Argentina & Uruguay for a few days in January

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ARGENTINA & URUGUAY Gerald Hasser



If it’s January and you like warm places; the Southern Hemisphere should work.



We’d been considering travel to South America for some time, and were ready. The list of countries of interest included Argentina and Uruguay to start. First, how to get there; and then how to get around; and then how to get back?



I had about 120,000 miles on American Airlines and found we could use them for two first class one-way fares from San Francisco to Buenos Aires. This is a very long set of flights, so going first class seemed a fine way to start the adventure. The first leg would leave San Francisco at a civilized hour for a three and a half hour trip to Dallas. After a reasonable layover in Dallas the final leg would be nine hours to Buenos Aires overnight. Point to point in the continent would be on LAN Airlines and the return again on American.



Once that was figured out, we fine tuned how long to stay at each point of interest. The important places and regions included Buenos Aires, Iguazu Falls, Montevideo and Colonia del Sacramento. Research was easy; with plenty of information on the web and in travel books, enabling us to do our own bookings.



We started thoroughly enjoying first class on the long leg from Dallas, having been escorted to our seats in the wide body Boeing 777. The seats were actually individual pods which would later convert to full length flat beds long enough for my six foot frame. One needs to go to pod school to learn how to work all the features. Champagne soon flowed and we were handed menus from which to make dinner and breakfast choices. The pampering continued on a first name basis throughout the flight, featuring excellent food, including Jean’s dinner of halibut and mine of chicken. We settled in afterward for our personal selection of first run movies on our individual screens, which actually worked properly with good sound – a first in my experience on a plane. A restful and comfortable sleep of several hours led to a bright morning overlooking the snow covered Andes while enjoying breakfast. We could get used to this.



Approach to the international airport was from the south, giving showing the scope of Buenos Aires and its suburbs. Customs and Immigration were not difficult, but bit the budget due to the entry fee. Our driver was waiting out front and we reached our first hotel in the Palermo Soho neighborhood after a half hour cab ride. The Purobaires, at the corner of Niceto Vega and Armenia, is a stylish eleven room boutique hotel of the current trend in Buenos Aires, built a couple years after a family residence was torn down on the site. Room 103 was small, air conditioned and functional, though noisy from the street immediately below. Rooms at the back should be quieter. The staff was great, patiently waiting on hold on the phone to modify a ferry reservation for us. The included breakfast was good and the rooftop pool and terrace would prove to be welcome after a day of walking around the hot city.



Once settled in, it was time to explore. We walked through the Palermo neighborhood to Plaza Italia, careful not to trip on the crumbling sidewalks and other obstructions, or get run over by local drivers. Pedestrian right of way in crosswalks is a quaint and sometimes unobserved concept. The neighborhood does not impress in the daytime, looking better in the evening under soft lights, with the restaurants and clubs open and busy.



In the Plaza de Mayo we witnessed the weekly solemn ritual of the procession of the Madres de la Plaza de Mayo; a very dramatic and important event that serves to keep the memory alive of the “disappeared”, the murdered, the abducted children and grandchildren, and other victims of the regimes of the seventies and eighties.



The remainder of the afternoon involved the sights of the area, including the Casa Rosada, the president’s official residence; and the grand boulevard – 9 de julio, with its iconic obelisk. The subway took us back to Plaza Italia and a cab carried our sore feet back to the hotel.



A nice thing about our neighborhood was the proximity of numerous dining choices. We found a good one that night in the form of a reasonable Mexican restaurant with outdoor seating, on a corner of Armenia St. a block away. Shortly after that it was time for a full night’s sleep.



The next morning we boarded a hop on – hop off bus near Plaza Italia for what should have been a good excursion. It went OK for a while, though we were unimpressed when the operators took a 15 minute break and left their passengers and wannabe passengers cooking in the hot sun. We got off at Plaza San Martin on the other side of the city to check out that neighborhood; and could not get back on as the subsequent buses were full. We offered to stand, but they still would not let us board. We had to use a cab to get back across town. Ripoff. At least we found a very nice Starbucks in the process, for a little Frappocino touch of home.



Generally speaking, Buenos Aires reminded us of Manhattan, but not in a great way, including the roar of traffic and horns and crowded subways. It looks best from a distance



After breakfast, day 3 started with cab ride to the Colonia Express ferry terminal on the Rio Plata for our three hour cruise to Colonia del Sacramento in Uruguay. For an unknown and unexplained reason, the boat was an hour late to depart. We waited in the crowded noisy boarding area after clearing Argentine and Uruguayan customs, which consisted of two bored clerks sitting next to each other stamping documents. Such a waste, when people practically make this a commute. Once underway the cruise was smooth and restful. Colonia is a very quiet small town founded by the Portuguese in the 1700’s and enjoyed mostly by Porteños on their weekends away from the busy big city across the river. Hotel Italiano, a well preserved and slightly formal old place, was a ten minute walk from the ferry terminal for check in to our air conditioned room with oversize bath. Walking the old town and gazing across the river to the skyline of Buenos Aires did not take long, and we made it back to the lovely pool while the sun was still high to enjoy a dip and a beer. After an al fresco dinner, accompanied by strolling musicians on the old town plaza it was lights out with the a/c on all night.



The next morning we boarded our luxury bus, complete with roomy assigned seating for the two hour drive through the cattle country to Montevideo. The Radisson on the main plaza is an excellent American style business hotel, very spacious and well appointed, with the elegant Arcadia Restaurant on the top (25^th) floor where we enjoyed the view during dinner and also breakfast the following morning. Their indoor pool was quite soothing and almost empty. However the adjacent old town was a dumpy slum, with all shops closed on Sunday. A tour book had mentioned that the old town was used to emulate Havana for the movie version of Miami Vice, as it has a similar weathered look. That is believable, but it’s really just a slum. We walked quite a distance among a few maté sipping locals through the old town and harbor area, finally arriving at the Rambla to walk along the shore. It too was mostly deserted, with a smattering of locals enjoying the brown water. We figure the best parts of Montevideo are probably toward Punta del Este, and we just missed them; so we will have to return for another look some day. The plaza is OK, with the obligatory statue of the city’s founder on a horse.



Returning to Buenos Aires the next day, this time using the Buquebus ferry, a larger and more professional outfit than Colonia Express, with a friendlier website. Their terminal at the Montevideo port is modern and has the feel of an airport. The ferry is larger and has its own duty free shop, along with a cafeteria and futbol showing on flat screens. The seats in their version of Coach were comfortable for three hours with adequate legroom, lulling us into naps. A first class section is available upstairs for those who feel the need.



Arrival back in BA was at mid day for a short cab ride to the 34 room Urban Suites Recoleta, and very slick and spacious room 72 overlooking the cementario and Evita’s tomb; definitely not the most elaborate one there. We took the mandatory walk, finishing as the cemetery closed for the day. It is a rather crowded place, monitored by napping cats, and not very peaceful for the ghostly residents, as it is surrounded by the noise of the city.



A trip to BA would not be complete without a tango show, and we caught a good one called Tango Porteño that night. The theater was along the lines of Broadway or Las Vegas, with the added offerings of food, beverage and photos with the dancers, all for a price. The excellent show covered several eras of tango history and style.

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