Very interesting report, rhkkmk. My friend and I just missed you at the Marriott, I think. I didn't visit Paraguay on my recent trip, and slightly regret it. It sounds so weird in the travelogue I have read about it by Pico Iyer, and the fictional travelogue by Graham Greene in "Travels With My Aunt". Some huge percentage of the GNP comes from smuggling.

Great start Bob! Am I the only one up this late??

Making me want to head south of the border...south of many borders!

Bob - as alaways a great report! Looking forward to hearing more.

PS glad to hear from your other posts that you and the rooster got on so well!

rhkkmk; It is a good beginning for exploring Argentina, but I feel you still have a lot to see in the NW of Argentina.
This area is almost unknown, but once you come and see it will become a fan as crellston. Or are you waiting for crellstone to have his own place to come??
Flintstones

Enjoying your report! As always, the details, menu descriptions, etc are much appreciated.

How does Karen travel with carry-on only and do all that shopping? Did you ship stuff home?

we did not shop stuff, we just find a way to do it....she has the carry-on plus the 22" which is a full suitcase....she is very careful what she brings---mix and match so to speak....

her major purchases are always jewelry, but this time she yielded to shoes and leather too....

Interesting to read, thanks for posting.

Enjoying your report rhkkmk. Planning a trip in December so
I have been waiting for you to return and post.
Thanks also for the help you provided on New England for
our trip this summer.

Hi Bob-- Enjoying your report! I, too, was wondering how in the world you guys can fit so many souvenirs into your small suitcases! Interesting about the problem in BA. A similar thing happened to us once in Ecuador (I think it was in that country)but we didn't lose anything, either. Why are you, an experienced traveler, carrying your wallet in your back pocket? Congratulations on your quick thinking! Otherwise, the trip sounds fabulous so far.

It doesnt matter that Bob is 65, he is one of the last people I would want to try to rob!

great as always Bob! Say hi to K for us. You and K should of got matching tattoos while you were in Paraguay!

My Gosh, what an adventure! Very glad nothing serious happened. Sounds like a very interesting trip. Please say hi to Karen!

When I read about San Martin Park, I thought for sure you were about to tell us that one of the bears was a panda! I am sorry to hear about your ruined shirt, but was happy to read about your trip and Karen's long-awaited return to Paraguay. Sounds like you wisely located many reliable resources prior to your trip. Bravo!

BC

Great report, we also had our very first dinner in BA at Las Nazarenas many years ago and ordered way too much food, the steaks were huge and so were all the side dishes.

Sorry about the "spray" incident, in our three visits to BA we've not had a bad experience. Hope it didn't spoil your views of BA.

Our next trip, we'll have to meet up with the famous avrooster, we just never spend that much time in BA as we love the beauty of the rest of the country.

Looking forward to the rest!

small correction: the great leather store is: ARANDU not the misspelling i previously reported

more to come later today

I GUESS MY REPORT HAS BEEN MOVED HERE FROM THE ASIA BOARD...

Monday 20th


Had breakfast in the hotel dining room and then Jose picked us up… We went in search of a laundry as we needed some wash done…..Finally found one in downtown and the items would be completed by 6PM, but we told them the following morning would be fine….very reasonable—a huge pile for $6 and some of it was ironed.

Then we proceeded to search out the two houses and school that Karen had lived in and attended in the 1950’s. We found the first house quite quickly…It looked the same except now it has a huge steel security fence covering the whole front of the property. It’s a small brick house which had changed little in 54 years.

Just around the corner was the private school that she attended. Her parents felt strongly that the girls should learn to speak Spanish well during their stay so instead of the American school they were enrolled in an all Spanish speaking school, even though they spoke no Spanish… Needless to say they learned fast. The school is the Collegio International. The buildings are old but the spirit seems strong and the grounds and buildings are very well kept…..We spent about an hour or so there. One of the administrators took us around. Karen only partially remembered it until we got to the auditorium, when it all clicked for her… She bought herseld a white and red school T-shirt with the school logo.

From there we headed slightly further out of town to the next house, the house where they lived the longest. It looked exactly the same, except that it now had buildings and houses all around it which it did not in the 1950’s. Karen was quite pleased with the morning’s activities, and I was glad to be able to put more perspective on what I had been hearing about for 60 years….

Following these visits, we took a quick drive-by some of the very limited sites in Asuncion. We stopped near the Paraguayan “White House” walked around it—unlike Washington there are no barricades, only a few guards. There was currently a small scandal as it was just revealed that the current president, a former bishop of the RC church fathered at least one, and now more, children while he was a bishop. We visited a small museum, which consists of 7 old houses brought together to form a downtown museum of early life in this city. We rode by the national parliament buildings, old and new and the national cathedral building and pantheon of heroes.

It was time for some lunch so Jose took us to see their new mall, where we could have a quick lunch of empanadas, at a fast food empanadas place (Von Vito).. They were quite good actually.
The mall was medium sized and has some nice shops. More like a 1960’s USA mall.

In retrospect Karen felt that much of the downtown was similar to when she was living there, except now all the roads are paved, there were no donkeys carrying women around town and no more horse carts. The city was of course much more expanded and much more modern. Even most of the 1940’s and 1950’s cars were gone—they had been there not that long ago. It is very evident that the country suffered in the long run from the over 30 year dictatorship of Stroesner, the former leader. They are slowly climbing out of that, but remain a poor nation. Their largest national treasure is their water, clean and plentiful.

From the mall we headed out to a town that specializes in the manufacturer of silver items. Luque is a lovely little town with a town square with several silver shops around it. Jose took us to his favorite and we settled in for a buying spree. While Karen prefers gold, she has decided that silver offers some fashion alternatives for her…. She purchased a puzzle ring or two---many silver intertwined bands that form a sort of a puzzle when they are opened up. She bought a couple of necklaces and pendants as well. Prices were very reasonable.

After this stop we headed back to Asuncion. We had a drink in the bar, did our emails on the free internet machines which crowne plaza offered and got ready for dinner.

One of the two men I had met on the internet while researching Paraguay was another Jose. We had made a date to meet he and his wife at the hotel bar for a drink and dinner. He is in his early 30’s, is an accountant by training, and had lived in England for 3 years while both he and his wife furthered their educations and English language skills. His wife is a psychologist. He and his father and brother have investments in ranching and cattle, so it was interesting to learn more about this business.

They invited us to a private club, which his family belongs to, for a leisurely dinner. The Centenario Club is on the outskirts of Asuncion and offers wonderful dining facilities and many sports activities. BBQ was the menu for the evening, in the lovely large dining room.. We enjoyed a wonderful evening with this young couple and some very good food. We brought him some copies of old pictures of Asuncion, as this is one of his interests.


Tuesday


Up a bit early and downstairs for a quick breakfast as Jose was coming for us at 8:45 for our transit back to Argentina to Iguazu Falls, on the Argentine side.

