Buenos Aires, Part 3

One of our favorite nights in Buenos Aires was the night we went to see a tango show. The show was quite a bit more impressive than the street tango we saw. The show included the dancing, obviously, but also singing, drums, "toca la guitarra" and crazy clacking ropes. I didn't get the best dancing on video, but this will give you a taste.



Also, this guy was amazing! The video doesn't do him justice.



We also made a visit to the zoo...



...where babies drink Coke out of bottles and you can get so close to the animals that these signs are necessary.


La Recoleta Cemetery was creepy and awesome. Eva Perón is buried there, and if we learned one thing about Argentinians, it's that they love Evita.









A giant flower sculpture that allegedly opens and closes. We didn't see it move, so we took matters into our own hands.

Closed...



And peeling away...



And open...I was lucky, I was the stamen.


And last but not least, the beautiful Japanese gardens. It looks like they've had too much wine and peanuts.


And those are the highlights, people. Normal blogging can now resume.

Oh, and P.S.: One of my favorite things about coming back to the United States, besides being able to use a debit card everywhere and seeing little Marti, was hearing "Welcome Back" from the passport control official.

Buenos Aires, Part 2

So after a warm welcome to BA, we jumped on a bus for a record-breaking 20-hour trip up to Iguazu Falls. We took off in the afternoon for an arrival the next morning at about 9:30 a.m. The seasoned travelers had assured Alan and me that these buses were first class all the way, and they didn't disappoint. While the bathroom could have been a little cleaner, two meals were served, movies were shown, pillows and blankets were available, and the seats almost fully reclined. After a Dramamine, I slept like a baby.

So did the rest of our group.


Alan and I checking out the map of the falls.

The falls are amazing. I can't even describe them, nor should I really try. I'll let you see all of the pictures and videos for yourself.

The falls remind me of the Grand Canyon in that every 10 feet you get a completely different view of the falls.




From here, you could get so close you'd get hit by the mist.



You then take a short boat ride to get over to an island where you get a different view of the falls. Buckle up!


A short train ride and a mile walk get you to Garganta del Diablo, or the Devil's Throat. The walk there...



And the payoff:



Worth 40 hours on a bus, don't ya think?

And the celebratory jump:
Then after our tasty al fresco dinner, we got back on the bus for our return trip. Covert wine ops:


Well done, Adam.

More videos available on YouTube if you didn't get your fill.

Buenos Aires, Part 1

Now that I've sufficiently recovered from vacation—and feel like I'm slacking because Joel has begun posting about his jaunt through South America—I'm ready to get going with trip posts. A little background: After a few margaritas one lonely evening, Alan and I decided that we should go visit Joel, his longtime best bud and what I call his "man-wife." Since Joel has been teaching English in Colombia for several years now, we decided we should pull out the passports and make a visit. With school out for the summer, he was heading out of Colombia and onto saltier Bolivian pastures and was going to be traveling the continent with a couple of friends, so we decided to meet him in Buenos Aires. When we arrived, we joined up with him, Scott (also an old KC friend of Alan's), Scott's new fiancee, Meghan, and Adam, whom we also knew from KU. Turned out to be a great group to travel with, especially great because three of them spoke Spanish. How do you say "very helpful" in Español?

Because we knew we'd be in a group, we didn't plan too much before the trip. But to make good use of our layover in Dallas, Alan pulled out the BA guidebook.

We also called our bank and credit card company from the airport, which turned out to do no good whatsoever, as BANK OF AMERICA shut off our debit account anyway. I'm all for security, except for when you tell them you're going out of the country and they ignore you.

After our 10-hour flight, we arrived in Buenos Aires at 8 a.m., hoping to be met at the airport, but fully expecting to make our way to the hostel on our own. But lo and behold, through the crowd, right in the nick of time, came Joel, our knight in Spanish-speaking armor, and Scott, who had nearly made them both late (allegedly). We headed straight to the hostel that they had gotten the previous day, where we napped, showered and prepared to explore BA. We then hoofed it around the city on our way to buy bus tickets for the next day, and saw the La Casa Rosa, Argentina's White House. But pink.

The gang in front of the Pink House; Joel is the one napping.


One word I learned prior to the trip was "lomo," which is basically a delicious cut of beef. We went out for a great dinner that night, guzzled wine, and tried about 50 different cuts of beef, including sweetbread, before hitting the town. After three bottles of whiskey, one courtesy of an Einstein lookalike, here's the fun that was being had:

Needless to say, Argentina gave us a warm welcome. Next stop, Iguazu Falls. I hope you like pictures of waterfalls.