July 24-28: Buenos Aires

Plaza del Congreso, originally uploaded by Andrew & Yvette's world travel.

Buenos Aires, architecturally speaking, has the most beautiful buildings in South America. Walking through its streets, you’d be forgiven if you suddenly thought you were in Paris. Modeled after the City of Lights, B.A. dare I say, rivals Paris’ beauty with its grand buildings, palaces and statues. What Paris lacks though, B.A. has in good supply: friendly helpful people who smile even when you mangle their language; all in exchange for helping said stranger with their English = )

During one of our mornings, we took a free city tour where we walked through tree lined streets and passed through numerous dog parks. When we stopped at the Pink House, the flag was at full mast meaning the President, Christina Kirchner, was present. Sadly, she didn’t wave to Andrew and I from the balcony where Evita Perron used to make her speeches to the people. While in front of the Presidential House, we also learned about Argentina’s rather recent and very painful memory. In the 1970s, there was a military coup wherein thousands of people disappeared. Parents were murdered and babies handed over to those in the correct political circles. Most recently, a group of grandmothers have come out stating that if anyone in their mid 20’s to mid 30’s (our age) are suspicious of their past, they can do a DNA test to determine their family line. This campaign has led to a large group of young individuals to tragically discover that the parents who raised them were responsible for the murder of their real parents. Discussing history however, the triumphs and follies, is always charged with opposing opinions. As there were local Argentineans in the tour, there was a heated debate about these “tragedies”. After this surprisingly emotional tour, the locals, who had come to practice their English w/ us tourists, took us for a ride on the oldest city subway line (Linea A) and then afterwards took us to a local restaurant where we enjoyed a typical 3 hour long Saturday lunch.

That night as we headed back to our hotel, we met 4 sisters who were with the English group. We felt them to be a blessing as we found out their Sunday meeting had been moved because of the CO visit. Had we missed them, we would have arrived at the time given by Bethel and come to an empty Kingdom Hall. Now before we got there, Andrew and I joked how funny it would be if this CO was the same one as the CO at Iguazu. When the CO went to the stage, Andrew and I got a shock as the CO’s looked absolutely similar. The only difference was their voice and manner of delivery. When we brought this up with the brothers and sisters, one of them explained that the CO had a twin and if our picture memory was correct, then we heard ‘twin’ programs! After the meeting, we joined in the field ministry where I was able to place a tract w/ the following phrase, “Puede una para leia”

The following day we visited Bethel and met with more brothers and sisters. The other couple in the group was visiting their son and it was funny because the brother, who spoke quickly in a thick Spanish accent, was amused by us and loved talking to us. It was all we could do to keep up with the tour and his running commentary.

Now a visit to B.A. must also include a tango show. So for one of our nights, we went to Madero Tango for a dinner and professional tango show. I say professional because all we did was watch and enjoy the fabulous show. Other places/shows require participation but with our 2 left feet we decided sitting on our bums would be more enjoyable.

Alas the 28th came too soon and it was time to pack up our bags again. Before we start sharing about Africa, we thought we’d compile a list of all things South America:

Favorite Country from most to least: Argentina, Ecuador, Peru, Brazil, Panama and Bolivia

Favorite Activity: WMDR in Bolivia, and Diving Galapagos.

Best Restaurants: Q Grill (Hyatt Mendoza, Argentina) and Porcao Rio’s (Rio De Janeiro),

Must See’s: Galapagos Islands, Machu Picchu, Iguazu Falls

Favorite Hotel: Hilton Buenos Aires / Sao Paolo, Secret Garden Inn Puerto Iguazu and Swissotel Quito

Favorite Airport Lounge: Lima Intl Airport (Bar tender makes killer Bloody Mary’s)

Distance Traveled: over 20,100 miles

# of Countries: 6 = Panama, Ecuador, Peru, Bolivia, Brazil and Argentina

# of Accomodations: 26 different hotels

Traveling Days: 64