We have one way air tickets from Miami to Buenos Aires, Argentina on 2-25. We purchased Yellow Fever shots at the health Department for $83.50 and wasted an afternoon.
February 24:We drove to Tampa for supper with a friend without a motel reservation. Drove from Tampa to Miami looking for a room. At 5 AM we paid $111 for a used room near the Miami airport. As represented, the linens were dirty so we used our own pillows and blankets. Florida needs some more hotel rooms in February! Easy flight to BA - 8 hours.
February 26:We are settled in BA in a very nice apartment. We´ve enjoyed two excellent 4 course lunches so far, one for $15 per person and one for $10 per person. Subway and Bus is $0.23 per ride. We sleep in and eat lunch around 1:30p.m. and light dinner around 10p.m.. We like it here and think we´ll definitely take the cruise ship around SA to Santiago, Chile, then through Panama Canal to Philadelphia in March-April. Went shopping at upscale mall today in Recoletta and had a cheese-cold cut meat platter for lunch from a nice deli in the mall. Buenos Aires is huge and we are walking a lot, all day, most days, but taking the bus too. They have 5 subway lines and that is the fastest way around. There are several hundred bus lines and 15,000 buses and no bus map. They cover all of the streets but you must know the name of neighborhood that you want to go to. You must read the destinations on the front of the bus or ask someone for the correct bus number. It is not as hard as we first thought. We went to a Tango exhibition last night. The biggest Tango festival in the world is being held this week here in BA. Good music and beautiful dancers. People are so friendly, in spite of our pitiful Spanish. We hope to start lessons next week. Everything is so cheap, 3 pesos to the dollar. Very nice gourmet food in interesting restaurants for $20 total. Clothes and groceries cheap too, especially shoes.
March 3. Went to see "Man of LaMancha" at Theatre Nationale last night, in Spanish, of course, only $5 per ticket. Ate at wonderful restaurant, Arturito on Ave. Corrientes afterwards-three course meal, sodas, water, coffee, dessert-total $17 for both of us. Have all the TV channels hooked up now so we get HBO, Cinemax and even some sex channels. Saw Ben Affleck in a perfume commercial. Guess he has to make money anyway he can! Had some wonderful ice cream the other night called Dulce de leche. Argentines love chocolate-it's everywhere. Thank goodness we're still walking a lot! First run movies like Capote and Brokeback Mountain are only $2.75. We'll catch up on movies while here at those bargain prices. Buenos Aires inhabitants are called "portenos." We hope to start Spanish lessons on Monday with a woman we met at the rental car agency. She speaks very good English and will spend a few hours a day with us for a week or so for about $8 per day. We are driving to a city about two hours away tomorrow to celebrate Carnival. They have huge celebration. We plan to come back late tomorrow night. BA is such a nice city and a real bargain!
March 7. Carnival was fantastic, held in Gualeguaychu, almost as good as Rio in Brazil but not anywhere as big. Rio is on our to-do list. A huge parade that lasted for 5 hours, lots of semi-nude men and women in glittery costumes dancing on the street and on very tall floats. We rented a car and drove with the Argentines, who drive a bit crazy. We left about noon on Saturday and got back to BA at 3:00 a.m., a long day. Sunday, Doug went to the football game in the evening and I tried to watch the Oscars on TNT channel, with Spanish voice-over. Finally gave up and watched the late night coverage of parties on E channel.
Last night we went to hear Opera music at a small venue-selections from Mozart operas. We started Spanish lessons yesterday with Victoria and I had dreams with Spanish words last night, but I don´t know what they mean! Learning Spanish at this stage of life is not easy. Doug does very well, but studied it in college. The weather is very nice-sunny most days and near 80 degrees, 65 degrees at night. We have discovered such good restaurants, one in the neighborhood. Had french fries with ham, eggs and peas last night as a side dish-what a way to get your vegetables! Ate at a buffet a few days ago for $25 total, so much choice of food and very good. Still walking a lot. Went to a huge shopping mall today. March 8 is celebration of women in Latin America, and they also celebrate Mother´s Day-two days that celebrate women-nice.
