Buenos Aires

Hello everyone,


It has been a month since we left home, and we are already sitting on the border of Uruguay and Brazil. Buenos Aires was a wonderful city. Even though we initially were faced with illness and some tooth problems, we managed to have a wonderful time in a very beautiful city.Buenos Aires reminded us so much of Italy for its cappuccinos, architecture, cafe society, pedestrian streetscapes, and beautiful people.

We spent the first few week just exploring the city and familiarizing ourselves with the culture. We stayed on the top floor of a beautiful 1925 Spanish tutor home, owned by a women named Cristina her two sons ( Tito and Pablo), and their maid Carmen. Carmen was from Peru and had a very hard time pronouncing my name ( just like many others here) and always called me OTT. She immediately adopted Kristina as her daughter and they became friends. While Kristina helped her with her English homework she definitely helped her improve her Spanish. She even made a huge chocolate cake for her. We definitely felt at home with Crstina´s family.

Once we heard that our motorcycle ( Coco) made it to Buenos Aires we decided to save a few pesos and took a bus instead of a taxi.Three hours later in the rain, we arrived at customs. It was very rainy and cold day and of course there was no heating on the bus. The bus dropped us off on the highway. After crossing 25 lanes of traffic we arrived at the security check point were you had to register to get through more security check points. Of course, we only had my passport with us so they would not let Kristina in ( since her passport was in the US. embassy awaiting a new visa). After an Internet passport copy retrieval they gave her a pass to get in.

Once we were in front of building # 5 we were faced with offices numbered 1,2, and 3. These offices were very small filled with many people speaking Spanish very rapidly. Little did we know at that time that we would be visiting each of those offices no fewer than 5 times each. A stamp here a signature there a hello baby there. But all and all it was very civilized and everyone was very nice and helpful. The entire process took four hours ( plus the 3 hour bus ride) of which only 10 minutes were needed to uncrate COCO and have her standing on her own two wheels. We got her all put together , battery connected and realized that the gas station was 6 blocks away. Faced with pushing the motorcycle to the gas station fully loaded we decided that Kristina´s charms would have to be tried to smuggle the gas into customs with no container in hand. So I sent her off to the gas station. She manged to come back with a container that she found in the garbage and was able to fill it full of bright green benzina. When I asked her what that green stuff was, she answered that it is "benzina ecologica". So the gas arrived to the amazement of the customs officials who I thought were going to applaud her arrival. The gas went in, the motorcycle started and off we went driving in Buenos Aires for the first time. It sure helps having GPS. That doesn´t stand for Great Prices on Steaks.

Just a word about dulce de leche, steaks, mosquitoes and bombons. If you don't know about dulce de leche it is a sweet caramel filling or sauce that you can find in just about everything. I even think i saw it in a toothpaste. Bonbons are indescribable chocolate candy filled with heavenly filing. Steaks range from 6 ounces to 2 pounds from parts of a cow that I never new existed (including its bowels) And last question, how do mosquitoes the size of your fist survive at 40 degree Fahrenheit? That´s it for now, see you next time.

P.S. Check out our spot links. It is our ok/help/emergency locator that positions us when we activate it.