Buenos Aires Rendez Vous

Monday, January 3, 2011 - Friday, January 7, 2011

Buenos Aires recap of the past four days.

I arrived late on Monday night, sometime after 11pm and found huge queues for taxis.  I had no idea it would be so crowded.  Luckily I found a company that said it would only be 30 minutes, and 10 minutes later I was on the road.  By the time I got to the hostel it was past midnight.

Tuesday I had arranged to meet Laura Corral (a fellow Wash U sorority sister and Buenos Aires native) for lunch at her offices at Google.  I took care of some necessary business (dropping off laundry and getting my legs waxed) before heading into the city center (about 10 metro stops from my hostel in Palermo Hollywood).  By the time I arrived, I had just over an hour before lunch, so I took in the sights of the Plaza de Mayo, entering the Cathedral, and walked along Florida, a pedestrian street.

Puerto Madero was slightly farther than I expected, but I made it to Google just a few minutes late.  Good thing I had a copy of my passport, as getting into the building took some time.  After waiting 10 minutes in Google reception, Laura burst through the doors giving me a big hug.  I haven't seen her since graduation, 5.5 years ago and she looks fabulous.  We went to the cafeteria for free lunch (after she showed me the games room with the unlimited candy and soda) and enjoyed the variety of offerings from salad, to pasta, to chicken and dessert.  Pretty good selection for an office of 100.

During lunch I found out that Laura was meeting up with Adam to watch the Sugar Bowl.  Adam is an American from Chicago who's been living in Buenos Aires for a couple of years.  My friend Ben from Birthright introduced me to him via facebook, and when I went to send him a message, I found out he knew Laura.  Small world!  Turns out they've only known each other a couple months and met through Laura's boss, another American.  So she invited me to join them.

We went for a brief walk around Puerto Madero, the old port which has been completely renovated into a safe, hip area, before Laura got back to work.  In the 20 or so minutes of being outside with no sunscreen (expect on my face), my shoulders and chest got extremely burned.  Oops.  Laura figured that she would have time for afternoon tea and insisted on treating me to afternoon tea at the Palacio Alvear (basically the nicest hotel in BA) later that afternoon.  We agreed to meet at 5:45pm.

Before heading back to Palermo, I searched the streets near Florida to find a camera repair shop.  After being sent to a few different stores, I finally found a servicio technico who knew exactly what I needed.  I agreed to come back the next day to drop off my camera and by the time I found the Subte station and got back to the hostel it was 4:45pm.  I ran through the shower and jumped in a taxi to the Alvear.  Such a gorgerous hotel.  We had a lovely afternoon sipping tea and eating the traditional tea selection of sandwiches, scones and pasteries.

Laura and me at the Alvear

At 7:30 we rushed out of the hotel to find Laura's car as we'd spent more time than she'd put on the meter and drove to Adam's apartment in Palermo.  We relaxed in his unfurnished apartment (he moved in seven weeks ago and only has one bar chair and a bed) before heading to a bar downtown to watch the game, which started at 10pm.  After the first half Ohio was killing Arkansas and we made a quick call to Ben who was watching from the first row.  The second half Arkansas almost came back but Ohio won in an exciting ending involving a blocked field goal and interception.  It was 2:30am and while Laura, Adam and Mona (a friend of theirs who'd shown up at the bar) were still going strong, I headed back to the hostel (in a taxi which Laura put me in and paid for) for bed.

Adam, Laura, Mona and me - touchdown Ohio State!

Wednesday was pretty lowkey.  I tried to sleep in and made a few phone calls to book my Tucan tour in Ecudaor and change a plane flight.  When I got on the Subte to the city, the train was delayed and I spent 45 minutes baking in the underground (reminded me of London).  I finally emerged into the light of day and a man offered to help me find the street I was looking for.  I quickly lost him (although I know he was just trying to be helpful) and it turned out he took me the wrong way.  So I back-tracked and eventually found the camera shop.

