What a travel day!

We assembled to leave the hotel at 7:30, to catch a bus to the domestic airport nearby. Our plane was scheduled to leave at ten, so plenty of time. Check in and security went smoothly, and we regrouped around gate 9 near a board that listed gates for all departing flights. Ours was listed but did not have a gate yet, but we didn’t worry.

The domestic airport was people friendly, with many small stores for snacks or meals and all kinds of other things. Lines were short because of the large number of stores. Really nice.

We started noticing something was amiss when the announcements, like plane now boarding at gate number whatever, but there were no people at that gate. And, to our knowledge our plane was not assigned a gate number on the board. But, there were some announcements in Spanish; our fearless leader kept us updated. Plane now at gate five. So we went. Plane at gate nine. Ha! Where we started, so we went. Plane now at gate fourteen. So we went. From 14, we took a bus to the plane, which sat on the tarmac for a long time, eventually getting refueled, before we left, more than two hours later than planned. Sigh.

Most of us were hungry by the time we landed in Bariloche and took a bus to the town itself. So, we went to a gelato place for a snack (dinner was scheduled). Delightful!

Then we took taxis to a local park to climb in a forest for beautiful views of the glacial lake and surrounding mountains. So refreshing after the hassles of the airport. Just what we needed!

We hiked the Miradores trail, which was quite steep. There were many mountain bikers descending on an adjacent trail. We learned about the trees, which were mostly planted here, and took pictures at viewpoints.

Since Bariloche is Marta’s home town, she knows the best places for everything. The dinner we shared was proof of this.

Although the travel time was longer than planned, it still was a good day thanks to our leader and the group being flexible!

Halloween. First thing, the cemetery. Of course!

This cemetery is the final resting place of Eva Perón. But her body actually traveled the world before coming back to her home. That’s a problem for a controversial celebrity.

In our orientation, Marta told us not to wander off, because the cemetery is a bit of a maze. I was confused, because in cemeteries in the U.S., you can see people for long distances. When we arrived, we understood.

Evita secured voting rights for women; every election, women thank her here by placing their voting receipts on her grave. There was an election on October 26.

After the Halloween adventure in the cemetery, we took the bus to a part of a huge river delta where people from Buenos Aires go to see and play in nature. This was a favorite place for Noelia when she was a child.

The Paraná River, originating in Brazil, forms many channels through a large delta before emptying into the Rio de la Plata. A lot of sedimentary islands are places for vacation homes or rentals, event venues, or recreational clubs. The islands are protected from erosion by barriers that are a few meters tall made of steel, concrete, or wood pilings. Rarely, rock or concrete boulders are used.

Noelia swam in the silty water as a child, and perhaps now when she brings her son here. I can’t help but wonder how one gets the silt out of the bathing suits.

This was a beautiful, sunny Friday. On weekends, the area is much more crowded.

We hopped onto the bus again to a delicious restaurant for lunch. Then, the group split to find our own adventures.

After lunch some of us went for a walk in the nature area east of Puerto Madero.

Our hopes for finding wildlife in the reserve were rewarded. One of our friends even saw a porcupine!

Back to the hotel for a good night’s sleep.

This morning we met our local Buenos Aires guide, Noelia, a native of the outskirts of Buenos Aires but now a resident of the city. We took a bus to her favorite places, learning a lot on the way.

We went by bus to Plaza del Mayo, where we talked to a man who has been shining shoes for 25 years, since he moved to Argentina. He has clients who get their shoes shined often, getting to know them over the years. His set up is easy to pack up, because the government has begun to tax entrepreneurs like himself.

We walked around the plaza for a short while, and felt a little sorry for our friends who only had a minute to see the cathedral and other places we explored the previous day.

During the dictatorship, Noelia told us, people were not allowed to gather in large groups. To protest the disappearance of 30,000 people during this dictatorship, a large number of women, who called themselves the Grandmothers, put diapers on their heads like scarves and walked around the plaza in pairs. They would sit on benches in pairs but close enough to talk to the other pairs. Today, this successful protest is celebrated in pictures on the ground, in pairs, around the plaza.

We then drove to La Boca, a wonderfully colorful area attractive to tourists and locals alike. It reminded us a bit of New Orleans, with the bright colors, balconies and stores. Again, we happily wandered on our own, onto the famous street Caminito. On the way, we learned that fútbol, what we call soccer, is very important to Argentinian people.

The shops and houses are so colorful in part because people would use whatever paint was available from the ships that docked here.

Artistic displays abound.

At an upstairs conference room at London City restaurant, we listened intently to a talk about first-hand experiences with disappeared people during the period of 1976-1983, after Perón was deposed by a military dictatorship. The speaker directed a movie called “The 70s and Pico;” Pico was his grandfather. The movie, released in 2016, was directed by Mariano Corbacho. It has been pointed out many times on our visit to Buenos Aires that discussing this period of history is difficult for Argentinians!

That evening, we participated in a tango lesson, learning a lot from the musician and two dancers. The most difficult aspect for many of us was to accept the male as sole leader, no negotiations.

The musician showed us how his instrument worked and explained its history. The dancers demonstrated elegantly, something none of the rest of us were able to do. We learned how the man asked the woman to dance — eye contact followed by a nod, and how the woman answered — either getting up to dance or showing interest in something else.

After dinner, we walked to the women’s part of town, celebrating women’s rights so desperately fought for after and during the dictatorship.

Although most of our tour group arrived at the hotel this morning, we had already left for another day of exploring on our own, mostly in the San Telmo district of Buenos Aires.

What a difference a turn makes! Yesterday, we turned left out of the hotel; today, we went right. We soon noticed the building facades were nicer, and overall people were walking more slowly. We found the tourist part of town!

We then wandered onto Florida street, like a long outdoor pedestrian mall, headed to the beginning of our second walking tour of Buenos Aires. A sure sign of the inflation here were the people yelling or suggesting “cambio”, that they wanted to exchange our US dollars into Argentinian pesos. The exchange rate quoted to us by one of these black market entrepreneurs was 1430, slightly higher than we got the previous day, 1400, at a legitimate Cambio.

We spent a long time exploring a bookstore, one of many in this amazing city.

Another part of the bookstore showed some French influence.

Plaza de Mayo houses the national cathedral, where Cardinal Francisco, later Pope Francis, preached. The famous San Martin is also entombed here.

We were startled to see guards around this alcove. This is the mausoleum for José de San Martin, Argentine general and liberator of Argentina, Chile, and Peru from Spanish rule.

One cathedral, three pipe organs. Also many confessionals, but we didn’t take pictures of them.

On the other end of the plaza is the Rose Mansion, where the president of Argentina works. The president does not live there.

Next, we followed the route of the walking tour for San Telmo.

Paseo de las historieta, an avenue with murals and other street art, often featuring cartoon characters.

We don’t usually go into many shops, but these we couldn’t resist.

We ate lunch outside at Plaza Dorrego, and were entertained by tango dancers.

Our first taste of papa frites (fried potatoes) was excellent, with large pieces not as crispy as in the U.S.

The previous evening, we met Marta, our petite, energetic tour leader who will be with us this entire adventure. Tonight, we met with all our tour friends, listened to the orientation, then went out to dinner as a group at an Italian restaurant.