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.

Iguazu National Preserve

The flight from Buenos Aires to Puerto Iguazu took only 90 minutes, but the destination felt so different from the big city.
We arrived at the airport and found a taxi for the twenty-minute ride to the Sheraton Hotel located on the preserve. The moment we arrived we were taken by the scenery, and as soon as we unpacked our bags, we headed outdoors.

This is a giant fig tree was one of a pair that were visible from our room. The fruit, not edible for us, was a main attraction to the capuchin monkeys.

We found this little critter perched on the railing of our balcony. Beyond him is the trail to the falls. We walked down the trail in a slight mist. All the while as we walked, we could hear the roar of the falls ahead.

This water under this first bridge we crossed didn't give us much of a clue to the amount of water we would soon see.

Soon, we found the water, brown from all the sediment it carried with it, cascading down the hill.

Iguazu Falls, comprised of more than 200 water falls, are two and a half miles of falls that border Argentina and Brazil. We were told that to really see the falls, we should go to the Brazilian side, but we were quite happy with our views.

We walked to both the lower and upper viewing points. The paths went right through the rain forest, a marvelous tangle of vegetation.

The warm, moist climate is very hospitable for orchids and bromiliads, some of which we saw in the trees.

We saw several of the falls, Adam and Eve, the Two Sisters, and the Three Musketeers among them. While the heavy mist obscured the view of the falls from the hotel, we could hear their roar inside the room, even with the windows closed.

Argentina, Day 2: October 16, 2009

Today we moved. Well, all we really did was move hotel rooms. We were dismayed by the condition of the bathroom in our hotel, so when the manager asked about our stay, we jumped on the opportunity to tell him. They graciously offered to change our room at the end of the day. Since we would be here for about a week, we didn't want to deal with a small space and moldy bathroom any longer than necessary.

After the room issue was worked out, we headed for downtown, returning to the government office to pick up the copy of Henry's birth certificate. His original was  a negative print -- white lettering on black background. The new one he received today is the opposite and, most important, it has a date stamp on it. Next week, when we return from Iguazu Falls, we'll pursue getting it notarized.

Later in the day, as we walked about Buenos Aires, we ran across the National Theater Cervantes, along with its own museum. We spent time wandering through the museum, looking at pictures of old stars of the stage and screen.
On a lark, we decided to buy tickets to a one-woman show for the evening. We were anxious about getting back to the theater on time, worried that we might have to vie for seating, since seats were unassigned. No worry necessary. That night, we were among fourteen (14) other folks who had come to the show. The actress was very expressive; however, my rudimentary Spanish completely abandoned me, and if it hadn't been for Henry's sotto voce comments every once in awhile, I would have had pretty much no idea of what was transpiring.
After the theater, we returned to one of last year's favorite restaurants: La Cholita. We had appetizers, steak and fries, and plenty of wine for under $30.