Some quick background. The normal way to get from Paraguay to Iguazu is to go through Brazil for about 10 miles. We knew that we wanted to visit the falls mostly from the Argentine side and to stay in the National Park in its only hotel, the Sheraton.
BUT, Brazil charges about $150 each for a visa. So a good deal of my research was how we could avoid this payment… Some said don’t worry about it because at the bridge where you cross the river from one country to the other you do not need to stop at immigration….even the bus only stops if requested to do so. This seemed way toooo dangerous for us. So finally someone on line told me about another way. Get yourselves to Ciudad, Paraguay—one of the largest smuggling and illicit trade towns in the world. Take a taxi about 8 km south to a boat landing. Take the boat across to the Argentine side and take a taxi to the Sheraton. This seemed reasonable and legal. BUT…
So I settled on this plan. We stopped in NYC in Janurary to get our visas for Paraguay. At their small office I was the only person there for a visa that morning. And the woman was able to whip it off for me quickly---IT ONLY TOOK FOUR (YES 4) DAMN HOURS. On my way down in the elevator I noticed that she had made a mistake and given us only one entry into Paraguay and we needed two, and I had requested two… I was mad but decided we could deal with it from home. I called this speedy lady a couple of days later and she told me no problem, they will just charge you a small fee and correct it on the spot. Remember this.
During the winter, I had decided to ask Jose if he would consider driving us to Ciudad. He said he had never done it but would research it. Later, after he had a plan I asked if perhaps he could also drive us all the way to the hotel and he said yes. Price $80 for the day and an additional $60 for gas, tolls, etc. Great, as the flight to ciudad alone was almost this much each and we would have comfort in the benz and go at our own speed and with no hastle.

So Jose picked us up, and we got the laundry and headed out of town. The drive time to Ciudad was about 4-5 hours. We passed the time pleasantly observing the countryside and enjoying our ongoing conversations with Jose. We discussed how to handle the immigration/visa issue and decided to face it head-on. We arrived at the city, he asked for further directions and we drove about 10 miles south to a dead-end street at a makeshift ferry landing with an immigration office. We never could have done this on our own. Jose and I went to the window and we were directed to speak with the “boss” who was sitting under a tree outside. He came to his modest office and Jose spoke to him in Spanish and they came to an arrangement. We were allowed to pass.

The ferry was a barge, pushed along by a small tug boat secured to it by a large rope. The ferry held about a dozen cars and small trucks. Cost: car $4 US and $1 per person. This was included in what Jose was charging us. This section of the river is where 3 big rivers meet forming the junction of Paraguay, Brazil and Argentina. There was no docking station or concrete platform that the barge butted up against, but rather it was just rammed into the dirt at rivers edge and you drove off from there.

One thing I have not mentioned and you parents and grandparents may know what I am talking about. We took along with us “Flat Stanley” from our eldest grandson’s 3rd grade class. FS is a cut out of a small boy/man colored by my grandson and put into a plastic covering. HIS whole purpose is to help the kids with the understanding of some geography. So whenever someone goes some place you take along FS and take a picture of him in front of some famous place. So we took him to SA with us. We took his picture on this barge with the 3 countries and in many other places on this trip.

At the other side we went to the shack that serves as Argentine immigration and presented our papers and drove off. Not so for some of the others who were on the barge. They were detained. Seems this is a place where workers are smuggled from one country to another. One group’s van was being searched and its occupants were detained. Jose felt they would be sent back based on a conversation he had overheard.

We drove another 10-15 miles, entered the national park, paid a fee (60 psc. each) and arrived shortly after that a the Sheraton. The building is basically unattractive from the outside, but inside was quite decent and fairly well kept. From the reception desk you can look directly out the large windows to one section of the falls in the distance. Really nice.
Rooms either face the falls, or face the jungle, as they call it. As we were there on points and cash our room faced the jungle, but we did not really care. I think it was SPG 2800 pts and $45 per nite. CHEAP!!! Regular price seems to hover around $250. You are really a captive here of the hotel. You can go into the town and to do so you hire a taxi for about $50 for 4 hours, but honestly we did not see anything in the town worth visiting, but we were told that there are a couple of decent restaurants. We were in a starwoods room, #349. Hotel could be anyplace as Karen pointed out. Basic Sheraton lower end. One long corridor.

For dinner I had the chef’s tasting meal (5 or 6 courses-pork was the main) and Karen had fish. Both were decent and the cost was about 240 psc. As there is nothing to do here at nite, we went to our room and watched some tv and went to

Wednesday


The only bad day of the entire trip, weatherwise… We woke up to a bit of fog and rain. We were sort of prepared as it is very damp around the falls anyways. My back was very stiff but some Advil and forcing myself to walk along soon caused it to release itself. We started out with only T-shorts and shorts on as it was pouring. Soon it did not matter as we were soaked to the core. It’s a very short walk from the hotel into the park—maybe 500 feet. We decided that we would take the short narrow gauge train ride which takes you out to the tip above the falls. The train was fun and takes maybe 10 minutes--free. It takes you along the edge of the river and next to the rain forest, which today was truly a rain forest… At the end of the train tracks you walk on elevated steel walkways above the swamps and parts of the river out to very close---like 50 feet—from the edge of some of the falls. The walk along these walkways take perhaps 15-20 minutes to the end. I should explain that Iguazu Falls is a series of falls over a very large area. This walkway takes you out to the so-called devil’s throat area---the largest and most lively of the falls areas. It was very hard to get good pictures from here as the wind was blowing and the mist was rising and the rain was swirling all around you… I took a water proof case to hold my camera but I needed to take the camera out to take pics and the lense just got drops all over it. Don’t expect much from these pictures. We were glad to leave this area and to finally get back to the hotel and get warm and dry… When we got back to the room there was a mechanic there.. It seems that the a/c hose in the wall had burst in our room and made a mess. It did not affect any of our belongings luckily. This workman took a picture of us in our wet state.

Karen’s memory of her first visit here was that of arriving by sea plane and having to walk out on planks to see the falls from very rustic accommodations.

We had a nice lunch in the hotel’s café after warm showers. We had sandwiches and split a flan…

For those of you who do not know, flan is a baked custard with a burnt sugar liquid sauce. It often is accompanied with a very thick and rich whipped cream. It is Karen’s favorite international dessert, the only thing she remembers that their cook made that she liked. Flan was our major dessert each day while on this trip.

Relaxed for the rest of the day and did some e-mails on the provided machines and had a nice leisurely dinner in the dining room. No record of the menu so it must not have been anything special. The menu never changed our whole time there. We invited a couple to join us whom we had met the nite before.







Thursday


The sun was back. I hung around the hotel and Karen walked out to try the upper loop of the trails around the park and falls. I was not sure it was for me… When she returned she convinced me that we should do it together so we did and I loved the simple way she had found. So we took FS and the camera and hiked out… On the way down we had met up with a golf cart which the national park has for elderly and infirmed guests. Ha ha that is for me on the return. We walked quite a ways and took our pics and those with Stanley. We engaged the free cart on the way back and they took us to the edge of the hotel property.

We were back to the hotel by 2 and had some lunch and a walk on the roof from where there is a fantastic view of the falls area. You get a special pass from the front desk to go up there---room card. We went out to the lovely pool for a swim and met a doctor and his nurse wife from CA whom we enjoyed talking with. We had met another doctor and his wife the nite before in the dining room and they too were from CA. In fact almost everyone we met on this trip was from CA.

That nite we had dinner in the dining room with doctor #1. It was a very enjoyable meal. They love malbec so Karen had someone to drink wine with.


Friday


Up late this day. We ate a big breakfast as we were not sure what the day’s schedule would bring with our return by car to Asuncion.

Again we did e-mails and we had arranged with Jose to come for us about 11. We forgot however that there was a one hour time change---duh.

Jose had left the car in ciudad at his cousin’s house and taken the bus back to Asuncion and did the reverse this day, leaving Asuncion at 2AM, so as to allow himself some time to shop in ciudad.