March 8. Just finished my Spanish lesson and Doug is now in class. Victoria, our tutor, comes to our apartment each day from 5:00 to 7:00 p.m. to work with us. Today, we visited Palarmo-SOHO, a nice neighborhood in BA. Had a nice lunch at a small restaurant. The dessert was the best part. French toast with banana on top with chocolate cream on the side. I had not wanted to order it, but took one bite and then had two bites, it was so good. We walked it off after lunch at the mall. Bought a pair of Merrell shoes for $45-they are made in Argentina and my favorite brand of shoes. Clothing styles are different than US and the sizes are much smaller. Everyone wears their clothes tighter here and the people are mostly small and dress with lots of style. I did buy a gauze skirt, which will be cool as it was very hot and humid today.
Fulbol Games:
Doug has been to two Fulbol (football)games. The first was to the "Yankees" of the Argentine football world. They are called RIVER and play in the River Plata Stadium. Unlike the NYY yhere is No Subway to the place. You must take a cab or a bus after the subway. I met a man and his two sons in the subway station. They invited me to ride with them in the cab. They would not let me pay the $3 for the cab. Then there was a four block walk down a tree-lined street to the Stadium, with 2 or 3 police checks for ???. I found out that the seats for the common man are as cheap as a coca cola, but you may get in the middle of a fight before the game is over! I chose the up-scale end seats for $8. The best mid-field seats are $50 or more. All of the cheap seats were taken and the "popular" patrons had the correct colored shirts, or scarves or hats. Some also had 3 by 5 foot flags, which they wave. There was some chanting, but not like the next game I went to. They also put up banners 5 foot high and up to 30 foot long. The banners were for a star or a neighborhood or ???. I left at half time and took a cab back to the subway.The next week, I went to see the team with passion. like the "Brooklyn Dodgers." They are called La Boca Juniors. La Boca is their neighborhood and it is a rough one. I took the bus and then a 15 block walk with poor people doing their thing, cooking sausages, hot dogs, and beef, which is for sale in the street. There is soda and team stuff for sale everywhere. I walked to the wrong side of the stadium with the crowds, but all of the seats on that side were for "Popular." I walked around 180 degrees. It was another 15 blocks. I met some old guys my age and asked them where the box office was. They said to follow them, using sign language. They did not speak English. To my surprise, they had a ticket for me, "free," and we took the elevator up to the top deck where the big dogs sit. They had an 8 seat box, close to mid-field. There were 4 of them and I made 5 in the this nice 8 seat box. They started smoking big Cuban cigars. Then some guy came by and sold sugared espresso coffee. Later other sugared products, such as Coke. Coke light, without sugar and water was not available. In the seats "popular," the folks stood for the whole game, shook their fingers, and chanted continuously. Every one sang and stomped their feet to the point that the concrete and steel structure was moving! Before the game and at half-time, the cheerleaders came out. They were dressed about like ours, but there were also flag bearers wearing very skimpy bikini outfits. The bottoms of their outfits and 50 percent of all the bathing outfits were THONG bottoms.
Gambling down south:
I found a Casino. I had to check my back pack and take off my baseball cap, but unlike Europe, they let me in with short pants on. Found the Craps table, but they sent me to a cage to change my cash. The minimum bet on the pass line was $3.50. There were 30 people around the table, but only 3 or 4 betting. NO NOISE, not a sound. I played until I got the dice. I told the worker, in my broken Spanish, that I was going to roll 30 minutes before crapping out. He laughed and told his co-workers. Of course, he was right. I rolled and called out loud for 7-11 in Spanish. Then for the point. Nancy said this was so unusual that the PIT BOSS came over to see what was happening. No one else opened their mouth. After a short roll, I ended up losing $3.50. We then left. NOT like Vegas, but it was an adventure!
