Judy and I took off from Sacramento International Airport January 11 at 8 AM. The first leg of the journey was to Washington DC. We were stuck there for five hours waiting to board the next plane to Buenos Aires, our interim destination.

We asked if there was something we could do in the five hour waiting period and we were told that we had to go through two other buildings, grab a taxi, drive ten miles to civilization. When we came back we would have to go through security again, which almost seems like a strip search anymore.

Luckily, while we were waiting, we did not see any politicians nor did President Bush come by to say hello. This is probably a good thing, since meeting any politicians on our journey would spoil our vacation.

Lago Nahel Huapi Bariloche

Our flight time to Washington was four hours and our flight time from Washington DC to Buenos Aires was ten hours and forty minutes. Client comfort with United Airlines is not on the top of their list. The food they serve in card board boxes can only be described as barely eatable or worst. I am sure they recycle the boxes for flour and make the bread for their sandwiches with it.

Sleeping is even more fun, they have three classes for flying, first class, business class and sardine class. Unfortunately we were in sardine class, with six inches less leg room then any human being has. I did manage to sleep, thanks to a powerful sleeping pill and a voodoo spell that a friend put on me, which managed to over come even United Airlines seating arrangements for sardine class.

After arriving in Buenos Aires we boarded a bus to Bariloche. The bus was a super deluxe bus, with seats that folded down into a bed, with dinner and breakfast served. We were on the bus seventeen hours, but it was much, much more comfortable then the plane. They even gave us a glass of champagne at night!

During our bus trip we went through the Pampas which is very flat, with sage brush. It reminded me very much of areas of Nevada. Areas that were cultivated were planted in corn and sun flowers. Further on, pine trees were planted in scattered areas. The weather was clear, with a light rain just prior to arriving in Bariloche.

This is the bus we were on with sleeping accomadations.

After arriving in Bariloche we got a taxi to the place that we are staying for five days. The apartment we are living in is part of the package of an immersion Spanish class. The woman we are staying with is a teacher in an elementary and she has a ten year old son.

Bariloche is much like our Lake Tahoe at an elevation of 770 meters. It borders a very large lake (Lago Nahuel Huapi) with kite surfing and wind surfing. It is on the southern shore of Lago Nahuel Huapi. This is the centre for exploring the Nahual Huapi National Park. Looking at a map of the area, it seems that most of it is either national park or protected areas with not too much private land. Argentine seems to be a leader in conservation compared to other South American Countries. Argentina has conserved most of their rain forest, whereas Brazil has destroyed a large portion of theirs.

Bariloche is a tourist town, with a cool climate in the summer and skiing in the winter. The price for a good steak dinner costs between twenty four to twenty eight pesos. Translated to dollars that is about six to nine dollars. Not bad, considering that the meat is range fed with no hormones, and all the other junk they feed cattle in the US. You really can taste the difference, and when I go to Argentina, I eat more beef here in two weeks then I do in the US in a year.

A tip to remember if you travel to Argentina is to exchange your dollars at a bank. The exchange rate is 3.16 pesos to the dollar. If you go to a money exchanger instead, you will get 2.7 pesos to the dollar or less. You also need to call if you are using a credit card and let them know that you are traveling out of the country or you may not be able to use your card when you get here.