Ahhhhh.. I’m home.. nothing interesting to report and that’s just SO good for me.. I’ve been out of town for nearly 3 weeks.. .,and had so many adventures…. a day with nothing but flying..and seeing my family is absolute heaven….
My family .. my doggies….. my house… my desk…. I don’t need anythign else..
Friends from afar showing up tonight.. enjoying the brief moment of ‘nothing going on’…
hope its the same for all of you
nite all, nite sam
-me
Greetings from Ezeiza airport in Buenos Aires. Gabe and I are waiting on our Red eye flight back to the US.. We had a great last day down here.. Last night Gabe and I took the Subte out to Old Polermo and met up with our freind Hannah B. We all went out to a really cool Peruvian restaurant.. It was so great !!
Aftwerards we wnt back to Hannahs ot meet her roomies and her house mom.. Thay are all great.. and so was the place !
Today Gabe and I went for a run .. then we took a bus out to the colorful area of Boca.. It’s near Boca stadium.. we even saw Diego Meradonna’s sar in the pavement outside the statdium..
We then walked aroudn the cool old town of Boca
Ooops.. we’re boarding .. so I need to go. but before I do.. we had the most amazing small world conicidence while in oca.. We were walkign aroudn a small set of stores when someone called my name. it was my freind Fernando from Millbrook New York.. Fenernando and I work together.. and have been tlakign about organizing a trip down to South America.. Th efact that we were both here.. in BA.. In that same store is a total one in a billion cooincidence.. he didn’t know I was here.. I didn’t know he was here..
His daughter even lives in Winooski and goes to UVM. !.. We spent a nice hour getting to now Fernando’s family … He and his wife Diane met while she was in the peace corp and he was living in Columbia ! We had a beer and some snacks.. and got to watch with soem Tango folks.. Gabe, Fenrnando and Fernando’s daughter even got to pose with them !
Ooops.. boarding now.. gotta run.. Here’s gabe prepping for a 9 hour plane flight.. UGH…
it’s bbeen such a great trip .. It’s been so much fun hanging out with Gabe..
OK.. more tomorrow
note all, nite sam !
-me
Woke today to better weather.. We packed up and left our nice hotel in Iguazu.. My camera has not really survived the trip.. the viewfinder is out.. and the pictures are still fuzzy.. or maybe it’s gabe who’s fuzzy.. We made our sleepy way to the airport only to find a nearly 2 hour delay on our flight *Aerolineas strikes again !)
We finally got on our flight and had an uneventful flight back to BA>
First oreder of bysiness in the hotel was to air out our wet and dirty laundry.. yesterdays deluge has our clothes all damp and smelly..
We hung them in the window to dry.. and then noticed you could see them from the street.. !
Gabe took me on a nice tour of his old haynts.. we walked to teh subway (Subte.. prounounced soup-day)
and headed down to gabes old school and favorite deli for a quick lunch
Nice…
Here’s Gabe’s school
And across the street the ‘American Deli’.. nothing American about it.. great empanadas though !!
From there we took a long walk back on the Florida pedestrian street.. the other night it was deserted. but during the day it was packed !
Then we stopped at gabes favorite ice cream shop.. dulce do leche and chocolate.. yum !!
We were eating there when Diane texted me to tell me about the earthquake on the east coast.. Wow !..
Did anyone see any damage ? Sounds like it was a big one !
On the way home we wandered into a large upscale shopping mall.. we climbed to the top story to find a set of art galleries named for one of my favorite writes jroge luis borges.. .who’s from BA. He was one of the worlds great authors of metaphysical mysteries and psychologically dark and twisting short stories.. (The Aleph, The Zahir. and my favoriteTlön, Uqbar, Orbis Tertius.. a story abotu folks writing a complete encyclopedia of a made of place.. just to mess with people..
Gabe and I then came back to the hotel and both fell asleep for a couple of hours.. we’re both pretty road weary.. We’re meeting hannah B ronight for dinner at 10L30.. so we better start waking uop.
TOmorrow we head home.. it’ sbeen fun !
nite everyone.. note sam
-me
I apologize for having to resort to a slideshow.. but it would be very hard to describe the day that Gabe and I just had..
I woke about 7 to find that it was pouring with rain.. not just rain.. but cold rain.. it was about 8 degrees C.. and absolutely freezing, dreary, nasty.. and dreary.. the best kind of conditions for seeing the worlds most beautiful waterfalls.
Gabe and I dressed in our warmest clothes.. ate breakfast and headed out into the mess.. We ate a good breakfast at the hotel and then caught a $2 buss to the falls.. it was about an hour ride. by the time we got there it was just pouring.. we decided since we were already soaked, we’d do the boat adventure first..
It involved a 6 km ride thought the jungle on a 4×4 .. then a ride up to the falls in a zodiac boat. it’s hard to describe here the combination of discomfort and fun that this entailed.. it was like having a great time while immersed in ice water… no .. make that ice cold chocolate pudding.. it was nasty and great.. we took the boat up to .. and eventually into.. the falls.. it was amazing and gross and miserable and fun. unlike anything I’ve ever done.. I’d never do it again.. though I’d do it in a heartbeat tomorrow.. (did you get that ? ) ..
we spent the entire day there.. until our toes were like prunes.. (and they sill are.. )
a funny thing happened after though.. after we ate.. Then got back to town around 4.. I had this crazy idea that we should go to Paraguay to put a Samstone .. I convinced gabe that this was our destiny.. .. we were soaking wet and cold.. but around 5 we got on a crappy bus to Paraguay. what we didn’t realize is that it went through Brazil .. neither of us had visas for this crossing.. but by the time we realized where we were going.. it was too late.. . By the time I realized that we were in Brazil illegally , it was too late to do anything…. We kept our heads down.. and managed ot slip thought customs and immigration.. let’s just say that security in this part of the world is not that stringent.. … We slipped through Foz do Igauazo Brazil without getting picked up.. then we crossed into Paraguay.. We got to Ciudad all a Est in Paraguay around 5.. it was kind of a scary place.. absolutely no English.. and know one knew when (or if) there was a bus back to Argentina.Gabe and I spent a scary hour trying to figure out if any buses headed back t Argentina.. Luckily one did around 6Pm .. again.. we slipped thorough customs by looking helpless.. and did not end up in jail in Brazil.. (I have a visa.. Gabe does not) .. we were SO glad to arrive back on Argentine soil that we almost kissed the ground !.. Then we ate a huge pizza and hike back to our hotel thorough the cold rain.. I’ve never been so glad to get to my tiny hotel room !
Ok.. here are the pics.. note that my camera preview screen stopped working midway through the day.. so the pictures are wierder than usual !..
OK. What an adventure ! More tomorrow !>
note all, nite sam !
-me