Photos from South America: the Food version

My husband, Derek says that he enjoys being married to me because he never knows when he'll wake up next to a different woman. While it might sound saucy, this comment actually refers to my life-long habit of constantly changing myself: my hobbies, my appearance, exercise du jour, preference in music or a whole host of other interests.


Not surprisingly, my blog follows my this fickle trend. It isn't truly a "Healthy Living Blog" or a day-to-day account of my life. Some days, my blog provides a smoothie recipe. Other days, a protein-spiked fudge muffin. I might have a post about a 16-year old cat or a young cheeky kitty or two. Topics might involve my family (the good and the sad), the many friends I've made or people I continue to meet. It can involve my struggles with trying to balance my simultaneous love of food and exercise and my life-long battle to keep those 90 pounds away forever without driving myself stark-raving mad in the process. I suppose you never really know who you'll get when you read my blog over your morning oatmeal.


Only the most astute of readers will notice that I failed to deliver my post last week. That is because I'm just catching up and re-entering home-life after being fortunate enough to be traveling for nearly a month. In the past, my blog has followed me on trips, but this is really not a travel blog either.  I don't see the point with boring you with my random vacation photos. Rather, I'd want to share some pictures from this trip that you might find interesting, heart-warming or at least amusing.  Here we go...


For Lovers of food and drink:

This is a specialty on Easter Island: a creamy seafood concoction served over fries

Found all over South America: CEVICHE!

There really is a treasure at the end of this rainbow

Another seafood-over-fries meal: think Seafood pasta but with fries instead of noodles

Another typical dish in south America: Huge Seafood Soup

Empanadas! Empanadas everywhere (Meat- or veg-filled pastries)

"Pisco Sours" ...common in Chile & Peru: Pisco is a liquor made from grapes. Then add lime juice, froth of egg white for the pretty foam on top, splash of bitters and simple syrup (or not, as they did for me). Then you can get fancy and add some other juice, such as mango or guava...very tasty!

Penguins are all the rage in Chilean Patagonia

These meringue/chocolate penguins were cute and tasty

Favorite Hobby: Grocery Store Aisle Perusing

Look! Yogurt refills! You reuse your plastic/glass container and buy big bags to refill- GENIUS! (thankfully, they aren't $898 US dollars)

Yuck?

He might not read Spanish, but...hmmm.

Spotted in Argentina. This burger is barftastic.

Fiber-filled "Twig" cereal exists everywhere- even in south America

This very official stamped document confirms not that I have permission to enter a restricted country, but rather than I bought strawberries

Mesmerized in the cookie aisle

Can you believe that this is in a McDonald's in Buenos Aires?

Vegans, look away, this is how they barbeque in Argetine (called Asado)

Lamb Asado, mmmm

Helado/gelatos...totally obligatory on vacation

Ice cream: Best meal of the day (yes, it subbed as lunch on several occasions)

I'll continue this series next time. Topics will include: ideas for exercising on vacation (in addition to my lunge & squat video), cute doggies & other animals and maybe nature/beauty.


Q: What is the best or most memorable food you've eaten on vacation? Is Ice cream 'a must' on vacation (even when it's freezing cold out?)

Sliding Lunge & Squat (Hotel room) routine - video

So just to catch you up from my last post when it was questionable whether or not I'd be able to go on the Patagonian cruise due to the fact that my tummy, bones and I were feeling awful. I went, and by the end of the trip, I was nearly good as new.


My Spanish is usually good enough to make myself understood, but when I make a mistake, I'm often off by a letter or two. On the second day of the cruise, I broke down and saw the ship's doctor. I managed to tell him that my testicles ache (huevos) but luckily he understood that I really meant that my bones (huesos) ache. 

He kiboshed all foods except nutrient-devoid white carbs and diet coke (Honest! Something about potassium!) Needless to say I loved him dearly.  My all-carb diet and some (free!) meds had me sorted out in a day or so, thankfully.


A couple of photos:

More white carbs than I've consumed in the last 10 yrs combined

Not gonna lie: this was fabulous.

Concerned husband looks on as I attempt to self-administer my medicine

A real live glacier- I felt well enough to go ashore and snap this shot...

...but pretty soon I felt a bit green and went back to the ship.

Now, back to the real purpose of this post: to share one of my go-to workouts for when I travel: My Hotel Room Lunge & Squat routine. I know that a lot of people take time off from training when they travel and if this is what works best for you, then that's great! I would feel completely out of sorts if I stopped working out when I travel, so I always make it a priority (if energy levels cooperate, of course!) I often use this routine the day of our departure for home because I all of our clothes are already packed and I know I'll be sitting on a plane for hours. This starts the day off right.

This routine is great:

• If you don't have a hotel gym or you are staying in a small guest house or hostel
• If you don't feel like dealing with your hotel gym
• If you don't even feel like putting on clothes
• If all of your workout clothes are already packed but you want to bang out a quick workout.
• If your sneaks are packed: you don't even need them as you wont be jumping or putting massive amounts of pressure on your feet.
• If the weather is bad and you don't want to go outside: cold/hot/snowy etc.

