IGUAZU FALLS - 1ST NIGHT

We had an interesting flight from Buenos Aires.  Our original seats were next to no window at all.  I saw a youngish guy jump to the bulkhead seat.  No one said anything to him so Charlie and I did the same.  Once we made our move 1) no one said anything to us either 2) a number of other people played musical seats and 3) I ended up sitting next to a sophomore in a Argentinian engineering program who was happy to practice his English.  He was from Bogota, Colombia and this was the first time he'd seen his mom and dad in 3 years.

We got to the hotel late afternoon and it began to pour rain.  Unlike last time when there had been a drought and the river was down by 1/3 - this time it's 3 times higher than usual.  Our room faces the falls and even in a downpour it's a spectacular view.  Nifty yellow chested birds with black caps and white headbands around.  Smallish black fuzzy monkeys as well.  We look forward to tomorrow.  Photos to come!

THURSDAY, JULY 8 - A DAY ON OUR OWN - MOSTLY

We didn't have anything special set up for today.  We decided to try the evening of Argentinian tastes - food and wine.  Obviously beef is on the menu, as is Malbec.  What I'm most excited about is that they are supposed to show us how to make empanadas.  Since that had been our lunch fare for two straight days, it'd be fun to know how to make them.

We had a leisurely morning.  About 10 we decided to wander over to Tortoni's Cafe.  We googled it and found a more or less direct route from the hotel.  Our first main attraction was the Argentinian state house.  It's on one end of Avenida de Mayo (the Casa Rosada is on the other end).

Here am I in front of the capital.

As we walked down Avenida de Mayo, we hit the intersection with 9 de Julio (the huge street).  To our amazement we were closer to the Evita art than we had been in days.  We decided to get to the other side of the art work.  Here we are on the side we keep seeing -

Supposedly, Evita has a microphone and a frown.  She's facing the wealthy side of the city.  Hence why we keep spotting this end of the art work.

At long last, the other side of the building!!  I thought we'd never get here on foot.  She's got a smile for the poor - as the story goes.

We trekked back to Avenida de Mayo and on to Tortoni's just in time for lunch.  Charlie had a mini-Argentinian pizza and I had a great turkey sandwich.  The mustard's good here too!

Charlie at lunch.

I snuck a picture in of our waiter - black jacket, apron, and all.

We walked back to the hotel - and here we are.  We really feel like we know a few blocks south of the Recoleta neighborhood.  Tonight our food tasting/dinner is in the Palermo Hollywood section of town. Sounds like Italian cinema.

Tomorrow on to Iguazu Falls.

FULL DAY IN BUENOS AIRES - WITH A TOUR TOO!

Yesterday, Charlie and I walked around.  Last night we went to El Ferver for dinner.  We had a huge steak and a Malbec wine - very Argentinian.  Tonight I need less food.  I have a few photos today from yesterday's walk.

Charlie standing on a corner not too far from our hotel on yesterday's walk

Our goal yesterday was the Opera Colon (A famous opera house here).  Unfortunately the English tour wasn't until 2 and we were jet lagged.  Along the way we passed one of the many posters for the upcoming primary election next Sunday.  

We spotted this guy.  With a split last name one of which is Prat (so much for the west and east coasts of the US) and Gay (so much for the South), he'd have a tough time in the States.  Nice looking, though

We ended up on Avenida 9 Julio (9th of July Avenue). The obelisk in the distance is a commemorative stele for the independence of Argentina.

Our hotel is very close to a local cemetery - La Recoleta.  Wealthy families build mausoleums for loved ones, and are responsible for the upkeep.  The result is an interesting, if a bit odd, place with loads of little "houses" for the dead.

Some of the "streets" are wide, some narrow.  Not hard to get lost, but complicated all the same.

Evita is buried in this tomb  - her birthday wasn't too long ago, hence the flowers.

On top of many of the tombs are statuary.  After seeing the one below (and many others like it)  all I could think of was the Dr. Who episode DON'T BLINK!

Jessica picked us up at 9 AM this morning.  We have been to Buenos Aires before, and we had taken the walk yesterday, but Jessica filled us in on loads of Argentinian history, anecdotes, and local color.  She is a wonderful guide.

We began near a memorial to San Martin the liberator of Argentina (as well as Bolivia and Peru) against Spain.  Charlie and I are standing near the memorial below.

Our next stop was the Plaza Mayo - pronounced Mah Joe around here.  Argentina was liberated in May.  It's the site of the Argentinian equivalent of the "white house" - here pink house - Casa Rosada.

Evita gave a speech from the balcony on the left.

Facing the opposite direction on the Plaza is a large area that was called Marching Mothers.  When the military junta deposed Peron, thousands of people were arrested and killed.  The mothers, braver than most, tried to demonstrate to find out what happened to their children.  Since demonstrations were illegal, they moved in a circle.  Pregnant women who were arrested, gave birth to children.  The children were given to "right thinking" people to raise, and the mothers were killed.  The patterns on the ground below were the abuelas (grandmothers) scarves who tried to find out about their missing grandchildren. 

Below is a view from the plaza opposite the casa rosada.  The white building is one of the few colonial buildings left from the Spanish.

We then went to the Tortoni Cafe.  It's the oldest in the city and a great place.  We're hoping to get some coffee here tomorrow.

Interior of the Tortoni Cafe.

The next stop on our tour was the La Boca section of the city.  It was originally the home of Italian dock workers, but has become an arty, touristy, seedy section of the city.  Lots of color, though, fun "creations", and interesting tin-wood-whatever housing construction.  Here are a few photos of La Boca - with us and without.

