Last Night in B.A.

Am home now safe and sound ... but ... the last night in BA my handbag was stolen with everything I owned in it including all my credit cards and my passport. I was not as diligent that one night only - all my cards and i.d. and passport had been in the safe in the apartment until our last night as i had it all organized to leave in the morning. We had dinner at our favourite little restaurant downstairs which was almost empty and I took a seat right by the wall. I didn't see two people come in for a few minutes and sit behind me. Apparently the woman appeared to be pregnant (or not?) and when I got up from dinner my handbag was gone. It was also the first time I didn't sit with my bag slung around my neck and resting on my lap during a meal. We lived upstairs, it was the best area in the city and we knew the place well. Not good enough ....

I got all my cards cancelled, and talked to the Canadian Consulate that night. I always keep a photocopy of everything in my purse somewhere else, and if I can give advice about anything, it's this. It made everything so much easier and faster since i had the numbers on all my cards and copies of my photo i.d. My friend Keith made this copy for me last year in Puerta Vallarta - thanks Keith !!! The following morning I had to make a police report and then go to the Canadian Embassy to get a travel document to get me on the plane home since i no longer had my passport or any kind of i.d. at all. The embassy was wonderful, and now I know we can count on our people when abroad. It's a great comfort. They knew I had to fly that day and went through hoops to get that document through Ottawa quickly. And "Ottawa is very busy" as the agent, Beatrice said. Emily looked like she might have a stroke at this comment ......

Honestly folks, this would have been so much worse if I hadn't been with friends. We actually were laughing while waiting for a few hours for the travel document in the waiting room in the embassy. They were helpful and supportive and Emily even attempted a small nervous breakdown on my behalf since I couldn't spare the time ... kidding .... "May they roast in Hell" is Emily's credo. You gotta love that woman. Sally and Denise were great and Sally's skype (she has all the gadgets) saved the day as most of the credit card emergency numbers for Argentina wouldn't work.

Enough about that. None of the cards have been used so they threw the purse away and took the cash, which wasn't insubstantial. May they roast in Hell.

Although it wasn't a great way to end the trip, I had seven weeks of a wonderful time and one night and a day of not so good. Pategonia is the most beautiful place on earth I think, and anyone interested in pristine places of great beauty should try to go. Being on a ship is probably the only way to see it properly and i am so glad to have seen it "coming and going" and also being around Cape Horn not once but twice. How good is that?

I will go through my pictures over the next couple of days and post the best ones.


Thanks everybody for travelling with me through the blog. It's like talking to friends doing this. I have enjoyed it and will do it for my next big trip wherever that is.

love m
xx oo

TANGO !!!!

We went to a tango show last night - I think i am now addicted to watching tango. They say it's "A Vertical Expression of a Horizontal Desire" and now i understand what that really means. These dancers were athletes and their performances were astounding. The tango singers were also unbelievable. One of the male vocalists sounded exactly like the famed Carlos Gardel (I bought the c.d.) The evening venue was dinner and the tango show and our expectations re the food were low, but it was one of the best meals I've had in South America and I've had lots ..... The place was beautiful/decadent and completely appropriately decorated for the 30's. The club held about 500 people, all seated at tables in front of a big stage. The orchestra was directly above the stage where the dancers performed. Beautiful old world grace everywhere you looked. We were picked up from the apartment and delivered on time and given that San Telmo, the tango area, is pretty seedy, we were completely safe. I want to go to another show. We have seen tango on the street here, even near the apartmet, and I'm hooked. I must see it again before we leave.

Emily just went out for a bottled water run and has come home with the obligatory Dulce de Letche cookies too. Bad woman. We seem to have tea and cookies in the late afternoon if we're in residence as dinnertime is so late here. Tonight is Oscar night and there will be goodies involved.

Will be home this week. Slight problem with our flight as AC appears to be rescheduling flights out of Santiago (without any advice to us, of course) and we were to connect there for our flight home. Santiago was still getting aftershocks a week ago so likely not the preferred airport right now. We have to vacate this apartment by noon on Wednesday and I think our hoped for flight may not be leaving until around 10 or 11 p.m. from here, if we can fly direct. We get into Toronto at the crack of dawn the following day. If direct it's around a 10 hour flight but if through Santiago it's maybe 13 hours.

