Back to the future

Uruguayans love their mate (pronounced mah-teh). Alisa fit right in there although she didn't walk around on the streets with her thermos of water and her mate in hand as the Uruguayans did.

We bid farewell to the lovely, friendly country and braced ourselves as we took the Colonia Express boat back to Buenos Aires.

We did a lot of walking from the ferry terminal in La Boca through San Telmo, Monserrat to our hostel in Congresso. After doing a little shopping for a new phone for Alisa, we took in some sights stopping for a photo in front of the Pink House, Argentina's executive branch building.

It's always hard to say good bye, even harder when I'm on the road and Alisa is taking off. But, it was a wonderful visit and always great to spend time together. So, Alisa heads back to Bariloche, this time a two-hour plane trip instead of a twenty-two hour bus trek.

So, that leaves me to my own devices. There are wonderful local markets to explore.

I scout out some old cathedrals.

Walk around the Saturday markets:

And I came across a local market in San Telmo with local produce, vintage clothes and artifacts.

I ventured on the SubTe, subway.

Then it was time for me to say my own farewell to Argentina and the Sabatico Travelers Hostel.

Back to Colonia

Spring celebration in Colonia. What a wonderful thing to happen upon! Like a big Halloween parade for children all dressed up. Very precious.






We're back in Colonia to pick up last-minute gifts and get our tickets for the boat ride back to Buenos Aires. We're staying at the Hotel Rivera with a lovely patio and WiFi to check on e-mails and update Facebook and the blog.

For lunch I have "Cuban" rice (plain rice, fried banana and a little salad, aaaargh, there's no hot sauce!!???) and Alisa enjoys her Milanesa. Then a little more sightseeing and we'll be off to Buenos Aires in the morning.

You can't get there from here

Our plan was to leave Montevideo and head to Canelones, a small town just to the north. A couch surfer warned that there was nothing to do there. But, we figured if we want to see the real Uruguay, we should give it a look/see.

We made our way through the rain to the bus station but found out that we couldn't get there from that bus station which was only for long-distance travel. We were directed to take a series of local buses but were questioned on why we would want to go there. We were again told there was nothing to do/see there.

So, we thought about our Plans B and C and decided to stay another night in Montevideo. We found a bigger Artisan Market and Alisa experience Uruguyan chivitos for lunch and dinner!

In Uruguay, the 29th of the month is a traditional day to eat gnocchis. It's the end of the month and the paycheck has stretched about as far as it can and all that's left to eat is a bit of flour and potatoes. Time for noquis! Many of the restaurants offered bargains for gnocchis. Who could resist?!! I couldn't.

We stay the night at Hotel Palacio, well situated in the heart of Ciudad Vieja.

Off to Carmelo!

Wet and soggy in Montevideo

Who could possibly eat breakfast after the very filling dinner we had?!! We could and did.

We were prepared for chilly weather and we were somewhat prepared for wet weather. We were not adequately prepared for chilly, wet weather. We ended up being soggy most of the day but were quite productive.

My little umbrella could not keep both of us dry and with the frequent gusts of wind, it spent a lot of time safely tucked away in my bag. My denim jeans and fleece jacket were an efficient wick soaking up all that the Uruguayan clouds threw at us. I was damp and chilled to the bone.

But, we made our way to the Mercado del Puerto with beautiful colors (purple artichokes) and took in the smells of the wood-burning grills of the food vendors. It was too early for lunch but we scouted it out.

After buying some souvenirs and drying out at the hostel, we returned to the most untouristy food stall hidden in the back behind the fancy restaurants. Muy deliciosas! The seafood selections were wonderful although I would (and did) eat anything smeared with their parsley and garlic garnish. Yummy!One of the owners poses with Alisa for a photo.

Drats! The rain returned so contented bellies had to fortify us against the inclement weather. Alisa did some more exploring town after improvising rain boots with some plastic bags. and we had a great time at the Artisans Marketplace. All in all, a successful day.

Montevideo

The bus ride to Montevideo took us through the green, idyllic farm lands with cows, sheep, chickens and ubiquitous cell towers sprouting straight up to the sun from the fertile ground.

We're staying at the Green Hostel, a brand-new place in La Ciudad Vieja (the Old City). The WiFi connection is slow so I'll post photos later.

The Old City with all of its scenic attractions has fallen into abandonment, disrepair and long-time neglect. But, there seems to be some revival including Green. It feels like Old Cartagena must have looked like before it's rebirth.

