Volume 17 - Day 321/44, 2025 - Monday

I am not even sure you can but a car with an automatic transmission in Argentina. I have been in a series of automobiles since I started this journey, and they were all stick shifts. Kind of reminds me of when I drove a stick shift, fun, nostalgic, but nothing I care to do again. I paid for a late checkout ($90US), and I slept late this morning. My watch said I got over eight hours of sleep, and I don't think that has happened in years. SO...I got up, had breakfast, and decided I would go in to downtown Buenos Aires, to see if I could get in to the cemetery. The first Uber I called charged my 7,000 pesos (about $5US) to tell me that the LaRecoleta I entered as my destination was not the LaRecoleta I wanted to go to, and he did not want to take me there. The hotel got me a cab, and all was good. I did not find Evita's tomb, I did not want to linger too long, because I did not want to do something stupid which would cause me to miss my flight. It is interesting walking around in the cemetery, many tombs are very pristine and beautiful, and many others are in a great state of disrepair. Those were the ones I wanted to look inside, where you can see the coffins and read about the inhabitants. Lots of baby sized coffins, and a very interesting place to visit. I overheard one of the tour guides say that the families of the dead have to pay a fee to the cemetery every 100 years, which might account for some of the maintenance issues. It is a beautiful day here, t-shirt weather, beautifully bright sunshine, and right now about 77 degrees. Traffic doesn't seem terrible here, there is just a lot of it, and it gets backed up. After the cemetery, I walked around for a while, then got an Uber back to the hotel. I plan to have a leisurely afternoon, and leave for the airport at 6PM. Okay, so that was not terrible. I was in the hotel vsn at 6PM, I got to the gate for United at about 7:15. Lines, there are a lot of lines here. Whatever. I made it through all the check points, and discovered that I had left my good luck charm in the basket that goes through TSA. I never expected to see it again, but they had it, and now I have it back. It was a crusher for a few minutes, though. Okay, this is it for today, I will post a comment when I get on the plane. I get to Houston at 5:30AM tomorrow, have to retrieve my two checked bags, go through customs, and then RE-check them for the Houston to Austin flight. It will all work out in the end. Just an FYI...every now and then, my sea-legs hit, and it feels like I am still on the ship. Just so you know...