Wrapping up the S.A. Adventure.....

Heartfelt apologies for not updating my blog earlier. I was just reminded by Michelle that some would think I am still "out there" so thanks, Michelle, for the nudge to close out this segment and plan the next. We did arrive home safe and mostly sound 2 weeks ago and immediately I was busy with everything gearing up and the fun of house-sitting with my two favourite canines, Lady and Tripp, while their humans are in Portugal and Spain. I would be totally remiss if I weren't to share the experience of our last few days in Buenos Aires, particularly our last day. Most of our last couple of days we spent doing last minute shopping, mailing (I mailed home 5kg of stuff I didn't want to weigh down my suitcase(s)and it actually arrived in a week) and ensuring that my final purchase in Buenos Aires was another piece of leather in the form of a great carry-on bag. This was much needed as original carry-on bag had to be checked!! It was our last night and day, however, that presented the most challenge. Having spent the afternoon before our travel day packing, organizing and otherwise 'puttering' our respective ways around the apartment we had discussed where to have our last night's dinner and all agreed that we should go to our little family-run restaurant downstairs from our apartment. We had been out for many great meals in Buenos Aires and might have chosen to try a new restaurant but thought that we would like to go to this spot where we had cultivated a rapport with the owner and our server and an incredible taste for their dulce de leche ice cream and flan. We all got to that packing point one reaches where nothing else can be done until morning and giggled once again through our very rickety, very old elevator ride to the street at about 8:30 p.m. This meant that the restaurant was still virtually empty, with the exception of a few folks on the upper level. Downstairs, we sat in our usual table mostly alone except for our server and the chef. At some point, Denise and I, who were facing the door and windows, noticed a young couple enter the restaurant and not far from us, sit at a low-slung couch and coffee table. The owner usually sat there drinking wine with his friends and it struck me as a peculiar spot to sit down for a meal and went back to our conversation. The couple left rather quickly apparently but no one noticed their departure. Not until much later when we went to pay our bill and Maggie, reaching for her bag, discovered it to be gone!! We looked everywhere around the table and it took some seconds for it to sink in that this couple must have lifted it and made their hasty exit. We had been uber-conscious everywhere we went of being vigilant about how we carried our bags, what we carried and so on. We had read the books, we'd heeded the warnings of locals and we had done it all right. But here we were in a place that felt like 'home' to us by this time and learned that the guard can't be let down, among other things. Actually that was just one of many lessons in this exercise. We had emptied our safe before going downstairs for dinner and had organized our handbags so we were ready to travel. That meant, for Maggie, that every credit card, government-issue cards (including passport), substantial cash $ in several currencies and various "other" cards (Aeroplan, etc) were all in this bag. Under every other circumstance she had kept this bag around her neck/shoulder as we knew this was best but being in the comfort of our own 'local' she slung it over her chairback. Actually, Denise had done the same but given her seat it was not as opportune for the thief to choose that one as we would have all seen him. Maggie had done everything as we are supposed to so she had copies of every credit card and her ID in her suitcase. Owing to this, she was able to get on my Skype and get them cancelled within about 15 mins and be on to the 24 hour emergency # at the Canadian Embassy who assured her she could get travel documents in time for our flight the next evening. What could have been a horrific nightmare ended up being only a pain in the butt because she had all of her vital information with her in a safe place. Everybody repeat after me I WILL KEEP A PHOTOCOPY OF ALL CREDIT CARDS AND IDENTIFICATION IN A SAFE PLACE WHEN I TRAVEL. Maggie actually dealt with it better than the rest of us and we spent an interesting next day with she and I making an early, rainy visit to the local constabulary to file an incident report as this was necessary to get new travel documents. They told us this happens all the time and what was a trauma for us was absolutely a daily occurrence for them. The English speaking attorney who helped Maggie with translation and walked us to a place to get passport pictures said it happened ALL the time. The afternoon was spent with the nice folks at the Canadian Consulate and, as promised, travel documents were in hand by 4:00, just in time to head to the airport. We had an absolutely fabulous trip! Chile is a country full of spectacular natural beauty, Uruguay was a place to return to and Argentina will definitely find me going back. I can see now how easy it is to travel to South America, how wonderfully friendly (for the most part :-) the locals are and will be looking forward to seeing the northern part of the continent as soon as it can be planned. I also want to be able to speak better Spanish when I go back there or anywhere (would even help in Arizona :-). Thank you for sharing all of this with me. The entire adventure was a blessing for me and I hope you have enjoyed it. BE VIGILANT wherever you are. Lots of love, Sally xoxo