The other Blog

Eva and I are here in Belgium for three weeks. We planned to be here to spend Christmas with her family. Then the day after Christmas we fly to California to spend time with my family which will include a few days camping in Death Valley. Then back to Belgium for a few weeks to sort out my papers, then off to South East Asia for three months or so. Eva has posted some more photos and a few 360 videos on the other blog, you have to search for them in the Novemeber and Decemeber posts. The other blog again is www.erniebert08.blogspot.com.

Gauchos

Because beef is such a big part of the Argentinian diet, so of course are cows a big part of the Argentinian economy. With all those cows, of course there needs to be Cowboys, but they call them Gauchos. The Gaucho has a big roll to play in Argentinian national idenity. Before arriving we found out that Nov 10th is Dia De La Tradicion a day to celebrate these horseback heros. Also we found out that the biggest festival of them all was in San Antonio Del Areco, a town about 2 1/2 hours away from. We were going to be in the area during the festival, so we had to go. We had a great time, even though we didn't stay the whole festival. It was a bit too expensive. All hotel prices were jacked up during the festival, so we couldonly aford two nights there, but it was well worth it. We got to see racing, roping, dancing, singing and eating (we partook as well) as the Gaucho does. San Antonio itself is a nice town although possibly a little sleepy for most peoples tastes, outside of festival time.

MEAT!!!

1. They don't only eat meat, they also eat lots of empanadas.....filled with meat.

2. Eva does her best to get through a tough cut

3. A Gaucho getting ready for he party

4. Meat on the grill

5. Me and Meat on the grill

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They eat meat in Argentina. Boy do they eat meat. If you were a vegetarian you wouldnot find it impossible, but it wouldn't be easy to be there. I am not a vegtarian however and I did my share of beef eating. My brother in law recently sent me a picture of meat on the grill tha was labeled: Animal Rights: Animals have the right to be tasty. I think Argentinians would agree. I did read that there is only one country in the world that eats more beef than Argentina and that is the US. But that is only because we have a lot more people than them, per capita they eat the most in the world. I have to say, I didn't mind but maybe I should go veggie for a few weeks to balance out.

Thanksgiving

So the American holiday of Thanksgiving has just passed and my search for turkey did not end unsuccessful. In Uruguay and Argentina, they eat meat, meat and more meat, but Turkey (pavo) is not generally one of them and it is not so easy to find. During the day we were in a small fishing/surfing village on the Uruguian Atlantic coast called Punta Del Diablo. We spent three great days relaxing in our little beach cabana (that cost us about 30 US a night) and it was the last place on our whole trip I expected to find the elusive bird. But not too long ago an American (also named Brian) decided to move there and open up a hostel and restaurant. Sympathetic to the craving for Turkey, stuffing and mashed potatoes at the end of Novemeber, Brian had that as the daily special. He did have some trouble aquiring the turkey and we had to wait until 11pm to have dinner but we got it. Punta del Diablo officially only has about 1000 (surges during the summer) people, but I think it is growing fast and will be a very different place in ten years, but for now it is a little (relativly) untouched paradise. Tomorrow we take a boat across the Rio del Plata back to Buenos Aires where we spend two more days before flying back to Belgium. Can´t believe we have been here a month already. When we are there we will have more time and the facilities to put more pictures.

Eva and I were part of a tri-national drug smuggling operation the other day. Well if you consider cigarettes a drug. We were in Ciudad del Este, Paraguay a town not too un-like Tijuana. We wanted to cross into Argentina to go to Iguazu falls, but had heard a lot of conflicting information about the crossing. The problem being that you can not get from Paraguay to Argentina in this part of the country without passing through Brazil for 10km or so. Well, I´m never one to skip out on going to a new country that is close, but in this case, Brazil charges Americans 131 USD (may be up to 160USD) for a visa, which I was not inclined to do for a half hour transit. As of Jan 1st Argentina will charge Americans the same and Chile already does if you fly into Santiago. I know these countries think fair is fair as it the US charges their citizens the same, but I really think they need to swallow a little pride and let Americans in for cheaper. It may sound a bit arrogant, but to me it just stems from government pride and greed. It stops some flow of American tourist dollar and really only impacts the local people and local businesses that miss out on some tourist money. Think about it if all countries jump on that band wagon. If you plan a grand trip of South America, hitting say 10 countires, and have to pay 1600 USD in visas, you´re probably going to skip the region all together. I am on board with a nominal processing fee but 160 USD, come on. Of course I feel the same for the US charging that costly fee for visitors.

