Buenos Aires – Our Adventures

Another day doing the rounds of of town, again the group split into smaller groups some of the girls decided to do Blue loop on the Hop on Hop off bus before meeting up with another group at the art museum. The blue route was interesting and gave us a chance to see the university, the amazing Río

Salado river which is as wide as a lake. The river is about 290 kilometres (180 mi) long, and it widens from about 2 kilometres (1.2 mi) at its source to about 220 kilometres (140 mi) at its mouth. It forms part of the border between Argentina and Uruguay.

After lunch the boys arrived at the hotel and after bit re sorting of the rooms everyone settled in for the remainder of our time in this amazing city. The girls were keen to show the boys around a bit before everyone made their own arrangements for dinner.

Next morning it was of to Arundu saddle shop, coffee at Labiela under enormous fig tree and a visit to the extensive and somewhat creepy Recoleta Cemetery however this is not a normal cemetery.

It is a spectacular mausoleum filled with breathtaking sculptures, carvings and of course, Evita’s grave. It is well worth spending a morning at this FREE attraction.

Most couples did their own thing during the afternoon and came back together with group for dinner at nearby Barbarobar tapas restaurant, the food was good and of course true to form Colin produced novelty the now what has become expected novelty gags to the amusement of the whole group.

The following morning it was an early start for every as the group was splitting up most going to Iguazu falls and 5 going to Uruguay. The group that went Uruguay travel by ferry and visited Montivideo, walked a lot, attended a concert and had a great steak dinner by all accounts.

The two and half hour flight was uneventful and we landed in the tiny airport not falls and from our hotel. After a quick check in to our spectacular falls view rooms we headed off to our first viewing of these magnificent falls, it was a fair walk out to the devil’s throat but worth every step to see this wonder of the world.

The last part of our day was climbing down a godzillion steps to board a our boat ride under the falls. If we were climbing out the same way many of us had concluded we may just have stay down at rivers edge forever… Fortunately after an amazing ride under the falls where most of us got wet and the Elder’s got absolutely drenched it was a pleasant ride down river to leave the boat at place that meant an easier climb out, a few of us very relieved to collapse into out seat on back of trick for ride back to hotel. Everyone made own arrangements for dinner.

Those going to Brazilian side of the falls had to be down stairs early the next morning. The rest of us had a lovely lie in followed by a very leisurely breakfast while waiting to set off to airport to meet the others and fly back to Buenos Aires for our last night in town.

The final dinner was festive occasion with so much food and good wine flowing, we were last to leave the restaurant and it was a good thing that our flight home wasn’t until 2pm.

The group were all pleased to be heading home and gathered in the foyer for the last bus to the airport with loads of time to spare..

It was good of our guide Horta to bring his family along to meet us before helping us get to the airport.

The flight home were uneventful, with one last pisco sour at ‘The Last Pisco Sour’ bar in Santiago during our layover.

We arrived home mid morning and were all pleased that this time so did all our bags. after saying our goodbyes it was smoothly through customs and another successful MacWool tour was done and dusted.

The group were very travel weary but with a little time at home and on reflection everyone realise the number of amazing places and people that made up our what a wonderful trip this has been.

Trip in review…..for the travel crew:

Videos:
The videos from various parts of the trip.
Please make sure you are on wifi when viewing as they will use fair amount of data.

Each video is between 10 and 15 minutes. Please click here to order a dvd if you prefer.

1. Flying in, Santiago and Vino Casa del Bosque Chile
2. Punta Arenas, Wool Mill, Farm and Torres de Paine
3. Cruising on the Skorpios III
4. Border Crossing, Calafate, our last glacier and a farm visit
5. Río Gallegos, Puerto San Julián, more farms and hospitality
6. Puerto St Julian, El Coronel then on to Comodora
7. Comodoro Show Rivadavia, Chubut
8. Buenos Aires, Iguazu Falls and Flying Home

Full dinner dance movie

Play all videos at once from here

Photos:
All the raw still photos – you can download those you would like to keep . If you would these on memory stick please click here to order.

Downloading these photos: Either download individual photos or download all option
email me on cabowman302@gmail.com if you need help with downloading

MacWool Tour Photos Part 1

MacWool Tour Photos Part 2

MacWool Tour Photos Part 3

The girl’s day….

The girls first full day in Buenos Aires started with a breakfast in the hotel before various groups formed organically to head to all parts of this amazing city.