We did some shopping at the shops at the hotel. Karen bought herself two unset stones to have set in Bangkok next year. The stone is a rose colored stone which is sort of the national stone of Argentina—Rhodochrosite.

Jose came about 12:30 and we started off. No problem leaving Argentina again and another nice barge ride. I was a bit apprehensive about our interface with immigration in Paraguay however. Jose explained that he had spoken with the same man again and that here is what you do. In each passport put 100,000 guaranes ($20) and present the passport to him and he will take care of the rest…..Yea, call the paddy wagon and take me away. But he opened the passport in his office, put the cash in his drawer quickly and handed back my passports, smiled and said goodbye. That was that. He had also told Jose who to see at the airport when we were leaving for good.

There was very heavy traffic on the way back to Asuncion because there were so many trucks on the road and it is not easy to pass safely. They never move over or make it easy for cars either. We were glad we had stopped at McDonalds quickly in ciudad.

We arrived back to Asuncion to the Gran Hotel de Paraguay later than expected. This hotel was where Karen and her family had stayed for a month or two when they first arrived in Paraguay and were waiting for their house. Let’s call it a bit of faded elegance. The dining rooms are still glamorous with their painted walls and ceilings but the rooms are rather basic…. We had booked a suite for $122. Upon arrival they claimed to have given our room away as we were to have arrived the day before. Not to worry, they had another for us. I later showed them their e mail confirming the dates and they were wrong.

The safe in the room had no lock. It seems that here you have to get a key lock from registration and it cost $6 for your stay. It fits into the lock are and a twist and your things are secure?? This we did. Odd.

There was a very lavish wedding that nite at the hotel so we went out for dinner. The La Pergola Restaurant was just about 4 blocks away. We ate in their café, rather than the main dining room as we did not see the more fancy room until about ½ way through our meal. We had a delicious pork dinner with veggies, cold beers and desserts for $34.

Back to our basic suite—a la YMCA. Bed was comfortable however.


Saturday


Downstairs for a basic breakfast, but adequate. We took a taxi into the center of town to an old market area where they sell crafts. Karen remembers shopping here. She bought herself a small red leather handbag and after that we walked around the area briefly.

We then took another taxi to the Lido Bar whose name I had gotten off of TA or Fodors. We ate outside as the place is very crowded and busy. We then visited the Heroes monument which is directly across the street and strolled through a street market in the park. I bought a Paraguayan flag to add to my collection which I fly over my garages.

Taxi back to the hotel and I took a bunch of pics around the courtyards of the hotel… K tried to swim but the water was way too cold.

That nite we returned back to the Bar San Roque for another delicious dinner.. The waiter remembered us and gave us superb service again.

After our return to the hotel we sat in the lobby and watched the guests arriving for a very formal wedding that nite. Early to bed.

Bob, excellent report so far. Please keep us posted over on the Asia board each time you post more. I think there is a thread that Andy started that you might use for this purpose, providing the management doesn't object.

I am still trying to picture you bribing a public official...

Great reporting, rhkkmk!

I see your report was "deported" from the Asia board. Someone had led me to believe that you carried some weight on that board, but I guess I probably misunderstood. LOL!!!

About your "I was glad to be able to put more perspective on what I had been hearing about for 60 years….", I didn´t know you had met Karen when she was five! LMAO!

Just kidding. If you post here about Asia, we most certainly won't call security. LOL!!!

Good report, Bob. What fun you & Karen had there.

I am finding it interesting reading...lots of details...enough to get a sense about the SA countryside and the small towns.

Keep it coming...and pictures too please !!

my subtraction is no better than my spelling

Quick visits to Ciudad del Este. Two times. A quick trip across a river, passing through a sparsely guarded immigration point. Money tucked into passports. I knew it all along: Bob is a smuggler! Now, the fact is he might have been smuggling flan across that border but we know he was up to something.

Great report. The specifics and flavor of the lands is just great. Gracias.

Sunday 26th

We were up early and finally got to have breakfast in one of the two elegant main dining rooms. I had arranged for a taxi to the airport for our flight back to Buenos Aires. Check-in at GOL Airlines was swift and easy. Jose was coming to meet us so we waited a few minutes for him.. He insisted on coming to make sure that we had no problems with immigration and to speak in Spanish to the man whose name he had been given. Jose arrived and went into the immigration check through area and spoke with the man… He returned and told me that I needed two $100 bills if I could get them. We went to the ATM---they give out both US dollars and Guaranies. Mission accomplished. We all returned to immigration and again the bills were slipped out of the passports and into a drawer and our passports were stamped and we were on our way. So for $240 we solved the problem that the clerk in the Paraguayan mission in NYC had created.

Karen and I were both glad we had made the effort to visit here, but quite honestly there is not much to see or do in Paraguay. I know most of you have it high on your lists, but may I suggest that you move it to page 5.


Pablo was at the exit in BA waiting for us as we had requested. We had decided to hire him for several hours (60 pse per hour), as we were taking a 9:30PM overnite bus to Mendoza and we had arrived back in BA in the afternoon. This solved what to do with ourselves and our luggage during this time, without having to rent a hotel room which we did not need. There was some confusion about the timing and Pablo had another job, so he passed us off to one of his associates for a few hours once we got into the city. This guy, equally nice and well spoken, drove us to a few spots to take pictures with FS and then delivered us to the most fabulous pizza restaurant for about an hour and ½ when he would return to pick us up. That all worked out perfectly.

The restaurant is El Cuartito, Talcahuano 937. They specialize in pizza and other simple pasta dishes. Their special pizza is heaped high with onions. So we had a delicious pizza with a combo of items on it and cold beers, followed by a flan which we shared. Just as we were finishing the driver appeared at the window for us. Perfect timing. He said we had a little time to kill so what would we like to see.. We had no ideas, so he took us to a near-by theatre which had been converted to a huge bookstore. WOW.
What a place… All gold and white inside with many levels and loges, some of which were used for selling books and others as reading areas. On the stage there is a café which also had a piano player that evening. I believe it is located on Santa Fe avenue, but I have lost the name. I told Guenmai about it so maybe she will chime in with the name and its also in my pics.

We got to the bus station about 8:15. Plenty of time we thought. We had no idea that we were stepping into chaos. There are 70 bus bays. There was no central bus schedule listing or assignment of lanes. Buses came and went in less than 15 minutes. It was the beginning of a holiday weekend. Our tickets had a designation of which outside door to enter from and we were dropped off there, but the rest was greek…

After some walking back and forth dragging along our 4 rollies, Karen approached the info booth where the woman was less than helpful. She returned there twice for more directions and finally asked for someone who spoke English. In the meantime, I had a slight meltdown. Finally we were told to wait by lanes 8-10 and look for our bus. At 9:15 the first Cata bus for Mendoza pulled in….It was not our bus. Ten minutes later the fourth Cata bus to pull in was ours.

We delivered our luggage to the luggage area and tipped the man loading things in and climbed to the 2nd story of the bus for our seats, number 1 and 2. As requested they were the front seats allowing plenty of sight line if you wanted it. These lux buses generally have 1st class executive seats up top and more simple non-fully reclining seats below.
The seats on the top were two and one. Our seats fully recline flat and had curtains to partially block out exterior lighting. We were given a blanket and a pillow. Drinks and dinner were served almost as soon as we left the station… Even champagne was on offer.

