Argentina 2016: 2 - Buenos Aries

Friday, November 11, 2016

The morning was spent awaiting the arrival of Leo and George, and getting a note off to Marilynn as today is our 38th anniversary. Leo had given me an arrival time of 5:03 AM, however when he didn't show up at the hotel I checked his flight on line and found it would not land until 8:40, so headed off for breakfast. When he arrived at 10:30 we went for a bite to eat and to catch up on news. George was the last to arrive at about 1 PM.

After they had a short siesta to get over the flights we took the subway to the Cathedral area to stroll around looking at the historic buildings. At at an English pub Leo and George had wine and me beer. We George ordered what he thought was a slightly expensive glass of wine, but it turned out he had bought a bottle. Wine is very reasonable here, a bottle of nice wine is about the price of a glass in other places. Leo and I pitched in to help George through the bottle.

Heading back to the hotel by subte we were in a crowded car with no air conditioning when it was announce that a train up the line had broken down and there would be a delay. We waited for quite a while in the heat but finally decided to take a taxi. Immediately after we got off the train it left, so we hung around and caught the next one. Once back in our neighbourhood we went to the restaurant where I'd had dinner the night before to have a good meal accompanied by more wine. We were all happy to make an early night of it.

Saturday, November 12, 2016

After breakfast at our usual cafe we took the subway to the hop on hop off bus route. It took quite a bit of walking before we found the correct stop, but eventually got on the bus and bought day passes. I'd read terrible reviews about the company but this is generally the best way to get a feel for a city, learn some history and see many sights.

When the bus arrive it was nearly empty, and a friendly young lady who spoke good Spanish and English took good care of us. We rode two of the three routes, which took over three hours. By the time we got back to where we started Leo, who is fighting a very nasty flu, was feeling pretty rough so we took the subway back to out area where we shared a good pizza and pitchers of beer. Leo had coffee, as he is taking antibiotics.

We walked Leo back to the hotel and George and I took the subte to try to catch the bus for the third route, however traffic was bad, and we just missed the bus while walking to the stop. We got on the next one almost an hour later, but when we got to a transfer point for the third line it was finished for the day. We walked miles to a subway station, unsuccessfully trying to flag down a taxi along the way. George was keen on heading downtown again, but my knees were finished - the last block from the subway to the hotel was truly painful. I lay down, did emails and a little writing while letting my legs rest.

Leo wasn't up to going to to dinner, so George and I walked to a little restaurant across the street from our lunch stop. It was a mom & pop place with very friendly people. We asked about a tango show, and they checked on the computer to see what was available, finally recommending one they knew. They also packed up a salad and chicken to take back to Leo.

Sunday, November 13, 2016

We spoke too soon about the weather yesterday. This morning there was thunder and it poured rain, so we didn't go anywhere. Leo and George watched an English language movie, and I got on the computer. It cleared off a bit by 12:30, so we went for a not great lunch at our breakfast restaurant, then did two subway connections to get within six blocks of the museum of natural science.

The museum was very well done, with a first class display of the dinosaurs that once inhabited Argentina. The plan was to take the subte to the money changer that I used before, as it stopped right at his kiosk, but once at the subway I realized that I forgot an important ingredient - the US dollars to change. Instead we changed trains to go to the Cathedral area where Leo had wanted to take photos and George wanted to have a bottle of wine at English pub, however that didn't work out as Leo forgot his camera and the pub was closed. We tried another, but after sitting awhile and getting no service we took the subte back home.

Leo and George went to our corner breakfast restaurant, but I had to lay down and elevate my legs, so I drained the three beer we still had in the fridge.

In the evening the hotel made VIP reservations for us at the Maduro Tango restaurant, which included being picked up and returned to the hotel. The brochure said we should arrive by 8, dinner served at 8:30 and the show would start at 10, however we weren't pick up until 8:30 and didn't arrive until well after 9. There were long lines to buy a ticket. We arrive at our table about 9:30 to find it was located in the second row against a wall looking at the edge of the stage. The show didn't start until almost 10:30, and dinner was served after that. Fortunately there were bottles of wine on the table where three ladies from Brazil were just finishing their dinner.

The show itself was very good, almost 2 hours long, with some excellent singers and dancers. At almost one in the morning we tried to find our ride back to the hotel, being sent to three different buses before they found us the right one, but in spite of the disorganization it was a good night.