We prepared by reading guide books, travel discussion boards and travel blogs, as well as looking up port info on http://www.whatsinport.com/ or just Google the information we needed. Here is our compiled Port Research Document: PortResearch-2016Rio.htm .

Fun Fact: Do you know Uruguay is ranked first in Latin America in democracy, peace, lack of corruption, and is first in South America when it comes to press freedom, size of the middle class and prosperity? Uruguay is an important global exporter of combed wool, rice, soybeans, frozen beef, malt (麥芽) and milk. Many claim Uruguayan beef is better than Argentine beef.

We read that Argentine ATMs have high fees and low withdrawal limits (max was 2000 Peso, which was about USD$133 at the 15:1 conversion rate), so we brought along crisp clean US bills in various denominations ranging from $100 to $1. The $10, $5 and $1 were very useful for small purchases and for tipping bus drivers and local guides.

We ate a lot of meat! In São Paulo we experienced a Brazilian all-you-can-eat churrascaria lunch where the meat was carved at the tableside. In Uruguay, we had a traditional Uruguayan BBQ lunch in a winery paired with 5 kinds of wine. In Argentina, we had a Gaucho BBQ lunch called asado a la parrilla at a horse ranch.

But we would be remiss to not mention the excellent food on the ship and have included many pictures of it in the daily photo links.

National Languages:

Brazil's national language is Portuguese, Uruguay and Argentina are both Spanish.

Itinerary and highlights:

Day 1 - Embarkation in Rio de Janeiro  (12/7/2016 Wednesday 83~70F): Link to our photo

Austin gave us a ride to Logan airport yesterday. He was able to leave Woburn courthouse earlier than expected, so we arrived atLogan three hours before departure.

The 2nd leg of our flight, 8.5 hours on a LATAM Brasil from Miami to Rio de Janeiro, was almost full. We arrived in Rio at 9am local time. Even though the time difference from Boston was only 3 hours, there was no jet-lag to speak of, but we had a sleepless night, so we were a bit tired.

We knew that a taxi from Rio airport to Pier Mauá (the cruise terminal) took about 30 minutes and was going to run around 60 Brazilian Real ($1 USD= 3.3 BRL). After exiting the security area of the airport, we saw a group of people wearing blue "Oceania" tee shirts. They were local guides contracted by Oceania to help guests that had pre-purchased a transfer to the ship. We inquired about a cab with one of them. The guy said, "Wait, a van is leaving for the ship soon, maybe there are seats for you!". Indeed, there were vacant seats available. Hitching a free ride with Oceania to the cruise terminal was a nice surprise.

The check-in at the cruise terminal was quick. We went to the Terrace Cafe (buffet) for lunch and waited there until our room was ready at 1pm. The set-up of Terrace Cafe was similar to the Insignia (an R-ship) we sailed last year, only this was much more spacious.

Our Penthouse Suite was very nice. The chilled champagne and sweets that greeted us upon entering was a nice touch as well. (Click on today's photo link to see panoramic pictures of the suite.) Soon after, our butler, Francis (from Goa, India), and our steward, Ljiljana (from Croatia), knocked on the door to introduce themselves.

Mei-Ching went to the Destination Desk to book 2 additional excursions. We wanted to pay for these two excursions with OBC, and since OBC did not kick in until we boarded the vessel, we could only book them after we were on board. Luckily, spaces were still available for the two excursions we sought.

In the afternoon, we took a free shuttle to the Rio Sul (Sul= South) shopping mall, which was not far from Copacabana beach. From the mall we took a taxi for a quick view of the famous Ipanema and Copacabana beaches. The Copacabana beach alone was several miles long.

We returned to the Terrace Cafe for dinner and chose a lot of the same items we liked from last year - sushi, sashimi, white rice, steamed vegetables, and grilled lobster tails for Mei-Ching. It felt as if we were simply picking up from where we left off last October.

