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Published: October 23rd 2019
Looking forward to day of cycling, but still have a few things to sort out: missing suitcase, flight we couldn’t book yesterday, nowhere to stay in El Calafate and no activities booked. It’s a drizzly and slightly chilly morning - sums it up really. Head off to the bike hire place after breakfast.
Our guide is Marcelo and he is determined to cheer us up! He explains our itinerary for the day, and as it’s just the 3 of us, works out how to get us to the LATAM shop along the route so we can try to book our flights in person. We have a fun day cycling around Buenos Aires, punctuated by interesting stops where Marcelo explains some history and brings the tour to life by preparing ‘mate’ (yuk) and ’ferne-cola’ (yum!). We get to wander around the touristy El Caminito in La Boca and the intriguing mausoleums in the Cementerio de la Recoleta. We also get to experience an Argentinian-style protest just off Plaza de Mayo. It was a noisy but peaceful protest, although the authorities were not taking any chances and closed the gates to the Casa Rosa so we had to give that a miss.
At LATAM, the shop was heaving with a long queue of people. We quickly decided to give it a miss and instead used Marcelo’s hotspot to try our luck online again. Success! Three flights booked to El Calafate. Our lunch was at a roadside cafe next to the river. Low end, but pretty tasty, although we were starting to get a bit cold. However within a short while (just when we were thinking we should buy some jumpers), the sun came out and we were warm and happy. Had a nice coffee outside in the sun at the Panera Rosa, and that’s about it. The 7 hour tour flew by. We really enjoyed our time with Marcelo. The ultimate compliment is that difficult-to-please Maia thought it was great! Happy Days. ?
Back at the hotel still no sign of the missing suitcase, although KLM have been in touch to say it has arrived in Buenos Aires. As it’s now evening, we’re pretty worried that the case will be delivered after we leave! No way we can get in touch with anyone to get any meaningful information - very frustrating. Crack on with finding a hotel and book us
into Hotel Apart Linda Stay which looks good. Start to look at trips, but run out of time before supper.
The suitcase arrives! Head off to a fab restaurant where we have a fun evening of more steak, pasta and omelette. Delicious bottle of Rittini Malbec. Loving having coats to wear! Pack loads of essentials in our hand luggage for tomorrow’s flight in case bags don’t make it!!
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Wendy
non-member comment
Chile trip planned for 10/29-11/9
We were looking for some "real" information for travelers. We were planning to fly south from Santiago on the 31 but it sounds like it might make sense to reroute the whole trip through Argentina now. Thanks for your post!