Buenos Aires
Early on
Thursday morning, we went to the airport around 6am for our 8:30am flight to
Buenos Aires. The flight was about 5 ½ hours with LAN, and upon arrival to
Buenos Aires, we were surprised with warm weather, even though we were
expecting chilly temperatures. Right now, in South America, it is considered
the “winter” season since we are opposite the Northern Hemisphere. Veronica, a
representative from Say Hueque, our Argentina provider, came to pick us up at
the airport to take us to our first hotel, Savoy. There was a strike going on
right near the hotel, so the police would not let our van through and we had to
walk with our luggage a few blocks to the hotel. Always starting off with
something exciting J
Upon arrival to the hotel, Veronica gave us a briefing for our plans in
Argentina, and then let us off on our own.
We freshened
up in our hotel rooms (Hellen and I had a room with a balcony overlooking the
main street! Great view) then we headed out to eat around 4:30 or 5pm because
we were starving! Of course we checked out La Americana, where we were
recommended to try empanadas. Empanadas were definitely one of the memories I
had of when I lived in Argentina and I was happy to have my queso y cebolla
(cheese & onion) and criollo empanadas. Peru just does not compete when it
comes to empanadas. Afterwards, we were craving some gelato, so Hellen and I
shared one the boys shared another. Frutas del Bosque (fruits of the forest)
and chocolate was the best combination!
After
returning to the hotel, we had a about an hour to get ready for our first
“tour” – the Dinner & Tango Show. It was fun to get dolled up and go out
for a night on the town. The theatre was gorgeous, and everything was fancy. We
had a 3 – course meal, and all you can drink champagne and wine. The dinner
itself was okay, but the wine was fantastic (of course, we were in Argentina).
The Tango show itself was really impressive. I am pretty critical when it comes
to dance shows, and I was really impressed. The dancers were very talented and
I fell in love with Tango. I would love to learn! Afterwards, we dropped Hellen
off at the hotel and I went out to a club with the boys to meet up with
Rodrigo’s friend, Flor. I can’t believe how late the nightlife is here in
Argentina. I completely forgot from my time when I lived in Cordoba. They
started letting people in that were on the “list” at 1:30am! We were exhausted
from getting up around 5am that morning… we stayed until around 4am and then
headed back to the hotel for some sleep.
The next day
(or a few hours later), on Friday, we got up, had an awesome breakfast then
checked out of our hotel to make our way to Palermo, another district of Buenos
Aires. On the way, we walked through a beautiful park that was full of many
roses and beautiful green areas. That day was much colder and the crisp air was
a nice change from the humid, cool air in Lima. After visiting the park, we
dropped our luggage off at the next hotel, Esplendor Soho, and then went to the
Say Hueque office to meet the rest of the staff. We had a meeting for a few
hours to get to know them, and learn more about their tours and services, and
from there, Veronica took us on our private city tour. It was a beautiful
sunny, but crisp day (reminded me of a fall day back in New England) and we got
to see the main parts of the city including Plaza de Mayo, Recoleta, the
Cemetary where Evita is buried, La Boca (and Caminito), and others. The city is
beautiful and I really enjoyed it. Along the way, we stopped for lunch and had
empanadas (of course) and stopped for another gelato as well. We couldn’t help
ourselves! On the way back to Palermo, most of us fell asleep in the car
because we were so tuckered out from the day. We had one more hotel tour for
the day, and after we saw Esplendor Hollywood, we went back to the hotel and
all passed out for a few hours. After waking up around 11pm, we wandered out to
find dinner and settled on some pizza, another specialty in Argentina. On our way home, we brought Hellen some pizza and someone off the street tried to rob the box of pizza straight from Ryan's hands...hahah. In
general, all Italian food is really good in Argentina since they have so much
Italian influence. I still can’t believe how late Argentines eat dinner here…
The next day,
Saturday, we woke up a little bit later and started our hotel tours with
Santiago around 10am. We saw Be Hollywood, Aspen Square, and Bobo. After that, we took Santiago out to lunch to
one of the best pizza places in Buenos Aires (although the name is slipping my
mind right now). We had a good time with him and it was great to get to know
someone that we normally work with strictly via email. After lunch, we had
another city tour that was supposed to be a “group tour” but ended up being
private but with a different guide. We saw the same sights, but it was good to
hear the history again since I always have a hard time understanding that type
of stuff… J That
night we took another long nap, and woke up around 11pm to get ready for
dinner. We went out for our last nice steak dinner in Buenos Aires, and from
there went to a tango club where they danced strictly tango (besides for 2
salsa numbers when we first arrived). It was a great last night in Buenos Aires
and all of us wished that we had had more time to explore the city on our own
since our schedule was so jam-packed.
Iguazu Falls
On Sunday, we
woke up and went to the airport for our short flight to Iguazu Falls. Upon
arrival, it was a bit rainy (typical for the summer season there) and we were
picked up by a representative and immediately went to a restaurant for lunch.
Of course we got the typical Argentinean cuisine – parilla (grilled meats) with
salad and hand cut fries. So good, but so heavy! We all wanted to take a nap
afterwards but we were whisked off to inspect hotels. We checked out Aldea de
la Selva, Loi Suites (an amazing 5 star hotel in the middle of the jungle), and
Grande Crucero. Afterwards, we headed to the hotel to take a much needed nap.
Later on, we went to Beto’s, a sandwich place, for dinner. I was brought back
to my days in Argentina with my lomo sandwich…man we ate so much on this trip!
Pretty sure I gained at least 5 lbs… after dinner, we walked around and
explored Puerto Iguazu for a bit, before going to sleep.
On Monday, we
went on our full day tour of Iguazu Falls. The day started out really grey and
a bit rainy, and I have to admit I was disappointed. Everything looks different
in the rain, and less beautiful so I was praying for some sunshine. We started
the day off with a train ride to La Garganta del Diablo (Devil’s Throat)
which is at the top of the falls. The
walkways lead you right up to the top of the falls; it was really exhilarating
to be so close!
Afterwards, we went back down and prepared for “the Great
Adventure” – a boat ride that takes you into some of the falls and gets you
completely soaked. Luckily, we were prepared and brought a complete change of
clothes. I couldn’t believe how close we got to the falls in the boat, it truly
made my experience in Iguazu. Just as the boat ride ended, the clouds broke and
the sun caused some beautiful rainbows – perfect for panoramic photos! From
there, we continued our tour and walked around the rest of the falls on the
Argentine side – there were so many awesome angles to experience the waterfalls
and take photos. I was in heaven! We stopped for a quick lunch and also got to
see coatis who were not even afraid of humans. After finishing up the tour, we
went back to the hotel before heading out to dinner in Puerto Iguazu. We went
to a really good place called “Te Amare” which had a live acoustic singer. It
was the perfect ending to a great trip. The next day Ryan and I got picked up
around 9am for our flight to Buenos Aires (Hellen and Rodrigo flew straight
from the Brazilian airport of Iguazu to Lima…they missed an 8 hour layover). It
took us over 16 hours to get home, but it was worth it.
That’s all
for now :)