We'll spend two days here to get our souvenirs. Alisa has been looking for a skirt. I'm surprised to see that prices are much higher and the quality is lower than in NYC.

Alisa generally passes for a local no matter what country she is in, although it's a little harder when she has her gringa mom along (of course, pausing to take the silly photo at a phone booth doesn't help).

But, Montevideo is a small "big city" and people are friendly and it doesn't take long for some of the vendors to recognize us. After walking around the deserted Old Town looking for a dinner spot, we end up at a place near our hostel. My veggie calzone is huge. The cafe is crowded and the staff is short-handed. Thank goodness, they forget about Alisa's order. We both are stuffed after finishing my dinner. We're such cheap dates.

On Tuesday we'll hit the local markets.

Beautiful Colonia

After a packed but uneventful flight, an easy, though costly breeze through immigration (I think other countries are retaliating against US policies) and customs, I navigated my way over to the ferry terminal. Pure joy! Alisa was there waiting for me after her long, overland journey from northern Patagonia.

We take the short ferry trip over to Colonia del Sacramento, Uruguay. What a cute town, confident enough preserve its character in the shadows of the excessive, mega Buenos Aires. But, it's still slightly disconcertingly touristy and yet not. We haven't seen any opulent cathedrals. Were the Uruguayans able to stem that tide centuries ago as they seem to have in more modern times?

What are the things that make Uruguay unique? Their mate (herbal tea) tradition is seemingly much more entrenched than, say even Argentina. We see people walking around clutching their mate (gourds) and Thermos containers of hot water. Still, they don't impose that culture on visitors. There are no mate cafes screaming out to lure in others.

The weather is a perfect antidote for both of us. The warmth of early Spring embraces Alisa who left the snowy climes of Bariloche. The mild, crisp sunny days are are a wonderful transition after a long, hot, humid NY summer.

We stayed at La Perla del Plata (Silver River Pearl).

We're taking off up the coast but will circle back to lovely Colonia.


More to come...

Go figure

It's time to dust off the dormant blog and repurpose it back to its original travelogue. I have a lot of half-finished summer musings and composting updates but will wait to post them. Also, coming soon, by popular demand, I have some favorite recipes queued up to unveil.

As I prepare to hit the road again, it's sobering to know that Alisa has already been making her way to our rendevous. She has long since embarked on her 21-hour, 830-mile bus trek from Bariloche to Buenos Aires. For me it's an easy jump across 5,250 miles in 11 hours and most of that time will be spent sleeping overnight so that I can awake in Bs As. Yes, of course, Alisa could have flown too (a two-hour trip) but when has she ever taken the easy way there when she can have an adventure?!!

I'm so excited to have another opportunity to travel with her. I'm relatively unemcumbered, deciding to go with just a carry-on knapsack. Sorry, sweetie, no stash of peanut butter or the usual treats this trip although I will lug around the requested books and sneak in a few goodies. I'm squeezing in my yoga blanket in case we find a place to practice. But, I won't be stopping by Bariloche to check out Alisa's new place. Instead we'll make our way over to Uruguay so that Alisa can renew her visa and try to get a sampling of what makes Uruguay unique.


PRW

Urban Composter: Compost Matures and Leaves the Nest

After just three months perfectly average urban kitchen waste has transformed into beautiful, rich compost ready to debut in a country garden in the Adirondacks. I've learned a lot to shorten the production cycle and, thus, anticipate sending another batch out into the world. And, what a world of opportunity there is. Interest in my compost has also been fielded from rooftop gardeners in Greenwich Village and a brownstone owner in Park Slope.

But, first, I need to solve the fruit fly problem that has developed in the current batch. I've tried fashioning a vinegar trap that didn't fool these savvy City-bred pests. So, I'll continue to research and test other solutions.

Practical Recycling Woman (PRW)

Urban Composter (one-month-old)

After one month, is it that I’m just used to it or is the smell really nearly gone? Maybe it’s wishful thinking, but I really think once the compost starts “cooking” the smell issue comes under control.

I probably should throw away my first “batch” of compost (and might end up doing that) because of some of the initial mistakes I made.

Lessons learned:
1. Don’t compost broad leaves from bushes and trees. The leaves from the rose bouquet aren’t anywhere near to composting.
2. Be sure to take off those little sticky labels from vegetables and fruits; they live on forever.
3. Hoard black-and-white newspaper to use for dry filler because most newsprint has color inks.
4. No need to spend a lot of money to buy fancy equipment (although it is a little fun to see what’s being marketed).