March 10. We went to Theatro Colon last night to hear the symphony. The ticket was less that $2 to stand at the top. The top ring is called Paridise Ring. The theatre is one of the best in the world for good sound and it was wonderful. We had take-out dinner at our favorite neighborhood restaurant, Norte. We usually go there and see what everyone else is eating and then point to what we like when the waiter comes. We have never had a dish we did not like! Would love to know how these Argenines keep so thin with all this good food. It is cheaper to eat out than to eat in here. We are still sleeping late as we do not have dinner until 10:00 or 11:00 p.m., which is normal here.
We are still enjoying BA and walk around the different neighborhoods each day and practice our Spanish. Note: there are 300 different bus lines in BA and several hundred different routes, but we have done real well finding buses to take us where we want to go. Of course, there are no bus schedules, but bus stops everywhere!We have finalized our cruise ship plans and will get on a Norwegian Cruise line ship in BA on March 26 and sail around the tip of South America to Santiago, Chile, arriving there on April 9. We will leave that day and sail through the Panama Canal and arrive in Philadelphia, PA on April 25. The cruise through the glaciers and Pantagonia, the southern tip of SA will be beautiful. While on the cruise, we will not be checking Internet as it is very expensive on the ship. If there is an emergency while we are on the cruise from March 26-April 25, contact Norwegian Cruise lines at 1-888-NCSHIPS or www.ncl.com and they can get in touch with us.
March 13. We went to see Romeo and Juliet, the ballet, on Saturday night. It was beautiful and the music by Prokofiev also is bonito! We have yet to come across any Americans, although a few portenos speak some English. We ate at El Obrero in La Boca, a suburb, on Saturday afternoon. Bono, from U2 eats at this restaurant when he is in town. It is situated in a poor neighborhood. We took a bus and walked to the restaurant, but I do not think Bono wants to get that close to the poor folks-I am sure he rides in a limousine. Many houses in La Boca are made of colored tin and it is a colorful section of BA. We find good restaurants and shopping areas in a magazine called "Time Out Buenes Aires." It is excellent for helping us to find good places.
We went to the zoo yesterday and enjoyed seeing all the children and families enjoying a beautiful day at the zoo. You can feed most of the animals if you wish, through troughs that go through the fence. We bought admission to the zoo, a couple of waters, and a picture taken by a photographer when you enter, all for $9.00 US. We have a hard time spending more than $20 at the best restaurants. I have found some clothes, tops for $10, pants for $15, and a skirt for $9. Doug bought a pair of khaki shorts for $13. We walked around the Jewish neighborhood called Once, today and ate at a small conferteria. We had quiche, two cokes, coffee for Doug, and cookies for dessert, all for $7. I have been washing clothes out by hand as we have a nice washroom, but no machines at our apartment. Today, we took our sheets and some clothes to a laundromat where they wash the things for us.
March 15. We went to the botanical gardens today-very pretty and lots of stray cats in the gardens also enjoying the surroundings. We had a good vegetable soup for lunch, our first soup on the trip. They only eat soup here in the winter and it is not quite winter yet, but today we found it on a menu. People eat lots of potatoes here, all different ways. Our favorite is "potatoes espanole." Big, but thin wedges of potato lightly fried in olive oil. There are 3 million people in BA and 12 million, including the surrounding areas. Yesterday, we took the colectivo (bus) and subte (subway)to a Walmart Super Store just outside the main city. It was just like in the US, only not very crowded. There are so many deals everywhere here that Walmart is not anything out of the ordinary. We had a good lunch at a parrillo restaurant-beef ribs. Parrillo is an open pit fire where beef and pork is cooked and there are lots of parrillo restaurants in Argentina. Argentines, both men and women, kiss each other upon greeting and leaving, instead of a hug like we might do. Last night we had pizza at Fila, at 975 San Martin, an upscale restaurant that has the best pizza in BA. It was very good, but expensive-$10 for a whole pizza. It was a thin crust like NYC. Note: Chile just elected a woman President and we cannot get one in the US-something is very wrong! And, she has appointed females for half of her cabinet. We will visit some cities in Chile while on the cruise ship in a few weeks.