You can do about 15 or so reps of each exercise and then repeat the series 3-4 times. I work up a sweat, especially with the dynamic version of this workout (ie using a 'slider'). So technically it's cardio and strength all rolled into one workout - love me some multitasking!

Hello from the edge

First off, apologies as i know that the format of this post will be
wonky at best. I'm not even sure all of the photos will appear as this
is the first time posting multiple photos on Blogger via email. Oh
well, everyone will survive I'm sure.

I'm near the edge of the earth in Patagonia (it's flat, right?) and
the edge of my wits. I'm supposed to be getting on a ship to go around
the Cape Horn in a matter of two hours. At the moment I'm lying sick
in bed with mismatched Jammie's and really bad hair.

In the past three days I've gone from feeling fine to awful to fab to
terrible x2 or 3. I had a 'real' post 80% written with photos & links
but I got clobbered yet again with aches, cold/hot, head & tummy aches
& I had to stop. Bummer, as it seems the best time for me to write a
post is when I am several thousand miles from my To-Do list and
surrounded by four unfamiliar walls.

Assuming I make it on the ship (Derek is out buying me Dramamine)
we'll be without Internet for days (Derek is out buying himself
Ativan). This should be interesting!

Here are some photos I already had in my phone library... Things to point out:

The first collage is from Buenos Aires: we walked around "The Paris of
South America", took busses & trains, gawked at the fanciest McCafe
I've seen & went to a "milonga" where real people gather to do the
tango.

The second shot showed two highlights from El Calafete in Argentine
Patagonia: eating ice cream and visiting Perito Morena Glacier (not
necessarily in that order, maybe).

The third photo is our hotel in El Calafete called Design Suites (a
living, breathing art gallery). You'll undoubtedly appreciate the
photo of me sick in bed just in case you don't know what that looks
like.
Finally and most importantly, someone needs to bottle and sell
Patagonian water for use in conditioners. My hairs' glory peaked in El
Calafete and it's all downhill from here. El Sigh.

Have a wonderful New Year to all of you!

A night out at the ballet

Main points:
* We are far, far away from home
* We try to expose ourselves to culture whenever possible
* We travel in style. OK, that's a lie: we love to take public
transportation. The grottier, the better.
* I might have lost the heel to one of my oldest and most beloved pair
of shoes right outside the Opera House in Buenos Aires.
* I might have busted into an "alfajor" (the national cookie) in an
intermission. And enjoyed every morsel.
* I'm wishing my readers a wonderful holiday & thanking you for
reading my little corner of the Internet. ��

Inspirational

Sometimes, when I see young people with walkers or wheelchairs, the very first thing I think about (just after: "Why?") is "How would I handle that?" Would I sit on the couch and feel sad? Would I try to get on with life as best I could? Would I be one of those marathon wheelchair racers? Honest truth: I don't know.

When I was on a cruise over Thanksgiving, I saw a guy with a walker every day in the gym. On the final day, I sneaked a note in his backpack that read: "You are awesome " (No, I didn't have a yellow marker on my person but that would have been all sorts of fabulous).
 
So it's pretty obvious that I get inspired by people like this. This week, I saw another impressive gym-goer and decided to talk to him. This is someone who has overcome huge challenges and thrives because of his determination.

Alistair Dutson

This is Alistair Dutson. About 20 years - ago at age 18- this Canadian elite multisport athlete was 'thisclose' to becoming a Motocross Professional racer when a devastating accident during a practice ride broke his spine and rendered him paraplegic. After a week in a coma, 6 months in hospital/rehab and 18 months of deep depression, he somehow pulled himself up and forward. Fortunately, his spine was not damaged quite as badly as originally believed and he regained a small amount of use of his legs. He is now able to stand and walk with braces and a cane for limited distances.


He formed a foundation called Team1 (both USA and Canada) and has spent his time training, chair-racing (on the road and snow) and public speaking to youth about knowing one's limits, setting goals and overcoming obstacles. You can check out his impressive racing accomplishments (including several Boston Marathons) here.


This guy trains like a beast! There isn't enough internet space to show his entire workout (kidding!) but I wanted to share just a snippet of a typical training session with you.

Assisted Pull Up

Triceps extension

Alternating Rows

Pushups against bar

Bench press. This is 225 pounds!

Resting, stretching, calf raises

Alistair in front of the "Prison yard" at Gold's Gym (one of his sponsors)

When I asked him about the keys to his recovery, he listed:


• Determination & Perseverance.
• Sports & Recreation + Health & Fitness.
• Knowledge that there is a greater purpose for his life.


For the stat nerds out there, here are some details about his recent workouts:


Since the start of 2010 he has completed a minimum of 1000 Reps per gym workout utilizing a mixture of cables, free weights and machines.  He cranks out 5 to 6 workouts a week and walks 1Km on the treadmill each session.


• Annual minimum reps he completes in gym workouts: 240,000.
• Annual minimum Kilometers he walks on treadmills: 240.



Somehow, I can't imagine Alistair sipping a latte and licking an ice cream cone between sets, but I'll try not to hold that against him

Q: Have you overcome any large obstacles or know someone who has? What helped? What did not? If you have any questions for Alistair, I'd be happy to pass them on to him.