Merry Christmas and Happy Birthday to Me

We went to our friends' apartment and watched the Christmas fireworks go off all over the city at the stroke of midnight Christmas Eve.

I don't have any pics documenting Christmas, but we slept in, had lunch with other friends and relaxed.

The day after Christmas, aka my birthday, we took the dog for a long walk around our neighborhood.

We snapped lots of pics, which I hope to eventually post, of the beautiful houses here, and enjoyed the summer weather. I do not miss NoVa's cold weather or all the snow they got. I realize now that there's no need to be bitter about a Dec. birthday -- I was just born in the wrong hemisphere!

Springtime in Buenos Aires

Some pictures of the jacaranda trees after a spring rain. These are the parks that border the Embassy.







We recently met some friends for lunch at this cute little restaurant.

We ate outside, beside this beautiful fountain.

Incredible Dancing Diplomat

A group of us went to one of the Diplomatic Happy Hour parties that are periodically hosted for the diplomatic community here in Buenos Aires. This one had a Brazil theme and was being held on a boat docked in the harbor, so we thought it would be cool but it kind of lived up to the reputation that the Diplomatic Happy Hours here have earned -- sort of lame parties; meet markets of dressed-to-the-nines diplomats from obscure embassies, drinking cheap champagne.

The party was pretty much as anticipated, so we just made our own fun, which included laughing hysterically at the dance stylings of this totally random guy with a bandaged hand, who jumped up on the stage and danced solo to every song as if he were performing in his own show. And perform he did. ENJOY.

Latin Time

We took a taxi to meet some friends for dinner.

We're American, so we made 8:30 p.m. reservations.
Nobody in Buenos Aires eats that early except Americans.

The restaurants open for dinner around 8-9 p.m.

Ah, look over there, we're not alone anymore.


At the end of dinner, we had this delish and pretty passionfruit mousse.
By the time we left, the place was packed. Should've gotten a pic, sorry!

Back to Hawaii for a minute

A few pics I didn't post before.

We went to the Honolulu Academy of Arts, one of my favorite places, just in time to see the opening of "Hokusai's Summit: Thirty-Six Views of Mt. Fuji," the 36 (actually 42) Japanese block prints of Mt. Fuji by Katsushika Hokusai, including the famous "Great Wave Off Kanagawa" (pictured in the poster below).


The show was A-MA-ZING. And the gardens and courtyards on the grounds of the museum are spectacular as well.

Takeoff and Landing

A couple images from takeoff out of Buenos Aires. The city stretched out under us, all lit up. It was breathtaking.




Once we got to Honolulu, I saw this ad in front of one of the airport restaurants. "Tropical Itch"? Really?? That doesn't sound "Oh so refreshing" to me.

Green Turtle

This reminds me of Eric Carle illustrations.

When I woke up at the Robertsons' and looked from where I lay on the living room floor, out the screen door, I saw a green turtle.


Do you see it?

p.s. I just added video to the end of the previous post :)

Marine Ball - Nov. 7

The Embassy held the annual Marine Ball, the celebration of the "birthday" of the Marine Corps, a couple weeks ago.

The Marines provide security at the Embassy and are a lot of fun outside of their jobs, and they threw a great party. Everyone was dressed to the nines, the men in tuxedos. Yes, even Neil. And my dress was courtesy a bridesmaid obligation from three years ago.


The lady in the center is the Ambassador.

Presenting the cake.




A tradition is to include the oldest Marine present in the ceremonies, and at 71 years old (full of energy and still working full time!), Mark was it. He looked great in his uniform. On the right is the youngest Marine, 21 years old.


Action shots are always awkward. I post this only to document the totally awesome hair we all had for a night. And the Argentine military guy's sweet uniform that I'm scoping out.
Me and one of the Marines.
"International Men of Mystery" -- Neil and one of our Argentine friends.



Me and some friends. A good time was had by all!


Video of the night's entertainment: live tango musicians and dancers.

HOT LAVA!!!!

The volcano was mesmerizing, like an enormous campfire. The red-hot lava was flowing straight from the earth out of a cliff, pouring directly into the ocean. It was amazing. The waves ebbed and flowed, crashing into the cliff, colliding with the lava and sending steam high up into the night sky in apartment-building-sized billows. Is was totally transfixing.

The clouds changed constantly, and the eerie red glow at night and their sheer size kept playing tricks on my mind; I kept seeing ghoulish, devilish faces! It was so creepy. Do you see the profile of the man's face, looking to the right in the picture above?

How about now?

Anyway, here are a couple other images of the inferno.

Lava Fields

Earlier in the day, we walked and hiked around the lava fields and volcanic tunnels.


The picture above is a crater where lava flowed out till it formed that ridge right at the base of the green cliff. The bumpy looking ridge is actually 20 ft. high.


I looked in the mirror and was like, "Whoa, I have to get a picture of this!" It was the sun, the light, the something, but I wish I looked like this all the time!

As you may or may not know, I call him "Ne Ne," (NAY nay) so I forced him to take a picture beside the sign. "No dogs, this is NE NE TERRITORY!"

The volcano plains gave way to a lush jungle area that had tunnels formed from lava.