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Cole South : Poker Blog

August 02, 2008

Right now my gf and I are in Mendoza, Argentina. On the 20th we left for Venezuela to do a week of traveling there followed by a week here in Argentina. This trip was very last minute, but all set up by Cardrunners member and friend Juan. He was extremely helpful, very nice, and we wouldn't have had half as much fun on the trip without his help. Thanks Juan!

In Venezuela we started off on the Los Roques islands, which were beautiful. The water was very clear, we had great weather, and the island is a national park so we stayed in old converted fisherman's houses (since there is no new construction allowed on the island). We did four scuba dives and saw all sorts of marine life including a huge
eel, some rays, barracuda, and lots of colorful fish and coral.

After three days in Los Roques, we embarked to Canaima National Park, not too far from Angel Falls (the world's tallest waterfall, at >1000m it is 19 times higher than Niagara). We took a three hour boat ride to the jungle and then hiked to our campground where we spent the night in some hammocks. The next morning we woke up early and
completed a two hour hike to the waterfall. It was an awesome site with so much water and mist. Rain had been pouring for a few days straight so there was much more water than usual. That night we took the boat back to Canaima and flew to Buenos Aires.

In Buenos Aires we stayed at the Four Seasons which was a nice change of pace from the jungle! The city was beautiful, very safe and clean. Overall it felt extremely European, most similar to Prague or Barcelona. We had some great food, went to a tango show, and enjoyed ourselves exploring the city.

After just two nights in Buenos Aires we flew to Mendoza, where we arrived a couple of days ago. We'll be spending about a week here. On the last night in the jungle in Venezuela, I got a pretty heinous insect bite and my ankle slowly
started to swell up. By the time I got to Mendoza it was in full on watermelon form so we went to the doctor and I got some medicine for it. It's feeling a bit better now and hopefully I'll be good to go for any strenuous activities we decide to get into. Two days ago we did a tour of some wineries in the Maipu region and drank mostly Malbec, which the Mendoza region is most famous for. They also have really great Cabernet Sauvignon. The food here is incredible and everyone is really nice. Our Spanish is so-so but I can tell it's gotten a lot better on this trip and it's definitely fun to practice! Yesterday we tried to go snowboarding but two hours into the drive the road turned out to be closed by the police due to too much snow :( On the way back though we did six massive ziplines over a lake and through some small mountains which was a blast.

This weekend we will probably get into some more wine action and maybe try to snowboard once more if the roads clear up. We took a ton of pictures but left our camera in Venezuela so hopefully it'll be shipped home by the time we get back and I can show you guys some pics.

Since I've been on the road with no laptop I haven't been able to play any poker, but it's been a nice break and I'll be playing a ton starting August 18th, when my gf starts her 9-5 and we become settled down in DC. We'll still be able to do lots of weekend trips and I'll do the occasional longer adventure, but I´m very much looking forward to getting settled down in the city. There is so much stuff to do, I´ve got lots of friends nearby, I'm excited to be able to put more time into poker and CardRunners, and I love love love the new place I bought there. That said, traveling is the best and this trip has been awesome. We've got one more trip left this summer -- a week in Kauai with David and his gf (and maybe some others)? My gf and I do a fair amount of traveling with them and they are a lot of fun, we can't wait to be back on the beach.

Setting up my new place in DC has been very rewarding. Picking out all of the furniture, art, etc with my designer has been a lot of fun and I´m thrilled with how it is turning out. All the stuff is custom and a lot of it from overseas so it takes a while to arrive, but hopefully by the end of August everything will be in place. I went for more of a lounge-y feel that will be perfect for entertaining friends.

gl and have fun!

Cole

Entry Tags: the, was, and, but, been, some

Aug 2, 08 08:40:58

pics of the new place online?

swightness

Aug 2, 08 11:36:40

i know u have been out of the loop, but taylor, aaron jones, and tom are coming too with whatever girls they decide to bring. i cant wait, enjoy south america, and dont let ur leg rot off.

David B

Aug 2, 08 12:22:19

good think you left Venezuela

I hope Juan is not from Venezuela because he will get offended. But thank goodness
you are out of the that country. For sure it has replaced Colombia as the most dangerous country in Latin America. Maybe I am exaggerating and it only corresponds to the capital, but gosh darn Caracas is extremely dangerous. I hope if people decide to go to Venezuela or Colombia someone like Juan shows them around.

On a side note some Poker Stars Latin American Poker tournament for \$2500 tournament will be at Punta del Este, Uruguay on August 7th. Punta del Este is a 45 minute flight from Buenos Aires. Punta is beautiful and is a great place for traveling newbies (certainly not CTS, a hardcore traveler) to get acquainted with Latin America. Extremely safe and there will be lots of poker players there. If anybody is going send me a pm, I have stayed in Punta many times and know the place well. Great food, great girls, but not so great beach right now (it might be a little chilly). December is great food, great girls, great beach, great nightlife.

sunnychip

Aug 3, 08 12:19:17

sunny chip get a life a grow some balls..... have u ever actually used ure passport..hup!!! drunken post but thats how i see it.....

jappie

Aug 4, 08 09:06:22

welcome to DC dude. Drop me a line if you ever want a tour of a production studio.

thebluemonster

Aug 5, 08 10:50:57

Straight Ballin son.

SixPeppers

Aug 11, 08 22:55:22

hey cole nice job on the 6 table video :) keep it up id like to see your thoughts on PLO though