Today is our last day of relaxation before we drive to Iguazu Falls and then on from there to Salta where we pick up our car and driver and head out for 5 days in the Andean high plains.

Day opened cloudy and overcast but quickly cleared with a bright sun and a strong wind whirling though the trees. Our hosts made a number of suggestions for activities for us but we opted to lie in the shade and relax since we knew that we had a number of high intensity days ahead of us. Got the blog caught up, downloaded the pictures on various cameras and just slowly puttered the day away. The rest of the guests were all out on various activities and so we had the place to ourselves....

We were due to take a boat across the river to a deep, narrow bay on the Argentine side of the river near Paraguay, which is a quiet backwater about 25 metres wide, and whose banks are lined with trees full of assorted birds and monkeys. The wind had really picked up overnight and was blowing with enough force to turn the river into a welter of large breaking waves; it was not practical to take the boat across 10 or 15k of open water in the teeth of the wind and with large breaking waves so our trip was postponed until the afternoon, weather permitting....

Alarm set for 5:30 to be up for an 8:00 am flight from the BA domestic airport to Posadas which is the city and airport closest to the marshes and wetlands in Iberà where we're going to spend the next three nights.Hugh arrived with his driver at 6:30 to pick us up and drive us to the airport and just as he did the skies opened up with torrential rains so we raced to the car through an overflowing stream that had already overrun the gutter. Given the weather, happy to be leaving....

Covered a lot of ground today. After last night's over-indulgence awoke late and didn't leave the hotel until 11:30. Started by taking a taxi to San Telmo, a district near the river famed for its market. Left everything of value in the hotel safe since we had been warned of pickpockets in the crowd; hate to mention this but everyone warned us of potential problems but it's common sense to take precautions in any big city anywhere. In any event our only problem so far has been a counterfeit 50 peso note but a couple in the hotel who we talked to at breakfast had been sprayed by someone from a squeeze bottle and a couple of people who in the course of drying them off and helping them had emptied their pockets. Not fun but again not unique to BA; we had the same thing happen to us in San Francisco so common sense is the order of the day anywhere....

Arrived on Friday morning after a relatively easy 10 hour flight. Have reached the conclusion that if you have to fly, and as exciting as I still find it after many years, it's getting to be a real PIA, the ideal flight crosses only 1 or 2 time zones, is an overnight flight, there are lie-flat beds available and is about 10 hours long. Using that yardstick the Houston-BA flight was ideal. Departed at 9PM had a large glass of red wine after take-off, refused dinner, laid my bed down flat, sleepmask on and a sleeping pill ingested I slept for a solid 7 hours. Awoke to a hot breakfast and shortly afterwards landed with virtually no jetlag since we crossed only 2 time zones. Met Hugh of McDermott's Argentina at the airport and spent a pleasant couple of hours driving to our hotel, having lunch and comparing adventures. Hugh is a widely-experienced young guy whose adventures have led him from a childhood in Dorset, to horse rearing on the Masi Mara in Kenya, to riding his horse Pancho across the Andes and riding from the northern top of Argentina to the southern bottom end....

We have been wanting to travel to South America for a number of years but Asia and later Africa always sang their siren song and we would once again promise ourselves that the next trip.....A catalyst was clearly needed and so for Xmas last year I gave V tickets to the opera in Buenos Aires and there was no longer any excuse.

Our timing was entirely driven by our opera tickets which are for the last night of the Season, Saturday Dec 7, and rather than extend the trip from that point on, which would bump us into Xmas, we are leaving next Thursday Nov 22 so as to have two weeks to wander before we need to be back in BA for the opera....

After yesterday's very pleasant weather, our day began more in the Provence mode than we would have liked, with grey skies and a steady cold rain.Not much fun slogging through the rain to look at sights so decided that today we would visit Le Bon Marché, our favourite department store in Paris and pick up any bits and pieces that we still needed to fill in the shopping gaps. It's a wonderful 19'th century building, straddling the 6'th and 7'th on the left side of the river, with a fabulous food hall and wine cellar. Took the Métro and arrived at about 11:00 and very surprised at how quiet and un-busy it was. First stop the food section and picked up some long pepper, a hard to find type of type of dried pepper that looks like a small black dry catkin, and which tastes like black pepper but with floral notes that span a much wider and richer taste spectrum than ordinary black pepper as well as a bottle of sel de citron which looks and smells wonderfully lemony and which will work very well sprinkled on asparagus or grilled fish. V loaded up on freshly baked Madelines....

Up early on Thursday morning, packed and enjoyed the suddenly ever-present sunshine. Our TGV to Paris is at 11:45 so left about 10:15 and ambled our way to the train station bought some sandwiches for the trip, and relaxed on the platform until the train arrived. Our luggage, like us, has gained considerable weight since we arrived. My two bottles of pinot, V's very large earthenware jug a duplicate of which she had admired at La Cloiserie and tracked down at a local store, and multiple acquisitions both large and small. Coming down from the airport last week we had taken two first class seats which, since the train is a two story affair, were on an upper level. Going back up to Paris we were on 2'nd class tickets which are on the lower level of the train which makes stowing luggage much easier, and apart from the difference in altitude, there really is not much difference in the classes; such is not always the case....