Our last day in Buenos Aires was spent packing and doing last minute shopping. I had seen some lovely jewelry made with Argentina's pink stone called Inca Rose, also known as Rodochrosite, a rare mineral of Manganese Carbonate. George knew of some shops where they sold pieces at reasonable prices but they were closed Friday morning so we ploughed through the throngs of people shopping on Florida Street, a pedestrian-only street. We hit every jewelry store for 3 blocks until we found one tucked away in a small shopping mall branching off the main street. There Glen found the necklace I wanted. We had seen pendant necklaces with earrings and beaded ones but this necklace was different with beads and silver bars. It definitely was what I had been looking for.
We headed to the airport at 12:45 despite the fact our plane didn't leave until 5pm. We arrived about 15 minutes before Air Canada opened their wickets and were through in jig time as they thought the old Elite tag Glen has on one of his bags meant we deserved better service. George even got his airport tax paid because they thought he was the one who had the Elite status. Security was done quickly and unlike Mexico, they didn't search our checked bags. We'd go through security two more times before the trip home ended.
The plane took off on time but landed in Chile 2.5 hours later. We had to disembark, go through security and wait to get back on what I think was the same plane. We had seats in an exit row so they did not recline which meant we slept sitting straight up. Again we were glad we had our neck pillows although Glen used the seat's neck cushions. They fed us well and since booze was free, I had an extra beer to put me to sleep.
We arrived in Toronto, went through customs and security. We arrived at the gate for our Calgary flight just as they began boarding. The poster tube which George had checked did not appear with his bags so we wrote it off as lost in transit. The flight home seemed short when compared to the 11 hours we spent on the plane from Chile to Toronto.
In true Calgary fashion, it took forever to get our luggage and while we waited, George's name was called. They had the poster tube in Toronto and would deliver it to the lab on Tuesday. We piled into the car and headed home. Unfortunately, we hit a road block so had to double back and take a different route home. In the end, it took us 26 hours to go from our hotel in Buenos Aires to home.
After a quick lunch, I unpacked then had a two hour nap. I was craving vegetables since meat is the focus of most Argentinian meals so made a stir-fry for supper. We think we went to bed at 8:30 but were so tired, it could have been anytime.
In reading over my last blog, I noticed I made a mistake in the name of the cemetery which was really a necropolis. It is called La Recoleta. I also made some spelling mistakes--cemetery is not spelled with an 'a'. I was exhausted when I wrote the post so that is my excuse. I hope to get my photographs mounted over the next few days so watch for them.
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