Dec. 26
A lot has happened since we left San Diego and the adrenaline is keeping us moving. We feel fortunate to see all our baggage on the carousal. We make our way to immigration. Our paper work is checked and they welcome us to Argentina. We had made an arrangement for a transport company to take us from the airport to our hotel. We look for Beth’s name on a placard and smile when we see it. There are three cars waiting to take us to our destination for the night. Our drivers tell us that it is good that we have arrived on a Sunday. The trip on a weekday would take several hours, but today it is only 45 minutes to our hotel. We arrive to a small hotel that just has a name on the door. It is located between two cafes. We are staying in the tourist district of Palomar. Tomorrow we will be heading to a different airport and this area is closer to it.
We knock on the door and are welcomed in. The name of the hotel is the Finisterra Hotel Boutique.
We talk to the hotel clerk who tells us that our rooms are upstairs and it would probably be easiest if we just take what we need for the night and leave our baggage behind the desk. That was good advice as it was a narrow staircase leading to the second floor. The rooms are quite small, but the bed is comfortable and we look forward to using it soon. Due to Covid there is no food served here, but we are given some recommendations of nearby restaurants. We head out and soon find ourselves enjoying some South American Food.
The first course is empanadas
Followed by a tortilla of potatoes and onions
Delicious!
Don checks out the wine menu and orders what he thinks is a glass of wine. The price seemed reasonable at four dollars. The waiter brings this..
And says that he hopes Don isn’t driving. Don only took a glass full and gave the rest of the bottle to the waiter.
We are learning the value of the American dollar. Most of the restaurants here take dollars and give an exchange rate of 200 to one.(called the blue dollar rate) We had gotten some pesos at the airport and were given 100 to 1(which is the bank rate) The whole meal for the four of us including drinks and a tip came to twenty dollars.
It is a beautiful sunny day and since we have done a lot of sitting in the last 24 hours we decide to go for a walk. There are several nice parks in the area surrounded by many apartment building.
Buenos Aires is the largest city in Argentina and the second largest in South America.
There are a lot of statues in this park.
We also see a few historic buildings
Our next mission is to find a coffee store for Ryan and ice cream for Don and I. Glad to say that the mission was successful . Jet lag is setting in and we all agree that the best thing for us to do is to head back to our hotel and check out the beds.