cruising around the end of the world....

ok, i'm back, i'm back I'M BACK!... happy 2009 everyone! from the emails i have thoroughly enjoyed devouring while simultaneously inhaling these scrumptious, leave your fingers slick-greasy, fried empanadas and glass of wine, it looks like 2009 started with a bang for most of you. great to read everyone is taking the new year by patagonian storms... (falling in love (northwest-bound bean?!), getting knocked-up (congrats mattie & dana!), getting engaged (HOORAY C &T) and even hooking up (er... you dirty dogs shall remain unnamed)... it's all so exciting!!) thanks for all the emails, and for those few who thought i had been kidnapped, my apologies for thoroughly immersing myself in my family time on our 2-week cruise down the coast of chile, around cape horn @ the end of the world and up the coast of argentina. too tough to blog when one is watching one's parents, brother and sister-in-law trip over their fancy feet in tango, salsa, and swing dance classes as the ship waddles back and forth like an elephant trotting up a muddy mountain... (it was pretty impressive actually, and absolutely, stupidly adorable. my brother kicked some major tango ass. my mommo, on the other hand, kicked my bubbi's ass. i mean, she actually, physically KICKED him a few times. tango!) more on that later....

ont he cruise... we marveled at the most magical & massive chilean fjords and glaciers that glowed the most beautiful hues of blue, we river-rafted down the rio petrohue with the unbelievable backdrop of volcano osorno peering at us through the ever-swirling clouds, we joined in on a penguin parade, took a train ride at the end of the world and we stuffed our faces. alot. with some of the best fresh lamb, mouth-watering empanadas, creamy-stick-to-the-roof-of-

your-mouth dulce de leche, sizzling plates of parrilla that comes with a mound of bbq meat that includes everything from brain to sweet breads to blood sausage. if it was sizzling on that plate. we ate it. and less we forget the famous argentine steaks... by the time my family crawled their heavy bellies all the way to the airport to head back home, we had all vowed no meat for at least 6 months... my current empanada is carne. and it's awesome. breakin' all the rules already. i love buenos aires.

after 2 weeks of cruise life, i am happy to be surrounded by the vibrant argentine souls as cruise life can start feeling like one is living on some strange alternate universe where life revolves around mealtime. people piling their breakfast buffet plates up up to their eyeballs and spending the remainder of the morning destroying that mountain. (NOT the same as our parrilla plates. not at ALL the same thing.) it's a terrifying sight to see a man sit before three plates of fried eggs, sausage, ham, scrambled eggs, potatoes, waffles, boiled eggs, corned beef hash, roast beef, egg pie.... etc, etc, etc... or eggscetera! oh god, did i actually just say that. the wine is working. moving on...

other time spent on the ship can be passed by going for a dip in the chlorine-thick burn your skin off pool, gambling, drinking, wandering aimlessly, or what my family mostly did... taking dance classes, napping and reading in our little nest of a corner on the ship. for lack of a better metaphor, the dance classes made me feel like i was smack dab in the middle of a dirty dancing moment where mostly older, mainly uncoordinated, but incredibly enthusiastic vacationers were out to tackle the cha cha cha beat in their minds. i didn't dance. i watched with delight. the older couples warming my heart as they tush tush tush their way around the one to three, one two three's of salsa. nothing like seeing a couple attempt to lead and let lead on the dance floor. i thought... someday, some lovely, poor fool will have to learn to lead me out there next to my parents... just like my brother and sister-in-law. good luck, lovely, poor fool.

my main obsession was actually with the dark & dirty underground life that must fester in the deep depths of the cruise ship. where the ship employees are smashed together for 6-8months at a time. i couldn't help but try and envision what kind of stories lurked in those bowels... affairs! lies! sex scandals! alas, i had to leave that up to my wild imagination as the one time i tried to spy on their timesheet billboard, i got hurried along by my mother rather quickly.

mostly, it was time to spend with my family. which was great... and exhausting. no gonna lie... traveling with a 2 and a 1/2 year old is like adding 15 more people to the trip. poor little rahrah munchkin hurled a few times all over my sister as the ship rocked forcibly back and forth. and she may or may not have drank a glass of oj that may or may not have contained something other than oj which may or may not have cause little miss rahrah to give us a glimpse of what she might be if she were a raging partyer at the age of 22.... but this is all just a possibility. merely a possibility.

well ironically, i say this as i take my final sip of my wine and plan to head out on the buenos aires town tonight.... mybe she's more like her auntie than we want to admit.

salud!