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Just a Bit of Evidence Remains

I think we ate the Wellfleet oyster shells because the oysters were so good.

It’s All Over But the Crying

Waiting for our cab to the airport.

It’s All Over But the Crying

Waiting for our cab to the airport.

Another Perfect Weather Day

For Lunch at El Muelle.

Buenos Aires

Typical scenes. Beautiful greengrocers on many corners. Lines at banks. The ATMs run out of money all the time.

Parks of Buenos Aires

There is actually a remarkable amount of green space in the city. First, most of the streets are lined with trees, creating an awesome feeling. Today we walked from Teatro Colon to Plaza Alemannia, which is pretty much all along and through parks. In one random little park, we happened upon this amazing tree!

Do NOT Try To Shut Us Out

We were here 7 years ago and were refused service (for improper dress) at the Alvear Palace Hotel. John had shorts on. So we made it our business to return for that glass of champagne. Oh, and hold the peanuts for a bar snack - they are dishing up shrimp, caviar, Brie, and smoked salmon as bar snacks. NICE!!

World’s Smallest Chinatown

In Belgrano, a really nice residential area of Buenos Aires. Chinatown is literally 2 blocks long. Yet another perfect weather day here in Argentina. We could walk forever (and have!). That might sound easy but the sidewalks in this city are an enormous challenge. Instead of a standard sidewalk, each building seems to decide on their own — not just the style but the level of maintenance. They favor tile, and no maintenance, so you have to be prepared for some wicked hopscotch. Or face plants. Or both. Check on that one!

The Whisper at Teatro Colon

Unfortunately there were no performances during our time in BA but it's one of the top theaters in the world. Some say the best, acoustically. Fully restored in 2010, it is magnificent.

Floralis Generica

18 tons, 23 meters high. 32 meters wide with the petals open. Opens in morning at 8am, and closes at sunset.

View From Our Kitchen Window

4919 Passage Russel. Palermo Soho, BA. We are on a side alley just off Plaza Serrano that is quite popular for taking pictures. In addition to some good street art, there are actually tons of flowers cascading over the walls and the light is nearly perfect all day.

Faena Hotel, Rojo Tango

Swanky mod hotel in Puerto Madero, spectacular tango floor show. Pretty good food, except for one large hair in my salmon main dish. Eeeeww! The whole package included transportation by private car, which was great until our return, when we got waved over at a random checkpoint. Our driver failed the breathalyzer and we had to grab a cab. I guess that is a case of being better off paying for the ride!

This Day Last Year

We were in Taiwan, and still had another 6 or 7 weeks before our return. We felt like we missed too much of spring at home, but now, looking at the forecast for highs in the 40s and snow showers ..... hmmmmm. Seems like we are returning a bit too early!

Via Crucis

Good Friday in Buenos Aires. About 2,000 people carrying candles followed this procession to the main Cathedral as they did the Stations of the Cross. A group of about six men carry this huge cross - and by the looks on their faces it wasn't easy. And harder yet to stand still with it. This may be the biggest holiday in Argentina. Most people are off 5 or 6 days. In our neighborhood most things were open but citywide pretty shut down today.

Tierra Santo, Buenos Aires

World's first religious theme park. Large lines to get in today and tons of kids. You have the ability to, as the sign says, "See Jerusalem Every Day In Buenos Aires"

Very popular and the kids seemed to love it. There are tons of famous stages scenes (think Noah's Ark, the Crucifixion, the Resurrection, Stations of the Cross etc). All executed in these fiberglass/resin life size creatures.

For the Resurrection scene, that was not operating on Good Friday (should have guessed that) but when it does, an enormous Christ rises from a mountain and has about 35 different moving parts so he can bless the crowd. He normally rises every 30 minutes on the quarter hours.

Argentina is 92% Catholic and while a smaller percentage practice actively, this is a big 4 day weekend. Good Friday is the quietest day in the year with most things closed.

Of course it helps with the mood that Pope Francis was born here and served as the Archbishop and Cardinal of Buenos Aires.

Below you see Calvary/Golgotha and the Wailing Wall.

Some of the Graffiti is Really Cool

Right outside our house, and more around the corner.

Delicious Long Lunch, La Mar

Fish, yeah! Veggies, yeah!!! Beautiful outdoor patio.

