Greg and I had the wonderful opportunity of going to Argentina to pick up Jeffrey and tour his mission. It was an amazing experience, one that we will never forget. I want to blog the trip day by day the best I can, and I will include helpful hints along the way. This post will cover the mission tour.
Sunday, October 28th
We boarded our Delta flight to Buenos Aires (EZE) at 7pm. Each of us received one free checked bag, but we only checked in one and carried on 2. Since it was an overnight flight, we paid $125 each extra to have the "comfort" seats, but these seats had no leg room because the outlets for computers blocked the area under the seat in front of us. We will never make this mistake again. They fed us a nice dinner and breakfast, though. **TIP: Do not pay extra for "comfort" seats. By the way, I used ear plugs on the plane, and I actually got some sleep! **TIP: Take ear plugs.
Monday, October 29th
Our descent into EZE was super bumpy. We found out later, it was because a monsoon had come through. More about this later. We landed about 7am. It took forever to go through immigration because of computer issues (as a result from the storm), and after getting our baggage and clearing customs, we started looking for transportation to our connecting flight at the domestic airport (AEP) and a place to exchange money. Well, we found out that the streets were so flooded, that taxis and remises were not running. Also, because of the power outage, the banks were closed and we couldn't exchange any money. We found a bus that would take us to AEP for cheaper than a taxi. What a break! It only took about 45 minutes to get there, and we had a couple of hours to spare before our flight.
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| Bus Ride from EZE to AEP |
When we got to AEP, we found out many flights were delayed and/or cancelled because of the storm. Luckily, ours was not. We exchanged money using an ATM at the airport (we don't recommend this method because of the service charges, but we were desperate) and boarded our flight.
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| All the delayed/cancelled flights |
We made it to the Salta airport early in the afternoon. We rented a car, and finally found our hotel around 4pm. Driving in Argentina is quite the experience, street signs are rare, and traffic rules are just "suggestions." I was really proud of Greg getting us to the hotel in one piece. He even had to stop and ask for directions and was able to get the info we needed without knowing the language.
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| Our Rental Car (Alamo) |
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| Our hotel in Salta - very nice |
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| Our room |
We had expected to take it easy after the long flight, and pick up Jeff the next morning. But, Jeff surprised us with a call saying that he was done with his exit interview, and we could pick him up at any time. We quickly showered, and we headed out to pick him up at the mission home.
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| The Salta Mission Home |
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| We got our son back! |
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| President Levrino |
Since we didn't expect to get Jeffrey that day, we hadn't planned for him at the hotel, so after eating dinner, and exploring the city, we took Jeff to the office elder's apartment to spend the night.
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| A trip to the grocery store. **TIP: Stock up on bottled water and take it with you everywhere. You can buy it by the liter. The nice hotels will serve mineral water for breakfast, but you'll have to buy it at restaurants. |
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Asado for dinner
(variety of meats including ribs, flank, kidney, intestine, heart, udder, blood sausage)
Yes, I tried them all! |
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| Folklore dancing as we ate. |
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| Monument for General Guemes |
Tuesday, October 30th
After picking up Jeffrey, we brought him back to the hotel for breakfast. The breakfast was so yummy - fresh squeezed juices, freshly chopped fruit salad, pastries, drinkable yogurt, etc. Jeffrey introduced us to the herbal teas - so good! We found out quickly, that this was our breakfast at every hotel. I guess it's an Argentina thing. We didn't complain!
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| Yummy Breakfast! |
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| Especially loved the fresh fruit, and pastries! |
After breakfast, we checked out and began our tour of the mission. We drove 5 hours to our first stop: La Banda - to visit his 2nd area: Villa Raquel. (I need to mention the driving again. I sat in the back seat, because I was too scared to be up front. It was like driving in a video game. Traffic lights meant nothing. Traffic lanes meant nothing. Cross walks meant nothing. We had to dodge cars, mopeds, and people. Greg loved it. Made him feel like James Bond. I was just happy that we didn't get hit or hit anybody.)