The food proved to not be all that appealing, so we only picked at it.. Thank God we had a belly full of pizza. Karen watched a movie for a while and I decided to try to sleep. We took our sleeping pills and slept for quite a while. The ride was over 14 hours. We woke up as the sun was coming up. About 4 hours later we arrived in Mendoza after a simple breakfast. We took a taxi to our B&B in the center of Mendoza.

I selected Mendoza largely on the responses I had received from the son of the owners of the Plaza Italia B&B. His English was excellent and he answered tons of my questions. The place looked just like what we wanted and was located smack in the middle of the town. www.plazaitalia.cjb.net or mechitito@yahoo.com.ar

We knew we wanted to visit a wine producing area and this one looked appealing. We were rewarded with our choice. $80 per nite including breakfast. Our room on the 2nd floor was large and comfortable and the private en-suite bath was nice—room #1.

The greeting was warm and I knew we had made a perfect choice. Our room was ready for us upon arrival.

We asked for a laundry suggestion and one was about 5 blocks away. Again very reasonable. From the laundry we walked over to Sarmiento Street to find some lunch. This street provided us almost every eatery we used in Mendoza.

We settled on the outdoor café at La Florencia Restaurant. We shared one each of 4 different empanadas and a huge mixed salad and two bottles of water, all for about $12.
After lunch we walked around this street a little looking at other potential restaurants. We found several. We ended up at an ice cream shop—Ferruccio Soppelsa. We returned to the B&B to decompress a bit and unpack.

We left for dinner about 8PM. BTW, that is early for Argentina. As we needed some cash, it was suggested that the easiest place was at the casino at the Hyatt hotel, also on that same street. We had a delicious dinner at Facundo Restaurant. No record of the menu but I think there are pictures. Cost about $35 for way tooo much food. We had not yet begun to start to split orders.

After dinner there was a nice small shop across the street so we spent some time there. I bought a pair of carpincho sandals – 160 pse—all leather.. K bought another silver looking necklace, but it is fact a composite metal called Alpaca—shop name Capibara Rustico. Fell into bed tired after over 24 hours of only semi sleep.


Tuesday

The breakfast was in the dining room overlooking the enclosed patio at the rear of the B&B. It was the best we had had thus far. Fresh eggs and pastry and toast, juice, cheese, meats and fruit and cereals.

We decided to walk through Independence Park to visit the walking street where most of the main shops are located---sort of a Florida street. We stopped at a cute shop with the name Zoe---attention Robert in nyc, on the way.
The walking street was not all that interesting although there were many shops, bars and restaurants. It was about 3 blocks long. Karen bought some more shoes.

On the way home, we stopped for our laundry after a short lunch stop at an outdoor café.
We had scheduled a city tour for 3PM.

Let me say that we were completely dissatisfied with the city tour. There were about 15 people and while the tour was to be bi-lingual, the guide omitted many of the English explanations. I knew that by the time of the speaking in each language, but Karen knew it by the content in Spanish. The B&B had arranged this for us. We complained to the owner and she was mad. She called the agency right up and told them that they would not be paid for the tour. I wanted to pay but she said no… I was unhappy after about 30 minutes into the tour. Karen told me to cool it.

We had also scheduled an all day tour for the next day to the mountains (Andes), but I cancelled that.

BTW, you can see the mountains from open areas of the city.

For dinner, we went back to the same street. The restaurant is aZafran, Sarmiento 765---make a res: 0261-429-4200. This was probably the nicest meal we had on the whole trip. The restaurant is in an old building and also has a large outdoor presence on the sidewalk. The place is a bit unique.. The décor inside is rustic and welcoming. The front room is a make-shift wine celler. Bottles line the walls. You are taken in there to select your wine for the night after having selected your menu. A wine expert is there to assist you. Its really fun. Some people spend quite a while in there.

They started us off with a small glass of warm vicheysoir (sp) with truffle. We then split a grilled tuna/Caesar salad plate—which was fantastic. Our main course was a pork loin with blueberry sauce (although this nite they used blackberries), a phillo pouch full of mushrooms with a poached pear nestled beside it. Karen had wine flan and I had a molten chocolate cake. Karen had S. Blanc and I had beers and water.
It was so good that we made a reservation for the next nite before leaving. Our waiter was excellent and the whole crew worked very well together. The place was full and mostly with Argentine people. Karen did not record the price, but it was moderate, nothing like what you might expect for this food, service or decor.

I am slightly jealous that you got some good flan in Argentina. Usually I was too full from those huge servings to have dessert. A couple times I had a bit of flan from a buffet, and it was not really that good. One hotel had flan for breakfast, but it wasn't good at all. So I wondered if Argentinian flan just wasn't as good as the others I had in other countries, or if I just had bad luck with it.

On a future trip, I will have to organize my dining around saving my appetite for a proper flan.

Hola, Bobchacha- El Report es muy interesante... dos thumbs alta!

Great report, although what a pain to have to travel to the SA board to read it now!

Lucita or, I suppose, Lcutia

Hi Bob,
Still enjoying the report. So sorry to hear the city tour was disappointing, but thrilled to learn that Karen made it back to her former school, neighborhood and house! (IMO, that is sooo cool!)

BC

The bookstore on Santa Fé avenue must be El Ateneo.

http://www.tematika.com/institucional/sucursales.jsp?sucursal=205&unegocio=ateneo

http://tinyurl.com/pbfqzy

thanks alberto, that's the one and it is a fantastic take...

Glad you had a nice time. Correction: I didn't go to the Galerie Pacifico as mentioned above. Happy Travels!

Wednesday


We had another delicious breakfast in the dining room… We spent the mid-morning just lazing around waiting for Javier, the owner’s son to come pick us up. He conducts winery tours and we engaged him to take us for about ½ day to visit two wineries and have lunch at one of them. We left the choice up to him. This was a last minute booking and we were lucky to get him on short notice. He is in his 30’s and is very charming. He drives a new comfortable van for his tours. His English is excellent and we were looking forward to our tour. Wineries are mostly visited by appointment only and this is why we were not able to leave until later in the morning, which was fine with us. You can contact him through the B&B’s website or mechitito@yahoo.com.ar .

The two wineries chosen were both south of Mendoza. As soon as we left the city there was a marvelous backdrop of mountains, many with snow peaks. The two wineries were Bordega Ruca Malen in Agrelo and Bodega Vistalba in a town about 20 minutes drive away. Both are small wineries, the first having production of 500,000 litres and the second 1,000,000 annually.

Agrelo is about 7 km south of Mendoza. The countryside is very open and there are lots of grapes and even an oil cracking plant. The Malen operation is only 9 years old. The buildings are very attractive and there is a fine restaurant here which is where Javier had suggested that we take our lunch. We were met by the primary wine sommelier and she gave us a tour of the facilities and explained their philosophy and wine making principles. They age the wines, primarily malbec, in 90% French oak and 10% American casks. They only use French yeasts. The plant is very modern with lots of stainless steel. All of their grapes are hand picked. After the tour of the production areas (production had ceased only a few days before), we were taken to the charming indoor/outdoor restaurant. We were seated on the patio with a full view of the vineyards and the snow caped mountains. It could not have been more lovely. The table setting was fabulous, so we knew we had a true experience in front of us. Javier joined us for lunch. He had also asked that we be treated to a couple of special wines, including their white production.
As I reported earlier, I think, each of us had 9 wine glasses in front of us. The linen was starched and bright white and there was a flower on the table. The sun was shinning brightly….Have I set the picture?

