Dia Uno

Here we are safe and sound in beautiful Buenos Aires Argentina. The Paris of South America (if Paris has crumbing buildings and grafitti everywhere) or so they say. We got here after an approx. 10 hour flight that was in some ways better than I thought it would be and in some ways was much worse. The first 4 hours or so were great. It turns out if you travel in the awesome Boeing 777 you have your very own TV screen and remote and can chose between like 10 movies to watch and about 10-15 TV shows. I watched Mama Mia (saw it on Broadway but couldn´t resist listening to all those great ABBA songs) and then after dinner (YES! They actually fed us a real meal on a plane) Chad and I both watched Wall-E on our TVs. After that I decided to try to catch some shut eye. That did not go well, and after about 4 hours trying to sleep and getting about 45 mins worth I decided it wasn´t worth it and just listened to music. The ride was smooth and comfortable otherwise.

Instead of being smart and taking it easy the first day we wanted to go, go, go. As soon as we checked into the apartment and signed the contacts we got ready real quick and went in search of pre-paid cell phone cards and Empanadas. We were supposed to have lunch with Chad´s friend Mariana but we needed a snack. While we got the empandas she called and told us where she wanted to meet so we headed on over. We toured the Burger King on Florida Ave that is in an old palatial homestead. It was so gorgeous except for the orange and blue tables everywhere. While we were there Mariana called to say she couldn´t make it because her boss had to meet with her so we struck out on our own for La Cabrera which we heard were the best steaks in BA. Here is our food.

It turns out that if these are the best steaks in Argentina I am done with Argentine steaks (supposedly world renowned). It was good once you got around all the fat but there wasn´t much besides the fat and it was never exceptional. Anyway, on the way in to the restaurant I broke my sandal and needed to head home after that. We finally wised up and took a nap after being grumpy and grumbly all day up till then.

After our naps we freshened up again and went out to find groceries and more Empanadas for dinner. Chad wanted to take me to the Pink House (where Evita Peron lived and the Argentine presidents live) and the Plaza de Mayo in downtown BA. I also wanted a closer view of Ave 9 de Julio (widest road in the world) and the Obelisk in the center of 9 de Julio.

I was really upset to see the national catedral in the main plaza had grafitti on it. You could tell it happened before and was painted over but the paint didn´t match. There was no sign I could see that said it was the National Cathedral or that above was the pink house. It is like they don´t have pride in their National Heritage or something, which I know is not the case but I was kindof disappointed none the less.

After the Plaza and Obelisk we took the Subte (subway) to the Constitution station (like grand central in NYC to catch a light rail train to a barrio close to downtown to go to Wal-Mart (because sometimes you need to feel like a redneck even when you are in a foreign country).

Wal-Mart, even in Argentina, just reinforced that it is not my friend, but we got some good crap. So now I just posted this blog that took forever and probably took you forever to read, if you even made it to the end at all. No worries as this is for my own purposes as well.