Our flight from Iguazu got us back to Buenos Aires in
mid-afternoon, and we made our way back to the Claridge Hotel where we
retrieved our stored luggage and got a new room assignment. As evening approached, we walked down Calle
Florida to the Marriott Hotel where our friends were staying. From there we took a small bus to a
restaurant for dinner and a tango show.
We enjoyed a similar evening three years ago in BA, but this time the
show had a theme; tango throughout the years.
A small band, two singers and six dancers presented musical numbers
representing the tango as it began at the turn of the 20th century,
the extremely popular tango of the 1920’s, the modernization of the dance in the
1950’s, and the tango as it is performed today.
It was a most entertaining and informative evening, and the food was
also excellent.
The following day was our departure day from BA, but our
flight back to the US was not until 10:30 PM.
So, we decided on some more sightseeing during the day. After breakfast, we finished packing and
checked out of our room; the front desk again storing our luggage until it was
time to depart for the airport. Then we
walked the Calle Florida in the opposite direction from the Marriott. We planned to meet our friends for lunch at a café
that has been in operation since 1858. It
was a several block walk, and while on that walk we had a very disturbing occurrence. We had stopped on a street corner to check
our location on a map, when Debbie felt someone touching her shoulder. At first she thought it was Tom, but suddenly
fingernails scraped the back of her neck, and her gold necklaces were
jerked. She screamed louder than I’ve
ever heard and we turned just in time to see a man running down the
street. Fortunately, she still had both
of her necklaces, although the clasp on one was broken, and the chain was
stretched out of shape. After making
sure she was okay, we continued to our destination, looking furtively around us
as we walked.
 |
| National Cathedral |
We arrived at Café Tortoni ahead of our friends, so we got a
table and ordered a coffee to help calm us down. Soon our friends arrived and we had a nice
lunch. After finishing lunch, the six of
us walked a few blocks to the National Cathedral and Presidential Palace, then
back to Calle Florida toward our hotel.
Once there, we all sat in the bar and had a beer. Soon it was time to leave for the airport for
our long flight home.
In most ways, airport security in other countries is not as
strict as in the US, but on flights ending in the US, security is sometimes
even more strict than here at home. We
checked our luggage with no problem and made it through passport control and the
carry-on and body scanners and proceeded to the gate area. Once there, our carry-on luggage was opened
and visually scanned by airline employees.
If we left the gate area, to use a restroom or get a bottle of water, we
had to be rescanned to get back in the gate area, and the water was
confiscated. HUH? At 10:30 PM we took off for Houston, arriving at
about 6:30 AM. We had to pass through
Immigration, retrieve our luggage, pass through customs, recheck our luggage
and make our way to the departure gate for SFO.
We only had an hour and 20 minutes for all that; even with a golf cart ride to our gate,
we were among the last passengers to board the plane. We took off on time and touched down shortly
after 9:30 AM. Including time zone
changes, our total time from departure in BA to arrival in San Francisco was
about 16 hours. We caught the Airport
Express bus about 30 minutes later and got back to Santa Rosa about 12:15 PM,
where we were met by our wonderful neighbor, Patty, who took us home. Although tired, we made it through the rest
of the day and stayed up until 9 PM when we fell into our own bed for the
night.
It was a wonderful trip in every way. For us, the highlight was our trip to Iguazu,
followed closely by Carnaval in Rio. We
have no definite travel plans for the future yet, but I’m sure that we’ll find
some more travel to share with you.
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