Buenos Aires

I have now been in Buenos Aires for several days. Mainly I have been walking around exploring the different neighborhoods. I met up one evening with Ian (from Antarctica trip) and two of his friends from Germany. We went and had very good steaks (I have had many good steaks in meat-happy Buenos Aires). We had a plan to go see some tango dancing at a place recommended by our travel writer friends (also from Antarctica trip). They had recommended one of the tango clubs (with regular folks dancing) rather than one of the shows (with alleged professionals) but alas, the club that they recommended was not hosting an event that evening. We did peek in at another club near where I am staying. It was a beautiful old cafe downstairs and an equally lovely old dance hall upstairs but when we went up to investigate we saw about 4 senior citizens dancing and about 6 or 7 people watching so we moved on. Eventually we were reduced to going to a touristy bar with a tango show that was rather cheesy and tourist oriented. We stayed a bit and then moved on to have drinks elsewhere. The following morning I got up and met the group at the Teatro de Colon which is reported to be a beautiful theatre but due to renovations we were unable to take a tour. So, we spent the morning at some of the lovely old cafés in Buenos Aires, and well, I guess, the afternoon too until it was time for Ian and crowd to take off for the airport. I then went to the Recoleta area, the rather upscale part of Buenos Aires and visited the Art Museum. It was a really great collection with lots of paintings by European artists as well as Argentine. I then visited the Recoleta Cemetary with its very elaborate mausoleums.
This morning I visited the Palermo area that had a lot of cool shops and restaurants. I had another steak lunch ane then took the subway back to the center. I had not been on this particular subway line before and it was really something. The subway cars were quite old, and nice looking...all wood seats, walls, etc. It looked like a street car out of the twenties. An elderly couple chatted with me at the station and the whole way to my subway stop warning me to be careful on the subway. They were quite kind.
Tomorrow is my last full day and I plan to visit a big outdoor market across town. Monday morning I will go to the airport for my flight home. Once home, I will try to add some pictures (interest) to this blog.

Seven lakes, Seven Argentine retirees, and me

I stayed for a couple of days in the charming village of San Martin de los Andes. The reason I went there in the first place is a bit odd. A few weeks before I took a flight within Argentina. The inflight magazine had an interview with someone that seems to be a famous Argentine magician. One of the questions they asked him was what is the one place in Argentina that he would recommend for visitors. His reply was San Martin de los Andes. So, I jotted it down. It, like Bariloche, and El Bolson, the towns I previously visited, is in the lake district of Argentina. There is a route that goes between Bariloche and San Martin that passes by seven lakes. I signed up for a tour and the minivan picked me up at the guesthouse. Daniela, an Argentine woman staying at the guesthouse was on a different company's van but the same tour. My van featured the driver, Graciela, the guide, and seven Argentine retirees. They were all quite sweet and asked my name and included me in conversation, etc. I took LOTS of pictures for them/of them in front of pretty lakes. And, it was nice having the tour in Spanish instead of also being translated to English. It was a long day, good tour, great views, amazing lakes, snowy mountains, loads of flowers,etc. It is really a stunning area. It was the first day in 2 weeks that the weather was not perfect. It wasn't bad but was a bit cloudy and colder than it had been. The previous week or two featured sunny 75º days, blue skies, slight breeze. It wasn't bad weather, I'd just become accostomed to the perfect weather. Yesterday afternoon I went to the bus station for my long bus ride to Buenos Aires and I saw 4 of the retires there. They called my name and ran over to give me kisses. One of the couples was on my bus for part of my ride. The buses here are quite nice. They have large, first class airplane style seats. Much like the airplane, they serve hot meals, drinks etc. I had wine with dinner but declined the post meal champagne that they brought around. The ride was about 20 hours but turned out to be okay. I slept some...the seats recline nearly to a horizontal position.
And now I am in Buenos Aires. I love big cities but for the last month or so I've been in pretty small villages so it is a bit overwhelming. It is also hot! It was 86 today and it seemed very warm to me. I did a walking tour of the center of town which is where I am staying. It's a very lively place...loads of people out milling around (shopping, eating, walking) on a Wednesday afternoon. Tomorrow I will visit some of the other neighborhoods and hope to meet up with Ian and Stefan who I met on the Antarctica trip. It will be fun to see them again. I still miss everything about the Antarctica trip and enjoy my frequent e-mails from the boat crowd.
I guess I am ready to come home. I didn't visit any of the north of Argentina at all so I guess I'll have to come back some other time to do that.