Enough rant, back to the smuggling. We heard their was a direct bus that did not stop at Brazil customs on either side, but werent sure. There are very few other travelers in Paraguay to ask. By the way, Eva (EU) does not need a visa anywhere down here. So we got stamped out of Paraguay and looked around for the bus. Eventually it did come and we zipped through Brazil customs on both sides, with no troubles. The only event along the way was when the bus slowed down near a bus stop in Brazil, and some of the passengers through out bundles of cigs for thier cohorts to pick up. For our part (our silence) in the operation, Eva and I did not receive any compensation. But not having to pay for a Brazil visa was good enough. But I spent a half hour in Brazil on the bus and 15 mintues earlier that day on the Brazil side (from Paraguay) of the Itaipu Dam (biggest operating hydro electric dam in the world) tour. So can I count Brazil as country number 53 visited? Probably not, what do you think?

Yesterday we spent the day at Iguazu falls which was the main reason I wanted to come here, and it did not dissapoint. It was amazing, but more about that will follow. We cross into Uruguay tomorrow, and are headed to the Atlantic beaches.

No time to proof read or check spelling, live with it.

New Stuff on the other Blog

Its all in Dutch (Eva wrote it), but there are some pictures on the other blog (see previous posts). I was too busy making my football picks for tomorrow to write anything. It is a nice day and our hostel has a pool, so don´t want to spend any more time inside. We are just back in Argentina after three days in Paraguay. We are near Iguazu Falls and tomorrow will go explore them, so stay tuned.

New stuff on other Blog

go to www.erniebert08.blogspot.com to see more updates from Argentina

New Blog address for the trip

Eva and I are in Argentina right now and while we are are traveling togehter, you can chack for updates on another blog that we will work on together.

go to

www.erniebert08.blogspot.com

Burning Man

See the next three posts for Burning Man Pictures:

1. You should have seen the size of the bath tub.

2. The Man burns
3. The duck car parked at the Temple
4. Nice huh?
5. Sign speaks for itself really. But in case it doesn't. What more culd you want? Chewbacca, Clubber Lang, and topless women in the vecinity.

Burning Man

1. So many credit cards, all belonging to the same person. They hit the American dream dead on.__
2. It was hard work.
3. That was the best head stand I could muster on the magic carpet car.
4. You can see it was massive.
5. Lets hear it for Belgium

The theme for Burning Man this year was “The American Dream.” Boy do wish it had taken place after all this financial shit hit the financial fan. There would have been so much more enjoyable ironic art targeted at the theme. The burning man crowd has never been the first to buy into “the dream” but does anybody anymore?

For those who are reading this and have no idea what Burning Man is, I’ll sum it up in five words or less. Self-sustained, temporary-community, gift-economy, art-project, party-in-the-dessert. That’s five words right?

I took a break from tour leading this summer, and as well as a few other things I went to the festival this year, for my third time. Eva was there for her second. We camped into the dessert with a group of about 15 close friends and 40,000 not quite as close friends. Some of course got closer than others over the week.

Burning Man

1. It isafter all and art festival and Eva is a artisit
2. The early morning ride and we climbed the tallest structure.
3. This piece of art is very apropriatly named "The Bummer"
4. The Man himself
5. Just arrived.

