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Get your own Free Home PageBuenos Aires (BA) is bifurcated. It�s a modern city built on the backbone of a copy of the 19th century Paris. The old city is crisscrossed with wide boulevards, each going in opposite directions, as well as being divided by numerous and differing neighborhoods; French, Italian, American-English. It is a very busy city with many people enjoying the shops, businesses, and entertainment from early in the morning to the latter evening hours. The security was good, but watch out when you are crossing a street, for the automobiles set their sites on you for a target.
It was a good thing we connected with our guide, Carlos, at the BA airport. He kept us in line and gave use an overview of the city as we were bussed to our Hotel Monumental. The hotel staff treated us very well, serving our individual needs. We were in the middle of the business district and within walking distance of the arts and crafts. Hannah quickly learned the currency exchange concept and worked the mile plus long flee market. The prices were reasonable and we think she came out of the day with more pesos then she started with.
At our continental breakfast Hannah started the Purple Gang, where members were to wear a purple wristband. We are not sure what the intent of the PG was, but since PSC president Peter Porton was the first member, we figured it was a good thing and did a lot of fist bumps for the duration of the trip.
The following morning we embarked on a bus tour of the city. After visiting various neighborhoods and paid homage at Evita�s mausoleum, we had our first steak lunch. (Hannah�s delight) She looked at the many varieties listed on the menu in amazement. Her eatable selection was best described as awesome.
On Tuesday, we visited an estancia (ranch), riding horses, enjoying a barbeque, visited the museum, watching a gaucho show, and avoiding the horse pucks. We all tried our luck at horse back riding and were entertained with some tricks and artistry performed by the gauchos.
After a busy day of site seeing we all journeyed to a late Wednesday night including dinner and Tangorama. Wow, could they dance.
Thursday the group traveled a two hour flight southwest across northern Patagonia and towards Chile with the picturesque Andes Mountains. There awaiting us was the Tahoe-like waterfront of the town, Bariloche and it's ski resort , Cerro Cathedral. Bariloche is undergoing a construction boom where the base of the mountain is undergoing the building of clubs, single residences, condos and hotels.
By the looks of some snow cover, it appeared Bariloche had some snow before our arrival as well as some more during our ski week. The ski area, Cerro Cathedral, was sectioned by three different areas and more recently the areas where combined, with added ski lifts, offering passage from one area to the next. Hannah and I experienced skiing, via cat track, from one ski area to another. The cat tracts were groomed the night before when temperatures were in the lower 50�F and by the next morning were full of holes and very icy. In some places we had to use a very low profile technique for safe passage. The upper slopes were in very good condition and offered various challenges throughout the week. The views reminded all of us of the ski areas in the USA, Lake Tahoe.
On Sunday we journeyed on a all-day lake boat tour through the beautiful Andes mountains. From the boat tour, we road a bus along a rock-n-roll road to the entrance of a river bed. From here the tour group was lead by a National Park ranger up a pass to a picturesque water fall decorated with nature�s ice sculptures. After our hike we entered another boat and cruised this glacier lake, green in color, to the port of Porto Blest a few kilometers from the Chili boarder. On the way back, Hannah met a girl friend who had the linguistic skills in many languages including English. Her friend was very excited because this was her first visit to snow covered terrain.
Our return trip was delayed by one day in BA but the group rallied and found many different activities in BA while awaiting our trip home to USA.
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