Saturday, March 23: As soon as eight o'clock rolled around, Jane tried to call the Salta travel agency that was handling our package tour. No answer. After breakfast in the hotel, I walked to the travel agency and found it open. I explained the situation (in Spanish) and said we wanted to return to Buenos Aires as soon as possible. Offering no help themselves, they directed me to the office of Austral, the airline on which we had our tickets. The office was right next to our hotel.

I succeeded in getting us on the next flight to Buenos Aires, but it wouldn't arrive until 10:40 that night, too late to catch the United's Saturday flight to the U.S. even if we could get reservations. No one was willing to contact United to see how soon we could get a flight. Austral sent me to LAPA (another airline); LAPA sent me to a new travel agency; they sent me back to LAPA. Just then Rene' appeared. (He had called our hotel at nine as previously arranged, very happy that the weather looked promising. Jane had told him about Grandpa.) He asked if he could help. I explained the problem in getting information about United flights. Rene' said he would check for us.

I went back to the hotel and called Carlos to ask if he could get information on United flights. Carlos called back later to say there was one flight every day, and he gave us United's number in Buenos Aires. I called United and had no trouble getting seats on the Sunday flight.

Meanwhile, Rene' had worked out an elaborate itinerary by which we could get to Buenos Aires in time for United's Saturday flight. It involved hiring a car to get to Tucuman', flying from there to Cordoba, then catching another flight to Buenos Aires. The only problem was that it was doubtful we could get to Tucuman' on time even if we left immediately. Nevertheless, we really appreciated how sympathetic and helpful Rene' had been.

It had turned out to be a pleasant day, partly cloudy and mild. But by the time we had our revised travel arrangements worked out, it was too late to go to Rene's ranch, and Jane wasn't up to it anyway. We took our last walk around the Plaza de 9 Julio. Then Jane rested. She hadn't slept all night. We called Joseph to inform him when we would be returning. We packed our bags and told the hotel that we were checking out a day early. They let us leave our bags in the room.

Modern building along Florida St.

We had noquis for lunch at La Posta, then walked to Florida, a pedestrian street. We saw two 17th century colonial style houses, now converted to museums. There also was a large early 19th century house. We walked back to the hotel

A car was to pick us up at seven. We came down to the desk at 6:45 with our bags to pay our bill. Strangely, they kept asking how we wanted to pay, but wouldn't tell us how much we owed. After I insisted on an itemized bill, they finally gave us one. We knew that we owed close to $50 for the four dinners in the hotel restaurant, but the bill was over $220. The other $170 plus was for phone calls, $135 for three calls to Buenos Aires. It cost more to call Buenos Aires than to call Joseph in the U.S.

A driver arrived at 7:10, and we left for the airport, arriving at 7:30. We sat at a table in the bar area, had a Sprite and ate some crackers we had along. We would miss dinner due to the flight schedule, and their airlines don't serve meals. The plane left on time at 8:40. They served cheese crackers and soda en route. Martinez and his wife were there to meet us. We repaid him for the $48 he had paid the travel agent for our tour to Colonia. Unfortunately, we could not get a refund on our tickets, and no one else could use them. (We coulcn't get a refund for the day we were to spend at the estancia, either.) The Martinez dropped us at the Circulo Militar, and we went right to bed. It was after eleven.

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