"Dispatches from the Pampas"...Day 5...Monday, February 10, 2014

Wow...what a difference eight hours of sleep makes! I wake up this morning after 8:00AM, and I feel great. I head right downstairs to the street for a little cigar...then coffee in the lobby.
I've got "things" to do today...lunch, find camping supplies and get my duplicate ferry ticket situation straightened out. After coffee, I'm back in the room for a shower, clean clothes...post to the blog. Around 11:00, I'm ready for lunch. But first, I stop at the front desk ans "sell" $350.00 U.S. for 3500 Argentine Pesos. I could probably get 12 pesos to the dollar on the street, but I feel a lot safer doing it at the hotel. I brought almost enough U.S. dollars in cash to cover my whole stay here in Argentina...they are distributed around in my pocket, my wallet and a money belt (handy!).
My spot for lunch is on the other side of town from my hotel...a $6.00 cab ride. The restaurant doesn't open until 12:30, so I wander around the neighborhood (Palermo)...do a little "window shopping", stop for a coffee.
The restaurant, Osaka, specializes in South American/Japanese "Fushion" cuisine...it got mentioned on every "Top 10" list that I looked at for Buenos Aires. It turns out to be a great place. My waiter speaks great English, and he guides me through the menu...Braised Beef Dumplings with a Peruvian Chile Sauce, Sauteed Scallops with a Spicy Japanese Pepper Sauce, and Spicy Shrimp "Won Tons"...all washed down with several glasses of Torrontes, a white wine unique to South America (it is very much like Viognier from California or France...I'm guessing that they are related).
There's an American family seated behind me, so I turn around, introduce myself and ask where they're from. And, in one of those miraculous travel "coincidences", it turns out that they live in Hobe Sound, Florida...about 20 miles or so south of where I live in Palm City...small world!
After lunch, it's all business. I cab back to the hotel, and set off in search of camping supplies. I don't have to go far...just a few blocks from my hotel, there's a shop with isopropane canisters for my camping stove and a cheap cooler...success! Emboldened, I hike over a mile to an office for the ferry to see if I can get me ticket "mess" straightened out. It's tough going...it's very hot, very humid...and there's a light rain falling. By the time I get to the ferry office, I'm soaked. And...this particular office can not solve my problem...I have to go to the main office at the Port. But I do have one very critical bit of success. I have taken my Garmin GPS with me, and now I turn it on while walking to let it "synch" with new satellites. I would have a most difficult time navigating out of Buenos Aires without the Garmin, so it's a very nervous twenty minute wait...before...success!
So...I head back to the hotel, stopping several times for a beer...water...a snack. There's very much a big city "New York" feel here...people are well-dressed...women are quite attractive...many blondes.
Now, for the last two hours or so, I've been back in my hotel room...reading emails, posting to Facebook, posting to the blog.
It's almost 8:00PM and, when I finish this blog post, I'll be heading out to La Cabrera...a famous (touristy) Parilla (or Grill) for a very large piece of Argentinian beef, chorizo sausages and some crispy ("crujiente"!) sweetbreads...all washed down with an enormous quantity of Argentine Malbec wine.

"Dispatches from the Pampas"...Day 4, Sunday, February 9, 2014

Just a few last observations before I turn to the events of Sunday. I liked Lima a lot. The people are very friendly, Lima is a clean city...things work there. I really loved the bars in Lima. Pisco, distilled from grape juice/skins/seeds/stems, is the national drink. Most bars have a rows and rows of jars, in which Pisco is macerating with different flavors...coca, cinnamon, lime, tamarind and a host of local fruits. The display is colorful, and the drinks excellent (as well as potent).

