Running on Empty

This was sadly our last day in Argentina. At breakfast we met the friendly Montana veterinarians on their way to the glacier. They were a threesome on the Adventure Life - End of the World tour. After enjoying the nice breakfast buffet, we saddled up for a beautiful 45 minute, South American style horseback ride to the lake and back. We were led by Frederick, with 3 of the dogs out in front. The horses are rather tame and slow. During the ride, we saw pink flamingos swimming in the ice cold lake. After the ride we packed up for home. A taxi picked us up at 11:30 am for the start of our 22 hour return trip. Our internal flight landed in the Buenos Aires domestic airport on time. Four hours was plenty of time to get to the international airport for our overnight flight home. The taxi ride was 45 minutes, with a strange stop close to the airport. The taxi driver pulled off the highway into a gas station, opened the hood and ushered us out of the vehicle. At the time, we didn’t understand why the hood was opened and why we had to exit the vehicle. It turned out the taxi needed a fill up of compressed natural gas, via a connection under the hood. (We later learned most Buenos Aires taxis run on alternative fuel. We’re still not sure why we had to get out of the vehicle.) We got through all the steps at the international airport, including American Airlines security, by far the most thorough security check we encountered in Argentina. Our 10 hour flight to JFK left on time, at 8:15 pm. Don't cry for us Argentina; the truth is we'll be back.