Noel and Caro have always had South America "on our list" since way back when.... 'when' being the late 80's and we didn't manage at that stage to work it into our then big OE.
So the planning became real some 9 months ago (sounds like something else... but believe us there is no other announcement pending!)... when we booked a couple of tours. More about said tours in later blog posts.
This blog is principally a record for ourselves, and if others read it.... then perhaps you need a hobby! We hope to post every week or so over the coming 3 months but this will be dependent on our tour schedules and the ability to get internet connection. WIFI in some of our destinations, particularly in the first month, we predict will translate to "Well It's F____g Isolated".
Planning over the last few months has largely revolved around Noel fretting about minor details and verging on tearing his hair out (if any of you noticed this is nigh on impossible) and Caro frantically learning Spanish. This dragged Caro into modern technology with the installation of a language App. Most of the example sentences seemed to involve the word cabello (horse).... how useful!
Departure and arrival
Snow on the ground a matter of days before our departure seemed to suggest it was time to leave, even though we're not initially heading for warmer climes.
Our travel excitement came into sharp focus at Auckland airport security when Caro excitedly began yelling "Senor Noel... Cabello, Cabello!!". I asked, what the, where? to which Caro proclaimed "in the X-ray machine"..... and unbelievable as it seems this was proven true when a small stuffed horse appeared amongst a fellow passengers carry on baggage! Hence proving my previous ridicule of her language skills to be somewhat mis-judged.
The pre boarding lounge gave us our first, but would not be last, view of one of Argentinians favourite things.... queuing! Even though no announcements had been made the majority Argentine passengers were lined up and waiting. Similarly at the other end off flight an unseemly rush was evident... even though everyone would be waiting for their bags at the collection point anyway.
The 12 hour flight to Buenos Aires was uneventful, and although full of trepidation we managed to order the nearby hotel shuttle to collect us... thru a smattering of 'Si's' and 'Por Favor's' whilst imploring in a desperate southern accent 'No hablo Espanol'
Grabbed dinner at hotel, order for a light meal lost in translation as half a cow delivered to table (huge, sizzling, slabs of what appears half cooked, but tasty, steak; welcome to Argentina!)
