We are off on an adventure that’s been a long time coming, first to Argentina and then to Antarctica! We booked this trip back in 2020, but then, well, you know what happened. Glad to get back on the road a few years later!

We dropped Whiskey off with his grandpeople in Florida; he’ll have a great time at the beach, but will miss us nonetheless. With our accumulated Chase points we booked Polaris class tickets, so made sure to stop in Houston and enjoy the swank lounge before departing on a 10 hour flight. The lay-flat seats were very nice, and helped us get a decent amount of sleep before hitting the town.

We arrived in BA and got a transfer to the airport by a very nice guy with a car we had booked through Viatour. It didn’t seem all that official, but we talked in our limited Spanish about football, and he stopped to show us a mural of Lionel Messi by the highway. We were able to check into the hotel early, and it was very nice to have strong air conditioning and water pressure to remind ourselves that this we no longer have to travel exclusively in backpacker class.

Then we were hungry, and walked to El San Juanino Place, where we had very tipico empanadas, locro stew, and tamales. The local Quilmes beer is pretty good, and I love that every country has a standard light lager to enjoy.

We checked out the Museo Nacional de Bellas Artes, which has many works by old European masters along with the best from Argentina. You can definitely see the competition they were having with haystacks and water lillies. This place definitely feels, and considers itself, European.

Walked back through the Recoleta neighborhood, and found some good shopping. I bought a lightweight shirt, because I didn’t bring enough for how hot it is here, and got a lesson in NOT paying with credit cards. The official exchange rate is nearly double the unofficial one you can get with cash, which I didn’t really understand until I checked my app statement. A woman yelled at me for having a camera out in the middle of the afternoon, and told us it was “very dangerous.” I wanted to tell her that we lived in Oakland, but she meant well…

We took an evening siesta at the hotel, and slept until 8. Had a lovely dinner at Dada, a typical Parisian style cafe. Enjoyed excellent lomo saltdo, and a few aperol spritz. When we left at 11, the place was just getting started…