Menu:

Fresh goat cheese bruschetta, granny smith apple and lemon zest, paired with Yauquen Sauvignon blanc 2008 (fermented in stainless steel, with a further 2 month aging in the bottle before release—no oak).

3 small slices of filet mignon cured with olive oil from Lunlunta, paired with ruca malen malbec 2006 (86% malbec, 8% petit verdot, 6% tempranillo grapes (12 month aging in second use barrels, with a further 12 month of bottle aging before release).

Wheat croquets served with wild mushroom ragout and caramelized onions, paired with ruca malen cabernet sauvignon 2006 (90% cabernet sauvignon, 5% merlot and 5% petit verdot—12 month again in second use oak (80% French and 20% American) with a further 12 months of bottle aging before release—5 year cellaring potential.

Crushed ice palate cleanser which they called Granite, made of Chardonnay, yerba mate and honey.

Roasted beef tenderloin (cooked to order) served with squash, white wheat, sweet corn and smashed tomatoes and flavored with lavender salt. This was paired with two wines, firstly ruca malen petit verdot 2007-- 100% petit verdot grapes (12 months in oak with a further 6 months of bottle aging before release (85% French, 15% American).

Kinien malbec 2007—(95% malbec, 5% cabernet sauvignon). 14 month aging in new oak with a further 12 months of bottle aging prior to release. This is their #1 wine. 10-12 years cellaring expected.

White chocolate soup and seasonal fruits.

We skipped the coffee and petit fours.

The normal price for the tour and lunch is 115 psc each, but we received a discount and paid only 200 total. We did not purchase any wine here. It was all very delicious but at this point we had not decided what we wanted to bring home.

SO, AT THIS POINT, WE WERE A BIT TIPSY BUT ANXIOUS TO FORGE AHEAD TO THE NEXT STOP.

Our next stop at Vistalba was similar in many ways but yet different. This is also a newly opened operation, however it was built on land which had long been owned by the family. The family, well known in Argentina, for their huge and excellent wine production, sold off their holdings some years ago. One of the sons purchased this area to start his own winery. The buildings here are a bit more elaborate and there is a two room inn here, as well as the most famous of the winery restaurants. They specialize in varietal wines.

We had a tour given by a very attractive woman who spoke perfect English. She knew Javier so we were in good hands. I think all the pretty girls know Javier. The production is largely the same as the previous winery except that they use 100% French Oak and many different kinds of yeast. The tasting room is underground and is very attractive as well. Karen liked the wines quite well and bought 3 bottles of their Tomero white (one to drink and two to bring home).

We felt that these two wineries gave us a good overview of the argentine wine production. Two was plenty for us, but many of you might have wanted more.
We drove back to town and Javier took us to his favorite wine shop where we purchased a shipping carton and 4 more bottles of wine. The box was Styrofoam lined and able to withstand the airline handling (we hoped) as we would check it as a 3rd piece of luggage.

We had made our dinner reservation for 8:15, so by then we were sufficiently hungry again. aZafran was only a 5 minute walk from the B&B. They remembered us from the previous nite and we were given a prime table. One of their specialties is a cold antipasto type plate, so we ordered the largest one (79 pse) hoping to have the greatest variety. It took about 10-15 minutes to construct it. Our waiter from the previous nite was assigned to construct it and we were able to watch him from a distance. Thank God I had given him an excellent tip. I did not take my camera this nite, which is too bad as the board we were given was fantastic. It contained 3 rolls of a dried beef like proschutto (sp) standing up on its side, three or four kinds of cheeses, two or three other kinds of salamis, slices of dried wild boar, wild venison, dried beef, olives, raisins, walnuts. It was a whole meal, but that did not stop us. We choose a bottle of rose to have with our dinner along with bottled water. For a main course we decided to have the seared ahi tuna rare that we had the night before, but to have the entrée size, which we shared. For dessert we shared a medley of sorbets. A fabulous meal for 217 pse.

This proved to be our main gastronomic day of the trip.

I trust that you have recited all of the menu options on this day from memory...

Sounds fantastic all-in-all.

craig...you know my mind...i had it all down....i'm not one of those attorney types who get the spelling and facts all mixed up

Bookmarking

Very well written Bob!

thanks femi....i will never get any awards

Wow -- it's definitely worth migrating over from the Asia board to follow this.

Bob, I am ready to pass out in gastronomic ecstacy from reading, and thoroughly enjoyed the "WE WERE A BIT TIPSY"!!! It sounds like all your homework really paid off well in terms of the guides you and Karen had for this trip. I'm a bit surprised, though, as Panda told me you never leave a tip anwywhere you go....

BC

Thursday 30th

We had to be out of our room by 10, so we had packed up most of our junk the nite before. Had our last lovely breakfast, which Karen tells me did not have any hot eggs offered, and stored our suitcases under the stairs. We were welcome to leave the bags there for the day and to have use of a bathroom for freshening up if we chose.

We went across to the Italia park and sat for a while and just enjoyed the scene--- kids playing, dogs running around, lovely trees, a lovely morning. Karen walked up to a stationary store and bought a roll of tape to fasten a handle to our wine box. In the distance we could hear drums, but thought nothing of it. We decided to walk down to the walk-in street in search of a suitcase handle or nylon band to assist with the bundling up of the wine. We also wanted to check out Wines of Mendoza, but unfortunately it does not open until 3PM.

Once in Independence park, we could hear more drums and fireworks. Soon a police car rounded the corner and we came head on with another demonstration. This too was a labor dispute, but this time aimed against Walmart. It was wage related.

We finally found just the type of nylon we wanted at a hardware store, after having checked out several suitcase places. We checked out the new Sheraton, which is right in the center of town too and got to see two rooms, which are very nice.

We wandered around some more and ended up back on Sarmiento St at Tommaso Trattoria, just across the road from aZafran. We had a lovely meal, some of which we shared and some we had our own individual plates. We wanted a big meal to hold us over during the overnite bus ride. It was perfect and very delicious. 146 psc.

On the way to the restaurant we were crossing a small park and Karen heard a woman speak to us, “excuse me, excuse me…”. She approached us and we thought it must be a tout. She asked if we had been in Paraguay the week before. She said she recognized me from her sister’s restaurant up in the hills. We had a nice chat. She works for the Paraguayan Tourist Board and had been in Mendoza for a few days for a regional tourist conference. Small world.

We arrived back at the B&B about 5:30. We assembled our wine box handle and secured the box with tons of packing tape. Javier had come by to assist and to say good-bye.

A remise came for us at 6:15 for our 7:15 bus.

The bus arrived about 7:10 after about 4 others going to BA at about the same time had left. We had the same seats, but this was an even newer bus and more comfortable, plus the service was much better. We passed on the food and took our pills. The bus to Mendoza had made a couple of stops, but this bus was non-stop so only took about 11 hours.

Karen wrote a note for the future. The toilet room is very small. I could not fit in it and she barely fit. Hold your breathe.

We loved Mendoza more than we liked BA in retrospect. It was smaller, safer and more manageable. It was also cheaper.



Friday


This was May 1 and was Labor Day (May Day) in Argentina. Avrooster had warned me in an e-mail that everything except a few restaurants would be closed that day.

After our arrival, we took a taxi to the Hilton, which is in a section called Puerto Modera. This is part of the old port area and has had a complete face lift and many new hi-rises have been added to the older buildings. It’s a mecca for eating and strolling along the water. It’s both residential and small business in nature. We loved the hotel and the area. We were upgraded to the club area, which was a lovely perk. We took great advantage of the full club perks. Our room was large and sunny and had a marvelous view out to the river. The lounge served cocktails and breakfast and also offered complimentary internet, which we used quite a bit.


