Jorge and Family -Flying, Dining and More

April 5

We now have less than one week before we leave Buenos Aires, and there are still a few things that remain on our “to do” list so, after lunch at La Cholita, a good little local restaurant, we walk to the city Centre and Café Tortoni, Argentina’s oldest and most venerated café. In the early 1900’s, it attracted a bohemian crowd of writers, musicians, artists and the like (http://www.cafetortoni.com.ar/ ).

Today, it attracts bus loads of tourists. But once you get past that, it’s easy to imagine how it must have been 100 years ago.

After a cool drink and a snack, we decide we’re too tired to walk home and will take the subway instead. But we’re not sure which line to take so we get on the A line, which turns out to be a good decision…not because we’re heading in the right direction (we’re not!) but because we’re on the oldest of the city’s subway lines (operating since 1912) – and the only one left that still has the original wooden cars.

We take the train 2 stops and get off at Congreso, which is perfect – since we come up right in front of the Palacio del Congreso and across the street from one of the city’s really impressive fountains.

Nice day – quiet evening…we eat at home, watch a little TV (yes, there are a few stations that broadcast in SAP, so one language choice is English), and rest up, since Sunday we are meeting an Argentine pilot that David has been introduced to via a member of the Beechcraft (our airplane is a Beechcraft Bonanza) e-mail list that he regularly participate in on the internet.

April 6

What a day! One of the best we have had during our entire trip. Barbara and I took the train from Retiro to Olivos to meet (for the first time) Jorge and Ana, an Argentine pilot and his wife, for lunch. They own a Cessna 310P (twin engine for you non-aviators),

and invited us to join them and their son Martin and his girlfriend Daniela for an outing to Isla Martin Garcia (in the Rio de La Plata) to lunch at a very special little restaurant (Comedor Solis), as well as a tour of the island and the nature preserve.

I was finally going to get to experience general aviation in Argentina! Jorge has many hours of flight time in all sorts of aircraft. He was a carrier pilot in the Navy, flew passenger aircraft in Fiji, and a 747-200 Captain at Aerolineas Argentina for many years (until he retired). And now a shameless plug: See Jorge’s website for information on having him fly you around Argentina ( http://www.al-cielo.com.ar/ ).

Jorge’s plane, located at San Fernando Aeropuerto, is a thirty minute drive from his home and, before we know it, we are at one of Argentina’s largest General Aviation airports. There are many planes hangared and tied down in the grass because another airport not too far away was shut down. It seems the same short sightedness regarding the value of general aviation exists in Argentina as in the US. Peering into the hangars there are lots of small business jets, a variety of Piper and Cessna twins, lots of Beechcraft Bonanzas, my personal favorite, of course, since that’s what Barbara and I own, and one of my all time favorites - a Beechcraft Staggerwing….



There is also a diesel engine Cessna 182 - the first one I have ever seen.



Even though we are flying VFR (visual flight rules), Jorge must file a flight plan. The good news is that he walks down the hallway, and around the corner is flight service. Five minutes later we are boarding the plane and starting the engines.

Ready to taxi, we call ground control to open our flight plan - and just like it happens in the US, it happens here….what flight plan? There is none on file. I didn’t understand the next few minutes of conversation as it was in Spanish, but I can pretty well guess, having had similar ones with clearance delivery and ground control back in the US.

What is really different for me is that all communications are in Spanish. It was always my understanding that English is the universal aviation language. Jorge explains that if you speak in English the controllers will answer in English. For you non-pilots reading this, that certainly works and enables you to fly in the airspace of non-English speaking countries, but makes your situational awareness (understanding where other aircraft are in the sky in relation to your position) a bit more difficult.

Although the flight is only 20 minutes, you really can get a feeling for the Delta area and how close Uruguay is to Argentina. The water level is unusually low and the silt is building up many areas that only a few years ago were not there. The Rio Plata reminds us of the Mississippi river delta area in the US.

We over-fly the airstrip (Runway 17/35) as Sunday can be busy and the field is uncontrolled (no control tower). It’s a little bumpy flying the approach but Jorge has all under control and we land and taxi to parking. (See the video in the sidebar).

Today turns out to be pretty quiet. There is one plane ready to depart and two others on the ramp in front of the terminal. Perhaps the cost of flying is keeping pilots on the ground here, as in the US. Fuel prices are pretty similar to what I pay in the US at approximately U$S 5.00/gallon.

In keeping with the theme of this blog, every good event has food somewhere in the discussion, so not to disappoint; we take a short walk to Comedor Solis, a tiny restaurant with most of the tables outside under a giant tree. The owner shouts a hello (Jorge knows him well), we place our orders, and enjoy a great lunch al fresco.

After coffee we take a 3+ hour walking tour of the island, which is also a National Reserve. The trees are filled with green parrots that you certainly hear well before you see them. Their nests are high up in the canopy and they are quite large, as they live as a community (not one couple per nest).

We walk along dirt paths to the cemetery dating as far back as the mid 1800’s. Many of those buried in the cemetery died in battle or from Yellow Fever (early 1900’s).

Many battles have been fought on this island and there are still old cannons (non working) in strategic locations around the island. There used to be a naval base with over 2,500 people stationed there; however, now only about 100 people actually live here and the old facilities, abandoned over 30 years ago, are weathered and overgrown (both inside and outside) with jungle vegetation.

Walking along the path we pause to get out of the way of a local tour guide taking day trippers from Tigre (by boat) for a tour on his horse drawn cart.

Ana, who works at a local nature preserve, is also a great tour guide due to her extensive knowledge of indigenous flora and fauna, as well as environmental issues and concerns.

There are only a few motor vehicles on the island, as it is very small, and there are limited numbers of streets. Town is only a few buildings and a couple of blocks long. We walk by an interesting home that has a plaque on its’ gatepost. Jorge explains that former President Juan Peron was jailed here for a few days at one point years ago.

We begin our flight home just as the sun begins to set....

and before you know it we are back on the ground in San Fernando.


We head back to Jorge and Ana’s home, where we end up staying for dinner and a wonderful evening. First we congregate in the kitchen where Martin shows us how to properly prepare Yerba Mate, (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Yerba_mate), a drink unique to this part of the world. Mate is a drink you share with friends and we feel honored to be included. It has a very unique and bitter taste which is “acquired”. Martin prepares this mate with sugar (most Argentines drink it without) so that Barbara and I don’t get turned off on our first sip. Barbara calls it mate “light”.

While drinking mate, the pizza and beer arrives and we sit down for a lively dinner with great conversation and a few Spanish language lessons, as well.

After a pizza dinner it’s well documented that you must have ice cream and, believe it or not, Ana calls their local ice cream parlor and 10 minutes later - Voila! ice cream is delivered to the house. Argentines are crazy about their ice cream and the most parlors have delivery service .



By now it is 11:30pm and time to call it a night, so after a wonderful day with great new friends, we take a cab back to our apartment.