Day 101. Brooklyn

My plane landed early....at 5:30am before customs even opened...we had to sit on the plane to wait for them to open. By the way, my plane took off at 8:15pm last night, and at 10:00pm, they closed the airport again and have said it will remain closed for at least 30 hours. (more eruptions of the volcano in Chile). That's what I would call "threading the needle."

Wow, it's weird being home!

So, back to reality, whatever that means for me now. At the advice of a good friend, instead of immediately trying to reevaluate my future, I think I will take another week or so to just be a visitor in my own hood. Food festivals, theater, museum exhibits, the High Line (the 2nd phase just opened this week)...and SLOWLY ease back into daily life. Savor the memories of an absolute phenomenal life experience, and work slowly on my re-entry.

I'll let you all know when I've figured out what direction my future will follow! The options are endless!

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Location:W 15th St,,United States

Day 100. RTW trip coming to an end...

I woke up on Day 100 of my trip to learn that the same flight on Saturday night to NY just took off at 5:00am this morning. So a two day delay was a good choice!

It was another beautiful, sunny day in BsAs. I had been wanting to try the Cafe Ramblas which was right on the corner, so since it was open, I headed there for another leisurely breakfast.

Then I headed back to the apartment to pack up and enjoy the apartment for this last day of my trip...a great place to reflect...


....especially on one of the two outdoor terraces...


Before leaving, I thought one more "chocolate Negro" ice cream from Volta up the street. When I got there it looked like something was going on in the plaza, so I walked over there, and some tango dancing was going on...perfect ending to my stay here.

Jason, "roadrunner" thanks you for letting him join me on my trip...


Yes, that's me in the mirror! Did you all recognize me without my green pullover? Are you all tired of that green shirt...I sure am! Katherine compared it to the travelocity gnome....the green Globedotter popping up in various places around the world. So she wouldn't let me throw it away!

Anyway, the plane took off on time....last flight, on what has been a phenomenal trip!!

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Day 99. Extra day in Buenos Aires. (Saturday)

I woke up this morning to the news that my plane from last night still hadn't left the ground....And it was 60 degrees and sunny in Buenos Aires...(and wasn't it raining in NY? :-).

I headed up to the La Biela Cafe for a leisurely breakfast. Then took a swing around the Saturday market at the plaza. Then I walked up to Plaza San Martin and caught the subway over to the San Telmo neighborhood where I walked around the cobblestoned streets, and grabbed a late lunch...before walking to the Plaza de Mayo to see if I could find the Parisian Cafe Tortoni....where I got my favorite, chocolate and churros! By 7:00pm, I was all "walked out" and so popped back on the subway and headed back to the apartment. What a great day on an unusually sunny, winter day in BsAs!

(I checked, and last night's plane finally took off at 3:30 this afternoon).

Day 98...not time to go home yet! (Friday)

As I previously reported, I moved my flight from tonight to Sunday night to avoid the chaos at the airport due to the closure yesterday, and continued cancellations today. My Round The World ticket allows changes, and the apartment we're in was still available for the weekend, so it didn't make sense to get into the fray. Katherine headed on to the airport for her Delta flight to Atlanta, which, surprisingly, took off on time.

So instead of heading to the airport, I headed to the Teatro Colon, which was staging a piece by Puccini which included three one act operas. I was able to get a seat in Row 5. It was long (3-1/2 hours), and mostly "dark and brooding" (even the costumes were all black, except for one little boy in white in the last act...reminded me of the little girl in red in the movie, "Schindler's List."), but I still enjoyed the experience, and the conductor/orchestra did extreme justice to the Puccini music. I wasn't, however, impressed by the acoustics, which they are so proud of? Maybe I was sitting too close? :-) When people were on the back of the stage, or when they turned sideways, I felt their voices were quite faint. Of all of the places where I went for music or opera, the best acoustics were at the theater that I went to in Budapest for the jazz concert. Royal Albert Hall also had awesome acoustics (but then, that was Eric Clapton!).

I got back to the apartment to find out that my plane still hadn't left! So, right choice to postpone....I would have been in the airport all night!

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Day 97. Tango Show. (Thursday).

On Thursday, I opted for a day of rest. Katherine still wanted to see some sights (and do some more shopping :-). One of the highlights of her excursion was doing the backstage tour of the Teatro Colon. It has just reopened after a major renovation....and she was impressed. They claim it has some of the best acoustics.





A second highlight for her was going to the Plaza de Mayo to see the Thursday march of "the Madres". This ritualistic march started out as a quiet, peaceful demonstration by the mothers whose children disappeared during the military dictatorship in place between 1976 and 1983. They wear white head scarves to symbolize the blankets of their children...These scarves are painted on the ground in their honor around the plaza where they march...


Katherine saw this group who appeared to symbolize the original marchers...


However, as we have learned while here, the "madres" has turned into a political machine, supporting specific political candidates and receiving contributions from various politically-motivated sources. They now view their organization as a bigger-picture human rights organization, and have a lot of political clout. Katherine's guess was that this group represents this new direction...