Shortly after arrival Avrooster called. He said, “I have an offer you can’t refuse..”. I inquired what that might be. He said we would like to have you come out to our house for a typical Argentine BBQ and spend some time relaxing with us. We thought how kind and friendly they are. We accepted immediately. BTW, he had not cleared this with the “war department”, as we guys tend to do, but said he would call back shortly with the logistics as he lives about 40 miles north of BA

OMG, we need a hostess gift and everything is closed. We asked the concierge for a suggestion and he said we could get flowers in an hour---not enough time, how about a cake? Perfect. But did the hotel have any? Yes, they had 4 options. We took a large cake which Teresa served as our dessert.

So, about noon he arrived to pick us up and then took us on a whirl-wind tour around the city and then we hit the highway out to his place. It’s a toll road out there. At one toll there was quite a back up. The Argentine rule is that if the cars back-up past a certain point which is denoted by a white line on the pavement, the authorities must open up the tolls for free. The cars passed this line and horns started to honk and sure enough we sailed through having paid no toll. Alberto was quite pleased.

So as not to invade their privacy, I will refrain from too extensive a review of their abode, only saying that it is set in a gated community with lots of land and great distances between houses. There is a large swimming pool in the back yard and a great BBQ patio on which to relax in the rear of the house. Teresa is a terrific gardener and the place shows off her green thumb.

One last item, the house has 6 bathrooms. We were impressed. Only 3 of them live there, how do they decide which one to use next?? Lottery??

We had a delicious meal (a combo of lunch and dinner) and a very relaxing afternoon. They are super hosts. Teresa did all the BBQing and it was simply delicious: pork, chorizo, beef, ribs, even bread warmed by the fire, and the best malbec and coldest beer. Alberto had even bought a special spicy sauce for us to try.

We took a remise back to town and luckily avoided all the returning labor day traffic.

We went to the club upon our return and had a few snacks and drinks and that was just a nite cap on our earlier delicious meal. What a lovely day!!

I left my sweater in the remise and Alberto was able to retrieve it and brought it back to me at the Sheraton a day or so later.


Saturday


We got going slowly this day but headed over to Recoletta to see if my belts were ready, which they had promised that they would be. The clerks could not find them, so we guessed they were not there yet. The manager who had helped me was off that day..
We took a taxi back to the San Martin Square area to the leather store we had visited the day of the assault. It’s called Frenkel’s. They offer very high quality leather items, including belts, purses, jackets, shoes, wallets, fur throws, hats and various other items, mostly all made from leather. They are located on the ground floor of the Cavanaugh Building which is directly next to the Marriott Plaza Hotel and across from San Martin Park. We bought a number of things including some gifts. Next we walked up past the Plaza Hotel and turned left after H Stern, and walked down one block to another leather shop called Welcome. We had visited there earlier and saw a few things Karen wanted, especially something for Xmas gifts for our daughters. From there we took a taxi back to the Hilton. We had a quick, but delicious lunch at the deli in the hotel lobby. The lobby is 9 stories of open space with exterior elevators and lots of activity, so it’s very pleasant..

We decided that perhaps we would take a swim… Went down to the pool but it was too cool, so we just sat around for a while relaxing.

We decided to take a walk around the area and walked along the canals and around the immediate area. Lots of people were out walking on this beautiful afternoon.

We went to the lounge for a drink or two. The hors d’s were only so so….The cashews were the best quite honestly. We walked around the corner to an Italian place we had seen for our dinner---Carletto, Olga Cossettini 791. Great service and a delicious meal. 140 psc.

After our return we sat in the lobby for a while watching the activity and then went to our room for the nite.

Alberto must have changed his car, because i remember the last posting about a dinner with him involved excessive expense, poor food and a tiny car....none of that was evident during our stay. oh and everyone spoke only Spanish....

Same car, different reviewer, who carries a great weight on the Asia board. LOL!!!

I just hope that when Bob posts some photos he has some photos of the food he describes. Skip the beautiful mountain vistas. We want to see parilladas, spreads of antipasto and the table setting at the vineyard in Mendoza. Also, while many have posted on the increasing costs in ARG, and the rising inflation, in truth, the prices Bob mentions (which are very helpful), seem reasonable on many of the meals. You would be very hard pressed to find anywhere a meal like he describes at that vineyard for about $60 US for two people, with matched wines.

Also, he has to tell us if rumors that he will begin carpincho farming in the wilds of Massachusetts are greatly exaggerated.

i have the first herd of carpincho arriving next week.... i have hired a shepherd, named gpanda, to tend the flock so we should be all set. The first line of shoes, bags and suitcases will be ready next year. Carpincho will be killing each other off just to get away from gpanda so we expect a great crop next year.
these will be a new breed of carpincho however, unlike any in the past. rather than existing in streams and ponds mine will live in a hot tub in the back yard.

What a lovely image of carpincho in a hot tub! Thanks for a great start to the day. I am very much enjoying your reports.

Carpinchos or capibaras are not pigs but rodents, the largest on earth.

they are pig like is my take

This report is FANTASTIC! Is there any way to print it up in a report form? Just the report and not the comments?

Sunday 3rd

Breakfast in the club. Out to take pics around the PM area. One thing that makes the restorations interesting is that the developers have left many of the old structures and things like huge cranes used to lift cargo scattered around the area. There are also large reproduced pictures of scenes from earlier days.

Did our e-mails and showered. Took a taxi to our new hotel, the Sheraton Park Tower. This is back nearer to san martin park area and the English tower. This hotel is part of a larger complex with a convention center and a huge regular Sheraton. This is the lux arm of that complex. It starts with the doorman in tails and top hat and the lux marble lobby where there is no reception desk but rather ornate individual desks for check-in. Each room has a personal butler. Its quite lovely and a great way for us to finish our trip. Great deal with points and cash---$90 plus 4800 pts.

After unpacking we took a taxi to the San Telmo area to enjoy the weekly Sunday market. We had not been there 5 minutes when a mature lady tried to pick my pocket… Did she think I was stupid. I left my wallet in the safe. I yelled at her and she just stood there and looked at me. I warned everyone around me. There were tons of people and it was a beautiful day. We looked at many of the stalls, selling antiques and crafts and food. We settled into Todo Mundol for lunch. It overlooks the main square in ST. We were lucky enough to get a open window seat so that we could observe all the comings and goings, which was fun. The lunch was delicious: steak sandwiches and fries washed down with H2O.

After the lunch we walked around some more and walked almost the entire length of Defensa St. There were artists, shops, tango dancers and sales of all kinds for the entire length of the street. Karen helped out the economy as we went along.

At the hotel we had some wine in the room from Mendoza, a little nap and some lazing around. We wanted something different for dinner and asked the concierge for suggestions on Indian and Mexican. We settled on Mexican. We took a taxi to the DF Restaurant in Puerto Madera. We both had nachos and they were terrible. The salsa was nothing more than tomato sauce with chuncks, no spice, no hots… THIS IS A PASS and turned out to be our worst meal on the trip, even worse than what was on the bus.

But we slept very well in our lux room.

Great report Bob am really enjoying it!

OMG!!! A so-called experienced traveler yearning for a Mexican dinner in Argentina!

It serves you right that you got the "worst meal" of your trip! LOL!!!

