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As a special 2 year anniversary gift to Melissa, I called the French Airforce and told them to swing by the town of Buenos Aires and give us a little show.

The real reason was to celebrate the bicentennial celebration of Argentina. The jets flew in formation, taking off from Jorge Newberry (the downtown airport), doing some flybys in Puerto Madero, then running the length of 9 de Julio, the widest street in the world.

The huge plus of working down here is our office.

From my desk on the 25th floor, you can see the Obleisk, which marks the center of 9 de Julio where other major roads intersect (8 of them I think). So I was all excited to see the show, and brought Melissa’s camera to work in the morning to capture the show (her camera has video). At about 12:30 the people on the other side of the office (facing the river and airport) started seeing the jets take off from the airport. Then we all congregated on my side of the building to watch the grand show. The planes flew along Avenida de Mayo, which intersects 9 de Julio at the Obliesk. That was a cool sight (which I actually got on video). Then they were gone. So we thought it was done, and off we went downstairs to go for lunch.

So Melissa and I walk out the doors of the office and at that second the jets fly DIRECTLY over my building! You could barely hear the jets over the sound of my hand smacking my forehead!!! ARGH! So, we thought ‘well that was cool, but we’ve missed it.’ So we continue walking to the bank. It just so happens the bank is on 9 de Julio (towards the Obliesk). So the jets fly by again, this time with their smoke on.

Now at this point we get lucky. There is a beautiful old building on 9 de Julio near our office. On the other side of the building there was the Air Force band and a big stage setup. Hmm, what’s goin on here? A bunch of T.V. cameras too. So we hang around and whoosh, the jets fly by again. And again, directly above our heads. I furiously try to take a video with my BlackBerry, but alas it doesn’t save properly. The music stops and so we continue onto the bank. No more whooshes.

This whole time I am pissed that a) we didn’t wait in the office b) I didn’t bring the camera when we left. But actually we ended up getting lucky. That nice old building on 9 de Julio, where the band was playing and we had the best seats in the house? Yup, that’s the French Embassy.

Ahhh, back again from another quick getaway.  This time we went to Chile for a long weekend tacked onto the end of a work week for Mike in Calama.  After the first few days of adjusting to the climate in Calama we headed out to San Pedro de Atacama, a small town of approx 1,500 people.  Now the thing about San Pedro de Atacama is that it’s known for a few breath taking expeditions (little or big).

To start we went to bed really early ……… only because we had to be up at 3:30am for a tour of the geysers!  Sure you’d think we’d sleep on the bus but I have never been on a road hat bumpy in my life, it was crazy!  The geysers were about 2 1/2 hours away and at 4,321 meters above sea level.  It was so cold (-15), I think we were wearing almost everything in our suitcases to keep warm.  Now we know for next time to bring the right gear.  At least we remembered to bring our bathing suits for the geyser fed pool!  You’d think the water would have been hot but not really, only tiny gusts of boiling water coming through the ground.  It was just enough to prevent the pool from freezing (us too!).  The sun was finally rising by then and we slowly regained the feeling in our fingers and toes.

The drive back was like our own ‘planet earth’ desert edition.  We saw lots of animals: pheasants, birds, ducks, a strange rabbit/squirrel combo, guanaco llamas, alpaca llamas, and llama llamas.  We were also shown a large plant (looks more like a rock) that is used for diabetic medication.  The plant only grows 5mm each year so I think it’s safe to say that the one we saw was approx 500 years old.  Best part about the drive back was stopping for food, mmmmm who would’ve known that llama (llama llama that is) would taste so delicious!

Boy were we tired when we got back but there was no time to rest, we had arranged for a three hour horse back ride.  This was now 3 in the afternoon and 30 degrees outside.  I was so relieved to see that they provided us with hats, and not just for the style!  It was such wonderful ride (beside the dust and allergies).  The scenery was amazing, the sun was hot, the horses were entertaining and we had great company!