Day 2 - Tuesday November 21, 2023 - Buenos Aires Arrival

 

We left the Miami airport at 8 pm last night with a 9 hour flight ahead of us to Buenos Aires.  Our plane landed, on time at about 7 am and what a sunrise we saw from the plane window at about 5 am.   No matter what, sleeping for long periods of time is impossible for me; even with a benedryl to knock me out.

We cleared immigration without too much delay and then waited for our transfer to the hotel.   We booked our own airline reservations as Odyssey Unlimited doesn't have the clout to be able to reserve premium economy seating.   When you book your own airfares, you aren't guaranteed transfer to the hotel but if they have room, they'll transfer you with other guests arriving at the same time.   When we called a month ago, the tour company told us that they would transfer us as one other couple was coming in at 9 am.   So, we waited for the other couple and for the Odyssey driver.   There was a miscommunication somewhere because the Odyssey driver only had a car and couldn't take all four of us.   Oh well.  Roll with it.  The driver, however was very nice and got us a taxi at a flat rate and off we went, before the other couple cleared immigration.  Over a one hour drive from airport to hotel and at $25.  A bargain given the crazy bumper to bumper traffic.  I thought I was in Rome.   Amazingly no one honks at anyone.

So, here we are, in a beautiful hotel room; 5 star, with all the amenities.  As part of the tour, Odyssey booked us a hotel room for last night, so our rooms were ready for us at 10:30 am when we arrived.   We have the day to ourselves to adjust, catch a time zone nap and we all meet at 6 pm for a group meeting and supper.

With not much sleep on the plane last night; I think it's nap time, hopefully for just an hour so i can sleep tonight.

Tomorrow's agenda is a full day tour of Buenos Aires by motor coach followed by dinner and a tango show.

Some pictures of the Buenos Aires skyline as we drove to dinner tonight.

Downtown Buenos Aires skyline

the Barios are commonplace.  I'm told 40% of Argentina is at poverty level

Dinner was at a Brazilian steakhouse, the Estillo Campo.  Dinner was served mostly family style with plates of roasted vegetables and bowls of salad placed on the table.   We had our choice of steak, similar to a New York Strip, which was a little tough but I'm thinking it's because we Americans think of beef differently than Argentinians.   

A word on money here in Argentina.   First, we learned that a new government was installed just this past Monday and money does something strange.   They keep the exchange rate steady leading up to an election but it drops like a stone regardless of who wins.   We were instructed to pay by Visa credit card as we would find that the price of things will be far less when we see the exchange rate.  

So here's an example.   Wayne and I took a taxi from the airport to the hotel today.   We had a negotiated price of $55 which wasn't at all bad since it took an hour and 10 minutes.   But when he looked at his credit card alert this afternoon, his credit card charge at the exchange rate was $25.

Here's another example:  We went to the bar this afternoon and each had two beers.   I ordered a small appetizer of 3 empanadas.  Each beer (Stella Artois on draft) was 2,100 peso or $5.90 US.  The empanadas was 4,800 peso or $13.48.  The total bill was 13,200 Argentinian pesos.  I looked online at the exchange rate and that should have made our bill $37.08.  Bank of America sends me an email every time I use my credit card.   My card was charged $16.11 (NOT $37.08).  

We learned there's a "blue" exchange rate, a 'tourist' exchange rate which is better.  Bottom line since I defiinitely don't understand what's going on in Argentina, is to pay using a VISA credit card and NOT Mastercard.   Pretty much Argentinian money isn't worth much and it only got worse since the elections this past Sunday and the new government was installed Monday.  Maybe this will explain it to some.   Look at the chart and the plummet of the peso.