South America

Day 10 – BA ck in B uenos A ires OK, there is yet another incredible coincidence/experience that comes after our city tour of BA. You can skip to that if you like; otherwise read on about BA. We had planned for a half-day city tour to get us better acquainted to BA. We awoke to an absolutely spectacular day with very blue skies and temperatures in the low 70’s and not getting out of the 70’s for the entire day. What a welcome relief to the persistent heat that we had been experiencing. Mariella had met us at the airport the evening before, and she was meeting us at 9am for the tour. Our day started with a stop at the cemetery – yes, the same one Bob and I visited on our first day there the week before. With an expert guide, we got a whole lot more out of the experience. We saw the most extravagant mausoleum with incredible sculptures that were made in France and shipped to the US.  Our tour guide, Mariella, at the base of the most incredible mausoleum in the c...

Day 9 – The Ascension (or Asuncion) Today is a day of history and pictures, look or read as you see fit. Our driver Jos é picked us up at 9:30 to take us to Mass at the Asuncion Cathedral downtown and for a tour of the city. Mass was not until 11:00 so we got some introductory views of some of the snazzier parts of the city. We saw some elegant places where leading political figures lived and some historic sites (e.g. where the street battles took place during the coup of 1989 when the dictator was toppled). The American Embassy is expanding there in a major way, and apparently, America has a very good relationship with Paraguay. I must say, that even in the snazzier parts of the city, the roads are EXTREMELY bumpy. Also, they are no big on Stop signs or traffic lights so each intersection is a bit of a guessing game as far as I can tell. Of course, major roads and intersections have such modern conveniences, but many of the downtown streets and neighborhood streets did no...

Day 8 – Inter-faith; Inter-esting Warning - there is a fabulous story here, but only a couple of pictures. If you are in kindergarten and like picture books, then skip to the next blog (Day 9). If you are interested in what is happening in other parts of the world, read on!!! After a casual breakfast and some necessary gym time, we were picked up by some of Bob’s relatives to go to Grandma’s apartment for a big family Noon meal (this is their family tradition on the Sabbath – they are a Jewish family).The relevant cast of characters is: Lori – Bob’s sister-in-law Judith – Lori’s son (Brad) married Judith’s daughter (Tamar/Tami) Mauricio – Judith’s husband Lillianna – Judith’s sister Victor – Lillianna’s husband Maruca – Judith and Lillianna’s mother – Grandma Bob   - - -   Lori       Mauricio---H/W--Judith = sisters = Lillianna---W/H--Victor              ...

Day 7 – Under the Falls You may recall from yesterday’s blog that I said we saw Iguazu Falls from the Argentinian side, the Brazilian side and from the border – that is, from the middle of the Iguazu River that separates the two countries. Well today is the day for the river view! Yes, we were scheduled for a boat ride up the river and into the heart of the Falls. It was a casual start to the day with a wonderful outdoor breakfast in the nice cool 84 ° mid-morning air. It is amazing how our bodies acclimate to our surroundings (mostly in the upper 90’s and low 100’s). The buffet at the Belmond is amazing. Allow me to explain: There is a large 25-foot oblong granite counter with food of all sorts laid completely around the edge of the counter. But there is more … there is one level of food on the counter and a second level of goodies stacked behind the first level – like concentric circles or should I say concentric oblongs. But there is more … there is a duplicate counter! A...