Vida portena

We have now been about two weeks in la capital federal, and have found our rhythm here. 

I go to the gym in the morning, Justus and the girls go to the play ground (and for a fika). Lunch. Try to get Junia to sleep at home / in the stroller/ give up with the sleeping as she then at least hopefully falls asleep easily in the evening. Fika. Discovering a new barrio. Dinner. Get the girls to sleep. Ice cream. Nos gusta.

Junia likes karuseller. 

Flippin' burger's motsvarighet i Palermo Soho

Shopping

We miss Brasil a bit...

Sometimes it is hard to leave the playground

Fences are to be climbed over

Street art

At home

Our groenteboer, over the road

Visiting Fer

Buenos Aires zoo

syskonkärlek

Back in Bahia Blanca

Last weekend we went back to Bahia Blanca, where I was exchange student 8 years ago. Time goes fast. It is funny how little people change, and cities basically also stay the same even if shops and restaurants close down and open up. When I first arrived to Bahia Blanca I was a single student. This time I had a husband and two daughters with me, that is however a slight change.

When travelling down memory lane like I did last weekend, it is interesting to see how emotions can come back, just by physically visiting a place. Walking back to uni is NOT something I miss. I am so glad I don't have any exams left. brrr. Being back in the old gym only brought back happy memories however, and I was really glad that we could call in my old favourite profe again as well.

It was a nostalgic but good weekend, and I am glad that with old friends it does not matter how many years that passes, it still feels like you just saw eachother a week ago!

Universidad Nacional del Sud. 

Junia is doing some proper student protesting.

Casa 8. No international students at home unfortunately, so we could only see my old home from the outside. 

Chocolate - still going strong.

Uno - where the showers were more reliable than at home

Gaby, Junia and Lucas 

La familia Heit con amigos

Travelling with our ladies

Anna and I have both done some extensive travelling. I pre-dominantly focussed on the SE asia and Anna frequently visisted the Americas. I travelled mostly on my own as I had a hard time finding the ideal travel buddy. My pace and interests were too different to that of my friends. I am sure Johan can remember our short two day rendez-vous in Rome. With Anna, I found my ideal travel buddy and we have made some amazing trips already. 

During this holiday, we are quite often told that we are "brave"/ "inspirational examples"/ "heroes"/ etc. because we dare to go travelling wih such young kids. There is the occasional "you are completely out of your mind" btw as well. Travelling with young kids indeed entails challenges and risks and it is not always easy. It requires a lot of planning, checking (do we have everything with us?), flexibility and especially 'patience' is often tested. It can also be stressful as we are constantly confronted with different challenges. That it implies risks is obvious but that is somehing you just need to accept and not think about all to often. 

The pace of such a holiday is lower, we cannot do all the things we used to do (from climbing mountains to having fine dinners) and the days are not as full/ long as they used to be. We however get so much in return for that. The view from a mountain can be awsome, but the smile on Junia her face when riding a caroussel is so as well. Going for a morning coffee, "mott" (milk in Juniaans) and a koekie gives (almost) the same joy as going out for a nice dinner. Letting Alma experience new 'things' is as exciting as going to an art gallery ourselves. The good old Thai expression 'same same but different' is absolutely applicable!  

The toughest parts of our journey have so far been the travels between the various locations. This is almost like going on a holiday each and every time and all with kids know how stressful that can be. The Ipad (Junia to play with) and the airco (which makes Alma sleep) made several of our travels a lot easier though. The little books we took with us are still interesting although Junia can almost read them to us by now. Promising a fika or ice cream to Anna makes every car journey easier. The Iphone is thus a precious tool to kill any waiting time and a breast calms down Alma in all occasions. Both ladies help us btw to beat all queues which is ideal when travelling. 

So when we take things as they come (not an easy thing for me), keep our heads calm in stressful situations, are flexible to changes, keep the overview, accept the risks and do not forget our driving licenses, Junia and Alma are the best travel buddies we can imagine. Each and every time, both ladies impress with their flexibility and upbeat/ enthusiastice attitude. They really make our little travel group complete. Obviously, the travel bug can be transmitted. 

Checking the check-in

Pushing the luggage trolley at BA airport 

De nuevo en Argentina

It will be a challenge not to write any comparisons between Brasil and Argentina and step on any latinamerican toes, so dear argentino-brasileno friends, don't take it personal!

I recently asked Justus if there was anything he missed from Sweden. After some thinking he said "the people". I got silent (shocked) for a few seconds until he shouted NAAAH! A very funny joke.

Here however, I miss the brasilians a little bit. Now, comparing people from Buenos Aires to Argentineans in general is just as fair as comparing stockholmare with swedes (even if the mayority of the Stockholmare are born and raised in smaller towns, but that's another story). On our 3rd day in la capital federal we can say that there are very nice people here as well, but they are not all absolutely wonderful, as in Brasil.

The weather however is something we are much more happy about here. Clouds, rain and 10 degrees colder than Brasil makes it possible to be outside all day. Love it! 

