Bariloche, Provincia de Neuquen, Argentina April 4, 1980 Today we arrived in Bariloche on Aerovion Argentinas and met Payne and Anita in the airport; as they came in a few minutes after we did on Cestrul. The Pearsons have an apartment in Bariloche and will be here for a month or two, checking out some small mammal populations. We settled in The Edelweiss Hotel which we find delightful. Pearsons took us to dinner at a great little Argentine restaurant where we were served an assortment of meats, sausage, tripe on a grill over charcoal fire, placed on our table. Restaurant called "Nicola". We have spent two days in Buenos Aires at the Plaza Hotel and found very little to make me happy. Buenos Aires is a massive city of 13 million Christians, all of them out to screw me in one way or another. The taxi drivers, head waiters, customs officials, bell hops, hotel desk clerks, and seemingly everyone else we ran into was rude and avaricious. But here in Bariloche we have a very different feeling of friendly relationships with everyone including bell hops, taxi drivers etc. The 1000 mile flight over the dry pampas was reminiscent of desert situations in our own Southwest. Along rivers where irrigation was feasible there were fabulous orchards and truck gardens, but the dry plains were pretty sterile. Commonest bird in Bariloche is the chimango "Milvago chimango" a small goshen with creamy rump and wing coverts.