March 16. Today, it rained very hard and we walked to a couple of museums using our umbrellas. Saw some pre-Columbian artifacts and learned a bit about early Argentina history. Also, had lunch at a wonderful restaurant-Spanish tapas-paella, mustard chicken, ham and cheese, bottle of red wine-all for $23, including tip. We lingered over lunch until the rain stopped. We´re beginning to research where we want to go at the various destinations the cruise ship will stop at. We will visit Montevideo, Uruguay, some towns in Chile, Lima, Peru and Limon, Costa Rica, where we hope to visit a rain forest. People in BA are so friendly and often want to talk with us and the bus drivers help us to get where we want to go. We feel safe walking on the streets, both day and night.
March 20. We had a great time at a St. Patricks Day luncheon at the American Club. Met several Americans who are living in Buenos Aires. They had a dance presentation, Tango and Irish dancing. We were invited to a tango club on Saturday night by a woman who lives here, but is from Washington, DC. We had a wonderful time at the tango club, watching local folks tango. The men sit on one side of the room while the women sit on the other. There was a one minute break after four song and everyone returned to their seats. The dancers switch partners every four songs, when there is a short break. Doug and I did not make fools of ourselves by dancing, but enjoyed watching the local folks. Saturday afternoon we went to the Hippodrome to the horse races in San Isidro, a short train ride from BA. We had lunch at the clubhouse and made 2 peso bets on the races. We split a steak the size of a grapefruit and shaped as a grapefruit! We won one race and our winnings amounted to about one dollar as a two peso bet is only about 65 cents. On Sunday, we took the train to Tigre, a resort town outside BA on the delta. It was a beautiful sunny day. We had lunch on the water at a nice restaurant and walked around a huge flea market that had all kinds of stuff. I bought a neat rope belt for $2 and a necklace for 65 cents. Also, went to the casino and Doug played craps, throwing around a hundred dollar peso bill (about $33). He won some and lost some, ending up only $2 less than when he started. It was fun to see him counting the dice in Spanish and yelling out the number he wanted in Spanish. On Friday night, we went to see the opera Ernani by Verde. The singing was beautiful and we had never seen this opera. We often eat at our favorite restaurant across the street from our apartment called Norte.
A few nights ago we had a new dessert called a Don Pedro. It was like a root beer float with ice creams except the root beer was whiskey-ice cream floating in whiskey and it had walnuts in it! On St. Patricks Day after the opera we walked to the area of town where thousands of folks were celebrating the day in the streets in front of a famous Irish bar. It was mostly young folks, but we had a good time.
Today, we had lunch at Sabat, a nice restaurant for business folks in suits. I was the only woman there for awhile, then two women came in. The food was very good and somewhat expensive-$50. But, we had tomato soup, rissoto with mushrooms, and chicken kiev, a bottle of wine, a soda (for me) dessert, and coffee (for Doug)so I guess that is a pretty good deal. We´re back to studying Spanish this week with Victoria. Doug had a good conversation in Spanish with some folks on the train to Tigre yesterday. I think they enjoy his southern accent as he speaks Spanish! We get on the cruise ship Sunday, March 26.
March 22. We went to St. Andrews Presbyterian church last Sunday for a service in English. They had the "kirking of the Tartan" for the Scottish folks-a nice service with bagpipes and kilts. We spoke with the preacher´s wife and learned the history of the church, which is 104 years old and very beautiful. Today, we went to the Fine Arts Museum and saw beautiful paintings by Argentina artists as well as some European painters. We had lunch at the Hard Rock Cafe nearby. Yesterday, we went to the cattle market called Laniers and the fruit market where all the fruits and vegetables are distributed to the various grocery stores and business customers. It is a huge place near the outskirts of the city. We went to see La Boheme at the Theatro Colon last night and had dinner at an expensive restaurant in Point Madero, Cabana Las Lilas, an upscale "restaurant row" on the water. Our meal cost $275 pesos or $80, the most we have spent for a meal since arriving here. But, it was well worth it. We had a sampling of different grilled meats and a wonderful appetizer of ham, olives, salmon and different kinds of breads.