The woman at the counter was extermely helpful (and spoke excellent English) and told me to come back in three hours.  I grabbed lunch at California Burrito Co and walked to the port to enquire about ferry tickets to Colonia.  Little did I realize what a production that would be.  I had to put my name in and take a number.  Luckily I'd brought along my kindle and started reading The Lost Girls, a story about three friends who take a year off at 28 to go travelling.  To say I can relate would be an understatement.  My name was finally called and I was informed that half the ferries were sold out.  So I purchased my one-way ticket on the noon fast boat and took notes for the girls (Sarah and Kate were thinking of taking a day trip to Colonia).

Continuing on my transportation information gathering, I walked to the LAN airlines office and received a very useful piece of information: booking return tickets is cheaper than one-way.  I guess I already knew this, but I hadn't thought to look at return fares and was finding the prices from Ecuador to Lima to be ridiculousy expensive.  Instead of booking new flights, I changed the dates on my oneworld around-the-world ticket as the woman in LA had incorrectly booked the Colombia flight.  My flight back to London is now May 29, less than five months away.

Having spent over three hours sorting all this out, my camera was ready for pick up.  I'm proud to say it is now spot free!  Not sure I made a big deal about the spots on my blog, but ever since I arrived in South America, my lens has been ruined by dust/lint.  Something got inside the lens and was marking all my pictures.  The lint piece moved around but the big spot remained present, basically ruining all my photos (nothing a little photoshop can't solve, but I don't have time for that now).  Anyway, $80 later I'm a happy camera holder.

Exhausted from the heat, I returned to the hostel and spent the evening relaxing. I didn't have dinner plans and wasn't too hungry, so I read my book and did some more research (now with the new discovery of flight prices).

Yesterday (Thursday already?) I met up with Sarah and Kate at noon at Plaza Palermo Viejo.  It was wonderful seeing them again and we ended up spending most of the day sitting around talking.  After having some lunch at this awesome cafe which served mini-desserts (I got a sandwich but Sarah ordered apple pie and ended up with a tiny square of cake) we wandered to Plaza Italia in hopes of riding the Tourist Bus around town.  When it finally arrived, we were told tickets were sold out!  Have you ever heard such a thing?

My lunch, Kate's drink and Sarah's tiny apple pie

Our change of plans saw us taking in the Botanical Gardens instead and heading down to the city center to walk along Avenida de Mayo.  The crowded, huge city center felt miles away from quiet, quaint Palermo Soho and we quickly retreated (after stopping for ice cream) back to our home base.  We sat at a cafe on the main square enjoying a beer and people watching before having an "early" dinner at another restaurant on the square (after having walked a few blocks in either direction and not finding any places very crowded).  We were finished with our sandwiches and hamburgers by 8:30pm, the time when most Argentinians are still preping to go out.

Kate, me and Sarah on the Subte

After saying adios until May to my friends (turns out Sarah is coming to Colonia tomorrow, yay!) I walked back to the hostel along Paraguay and ended up stopping to see if Adam was home.  We chatted for a couple of hours until sleepiness overcame me.  Back at the hostel I was in bed when new people started arriving.  Didn't get to sleep as early as I'd anticipated and was tired when I woke up this morning to clear out.

As per the hostel's suggestion, I took the train (not subway) downtown and figured the port would be a few minutes walk.  Having spotted a couple guys wearing "Free Walking Tour" t-shirts, I asked them in English how long it would take to walk.  They recommended a taxi and after setting off by foot for ten minutes (large backpack on my back and small on the front) in the heat of the morning, I jumped in a taxi.

Check-in went smoothly and border control for both countries took place before boarding.  While waiting in line, I met three Americans from Minnesota who are studying in BA for two weeks as part of their undergrad businnes course.  I left them when we boarded and sat next to an Argentine couple in the travel business who spoke excellent English.  We started talking when the woman asked about my kindle and said her husband could use something like it.  Guess you never know how you'll meet people.

Ferry terminal in Buenos Aires

At 14:15 Uruguay time (an hour later than Argentina), we arrived at the port of Colonia del Sacramento.