I'm not lost

The Man, Before he Burned

I have been really slack about putting updates on this Blog. The last time I wrote anything was about three months ago in early July. At that point I was in the middle of leading 5 (2 week) tours in a row that ended in the middle of August. Then I took a month off, three weeks of that was spent in the US. Eva and I were mostly in California and Nevada, visiting family and attending the Burning Man festival. Then it was back to Europe with only one night passing through Belgium before heading to Paris to do one final tour for the season. This one was a bit longer, a four weeker asopposed to a two weeker that I had been doing. On that tour I went to Paris, Interlaken, Annecy, Nice, Florence, Rome, Venice, Munich (for Oktober fest) Vienna, Budapest, Prague, Berlin, Amsterdam and back to Paris. It was quite a trip. I did cheat a little bit in that time, when I picked up country number 50 visited. Maybe 50 should have been more of a celebration, but instead I caught the train an hour out of Berlin and walked across the border to Slubice, Poland. I spent a few hours there, had two meals, walked around a lot and bought some very cheap cigarettes for a friend. Not really glamourous, but I had been so close all summer and kept meaning to head over, so finally did. It is nice to be done with the season though and have some time to myself. So what am I doing in my off time (people always ask), well I'm going traveling of course. In about three weeks Eva and I leave for 6 weeks in South America. I'm a bit behind of coure, so in the next few weeks before we leave I will get some pictures up of the last few months.

Greetings from Prague

!. Me and the Berlin wall
2. The Dutch football fans invade Interlaken
3. Switzerland sure is scenic
4. Checkpoint Charlie in Berlin
5. Back to Switzerland

I admit, I've been pretty lax with the Blog since I started leading tours again. It's a combination of being busy, not always having internet connection, and just being plain tired. For those that think my job is just one big vacation, you may be right, but vacation can be tiring. Anyway I'm in Prague right now, and taking a day off the sight seeing because the weather is crap. Because I will come here a lot this summer I have the advantage of deciding which days to wander the city. Unfortunatly for my passengers, they are stuck with whatever lousy weather they are dealt. Had a bit of crisis this morning as a passenger had lost their passport. After a bit of panic it was located at the restaurant we were at last night, so all is well.

Next stop is Berlin where we will be tomorrow night and be going on a pub crawl. Did I mention that the last stop was Muncih where we went to the beer hall? Sounds like all I do is get paid to drink. There is of course more to it than that though. But I am having a good time this summer and was glad to add a new city and a new country to my list. The city is Berlin, I had not been before this job, But am loving the place. There is so much amazing recent history. The new country is one that many I think have not heard of, Lichtenstein. It's very small and I have ony spent about 2 hours total there on four passes through, but non the less, it was country number 49 for me. Even if we only make a pee stop there. I have now peed four times in Vaduz, the capitol.

Next month I take off for a month to go to the stats and will be going again (thrid year) to the Burning Man festival. Should be some good photos from that all though the best ones I won't be able to post here, but say tuned.

Paris

1. Place de Bastille

2. A Paris Hilton but not the Paris Hilton

3. La Defense

4. The Arc

5. View from my hotel window in Interlaken

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I'm actually not in Paris any more I am now in Interlaken, Switzerland. The place is over run with Orange clad, silly hat wearing Dutch. The European Football championship started yesterday and it is being held in Switzerland and Austria. Th Dutch have their first game tomorrow, so I suspect there will be a lot of drunk people out tomorrow night, win or lose. I'm trying to get into the sport because I am living in Europe now, but I'm not sure if I can handle another 1-0 game. I need more scoring. The Swiss lost yesterday 1-0, but most are saying, "oh well, we played well." How you can play a game well and not score is a concept that escapes me.

So when I was in Paris I went to a part of the city I have never seen before. It is not a place in Paris that probably interests many visitors, the business district. I am trying to take advantage of the fact that I am there so often this summer though, and see things I have never seen before.

La Defense area is on the outer edge of Paris and is a very modern (compared with old Paris) area that amazingly is filled with mostly just French people. It's hard to find a place in the city that is not swarmming with foriegn tourists but this is one of them. In 1989 (200 years after the revolution) they built the Grand Arc de La Defense, a much more modern one than the Arc de Triomphe. They are each visable from the other although about 2 km apart.

I also did a bit of the usual, spending some time around the Eiffel Tower and walking along the Siene?

Day after tomorrow and I am off to Munich for a night. Probably will wind up with a hangover the next day after a visit to the beer halls.

