Golf in Peru with Fidel Castro

Noah has recently become an international golfer. On Sunday, Fidel arranged for Noah and him to play a round of golf at a Country Club on the out-skirts of Lima, Peru. Because golf is not as popular here, as in the the states, this was quite a task to pursue!

Reading the rules of the club only the day before playing, Noah realized that he had not brought dress pants or khakis to play in and would have to borrow Fidel's pants. This was an adventure of its own since Fidel's pants were a couple sizes smaller then Noah. The club said you had to wear khakis, not necessarily button them :)

After figuring out how to rent the clubs there, they disapproved of Fidel's shoes, and brought him to the club house to borrow new ones. The Club also required caddies for each player, which turned out to be a huge benefit and provided Fidel a personal teacher....his caddy was amazing. It was a great afternoon. Fidel quickly learned the frustrations that come with the game of golf, but was smiling by the last few holes...and even said he would play again!

Shopping for balls and picking out clubs

Fidel's first tee-off and lesson
What a handsome golfer
Fidel hitting and Allie and Noah watching
Fidel's first hole ever!
Fidel's amazing putt! NOW he's smiling :)
Luckily, the course was kind enough to let Allison and I tag along with the boys since it wasn't busy. We had a blast watching and cheering on the boys! Allie was the designated ball and tee carrier. We climbed the trees and took lots of pictures of the beautiful course.

The Post You've All Been Waiting For......MEETING FIDEL CASTRO!

FIDEL AND ALLIE

This past Friday, June 26th Noah and I had the pleasure of being the first in our family to meet Fidel Castro. He came to the airport to pick us up and had presents waiting!

He gave Allie and I each a bouquet of roses, which were beautiful! Then he said, "Don't worry Noah, I didn't forget about you!" He got Noah a Peruvian Flight Jacket with Schroer embroidered on the name badge. How incredibly thoughtful. He had his extra apartment set up for us when we got there, and he even had several bottles of wine waiting.

Although we got in late, we drove around the city and looked at the lights and stopped for a Pisco Sour at a restaurant on the beach. Pisco sours are the alcoholic beverage of choice in Peru....and they are delicious :)

The next day we walked around the city and had a personal tour given by Fidel. He also took us onto his Air Force Base to show us where he works. We had lunch at a wonderful seafood restaurant with octopus, ceviche, shrimp, and more. Later that night we brought home dinner and were able to have a wonderful conversation with Fidel. He is a wonderful person and it is obvious how happy he makes Allison :)

The School for Officers (where Fidel became a Capt)

Old Planes on display at the Base

Dog Training Building for the Air Force (looks like Bela :)

This picture is especially for Erin...Fidel's Sword

2 years of marriage and still honeymooning :)

Noah and I decided to spend two nights at the Hotel Moreno in Buenos Aires. This hotel was wonderful and we couldn't have picked a better place to celebrate our 2nd anniversary. The Loft we stayed in had everything from a rediculously comfortable bed to a jacuzzi tub. We also enjoyed the roof top terrace available off of the top floor. Enjoy some pictures and videos!

A tour of our room

A tour of the roof

Uruguay - Colonia

This past Monday we went to Uruguay via boat. It takes a 1 hour to ride to the port city of Colonia, which is about 600 years old. The streets and city are built with both Portuguese and Spanish influences. It is a very neat old city and we had fun walking around and ate waterside at a restaurant. Most of the city looks as though you are in a time warp. The cars, buildings, and roads are all from different time periods, and it is definitely a strange mix.

Cannon on the wall to enter the old section of the city

Allie and Hill walking on the bridge

Umm...yes I am still afraid of heights...and yes, I just stuck my hand in a pile of pigeon poop...!

Noah making me feel better :)

Noah loved their garbage disposal methods. You put your garbage in this container and burn it all.

This street is called "Calle de los Suspiros" and there are 2 main legends as to how it got the name, street of sighs. First, they said it may be because this was the street they drug the prisoners down to be put to death. Second, it was the red-light area and you could hear the women moan. Interesting...

You can also tell this was a street built during Portuguese rule since the street is angled in towards the middle, away from the buildings for natural drainage.

One of the many old cars Noah loved seeing in the streets.

Allie and I under a store sign "Las Gemelas" that means "The Twins"...actually it means identical twins...but we weren't about to get technical ;)

Exploring the cemetery and Argentine Jazz music

We were graced with another beautiful day in Argentina on Saturday. We went to Recoleta, one of the nicest neighborhoods in Argentina to see their famous cemetery. It is literally laid out like a mini village of mausoleums. They all have entire families inside. Many that are not well taken care of have no doors or spiderwebs covering the caskets, which definitely gives the cemetery a certain ambiance. Allison and I were a little nervous to look into a few tombs, because you get a very creepy feeling that something might jump out at you (or Noah might grab you from behind and make you jump :) There are thousands of tombs and we even saw Evita's family mausoleum.

We also spent time at a cathedral...which had a sign for offerings...labeled very poorly.
"church offerings" = "offerings for the cult"




After we left, we went to a store that makes custom leather jackets. Noah ordered one and it will be done on Tuesday. We'll take pictures of it then. I might go back with Noah and get a jacket as well, and Allison is contemplating leather pants!




Later in the evening we decided to explore a "Jazz Club" that is only 2 blocks away from Allison's apartment. It said it was an "Open-mic night for jazz" that started at about 11pm. We arrived at midnight and the music started about 30 minutes later. It was ok, but we thought it was funny what their version of Jazz was interpreted to be. It was more like a punk rock show!!!

Below you can see more pictures of the day....

Why is it that everywhere we go we always see people banging on buckets?










Our homies.....














Dancers at the Russian festival we went to....in South America.....















Hillary has been accepted as a part of Argentina's gymnastics team....

A New Fashionista and Chef

Day 2 here in BA has been relaxed and revealed Noah's new love of shoes.

He has recently discovered how much he loves different shoes...all colors and styles. He found yellow Pony shoes that, I have to admit, are pretty cool.We walked around the city all day, shopping, talking and drinking plenty of cafe con leche with pastries.

For dinner, we decided to cook. After a brief trip to a Peruvian vegetable and fruit stand and the local grocery, we came home and had bocadillos with ham, cheese, eggplant, tomato and fresh basil. Delicious! Now after cooking in Allison's kitchen, Noah wants to knock down a wall in our house to re-design our kitchen to have a similar long table....oh goodness :)

Hola from Buenos Aires!

Hola Familia! Estoy en Argentina!

Noah and I left good old Niles, about 11am yesterday (thanks Papa Schroer) and flew to Mexico City. After eating the worst steak of our lives (I don't know what we were thinking....who orders steak at an airport restaurant in Mexico City?) we waited for our connecting flight. 10 minutes before we were supposed to board, the power in the airport went out. However, all worked out and the airline, Mexicana, was wonderful on both of our flights.

We arrived in Buenos Aires this morning at 9:15am and were greeted with hugs from Allie at the airport. She took us to her beautiful apartment and we were able to shower and relax for a moment. Lunch was lovely at a little cafe where the food was delicious! Noah had steak and risotto, I had quiche with a salad and Allie had some sort of pasta with spinach and olives.

The next hour was spent window shopping and getting feel for the layout of her neighborhood. We ended the afternoon with cafe con leche and some desserts before Allie had to leave for Pourtugese class. Noah and I are holding down the fort with a bottle of wine :)
We can't wait to share the rest of our trip with you!