South America 2017

California > Buenos Aires > Paraguay

*** This page contains several slideshows but you can stay on this page to see them all... just keep scrolling down.

Our mission was to escort Henry and his teammate Ryan to Encarnacion, Paraguay for Optimist South American Championships, a prestigious sailing competition they qualified for in New Orleans last Thanksgiving. SFO > Atlanta > Buenos Aires (very last row of 10 hour flight) > switch airports in BA > fly to Posadas > bus w/ Team Chile across the border to Paraguay hotel. Seeya boys, we backtrack to Buenos Aires for 8 days of adult vacay while they race. We will return to see last day of racing and do it all again in reverse.

Dressed for a 36 hour commute.

Henry and Ryan land in Posadas, Aregentina

On the bus to the border with Team Chile. Lots of sail tubes.

The Argentina-Paraguay border.

View from our dinner table first night in Paraguay.

Posadas airport... heading back to Buenos Aires while kids stay to sail.

Parana River at sunset.

Kicking Off Eight Days in Buenos Aires

We stayed at the CasaSur Bellini Hotel in Palermo and it was perfect. Highly recommend. Killer location and surrounded by excellent cafes and pizza joints. Really enjoy the density here. Most building are 10 stories and each building is unique. Everywhere has a doorman. We speculated all the doormen share a social app and I got flagged when I photographed an interesting art deco door outside a Palermo synagogue. (He made me delete the pic.) I still wonder... are there more taxi drivers or doormen in Buenos Aires?

Seems like every building as individual external AC units, not matter how cool the architecture.

Only taxis outnumber dogwalkers in Palermo.

scare "crows"

Somewhere near Soho district of Palermo, I think.

Modern architecture everywhere.

Very nice public spaces and playgrounds... everywhere.

Not a rarity. There are standout houses on every block.

The Doors.

Sunset from our Palermo hotel

City of the Dead

We wound up at Cementerio de la Recoleta in the late morning (by accident) so the photo lighting is not optimal but what a place to see. Met some tourists from New Orleans and we all agreed Buenos Aires' City of the Dead makes NOLA look like they didn't even try. Really, this cemetery is spectacular. Evita is here and countless other famous Argentineans. The picture didn't turn out but our favorite mausoleum had a bar setup with a nice view (I imagine) from the inside.

Recoleta and Monserrat

After City of the Dead we enjoyed a touristy Sunday afternoon in Recoleta at the parks and an excellent free museum. Eventually we walked all the way to Soho (?!?!?!?) for memorable bread and wine tasting. The following day, we took the excellent "Belle Epoque" tour of Buenos Aires with a local architect. Utterly fantastic!

Floralis Generica at United Nations Square, Recoleta

Some awesome huge tree in some Brazil plaza

Somewhere inside. Museo Nacional de Bellas Artes. The second floor modern are was quite excellent, and it's a free museum.

Buenos Aires architecture was mind blowing every step of the way.

A park somewhere in Recoleta.

More cool apartment buildings.

Timestamp: the price of gas in BA late April, 2017.

Somewhere in Buenos Aires.

Somewhere else in Buenos Aires.

Wine and cheese tasting in Soho.

We couldn't get a good angle because of all the sidewalk construction.

Palace of Performing Arts (I think)

Exterior of Palacio Barol0

Palacio Barolo - our favorite building in Buenos Aires. More on this later.

Inside Palacio Barolo at the level of "Hell" based on Dante.

Buenos Aires - Symmetrical Street in Monserrat

There are a lot of jews in Buenos Aires.

Paz Palace. I think it's a government offices building now and they want to unload it.

In a park somewhere along The World's Widest Avenue.

Kavanagh Building. Very famous Art Deco tower... was tallest building in South America when built in 1936.

London Tower gifted by the brits.

Inside their classic train station that is currently being rehabilitated. It looks awesome insde.

This is a downtown lunch district.

This yacht club had an armed guard who didn't want us near the place. #noentry

View from our hotel balcony just ahead of sunset

Meanwhile, back at the regatta in Paraguay....

