APE and Penguins and Icebergs, Oh My!

Houston to Buenos Aires

This blog is dedicated to our most avid blog follower and friend and the lifesaver in publishing our 4 Chicks in China blog (March 2012), Val Hamilton, who passed away Oct. 31, 2014 after a long battle with cancer

Sunday started at 3:45 am to get ready for Lori and Wayne to pick me up at 4:30 am to get us to the airport…..It really was quite busy there for being so early, I guess being the end of the holidays everyone is going home. No problems with security and check so we had lots of time to have breakfast and coffee on the “other side",......on our way to a well deserved rest after a few crazy months for both of us.

On our way

We arrived in Houston at 2:00 and checked where we were to get our next flight which was at 9pm to Buenos Aires. ….So to bide our time we……rented a car for a couple of hours and went caching to a little park south of the airport!!!! We got 12 caches in less than 2 hours and had some fresh air. When we brought the car back the same lady that we rented it from said ….but you only went 10 miles! Plus we had to produce a receipt to show we filled the car with gas….a whopping $2.20!!!! By the way Houston is on the 29 degree latitude, and I think it was colder there than in Vancouver!

Virtual cache dedicated to firefighters

Finally got the glass of wine!

Our flight to B.A was not very full….so as soon as the doors shut Lori went in the middle section that had 3 vacant seats so she could stretch out (she had a really good sleep) and I stayed in our 2 seats and tried to get comfortable (not!).

10 hour flight from Houston to BA…..and now dressed for winter (not Lori she had her capris on) we arrive in about 33 degree weather. New money…..but they will take US dollars and new language (Lori has been practicing her Spanish)

Now with a 10 hour layover and 30 km out of town what do we do? First priority was our luggage. We both have packed a cruise bag that we wanted to drop somewhere …..the airport preferably to be picked up next Saturday night and a week long touring bag to take with us. When we first looked into lockers at the airport it said they didn’t have any so we were thinking of going into BA to leave them at the hotel we are going to come back to the night before cruise…..but they did have a centre to leave luggage for the week….problem solved….not lockers….but they say it is secure….we will see when we get back!

We did get some caches but we had to hire a cab for an hour to take us for a little drive. We didn’t go that far away from the airport but my first impressions of Argentina are very positive….the houses are not like the compound-like dwellings I saw in Peru….these have yards and some have pools….these are, mind you, found on the outskirts of a big centre and are not mansions but small comfortable well kept properties. We passed parks with large playing fields and large community pools. Traffic out in this area is not that busy for being a Monday ….but it is darn hot!

Back to the airport to wait for our next flight to Sao Paulo Brazil still 4 hours away….reading, and trying to sleep……