Adios, Argentina

Our last day in the city, we returned to one of our favorite neighborhoods from our visit last year, Palermo Soho. This sort of Bohemian, artsy area is a quiet change from the noisy, bustling areas near Avenida Nueve de Julio with its twelve lanes of traffic.

Time may not stand still here, but this neighborhood does seem a world apart.
Some of the buildings are evidence of another era, when architectural ornamentation was important.

For others, the ornament may be intended or unintended art work.

 Many of the streets are tree-lined,  and flowers are plentiful.

There are plenty of reasons to suppose that Palermo Soho is a world removed from the flash of the big city.

This is a city of contrasts and Palermo Soho reminds us of that. But even though the food, the wine and the coffee are spectacular,

it is time to go.

Buenos Aires, City of Immigrants

Buenos Aires has wonderful neighborhoods and easily walkable areas when the weather is nice, but this day we woke to rain. I thought I could just weather it, so to speak, but dodging umbrellas on the city streets quickly grew tiresome.

We decided it made the most sense to head toward the Museum of Immigration at Puerto Madero. The museum, located behind the current immigration headquarters, was the Ellis Island of Buenos Aires.

From the early 1900's until after World War II, there were many Europeans who relocated to Buenos Aires. Those immigrants who had friends or relatives to sponsor them were processed and quickly left the building. Those without employment or contacts stayed in the dormitories for a week or more until they could secure housing and a job.

Looking at the exhibits, we discovered a poster that advertised travel on the very ship Henry's family had traveled on: the Mendoza.

 Most of the immigrants' names were logged in huge, leather-covered ledgers, although a few of the ledgers had disappeared. Luckily, the museum had digitized many of their records. For a few pesos, anyone could request a computer search.
Henry paid the pesos and was surprised and excited to find his name, along with his parents' names, on the computer screen. 

For a few more pesos, he was given souvenir certificates documenting his family's arrival.

We celebrated the completion of the immigrant's journey by having dinner at one of our favorite restaurants, Dada.

 Henry said it was the second-best meal he'd ever had; the best was last year's dinner at Dada's!

October 20: The Quest for the Argentine Passport, Pt.3

Today's mission began with a visit to an office near the Colegio de Escribanos on Avenida Las Heras. Henry paid 35 pesos to certify that a legal escribano had officially made the copy of the original. We left the copy there and were told to return for it in 45 minutes.

With that much time to kill, we took a walk down the street. We saw what we thought was an old church and went in to explore. Formerly the Church of the Sacred Heart of Jesus, the building was now a college of engineering.

An enormous Gothic structure originally built in 1901-1904, the building had a museum on the ground floor. We wandered upstairs, admiring the architecture. There were classrooms which appeared to once have been chapels.

One smaller, empty room had a chair that Henry tried on for size.

Although we ran into a few students, no one asked what we were doing there or worried about us. After wandering around a bit, it was time to return to pick up the certificate.

 We returned to pick up the officially certified copy, which meant standing in two lines.

 As we left, we took a picture of the extremely helpful man at the Information Desk -- an appropriate place for him, as he was full of information!

We headed back to 819 Arenales, the  government building we went to last Friday. This time, they demanded the original birth certificate and told us that the original needed to be authenticated before he had copies made -- not what they told us the first time!
He was sent downstairs to pay 39 pesos for a stamp on the original birth certificate.

Then we got in another line to turn in the original with the receipt for payment.

(This photo, above top, shows his original birth certificate beneath the receipts.) We went back upstairs where we were issued a tracking number and told to come back in 45 minutes.

This time we headed to a cafe where we indulged in a capuccino that came with a sugary treat.

Soon it was time to return to the office. Henry gave them his tracking number.

And, FINALLY, the gentleman in the pink shirt gave him his signed, stamped, and certified original birth certificate.

Now he can apply for his Argentine passport!

The Quest for the Argentine Passport, Pt.2

Before we went to Iguazu Falls, Henry secured a copy of his birth certificate, the first step toward applying for an Argentine passport. When he had talked to the officials at the Argentine Consulate's office in Los Angeles, they had suggested that Henry obtain a second, notarized copy of the birth certificate; the original would be submitted with the passport application; the copy would be his to keep.
The afternoon we returned from Iguazu, we continued the quest. When Henry picked up the birth certificate, he was told he needed to get it notarized. We headed that direction  around 2:30pm but couldn't find the office. We walked another block to the next official-looking building and asked for help.

We were given specific directions -- and told the office had closed an hour earlier -- but that we might be able to talk to someone.

We managed to get into the office, only to be told that it was indeed closed and that we'd have to come back the next day. Fortunately, a second person at the counter was more helpful; he explained that  we would need to first go to the Colegio de Escribanos first, where the certificate would be notarized.

We found that building and went to the first entrance we saw. We were sent around the corner where we talked to a man at the desk. We were told again that the birth certificate required a special, certified stamp but that we should have an official copy made first.
We went back across town, near where we started last Thursday. We walked into what looked like a typical copy shop. However, when we explained that we weren't there to just make an ordinary copy of an ordinary piece of writing, more time and money was involved.  We waited about twenty minutes in an almost-deserted shop and  paid 25 pesos to have it copied and certified that it was an official copy of an original document.

That was enough chasing around for one day.We spent the remainder of the afternoon shopping and had a lovely dinner at Puerto Madero.

Super Extravaganza Tour & Boatride

Sunday morning found us signing up for the rainforest and falls tour, guaranteed to get us soaking wet. We bought disposable raincoats at the hotel gift shop and set off for the departure spot.

We clambered aboard a WWII-era truck with long benches welded to the bed and headed along the bumpy road to the rainforest. Our guide told us that there are more than 150,000 acres in the preserve where many endangered animals live.

We didn't see a jaguar, of course, but we did see a toucan and a coati (below).

When we reached the docking area for the boats, we grabbed our "rain gear" and grabbed a seat. We were concerned about getting soaked, but apparently some of the other tourists were not.

Raingear or Speedo, we all had to wear the lifevests. We headed toward the falls, with the boats getting as close as safely possible.

Because the water was so high, some areas were closed to the boats, but we were close enough to get soaked.