Things I did right:
1. Aerate (mix the compost up) about once a week.
2. Compost predominantly uncooked vegetable waste (I do throw in egg shells, coffee filters, laundry lint). I will probably start introducing some cooked food (non-meat) waste now that the composting process is going smoothly.
3. Keep two containers: one that can age quickly for 4-6 weeks; the other that holds cumulating compost.
4. Reduce odors by making sure liquids don’t accumulate at the bottom by layering filler (thin leaves and shredded newspaper); also use filler on top to keep the heat in and the bugs and smells away.

Let me know what you think, if you have any tips to share, or if you want to get started.

Perpetually Reclaiming (the) World

Dirt pies not pie charts

I was jumping the gun and did an early weigh-in anticipation of my three-week status report on my apartment composting efforts.

Aaargh! My compost did not gain weight even though I have been regularly feeding it. Yes, it only gets a very low-cal, extremely high-fiber diet. But, none-the-less I was picturing charting a seasonally adjusted time series with a cumulative running total graph or maybe pie charts over time showing the changing distribution of household waste – recycled, reused, reduced (composted). No, this is not going to work. I’m going to have to find another way to measure success.

Well, I can get qualitative satisfaction in reporting that some of the compost is now a sum of undistinguishable parts rather than just moldy incarnations of their previous selves. The Valentine roses and baby’s breath and even some of the stems are no longer distinct. The used-up lemon and egg shells are well integrated.

But, there’s an elephant in the room that I’m trying to deny or ignore -- it is the smell. My cute little composting bucket has a nice filter but that doesn’t do any good when I open the lid to throw compostables in. Also, I am trying regularly to aerate (stir up the compost to get air into the mix) and that process also releases the odors into the apartment. So, I find myself drinking a lot more aromatic teas, orange-scented mate, etc. so that the discarded leaves can act, albeit in vain, as a neutralizer.

The other thing I found myself doing is purposefully buying produce that will produce more compost. I will buy radishes with greens to compost rather than loose radishes, similarly with carrots. Nevertheless, without grass cuttings it’s hard to find a good source of easily breakdownable dry matter to mix with the wetter kitchen wastes. Leaves take forever to decompose. One thing that is working better is that I’m shredding newspapers into finer strips so that they don’t clump up as much.

The goal is to get to a state where my compost process is efficiently breaking down before summer so that there won’t be any flies/bugs/odors with the warmer weather and to do this without chemicals or creatures. (Sorry, Alisa, the mere thought of vermicomposting gives me nightmares of worms escaping during the night and tracking me down.)

Anyway, charts or not there is still satisfaction in being able to nurture garbage to a hopefully more blissful future.

Persistently Reducing Waste

If you can make it here, you can make it anywhere...

Composting is such a compelling concept. Why not reduce landfill waste by helping nature to renew itself? So what if I live in NYC with no terrace or garden?!

I did a little research and found these helpful sites about indoor composting in an apartment kitchen:

www.idealistcafe.com/2008/09/apartment-composting-how-to-compost.html

planetgreen.discovery.com/home-garden/apartment-compost-guide.html

www.journeytoforever.org/compost_indoor.html

There's no "need" to buy expensive equipment but, hey, if you're going to have a hobby, it always fun to look at the new gadgets, etc. that are available. After composting with an old container, I did buy a fancy, composting bin with filter. It hasn't done much for the composting process but I think it might cut down on the odor.

I decided to compost only uncooked, kitchen waste, only plant matter, no dairy or animal products (except egg shells). I use shredded newspaper (black-and-white), flowers/plants, dryer lint to soak up liquid. Although Alisa was lobbying for vermicomposting, I really don't want to bring in and deal with squiggly creatures.

However, after one-and-a-half weeks, I see that the composting process will take some time. The clementine peels take forever to break down as well as asparagus stems. The shredded newspapers have clumped up. The Valentine bouquet hasn't integrated but continues to bring joy to the mix -- a little over seven pounds, so far. Some of the how-to sites suggest using a food processor to break things down first, but somehow using electricity to "make" compost doesn't work for me (yet).

If you are also composting, please share your tips and lessons learned. I'll check back in a couple of weeks with another progress report.

Peaceful Recycling Warrior