Blogs from Argentina, South America

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Today was supposed to be a day trip to Colonia del Sacramento, Uruguay. It turned out instead to be a result day in Buenos Aires. We were scheduled for the 8:30 ferry, which meant we had to be up at 5 to get ready and get to the terminal in time. The alarm went off at 4:30, and it kept going off. When I asked Jerry to hit the snooze, he said from a dead sleep “I am trying.” He was not trying he was dreaming that he was hitting the snooze button, finally he did manage to wake up enough to hit it. In the meantime, my back up alarms did not go off, it helps if you use am instead of pm when you set it. The alarm went off again, it was now ... read more
Fugazzeta Milanesa
Pisco Sour
Steak Tartar


My blogging must be really lagging this trip, or no one is interested in Argentina. It does seem that it is a country not traveled much by North Americans. The vast majority of fellow travelers seem to be from 1) other South American Countries 2) Chinese 3) a few from the UK and Australia 4) everywhere else. Nonetheless, it is worth the trip despite the difficulties that can be encountered because of the “That’s Argentina” affect. This time of year, end of Spring at home, end of Fall here, does seem to be the ideal time to visit. It is not tourist season and the weather is very mild. There is always a constant level of humidity, so it either feels hotter or colder than it really is depending on the day. It also means that ... read more
El Zanjon de Granados
Cistern
Interior El Zanjon


We are now back in Buenos Aires. There really isn’t much to blog about for yesterday, basically just a travel day. The flight back over the Andes seemed much less than when we flew into Santiago. The mountains also seemed much steeper. We at least had more comfortable seats, it was a true premium economy two seats to each row. The food they serve on the plan (if you can call it that) is horrible. The best I can describe it is very bad grade school cafeteria food. I know that anyone who went to school in the Portland Metropolitan area will understand what I am about to say. On the rare occasion we go hot lunch in school, there was also a staple item on the tray. A butter sandwich. White sandwich bread (probably Wonder ... read more
The Wait
Keeping them Happy
Dinner


This will not be a very long entry; we basically did nothing but change rooms and dinner. It all started last night. The last several days the hotel management has left numerous notes about whether we were satisfied with our stay and if we would rate them a 10 on a scale of 1 -10. Well last night since we did not go to dinner, we decided to respond. We aren’t really dissatisfied, but we certainly didn’t believe we could give it a 10. There have been a few food issues (which they corrected quickly and we now have a free dinner coming) and the wine glasses could be cleaner. The staff has been fantastic, friendly and welcoming. The concierge particular have gone out of their way to secure reservations for us here and in Santiago ... read more
Entry Way
New Room
Junior Suite


Today I am doing a rare two days in one entry. Mainly, because not much happened yesterday, it was basically just getting back to Buenos Aires. A quick summary of the day, checked out, tried to find something worth eating at the hotel breakfast. Then returned the rental car. Travel Tip: More than any other country, you need to be extremely vigilant with the rental car. They do an inspection at the beginning and end. When they did our initial inspection they completely missed the crack along the front window, which I took a picture of and sent to them as soon as we discovered it. When we brought it back, the second inspection was trying very hard to find things to charge us for. Jerry finally chimed in, “they missed the crack in the window, ... read more
The Filling
Merlot Rose
Cooking the Filling


This has never happened to us in all of out travels. Italy is famous for their train strikes, London has Tube Strikes, France has general strikes, but we have never been in the middle of one. As previously noted in the prior blog, we may not have even known about it unless our taxi driver told us. We did get e-mails from the airline, which quickly rebooked us for Friday and the US Embassy e-mailed us as well. However, we were in the jungle all day, not exactly checking e-mails, and normally I don’t check them until right now, which is 9 pm. As soon as we got back to the hotel from dinner, we were lucky that we could extend our hotel by one-night, same room and even a cheaper rate. Then there was the ... read more
Tostada Especial
Milanese Pollo


As I write this entry, it is actually May 9, and we are actually still in Puerto Iguazu, an unexpected turn of events, which will all be explained in my May 9 Post. I am a bit frustrated as well as the website that hosts my blog is having serious issues, first none of us could even access it and now having issues loading photo’s. This is causing a delay in posting until that issue is resolved, which means you all will be getting three to four notices of new blog entries at the same time. (This issue was resolved right before posting this) Yesterday was all about the Iguazu National Park, home of the Iguazu Falls. It is a very large park, and the falls are more impressive than Niagara, even Eleanor Roosevelt said so. ... read more
EcoTren
Yes I am pretty
Salto Hermanos


Today was a very early day, up at 4 am, in order to get ready and in the taxi to the airport by 5:30. Our flight was at 7:40, but we had no idea how long it took to get from the hotel to the international airport, how long security would take, etc. Turns out, we left at the exact right time. There was very little traffic, the taxi driver drove very very fast, and it still took about 30 minutes to get to the airport. This is the first time we have ever taken an in-country fight on a trip, so this was all new to us. We booked through Argentine Airlines, all online, I am impressed with the ease of check in, and how little time it took to get through security even without ... read more
Pantanegra Entrance
Our Lunch
Pantanegra


The day started as any other day, sans work stress. A quick Breakfast, then off for the day. Our first stop was to exchange money. The first time we did this the rate was 1,000 pesos to the dollar. Today, it was going to be the same, until they looked at the $100 bills, because they were older the rate dropped to 970 pesos to the $1. Tip here is make sure all of your $100 bills, are the new one’s with the security stripe, otherwise you get a bad exchange rate. Later in the day, we discussed this with the concierge, he said it is just how Argentina is, there is no consistency in how the currency is treated. It is so bad that banks will not take anything less than $100 to exchange. He ... read more
The French Box
The Stage
Chandalier


I am a few days behind in the blog posting as the website I pose on seemed to have been hacked and was unavailable for a few days. The issue seem to be resolved and now I can post blog entries again, and when my followers get a text that there is a new post, they should be able to just click the link without worry. Initial tests seem to indicate all is good. If I go from present to past tense it is only because I am writing this entry two days after it happened. It is currently Tuesday, and we are now in Iguazu to see the falls and park. This entry is about the events of Sunday. So, let’s begin. I started the day by checking work e-mails, thinking Sunday would be a ... read more
Van Gough
Broken Pedals




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