Sweet Rooftop

4th floor of our house is a large rooftop with loads of greenery, herbs, outdoor shower (cold), pool (not heated), parilla (we cannot possibly choke down more meat!) and a nice dining area. Weather is perfect.

Laundry Day . . . Again

We arrived at our house in Buenos Aires for the last week of our trip and believe it or not this is only the second time in the entire trip that we've had a washing machine. But no dryer. This is our laundry room with drying racks that you lower on pulleys from the ceiling. Works fine but didn't stop us from also taking a load to the laundry service around the corner.

Our House in Palermo Soho

It's pretty large 3 bedrooms, 4.5 bathrooms, full kitchen, large living room, dining room, then a big den for watching TV. And best, a rooftop deck with a parilla and a small pool plus more dining and sitting areas. It may not look like much with the graffiti-covered gate to the interior courtyard, but once inside it's a different story.

Well, it is a Rainforest! Iguazu.

And we spent the day absolutely soaked to the bone! It takes about 5-6 hours to walk all the paths, and since most people spend just one day here, the nonstop rain didn't deter anyone from their mission. We saw old people with canes, big families, babies in strollers, little kids, tour groups. It was pretty crowded. We went early. It you do still The pathways around the falls on the Argentina side are a marvel on their own. The take you over the river, to the top and sides of many falls, along the sides of mountains, over the top of some falls, all to get you as close as possible. At certain points you are so close to the powerful waters that the spray and mist drenches you in seconds. Of course everyone was already totally wet so it didn't matter!

The falls at the bottom are the Two Sisters. Small but powerful!

We will post more pics but for the first 3 hours it rained so hard that after the first picture of John, we put the iphones in our backpack under the raincoat. The actual camera never came out all day.

The pictures never do it justice anyway.

Hike Out to Bosques de Arrayanes

These guys know something about a great forest walk. You can hike out 12 km then return by boat. It looked almost flat but in the first 3 km you actually walk the equivalent of 100 flights of stairs. Another beautiful weather day.

The Arrayanes are related to crepe myrtle and at the end of the peninsula there is something like the world's largest concentration of these trees. Turns out the land was privately owned in the past, and they selectively cut down other trees, allowing this large grove to thrive.

Ruta de los Siete Lagos

I know we take pictures with a lot of fake props, but this guy was real. Cost 5 bucks to spend some time with him but it's a very common thing for people to bring St. Bernards to tourist spots (e.g. town square in Bariloche or viewpoints along the scenic roads). Worth 5$. Although he had very little interest in anything but doing his job. He stood, he sat, he walked away. A working dog.

Sunset From Hotel Villa la Angostura

And this was nothing compared to what the sky looked like about 3am when the moon was out, lighting the sky up through the light cloud cover.

Looks Totally Fake, Right?

Driving Route 40 Ruta de los Siete Lagos. 7 lakes. Drive up was rainy and we couldn't see too much. Drive back a few days later was like this. What a drive! Very thankful to my friend Mariela who made sure we added this beautiful area to our itinerary.

Sweet Digs: Villa La Angostura

Staying at Las Balsas, excellent 10 room small hotel with — finally — a heated pool!

First Signs of Autumn

From our hotel room @ Rio Hermoso.

Parking

There's usually some minimal charge for on street parking, even in small out of the way places. No meters and no central ticket dispenser. You go in search of one the these attendants. They write down your car info and how many hours you want to park. This all goes in a little notebook. Then they seem to enter it into a mobile phone app. Then you pay. That can be tricky because the money situation is odd here and small bills (there are virtually no coins) can be hard to come by and they often have no change. Once sorted out off you go. Nothing goes in or on the car. Complicated but seems to work.

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Serene in Patagonia

The sun's back out and someone finds the rocky beach soothing, even with a little cold Patagonian wind.



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Room With a View

Rio Hermoso. Quite beautiful. Only a few rooms, and it's just us and one couple with 2 kids. Bottom pic is from our bedroom window.

Anybody Enjoying the Lakes District?

Oh yeah. Our fly fishing plans were foiled by some early morning rain. So we hunkered down until it ended, then drove from Rio Hermoso down a dirt road along Lago Melinquina to the town. Excellent casual lunch.