Day 2 - Rio de Janeiro (12/8/2016, Thursday, 88~76F): Link to our photo

We went to the evening show at 9:30pm where we met our cruise director, Peter Roberts, hailed from the UK. He is humorous, but that is part of the job requirement, isn't it? Peter told the audience that 20 years ago he started as an aerobics instructor. Rising through the ranks, he is now a cruise director in charge of the entertainment team of an Oceania ship! Peter also polled the audiences' demographic with the majority being from the USA and Canada.

Day 3 - Búzios, Brazil (12/9/2016, Friday 92~73F humid): Link to our photo

Búzios, (which means 海螺), is a Brazilian resort set on an ocean peninsula. Originally settled by European pirates and slave traders, this happy mixture of many bloods prospered and became a picturesque fishing village.

Thanks to the French movie star Brigitte Bardot who used to vacation here in the 1960s, her visit was so influential that Búzios soon became known as a vacation destination in Brazil.

We set out around 10:30am, the tender to shore was only 10-min, and we were dropped right at the town center. We walked along the main thoroughfare, Rua das Pedras, bought 2 pairs of Havaianas beach flip flops for our granddaughters. We also looked for bathing suits for them, but all that the stores had were bikinis for adults.

It was hot and humid, so after about 90 minutes we decided to go back to the ship. We did not mind having a few slow days like this - there was no need to set an alarm to wake up early, we could enjoy our breakfast leisurely at the Terrace Cafe, there was no must-see list for the day, and we could go back to the ship anytime we wanted.

We had a 6:30pm reservation at Red Ginger for dinner. Red Ginger is a specialty restaurant offering Pan-Asian dishes - Japanese, Chinese, Thailand, Korean, Malaysian, you name it. The menu does not change from day to day. Here is a link to a sample dinner menu at Red Ginger. We loved the Miso Glazed Sea Bass main dish.

Tonight's entertainment was 50' and 60' songs at the theater lounge.

Day 4 - Parati, Brazil (12/10/2016, Saturday 82~74F humid): Link to our photo

Day 5 - Ilha Grande, Brazil (12/11/2016, Sunday 92F~78F humid): Link to our photo

Day 6 - São Paulo (Santos), Brazil (12/12/2016, Monday 84~74F Heavy Rain): Link to our photo

Our port, Santos, the gateway to the Brazilian state capital of São Paolo, has long been nicknamed "the coffee port." Though no coffee (except for a few show trees) actually grows in Santos, the city is synonymous with the bean and ties its history to the growth of Brazil's coffee trade. Santos is the busiest port in Latin America, shipping 25 percent of the country's exports. However, we knew there was not much to see in Santos except for a Coffee Museum, so we planned to visit São Paulo.

São Paulo, the city, is the capital of the state of São Paulo, Brazil's most populous and wealthiest state, and is the nation's main financial hub. It exerts a strong international influence on commerce, finance, arts and entertainment. The city's metropolitan area of Greater São Paulo ranks as the most populous in Brazil and the 11th most populous on Earth.

The city of São Paulo is located on a plateau, 2,200 feet above sea level, which is reached by crossing the Serra do Mar mountain pass. The alpine-like, winding road offers stunning scenery. The drive from Santos to São Paulo should be about 75-min. However, excursions could get delayed due to traffic or mountain fog, so we booked an O excursion to São Paulo using our OBC credit (because its à la carte price was more than $200, therefore it could not be chosen for free).

We woke up to heavy rain and a dark sky. Of all days, why did it have to rain that day? It was too late to cancel the excursion at that point.

There were 3 tour buses on the excursion to São Paulo. Each bus carried about 30 passengers. On the way out, the sky was dark and the mountain road was misty, while it was foggy on the return trip. It took us 2 hours each way due to the traffic and the unfavorable weather conditions.

At the outskirts, there was a photo stop at the Ipiranga Monument commemorating Brazil's independence. But very few people braved the rain to get off the bus to snap pictures. While inching through the downtown area, we drove by the Stock Exchange Building, the Municipal Theater and the Metropolitan Cathedral, but had no opportunity to get off the bus. Finally, the bus stopped at the Pinacoteca of the State of São Paulo, (an important art museum, pinacoteca=gallery, museum). Our guide took us in, and said we had 45-min free in the museum.

