Thanks everyone for your help for my trip. Here's my info. In BA we stayed at Art Deco Hotel/Suites,(65 us) near Obilesque. Great location, good breakfast, staff nice, small but clean room. Very easy to walk everywhere, plaza st. martin area etc. We ate at La Chacra (107 pesos). Tango show:Esquina Homerio Manzi-we were told locals go there and it was true, great show(220 P-including pick up in van). Go to San Telmo early Sunday am. very crowded on Defensa St. A lot of antique shops. There is a tour of tunnels(ask at tourist office). We didn't go because of time. Ate lunch at Des Nivel -great food-steak was 21 pesos). The radio taxis from int'l to our hotels was 50 pesos. I took american dollars and exchanged them at the airport, therefore no extra fees.Make sure you reconfirm your flights, because aerolineas changed them frequently. Our travel agent kept on emailing the changes to us. I didn't do any shopping in BA. We did visit a book store on Santa Fe near Callao that was once a movie theater, a real find. We also stayed at Art Hotel(north of Recoletta). It was quite small, quaint, nice staff, great breakfast (95 us dollars including taxes). I didn't like the location, we took taxis everywhere-cost was about 5-8 pesos each time. We took a train to the Delta region. Take a train directly to Tigre and one block down is the water boat.It takes a whole day leave by 8 am and get to Tigre before 10 am to take the boat that stops at different islands, it's beautiful. We arrived in Igauzu at 9:30 am. and got to the falls by noon. We did 6 hrs. and that was plenty. We stayed at La Sorgenta(small hotel in town near the bus station-110 Pesos). It took about 25 min. to get to the falls. We ate at Victoria restaurant in town, really delicious. In Salta we had 4 days with Angelica-our tour guide, justterrific([email protected]) She charges $60 per day per person. We stayed at Posada del Marques-2 blocks from the square for 130 pesos. The room was small, but adequate, nice breakfast, great staff, cute garden. We were only there for 3 nites for 7 hours. The internet was 1 block away. Had dinner at El Solardel Convento-they gave you a free glass of champagne. Also in Balcarce area we ate at La Lenita and went to Patio de Balcarce to listen to folkdancing and music, just bought a bottle of wine. Steaks are so cheap and just order a salad and wine. In Bariloche we had a car from Alamo with unlimited mileage. We didn't get to Villa San martin because it was raining and the road was unpaved, but visited Villa Angostura-really cute. We went on the Cau Cau boat, don't get the VIP tickets and have lunch. The boat was rocky and the guide on the boat spoke english. There was a small group of us English speaking people on the tour. Restaurants, Jauja (110 pesos, La Marmite (good trout)and Boliche de Alberto -best steak 17 pesos were good ones. Of course the chocolate was the best in any of the stores. Cerro Tronador was a day trip and very nice. Our next visit was El Calafate, where Cintia (wow argentina) arranged everything. We were picked up from the airport and our 2 trips. When you do the Upsala Explorer, which is terrific and go to the Christina Ranch, don't do the horseback riding unless you are experienced. The ride took us to the top of the mountain where we saw wonderful glaciers (3 coming together). Hint: everytime you take out pesos from the atm's you are charged a fee from your bank plus another fee for international (this one is small) but the other one was $2.00 each time. So take out huge amounts or cash in your american dollars. Most hotels have internet free. Definitely buy the Torrontes in Cafayate -Domingo Hermanos winery. I bought my gifts in Cafayate, bought a nice leather necklace for 7 pesos-all handmade and not found anyplace else. There are nice picture frames made of wood for about 38 pesos. There's a shop in Cafayate that sells the ceramics -very cheaply and so cute. I bought some nice salad forks for 12 pesos in the market in Cafayate, they were more expensive in Tilcarin. I brought back coffee from Bonafide in Salta-really delicious. People are so nice. I knew a few phrases in Spanish and that was plenty. Alana

Welcome home,Alana. Glad you had a great trip. I enjoyed reading your report. Like you, I used the services of Cintia Stella at WOW! Argentina. She really made our trip a pleasure.

Hi Alana -- Remember meeting me in the Salta airport? You were the only Americans we saw our whole time in the northwest! Glad to read your report! Did you make round trips each day from Salta?

You were lucky to have so much time in the country. I would have loved to have gone to Iguazu as well, but have no regrets about choosing to spend our time in the Northwest. It was such a spectacular trip.

Hi Skatedancer: so glad you replied. Outside of Cafayate we saw Quilms ruins, Indians had lived in that area and a Geology museum, all made out of rocks, designs of pacha mama, etc. and described the formation of the mountains. We didn't meet many americans after meeting you all in Salta. I did bring back wine, but my delta flight from Atlanta to Norfolk broke a few. Do you have the websites for wines, I would really appreciate having them. My email address is: [email protected] directly. We enjoyed all the mountains around Salta, but after a while we were tired. But enjoyed the folkdancing in Balcarce in Salta.Bariloche was really nice with the lake and snowcovered mountains and seeing the Llao Llao resort, which was surrounded by lakes and snowcovered mountains as well. patagonia area was definitely the highlight. Seeing and walking on those glaciers, much better than New Zealand. Alana

Thank You, everybody, I am quite sure this will be a good way for people to know about the NW of Argentina, Linda, Gary, Skatedancer... Thank you all for the contribution to the future visitoprs to the colourful lands of the NW!
Much love!
Flintstones

Enjoyed your trip report and so agree with Torrontes wine as well as shopping in Cafayate. The Ruinas de Quilmes were a highlight of our trip. The beauty and variety of NW Argentina is a well kept secret. Hope to return again before it gets discovered!

good to know...