Well, I am about halfway through the first leg of the second leg of my six-months of travel. I can hardly believe it! In some ways, it seems like I just started out! But, two mornings ago, I boarded a plane in Buenos Aires at 8:00 am (was up at 4:00 am) to head for San Jose, Costa Rica, the last chunk of my journey. Lee has left me to go back to work…..party pooper….But, I am meeting another friend, Jody, in Costa Rica. She’s a lot of fun, too. So, I’m sure I will have a few more fun tales to tell you about! Stay tuned.
But, before I move on, I wanted to do a round up of this leg of the journey before I got off to the next! We saw, heard, and did a few fun things that just didn’t fit into any of the posts. But, I really wanted to share them because they were unique…and fun, of course! So, here goes!
At our “closed-door” dinner in Buenos Aires at the beginning of the trip, we learned from our chef that Argentina has a shortage of iPhones and tampons. I bet you are wondering how that little gem came up in casual conversation. Honestly, I can’t remember, but Lee and I (and the others at the table) got a real chuckle out of this. I think the chef was kidding….or not….when he told us we could make some good money selling tampons on the “black market”. Lee and I considered looking into this and went to some stores to do some “market research”. We found that, indeed, there were very few tampons in any of the stores. And, you could only buy 2 packs of 8 tampons at a time. The clerk also kept a list of the sales whenever someone made a purchase. There were lots of pads, which made no sense to us. Don’t the pads use more material? Why wouldn’t those be limited instead? HMMMM… Anyway, if anyone wants to start a business in Buenos Aires let me know. This could be your chance to make it big! HA!
As we were researching the trip, Lee and I both read about the love that the Argentinians have for their dogs. We were told over and over again in the tour books about all of the doggie doo doo we would see in Buenos Aires. We did see some, but, frankly, not as much as I saw in France. What we did see were dog walkers taking the dogs on their constitutionals tethered together on leashes with multiple hooks. It was quite funny to see. When we were on a tour bus on one of stops, we went by one such group. The bus driver stopped and the dog walker lined all the dogs up facing us so that we could get a good picture of this phenomenon. It was a stitch. Here they all are posing for the cameras!
On one of our first days in Buenos Aires, I told you that Lee and I walked to the center of the city to view the area of all of the governmental buildings. There was a small market going on there (in addition to the protests I told you about in a prior post). Odd combination! By now, I have gone to just about every market in every town that I have visited. And, believe me, I thought I had seen just about everything. But, no. There in the middle of town was a display of electric current converters….just in case you need to plug something in right there in the center of the city! Really?!
When we visited the Recolletta cemetery in the first day of our trip, Lee and I looked high and low for a marker that said “Conesa”. She thought that some of her ancestors may have lived in Buenos Aires …….and, consequently, died there. Sadly, we were not able to find one. However, when reviewing the map at the end of one of the days, Lee saw a street that bore her name….very exciting! We decided that we would visit the street the next day and get a picture. After all, it’s not every day that you see a street that bears your name! As she continued to review the map, guess what she found…..a street right next to “Conesa Street” that was called “Cramer”…..Mike’s last name. We could hardly believe it. Conesa and Cramer right next to each other! It’s a sign…..I’m not sure what it’s a sign of, but it’s a sign….literally…..
Here’s the last one….when we visited the Falkland Islands, we went out to “Gypsy Cove” to look at the penguins (I told you that story.) I mentioned that the Falklands is a British holding now. But, it had been an Argentinian holding as well. Long story short…….there was a great “war” and now it’s owned by the British. When we exited the bus at this nature reserve what did we find, but a facility for the British to have tea when they were done viewing the Penguins. Spot of tea anyone?
OK….done…..Now that I have this out of my system, in my next post, I can begin to tell you some things about my experiences with Jody in our first days in Costa Rica. Here’s’ what I can tell you so far. We are permanently drenched in sweat. I’m not kidding. It’s as “hot as the hinges of Haiti” here (as my mother would say). And, the next days look the same! When we came back from exploring Quepos today, I was soaking wet and have never smelled so bad. But, hours after the end of our day, I am sitting on the little deck at our apartment and have still not showered. I can literally scrape the dried sweat that is mixed with the three rounds of sunscreen I applied today from every part of my body. I am starting to think that there is really no point in showering. Maybe I will just wait until I am ready to go home….or maybe not if I want to continue my friendship with Jody! HA!
My thought for this fine evening is this……hydrate, hydrate, hydrate and throw in a shower every now and then!
Travel With Betsy 
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