Sunday 3rd

Breakfast in the club. Out to take pics around the PM area. One thing that makes the restorations interesting is that the developers have left many of the old structures and things like huge cranes used to lift cargo scattered around the area. There are also large reproduced pictures of scenes from earlier days.

Did our e-mails and showered. Took a taxi to our new hotel, the Sheraton Park Tower. This is back nearer to san martin park area and the English tower. This hotel is part of a larger complex with a convention center and a huge regular Sheraton. This is the lux arm of that complex. It starts with the doorman in tails and top hat and the lux marble lobby where there is no reception desk, but rather ornate individual desks for check-in. Each room has a personal butler. Its quite lovely and a great way for us to finish our trip. Great deal with points and cash---$90 plus 4800 pts.

After unpacking we took a taxi to the San Telmo area to enjoy the weekly Sunday market. We had not been there 5 minutes when a mature lady tried to pick my pocket… Did she think I was stupid. I left my wallet in the safe. I yelled at her and she just stood there and looked at me. I warned everyone around me. There were tons of people and it was a beautiful day. We looked at many of the stalls, selling antiques and crafts and food. We settled into Todo Mundol for lunch. It overlooks the main square in ST. We were lucky enough to get an open window seat so that we could observe all the comings and goings, which was fun. The lunch was delicious: steak sandwiches and fries washed down with H2O.

After the lunch we walked around some more and walked almost the entire length of Defensa St. There were artists, shops, tango dancers and sales of all kinds for the entire length of the street. Karen helped out the economy as we went along.

At the hotel we had some wine in the room from Mendoza, a little nap and some lazing around. We wanted something different for dinner and asked the concierge for suggestions on Indian and Mexican. We settled on Mexican. We took a taxi to the DF Restaurant in Puerto Madera. We both had nachos and they were terrible. The salsa was nothing more than tomato sauce with chuncks, no spice, no hots…The chips were floating in meted cheese and liquid. THIS PLACE IS A PASS, and turned out to be our worst meal on the trip, even worse than what was on the bus.

But we slept very well in our lux room.




Monday

Up late and with no provided breakfast we walked out onto the near-by walking street and found some breakfast on Paraguay St, 501—Blell Café. The best pastry we had on the trip. We shopped around a bit on the streets adjacent to Florida St. We then took a taxi to Recoletta to get my belts from Arandu. They were ready and I am very pleased with them. They are both brown thick leather. One has a woven greek key design woven into it in cream and the other has a red and tan design woven into it. A steal at 210 pse for the two. Karen managed to buy some jewelry there as well, plus we bought a double 5X7 Alpaca folding picture frame for a christening gift next month.

From there we just had to head back to El Sanjuanino for some more of the best empanadas in BA. They were even better this time!! Make sure to try the spicy beef. And their French fries are freshly made and delicious. Back to the hotel.

We were a bit uncomfortable the nite before as the bed, as do most beds in Argentina, had a heavy duvet on it. We asked the butler to remove it and put just a normal blanket on the bed.

Out for some more shopping, but this time K knew just what shop she wanted to go to, to purchase some shoes for gifts. Accomplished quickly.

Upon our return to the hotel, trouble was brewing. Barricades had been set up preventing entrance to the hotel. We jumped out on the drive and showed our room card for entrance. Seems that there was to be an announced demonstration against the hotel industry at the Sheraton having to do with wages. We could hear the drums, firecrackers and shouting across the street in the park. This was too good to miss so we flew to the bathroom and returned to the lobby for observation. Soon the mass of demonstrators surged onto the main road next to the hotel and stopped traffic. They were beating loud drums, waving signs, yelling and letting off fire crackers. They approached the main entrance to the hotel where they were held back by the barrier. TV cameras were there to record the event.
There were tons of both uniformed and undercover police and security people all over the hotel grounds. There was a group of perhaps 15 men in riot gear with shields and plastic masks and protective clothing standing in formation in front of the hotel… There were water cannons on large trucks parked beside the hotel. WOW. Just then who crosses the picket line from a side entrance but Avrooster. He was returning my sweater.

The demonstration went on for at least an hour. Then one of the leaders spoke and gave some demands over the loud speaker they brought with them. This fired up the crowd even more and now they started throwing more and bigger fire crackers into the hotel property. They threw thousands of leaflets over the barriers and the place looked like a confetti machine had gone berserk. They also threw a few paint bombs onto the driveway making a mess. They rattled the barriers and dragged a couple of them out into the street. The police retrieved them and put them back in place. Then from about the 7th floor of the main hotel a banner was lowered (must have been a maid in one of the rooms). This brought huge cheers.
Just as quickly as the demonstration had started it ended. It was all reported on tv that nite and it also was reported that they moved to another place where things got more difficult and some people were hurt and 60+ were arrested.

We returned to our room and packed things up a bit as we were to leave the next day.
For dinner we decided to return to Ligure, the site of our first meeting with Avrooster. The original meal had been so good that this seemed like a good place for a final dinner.
We had chateaubriand for two, beer, malbec and flan. The meat was perfectly cooked at medium rare to rare and the accompanying veggies were all delicious. Good beginning and good ending…We only missed our new Argentine friends at the meal.


Tuesday May 5


Our last day in Argentina. Back to Blell for breakfast. Walked around a bit and ended up behind the Marriott Plaza in the church near the site of my first assault. This time we were able to go into the church. Its magnificent.
We returned to the hotel and did internet and had a quick snooze. Headed to Las Nazarenas, which is just across the street from the Sheraton, for a large late lunch. We shared an order of filet mignon (lomo) which was just the right amount, a spinach salad, and water plus a ½ bottle of malbec for K. I asked for and was granted late check out at 5PM.
We went into the lobby bar at 5 and listened to the harp music and had tea and goodies. Our car, driven by Pedro, arrived about 6:15.

Our flight was at 9:50PM. We did the formalities at the airport and everything went smoothly. The Contential flights retraced our arrival: BA-Houston-Newark-Boston. All were on time and the planes were even newer and more comfortable.

BTW, the wine box held up perfectly, even though one corner is slightly dented from airline mishandling.

Thank you for listening

If there are any questions, please ask them here or at rhkonthailand@msn.com



THIS CONCLUDES MY TRIP REPORT.

I will let you know when the pics are ready

Great report as always. So you ignored those travel warnings that say to stay away from local demonstrations?

Looking forward to the pix. If only I could get my VN ones done (waiting for the boss to sort hers).

Great report, Bob & Karen!

When should we expect you back?

Great report. All the food details makes me want to go to BA.

Hi Bob and Karen,

I've really enjoyed reading your trip report---makes John and me regret even more that we had to postpone our trip. But you have certainly done a great job of detailing the high points, the fabulous food and the great experiences. South America will remember you---and your multiple contributions to the economy of shops and restaurants!!!! Hope we soon follow in your footsteps!

Maggie

OK, so i have paired down the pics into 3 seperate groups. I have titled important ones but others you will have to use your imigination (gpanda, remember when you had one?)

share.shutterfly.com/action/welcome?sid=8BauXDJw2aqOLo

share.shutterfly.com/action/welcome?sid=BauXDJw2aqONw

share.shutterfly.com/action/welcome?sid=BauXDJw2aqOP4

hope you enjoy them....some are good, many are only marginal, especially the ones of the falls

ok, 31 works fine but the others do not...

dropped the 8....sorry


share.shutterfly.com/action/welcome?sid=8BauXDJw2aqOLo

share.shutterfly.com/action/welcome?sid=8BauXDJaqOP4

sorry neither of these work...one is a dupe as you have discovered...

share.shutterfly.com/action/welcome?sid=8BauXDJw2aqONw

ok, the first one at the top works. the last one above works...

now this one again....i'm getting mad!!

share.shutterfly.com/action/welcome?sid=8BauXDJw2aqOp4

lets try it another way


http://share.shutterfly.com/action/welcome?sid=8BauXDJw2aqOP4

R, I got through the 233 photos, and now I'm looking at the batch of 168. Are there any other batches?