The highlight of the excursion was the Brazilian barbecue lunch at a churrascaria where the servicestaff kept the meat coming to the table. Surprisingly, the steaks were a bit tough for our liking.

We arrived back at the ship shortly after 4:30pm. Our ship set sail at 6pm. The excursion was a disappointment. For such a pricey outing (was at $249/pp à la carte price), we did not get to see much. However, we know that Oceania had no control over the traffic nor the weather.

Later, we met a fellow cruiser who went on a 4-hr "Highlight of Santos" excursion. He said the highlight was the Coffee Museum, but they did not sell coffee or coffee beans in the museum.

Day 7 - Porto Belo, Brazil (12/13/2016, Tuesday 88~74F): Link to our photo

Porto Belo is a quaint little fishing village. Its name in Portuguese means "Beautiful port".

Our mission on this day was to buy coffee beans. We wanted to bring home some Brazilian coffee beans, but had not yet come across any place selling Brazilian coffee beans.

After a 20-min tender to shore, we were greeted by a beautiful pier. At the end of the arched pier were two big shady trees with benches underneath. A female vocalist was singing American Oldies from a restaurant/bar across the street. All was very pleasing to the eyes and ears.

We got directions from the Information Booth to a supermarket (to buy coffee beans.) The streets were very clean and neat, a lovely town indeed. However, no coffee in bean form was to be found on any shelves at the supermarket. We picked out a few different brands of ground coffee to bring home. We brewed them at home and found them quite interesting, as the taste was very different than our usual coffee.

We went to dinner at Polo Grill, the Steak specialty restaurant on the ship. We had dined at Polo Grill several times last year on the Insignia, so we knew what to expect and what to order. We were very happy with the service and dishes. Here is a link to a sample dinner menu at Polo Grill.

Tonight's entertainment was Celebration of Broadway Songs. Selected arias from South Pacific, Jersey Boys, Cats, Man of La Mancha etc were sung beautifully. "Don't Cry for Me Argentina" from Evita received the biggest applause.

Day 8 - Cruising the Atlantic Ocean (12/14/2016, Wednesday): Link to our photo

Today was a sea day. It was very windy on the open deck.

There were plenty of activities available on the ship. Tango Dance Class, Cooking Demo, Wine Tasting, Texas Holdem Tournament, Jewel Presentation (by the prestigious jeweler H. Stern of Brazil), Social Bridge, Canyon Ranch Spa Club Seminar etc.  We went to the cooking demo in the morning.

At 2pm, there was an Enrichment Lecture by Terry Bishop. The subject was "Hide & Seek in the Atlantic - The Hunt for the Admiral Graf Spee" where, in December 1939, the German cruiser Admiral Graf Spee was found and engaged and damaged by three smaller British Royal Navy cruisers at the Battle of the River Plate. We'd be in Uruguay in two days' time, and this was to prepare us for a historical event that took place during the early stages of WWII on the estuary of the River Plate, just off the coast of Uruguay. The scuttled Graf Spee still lies in the shallow water of the Montevideo harbor. Terry is an excellent story-teller. (Here is a BBC documentary of "The Battle of the River Plate": https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ja0fpJnWxhM .)

Dinner was our second try at the Jacques restaurant. This time we shared a table for 6 with a couple from the Netherlands and a couple from San Diego. The Dutch couple are accountants. They have been to many places, including China. The San Diego couple have lived in Guam and Japan and visited Taiwan in the 1970's. So we had a lot to talk about, from Taiwan to the threat from China, to the "Giant Bicycles (捷安特)" - which, the Dutch couple said, "The best!" with a thumbs up. As a matter of fact, we were so engrossed in our discussion of Asian affairs that the food just faded into the background. We don't remember the names of all the dishes we ate that evening.

Later that evening, we received a notification from Oceania that due to the high winds and swelling water, it would not be safe to tender in Punta Del Este the day after tomorrow. So the ship would sail directly to Montevideo and dock there for two days. Our excursion into Punta Del Este would still run, only we'd have to travel there from Montevideo by bus. They offered free cancellation due to the schedule change, but we decided to stay put and still do our Punta Del Este excursion.

