A secret well kept

Last night we went over to have dinner to a place called Almacén Secreto, it is a restaurante in a house and you only get in with a previous reservation. The food is mostly inspired in the northwestern Argentinian cuisine, the place is a really cozy spot colored in earth and is nicely hosted by this salteña girl called María.

The kitchen is within view

Some of the dishes: Tamal; Lamb and Polenta; Matambre and quinoa; Charqui

An organic red wine from Cafayate

One of our friends, Andrea, from San Francisco visiting

Getting closer

Thai finally is accepting Valentín...

one more tea...

This weekend I had the blessing of finally meeting Cecilia. I bought this beautiful ring from her and she brought me a moon calendar.
We talked a lot about plants among other interesting stuff and had tea.
I am glad to have a new friend!

Us . Nosotros

years . años

A country tour

Still some pictures from the Hayashi's trip to Argentina.

At Montes Grandes, my parent's house in the country.

Keiko and Steve



Kelly and Chris

The stars of the evening

The proud administrator, my dad

I * heart * Presents

Some delicious cooking salts, from Kelly and Chris

A custom made photo album of the Hayashi's first trip to Argentina from Kelly and Chris also, a glass and silver necklace from Scottie, a book from Keiko and Steve and a watering can from them also...



A special ilustration to hang on the christmas tree designed by my new blogger friend Cecilia

A new start

Fortunately I have not lost the idea of "white page" that every new year inspires...

Good life for everybody and I hope this is the year to see all of you that are away...

The 2006's top five

.1. Graduating from school.
.2. Receiving a grant from the CONICET.
.3. Having the our whole family together the Noetinger's and the Hayashi's at last.
.4. My field trip to Jujuy
.5. Realizing we love each other more everyday.

Hope you had, having or will have a great new year's eve!

Love you all...
Los queremos mucho...

Christmas postcards

Merry Christmas everyone!
I am back!, trying to fit in my regular life again... and it is not easy.
Well as you can imagine, we were pretty busy these days.
Christmas eve was very particular, it was our first one with no electricity under a big storm including hail!.
Somehow it did not ruin the celebration and we got to manage it by making a last minute arrangements...

This was before the storm, candles all over the gallery as a decoration...



Kelly and Chris taking care of little Valentín while the others were getting ready



The tree under candle light (now not as a decoration!)



Tatana (Nico's mom - my sister's boyfriend - )and Keiko opening the special presents that Santa has brought to them...






As soon as the rain stopped we lit the tons of fireworks off that my mom has bought



On thr 25th. we got to see with light what we all have had last night...










So, hope you had a nice Christmas too!...

More updates soon.

Fishes dancing in the street

Saturday night we went over for dinner: The Noetinger's, Bosio's; Hayashi's and the Roux's families!!... all together.
We decided to go to a place specialized in fish (pretty uncommon here, due to the well known Argentinian preferences) called Jangada.
The story is that we all finished as fish, because there was a big storm that was coming over our heads and as we had a place outside and because we were so much they did not have space for us until a couple of drops!
Inside we had two separated tables (group A and B, as we called ourselves), where we continue to eat and later to wait to any cab that would sail the flooded streets...

The threatening storm



The great grilled pacú (fresh water fish from the area)



After a few drops we could get a place inside



By the time that we wanted to go home, it was impossible to get a cab



A few courageous ones went over to fight with the rain and the people who was in the same situation as we were to get a cab...



but it was not easy or fast... and the bodies kept falling...



But Nico found one!!...said Steve... but we need 5!!!



Luckily we all could return to our respective homes with our full bellies and our happy hearts!

Good week everyone!

I was chosen to be...

the godmother of Marcos. We had the christening yesterday afternoon, during one of the hottest days of the year.



"Enlightenment" on the church floor.



Thanks for the comments!, and Peter, please, don't hesitate to call us if you come back!

Christmas is here... and the Hayashi's too

The Hayashi's are here!!... they arrived this Monday and they are staying 'till the 27th. So We are really busy, trying to do a little bit of everything!.

Kelly, Keiko and little Valentín



Chris loving empanadas


I heart this holiday!. It is my favorite one!

H.A.P.P.I.N.E.S.S

If you were wondering why the blog has not been updated this week, well, I've been out for work. To be precise I've been to Jujuy, to the Quebrada de Humahuaca. We did not have much time since the people from the Tucumán University called us to go to this field trip. This is part of the zone that is included in my PhD thesis... and as you can see is heaven. I fell completely in love with it.


We went over to Jujuy the past Sunday and we stayed until Friday. We arrived and the people from Tucumán, two geologists, picked us up and we went over straight to Humahuaca where we spent the night. There, we met two more people from San Juan, a sedimentologist and his girlfriend who went to keep him company.
Next day we drove to the outcrop, at 4600 m (15000 feet), which comprises basically all the inferior Paleozoic , from the Precambrian to nearly the Carboniferous.
My goal was to take palynologycal samples, which are some rock which could contain this kind of organic matter, so it had to be of a particular color and texture (not to be too specific). It was good that we had enough time to take all the samples that we wanted to, but unfortunately we can not know if they are fertile or barren until we process them at the laboratory.

I had a really great time!!...I felt so lucky enjoying my work!!.

And as I titled this post, for those who really know what I mean by being happy, I felt happiness, as I was shivering because of the cold, being hot due to the dry wind or even having insomnia because of the uncomfortable tent.




Some vicuñas



At 5000 m everything looks different...



A fossil trace called Cruziana, which are supposed that they were made by trilobites. This one is from the Ordovician



Some flora from the area






Guillermo and Juan Pablo observing the Ordovician - Silurian boundary


Our base camp, inside a goat field



After a hot shower at the hotel in our way back, some beers at a bar in Humahuaca (Guillermo, Mariela and Juan Pablo)



We had a day to be tourist too...

Purmamarca (with the seven colors hill: each color indicates a different time period). It is amazing!



Tilcara: the Pucará ruins