Happy New Year!
We started our 6 week South America trip in Argentina with a week's visit with my children, who I flew in from New Zealand as a 70th birthday present to myself.
We arrived in Buenos Aires on December 26th on an overnight flight from JFK Airport. Rachel and Daniel had arrived a couple of days earlier from Auckland, New Zealand. Buenos Aires itself has over 20 million people in the metropolitan area; Palermo, where our hotel was located, is a quieter area, a reasonable Uber fare from wherever we wanted to see.
We enjoyed hanging out in the neighborhood, with its plethora of cafes, vintage clothing stores, bakeries, and gelato shops. We did some touring; our favorite excursions were to the Ricoleta Cemetery and the botanical gardens. Dan brought more cameras than I did (!), though they were all film cameras, one medium format. Rachel also loves photography, so we were happy as clams wandering around in the mornings before the light got too harsh.
We also managed to take in a tango show and a ballet at the Teatro Colon, which is considered to be one of the 10 best opera houses in the world. The ballet we saw, La Bayadera, was less than thrilling, but the surroundings were quite grand. In fact there are a number of grand old buildings in Buenos Aires, including one of the largest bookstores in the world.
We left out hotel at 3 am and flew north on December 31st to see Iguazu Falls, reported to be the largest waterfall system in the world. Ashley and I opted to take a boat tour that went to the base of the falls, drenching us in the mid-90s sunshine. Rachel and Daniel opted to take the path that runs along the ridge overlooking the falls, and it was fun to compare the perspectives afterwards.
That night we went to an Argentinian Experience New Year's Eve dinner, made our own empanadas, learned about the local food traditions and almost ate ourselves silly in advance of midnight.
We spent New Year's Day recovering by the pool in the morning but retreating indoors when the temperature went over 95 degrees.
That night we flew back to Buenos Aires, while the kids will fly to Salta, Argentina the next morning for some hiking and touring, before returning to their homes in New Zealand.
Our next stop is Lima, where we join a Natural Habitat tour for 7 nights on the Amazon River on a small riverboat with 14 staterooms and 3 naturalists. We will join friends we made during our trip down the Nile at the beginning of 2024.
More to come! Hope you are enjoying the beginning of your New Year!
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