My 7:00AM wake-up call this morning is brutal. While I did get a few hours of sleep, all those Pisco Sours and beers are exacting their revenge on this morning. I just finish my second cup of coffee and a shower when the phone rings...it's Lucy. We're having breakfast and then going to the airport together. She has been an attractive and most helpful companion. I made her the "Jefe de Pagado"...turning over cash, and letting her negotiate, figure out tips and pay. Every cab ride...every souvenir...there was Lucy chattering away in rapid-fire Spanish negotiating the price down. I saved a lot thanks to Lucy.
So...now...this morning, we have cafe con leche at the hotel and relax for an hour or so. At 9:00AM, we're off to the airport (at a discounted fare negotiated by "you know who"). We split up briefly while I check in (no problems), then rejoin right before security. We are able to relax again for another hour or so over coffee and a light breakfast.

And...then...it's time for me to go. Another tearful farewell...a friend who be missed.

I'm at the gate a full hour before boarding...time to relax and read a little. And then, I hear my name announced..."Mr. Thee William, please report to the gate, Mr. Thee William". After several decades of travel, I can tell you one thing...when they call your name at the gate, it is almost never a "good thing". In this case, they have found some "banned items" in my checked bags. I have to go with an agent and remove the items for disposal. This is not all bad...the agent is an attractive Peruvian gal who lived in Dallas for awhile and who speaks fluent English. I walk with her back through security and down into the bowels of the airport where the luggage gets handled. I've never been in such a place before, so it's kind of cool. We walk down a few dimly-lit corridors before arriving in a small room where one of my bags is sitting on a table. The banned items are three Zippo lighters and a can of iso-butane fuel for my camping stove. I find them right away, turn them over...then...back to the gate.
The flight from Lima to Buenos Aires is a little over four hours. I read, listen to music, have some wine and a light dinner. Shortly before dinner, they hand the Argentine "Customs Declaration", and I feel a moment of panic. Excepting clothes and books, you can bring in $300.00 worth of "goods"...everything above that is subject to a duty of 50% of value. I'm thinking, holy crap, I've got probably $1000.00 in camping equipment alone...not to mention cameras, iPod, and miscellaneous other stuff. I could soon be broke.
But, after immigration, I get my bags and...and...there's no one at customs. My bags go through the x-ray, and I'm out...no one is there to even look at my declaration. And that, in a way, sums up Argentina. It's a country that works...kinda. When I was working, we always had Argentine companies interested in our machine tools, but they couldn't ever buy any. Deflated currency and duties of close to 100% put U.S. goods out of reach...hmmm...need U.S. dollars?...a loan maybe...forget it. Argentina has defaulted on so much debt that there's no chance for an Argentine company to get a U.S. loan.
Now, I'm outside of the airport looking for transportation to my hotel. The cab ride that I expected to be around 200 Argentine Pesos is now close to 400 pesos. I look around...I bargain...dicker...no luck. So...all of the Argentine currency that I bought in the U.S. for this very purpose...all of it...goes to one cab ride.
Welcome to the world of "hyper-inflation". Imagine that your pay check loses...oh, say...20% in a month. How do you plan for that??? How do you contract to build a house...who bears the loss in value of the money? How, on earth, can a company negotiate a "long-term" supply contract?? I mean, it's possible, but there's so much risk...so many "hedges", "swaps", etc., it is extremely difficult to do business at all.
When I was in high school, there was an article in Time Magazine..."Brazil and Argentina...Poised for Take-off". That was several decades ago...and they haven't left the runway.
OK...no more politics.
It's after 11:00PM by the time that I check in at my hotel. I'm hungry, so I drop my bags in the room and head out for something to eat. Fortunately, like most Latin countries, Argentines eat late...so I find a nice Italian restaurant just up the block from my hotel. Some gnocchi with creamy mushroom sauce, a salad, and many glasses of red wine. They bring the bill...if I pay in U.S. dollars, dinner is about $20.00 but if I pay in Argentine pesos at the "official" exchange rate, dinner is almost $60.00. See what I mean?
Back to the hotel, post to the blog and sleep. After my Peruvian "burn-out", sleep is most welcome tonight!