Day 9 - Rio Grande, Brazil (12/15/2016, Thursday 84~75F): Link to our photo

Today was a beautiful day; blue sky, sunshine, not humid, and very pleasant.

There are several cities named Rio Grande (lit. "Great River") around the world. This one we are visiting is one of the oldest cities in the Brazilian state of Rio Grande do Sul (Great River of the South). Being situated on the southernmost tip of Brazil, Rio Grande do Sul shares a border with Uruguay and with Argentina.

The city was established by the Portuguese in 1737. Over the years, the city built up its wealth over the industrial movements. Today, it is still one of the richest cities in Rio Grande do Sul, mainly because of its port, the second busiest in Brazil, and its refinery, which processes Ipiranga petroleum.

We booked a 3-hr "Sights Of Rio Grande" excursion with Oceania, mainly because there was not much to see on our own. In parallel, the city welcomed us by providing free hourly shuttles to the City Hall in downtown, so the DIY folks could browse the downtown squares/shops/churches on their own.

Although lacking a tourist infrastructure, the downtown of the Rio Grande was very clean and very green. We saw the bustling waterfront, a very nice main square, and the Alfandega, the Customs House. The former customs house is the most beautiful building in neoclassical architecture in the city. It was built in 1804 at the behest of Emperor Dom Pedro II (of Portugal) to manage the public revenue of this province. We also visited the Oceanographic Museum, where we saw a small collection of marine life as well as a giant sea shell.

At 4pm we went to Horizon Lounge for afternoon tea, and watched the sail-away. Bye-Bye Brazil. We will be in Uruguay the next morning.

We set our clock 1-hr back for Uruguay, which is 1-hr behind Brazil, and the same as Argentina.

Tonight's dinner was our second time at the Red Ginger. We enjoyed it. See today's photo link for details.

Day 10 - Punta Del Este, Uruguay (12/16/2016, Friday 80~70F): Link to our Photo

Punta Del Este (Point of the East), or simply Punta, is a trendy resort town. It is known for its beaches, surfing, beautiful people and an ardent night scene. It is expensive, usually about 50% more expensive than other areas of Uruguay, if not more. It is called the Monaco of South America, or just the French Riviera of South America.

The bulk of Punta del Este is on a peninsula jutting into the ocean. The resort takes its name from the "east point" marking the division of the Rio de la Plata (Plata=Silver, River Plate in English) in the west from the Atlantic Ocean to the east.

Our excursion today was called "Art & Culture Of Punta Del Este", which we chose from O as one of the free ones. The tour time changed from 6 hours to 8 hours, because we needed to add time for the bus ride from Montevideo. (If you missed the reference to the sea day's entry, our ship docked at Montevideo instead of tendering us off the coast of Punta Del Este, due to high winds and swelling water.) We enjoyed this tour. With sunny weather and beautiful scenery, it was pure pleasure to just sit back and let the scenery unfold before our eyes.

On the bus ride from Montevideo to Punta, our local guide, Pilar, told us that Uruguay is a thin slice of ham in a sandwich between Argentina, which is 15 times the size of Uruguay, and Brazil, which is 45 times the size of Uruguay. Most of the population in Uruguay are descendants of European immigrants, from Germany, Italy, France, Spain, ....  etc.

With an efficient public transportation system, a well-educated and well-informed population, no natural disasters (no earthquakes, no typhoons, no tsunamis) and no income taxes for retirees who bring their own money, Pilar said that Montevideo is an ideal place to retire. She said she'd be happy to be our local contact should we be interested in looking for a house or condo to retire in Montevideo.

While in Punta, we drove past a construction site where we saw a billboard with Donald Trump's face on it. The Trump family is building a Trump Hotel and Casino in Punta Del Este.

