Written: Day 2, Friday, March 31, 2006  8:15 PM   Mendoza, Argentina
Location:  S 32 degrees   53.540 minutes  x  W 68 degrees 49.967 minutes 
By GPS, 5,974.6 miles from home


	I have finally arrived in Mendoza 28 hours after leaving home in Davis, 
California. The flight to Chicago was a bit bumpy, but otherwise uneventful. I had hardly 
gotten any sleep the night before and was a bit stressed. I was really dreading the eleven 
hour and fifteen minute flight to Buenos Aires, but thankfully I slept through most of it. 
Thank God for Ambien. After dinner I went to sleep and woke up an hour before we 
landed.

	Lenny was supposed to meet me in Buenos Aires, but when I got there he wasn’t 
there to greet me. I looked on the monitor, and it said his flight was "delayed" but gave 
no details. I found out from the information booth that it was delayed until 8:30 PM that 
night. We were supposed to leave for Mendoza at 5:00 PM. Before we left California, 
Lenny and I arranged a backup plan where if anything went wrong, we would call my 
wife, Susan, and she would relay the message. At the time he pooh-pooed this 
arrangement saying that it wouldn’t be necessary! When I called Susan, I found out that 
Lenny had left a message saying he wouldn’t be in Buenos Aires until the following 
morning, and that I should head out to Mendoza without him. He would meet me the day 
after at the hotel in Mendoza. 

      This information provided me with a dilemma. Lenny said he would be here the 
next day, but the information booth said it would be this evening. I confirmed from 
American Airlines that the flight would arrive at 9:30 this evening and that Lenny was on 
it. Should I head out to Mendoza or wait for Lenny in Buenos Aires? I found out that 
there were no flights leaving for Mendoza late enough for us to catch after Lenny arrived, 
so I headed on figuring that Lenny would catch an early flight in the morning.
      
      I caught a cab to the domestic airport and got my first look at the city. Buenos 
Aires is a modern place. The areas I saw were stylish and the buildings and roads were in 
good repair. The cars are mostly new, and the drivers did not drive like maniacs as I had 
seen in other places. There are proper highways. It looked like it could have been any 
modern city in the west.
      

      The flight to Mendoza was only a little over an hour. The city is at the foot of the 
Andes Mountains which separate Chile from Argentina. I was surprised that I did not see 
the mountains as we landed, but I must have been on the wrong side of the plane. The 
land I did see was incredibly flat and mostly covered with farmer’s fields. On the ride to 
the hotel, the majestic mountains were very prominent in the distance. I could only see 
the foothills and not massive peaks from where I was, but it was an impressive site. I had 
never seen these mountains before. I was under the Andes!
      
      On the ride into the city, I saw a place that had much more of a third world feel 
about it than Buenos Aires. I saw dilapidated houses everywhere. There are a number of 
small narrow smokestacks bellowing smoke out from the tops of small buildings, and the 
city smells of smoke. The drivers drive crazily. I felt like I was in a small Mexico City. 
As I got closer to the downtown, however, the situation improved. The buildings started 
to get nicer and more modern, there were several large plazas, and there were trees 
everywhere. 
      
      I arrived at the very nice Hotel Aconcagua and checked in. Now I am waiting for 
Lenny to call.