"Dispatches from the Pampas"...Day 3...Saturday, February 8, 2014

Last night, the plan was to have dinner at a nice seafood restaurant called "La Mar". I awoke from my nap around 6:00PM or so, showered, dressed and headed downstairs to the hotel bar for a cocktail (or two). I asked the bartender to check on La Mar and found that it was closed. But...there was another nice seafood restaurant right down the street. I ended up having an excellent shrimp soup followed by fried shrimp...all washed down with a Pisco Sour con Coca and a few glasses of wine.
After dinner, I cabbed back to the area near my hotel for a little bar-hopping. I ended up running into my buddy from the night before, Lucy, who was out partying with friends. We ended up talking (and drinking) until well past 1:00AM. She's off tomorrow morning, knows the city like the back of her hand, and offers to serve as my "guide"...why not? So...we agree to meet the next morning for breakfast.
So...this Pisco stuff. It's distilled from grape uice, skins, seeds, stems, etc., which puts it in the brandy/grappa family. So it, along with wine and beer, is one of the essential building blocks for a large hangover.. When I awaken around 8:00AM or so on Saturday morning, the combination of Pisco, altitude, travel and late nights has me feeling a little "under the weather"...so to speak. I try my standard "cure" of coffee, Advil, Gatorade and 5-Hour Energy...and it helps...a little.
Lucy arrives at the hotel around 9:30, and we head out for a light breakfast of churros and coffee. Then we spend almost two hours hiking around and shopping. I'm looking for my standard "souvenir package" consisting of a ball cap, t-shirt and refrigerator magnet. The quality of souvenirs around the hotel is not so hot, so Lucy and I cab over to a mall where I manage to get a t-shirt and a soccer jersey. Then, we cab over to La Mar for a fantastic lunch of coca sours, tuna cebiche, whole grilled fish in a chile-spiked broth, and wine...lots of wine. After lunch, we cab to another mall overlooking the ocean...I find another t-shirt, and we stop for a few cocktails at a bar with a great view of the coast.
From there, it's over to another part of Lima and the "Mercado Indios", a series of stalls selling artisan goods. I find my cap and magnet, so now I'm set. Lucy is somewhere in her mid-30's, but "yours truly" is wearing her out on this day. All of this running around has got her "dragging", but I'm still going strong. In any case, we finally take a break, nap for two hours, then head out for cocktails and dinner. Between her poor English and my poor Spanish, we are able to communicate remarkably well...and...it's been awhile since I had a day where I laughed as much.
Around 7:00PM, we're back out for cocktails...followed by dinner at a nice "Parilla" (Grill) for steaks, baked potatoes, a huge salad, and a great bottle of Peruvian Malbec from the producer, Intipalka.
After dinner...more bar-hopping. Lucy's sister, Elba, and some other friends meet us for a few last cocktails. I love that name Elba...if you've read the book/seen the movie "The Time Traveler's Wife", you'll understand.
Around 2:00AM, I'm back at the hotel for five hours of sleep before my 9:00AM shuttle to the airport tomorrow morning for my flight to Buenos Aires. It's going to be a long day tomorrow...very long.

