Adios Buenos Aires

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DAY 22 With no firm plans for the day we had a latish breakfast before setting out to soak-up the atmosphere in warm sun. Just what we needed for recovering ills! Pretty happy to get past the outlets with only a minor purchase plus some other essentials for up north. Later found a nice coffee shop & as Argentineans like to do the owner started chatting & it turns out she is a pharmacist & was able to translate names for our exhausted drug requirements with the local brand names & directed us to a shop a few doors away. This was a godsend as previously a pharmacist did not seem to be a requirement in a shop, as most drugs seem to be available over the counter, & therefore you mainly deal with a limited/non-english speaking shop assistant.

Various other acts of kindness had somewhat restored our faith in Buenos Aries at least away from the touristy areas and finished as a very pleasant day. Tomorrow we fly north.i
One unexpected bonus we have found in Argentina has been that no-one wants to deal in the Peso and prepared to give premium rates for US $'s. Officially about 7 to 1 for AUD 8 to 1 for USD but we were offered rates up to 12 to 1. Initially in the streets & we thought we are not going to fall for that scam, but then perfectly normal restaurants would even display rates for various hard currencies on their menus!.

Day 23 5.15am alarm for a long ride to BA's main airport for the last time. 5 hr flight to Lima with a short stop-over and another 2.5 hr trip to Quito. LAN were good to fly with. A 2 hrs back time difference allowed for a reasonable arrival time. Pre-arranged to be picked as the airport is a long way from the city and with a reputation not the place for novice travellers to this region! However, the airport was extremely quiet & we cleared quickly & seamlessly as anywhere!

Straight to our B&B to rest and see if we could acclimitize naturally, the advice is to lie down for as long as you can and drink lots of water. The B&B is basic but clean, in a nice area and we found a good restaurant in our street for dinner.

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Comments

[Maureen]

good to here from you keep enjoying