Another wacky RVO photo travelogue

[Diane]

Well, it's time for me to take another relaxing (not) business trip to someplace that would be exotic and fun - - - 8 day, 7 nights, 6 flights, 3 countries, 9 meetings plus a conference... But I promise funny stories and pictures will definitely be forthcoming.

So look for photos coming soon from the following locales:

Santiago, Chile - don't expect many, we arrive Friday at 6:30 am, meeting with 2 companies + business dinner and depart the next morning at 9 am.

Buenos Aires, Argentina - Saturday afternoon meeting, I will have all day Sunday to look around, however it is not exactly the kind of place where you wander off by yourself, so may try to get a day trip to an estancia to see the gauchos and have local food and wine.

Sao Paulo, Brazil - again, not a place to go off on your own, ... but have one day to try to get to see something, maybe botanic gardens..

Well, gotta go dig out my business suits, things are much more formal there...

[Cjcorner]

Sounds exotic and fun. Don't forget to pack the tums....exotic foods always seem to have extra spices. lol
Connie

[Brutal_Dreamer]

Have a very safe trip and remember we are are looking forward to your stories, photos, and especially to your safe return!

Cheers,
BD

[Kerry]

Have a good trip Diane!

[Piper]

Why are Buenos Aires and Sao Paulo not places to go off alone?

McJulie

[Diane]

Very dangerous, especially for easy to spot tourists. Sao Paulo is actually considered one of the most dangerous cities world wide for people to visit unescorted. Our vendors or the hotels are all providing cars and drivers for us so we won't get picked up by gypsy taxis that can rob you or even kidnap you - especially American business people that can be held for ransom.

[padams2359]

Sidney Resso was the uncle of a very close friend. If they say don't go out alone, take the warning.

[Diane]

Well, it is Sunday, and we are in Buenos Aires. We made it through an exhausting Friday, being awoken at 5 am local time (2 am California time) to prepare for landing in Santiago. We made it through the immigration and customs and got to our hotel about 8 am. We paid 1/2 days rent to get rooms at that time (Check in is 3 pm) so we could sleep a little, shower and change. We had 2 meetings and they went well. Made it back to the hotel at 6 pm and had to go to the mall because my boss forgot dress shoes and the airline broke his bag.

The weather in Santiago was warm enough that my suit jacket was all I needed during the day. But I put my coat on in the evening. It is so odd to suddenly be in spring! The mountains were obscured by clouds, so no photos of them. People were very friendly and the food was excellent. My boss speaks spanish fluently, and he is constantly making fun of my efforts to speak spanish whenever I can come up with the right words... (not in a mean way, we are good friends).

We left the hotel in Chile late Saturday morning. Here is a photo of the hotel interior - looking up from the lobby. Every room is a window room.



I made friends with the hotel cat. She was sunning herself, curled up on one of the cushions of the chairs out by the pool. Didn't have my camera with me or you would be subjected to a picture of her... she was very friendly and loved being scratched. The gardener was out there and he smiled and nodded to me when he noticed I was petting the cat.


We made it to Buenos Aires at 5:00 pm local time (1 hour ahead of Chile) Saturday evening. The hotel had sent a car for us. This is a nice hotel, large rooms but only about 10 per floor. We planned to do a city tour today(Sunday), but after reading the detailed brochure, decided it was just a long bus ride with only 3 places where they stopped for pictures. We were going to go out for a walk Saturday evening and find a place for dinner but the concierge stopped us and said we should not go out walking at night. They offered to get us a taxi, but we decided just to eat in the hotel.

This morning I went down to ask if it was safe to go out during the day by myself, as they have soccer on 24/7 and my boss was glued to his TV. The concierge took out a map and carefully marked 2 streets that he said it was safe for me to walk alone. I went down the first street and only a block and a half from the hotel saw a man trying to break into an office building. I had seen a policeman just around the corner, so I went back to get him. With my poor spanish I did manage to get my point accross and the policeman came with me. When we turned the corner the guy saw us and ran down the block. The policeman just shrugged and walked back to his corner. I was going to continue my walk (to the waterfront) on the next street, but then I saw the 'bad guy' coming back so I turned around and went back to the hotel.

Later in the afternoon my boss and I walked together down the other 'safe' street and had no problems. But this is downtown, and almost nothing is open on Sunday. We passed a couple of parks, and I saw a few local birds but did not take my camera with me for fear of being a target... There are many homeless people who sleep in the park on the grass at night. Hopefully tomorrow when more people are about I'll be able to look around a bit more and get some photos.

Forgot to mention - when we arrived in Buenos Aires we were given 2 brochures at immigration, one cautioned about all the counterfeit currency there is and the other was a warning not to take taxis unless you used the taxi booth or had your hotel order one for you!

Diane

Oh, Yeah, here are a couple of shots of the Andes from the airplane. Not great shots, and there is always turbulence when you are flying over mountains. But still, it's the Andes.

[ischel1]

Diane, the Andes pics turned out really well. Didn't know about the safety issues in Buenos Aires. Thanks for the info y take care!!!
ischel

[Diane]

There are homeless people everywhere, and here they sleep on the grass in the park accross from the hotel. Some lay down cardboard, others have sleeping bags, some sleep on plastic garbage bags. A few, as you will see below, brave the benches.