¡Adios Argentina!

The day that you travel home is always kind of weird. Do you leave early in the morning so you can get home earlier? But then you´ve wasted a day and have spent it travelling, which isn´t very fun these days. Or do you leave mid-day and have breakfast then take your time getting to the airport to get home (or your next destination)? Or do you leave late in the day, especially if you are taking an overnight flight. This is not a bad option (and really the only one that we have leaving Buenos Aires to fly to Houston on Continental) but you get stuck in the awkward place....hotel check out is 11:00 or noon, you don´t REALLY need to leave for the airport for several hours afterwards. Not enough time to really go out and be in the city and do a lot but too much time to just sit around. So what do you do?

If I were by myself, I´d probably sleep in, check out then wander aimlessly or find a cafe or bookstore to hang out in. Fortunately, I have company and we are still reaping the benefits of Chris´upgrade to Hilton Hhonors Gold VIP status. We woke up late this morning as we were out late trying to find food (open ¨late¨didn´t mean as late as we would have thought in BA) then packing our bags. So we got up in time for the breakfast buffet. Then I went to ask if we could have a late check-out and the instant the hotel guy saw that Chris was a Gold VIP, he literally said ¨Oh, it´s no problem at all! 4 pm will be fine.¨

So we had some more time to get things cleaned up then went to wander around the Ecological Reserve (read: marshland) that is near the hotel. It´s actually quite a nice little area with lots of parkland around it and good trails for running or walking. And of course, since we are leaving today, it´s a beautiful and sunny day here in BA! Took a few ¨ambience¨ photos but they are on Chris´camera so can´t upload any. But we wandered around and soaked up the sun, explored the little flea market that was going up and salivated at all the Choripan (sausage sandwich)/grill stands that lined the streets. Now we´re back at the hotel to check e-mail a last time, check out, then grab some food before we head for the airport early this evening.

I´m headed to Guatemala to meet Beatrice, Peggy, and Benji for the next week. We´ll be intensively sight-seeing for the first few days, going to Incan ruins, Pacaya volcano, Lake Atitlan but will relax at a spa the last few days. Hopefully there will be Internet access and I can blog some more but if not, I may not be able to get on again til I hit Vancouver on Sunday, Aug. 3 for my cousin´s wedding. Hope my loyal readership can hang on that long! If you´re really hurting for new material, maybe I can get Chris to upload some more pictures from home. ¡Adios!