Finished my first tour

1. Napoleon is dead in there

2. Princess Diana died under there

3. You know what that is

4. We went to a Cabaret, but not that one

5. Another dead person, this time Jim Morrison

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So I'm back home in Belgium for two weeks after finishing my first tour over here in Europe. It was a two week tour that took me to Paris, Interlaken, Munich, Prague, Berlin and Amsterdam. The visit to Berlin was actually my first ever. It is an amazing city and I look forward to going back throughout the summer. The first week I had 11 passengers and 22 on the second week. It is on a large coach, so potentially I could have up to 48 passengers, but we'll see.

I was very pleased with my newly aquired Dutch language skills as it helped me out in Germany. If I spoke very slowly in my basic Dutch, the Germans usually understood. As far as it helping me out in Holland, not so much. Everyone there speaks great English anyway.

I think for the summer I will have six more tours, all to the same places, excpet mabye the last one (might go to Italy). It works out perfectly because there are six places we visit, so after each of the tours I can add a little to the Blog. I did pick up country number 49 on the tour as we stopped for a very short time in Lichtenstein. I may not have been there long enough for what some people consider "being" in a country, but in relation to its size, I think it was enough time.

My mother and step father landed in the UK yesterday and on Saturday will "pop" over here to Oostende for a three night visit. It will be the first time that my parents and Eva's parents meet. Some people invovled are nervous, but I am not.

For now, I have put some photos of Paris when Eva and I went there three weeks ago.

Paris

Why sit at home and rest? Eva and I got home from Amsterdam Thursday night and left for Paris Friday morning. I am about to start leading tours for the summer in Europe and Paris (as well as Amsterdam) will be one of the cities I will go. I have been many times, but wanted to refresh my memmory a little so we drove down for a night. We walked around for half of two days to many familiar places, but also a few new ones. On Friday night we went to a Cabaret that was free because I might be bringing some passengers there this summer. We both really enjoyed the show, and it wasn't just because of the topless girls dancing around. There were many other entertaining acts that had nothing to do with bare chested women. The next day we went to a place I had never been before, the cemetary where Jim Morrison is buried. We also went by Oscar Wilde's grave. The weather was great and we had another great visit to Paris. But tomorrow night I'll be back there as my first tour leaves the next day. My camera is acting up, so for now, no pictures of Paris. You know what it looks like and you know what I look like. Picture me there.

Queen's Day

1. Starting early

2. Eva in Orange

3. Jan (one of the boats co-owners) and Cynthia

4. That was an "empty" canal.

5. I didn't have the heart to tell the guy that the Statue of Liberty is NOT in California.

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I just got back from Amsterdam where I celebrated the annual Queen's Day. Every April 3oth the Amsterdamers take to the streets and the canals to celebrate the birthday of their Queen's mother. They would celebrate their Queen's Birthday, but that's in January. The weather should be good for such a celebration and in Holland the odds are higher that it will be better in April. So that's when the celebrate.

My friend Cynthia (from my UCLA days) has lived there for 10 years and owns a boat. Eva and I were glad to get a coveted spot on it and had a great day. All the while that we were cruising around the canals we were looked at longingly by people on the sides that wished they were on a booat. There was drinking, food and general revelry all day. The canals were packed sometimes wall to wall with boats and orange clad (the national color) partiers. Sometimes when people (guys) had to pee they would run across several boats to get to the side and use one of the temporary urinals around town. Then they would run back across random boats to get to their own. Often we had to have one hand for drinking and one hand ready to "repel borders" from the hordes of other boats around us.

We were on the boat from about 11 am to 7pm and were so tired afterwards but it was a wonderful day. It wasn't the warmest day ever but all in all the weather treated us OK. We are back home tonight, but off to Paris for a night tomorrow.

Beer

1. Ahhhh Beer
2. Eva's sister Marie and I
3. The naughty Boy and I
4. I felt like Laverne and/or Shirley
5. We are both naughty boys


Last weekend Belgium had an open brewery day all over the country. With over 500 beers brewed here there is always a place close by that makes the stuff. Not being one to miss such a thing, I didn't miss it. We went to two breweries (Valeir and Roman) and sampled what they had to offer. The second one had a beer called Sloeber which means "naughty boy." I liked that beer. I like beer in general. I guess Belgium is a good place to live.