I’m sitting here at the Sacramento International Airport waiting for my flight to take off at 1:20 pm. I’m flying American Airlines this time instead of Delta. Going through security I thought I was going to have to take off all my clothes before the darn alarm would stop going off. Every time I walked through the metal detector monster that everyone has to walk through it would just keep buzzing. Finally, down to my shorts, I got to go through. (just kidding)
You know the gig, take your shoes off, then your belt, your keys, your cell phone, you cell phone case, pull the laptop out of the case, remove the steel plate out of your head, (no, they haven’t gone that far yet).
Once I get to Texas there is a two hour delay for the flight to Buenos Aires. Good thing to do when you get on the long flight to Buenos Aires is take a sleeping pill, forget about whatever they bring you that they call food and wake up to summer in South America.
Today I took my Prius down the mountain instead of my trusty four wheel drive chevy. With all the snow on the ground and having lived in Nevada County since the miners founded this area, I should know better. But driving slowly and carefully I made it to my office.
Having to go to Loomis tonight for an appointment, I was working in the office when I looked out the window and saw that it had started to snow like in one of those movies you see where the hero is suddenly in a blinding snow storm and winds up completely lost.
I decided I better hurry up and get going before I got snowed in with my two wheel drive Prius. Going slow and careful again I made it all the way to Highway 49 where I was forced to a crawl. Managing to continue all the way out to the end of the freeway, or about a half mile, all traffic in the south bound lane came to a complete stop. As I sat there, my thoughts were that some unfortunate souls might have gotten in an accident. I also thought that it was funny that the north bound lane was flowing smoothly and with a lot of traffic.
Stuck in traffic
After about forty five minutes we started moving and I figured they had cleared the accident. As I continued on my way, I was listening to NPR and they said that Highway 49 out of Grass Valley was closed due to ice conditions. Now, if Highway 49 was closed for ice conditions, why was the north lane flowing like the Autobahn? I guess that’s one of those mysteries of life that we encounter once in a while, but never quite know the answer. If you were there, let me know.
La Boca, meaning in Spanish, the mouth, is the area of Buenos Aires that Italians migrating to Buenos Aires in the 19th and 20th century settled into. The area was named La Boca because of the natural shape of the harbor formed by the River Rio Riachuelo bending and flowing into the Rio de la Plata creating what appears to be a mouth.
The area is difficult to get to using the Subte, so John and I bought a guide to the collective; the huge city bus system that criss-crosses the city. (Getting there was easy, getting back a little more difficult as we were standing on the wrong street for the return buses to our area. But here are almost no bus signs (let alone street signs), you just have to go stand where other people are standing; if they look like they are waiting for a bus!!)
Street Scene
The vendors have painted the area to recreate the early days of the area.
The first thing you see is the huge stadium for the Boca Juniors. And the people in the area have a fervent; most would say fanatical; identification with the team. Soccer memorabilia and T-shirts are everywhere.
Soccer stadium in background
Anyway, the first Italian and French immigrants built boarding houses haphazardly with metal sheeting called “conventillos”. These were decorated with whatever paint was left over on the docks, creating a mish-mash of colors on each building. The colors can be inviting, but the poorly insulated buildings can be unbearably hot in the summer and frigid in the winter. It was fine the day we were there, even though it is summer here, maybe mid-80’s.
On of many beautiful doors in Buenos Aires
On a Saturday (when we went) it is very busy and touristy. We saw a lot of interesting things, and spent a couple of hours in an on street cafe, enjoying the dancing and singing of a local tango troupe. Lots of little stores, artists, and street vendors we did a good bit of shopping there.
A train ride to the outer reaches of Buenos Aires (made a little longer than necessary because John and I didn’t know we had to switch trains in the middle until we had reached some other end destination). Then a switch to the new, obviously touristy “Tren de La Costa” Stopping at 7 or 8 little beach towns along the edge of the delta, north of Buenos Aires. Very nice real estate.
Tigre is one of the most popular weekend destinations from BA, on the banks of the lush jungly banks of the Delta of a lot of different rivers. Arriving, and avoiding the El Parque del la Costa (sort of an Argentine Disneyland/county fair combo) and the big Casino at the end of the line we walked in a discovered a very cute little town. We located a B & B to stay at (an OLD family home where the Grandmother rents 4 rooms a night to tourists) for 150 pesos (less than $50 US)
Bed and breakfest Inn Tigre
Typical treatment of many houses in area, with ornate treatment of front entries.
Walking, seeing the sites, visiting cafes and of course eating the great food. The next day we did some museum visits (the fantastically detailed Museo Naval, covering the origins of boat, Argentine navy merchant museum, lots of model ships, and relics from many old ships The outside display included relics of the Falklands Islands (Here called Malvinas Island) conflict with the British.
Model ship in Museo Naval
Then we were of on a 2 hour luxury cruse of a small portion of the huge delta, thousands of islands, waterways, summer homes, resorts, camping, restaurants and natural reserves. Really fantastic and relaxing. Next trip we are spending at least a week in one of these isolated resorts (I have the map, web sites and the phone numbers now!)View delta Tigre
Looking out from the dining section of the catamaran. Great food by the way!
We passed (rapidly) through the smoky Casino and had a nice visit to the HUGE artisan and. fresh fruit fair, Puerto de Frutas. Handcraft wicker furniture and basketry (with river reeds and trees) are the specialty, and unique to the area.
