Buenos Aires, Argentina – Arrival !

Arriving in Buenos Aires, Argentina

Sunday was great. The Chargers beat Dallas. An easy 9.5 hour flight from Atlanta to Buenos Aires. We watched a bit of TV. Sitcoms we never have seen before because we don’t watch them at home – Nurse Jackie (wonderful), 30 Rock (we know – everyone loves it, but we just haven’t watched it – hilarious). And we slept for about 5 hours each – so that was good.

I woke up about 5am and looked out the window – we were over the wing, on the right side (west) of the plane. It was completely dark outside except we were flying over a city – because it looks like a lit-up cobweb of tiny streets below – spectacular in the blackness. And then I looked up and Orion was directly over the wing – so that was seeing an old friend. Fun. They served breakfast at 6:30-ish and we landed at 8:00 am.

[cmamad id=”1141″ align=”center” tabid=”display-desktop” mobid=”ad-off”]Now in Buenos Aires (yippee!), it took us an hour waiting in a very calm orderly line to get through customs – then on to baggage claim and we had officially arrived. JB changed some money into pesos (about 3.75 to the dollar) and we took a taxi to the Lola House (our B&B) downtown – (http://www.lolahouse.com.ar/). We were greeted effusively by the owners Lidia and her sister Anna – who both hugged us as if we were old friends.

This is now about 9:30 am. We are BEAT!  Lidia served us breakfast and then brought out a map and showed us areas of the city, how to take the subway, and told us about things we should see – in English. She could not have been nicer or more helpful. Then she showed us up to our room and we went to sleep for a couple hours.

When we woke up, we walked down to the subway and caught a train down to a central square, Plaza de Mayo. Then we walked down Florida Street – which is pedestrian only in Buenos Aires, no cars – all shops selling everything. Also McDonalds and Burger King – for those seeking a foreign treat. We had a chocolate/caramel ice cream cone, bought maps in a book store and ended up a park at the end of the road at Plaza San Martin. Nice park – home of many very LARGE ficus trees.

Then we walked back up Florida Street, heading home. The sky is blue with big white clouds – it’s very warm – we were HOT in jeans. In Buenos Aires, we didn’t see any women or girls in shorts – all long pants. The only people wearing shorts are obviously tourists, like us.

We decided to look for a beer. JB stopped a street sweeper and asked where we could get a beer and the fellow gave us directions to a place a couple blocks away. We ended up at the London City (such an Argentinian name) – had two beers each (divinely cold) and bunch of nuts. Then we caught the subway back up north.

We stopped by a shoe repair place on the way back and JB dropped off a pair of shoes to have a tassle re-attached – we pick them up at 6pm tomorrow. Make that 18:00 – we have now set our watched to 24-hour time. It’s easier to go with the flow! That darn tassle has been broken for 4 years and he ends up going to Buenos Aires to get it fixed – for 2 bucks!

We bought some bottled water and then came home where I shucked off my shoes and am now happily sitting in a comfy chair, under an air conditioner – using the wifi.

It’s almost 8pm and it’s still light out – remember it’s SUMMER down here in Argentina, and the longest day of the year is next week. We plan to take it easy for the rest of the evening. Most restaurants in Buesnos Aires don’t open for dinner until 8pm (make that 20:00 – and so we’ll then go in search of BEEF. The place with the tango show will have to wait for another night. We’re going all of 3 blocks away for dinner – to Cantina Antonio (we think). Buenos tardes, amigos.

Buenos Aires, we’ll see again you tomorrow!

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All the best from JB.

Buenos Aires, Bus Tours of the city– next stop!

See you later! — Carol

Additional links:  Wikitravel link to Buenos Aires tours

Buenos Aires, Argentina – Arrival, JB Leep and Carol Martin