Argentina, November 2007

This is an account of my trip to Buenos Aires. I am writing it in multiple chapters. Click one of the links to jump to an individual chapter or back to the photos page:

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Chapter 1

Monday - Saturday, November 5 - 10, 2007

As all of my trips seem to, this one started far earlier in the morning than I would prefer. I was up a little after 5am and out of the house by 6:20. I picked up Joel and his dog , Shorty, and we headed north to Portland fearing the morning rush of traffic. We were fortunate to move at a reasonable pace even on the notoriously clogged Interstate 205 and reached the airport with time to spare. After dropping me off, Joel sped away in my car and I quickly made it through check-in. That left sufficient time for a cup of tea and a lightly toasted bagel, my usual breakfast.

The flight to Ontario, one of the outlying airports in the Los Angeles basin was smooth and uneventful. I was met at the airport by my sister, Cindy, and my dad, Albert. We stopped at Cindy's place--which is closer to the airport than to my dad's house--and had a beer with Cindy and Joe before heading "home."

For the next couple of days I relaxed and hung out with family and friends. My sister Leslie contacted some of our friends and they all dropped by on Wednesday night and we all had a great time talking and laughing.

On Thursday, dad took me to the airport at a much more reasonable hour for my 11:45 flight to Buenos Aires via Dallas-Fort Worth. A long layover in DFW gave me time for a relaxed dinner before the final leg of the journey to Buenos Aires, a flight of just over ten hours.

On the plane, I timed it just right and took some Ambien shortly before they served our evening meal and was able to get almost six hours of sleep before arriving in Argentina. Hooray for drugs!

The weather was cool with light rain, much like Oregon in the late spring. I took a taxi into the city and arrived at the hotel around 11am where I was greeted by Lynn, Nicole, Denis, and Roy who arrived a day earlier. Soon after I got there the five of us made our way to the Belle Arts Museum, the same place we visited on our previous trip to this Paris of South America, an apt description.

It is now Saturday morning and we are getting ready to leave for the first day of Pulpo's Tango Week. Today is the sign-in and a practica during the day and a Milonga at 11pm tonight. The plan is to complete our sign-in and dance for an hour or so before dropping our dance shoes back at the hotel then walking to Plaza Dorrego to get some lunch.

Later

Well, I guess plans, like prices, are subject to change without notice and Saturday's plans did just that. We did check in to Pulpo's Tango Week as planned but because they were still getting things set up, we decided to have lunch at a small cafe across the street before returning for the practica. We stayed at the practice for a couple of hours when the others decided it was time to go. I was dancing at the time but, fortunately for me, when the dance concluded, I also was ready to go.

After brief stops at the local markets, we went (as planned) to Plaza Dorrego and a nearby indoor market for some shopping. While we were in the market it started to rain. I suppose we should have anticipated the possibility but we were not dressed for the downpour that ensued. We were only about a block from the El Federal where we'd eaten dinner the previous evening so we stopped there for something warm to drink while waiting out the storm. By that time, we decided to have dinner rather than coming back later. The dinner was fine but afterwards, no one but me wanted to go the Milonga. I know I should have gone by myself but it just didn't as appealing alone. Also, truth be told, I started working on my computer. The time got away from me and before I knew it, it was almost midnight and I was still sitting in the hotel. Sigh. At least it gave me a change to conclude this chapter.

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