Its three weeks since the last entry! I will get back into the swing of things with a quick catchup.
After moving into our apartment on Sunday 7th we spent the next few days doing the tourist thing, lunch with Max and family, a city tour, a visit to the famous Buenos Aires cemetery, an afternoon in a Tango Hall watching locals dancing (both well and poorly), and time walking the famous Avenida Florida to look at the craft stalls.
Nina departed for the US on the evening of Thursday 11th. Her mission was to see the boys (and prove to them she is OK - see below for more details).
In the week that she was away, I spent time indulging my inner nerd with the wifi service in the apartment
Writing a backup program for Nina's ever growing photo collections and,
with a lot of help from our eldest son (who is in Phoenix visiting Nina) started an overhaul of the whiteacorn website that I hope will be complete and visible in a few more weeks.
In addition I made a few visits to the Tiger to organize some repairs, and did some of my own exploring of the city and taking in the atmosphere.
Nina returned from the US as scheduled on the morning of Friday 19th. She sailed through the Argentine customs process without a fuss - making a joke of our worries, and stories we had heard, that they would want to charge exorbitant duty on the numerous supplies of parts, food, and electronics she was bring back with her.
With Nina back in charge the tourism and organization really ramped up again. We took in a really enjoyable Tango show on Saturday night. Sunday was a washout with heavy rain so we did not get to see the street markets and performers again.
Monday we had our interview with the Brazilian consulate for our visa. Despite our planning we did not have all the required paper work - we had filled in the wrong application form. Fortunately we could complete the correct one using a computer in the consulate office. With that complete we paid our money and were told to pick up our passports with visas Tuesday at 12:00.
Monday afternoon we collected the Tiger from its temporary home and navigated our way back into the city and our apartment, parked in the local parking station and transferred most of our belongings from the apartment to the Tiger.
Tuesday we moved the Tiger back to its dock area parking lot, vacated the apartment, and picked up the Brazil visa, and spent the remainder of the day touring the souvenir shops of Buenos Aires.
Nina's Report on an unpleasant incident
We are back on the road today. I am writing this from the Buquebus Ferry on route to Colonia Uruguay.
For those of you, who I have not spoken to recently I need to tell you of an incident I experienced in order to keep our journal truthful to events.
In February the day after the wonderful excursion to see the rock hopper penguins, I was attacked in the shower by a man brandishing a knife and rope. We struggled for some time as I fought off his attempt to rape me. In the process I managed to bite him several times and finally got the knife from his grasp. In the process I cut his hand and eventually he fled still fully clothed. I had a cut hand and light bruising to my neck, arms and hip. I fled from the scene in just a towel.
We did not report the incident at the time as no one in the town spoke English and I just wanted to leave and get away. Subsequently I have written to various organizations to report the incident.
The delay in describing this incident to you was so I could Skype my sisters and visit with Rick and Brendon and assure them all, that I was fine and that only my hand was injured and I was not covering up other problems. While in Phoenix I saw a doctor and was checked for the aides virus and Hep C, both okay at this time, will be checked again in 6 months. My hand he said, was healing well and I just needed to keep up the hand cream and exercises for it.
Rob and the boys have hardly let me out of their sight since, being escorted to everything from bathroom and showers to shopping malls and concerts. Rob suggested terminating our trip and shipping home from Buenos Aires but that was never on my agenda. As we have not felt in danger at any time, the thought of ending the trip did not seem an option and we have so much more to see and do.
We will just have to take more care of each other.
Camping
Tonight we are back at the parking lot in Puerto Madera where we spent our first night in Buenos Aires. It's a bit of a shock to be cramped back in the Tiger and serenaded by the roar of heavy trucks.
Brazil Visa
The Brazilian visa turned out to be pretty straightforward, but along the way was plagued by poor and misleading information. Just for the record
an appointment is necessary, and must be arranged by phone. We used the tourist office in Santa Fe Ave to make the call for us.
an application form must be filled in. This is best done using the computers in the Brazil consulate office. You don't need a copy of the application just the number that is displayed on the screen after you have finished filling in the form.
you will need to show a return ticket, or if driving a rough itinerary to prove you will leave eventually.
you will need to show a credit card and may need to show bank statements, to prove you have the funds to support yourself.
you will also need a single passport photograph, and
of course you will need cash (pesos) to pay for the visas.