We have again been super lucky with our home exchange and have a fantastic flat in Palermo Soho, possibly the best location in Buenos Aires. 4 blocks from the gym where I've signed up, amazing cafes, restaurants and shops everywhere. I really love this city.

Junia likes the "mot" in Argentina as well. Her father thinks that the beer is a bit big though. 

Rule: if Alma is asleep on your stomache - you stand up and eat.

Running in Puerto Madero

In front of casa rosada (Argentina's equivalent to the white house, even if Kirchner only workes here) it started to pour down

Bye bye Brasil

It feels rather sad to leave Brasil after three weeks here, especially the wonderful people. But tomorrow we move on to Buenos Aires! One thing we are rather happy about leaving behind however, is the bloody hot weather. But after talking with some portenos on the beach today, we realised that the same feverish temperature will welcome us in Buenos Aires. Seems like we've managed to time the hottest summer for this area in a 100 years. Lucky us.

38 degrees and not a cloud in the sky sets a certain pace. We take siesta from about 12-15 (enjoying Alvin and the chipmunks or the olympic games inauguration on a tv 4 times as big as ours at home), and the set afternoon activity is a looong fika somewhere with air con. Prime time on the beach is before 11 or after 17. 

Alma is in a very good travelling age where it doesn't matter so much who is holding her, as long as it is someone. 

Last night we went out for pizza with the owners of our current home...

... and for dessert we had - pizza! Toppings included cheese, chocolate, doce de leite, strawberries, banana and cherries. Yummy? Oh yes!

Cooling down on the balcony in our - once again - fantastic child equipped home

Avocados the size of Junias head will be missed from Brazil. Together with the mangoes, passion fruits, pine apple...

More and less happy backpackers

Junia with her oh so common "ik ben twee en ik zeg nee" face

Never take a present from a stranger ....

..... let alone joining him/ her into their house. That is definitively something that I will tell my children. Yesterday however, I did not really lead by example. On our way back home, we found a cute little bistro in an unknown (to us) little village. While waiting for our food, Junia and I decided to take a stroll. We saw a strange black castle-like building and decided to head for it. Inside were a lot of motorbikes and we entered to have a closer look. Junia was a little afraid of all the skulls and hell-like creatures but liked the bikes. When I heard someone coughing, I turned around and saw two heavily tatood guys with long hair starring at us. It was then that I realised I had done something not so clever. When I, in a mixture of English an Portuguese tried to explain that we were just there to look for the motorbikes, I all of a sudden understood the skulls and hell-like creatures. We had entered the headquater of the local chapter of the Nomads. Oops! Junia was the one who obviously smoothened-up both gentlemen and they seemed relaxed with our presence. When they understood that we 'came in peace', they showed us some of their bikes. Their master pieces was a six wheel hummer like motorbike. When I sat on it, it  gave me the 'born to be wild' feeling and it was a good Kodak moment. Food was calling and I left with a sweaty t-shirt and made some new friends.

Back in the car

Now we are on the road again, driving from Canela back to Floripa, roughly 6 hours drive. Even if we have been in rather touristy areas we have not seen one single European so far. 

Southeastern Brazil is rather well-off, as a difference to Stockholm there are no beggars in the streets. Amazing houses, fantastic restaurants, super clean, good roads... very easy to travel in! Have not even been considering any culture shock. And the friendlyness of the people never stops to amaze me. It is also the perfect country for travelling with children: good play grounds, buffet restaurants where you can be as picky as you like, and again, these amazing Brazilians who always are chatting up Junia and Alma. To keep it short: we like it here!

So, what has happened since last time I wrote? We have done some more hiking, in the place
we did our first hike together a Sunday 8 years back. Did not remember the hike to be so tough though, but then it maybe wasn't 30+ degrees, Justus did not have a kicking 16 kg Junia on his back and I did not have a 6kg Alma in a 5 m wrap on my chest.

 After half the way (only downhill, as steep as it made Bengtsbacken seem as flat as Holland) we realized that the one hour that was indicated on the board for the track was very very optimistic. But we survived, and had a well deserved massive fika afterwards. 

We have also spent more time with our friends from Sao Leopoldo, enjoying culdinary delights as köttbullar (with björnbärssylt instead of lingon, man tager vad man haver. Funkade helt ok, men så var det inget socker i heller.) äppelpaj, (basically following the same strategy as the cooking competition in Japan, remember Anders?) pannekoeken met spek, stroop en appel and delicious pao de queixo. 

Junia and Carolina

Close-up with a tucan in Gramado zoo. Bloody scary beak.

Ana, Flavio and Alminha. Oh, how nice it is to have someone to hold your baby so that you can eat with two hands! :)

Happy backpackers...

These middle of the day naps are unfortunately getting more uncommon.

Junia enjoying pancake on a stick

When you are out of Hello Kitty bandaids (ve och fasa), pappa Justus needs to be creative.

Sometimes Alma is not so fond of being picked up by random strangers in restaurants as her parents are.

The only negative thing we can say about last week is the problem we had with mosquitos. Justus the mosquito matador went hunting one evening, collecting his prey in the toilet.