The rest of Buenos Aires

Our camera battery died and we didn't have the charger and we had a horrible internet connection at the apartment so I didn't blog.  I realized that it is important to write right away or else you forget everything!  On Friday we did a "This was Papa's life" tour including a tour of his school, neighborhood, train line, and house.  He started a post and will hopefully upload it soon.

We tried to hit as many cafes as possible....

At Havanna's - a cafe, but more importantly a place that makes some yummy chocolate/dulce de leche treats

A Havannet - can't go wrong there

At the cafe on the corner of our street (Como en Casa) sin chicos!

I mentioned that there were a lot of dog walkers but we ended up not getting to the big parks until Sunday so I only got a few neighborhood shots.  What I enjoyed about BA was that people had "substantial" dogs.

If only it paid well....

I'll get one soon - really.

They even have special parking areas for their dogs

On Saturday we had a very active day.  We started off meeting Rob's second cousin Ariel at his apartment in San Isidro, a suburb of BA.  He then took us on a ride on his boat to his island in El Tigre.  From what I gathered, the Parana River comes out in a delta at Tigre.  There are a series of rivers (canals) and islands where people have mostly second homes but some people live year round. It eventually leads into the Rio de la Plata (really more of an estuary) that heads to the ocean.  Ariel has a home as well as 10 hectares of land with a few other structures/houses on it where friends can stay for the weekend.  It is about a 25 minutes boat ride from the marina.  Ariel let the kids all control the boat for a while and they were thrilled (and wearing life jackets)   Because of periodic flooding most of the houses are on stilts or the lower floor is just storage.  Ariel had a bedroom on his lower floor but he attached floating devices to the mattresses to avoid damage.  The high water marks on the first floor were easily 4 feet off of the ground.  Renee is definitely realizing that she is more comfortable in rural rather than urban areas.

Where are Ariel's hands?????

I was facing backwards - I couldn't look ;-)

She got the wettest and loved it!

The main house (notice the massive wisteria in the back)

Ariel

Walking around the property

We ended the day with a tea (and mate) at a friend of Rob's and her family.  There are four sisters and they all gathered together, some with their children and husbands. Some people left early because Argentina was playing in the rugby World Cup - who knew there even was one?  They won against Georgia and will be in the semi-finals next weekend against New Zealand (the host country).

The ceremonial passing of the Mate

Sunday we went to the BA zoologico which ended up being a bit rushed but a lot of fun.  It was a bit run down and extremely crowded but we saw our share of llamas (and their relatives) as well as some funny looking things that we are still trying to identify that were wandering around everywhere - anyone??   They were lacking interpretative signage throughout the zoo but most things were at least familiar.

What are these????

We finished with a quick tea with Rob's uncle Jorge, his wife Mimi and his daughter Paula before headed back home.

There was so much more to do but we'll save it for another visit in February.

P.S.  Google is amazing.  I think that these things are Mara.  "These large relatives of guinea pigs are common in the Patagonian steppes of Argentina but live in other areas of South America as well such as Paraguay. Maras are the fourth largest rodent in the world, after capybaras, beavers, and porcupines, reaching about 45 cm (18 in) in height."  Rodent family - no wonder Renee liked them!