We read three newspapers each day, Buenos Aires Herald in English, La Nacion and the Clarin, both in Spanish. They provide suggestions for things to do and see and we keep up with world news. The Rolling Stones and U2 performed here in the last few weeks and Argentines of all ages, especially the young folks love these bands. They call the Rolling Stones los Rolling. We are learning Spanish, but I learned yesterday you have to be careful of pronunciations. I learned that años means years and that anos means anus. Same spelling, except for the ñ, which changes the pronunciation of the word. Spanish is not easy, but we´re learning. Sure hate to talk about anus when I mean years! Driving in BA is a trip. There are few stop signs and whoever gets to the intersection first, goes. But, most cars barely stop and you wonder if they will collide. Also, the buses and taxis race each other down the street. It is real thrilling to ride the buses. At least you know if they hit someone, you will survive in the bus rather than the small taxi! We have a couple more museums to visit and some more good restaurants on our list before leaving on Sunday.
March 25. Although it is the beginning of fall here in the southern hemisphere, it has been hot and humid, like Miami. Today, however, it is cooler and more like fall. It will be colder as we travel south on the boat to Patagonia and Tiera Del Fuego. It will be spring when we get back to Estados Unidos, the good ole USA! A few nights ago, we had dinner at a restaurant called La Paila that serves northern Argentine food. It is located in Parlermo Hollywood, a barrio where they film movies in BA. They had two singers and music while we dined on Llama. I could not eat much as I think Lllam's are so cute! We had a wonderful stew called locru that had lentils and potatoes in it.
Yesterday, as we walked around we saw riot police dispel with teargas. The group was demonstrating. We actually started to walk into the teargas, but quickly retreated. Yesterday was a holiday in honor of the people who disappeared during the Junta regime during the 1970's when Argentina and most Latin America countries were ruled by dictators. The holiday was only proposed by the President a few weeks ago and yesterday it was a holiday for the first time! Last night, we went to Theatre Colon to hear Mahler's Resurrection Symphony in honor of the dead. We finished our Spanish classes yesterday and "graduated."
Today, we went to another museum and walked around Ricoleta, a beautiful barrio next to where we are living. We had lunch at our favorite neighborhood restaurant, Norte for the last time. We also went to a "fete" at the British Embassy today. It was very nice, with games for children, food, used books and trinkets. Like a yard sale, only more upscale. Doug said someone is always murdered at the "fete" on the BBC mystery shows. But, no one was murdered today! We are going to a classical music concert tonight and tomorrow we get on the Norwegian Crown cruise ship for 30 days.
March 26. We got on the ship in BA with minimal delay. We started our "healthy eating plan" by ordering "cooking lite" menu items. Went to the workout center and used the treadmill.
March 27. Embarked at Montevideo, Uruguay and walked all over the new and old city. Americans who live in BA take a ferry to Montevideo and back every 90 days for a day trip to keep their status legal in Argentina as a visa is only good for 90 days. We used the bathrooms at the Radisson Hotel and I had to crawl under the stall door to get out as the lock was jammed. Never had that happen before!
March 29. After a day at sea, we docked at Port Madryn, Argentina, a resort town south of BA on the coast in Patagonia. We rented a car and drove 130 miles one way, over 1/2 on gravel, to see Magellan penguins at Punta Tombo. Thousands of penguins were all over the place. They were on the land, an arrid landscape that looks like a southwestern desert. There was water nearby, but the penguins don't need water all the time and make nests on land. This is the largest colony of these penguins that can be reached by humans in the world. We stopped at a casino in Trelew, a small town, on the way back to the ship-lost $1 in a slot machine!
March 30. Docked at Port Aruthur, Falkland Islands and walked around town. Rented a taxi and rode out of town. The landscape is barren and rocky. Only 3,500 inhabitants on the islands, which are under British rule.April 1. We cruised around the Cape Horn islands at the tip of South America, where the Atlantic and Pacific oceans come together. The weather was cold and windy and Antarctica is just to the South about 600 miles.
