Re: the yellow and red balloons.
(First hand knowledge, btw) I can't remember who at the moment, but there is a business in both the wine country of California and the Champagne region of France that conducts hot air balloon tours of the wineries in each location. (It's been going on since the late 1970s; and last time I ever checked the same business was also doing this in Kenya (as a hot air balloon safari). It's quite possible there is a similar business in the wine region of Argentina, as there's a active ballooning community in Argentina as well.)
That may explain the why of the balloons and how they're connecting it to the first destination. And it's the sort of things TPTB would do isn't it?
And it might be a way of seeing if there's anything we can find via googling that can narrow down the first destination. Yes, it's speculation, but there really isn;t a lot to go with this time around is there?