lay awayUp'to one year.-Based on 2 adults, ravelling together. pa $1,845->° $1,355. 926985 | ‘AFRICA insasea L. “West Vane uver BC It takes a "Expert to plan the perfect trip. BC Reg 42190) © Regn? Don't miss your tee off tim ‘Sunday April 12 north shore. renowned for its artistic, v pecwaral and musical contributions, superb cuisine, exquisite vintages and dramatic scenery. A visit to the _ world's most prestigious opera house 'LA . ~ SCALA' will be just one of the many holiday “highlights offered on this exceptional tour! HOLIDAY INCLUSIONS: * ®@ Air France round-trip ® Deluxe Motorcoach limited to 30-members Services throughout of our expert European Tour Director © Superior First Class Horel Accommodations: FL) Superb Dinners inclusive of wine & mineral water © 4 Wine Tasting (Piedmone, Parma, Lucca, Chianti) © Comprehensive Guided Sightsceing **(6 Full Day Guided Tours featuring Piedmont Cremona, Parma/Torrechiara, Lucca/Torre del Lago, Chianti countryside & Cinqueterra Exclusive Musical Highligh:s! ** (2 Private Concerts - "Verdi in Parma & ‘Puccini’ in Torre del Lago; 1 Opera - “Maron Lescault" best seats in the house at La Scula} VANCOUVER TWIN SINGLE $5399 $5799 General Inclusions: Canadian Departure Tox © Comprehensive Medical, Baggage & Cancellation Insurance © All Hotel Toxes 8 Service Churges . Holiday | Extensions available © Price quoted are per person ® fal Escorted from Conada : One departure only: June 10 (rin June 22) 17t6 a Drive’ BUENOS AIRES — Argentina was in shock on my Jast visit 15 years ago. The country was of course tryi ig tO recover from the debacle 0 Jar but now a Canadian over-40s rugby team had arrived. Taking no chances with a Bntish accent, my lapels sported large Maple Leaf pins. Other than spats with Chile over Moose pasture Occasionally resulting in sabre-rattling and landmines being strewn like confetti — w explains why Cape Horn is ‘ossed with boardwalks — the welcome mat is out for everyone these days as the country struggles with an economy based on agriculture and not much more. Tourists tend to stop off in Buenos Aires on their way to Patagonia or Ushuaia {gateway to Antarctic expedition 1 TO see a tango show, Peron’s tomb and sit at sidewalk cafes in the chic Recoleta area and try to make sense of this European city in South America. It also helps to understand what cur- in use, atherwi ee aproned at La Biela wali stu our change with dud bills Argentina went from being super-rich at the end of the Second World War to flat broke due to inept government, most- ly generals starting with Juan Peron. The final lor were outright murderers as well, unleashing the “dirty war” on political opponents who disappeared by the thousand, some dropped trom aircraft. At the Casa Rosada, where Eva Peron once waved to adoring masses, the March Pthe Mothers still takes place every sday. t while the nearby army headquar- continues to throw its threatening shadow over the Case Rosada, there is new lite just another block away in the waterfront redevelopment of Puerto Madero. Here, old warchouses have been turned inty restaurants where vou can get a steak the size of a telephone book for $20. Better still, the people are gregarious and anxious to please. My taxi driver from Puerto Madro spoke good English — he was an unemployed engineer --- and at the Posada Bar in Recoleta I shared a 7 night Sailing Rhapsody of the Seas or Legend of the Seas *999 trom US pp. That’s only $142 a day! Please phone for departure dates * prices are per person and include ail port charges. Subject to availability and certain restrictions apply. Call for details. NOTE: these writer David Wishart Meets that there is ‘a touchi of ‘Montmartre lively bars and restaurants that dot the Buenos Aires’ market dist Argentinian’s lost wealth. Black Jack, a passable local whisky, with a focal who insisted 1 go to a tango show. And so, the next night, to the Elviejo Almacen, where for USS40 vou get all the booze you can drink plus a rousing, show with passionare music and The soul of the shew is the ban- doneon, a piano accordion that is bounced on the knee of the player and delivers a beat tha: inflames the darcers and spreads like fever through the -audi- from are promotional fares and are NOT NATIONAL on on garth? combinable with category upgrades ar BONS discount booklet RCL ence, Elviejo Almacen is on the cobbled : streets of San Telmo, an old district whe locals once poured boiling oil on troops who had designs on taking the place of Spanish colonists. The Porten: had other ideas, and independence soon ‘followed. Today, San Telmo has a thriving See Argentina paye. 35 11 night Sailing | Galaxy $4 eos... That's onty $99"a day!