This pics are from the main event: 2017 South American Opti Championships (or S. Americans for short.) Teams included host Paraguay, Uruguay, Argentina, Brazil, Chile, Mexico, Peru, ISV (Virgin Islands), Bermuda, and USA. These pictures are from an excellent pro photographer Matias Capizzano mixed with pics sent to us by other USA parents. Henry had a great regatta and was 31st going into gold fleet. Looks like all the kids were having a fantastic time. We finally made it there for the last day of racing.

Opening ceremonies at the local high school in Encarnacion, Paraguay.

Storm starts to roll in on morning of opening ceremonies.

Practicing til the last minute I guess.

Following the storm, several boats sank.

Rescuing the rescue boat.

Team USA coaches Pepe and Tomas.

He meets his Uncle Kirk's good friend from the Virgin Islands.

This is how we watched racing from our hotel room... using Trac Trac.

Sophie - the organizer / team parent who has superhero poweres.

Mr. Foley (USA dad) went to Paraguay, got bit by a mosquito, and spent most of trip in hospital :-(

Henry racing at South American Championships

Henry Boeger #19257

This picture wound up on the cover of Opti World!

Team USA.

This shot of Henry wound up on the cover of Opti World.

Great pic just before the start.

The closing ceremonies.

Team USA at closing ceremonies.

The BIG Buenos Aires Gallery

Highlights including walking around Soho in the rain, the MALBA (a must-see in Palermo), taking inside/tower tour of Palacio Borolo, getting close-up to Vice President of Argentina along the Puerto Madero waterfront, and exploring the San Telmo barrio.

Rainy day in Soho neighborhood of Palermo.

Behold... the best coffee we found in Buenos Aires is at Full City (Soho.)

Rainy day in Soho.

Pizza and malbec and soccer shrine.

Inside a greenhouse at the Botanical Gardens in Palermo.

MALBA - Museo de Arte Latinoamericano de Buenos Aires - Modern art museum.... one of the best museum experiences I've ever enjoyed.

MALBA - from the progressive womens point of view wing. Amazing museum.

Conceptual art from the MALBA.

A statement from the "General Idea" exhibit... a warning from the 1970's that seems prescient today.

This weimaraner did not like being stuck in traffic.

Somewhere in Monserrat area.

Political graffiti in Monserrat.

Kari enjoying some fine tiramisu.

Heading up inside Palacio Barolo in art deco elevator.

Elevator goes to 14th floor, then stairs up to the lighthouse exactly 100 meters high (by design.)

Love the art deco elevator lever.

Inside the elevator shaft of the Palacio Borolo

Sun sets on Buenos Aires.

The city goes on for miles in almost every direciton.

Beautiful view from top of Palacio Barolo.

the Boegers from atop the Palacio Borolo (our favorite building)

Last one.

Danny is the friend of a friend of my friend Jim Trice (Miami.) This guy is the coolest!

High end malbec.

Just another example of the amazing pizza from Buenos Aires.

Along the "locks" of the Puerto Madero area.

Amalia Lacroze de Fortabat Art Collection - This place is amazing and highly recommend!

Behold...Vice President Gabriela Michetti of Argentina

Rowers by that yacht club where we saw the vice president of Argentina.

Baked treats in Puerto Madero area.

Taking aim from aboard the Fragata Sarmiento

More fascinating Buenos Aires architecture.

Inside Convento Santo Domingo

Cafe Rivas - One of our favorite places. I can't imagine returning to Buenos Aires and not coming here again.

Beer taps in San Telmo. We did try some decent beers but nothing like what we get in NorCal.

BTW... currency conversion for a pair of premium beers.

A spiderweb exhibit at Museo de Arte Moderno de Buenos Aires

Somewhere in the San Telmo area... Plaze Dorrego on the left, I think.

Fruit stand San Telmo

Japanese Garden ie Jardín Japonés, Palermo. We were eaten alive by mosquitos here so beware!

Looping back through Paraguay

Sadly, after 8 nights in Buenos Aires we had to go fetch the sailors. At this point, Henry was having an awesome regatta and was 31st heading into the split (he made gold fleet.) We flew from BA back up to Posadas and cab across the border to Encarnacion. The border crossing went nicely but it's a multi-step process including taking our luggage out of the cab through x-ray. We had to do this in reverse with all the sailors and their gear and cumbersome sail tubes. Our bus ride this time was with Team Bermuda who is hosting America's Cup this year. Some day I'm not going to miss those opti sail tubes.