Buenos Aires.

Empty streets early in the morning in Buenos Aires.

Morning delivery in Buenos Aires.

I spent the afternoon walking around the city. I had hoped to go down and see the ocean but it was just too far. I did reach the port but it would have been a much longer walk to get around it to reach the ocean. from what I've seen in the taxis, it's not all that pretty anyway, but I still wanted to see it.

I returned to the hotel, cleaned up, then went down to the corner for dinner. I had a wonderful meal of seafood polenta, bread and oil, an excellent dessert, coffee, and a big glass of one of the best wines they had. The entire bill including the tip came to about 7, 000 pesos or $20.

My plans tomorrow depend on when I need to check out of my room. My flight does not leave until 11:45 p.m. so I have a good part of the day to kill. if I can get an extended leave time from the hotel it gives me more flexibility. I won't know until the morning. Even then I'm not sure what I'm going to do.

Dinner tonight

Dinner tonight

Across the street from my hotel.

1 minute from my hotel. Presidential Palace.

On the Plaza de Mayo, 1 minute away.

Late lunch

Back at my favorite restaurant

Buenos Aires

Buenos Aires

Buenos Aires

Buenos Aires

well for most the trip is over. we left the hotel in the transport van this morning and went to El catafata airport, then flew to the smaller airport in Buenos Aires. here I said goodbye to my friends and while they got on another transport bus to go to the big airport I took a cab to my hotel. what a change here in Buenos Aires. it's hot and sunny. quite a shock to the system.

I'm back in the same nice hotel I stayed in before in an excellent location in the heart of things. Time to go out and explore some more.

with the writing over, we had one last night to spend in El Calafate. we walked a few blocks to a very nice restaurant for dinner where I spent about $16 for prime rib and three or four dollars for a salad and we got a really good bottle of wine for about $20. needless to say food is not very expensive here. it's good, not always top notch, sometimes surprisingly tasty. it all depends. on this trip. we've spent a decent amount of time eating pre-made empanadas in gas stations. only because that is the only thing there, a gas station. One of the challenges traveling down here is finding gas. it's usually a couple hundred miles between stations and they are packed when you get there. and, it's the only thing there, so that's where you eat as well.

our Calafate hotel

Our hotel tonight.

it is 250 in the afternoon and we have arrived in El Calafate at least three of us. thanks kind of. I don't know what happened today but everything fell apart. we ended up splitting up into well groups eventually. for a while I was just off on my own. they left me alone and I had no idea how to get here so I had to just figure it out. and then I met up with somebody else and eventually cut up with the rest of the group. we tried to get lunch in a little town but a bus had just come through and eaten all the food, so we grabbed a quick bite at a gas station and then Ash and I and Malcolm took off on our own to get here to El Calafate.

it was quite a ride across the open pampas I took off on my own and had a grand time running between 180 and 200 km an hour. just eating up the miles and sweeping through the curves. it was glorious, something you can't do in the USA.

so we're the only ones at the hotel right now. I suppose the others are somewhere around. we have not seen anyone. but we now need to wait for the band to show up with our luggage. and in the meantime I hear the bar is open.

Coming into El Calafate.

We are done.

we are up early today and out on the road. this is probably the coldest day yet temperatures in the 30s. The wind is not bad so far. we've made a mad dash for the channel to be first on the ferry as we have a lot of ground to cover today. and yes there is another pass through customs at the border.