• Gorlero Avenue - 10-block long major shopping area. We were given 75-min free time to explore on our own.
• Museo Ralli - a large collection of contemporary Latin American art. It is located in a lovely Spanish-style building in the fashionable Beverly Hills neighborhood. Salvador Dali has several sculptures in one of the two sculpture gardens.
• Casa-Pueblo - a beautiful resort-museum near Punta del Este. It was created by the late Uruguayan artist Carlos Paez-Vilaró, a sprawling white complex perched on a bluff above the ocean and houses many of the artist's works.

By default, we took our dinner at the Terrace Cafe (buffet) unless we had a reservation at a specialty restaurant or if the Grand Dining Room had something special on its menu. We have more photos of the Terrace Cafe in today's photo link. With food like this, why do we need to dine elsewhere, you may ask? The difference is in the service. Here you have to get up to choose your own food. In other restaurants, you are served by very attentive wait staff.

Day 11 - Montevideo, Uruguay (12/17/2016, Saturday 91~75F): Link to our photo

Our excursion in Montevideo today was also a free one. We chose the "City Sights & Juanico Winery" - 7 hr, 8:30am~ 3:30pm, including a buffet lunch of traditional Uruguayan food at the winery, paired with Uruguayan wines. The draw for us was the "traditional Uruguayan food", as well as a chance to go north outside the city.

While doing research on the city of Montevideo, we learned that the Old Town district (CIUDAD VIEJA), situated between the cruise terminal and CENTRO, is full of narrow lanes. The eastern edge of the Old Town adjacent to CENTRO is pretty, but the rest of CIUDAD VIEJA may be deserted with run-down houses, therefore it is not safe for tourists.  The CENTRO district itself does not have big attractions as far as tourist sights go. That was why we booked an excursion with O, instead of spending time in downtown CENTRO on our own.

Montevideo is the capital (and the largest city) of Uruguay. Uruguay's official name is the Oriental Republic of Uruguay. Uruguay won its independence between 1811 and 1828, following a four-way struggle between Spain, Portugal, Argentina and Brazil. Modern Uruguay is a democratic constitutional republic.

Our local guide today was a middle-aged woman from an Italian family. A few things she said stood out in our minds:

1) Uruguayan people consume 200 pounds of beef per person per year. For example, her husband had to have a steak for dinner every day.

2) Uruguay's presidential term is 5 years, and he/she cannot run for re-election. He/she must wait another 5 years before he/she can run for presidential office again. This way, there is very little opportunity for corruption at the top office.

3) Same as what Pilar conveyed yesterday, she told us that Montevideo is a very nice place to retire, and that she would be happy to help any of us getting settled should we be interested in moving here.

The weather was very pleasant, sunny with a breeze, and not humid at all. Our tour bus drove slowly through a few city landmarks, stopped at a river-side park, drove past some nice neighborhoods, then delivered us to the winery 30km north of the city at 12 noon. Our guide said Juanico Winery is the oldest and the best winery in Uruguay.

The reception center at the winery was very pleasant, low-rise buildings on well-maintained grounds. The dining tables were elegantly set up in an airy dining hall. We were seated 10 per table. Our lunch was traditional Uruguayan barbecue served family style, paired with 5 different wines throughout the courses. One of the items served on the grilled meat platter was "sweet bread". I'll leave it to you to Google what "sweet bread" is. See today's photo link for food pictures.

After lunch, we were treated to a Tango show, then we were driven to the vineyard to see their grapes. The harvest time runs from February-March. We enjoyed today's outing very much. Oceania did a great job organizing this excursion, and the winery did an excellent job hosting their visitors so that everyone would have a good time.

After returning to the port, we dashed across the street to the Mercado de Puerto (Port Market) for a quick look. It was a covered market full of restaurants and shops selling handicrafts. We saw several restaurants grilling all kinds of meat on large racks, and with wall-to-wall customers eating and drinking. (Today was a Saturday.) A few locals pointed to their plates and said "very good" to us, encouraging us to try. But we had just come back from a lunch of grilled meats, and there was no room for more.

At 5:30pm we attended an Enrichment Lecture by Terry Bishop. Today's topic was "Argentina - A land of Promises and Broken Dreams", which centered around Juan Perón's promises which he ultimately was unable to deliver.