"Dispatches from the Pampas"...Day 2...Friday, February 7, 2014

With the exception of one very minor "bump", things could not have gone smoother yesterday for my flight to Lima, Peru.
I left home around 11:00AM for my 4:30PM flight and had a leisurely drive down to the Crowne Plaza Miami Airport where I arranged parking. I got right in the correct lot, and a bellman was there to help with luggage when the van to the airport arrived a few minutes later. At check in for my flight on LAN airways, the nice young lady asked if I had my "Reciprocity Tax" receipt for Argentina. Of course I did! My bags weighed in well under the limit and my aisle seat was confirmed.
The one minor "bump" occurred in the line for security. One of the LAN people pulled me out of line, claiming that my carry-on bag was too big. I was told to return to the nice lady who checked me in. She, in turn, took me back to the line at security and engaged in a heated exchange with the people there. Bottom line...I got through WITH my bag.
I had time for a few beers and a snack before boarding. My aisle seat was comfortable and they had a great selection of free snacks and nice wines. Flight time was 5 1/2 hours, so I was able to watch "Gravity" (excellent), "Captain Phillips" (good) and about half of "The Incredible Now" (excellent).
Upon arrival in Lima at 10:00PM, I breezed through immigration and, after a long wait for my bags, I sailed through customs. Before I left home, I checked on what the cab fare should be from the airport to my hotel...$30.00. In the airport, I had a lot of people approach me to offer a deal on a taxi...$60.00. I ignored them and found a cab driver who agreed to make the trip for 90 Nuevo Soles AND let me smoke a cigar on the way.
My hotel, the Casa Andina Select, is very nice...very much a "business hotel". Although it was not my first choice in Lima, I got a great rate through Expedia. After checking in, I immediately headed out for "refreshments". There's a large park about a ten minute walk from my hotel...Parques Central y Kennedy. Around the park, there are lots of little restaurants, bars and cafes open late. So...I was able to enjoy a few beers (Cusquena and cristal were both good brands) and a few snacks. I did not see or partake of the local Peruvian "specialty"...roasted Guinea Pig.
I was not at a loss for "companionship". Lots of attractive young ladies approached me as I walked or sat next to me at the bar. One particular girl, Lucy, was admirably persistent, so I ended up buying her a beer. But, tired after a long day, I headed back to the hotel at 1:00AM for a good night's sleep.
This morning, I slept in until 8:30AM. I sat in front of the hotel with a cigar and a coffer for awhile before heading off for breakfast. I found a little cafe where I enjoyed cafe con leche and those nice fried pastries, churros.
After breakfast, I walked around the city (I'm staying in the Miraflores section) and did a lot of people watching. Also cat watching, as this city is full of feral cats...they're everywhere. So...I felt very much at home. Lima is a remarkably clean city...this morning, there were municipal workers everywhere sweeping up trash and washing down the sidewalks. The people are attractive...women and men alike are, for the most part, well-dressed. The culture is an interesting mix of the indigenous people, Spanish and Japanese.
Around 1:00PM, I went to a nice restaurant for lunch, Al Fresco. I had a few Pisco Sours, some excellent shrimp ceviche and tuna tartare...and a few beers. After lunch, more walking and people watching until 3:00PM or so. Then, it was time for my daily nap of 2-3 hours...from which I have just awakened. When I finish this blog p[ost, I'll be heading out for a few cocktails before dinner at a place called La Mar (renowned for seafood). I've got another full day here in Lima before flying on to Buenos Aires.

"Dispatches from the Pampas"...Day 1...Thursday, February 6, 2014

So...in about two hours, I'll be leaving for Miami Airport and a flight to South America for a month-long camping trip.
Last year, on the way back from Costa Rica, I started to plan this trip. Years ago in Geography class, I spent a few days studying Argentina, and I was fascinated...Tango, Cowboys, beef...and penguins! Thus, Argentina became the focus of my trip planning. Later around New Years, my friends, Andreas and Simone, were visiting...and Uruguay came up. Why not?
This is a trip that, more or less, planned itself. Argentina is a huge country...so what to see...where to go? Sometimes, there is the temptation to want to see everything...and by doing so, you really don't see anything. In this case, less is more". Instead of trying to see all of Argentina, I'm just concentrating on two areas...Buenos Aires and Mendoza (wine country!).
Today, I fly to Lima, Peru, and I have three nights there. Lima has acquired a reputation as a "culinary destination", so I will be eating (and drinking) well. Sunday, I fly to Buenos Aires, and I have three full days/nights there. I've lined up reservations at three of the best steakhouses in the city. I've also got errands to run in Buenos Aires, mainly to pick up the camping supplies that I can't take with me on the plane...butane/propane for my stove, a small grill, a cooler, etc. A week or so from today, I pick up a rental car in Buenos Aires for the six hundred mile "road trip" to Mendoza. And for the next two weeks, I'll be camping in the foothills of the Andes at several National and Provincial Parks. In Mendoza, I've got winery tours, tastings and lunches lined up at all of my favorite Argentinian wineries...great fun! Then, it's six hundred miles back to Buenos Aires, and a ferry trip from there to Uruguay. I pick up another rental car in Montevideo and spend five days camping along the coast before returning to Montevideo for three days. Finally, I take the ferry back to Buenos Aires and fly home on March 6...arriving early on the morning of the 7th.
Planning this trip was interesting, to say the least. I ordered a "micro SD card" from Garmin...so my GPS will work in both Argentina and Uruguay. Argentina has an extremely high inflation rate, so I'm taking more cash than I would normally. I bought a money belt, and most of my cash is stored in there. The "official" exchange rate is around 4.5 pesos to the dollar, but the "black market" rate is closer to 9 pesos to the dollar.
Like last year's trip to Costa Rica, I faced the challenge of getting everything that I need (clothes, camping equipment) in two duffel bags...and each bag had to come in under fifty pounds. My Costa Rica Packing List served as the template for this year. Each item was weighed on a professional digital scale accurate to 1/100th of an ounce. Yesterday, I took my packed duffel bags up to Publix and weighed them on the big Toledo scale. One came in at 42.5 pounds, and the other at 44.5 pounds...success!
Over the next four weeks or so, I'll be blogging whenever I have Internet access. It's going to be a great adventure!

