The food was really special. It started with the most amazing bread and three pats of butter...one herbed, one garlic, and one olive.
The breads were so light, but very cruncy and filled with grains. So delicious. The butter came at room temperature, just the way it should. One thing about butter in Argentina. Any small grocery store will carry 10 to 15 vartieties of butter in different packaging. The people here are European discent, so they know their butter and cheese. Its all good.

Back to the restaurant. I chose a salad of beet and radish micro greens with radicchio, and baby lettuces. The greens were dressed ever so lightly with a horseradish dressing. I mean it..it was sublime!

Our experience in the jungle was without a doubt a ´must see´ for anyone who ventures this far South. Iguazu Falls is part of a large National Park that has many well maintained trails to explore, jungle rides and boat rides to keep you interested. We took a tour because we were too lazy to figure out that you really don´t need a tour...just a map. Oh well , as part of my continual spanish lessons I followed a tour guide all day that didn´t speak a word of English. I praticed my broken Spanish and with some hand jive got the highlights of the story. There are HUGE waterfalls...amazing sounds of water and beautiful rainbows over the jungle. They have catwalks that take you right up the the edge of the water ...not for the faint at heart.

But it seemed that almost everytime I turned around I was in someone´s camera path for a picture. What does everyone do with all those photos of water?

The Hotel scene in Cataratas hasn´t caught up to the new loads of tourists who want to visit. We had trouble booking a reservation in advance. We lasted five minutes in our first ´three star´ Hotel that was booked for us through a travel agent in Buenos Aires.

We went directly across the street to Hotel Cataratas,billing itself as a´five star´ hotel. It was totally booked with French,Chinese and Brazilian tour groups to full capacity, but somehow, my husband convinced them to take us. There I was a long way from home, sitting around the blue pool listening to Madonna and Michael Jackson. However, Five Stars does not mean First Class. The food was not up to any of the fine dining standards I know of....so I won´t comment any further. Our room was large and clean but didn´t have the nice sheets or good towels or come with the services expected in a five star resort class. Internet access at the hotel was slow to poor and always busy. There was a constant movement of people coming and going from all over the World, so the attention to detail wasn´t really needed. I think we were the only Americans. All those little things one would expect from that five star rating. But we roughed it and got by. I think it actually grew on us over the three day stay. The grounds were beautiful with tropical flowers and large 8 foot gardenia bushes everywhere in bloom.

Early on we found one of the best restaurants in town called Los Quinchos. It has a fantastic menu of different salads and meats and an excellent wine list. All very reasonable on any budget. All the meats are cooked outside over wood and very tender and flavorful. the salads come with XV Olive Oil and balsamic vinegar made in Mendoza. The waiters wear black suits and there is live entertainment. Very charming.

After three days here you´ve seen it all. There is a mine where they pull semi-precious stones out of the ground, a preservation park telling the story of the unfortunate ecological damage to the jungle, and an excursion to the Jesuit ruins. The movie THE MISSION was filmed here.

After 4 days we hopped a plane and came back to the exciting life we love in Buenos Aires. We are trying another five star hotel in our new favorite city and will report on their five stars next time.

The food here is also on the cutting edge for the country. There are several spots we have tried that are all using local ingredients to create more contemporary cuisine.

The first is at the Park Hyatt Hotel which sits on the large central plaza. It is an old colonial building that has been completely renovated and has a very wonderful restaurant to rival anything in SF.
My husband thought the menu was in dollars..its in pesos. So when the bill came we were so amazed at the price. It costs 30 dollars to have an outstanding meal including a very exquisite bottle of wine. We had wonderful company from new friends. It was a great evening.

The food is fantastic. From the corner coffee cafe where the pastries are eye candy, to the luxury French inspired restaurant, LOLA, we are indulging ourselves
and falling into the pace of the City and its people.

The coffee is strong and has depth. I had two cappuchinos at breakfast.

It took almost 10 hours but we made it driving in the dark. We had to stop at one of our favorite towns, Compostela. If you have ever driven from Puerto Vallarta to Guadalahara it is right before you hit the toll highway after going over the mountain. This is a town untouched by tourist feet. The plaza is the Mexico you long for where people are just going through life day by day. The streets are spotless and there is a corner restaurant on the Plaza that serves the finest Mexican food, including banana milkshakes!! WOW. We stopped and sat in the Church and watched a Christining of the babies, days after observing Dios de Los Muertos...a religious festival that pays respect to the dead.

The Last time we were in this town we followed a funeral procession through the streets. These are wonderful moments that we don´´t seem to notice in our own country, but here they are big events.

We will be giving you up todate information on the discoveries of our journey as it pertains to our industry. Restaurants and hotels seem to change constantly, so blogging seems like a great way to have a current travel guide book.