At 6:30pm, we set sail towards Buenos Aires. We went to the 15th deck to watch the sail away. Bye Bye Uruguay.

Day 12 - Buenos Aires, Argentina (12/18/2016, Sunday 82~70F): Link to our photo

Our ship docked at Buenos Aires at 8am this morning, so today's excursions were all in or near Buenos Aires.

We originally considered using one of the 4 free excursions to book a Buenos Aires City Tour with O, but since we were staying 2 more nights in Buenos Aires after debarkation, we would have additional time to tour the city later on, so we changed our minds and chose the "Gaucho Fiesta" excursion as a free one from O.

Gaucho Fiesta (Gaucho=cowboy) was a 7-hr excursion including an Argentine barbecue lunch. The ranch we went to was named "Estancia Santa Susana" (estancia=ranch), located 76km northwest of the city of Buenos Aires. The owner of the ranch is an ex-polo player who breeds horses on the farm. The drive to the ranch took 75 minutes and along the way we got to view some countryside scenery.

It was windy, heavy rain with occasional thunder, and very cold for those of us in short sleeves. After a horsemanship show, we went inside to watch the cowboys preparing our lunch.

For lunch, we were served wine, salad, beef sausages, blood sausages, chicken, steaks, filet mignon, dessert and coffee. After lunch there was a show of Gauchos playing traditional music and Tango dancing on the stage.

The outing was fun, but there was a lot of waiting around before lunch was ready. You may Google the ranch by name to read more reviews on Tripadvisor.

We had to pack tonight. Luggage had to be placed outside the door by 10pm.

Day 13 - post-cruise, Buenos Aires (12/19/2016, Monday, 82~70F): link to our photo

The name, Buenos Aires, means fair winds, or literally good airs in Spanish. Approximately 3 million people live in the city of Buenos Aires. The city is further divided into 48 districts or barrios (neighborhoods).

Argentina is an immigrants' country. Many Europeans from Spain, France, Germany, Russia, Great Britain etc immigrated to Argentina, and that also influenced the local cuisine. Spanish, French and Italian dishes are wildly popular.

We disembarked the ship at 8:15am. The taxi mafia at the port wanted US$20 to go to our downtown hotel.

The road to downtown was congested due to a large scale "protest" (=demonstration? =strike?) The taxi driver told us that city buses, subways, and domestic airport were all shut down today due to the "protest". Imagine if one had a domestic air ticket to fly to Iguazu Falls today, it would be very difficult to get help.

Our hotel in Buenos Aires for 2 nights was the Palacio Duhau-Park Hyatt, located in the Rocoleta neighborhood of the city. We earned 2 free nights from opening a Hyatt credit card and spending a required amount.  If we were to pay for a hotel room, we'd prefer a more central location, such as within a few blocks of Teatro Colón, where one may find plenty of shopping, eating and entertainment options within walking distance.

Back in August, we booked with a local guide named Pedro Werberg to take us on a 7-hr city tour for this day. Pedro is an Argentine who lived in Amherst, MA for several years while working for PBS radio at UMASS campus. Needless to say, his English is excellent. You may read his bio at http://www.AmigoDeBuenosAires.com/

Pedro, with a driver and car, met us at 10am at the hotel as agreed upon. Although we first headed north to wait for the "protest" crowds in the central downtown to dissipate, here we listed the highlights and organized photos in a south-to-north order, same as how the city was developed.

• La Boca - which means "The Mouth", is the city's old port and the birthplace of tango. It is also famous for its multi-colored tin houses. To reach the main tourist attractions, one needs to travel through some rough area, that's the main reason why we booked a private guide to accompany us for the day. We wanted to see the little street Caminito (Caminito ="little walkway" or "little road") that inspired the music for the famous tango "Caminito" (1926), composed by Juan de Dios Filiberto.
  - Linked below is Julio Iglesias' rendition of Caminito, which sold over 3 million copies: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vo8-axTVPWI
   
• San Telmo - this district preserves colonial-style houses along narrow cobblestone lanes. On Sundays, there is a weekly street fair and an antique market, as well as tango dancing. However, we happened to visit on a Monday.
   