Villa Raquel was amazing. We met many of the wonderful people who Jeffrey served and loved. Everyone we visited offered us soda to drink, and many offered pastries as well. We discovered Argentine helado (ice cream). So delicious! Better than anything I've tasted in the states. Too many pictures to post individually. Thus, the slide show:
DISCLAIMER: In the following slideshows, a person will be labeled as "Jeff's convert." But, we all know that it was the spirit who converted them. :)
After our visit to La Banda, we drove to our hotel in Las Termas del Rio Hondo, a resort town, which was the half way point to our next area - Famailla.
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| The Grandpa Hotel |
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| Comfy King Size Bed |
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| Beautiful Lake nearby |
Wednesday, October 31st
After another yummy breakfast, we were off to Famailla. More wonderful people and wonderful food.
After our visit to Famailla, we drove to our next hotel in beautiful Tucuman - our favorite hotel yet. By the way, we highly recommend exchanging money at hotels when possible. You'll get a much better rate than at a bank, and you won't have service charges like ATM's. **TIP: Exchange money at the hotels when possible.
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| Our favorite hotel of the trip |
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| King size bed for us |
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| Sleeping area for Jeff |
Thursday, November 1st
After another yummy breakfast, we did some sightseeing around the Tucuman area before we headed to our next area: Juan Bautista Alberdi. This is the area where Jeffrey and his companion ran the branch. He treasures the experiences he had and the people he met in this branch.
We heard about a humongous Christ statue outside of Tucuman called "Cristo Redentor." We decided to check it out before heading to JB Alberdi. The drive up the mountain was absolutely beautiful. But, unfortunately, the clouds were so low, that the statue was hardly visible. We still feel it was definitely worth the drive.
Friday, November 2nd - Sunday, November 4th
After the 2nd night at our favorite hotel, we packed up and headed to Jujuy. Jeffrey served in 3 areas in Jujuy which ended up being about half of his mission: Cuyaya, Alto Comedero, and Chijra. Our hotel was in a central location so we could visit the 3 areas in 2 days. The beautiful scenery of the area included colorful trees. We visited as many people as we could on Friday and Saturday, and on Sunday, we visited each of his areas during church meetings so Jeffrey could see people he missed. We finished the day in Chijra - his last area where he was District Leader. The Branch President and his wife were kind enough to feed us before we headed back to Salta.
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| Love the trees! Purple and Yellow! |
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| Hotel Gregorio I - Family size apartments |
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| Our King Size Bed |
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| Jeff's Bedroom |
CUYAYA
ALTO COMEDERO
After our lunch in Chijra, we began our trek back to Salta. We decided to take a "shortcut" over a mountain that Google maps said would save us an hour, but it turned out to be a longer route because of the twists and turns and narrow roads (4 meters wide) that we had to take very slowly because they were "one car at a time" around every corner. Even though the trip back was slower, and the lack of guardrails made the drive a little scary, we were so glad we took that route because of the beautiful scenery and the wildlife. At every turn, we saw some type of animal. The most exciting find was a humongous bull lying beside the road. We quickly took one photo and slowed down to take more, but then he stood up looking a little irritated, and since he was bigger than the car, we took off. We kept looking behind us to see if he was giving chase. (pictures in the slideshow below) Relieved to be back in Salta, we returned to our original hotel from the week before, and crashed.
Monday, November 5th
To prepare for our flight to Puerto Iguazu that evening, we paid to have some laundry cleaned, and washed the car. We checked out of the hotel and went to the Mission Home to say our goodbyes. We were invited to the Mission President's home to meet his wife and family. Afterwards, we finally ate steak for lunch - the best steak we've ever had. Argentina is known for their meat, and we finally got to sample the gold. Then it was off to the airport.
SALTA
What a wonderful week! During the week, we went out of our way to bump into a couple of Jeff's favorite companions, Elder Huston and Elder Mangum. We are so grateful for the friendships Jeffrey made during the last 2 years.
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| Elder Huston |
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| Elder Mangum |
This is the end of the mission tour. Next post, the sightseeing begins. But, before I go, more tips:
1. Bring a power strip. The hotels had very few outlets.
2. Bring a voltage converter (or 2).
3. Carry toilet paper and wet wipes (hand sanitizer) at all times. Not all bathrooms are stocked.
4. Bring U.S. coins and dollar bills to give to the children and coin collectors. A quarter will make a child's day and make you very popular.
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