Charlie is standing next to a "creation" that is supposed to be Boca's best soccer player.  Apparently, soccer mad Argentinians root for Boca.

We drove around Puerto Madero, once a seedy dock district, now very upscale.  We then drove around several embassies which tend to be located in the various sections of the Palermo district.  Lovely large parks full of dog walkers and joggers.  We came back to the hotel, and went out for lunch.  For the last couple of days we've have mixed empanadas which we shared.  They really make a nice lunch.  

When we got back to the hotel we decided to walk back to Avenida 9 Julio for a closer photo of the Evita art on one of the buildings.  Trying to get to it on foot reminded me of Soviet or Beijing walks - or our exhausting trek up the San Gregornio pass - it doesn't look that far away but.....

We did get this much of it.  The other side has her smiling.  We never made it to the other side. 

Out for another, but smaller, dinner tonight in a little while.  It's only 7:30 here, but dinner doesn't really get going until 8 - or later.  Hasta la manana - 

ARGENTINA ON A TUESDAY

All our flights were really easy.  But getting here is a bit of a slog.  Two 6 1/2 hour flights.  We left our house around 6:30  - on a plane to Panama City at 11:36.  The time zones began to play havoc with the rest.  We landed here at 6:30 local time ...  Seems longer than that.  We got to our hotel LOI in Recoleta.  It's a lovely neighborhood the highlight of which is a cemetery.  Sounds creepy - a bit Buffy-like - but it's not.  We walked to the Opera House this morning, had an empanadas lunch, rested a bit since last night's sleep left a bit to be desired, and wandered the cemetery after that.  WIFI in the lobby is great and free.  Photos to come.  Tonight a steak dinner.

A SUMMER TRIP TO VANCOUVER

We spent the last week of June in Vancouver.  The weather was lovely, downright hot, and our trip was very relaxed.
Kayley has become VERY fond of her bike.  Here she is on a trip to the local park.

One of our first visits was to Grenville Island.  Kayley particularly likes an area that has arcade-type games.  When you win, you get tickets.  The tickets can be traded in for little items - rings, frisbees, whatever.  Glenn had said one was dull - but a great winner for tickets.  I won big!!  167 tickets in one fell swoop!!

Another day we went to the science museum with Kayley and Nathan.  Kayley had a play date with a buddy named Allie.

While the kids were playing a girl came and asked if we would mind if they participated in a science experiment.  Kayley at first thought it was a good idea, but when faced with the project, thought better of it.  Allie went along.  They then asked if Nathan would participate.  He was shown a blue dot.  Then a blue circling dot.  Then cartoon like images of people.  His favorite seemed to be the blue circling dots.  The cartoon people were supposed to be black.  I guess so.  But they didn't do anything and were extremely cartoon-like.  I don't think he gave them much information.

We spent an afternoon at Jerico Beach.  The weather was amazing, and the scenery from that beach spectacular.  

Krysty and Kayley often feed bunnies at one end of Jerico Beach.  I imagined one or two forlorn bunnies.   I was incorrect.  There were dozens of them 

Kayley came up with an idea to feed the bunnies using a stick and a carrot (of course).  The bunnies fell for it all the time.

We walked back to the car.  Charlie and I walked home from the beach, a lovely walk.

Back at their condo, Krysty and Glenn decided Nathan was old enough to try out his "space station" entertainment center.  It was quite a hit.

A few weeks before we showed up, Glenn and Krysty had bought a mountain of Legos.  There were several sets dumped together, and apparently caused Lego madness.  Here's a few photos of our obsession.

It really was a great trip - and, yes, I'm a Lego fanatic.

WALLY'S VET VISITS

Wally the dog has had a bad tummy since the day we got him as a puppy.  His solution was to eat grass, leaves, anything green.  The vet told us that he was trying to cure himself.  I had always thought he was a bit OC.  His stomach got worse.  We took him to the vet who did a quick endoscope, and told us that Wally had colon issues that he, the vet, couldn't really fix.  He sent us to another vet.  After a scan and a doggy-colonoscopy - we found out that Wally had polyps, a very irritated colon, but was fine.  She put Wally on a course of meds that really fixed him up.  Unfortunately, at the same time, she found that Wally had a skin cancer, and she recommended that we have it removed.  Below are some photos of dog post op.

Note Wally's silly cut around his legs.  When they give IV to dogs they have to be trimmed.  We've had several people ask us if Wally was some kind of poodle.  No.  Just a Bouvier with a silly cut.

A WEEKEND OF GRANDCHILDREN

Glenn, Krysty, Kayley, and Nathan planned a trip to Oklahoma to go to a memorial for Krysty's grandma.  Unfortunately, the Oklahoma family lives in Moore Oklahoma.  That town was devastated by a tornado recently.  Glenn and Krysty decided to stay in LA - given that the Moore branch of the family said that water and roads weren't really functional.  I was sorry for the cancellation, but happy that they are here.  On Thursday afternoon they came over for a hang around and a Thai dinner.  Here are a few photos.

We then drove up on Friday to see Ian, Sarah, Sean, and Harriet in Hayward.  The trip up was easy, and the kids stayed up to see us before they went to bed.  On Saturday we all went bowling and had breakfast at Shari's (the breakfast has become a bit of a tradition).  After we watched DVDs all afternoon.  Extremely relaxing!!

Here are a few photos of Sean and Harriet.

We had a lovely lasagna and a rhubarb strawberry pie (a la Sarah)  I love rhubarb strawberry pie.  Sunday we drove back to LA.  Relaxing Monday holiday - then - tomorrow - back to school.