Buenos Días, Argentina! (Good Morning, Argentina!)
Trip Start
Nov 12, 2009
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Trip End
Nov 22, 2009
Where I stayed
Hotel Esplendor
Buenos Aires, Distrito Federal, Argentina
Saturday, November 14, 2009
Comfortable Flight
After finding my seat, a blonde flight attendant named Jill came and immediately offered to hang up my coat and asked if I wanted something to drink. Tempted by a pre-flight cocktail but knowing that I would have to pace myself, I elected to have some cranapple juice instead. Then, the chief flight attendant and the chief ground attendant came to greet all the passengers in Business First by our full names and welcomed us warmly on board. I was impressed that they had studied all of the 25 passengers' names beforehand and correctly identified each one of us.
Then a bilingual flight attendant, who was speaking in Spanish to an Argentine couple in front of me, came to take my dinner order. She switched back to English, "What would you like to have as your appetizer and entrée, Sir?" Wanting to grasp the opportunity to practice some Spanish with her, I asked back, "Qué recomienda Ud. (What do you recommend)?" Without any hesitation, she replied in her native tongue that either el ossobuco de ternera (veal osso buco) or la covina escalfada y cola de langosta (poached sea bass with lobster tail) is the chef's specialty. There were also la suprema pollo al tandoori (Tandoori breast of chicken) and la taza de macarroncitos (mini cannelloni pasta). Inquiring some more about the other choices in Spanish, I thus began my interaction in the tongue of the countries of my final destination even before leaving US airspace.
Shortly after we reached cruising altitude over the Gulf of Mexico, the dinner ritual commenced. First came the warm towel to refresh my face, then Jill returned to my seat to drape a silver-blue tablecloth over my pullout table, on which she placed a small white porcelain cup containing warm, roasted assorted nuts. She then set my table with some silverware and fine china. For red wine, I continued the theme of Argentina by selecting a Malbec over the French Bordeaux or Côtes du Rhône, which I had already tasted on my previous Business First flight between Houston and Paris. The wine, water, and bread were constantly being replenished, and when the salad arrived on my table, I decided to enhance the dining experience with some relaxing music. So I played some of Vivaldi's Cello Concerti on my iPod Touch to complement the vinaigrette salad with salmon and pear and red wine. Traveling, I thought, was turning out to not be as dreadful as I was expecting. At this point, I pressed on several buttons on my seat to adjust the lumbar support and lowered the footrest halfway, so I could sit up straight and digest better. Soon thereafter, the sea bass and lobster tail entrée came, and the thick, rich flavors of this delectable dish made me imagine I was dining on food freshly caught off the coast of Chile. The cheese and wine followed the main course, but I was becoming a little fatigued from the mundane function of digestion. Although being on vacation should normally give me the carte blanche to indulge myself exquisitely and profusely, I still had to deliberately resist from gluttony. Otherwise I would have to pedal extra weight over the hilly terrains of the Andes Mountains in the next few days.
Ahh, the dessert cart quickly arrived. I decided to have some vanilla ice cream served in a beautiful crystalline glass, drenched in hot chocolate syrup, fresh strawberries, cherries, and warm nuts. I also had the sweet, flavorful amaretto dessert wine to help induce some REM sleep. With heavy eyes, I was now very relaxed and content. Looking at my watch, the dinner was drawing to a close two hours into the flight, which corresponded to our flying over Honduras on the GPS map. That meant I had another seven hours of sleep left before landing in Buenos Aires. The cabin lights dimmed, and seats were reclining left and right. Following suit, I draped myself in the thick blanket and dozed off.
Saturday, November 14, 2009
Good Morning, Buenos Aires!
Quick Stats:
Argentina: Population 40,134,425 in 2009 (33rd in the world)
Area: 2,766,890 sq. km. (8th in the world)
Year Visited: 2006
GDP per capita: USD $14,408 (Source: Int'l Monetary Fund, 2009)
Exchange Rate: $1 USD = $3.82 ARS (Argentine Peso)
President: Mrs. Cristina Fernández de Kirchner
The lights illuminated the cabin an hour and a half before landing. Waking up very refreshed, I looked out the window and witnessed the subtle morning sunlight above the clouds. Still satiated from last night's dinner, I elected to forego el omelette de hongos (mushroom omelette with broccoli potato gratin and grilled smoked turkey patty) and instead had some fresh fruit with coffee.
Short Houston Reunion in Buenos Aires
The plane was ahead of schedule, traveling only 9 hours 45 minutes, and landing 45 minutes before the expected time. As soon as I exited the plane, I followed the signs to "Migración - Aduanas (Passport Control and Customs). While waiting in line, a tall, blonde guy, who immediately seemed very familiar to me, approached me and said, "Hey!"
It was Paolo, an Italian friend of mine from Houston, with his wife Deborah. I was surprisingly pleased to see two familiar faces on foreign soil. Instinctively, I said, "Ciao, Paolo. Come stai (Hi, Paolo. How are you?)" I also greeted Deborah with a friendly embrace and kiss on the cheek alla italiana. There we were, Paolo and I chatting in Italian while surrounded by Argentines, Brazilians, Americans, and a few Germans in line. They told me how badly they had slept and that their food was not tasty. Then they wondered how come they didn't see me on the plane. Without wanting to tell them I was sitting in Business First, I answered plainly that I was probably sitting a few rows in front of them.
Initially I thought they were on the same tour with me. In fact, Paolo and Deborah decided to take advantage of the warm weather in South America and strong dollar to travel to Argentina on an independent self-made tour. In a bizarre twist of fate, our itineraries were almost identical. We were going to spend two days in Buenos Aires. Then we would go to Mendoza on the same day, and we would end our vacation in Santiago, flying back to Houston on the same day. But they would fly from Santiago to Miami to Houston, whereas I would return to Buenos Aires to board my non-stop Continental Business First flight to Houston.