April 2. Docked in Ushuai in Tierra Del Guego, Argentina. Took the "End of the World Train" located in a national park. The ride was beautiful through flat land at the bottom of the rising Andes mountains. Took a taxi to Hotel De Glacier before taking the train ride and enjoyed beautiful scenery looking up at a huge glacier overlooking Ushuaia. We cruised in the afternoon through channels lined with huge glaciers and the snow-capped Andes. Reminded us of the Inland Passage in Alaska, only the mountains are bigger.
April 3. Docked at Port Arena, Chile. We took dirty clothes ashore and had them washed-much cheaper than on the boat. Went to three local museums and walked around town. A nice, clean town, about 100,000 people. No buses, but the taxis served as buses with numbers on top indicating different routes-only $1.50 for both of us to travel around town. Chili is more expensive than Argentina, but reasonable.
April 4. At sea and going through the Chilean Fijords, inside passage-very beautiful, but rain and cold this time of year. Have had sunny weather up till now.
April 5. At sea, and it was very rough-35 ft. waves. We're not sick, but it is unsettling to rock and roll all day and night!April 6. We docked in Chacabucco, Chile. We took a local bus to a bigger town, Coyhautre, through the Simpson Valley. The scenery was spectacular as we rode through the Andes. We had only 5 hours in port, not much time to go far.
April 7. We docked at Puerto Montt, Chile and rented a car and took a beautiful all day drive around Lake Llanquihue and to Petrohue, a beautiful area in Vincent Perez Rosales National Park. We drove hihg in the Andes on gravel roads and saw the most beautiful and unusual flora and fauna. Lots of big ferns, beautiful pink flowers and big trees. There is a huge volcano in this area and the earth is black, like coal, with lots of rocks and a black, dusty granular surface, but the flora and fauna is like a green jungle! We gave a ride to a guy from Portland, Oregon who is living in Chile for 6 months. We was backpacking in the mountains.
April 9. Docked at Valparaiso, Chile. Took a brand new, modern train that runs along the coast to Vina DelMar, a nice beach town. Went to two huge, nice shopping malls with the best shopping we have seen. Walked around a lake and went to a museum with Easter Island artifacts. Easter Island has huge, stone carvings all over it, made a long time ago, and it is part of Chili, although located near Tahiti.
April 10. Today, we took a local bus from Coquimbo, where the ship docked, to La Serena, a city on the west coast of Chili. From there, we took another local bus (migress) to Vicuna, in the Andes. The bus ride was harrowing as the driver drove very fast, even around the mountain road curves! The roads were good, but the speed was excessive. We hired a taxi in Vicuna and went to Pisco Elqui, a beautiful small town, even higher in the Andes. This region is where Chilean wine is grown. Also, there is the Tololo observatory, one of the largest in the world. The air is some of the cleanest in the world in this area. The sky was so blue, with no clouds. It is a spectacularly beautiful part of the world.
April 12. We docked in Iquique, Chile, a beautiful city on the western coast of Chili, close to the Peru border We rented a car ($52) and drove into the Andes. The mountains are rocky and look like "brown dirt"-no trees, except for a small forest of tamarugo trees. We went to the Pintados geoglyphs, one of the largest displays of ancient aboriginal art in the world. The hillside was decorated by more than 400 figures depicting humans, animals, birds and abstract shapes. The geoglyphs are piles of stones and scratchings on the earth's crust and date from 1000 to 1400 A.D.
We drove down the mountains to the coastline. It reminded us of US 1, near Malibu and north of LA, a rocky, craggy, coastline with big Pacific waves crashing on the shore. We got two cabins on the second leg of our cruise, from Valparaiso. I got a cabin on the 4th floor and Doug was on the 3rd floor, but his cabin was noisy and they gave him the cabin right next to me.
