BUENOS AIRES

We keep heading north and the weather is warm and is very welcome after the cold of the south. The area we travel through is void of habitation and just about anything else. We don’t even see sheep. There is just miles of scrub. We do see more campers and caravans on the road. Argentians love to travel. We park in an actual campground beside the river Rio Colorado in a town with the same name. The campgrounds are not as we know them. There are concrete picnic tables and grills but no hook ups. There may be water available. But it is a welcome relief from staying in a service station parking lot. The locals are enjoying the river. Some kids are swimming and boating. It was a good place to do some chores and fix a good dinner.

The next day we moved on up the coast to the city of Bahia Blanca. It is an industrial city with a big port and a Wall Mart. Naturally we head there for some overdue shopping. It is a Sunday and I think the population was there to do their shopping also. It took us 45 minutes to check out but we made some new friends when they translated for us.

Plans were to move on but as you know plans can change. Norman had a big puddle of oil under his truck. It turned out to be a ruptured line to his power steering. Since this is a Sunday he would have to wait till Monday for a fix. We received permission to stay in the parking lot. We kept noticing trucks pulling colorful midget racing cars. Turns out we are parked at the edge of a car show. There were 30 cars of all colors . They drew a big crowd and we had front row seats. Our motor home also got a lot of attention. Bill Gray, Dawson John and their Dad would have loved it.

As we had north there is a change in the scenery. There is a lot more traffic and ranches with big herds of cattle. Fuel is still a concern. We stayed in Azul at a service station and had to wait for a fuel truck to come in the next morning. We were told it is a labor problem.

One of our favorite stops was at a country store.  The store had been owned for 50 years by a wonderful gentleman and his family.  They were from the Basque region of Spain.  He is still very active and a gracious host welcoming us with samples of his homemade sausage. cheese, and drink.  We could not figure out what kind of beverage it was but he poured out of special bottles.  Of course we did not refuse.  The store had a little bit of everything.  There was fresh bread in a basket and eggs by the dozen.  The counters showed their 50 years and his scales dated before that time.  He did not speak our language but it was not necessary.  The welcome was a genuine one.



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The drive into the city of Buenos Aires was a white knuckle one with many lanes of traffic trying to gain a spot. Buses, taxies, and cars are all wanting to move on. After about 2 hours of this we finally park close to the docks and not very far from the center of the city. The city has a European feel with very modern skyscrapers. We can observe office workers on their way to work and they are a handsome bunch. The men dressed in dark suits, white shirts and ties and they are looking good. There are vendors close by selling bar-b-que. It is usually a sausage called Cheri-Pan. It is served on a big bun with onions and all sorts of stuff to put on it. This is good eating.

We walked miles seeing the city. There is activity everywhere with runners, walkers and cyclist.

One must see a tango show and we had a great evening. We dressed up and were driven to the venue. Dinner wasn’t served till 9p.m. We had wonderful seats with stage view of the performers. We had not been exposed to the tango before but were highly entertained. We didn’t get home till 1:30 A.M. The city doesn’t sleep with dining going on till the wee hours of the morning.

We took the grand tour of the city the next day on a double decker bus. We had head phones with English and several other languages. The city has done a good job with its’ green spaces with many beautiful parks.

We had tickets for the ferry to go to Uruguay that night. . The 4 hour ride did not leave till 12P.M. We were exhausted when we finally passed through customs to see South America’s smallest country.

Gerry & Bill