dinner, the Santa Fe Restaurant, a family-style Basque restaurant downtown, cannot be beat. Okay, now I’m hungry also thinking about the food trucks downtown, fish tacos from Bistro 7, sushi from Kei in Carson, and even the burger from Johnny Rockets. Although not a restaurant, the Greek Festival had an amazing baklava as always.

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Then on my last day of summer vacation, the boyfriend and I spent the day relaxing in Genoa. We went for a jog downtown, had a drink at Nevada’s oldest bar, soaked at the hot springs, and had a nice four-course dinner at David Walley’s restaurant. After all, you don’t need to travel the world to have a fun, relaxing, and nice summer vacation.

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