April 13. We docked in Arica, Chile, last stop before Lima, Peru. We rented a local car ($45). In fact, the guy who rented us the car had his wife take out the baby carriage before turning the car over to us It was his family car! Drove to Putre, 10,000 ft. in the Andes. The mountains driving up were spectacular-rocky, sandy in places, like huge sand dunes rising up to the sky. Putre is an ancient town. So ancient, they didn't have a gas station. We needed gas desparately to get back to Arica. The local hardware store sold gas and the guy put it in the car with a funnel. We got 3 gallons and made it back to port. We stopped in a hotel in town to use the bathroom and there was no toilet paper. Doug asked the front desk and they gave him a roll-guess they keep it there! I bought an alpaca sweater in Putre for $10. We saw llamas along side the road when driving up there. We drove through the Atacoma desert to get to Putre-one of the driest inhabited places on earth-average annual rainfall is .03 inches. We stopped at a church on the way back to Arica and a policeman came up and said he needed help. He asked us to take a friend to Putre. We had to explain to him in Spanish we had just left Putre. And, the car we rented, the security alarm kept going off-we only hoped it would not go off when the policeman was talking with us.
April 15. We docked at Calleo, about 30 minutes from Lima, Peru. We walked off the ship and out of the port area, the only passengers to do so. Everyone else took tour buses or taxis. We were told by the port personnel and police it was dangerous for us to walk on the street, but that was not the case. One of the taxi drivers who wanted to sell us a ride, put his finger to his head, as if we would get shot! We walked a short distance and took a mini van (migro). The ride to Lima cost us 30 cents each-taxi would have been $15-20! We enjoyed the ride with local people, seeing the sights. Went to El Centro, where we found a large market with all kinds of food and housewares. Went to Plaza Mayor, where there is a beautiful cathedral. Took a local bus to the Museo De Nation and saw lots of pre-Columbian pottery and Inca objects. Went to the Museo De Oro, a huge private collection of Peruvian gold objects and very interesting. Took a taxi to La Punta, the point at the end of Calleo, on the ocean. Nice beach town, but not very corwded. Lot of poor people in Lima, but everyone was friendly and we felt safe walking around, despite the warnings of the police and taxi drivers.
April 16. Easter Sunday and we are docked at Salaverry, Peru. We took a micro (small bus) to Trujillo, the biggest, nearby town. The town square was beautiful and we attended a Catholic mass for a short while at a beautiful cathedral decorated with thousands of gorgeous white flowers. We went to the market de centro, where the locals shop and got some souvenirs. We took a micro to Huanchaco, the most beautiful beach town we have seen on the trip. It is a small fishing village where they make boats out of totora, a fiber from an indigenous tropical plant found in the swamps. The boats are called caballitos. There were quite a few people at the beach, enjoying the sun and surf and Doug especially enjoyed the "bikinis."
April 17. At sea and crossed the equator at approximately 11:30 a.m.April 18. At sea. We have a routine on the boat so as not to get bored. We workout in the morning, have breakfast, lunch at noon, jacuzzi at 4:00 p.m., salad at buffet at 6:30 p.m. and sit-down dinner at 9:15 p.m.April 19. We went through the Panal Canal and it took all day. Lots of ships going in both directions. There are six locks you go through, up and down, as the lock fills with water.
April 20. We docked at Lima, Costa Rica, on the western side of CR. We took a boat ride through the Tortuguero canals to observe wildlife and see the beautiful flowers and vegetation. We saw many small birds and a baby crocodile in the water. We hired a taxi driver who took us into the mountains, which was like a jungle. We saw men making plywood from trees, right in the forest. Cutting the trees down and using their saws, on the spot, to make pieces of plywood like you buy at Home Depot. We walked around Limon, but it was very hot and humid! Limon is definitely tropical and hot. There is a large Dole banana plant there.
April 21-25. We spent 4 days cruising to Philadelphia. We cruised 10,800 miles from Buenos Aires to Philadelphia, according to the Captain of the ship. And, we lost weight eating healthy and exercising everyday. All in all, an enjoyable cruise and a great time in Buenos Aires.
Budget:
We like to spend $200 per day, but have been spending only $140 per day in BA.
other expenses so far:
Car Trip from NC to MIA $150
Plane MIA to BA 903
Apartment 1 month in BA 1530
Cash and Credit in BA ???
Ship from BA to Santiago 3392
Tips from BA to Santiago 280
Ship from Santiago to PA 2918
Tips from Santiago to PA 320
Cash and credit on Cruise part ???
Car trip from PA to NC 110
Thursday, November 15, 2007
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