• Plaza de Mayo - (Mayo = the month of May) in El Centro, Buenos Aires' most important plaza. It is named for the 5/25/1810 uprising against Spanish colonial rule. The plaza is flanked by the following landmarks:
  - Casa Rosada, the pink house that is the presidential palace, features the famous balcony from which Evita used to address throngs of Peronists.
  - Catedral Metropolitana, looks more like a Greek temple than a church. It was the seat of Cardinal Jorge Bergoglio, then the archbishop of Buenos Aires, before he was elected Pope Francis.
  - the old colonial town hall, El Cabildo, and the current City Hall, Palacio de Gobierno, next to each other, on the west side of the Plaza.
   
• Plaza San Martín - a beautiful green park with a monument to commemorate their independence hero General José de San Martín.
   
• Recoleta - one of the finest and most expensive areas of the city. It boasts many French-style buildings, large green spaces, first-class hotels and restaurants. The famous Recoleta Cemetery is where all the rich families in Buenos Aires have their final resting places. Eva Perón, the daughter of an aristocrat and beloved First Lady, rests here. Her full name was María Eva Duarte de Perón.
   
• Northern suburb of Palermo and Belgrano neighborhoods - We drove past Palermo, strolled a leafy street in Belgrano with beautiful mansions and elegant British Tudor houses. Barrio Chino (Chinatown) is near by, so we made a detour to take a look too.

Run-away inflation has been a big problem in Argentina. Inflation rate was almost 40% just last year. To hedge against inflation, many Argentines invest in real estate, or change money into USD and stash it somewhere. Pedro took us to a money-changing place on the south side of Plaza San Martin near Calle Florida for us to change money, $1 USD= 15.75 ARS (Argentine Peso), at the time we visited. (Foreigners must show a copy of your passport.)

In one day, we saw a lot with Pedro and a dedicated driver/car. And saw it safely, without having to keep an eye on pickpockets or the "black water" scam (or mustard, or ketchup, dropped onto your clothing).

Day 14 - Buenos Aires (12/20/2016, Tuesday): Link to our photo

Our mission for today was to tour inside the opera house, walk down the Florida street and visit a museum in the afternoon when the outside temperature was high.

We had a French breakfast at an organic bakery around the corner from our hotel, then set out using taxis for transportation. Taxis were metered and very inexpensive. The most we ever paid from point A to point B in the city was 100ARS (~USD$6.5), which included fares for idling in traffic.

• Avenida 9 de Julio -  July 9 Avenue, running north-south, cutting through the city center of Buenos Aires. At 9 lanes in each direction, it is the widest avenue in the world. In the middle of the avenue is a white obelisk which is the focal point of the subway system.
   
• Teatro Colón - the city's main opera house. It is ranked the third best opera house in the world by National Geographic. Guided tours daily 9-5, every hour on the hour. Admission was ARS 250/pp when we visited. We enjoyed the tour. For the program schedule, see http://www.teatrocolon.org.ar/en
   
• Calle Florida - Florida Street, a 10 blocks long colorful/cheerful pedestrian street full of shops and eateries. It runs in the north-south direction, connecting the Avenida de Mayo in the south to the shady Plaza San Martín in the north.
   
• Galerias Pacifico - a shopping center, which you must visit. Located in the middle of Florida street, it is a historical building in neoclassical architecture renovated into an elegant high-end mall. The mall has a relatively inexpensive food court on the bottom floor. At the bottom level there is also a money-change place (You must show a copy of your passport and this place only takes USD$50 and $100 bills). The exchange rate was 15.60 pesos to 1 USD, a fraction less than what we changed yesterday. We changed another $100 since we were running low on our exchange of pesos yesterday.
   
• Museo Nacional de Bellas Artes - MNBA (in Recoleta) - Exhibits Argentine paintings, sculptures and lesser work by European major artists. Maybe it is not worth your time, but it was a good way to stay cool during a hot afternoon. Free admission.

