Back to Lincoln, Nebraska!

Happy to be home, even if the skies are gray. Arrived home on January 18, 2017.

Buenos Aires Walking Tour! Chao!

View from Four Season's Hotel room

Creative name for a drug store! 

We walked all over the city....2.5 hours!

We thought our friend, Dennis Erickson, would get a charge out of these delivery bikes!

Building with much loved, Eva Peron sketched on it.

Florida Street! Hot humid and many people proposing to exchange your $$.
CAMBIO, CAMBIO!

Rojo Tango Show

Dinner and tango show. Had to use an image from the net as they did not allow pictures. We sat very near the stage! Entertaining!

Buenos Aires City Tour

Guards within the Metropolitan Cathedral, the main catholic church in the city. The guards stand in front of the mausoleum of General San Martin. He was the successful general to help gain independence from the Spanish Empire. Many areas around Argentina are named after him.

Police prepare for a protest in front of the Pink House, office of the President of Argentina.

This protest will be about abortion, which is illegal in Argentina. Consequently, our guide said, each day women die from abortion because they cannot pay to get quality surgery. She also said the Argentine people are not happy with the pope and don't think he has done enough for the common people. 92% of the people are Catholic with less than 20% practicing.

La Boca, welcomes us with these characters...Soccer player, Diego Maradona, Eva Paron and a Tango Dancer!

Brightly painted walls and buildings in the La Boca area where they sell handicrafts. Our guide suggested climbing the steps for a better picture. Our legs are still killing us from hiking in Bariloche so Mike lets me STEP UP!

Parrilla grill.

La Recoleta Cemetery. 12 Hectors (or 29 Acres)
There are 4,000 private extravagant mausoleums. Families need to pay taxes on them every year. Sometimes they are sold. Most recently one was sold for $150,000 US dollars.

Mausoleum of Eva Peron - Evita

This beautiful statue is of a young woman from Italy who died on her honeymoon at the age of 24.  She died in an avalanche and her dog happened to die on the same day at her home so her parents gave them both a resting place here.

This  golden retriever followed his owner through the streets of Buenos Aires. No leash, no spoken words,  the dog just quietly followed. When she came to a cross walk, she just put out her hand for the dog to stop and it did! They both waited at the cross walk and when she started walking, so did the dog. 

Bienvenido Buenos Aires!

Really?

Met Diego, one of Mike's embassy drivers back in the day and his family, Luna and Homer. Cute kids!

Adios, Llao Llao and Bariloche!

II Gabbiano for dinner on Saturday night. Chef's special, grilled octopus. Who do you think ate this?

.....and this?

Breakfast here every morning. The resort reminds us of Yellowstone, Yosemite and Lake Tahoe.

View from our room, majestic Mount Tronador.

Mike and I read the Lincoln Journal Star online every morning and are grateful we have been missing minus zero windchill, SNOW and ICE!

Puerto Blest & Los Cantaros Waterfall

 Lake Frias, near Chile has emerald green water, caused by tiny pieces of pulverized rock coming from the glacier and Mount Tronador. Mike was not that impressed with the color. He said he could really show them some green water in a NE pond!

Nice to have hiking boots and not just tennis shoes!

Los Cantaros Waterfall

We hiked from Puerto Blest to Lago Frias and back. Then hiked Parques Nationals and Cascada Los Cantaaros. We logged over 22,525 steps..12.3 miles!!

Lamb...It's What's for DINNER!

 We ate at a restaurant called El Patacon. Mike knew he was going to order lamb after seeing it grilled here! Our reservation was at 9:00pm - the earliest we could make it. Most restaurants do not open until 9:00 PM.

 This family came in around 11:00PM. They were fun to talk to. The boys are 5 & 3. Check out their 2 iPads, burger, fries & Pepsi. It is summer for them, and in their culture, they take siestas and then stay up late!!

Nahuel Huapi Park

We took a boat to a national park. Lots of birds to feed. 

We paid $20 extra to sit in the VIP section...top of the boat. It was worth every penny. Breakfast sandwich, coffee, sandwiches for lunch, dessert, wine, beer & soft drinks. We did feel as though we were in a zoo. There were only 5 of us in this section and the capacity was 45!

Oh the views! The white cap mountain is a volcano.

This was our English speaking guide's son, Augustine.  He fell asleep and I helped hold him for a bit. He is Claire's age.

Real Argentinians travel with their YERBA MATE case. It contains a gourd, mate leaves, straw and a thermos of hot water. It is a social drink and is shared by everyone in your group. We learned that you only say GRACIAS when you are on your last sip. Otherwise the cup or gourd continues around to all in your social group.

Llao Llao Resort in Bariloche

Mike will try to copy this dish...curry, lamb & potatoes

Really easy to get lost here. The hotel was built in the 40's. It reminds me of Yellowstone.

The lounge and tea room area. Mike got a drink here last night and ran into a glass table he didn't see. He did a hop, skip and a jump and saved himself & the drink!

Lemon Tart with fruit!