Fall/Winter 2013

I was back from Alaska just in time for UM football. And, although it was a disappointing season, I had a great time.
Robin and I "camped" in the RV lot for the night game against Notre Dame...great fun.
I met up with Roger and Gretchen in Connecticut for the UCONN game. This also involved a few fun days in Boston. In Connecticut, I bought a new camper!!!!
And...I got to spend some quality time with my very close friends, Dave and Marschia in Middletown, Delaware.
I had a great party (bad game) for UM/MSU...a great opportunity to reconnect with many of my friends.
I headed down to Florida with the cats in November. Other than having to throw the forty-year friend turned thief out of my Florida home, it was an uneventful trip. I settled right in down here.
I traveled over to cousin Bill's for a few days in early December...left the camper. Bill performed miracles on the camper...it is now "tricked out" just the way I want it. Bill does all of these things and asks nothing in return. He is the brother that I never had.
Bill came over here for Christmas...much fun. We had a great Christmas dinner od stone crabs and crab cakes.
My very good friends from Germany, Andreas and Simone, flew in to Atlanta and drove down here to spend New Years. This was, for me, wonderful. We had a spectacular "blow-out" gourmet dinner (with wines, of course). We went on a "swamp tour" in Okeechobee...ate well...and drank a LOT of wine. I was so sorry that they had to leave.
And now...it's February. And I am about to leave on another great adventure.
But I'll go through all of that in the next post.

"North to Alaska"...Day 51...Wednesday, July 24, 2014..."My Trip Comes to a Premature End"

I know what you're thinking. You're wondering why it has taken me seven months to update and close out the blog for my trip to Alaska with my cousin, Bill. Well...it's a long (and sad) story.
The morning after my last post (July 23), I got a call from my broker in Florida...it's bad news. There are "family problems". I need to hire a lawyer and...worst of all...I need to get down to Florida ASAP.
I won't bore you with the details, but this story involves an ungrateful mother, a scheming half-brother, and an individual who had been among my closest friends for over forty years...and whose treachery (and thievery) set all of these events in motion.
Three days after that last post, I put my vehicle and my camper in a storage yard in Anchorage. That night, I had a nice dinner with cousin Bill...and...at midnight, I was on a flight back to Detroit.
Then, four days of gathering financial records and shipping them to my lawyers in Florida. Then a flight down to Florida...and three very long weeks of meetings with lawyers and accountants.
And...Florida is not a place that you want to be in August...hot, humid, rainy. And the costs...thousands of dollars in travel...thousands in attorney fees and thousands in accountant fees. After three weeks, things are "stabilized", but by no means "fixed".
I fly back to Alaska at the very end of August. I get my camper and vehicle out of storage...and start the drive home. It's not a "happy" drive...just go and get home. I made it home in just eight days.

Now, seven months later, some of the damage has been repaired and some of the issues resolved. Financially, everything has been rectified...the thief's family has repaid his theft in full. My mother has been made whole. I have been made whole. So...things are better. Better...but things will never be the same.