Day 15 - Buenos Aires (12/21/2016, Wednesday): Link to our photo

Our flight was not until 9:15pm, so we requested a late check out at 4pm from our hotel and it was granted. We still had most of the day to tie up a few loose ends and see some more sights on our list.

We decided to have a leisurely breakfast at the Park Hyatt. The weekday breakfast buffet was USD$25/pp for hotel guests, plus an additional 21% VAT tax. The spread included many kinds of bread, pastry, juice, coffee, cold cut meat, scrambled eggs, bacon, sausage, yogurt and fruit.

[NOTE about the 21% VAT tax: We read that foreigners may be exempt from the 21% VAT tax on hotel rooms if you pay with a foreign credit card and show a foreign passport. Inquire about it with your booked hotel before arrival.]

After breakfast we took a taxi to Cafe Tortoni to start our sightseeing.

• Café Tortoni : Located at 825 Avenida de Mayo, it is the oldest coffee shop in Buenos Aires and voted one of the "World's 10 Most Beautiful Cafés". We originally planned to come here to eat churros with thick hot chocolate ( http://www.cafetortoni.com.ar/en/?p=delicias ) but we had just had a full breakfast, so we changed plans to just take a look here.
  This café has daily performances by musicians and tango dancers in the basement salon on a small stage, but we read in a recent review that the weekday tango shows were no longer accompanied by live accordion players and now use recorded music instead, so we scrapped the plan to watch a Tango show here. The weekend shows should still use live musicians, but that's only our guess, judging by this web page: http://www.cafetortoni.com.ar/en/?p=shows (NOTE: There are many glitzy Tango shows available in the city that charge more than USD$100/pp without dinner. Most of these shows start at 10pm; dinner starts at 8pm.)
   
• Avenida de Mayo - this is one of the streets radiating off of Plaza de Mayo where the pink Presidential Palace is. Even though Buenos Aires is called the Paris of South America, up to this point Vincent had commented that the buildings and streets looked more like Barcelona (in the Eixample) to him. But this morning while walking along the Av. de Mayo, with many small shops and street vendors, it did feel like Paris, as if we were on the Blvd. Saint-Michel, just off Saint-Michel square.
   
• Calle Florida - We wanted to walk the lower part of Calle Florida starting from Av. de Mayo. This was really a pleasant street for browsing and for people-watching.
   

Two days earlier, we booked online at TAXI EZEIZA for a car to take us from our hotel to Ezeiza airport. The fare was fixed, we could pay the driver either ARS 550 or USD$36 cash. The distance from the city center to Ezeiza airport was 45km. It should take 45-min in normal traffic. But with traffic, one never knows, so we booked a car to fetch us at our hotel at 4:50pm. The online response was prompt and we are happy with it so far.

An older gentleman with a white car (not a taxi) arrived at 5pm. He was sweating profusely and apologized for being 10-min late. We said no problem because it was hard to gauge traffic. With the heavy traffic at 5pm, as well as the on-going "protest" which caused some streets to be closed, we wound up taking 1h40m to reach the airport. We felt bad that the driver spent so much time on this trip yet only earned a meager fare (the folks at the TAXI EZEIZA website took a cut too), so we gave him a big tip.

But wait, he dropped us off at the wrong terminal! He thought Delta was at Terminal A, but it was actually Terminal C! We had to haul our luggage and walk the 10-min from A to C, part of it was outside under a hot afternoon sun and dodging traffic. This was a lesson learned: know which terminal you should be at.

We still had 200 Argentine pesos with us, so we spent it all at the small coffee shop in Terminal C for an over-priced ham-n-cheese sandwich and a bottle of ice-cold water.

Day 16 - Arriving home in Reading (12/22/2016, Thursday):

Our Delta flight from Buenos Aires to Atlanta was full. The fly time was 10h15m. Then, after a 2-hr lay over, it was another 2-hr flight to Boston.

The Atlanta airport was very crowded, long lines to go through immigration, and long lines to go through security check to board a domestic flight. Maybe it was the beginning of the peak travel period for the X'mas Holiday?

A taxi took us from Logan Airport to Reading home shortly before 12 noon. Our lawn was covered with a thin layer of snow.