Date: 11/28/2014 (Friday)
Starting Location: Buenos Aires, Argentina
Ending Location: San Francisco, CA
Miles Logged Today: 0Miles on motorcycle
Total Miles: 2313 miles

Morning Breakfast

Finally, a much more normal breakfast…  We were given eggs, fried ham, potatoes, and a host of other delicious items.  It seems that Buenos Aires is no longer a city of Adventure Travel, but instead, is simply a great big, cosmopolitan city, and the capital of Argentina.

A day of sightseeing

Peter, Leslie and I decided to leave the hotel at about 10:15 AM, and head out and enjoy the hop-on / hop-off bus tour of the city.  The first station stop for us was about a 4 block walk, and once we arrived, we waited for the first bus.  The first bus arrived, but would not allow us to board, because we would need to buy tickets and they could not sell them.

After waiting for 2 more buses, we were finally able to board and off we went for a day of sightseeing.  These buses seems like a real tourist thing to do, but after all of the high-stress adventure travel, a day on the bus, with a guided tour playing in your ear is a welcome change.

At about 12:30 we stopped for lunch, and found a nice community of artisans selling all types of wares.  I purchased a painting, and a few other items, and I know that Peter and Leslie were taken in by all of the “amazing things that we could purchase”.

In this section of the city, there were great little restaurants, and much in the style of New Orleans, on every 2nd story balcony, there were caricatures of figures, portraying roles like tango dancer, prostitute, mayor, etc.

We ended the tour at about 3:30 PM and headed to the hotel.

Dancing the tango

In case you’ve been in a closet for years, and don’t know much about Buenos Aires, it is one of the worlds most renowned places for Tango dancing.  And so, in these small communities of shops and restaurants, it’s not uncommon to see several exhibitions of tango dancers.

These two dancers were on a stage at our restaurant, and I was able to snap a few pictures of them.  Now, this picture is not one of my better shots, but at least it’s in focus.  The other pic’s were not really even in focus.

If I had to blame something, I would say that these damn tango dancers were moving so very fast, it was difficult to keep track of them and to film them satisfactorily.  In actual point of fact, there were other patrons in the way, I did not want to get up and leave my seat, and they were moving pretty fast overall.   So, perhaps you could forgive me on this…

Lunch – The best lunch of the trip

We found a little restaurant where we could order salads, and empanadas.  The Waldorf salad did not bear much of a resemblance to what I’m used to, but it was delicious.  The empanadas were baked, not deep fried, and while I only got the beef and chicken, Peter was a bit more ambitions, and he also ordered a ham and cheese empanada.  Go figure…

Airport departure

At exactly 4:45, I boarded a cab to the airport.  The traffic was very bad, and it it took over 70 minutes to get there.  After about 45 minutes of customs and immigration work, I headed to the Admirals club lounge to relax, look at email, and get ready for the trip home.

The flight home

So, here’s the thing.  We’ve all traveled quite a bit over the years, and there is seldom anything important that happens on the flight.  Such was the case for this flight. There is nothing extraordinary to report and after almost 20 hours of airports, and airplanes, I arrived at SFO, where my buddy Paul picked me up, and dropped me off at home.  It was nice to get home, a place with a welcome bed, and familiar territory.

So, what comes next

Well, the trip is over, and I’ll review all of the posts, correct the grammar, add some more pix, and work on the epilogues.  After that, it’s time to start planning the next trip.  Perhaps Alaska, or Mexico, or South America. Who knows…