We weren’t sorry to leave Calgary but just a little disappointed that we didn’t really get to enjoy the beautiful sunny day we left behind. It was over 5C when we left and we haven’t had that kind of warmth in a while. We live for those days in Calgary and, thankfully, are regularly given them. Leaving is a difficult thing, not because of your heart but because there is an endless and tireless supply of tasks that need completing before leaving. Luckily, the excitement of getting away is a fantastic fuel.
This trip is our “leisure trip”; I keep referring to it as the “adult trip”. We’ve done the adventure things, we’ve done the 6am departures (3:30am leave the house), we’ve gone to exotic places, but on this trip, we’re doing the casual, adult stuff.
We casually left our home at 10:45am on a Saturday, with no traffic and a lift from mom. We had time to enjoy a coffee and finish a few last minute things at the house. We started the trip with a casual and slow attitude and we are determined that we will carry out the remainder in the same manner.
Our flights took us through Houston and directly on to Buenos Aires. We flew through Houston the last time we went to Buenos Aires and it looked exactly the same. Even the “Fox Sport Lounge” was still there with obnoxious neon blue lighting and American sized meals. The entire menu had normal items, however, everything had extra cheese or another sauce or something added. One meal was two chicken breasts baked in bbq sauce, covered with 4 kinds of cheese, sour cream, and guacamole. They love their food rich in the states.
Brooke was sure to bring her ‘travel jacket’ - a light weight semi-useless jacket that she refuses to get rid of because ‘it is so light and travels well’!
Upon landing in Buenos Aires, we took a very nice taxi to our hotel. We had a good chat and I had my first chance to practice my Spanish with someone. I would speak in Spanish and he would reply in English. That’s how it goes everywhere. I keep trying.
Arriving at the Dazzler hotel was a familiar, déjà vu experience. We had stayed only a block away on our first trip to Argentina - on our second trip we had stayed quite far from downtown (or micro-centro as they call it). Knowing the area didn’t completely quell Brooke’s apprehension but it did go a long way. We felt relatively safe and we know how to get around in Buenos Aires. I didn’t need a map of the downtown after the many times we had visited it. Walking like you know where you are going goes a long way to staying out of trouble.
The Dazzler (wow!!) isn’t the most dazzling hotel but it suffices. The rooms work but show signs of not being that well put together.
We dumped our stuff in the room and immediately fell asleep. We were so tired from our journey overnight that we needed to catch up. After napping, which is a good holiday luxury one must take, we ventured out to the mall area on Florida Street (Calle Florida). It is a place we’ve visited many times before and allowed us to get our bearings. We did however see a Starbucks that wasn’t there 5 years previous and decided to fill our tummies with a bit of home. We had terrible sandwiches but the coffee was good. We wouldn’t have normally eaten at Starbucks but we had a very short time before we were to leave. We had lucked out and Brooke had found a soccer match we could go see that was that afternoon/night. Normally the season doesn’t start till a week later but two teams had a makeup match from the previous season. With that, came our chance to see a game, something we hadn’t been able to do in the previous two visits to Argentina. Normally, we have been here at Christmas time, which is their summer break, and there are no games until February. We booked the game through a tour company which had excellent seats, transferred us from the hotel to the game, and were our guides. We ended up sitting near a fellow from Vancouver and a couple from England. The Vancouver guy had lots to chat about and was interesting but the couple from England had about two words to say; maybe they were really into the match. The match was a tie and as such, there was no hysteria from one team to the other. I don’t understand soccer fans but they are crazy and violent about their teams. You could even see it here. Because we were associated with the tour group for tickets, we also received special wrist bands for exiting the stadium early. They got us up and out right away. The procedure for a match is to have the visiting team’s fans, who are seated in a separated fenced off and police patrolled section, to leave the stadium first. Once they are cleared out, the home team’s fans can leave. There is a special exception for certain “fans” (we were pre-warned to absolutely not cheer in any way for the away team), which included ourselves. No alocohol is allowed in the stands (presumably to make sure tempers don’t flare) but we had a pre-drink Quilmes, the Corona beer of Argentina.
We got out of the match in time to head out from the hotel for a dinner out. We didn’t go to far, it was Sunday and most things were closed, but we did find a bright and clean looking pizzeria on the street just down from our hotel. We had our first bottle of wine and a nice pizza to share. They brought us a ton of bread to start and ended up throwing it all in the doggy bag we took to leave. It was a delightful day that we really made the most of.
Here we are enjoying a beer in the area beside the stadium where beer is permitted.
We got out of the match in time to head out from the hotel for a dinner out. We didn’t go to far, it was Sunday and most things were closed, but we did find a bright and clean looking pizzeria on the street just down from our hotel. We had our first bottle of wine and a nice pizza to share. They brought us a ton of bread to start and ended up throwing it all in the doggy bag we took to leave. It was a delightful day that we really made the most of.
No comments:
Post a Comment