After picking up our luggage, we exited through the sliding doors to the large lobby full of people waiting for the arriving passengers. I knew there was someone waiting to pick me up. Yes, I saw my chauffeur holding up my name. I said farewell to Paolo and Deborah, and after giving them my accommodation details, I wished them a good vacation and a possible reunion along the way.
Throughout the taxi ride to the hotel, my driver was trying to practice English with me whereas I was practicing Spanish with him. The Argentine accent, suave and melodic, sounded like a pleasant mixture of Italian and Portuguese. There were some new grammatical pronouns and conjugations distinct to Argentina (like vos tenés instead of tú tienes for you have) that I had faintly learned in the past. My Spanish education from middle school to college was based both on standard Latin American and Continental Spanish (ie, the language of Spain), not Argentine Spanish. Luckily the variation was easily recognizable and comprehensible.
Lovely Springtime in Buenos Aires
My hotel was very centrally located at the corner of Avenida Córdoba and San Martín St, right next to one of Argentina's principal and most important shopping malls, las Galerías Pacífico, built in 1889 and modeled on Le Bon Marché in Paris. In fact, if one stepped outside the hotel, Buenos Aires' long pedestrian shopping street, Calle Florida, was only one block away. After checking in, I quickly had to go buy some converters for my electronic apparels. Although I had brought the European-type converters, my hotel had the Australian-type power outlets only. Last night when I was packing, I had the fear this was going to happen. Argentina strangely adopted two different types of electrical sockets, one with the European prongs and the other with the Australian prongs, all over the country. Even in one building, two different types of sockets could co-exist on the wall.
TIP: For US travelers, bring both types of converters when visiting Argentina!
My next mission was to go shopping for myself and friends. I sort of received a shopping list from some people before arriving here, so I conveniently wandered up and down Calle Florida in search of those items. I then stopped into an Argentine men's fashion store, Macowens, to buy a new suit to wear to my friends' wedding in Europe next year. I really was impressed with the sharp style of a particular suit, which was reminiscent of the slim, fashionable Italian look. I immediately purchased it along with some very nice shirts.
Shopping Tip in Buenos Aires:
The interesting thing about shopping in Buenos Aires was that some prices might look deceptively cheap until one read between the lines. Usually, expensive items were written as a certain low amount with x number of payment installments. For example, I saw a nice pair of Argentine shoes with the following sign, "$30 x 5 installments," meaning $150. By the way, the symbol "$" is also used in Argentina to denote the Argentine peso, which is 26% of the US dollar, so those very stylish shoes actually were not expensive at all ($39 USD total).
Walking around Buenos Aires today, I noticed a large presence of Brazilian tourists everywhere. Some Argentinian vendors were screaming about discounts to passer-bys in Spanish, English, and now, Portuguese. Because of the stronger Brazilian economy and currency, people from Brazil were now traveling more to neighboring countries in South America. Back in 2006 when I was here, an encounter with Brazilian tourists was a rarity.
Meeting The Group
At 7PM, I met my group in the hotel lobby. My tour guide, Victor, was a young sports aficionado probably in his late 20's. Very active in rugby and running, he originally came from one of the suburbs of Buenos Aires. Then there was the only other male in the group, Jimmy originally from Toledo, OH, who he spent most of his working career in Aerospace Engineering in Southern California. Now retired and living very prosperously in Phoenix, AZ after having sold some real estate in 2007, he had been traveling around the world with his friend, Inge, who originally came from Hamburg, Germany. Inge came to the US more than 40 years ago, and she still worked as a "Factor" or "Loan Shark" to an interstate trucking company. Inge was joined by her sister, Elsa, who also immigrated to the US from Hamburg almost 40 years ago. Elsa currently resides in Rhode Island and is a mother of three sons and grandmother of three grandchildren of 2, 5, and 7 years old. I had a chance to practice some German with both Inge and Elsa, who were quite surprised that someone from Texas had took an interest in learning it. They then turned to Victor and asked if he also spoke German. Because of his blank look, we decided to hold our conversation only in English or Spanish.
For dinner, we took a taxi together to El Gran Bar Danzón located at 1161 Libertad, 5 minutes from the hotel. My first impression of this fashionable haunt was Manhattan Meets Buenos Aires. The intimate, dimly lit bar and dining area accentuated by bossa nova music and a soft, monochromatic decor would usually attract a very fashionable crowd starting at around 10:30PM every night in the heart of downtown Buenos Aires. We relaxed on the leather divan with some delicious wine tasting, followed by several plates of bruschetta, while looking over the busy streets of Buenos Aires. For dinner, I selected a grilled Argentine ribeye steak with corn and cheese dauphinoise (it looked almost like potato au gratin but with corn) topped with a "criolla" sauce, followed by a dark chocolate and mango cake with chocolate sauce and raspberry sherbet for dessert. The conversations were very lively with the help of some Malbec and Pinot Noir. At around 11:30PM, we all headed back to the hotel to get ready for tomorrow's first bicycle ride on the streets of Buenos Aires.
To Be Continued....
Comments
Beautiful pictures!!
We really wish we were in Buenos Aires with you.
Have a wonderful trip!
Marta&Ramón
Ciao Tony, sono un po gelosa, che meraviglia il tuo viaggio e sei solo all'inizio. Il mondo e' proprio piccolo, anche noi conosciamo Paolo e sua moglie e' stata una mia stundentessa per un po di tempo. Divertiti e aspetto il tuo prossimo up date. CIAOOOOOO
What a small world indeed! Looks like you've had beautiful days...and Argentina looks beautifull. Continue your fun adverture Mr. Trekker!!