Hope everyone is well - we are having a ball and loving Buenos Aires to bits. I know I will come back here. It's a lot like Paris at a fraction of the price. When I come home am going to sign up for that Rosetta Stone spanish course. Enthusiasm abounds ... right now anyway. Sally and Denise are up at the Recoleta market which has hundreds of artisans selling their wares. Beautiful stuff. I could fill trunks with their products. Everything handmade. Emily and I have both said if we had grandchildren we would have boxes of stuff going home.

must go and do a test pack to see if I have to buy another suitcase. Have gone somewhat crazy on handbags here and they're b i g.

ttfn
maggie
xx oo

love m
xx oo

back from Iguazu Falls

We flew up to Iguazu Falls on the Brazilian border yesterday morning . It's an incredible place and so isolated and beautiful. Not a big commercial thing like Niagara Falls. There is a town, but it's 20k from the actual Falls and the Park, which is really a rainforest. There are hundreds of falls and they are gigantico. We walked from the hotel down a dirt path to a little train that took us to what we thought would be a short walk on a catwalk over the estuaries to the Diablo Falls which I believe is the highest. Well I can tell you .... the walk went on and on and on and on. It was 95 degrees and totally humid and we walked forever on catwalks over the water. There were maybe three little spots to sit for a minute on the way. It was a two mile walk approx. and once I started, not knowing how far the Falls were, I was committed to continue until I got there. Sally and Denise went ahead and Emily stayed with me as we plowed ahead. Once we got to the viewing area in the middle of nowhere, it was simply unbelievable. Like Niagara Falls stretched out to ten times its size and in a backdrop of pristine rainforest. I will post pictures when I get back. We saw millions of butterflies - they were everywhere. Lots of animals in the park but we didn't see monkeys. When we got back to our hotel within the park property we saw Toucans (the parrot-like bird with the enormous beak) and a flock or two of green/blue parrots. The hotel left a card asking to shut the screen doors so the monkeys could not get into the rooms. Another beautiful and unspoiled place. There were eco tours available but we weren't there long enough to go. Denise and Sally also went on a boat trip into the Falls that was apparently just amazing. The walk to get to the boat almost killed them - down down down at the beginning and then the reverse, on uneven slippery stone steps for a very long way. When we got back to our rooms yesterday afternoon after all of this, the showers were going on extra hot, and we were almost in comas until dinner. I should feel worse than I do today in terms of being stiff and sore, but all the walking on the ship surely has helped to give me a bit of muscle in spite of all the dulce de leche consumed here.
We have yet to go to a Tango show and that's on the list. Also going to have a "Gallery Day" here in BA in a day or two. Hard to believe that my time here is almost over as next week I come back home and the vacation is over. I will be happy to be home in many ways, but not so happy to be back in the cold. It's so far away here and after almost seven weeks travelling, the idea of returning is surreal. I also heard today from someone in line at the airport that Santiago is on earthquake alert - i'm guessing more aftershocks. No idea at this point whether our Air Canada flight will be going through Santiago as planned or if it will be rerouted or be a direct flight from here.
We also did a walk about in the Recoleta Cemetary the other day and found the
Duarte family vault where Eva Peron is interred. Such a lovely old place with so much history. We also continue to shop in spite of ourselves, and Eric, if you're reading this, you have another hat. This one is a summer (straw) Tango hat which is shaped somewhat like a Fedora. Eric is one of the kids who walk Oliver.
We are all safe and sound here and loving B.A. We are finding the city easy to get around in and the people to be quite friendly and helpful. We are managing in our fractured Spanish, but I will be taking lessons before my next trip to a Spanish speaking country since more of the world speaks this language than English. The food here is cheap and good and they love Italian everything. More pizza places here than in Toronto and they are wonderful.

love to everyone

maggie
xx oo