It is funny with your BA pictures (at least the ones in the 233 batch) that I recognized every single location, except possibly a few restaurant interiors. Paraguay was very interesting to see. I liked seeing the pictures of the falls in the rain, as it was completely sunny when we were there.

Hola Bob,

Welcome back...and thanks for the report - Love all the food detail.

Great photos. Thanks

yes will there are 3 groups of pics....just try clicking on each group---one is a dupe as you will see....follow my last directions...

bookmarking to come back to later
Thanks Bob!

Now I really want to go to BA. Looks like you had a great time.

Argentina is a very interesting country. we enjoyed our time there and the differences of differing areas of the country....remember we did not go south at all which offers a wide range of different experiences.

I must admit however that the potential security issues in BA were very off-putting. Once I had two potentially bad experiences, i found myself always looking over my shoulder. locals are outraged by these happenings but governments seems to do little to stop these petty crimes.

And these constant demonstrations would drive me nuts. Even on our way to the airport the driver had to take a route to avoid yet another huge demonstration near to independence square where one of the main streets was closed for these clowns.

But, having said all that, we trully enjoyed out visit and the people we met there.

Stellar report as always Bob. Thanks for all the details. Will use as one of our primers for our BA trip

Aloha!

Bob - this is one of your best reports - fantastic job!
Sorry you had an "incident" in BA - I know how you feel however it wouldn't stop me from going back.
Glad you met Alberto - sounds like a perfect gentleman.
Didn't have a chance to look at the pics but I will in a day or two.
Pat

rhkkmk:

I just had the pleasure of viewing your photos. Wonderful! They brought back excellent memories of very satisfying visits to BsAs - and Paraguay does look appealing.

Many thanks for the trouble you took to shoot and post them.

~Marnie~WDC

Bob and Karen...going to visit your pics in a moment ...great report..brings back pleasant memories of our exciting visits to SA

Las Nazarenas,
wouldn't you know...this was one of our favorites in BA..had our going-away meal there also...not a steak eater, ut how can you pass it up in Argentina!!

Now, to the pics..

happy travels..

Stu Tower

Superb pix..I really enjoyed them...especially to see "the Rooster Coop" and the Roosters..(some home!)...and many sights with which I'm familiar...I kept yelling to Roz...
" come and see these"...the tango dancer with the long black pigtail was the same guy we saw in San Telmo...maybe the same female, also...It was nice to see Paraguay..made me rethink why we didn't take the opportunity to go to Asuncion from the Brazil side of the falls...at least to add another country. Thanks for sharing! Where to next kids?

stu Tower

Stu..we are off to South Africia in the fall for 3 weeks. Have to stick around here and do the family thing for the summer. k

Having been to Paraguay twice and never having to pay more than a few dollars to correct whatever bureacratic problems we ran into, I have this terrible feeling that you may have been taken advantage of, either that or our friends there bargain better. It's hard to imagine having to pay $200 for anything there. We got into and out of Brazil to see the Falls w/o visas simply by driving over the bridge during rush hour. It also seems that you may have missed some of the best places, like the old Jesuit Mission ruins.

atp--we may have been taken advantage of but i blame both myself and the agent in nyc at the consulate...i need to write her a letter, btw...

we chose not to go to the missions..

this is a fantastic report....i really enjoyed reading it

Well, I guess that's normal. LOL!!!

rooster...since I like the looks of your B.A.home so much, maybe we ought to consider a trade when we next go to SA..as Bob can tell you, I have a neighbor here in L.A. that might make it interesting for you to swap houses....right, Bob?

stu tower

Bob: LOL!

Stu: Bob "no sabe, no contesta....". "Yo tampoco".

I asked Bob to give you my e-mail, if he felt we would get on well????? LOL!

that person would be a very famous female star of the not so recent past.... stu spends hours gazing at her over the fence...roz told me if she catches him once again he will be in big trouble...(roz is the boss in that house).

Bob,
I'm a newbie on this blog but I have gained a TON of knowledge from your posts, as I am about to embark on my first South America visit on August 4. I'll be in BA for a few days, then have a similar arrangement to yours, in that I found a very reasonable flight on Pluna Air to Asuncion, allowing my buddy and I to stay a night in Montevideo, and then fly on to Asuncion. We still need to arrange transportation to Iguazu from Asuncion (thank goodness we already have multiple entry visas where we hope to stay for a couple of nights. We then need to get back to Asuncion (probably taking one of those luxurious buses I hear about) for our flight back to BA. All that (flights with over nights in Montevideo and Asuncion) for $220 US. Amazing. The RT from BA to Puerto Iguazo was $350 US. Thanks again for all the great and appropriate tips! The only difference is that we're going the hostal route. We're only in on mid-50s - just kids - hehehe,
Dan

Daniel, Maybe you could share who you may be booking the Pluna flights with if you are from the USA. I saw very reasonable flights on the Pluna website, but when I went to pay for them on line, my credit card was rejected because it wasn't from Uruguay. It might just be that the deals are for those who live down there. So, now I am looking for a travel agent or website that could help me with my plans.

its the 5th so i am too late....sorry....hope you did get some helpful info here...

ttt

ttt

Rhkkmk: I just found your great report and the wonderful photos, which brought me very nice memories of my trip to Argentina.

You put a lot of work in to the report and I can't even imagine how to upload the photos.
Many thanks for the "re-run" of my trip in 2007.

What an excellent trip report! I'm hoping to go to Argentina in December and will use this report as a reference. Many thanks for taking the time to post and to include your references.

Any suggestions on booking a tour to the Falls?

Take a look at:

http://www.buenosaires-tours.com.ar/

Mahalo (thanks in Hawaiian), Alberto!

Who is Alberto?

I just started reading this. Saw the reference to "terrorists" that Juliet made. Your description of her as "conservative" might be accurate but am wondering if "fascist" might be more appropriate.

brought back up for thit...

mrwunrfl, exactly, and actually most of the 30.000 people killed weren't "terrorists"; this is a very sad chapter in Argentinian history that people are not trying to forget but to bring the culprits to justice.

thanks, very helpful info on Paraguay, especially Iguazu (I'm also thinking of overlanding from Asuncion, but would then like to visit the Argentine missions from the falls). I may try to visit in May 2011 (all vacations booked or planned up 'til then).

Michael

How did you get in touch with avrooster. I also like his comments on fodors. We'd love to have dinner with him.
T Hanks
Shaynak

bookmarking to come back to for reading

Bob, you were such a great help to me in planning my southeast Asia trip last year, and now you're back again, helping with my upcoming visit to Argentina.

Just finished reading this through, and to no surprise I love it!
Off to check out your fantastic photos.

i suggested to avrooster on fodors that he contact me privately which he did for some help with questions and later i suggested a meeting i believe...

it was one of the highlights of our trip.. he has a great personality, tons of info and insight and a charming wife.

boston--what's up next?? i might be able to help