There was a group who decided on the Hop on Hop off bus to make their way to the Aranda saddlery, four floors of leather goods clothing and jewellery. Some purchases were made but other decided to wait until we could bring the boys back the next day. Another group jumped in a taxi and headed for Palermo SoHo which is recognised shopping area with shopping on their mind to kick off their day. Palermo SoHo is vibrant area of the bohemian sub-barrio Palermo Viejo sits between the streets Santa Fé, Coronel Diaz, Córdoba and Juan B. Justo. This is one of the trendier parts of Palermo (along with Palermo Hollywood) and a favorite haunt of backpackers, hipsters and designers. It is home to lazy, tree-lined cobblestone streets where new businesses continue to spring up in the old Spanish-style houses and converted warehouses.

Most of us met for coffee at the historical Cafe La Biela, it started operation more than 150 years ago

in what is now the magnificent Recoleta neighborhood, just a few houses (no mansions or palaces), the convent belonging to the monks Recoletos and a beautiful Church. In years gone by this was the waterhole of professional drivers, fans of car races, gentlemen, actors and politicians. We sat at the tables were beneath the biggest Moreton Bay fig (Ficus macrophylla) I have ever seen. The plague showed date of 1791 but the tree is said to be around 150 years old and if this is case this tree has seen a lot.

Then a third group, after coffee catch up set off walked all over the city but saw much and enjoyed getting to know this place.

Our group continued on the bus loop until later in the afternoon stopping off at the pink palace and the Buenos Aires Metropolitan Cathedral which was an amazing building in itself, such a feeling of sanctuary when you step inside away from the hustle, bustle and protesters across the street. Photos don’t do it justice but it sure was time well spent wandering around inside

before finding the most interesting Spanish Museum, but the biggest find of all was the restaurant in the gardens out the back serving the coldest Gin and tonic’s and a magnificat cheese board. This was just perfect, we rested our(my) tired legs.

Our recovery complete it was decided that we grab a taxi and head to La Bomba de Tiempo a rave that Comodoro Show judge’s wife gave us the heads up about.

Flying along in a taxi to parts unknown in the city there was some doubt if we were doing the right thing but in for a penny in for a pound. When we arrived in a back street with a queue down the street we decided to see how long it took for the line to move and decide if we would stay.

Well the line moved very quickly and in no time at all we were inside an old warehouse with open roof and wall to wall people, we pushed and burrowed our way to the middle of the throng, looking slightly out of place (this was aged related factor) but those around us were fun loving and we felt very safe at all times.

A little about the group – La Bomba de Tiempo is a percussion ensemble that practises improvisation with signs. Every show is unique and unrepeatable because its music is generated live on stage through the dialogue between musicians and director, who leads the improvisation using a code of more than 70 signs made with the hands.

Every performance becomes a magical time when percussionists on stage interact with the audience while this one brings its energy, dancing and listening. It all creates a true ritual of rhythm and percussion. Click here for more information http://www.labombadetiempo.com/en

The beer was sold in litre plastic cups but the line was 50 minutes long to buy one, we borrowed a prop from a Canadian guy near us for photography purposes, we didn’t have our water as it was confiscated at the bag check on the way in, water taken but i did have 6 inch carving knife in bottom of my bag which was over looked. A fact I didn’t realise until we inside and well under the spell of the rhythm.

For these three ‘not as young as we used to be girls’ this will go down as one of our most memorable times in South America. No we were not the oldest attendees we saw another lady who was oder than us getting right into the dancing in true South American style, she had coerced her daughter into bringing her and she was loving every minute of it..

We staggered tiredly home around 11pm smelling distinctly of strange smelling smoke, opening smoked by everyone at the venue.

A full day for everyone with lots shopping, good food and laughter. Tomorrow we wait for the boys to fly in with a few more outings circuit on the blue bus followed by visit to art museum.

The boy’s day….

Mid morning boys climbed back their bus and headed to
Estancia Los Manantiales for lunch and afternoon hosted by Ruben Alonso (Manager Estancia Los Manantiales)

Ruben and the stud master had put together a very good presentation next rams and commercial rams for everyone to pore over and compare with their own sheep.

Everyone thoroughly enjoyed the day and rolled back on the bus after much food and beverages. The sharing of ideas and new friendships were the order of the day. Tonight was the last night with Michael and Charlotte Blake as they were headed back to the family farm.

The boys decided to take them out to a farewell dinner so another late night ensured but

The boys were very appreciative of the welcome and efforts Ruben and the staff went to to host them for the day and will remember the day for a long time.

Sorry bit short on detail, I haven’t had a chance to get Sharpy to provide more information. This will be added here later…

Our Adventures – Near and Far

Category: Buenos Aires

Buenos Aires Iguazu Falls and flying home….and the trip in review

Buenos Aires (girls) and Estancia Los Manantiales (boys)