26 hours in Charlotte

We are back in the US....but not for long!  We got back to Charlotte on Sunday around noon after spending a couple of days in Buenos Aires.  What a fantastic city!  Though it was very unplanned, Argentina worked out just fine and we got to visit another country.  We wish we could have gotten there sooner!  Buenos Aires is the Paris of the south and definitely has a European feel to it.  It's a very clean city, with parks galore and great food and shopping.  There seems to be quite a bit to do in the area, though we didn't get to do too much.  We arrived from Rio Gallegos around 5:45am on Friday and went to our hostel and eventually were able to check in.  Unfortunately, we were so tired we had to have a late morning/afternon siesta. 

When we got up we headed to the main plaza, The Plaza del Mayo, to walk around and see some of the city.  We stopped by the Presidential Palace (where the Evita - "Don't Cry for me Argentina' took place) and walked down by the port and stopped in a restaurant on the water.  Tango is the national dance, so a popular touristy thing that's highly recommended to do is attend a Tango dinner theatre.  Our hostel had made the arrangements for us, so after our walk around the plaza and port we went to dinner theatre, La Ventana.  Dinner was served first, then the performance followed.  Wow!  We both really enjoyed the show with all the dancing, costumes, and music.  The dancers were very talented and most could sing.  They also had a set of traditional Argentinean folk music which was upbeat and fun. 

On Saturday afternoon we decided to do a tour of Buenos Aires and Tigre, which is a small town north of the city.  We started out in Buenos Aires in a van for the first part of the tour.  Then we drove to Tigre and everyone got out of the van and boarded a boat to take a ride down the Tigre River.  This little town seems to be very laid back and its very clean and quaint.  From what we could tell this is where people come from Buenos Aires for vacation in summer.  There we nice homes, private clubhouses, beaches, and restaurants all up and down the river.  We relaxed in the sun and took in all the scenery.  After the river, we got on a train that took us 5 stops to a neat shopping area in another town.  Then we got picked up by the van and we went back to Buenos Aires.  Our flight was at 10:30pm, so we grabbed our backpacks from the hostel and went to the airport.  Overall, our South America trip was amazing despite getting stuck there a little longer than planned.  It's hard to say where our favorite place was.  All 3 countries were amazing and full of beautiful scenery. 

Scott and I are now in LA.  We got here earlier tonight.  Though our time in Charlotte was very short, we were very glad we got back...if only for 26 hours!  We got to visit with Scott's family and have Sunday dinner, do some laundry, and repack everything.  We also researched more about Australia and New Zealand.  Tomorrow (Tuesday) we leave from LA around 8:00pm and fly to Sydney.  It's about a 15 hour flight.  I think that's the longest flight both of us have ever been on.  From Sydney we fly to Christchurch, New Zealand (its on the south island).  We get there on Thursday around 3pm.  It's late summer/early fall there so we should have some beautiful days ahead of us.  We're also looking forward to being amongst the English speaking and hearing their accents!  Thanks for checking in again.  We'll update again in New Zealand.  Let's hope for no natural disasters there...