Starting Out

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Geo: -34.6118, -58.4173

A couple of weeks ago Erin and I had lunch together at the Chinese food stall in Coronado Mall. My fortune cookie said "You will go on a pleasant journey to a faraway place". I am considering that a very good omen for our trip. So here we go.

We've had a fun day of sightseeing today all over Buenos Aires, but first I will bring you up-to-date on the travels so far. When we left home on Friday, the day after Thanksgiving, we found the parking lot at the airport as full as we've ever seen it, but yet there were still lots of spaces for additional cars. The airport was only moderately busy with quick access through the TSA pre-check line. On the first flight from Albuquerque to Houston, we were upgraded to first class with our United frequent flyer gold status which was nice. We ate dinner at Republic Grill in Terminal E before spending the rest of our Houston layover in the United President's Club.

On the long, overnight flight to Santiago we had a row of three seats to ourselves. I had selected the two aisle seats of a center row in Economy Plus and no one was seated between us. There was a couple in front of us who had selected seats the same way. I didn't sleep much and Philip didn't sleep at all so we were pretty tired when we arrived in Santiago, but immigration and customs were easy. There was only a short line for immigration, and we did not have to declare anything for customs.

The last flight from Santiago to Buenos Aires was on Air Canada (but booked through United) so we were not able to print boarding passes ahead, and there was no Air Canada service center or ticket window at this airport. We went to wait at the gate for the agent to arrive. When he showed up, he changed our seat assignments that had been randomly assigned as a window seat and the one beside it near the back of the plane and gave us boarding passes for seats in the center section of the plane about halfway back with no one else in the same row yet. He thought we would have the whole row since it was late and most everyone had checked in already. As it turned out, we did have a row of four seats to ourselves for the two-hour flight. The gate agent also told us where we could go to a lounge for lunch that would take our United Club membership. It is Avianca downstairs below Ruby Tuesday and near gate twelve. I need to remember that since we will have a long wait at the Santiago airport after our cruise.

Arriving in Buenos Aires, all our luggage arrived quickly. Immigration and customs were easy with short lines again. Our chauffeur was at the right spot and easy to find holding up a sign with the largest printing of any there. We had an uneventful, but rainy drive to hotel. Javier will pick us up on Monday to take us to the cruise ship terminal, too. Checking in to the Anselmo Hotel, we were upgraded to a larger room on the ground floor because of our Hilton Honors diamond status. The room overlooks the central courtyard of the hotel where the breakfast room and dining room are located down one level. The hotel has an industrial chic décor—lots of exposed pipes and bare concrete, but it works together and the place reminds both Phil and me of the Hoxton in London although it doesn't really look the same—just a similar feel. We opted for dinner in the hotel which was okay but easy after about twenty-four hours of traveling. It was early to bed after a brief walk around the neighborhood since we didn't sleep much on the planes.

This morning we were up with the alarm for a late breakfast in the hotel. It was pretty picked over by the time we arrived. We'll try to get there earlier tomorrow. There is a street fair, primarily antiques and art but other things as well, in Dorrego Plaza right in front of the hotel and on the surrounding streets every Sunday. After breakfast, we walked around a little bit to see what was for sale, and we walked down to the restaurant we planned to go to for dinner tonight just to make sure we could find it. Nothing tempted us enough to make a purchase. We'll buy souvenirs later. A few street performers were out and we watched a puppeteer, a partnerless single man tango-ing, and several musicians.

In the afternoon, we took a private city tour arranged by our travel agent, Paula Kay. She also booked the transfers from the airport to the hotel and from the hotel to the cruise ship terminal. The driver picked us up first then picked up the English-speaking guide. The guide had to park three or four blocks from our hotel since the streets were closed for the antique fair. He led us to his car then drove to the meeting point for the guide.

During the tour, we saw several neighborhoods of the city—San Telmo, La Boca, Puerto Madera, Recoleta, Palermo, Retiro, and San Nicolas. We started at Plaza de Mayo to see the government buildings and monuments. I was particularly impressed by the story of the women who come to the plaza every Thursday afternoon to march in protest and in remembrance of their children who “were disappeared” during the years of military dictatorship between 1976 and 1983. They wear white scarves with their children's names embroidered on them. There are images of the scarves painted on the ground where the women march in front of Casa Rosada.

We went on to drive around much of the city seeing from the car Teatro Colon, 9 de Julio Avenue (the widest street in the world), El Obelisco, and many other buildings and monuments. We stopped at the Caminito neighborhood and Recoleta Cemetery, too, before they dropped us off near our hotel. Mario, the driver, and Analee, our guide, were both excellent.

During the tour, we asked the guide to take us by an ATM so we could get some local currency. After trying two different cards in three different machines with no luck, we gave up. When we stopped in El Caminito, the guide suggested we use the money change window. We have avoided them on past trips expecting a poor rate, but were happy with the 15 to 1 rate she gave us. For $100 US, we received $1500 AR broken down into seven 200 peso notes and one 100 peso note. We used one of the 200 peso notes to pay for a couple of bottles of water. When I handed it over to the cashier, he looked at it amazed, turned it over, held it up to the light, and showed it to a nearby table of locals including our guide. I was beginning to worry that it might be counterfeit, but it was okay. Analee explained that it was only the third 200 peso note she had ever seen. They were recently introduced along with 500 peso notes to keep up with the inflation that is rapidly rising. I am glad that I didn't get currency at home that would be worth less now than a few weeks ago.

After the tour, we walked three blocks for a meal at Des Nivel. We hadn't had lunch, and it was too early for the Argentinian dinner hour, but the restaurant was open. I had the bife de lomo (tenderloin) with papas de Espanol (Spanish potatoes) and Phil had the bife de chorizo (sirloin) with mashed pumpkin. (I can't remember the Spanish word for pumpkin.) Topped it off with a half bottle of local Malbec for a great dinner.

Soon after we sat down in the restaurant, another couple sat at the next table. The tables are very close together European style. We overheard them telling a man at the next table who had offered help in their ordering what their itinerary was. It matched the Seabourn itinerary so we expected that they were going on the same cruise we were. We ended up visiting with them, Linda and Andy from San Francisco, throughout the meal. It is always nice to talk about travel with other eager travelers. They are the first people we've met for the cruise although I saw a few others that looked like good possibilities, too.

We are back at the hotel for one more night and join the cruise tomorrow. I don't expect much of the internet service on board so I'll update this blog when we are back home.

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Comments

[Paula]

Love, love every word. So glad our "friends" at United have you an upgrade! Lol. I know you are having a wonderful time.