It is also known as a peaceful demonstration, but this week, the media was out in force...


Our guess was that this was related to the breaking news this week that one of the administrators of the organization has allegedly been pilfering funds for "his" own use.

Politics seems very interesting in Argentina, and there was lots of activity while we were here, as there is a presidential election this year. Lots of candidates. And much speculation about whether or not the current president will run again, or if her husband, who was the president before her, will run.

So enough about that...may be hard to follow in the US, as it has become evident while here that the US doesn't seem to cover what's going on down here very well.

For our last night in Buenos Aires (or Katherine's last night anyway :-), we opted to go to one of the tango shows. They have gotten mixed reviews from folks as being too tacky, too commercialized, not very good food, etc. But we thoroughly enjoyed ourselves. We went to the Piazola (sp?) show (he is a famous tango composer whom Katherine knew about). First there was a tango lesson included. It was not quite the same as our private lesson with Cherie and Ruben, but we got to try out our moves that we had learned, so it was fun (Cherie, I still can't get the hang of moving my feet so far backwards!). Then dinner, then the show. They have singers in between the dancing, and Katherine and I would agree with the critics that we could have done without that. They also did a couple of folk dance numbers which we thoroughly enjoyed. Then they invited audience members to come on stage and dance with the dancers, which we of course did, which was a fun cap-off to our tango evening!

Location:Ayacucho,Buenos Aires,Argentina

Day 96. Back to BsAs (Wednesday)

We had thought we would have to wait until Thursday to fly back to Buenos Aires. We were also checking the option of taking the bus. There is an executive overnight bus that has beds (like the first class section of the airplane), and they feed you and serve wine from Mendoza. Several people had told us about it and had indicated it was quite a comfortable option, and many of the portenos (Argentinians) utilize this method of travel to Mendoza. I was game to give it a try (although I'm not sure Katherine was too excited about that option, but was also willing to give it a try, if need be, especially since they served Malbec!). But when we called the airlines last night, they indicated that flights would resume on Wednesday morning, so we boogied out of there at 9:30am. We were a little nervous about the ash and whether or not it had really passed, so were glad when we landed at home base, Buenos Aires. We were lucky to get out on Wednesday (and maybe our concern about the ash was justified), when we learned that both the domestic and international airports in BsAs were then closed on Thursday. So, back, safe and sound.

Just in time for dinner with Tina's (and now our) friends, Bob and Miguel. We had drinks at their adorable, well located apartment in Palermo Viejo, and then headed out for a parilla restaurant...which is all about every day Argentinian food...grilled meats and grilled side dishes. They really love their steak here! For the three of us (Katherine had chicken), we ordered what would be a platter for two people which had four steaks...two lomo (or filets) and two rib eyes. The grilled cheese was great (they just put a hunk of cheese on the grill and grill it--you have to eat it right away, while it's hot). It was more than enough for the three of us, with some to spare.

What a fun evening!

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Location:Ayacucho,Buenos Aires,Argentina

Day 95. Mendoza. (Tuesday)

On our second day in Mendoza, Katherine headed out for her dream of horseback riding in the Andes. The following is provided by Katherine, as a contributing author :-).

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With mountains on all sides, and the vividly blue lake formed by the Potrerillos Dam (which is the source of water for Mendoza and all those grapes!) in view, I enjoyed one of the thrills of my life – horseback riding in the Andes!





Lucia and Juan...






own an estancia (a ranch, including a log house!) at 2000 meters elevation, in Los Carditos, Potrerillos, in the heart of the Cordillera mountain range, an hour from Mendoza.

















Their 100 horses run free in the foothills, a two-hour trail ride (how distance is measured!) from the estancia. Juan rides there daily with their four border collies and brings back ten or so horses for their weekly rides, using his handmade braided leather lassos. Lucia rode with me (and Marlo, my gentle horse)...





and provided interesting insights into mountain life, including commuting daily with their three children to school in Mendoza.

Judith, from the tour company, also joined me....





Next time, I hope to be able to talk Dottie into joining me!
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What a great adventure for Katherine! As most of you know, I'll try just about anything (except sky diving is not on my bucket list....yet), but I tried horseback riding in Costa Rica and had a bad experience with a feisty horse, so its tough for me to "get back in the saddle." (Harriet (my cousin), as I recall I had another bad experience on a horse at a very early age at your farm in Kentucky). So, as they say, been there, done that :-).

I had chosen to do a spa day instead, however, this was the day that the volcanic ash situation worsened, and I spent the day changing our flights and moving us out of the horrible Hyatt Hotel, and into the very friendly and helpful Villagio Boutique Hotel, which was right around the corner.

When Katherine returned from "the Andes" we went to have lunch at Azafran, the restaurant we had gone to on our first night, which was wonderful (and managed by a delightful young lady from Dallas)...so that Katherine could fill me in on her adventure, as well as her interesting discussion on her ride up and back with her guide, Judith, about life and politics in Argentina.

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