Argentina 5

On the 16th we travel about 60 miles north of Mar del Plata. That's it! Sandy wanted to stay in Carilo. I have completely spoiled her! Is she going to be able to adapt to the jungles of Brazil? Will she expect to stay in Rio, while I trudge through the jungles on my own? I am now worried...... I had a good thing going in Ecuador and Peru!

"Havanna's" are everywhere.....

After a lack of good coffee in Ecuador, Peru and Chile, it is a welcome sight to Sandy and I.

Villa Gesell even had a Bowling Alley.

This neon sign gave me a quick jolt back to the 50's or 60's.

When we stopped for lunch, Pablo was looking at the BMW. He came into the restaurant and we talked about motorcycles. He lives in Buenos Aires and is a rider. Pablo and his wife invited us to their second home in Villa Gesell for dinner. It is experiences like this which REALLY make the trip!

We stayed for two days in Carilo, Argentina. Nice hotel!

A "little" nicer then this far off memory of this room we had in Peru, nearly 6 months ago!

A long walk on the beach.....
Dogs to play with... For 30 minutes, I would throw the rock, and he would retrieve it, then protect it!
Sure miss our two St. Bernards (Fifi and Pixie). They are both in doggie heaven. Love traveling, but I am also looking forward to the day when we can get a dog again.
Carilo has it share of large, upscale hotels. But all the roads in Carilo are well graded sand roads.

If you are still looking at our pictures, you must be "along for the ride".

We spent the entire day riding up and down nearly every road in Carilo.

The homes of Carilo are fantastic, varied and creative. Here are a few.....

Most of the homes are in the $100,000 to $200.000 range, unless it sits on the beach. Then you pay from $200,000 to $600,000. A little more for the huge homes.
This was on the beach, and was worth about $600,000. In California I would guess that this home would go for somewhere between $6,000,000 and $12,000,000. Any California realtors out there?
Some homes are very modern....
And some are traditional.......
Trees gave the entire village a very warm feeling...

Many of the homes were very large and estate like.....

And every home had a "DirecTV" antennae. Loved the lawn...
Notice the dirt roads.... Not one square meter of Alsphalt in the entire village!
We met a realtor and looked at the interiors of 5 homes. This home was very Bavarian inside.

This home was located on multiple lots (about 5 acres total).

The owner created a very nice compound!

In the middle of the village was a shopping/restaurant/theater center, much like that in Carmel, California.

We are the only customers for lunch.

We picked a table, and about 10 minutes later this dog joined us.

The Waitress informed us that we picked the "dogs" table.

Ten minutes later, another dog joined us, to relax.

They just come in to rest and get out of the sun.

There was no begging for food.

This is what the shopping area looked like.

This is 5% of the entire upscale mall, all in a park like environment!

On the 18th of April we sadly leave Carilo for Buenos Aires.

This is the view, which we wake up to, from our hotel room in Carilo.

As a reminder, the area, for hundreds of miles south of Buenos Aires is relatively flat farm lands.

Even in the area near Carilo it is farm land right up to the final 2 miles prior to the wooded beach area.

Typical scenery, when approaching Buenos Aires from the south.
With small lakes scatter among the farms.
We arrived in Buenos Aires at 3:00 pm, but did not find a room until 6:30 pm. Rode past the Galerias Pacifico, which is a recycled railroad office. It is very famous for the paintings on the ceiling. Will return for internal pictures.
This center would put Fashion Island in Newport Beach, California to shame.
Next to Galerias Pacifico, is the, now closed, Harrod's, with it's 1,000,000 square feet of space! Rumor has it that it will reopen in September.
This is the view from our room in Buenos Aires. It is said that Buenos Aires is a lot like Paris. We have not been to Paris, yet. Is it like Paris? Notice the maid in the lower left balcony.
It is hard to see him, but the guy on the balcony (in maroon), would sit there most of the day, watching life in the street below.