Juan Pablo, the butler....sigh!


Juan Pablo refreshing the ice pack on my foot


My "commemorative" jewelry from Don:
Silver & copper necklace & earrings
Silver with topaz stone ring

I'm home!! So good to sleep & sleep & sleep in my own bed. Thank you, Karen, for your help in posting these photos!

Juan Pablo was the handsome young butler who brought me ice (in the champagne ice buckets) every few hours for the pack on my foot. He was so helpful & caring. He's quite proud of his job. It would have been so hard on Don without his help. Great hotel, if anyone ever visits Buenos Aires. The Park Tower Hotel is so much more comfortable than The Four Seasons. Six of us stayed there, including us: Anne, Gary, Peggy, & Gerry. The entire hotel staff knew us by the time we left (8 days!) & were so caring the entire time.

The flights (2) home were long long long and a PITA with the throbbing, swelling foot problema. I finally put the compression sox on & it really helped. I just couldn't tolerate the throbbing from the swelling. We are home and I'm very much on the mend (& very relieved to be home in the good ol' USA).

In the Buenos Aires airport Admiral's Club, we met an American couple who had just gotten off of a Silversea ship (itinerary was Santiago to Buenos Aires). She was in her mid-fifties & in a wheel chair. They told us that the ship was hit by a rogue wave while in the Straits of Magellan. She (and others) were tossed out of their chairs while having dinner. She was thrown over another chair and broke some ribs. We shared "war stories" & enjoyed a good laugh. Turns out they also have been on the Hanseatic on a trip up to the Arctic Circle & told us many funny stories of fighting the Germans, just like our Poopers! Small world.

One last story: Several hours before we left for the airport in Buenos Aires, Don just had to visit his favorite leather shop one more time! He could not get a cab to take him since he was told by the hotel that there were riot control police surrounding that area where Uruguay's Embassy was located. Don decided to walk over there. He found himself in the middle of B.A. riot police, shields & all the gear, lined up right in front of the little shop where he wanted to go. The demonstration was due to a paper mill being built in Uruguay which will severely affect the quality of water downstream around B.A. He "ran" into the shop, then got stuck for an hour. I could not believe he would do such a thing! Finally, the shop owners got him out of the store & on his way safely back to the hotel. Mercy. We made tracks to the airport after he returned to the hotel with that story!@!!

Thanks for all the kind words from everyone. You ALL are so very generous. Editing to add: It really would have been much more depressing without you all on LCT. Can't thank you enough. We are now bracing ourselves for the insurance battles, our project for 2007. Now, back to those terrific Pooper posts!!