Fly back to the States

After a successful completion of the tour to Argentina we flew back to the USA on 25-FEB-2008. Oh by the way, we celebrated Sir Lincoln Harrison's 75th birthday on the flight back to the USA. He was very humble to receive a good cheering from a flight full of tourists, businessmen and some Mad Dogs.

Looking back at the tour here are some highlights. Cricket in Argentina is now 100+ years old. In my opinion, due to a strong influence of European colonization (mainly British) Argentina was left with some great sports facilities - Polo, Cricket, Rugby, Golf, etc.

Warm climate (for the most part), warm people provided us with an awesome experience. City of Buenos Aires has lot of history - Museums (incl the great club ;)), Parks, Clubs, Pubs, Restaurants - always a happening city, a city on the move.

Tips to the tourist:
1. Do not exchange money at the airport. They pay 15% less than local banks.
2. Learn little Spanish before arriving.
3. Talk to people who have been there before for ideas and suggestions.
4. Plan your trip way ahead of time.
5. Use only taxi's that say "Radio Taxi". Buenos Aires has about 25,000+ taxis and the ones that are legit and most likely "would not take you on a ride" are the ones that say "Radio Taxi". The others will most likely take you on a city tour every time you get into one.

One thing that caught our attention is - there were no clocks to be found around the city. The traffic (both vehicular and pedestrian) slows down around 3:00AM'ish - an easy indication of the time to call it a night. Wednesday nights, 2000+ people, partying until 4:00AM - might be very few places in the world that showcase such a party facade of the city.

Neil Kimberley, before going on the tour told me - "if you like beautiful women and big steaks, you will enjoy the tour". Looking back now, "you will enjoy the tour" is clearly an understatement. As Jaideep would put it - "muchos mazaa (fun in Hindi)".

Beef is a primary export of Latin American countries - they have some of the lovely steaks to cater to the palette of a tourist and South America definitely presents us with quite charming and beautiful women. As part of their culture women kiss men on their cheek. I must admit that I have never been kissed so many times on my cheek in such a short span of time. I like their culture, obviously ;-)

We picked up some Spanish while we were finding our ways through the city. Enjoyed our games thoroughly. Received great hospitality. Towards the end of the tour, I had misplaced my camera - on the last day - and was quite worried, not because I might have lost my camera, but because I have some very important pictures on that device. After an hour of searching around, I finally found my camera to a great sigh of relief. I am a happy soul now :-)

Some pictures from the tour -

ArgentinaTour2008