Day 3: August 17, 2007 Atlanta to Buenos Aires
Buenos Aires,
Argentina
Friday, August 17, 2007
Day 3: August 17, 2007 Atlanta to Buenos Aires
I probably got about four hours of sleep. Elena did about the same. She was very excited about getting to Argentina. We landed about three hours late. Immigration was easy. Our bags came out fairly early. We breezed through Customs and went to the Manuel Tienda León desk where I hired a Remís to take us directly to the Fulbright Commission. We arrived at about 12:30. It is in the same location as it was in 1989.
I met with Laura Moraña and signed the insurance papers. I then went to the office of the accountant, Elizabeth Sapir, and arranged to have money transferred to my Wachovia account. I had her pass me off to one of the secretaries who, with great ease, made us a hotel reservation for the night and bus reservations for the following day: where there is a will there is a way...
Elena and I went to a restaurant across the street and had a Milanesa Napolitana for lunch. It turns out it was the same restaurant in which Todd Fredericksen and I had breakfast in 2005. I remember thinking that the place must be near the Fulbright offices when we ate there in 2005 but didn't realize how close. We stopped in at an internet café and sent word back home that we had arrived safely.
After picking up our bags at the Comisión, we took a cab several blocks to the Hotel 8 de Octubre on the corner of Paraguay é Uruguay. I have put groups up there several times in the past. Our room cost 145 pesos-a great deal! We got to the room and fell asleep almost immediately, in spite of the traffic noise from the street below.. Upon waking, four hours later, we read our books until we started getting hungry. At about 9:00, we took a cab over to Pellegrini y La Valle. Elena tried to take a picture of El Obelísco but it was too dark. We walked the block to La Estancia where we had an excellent steak with a chorizo and papas fritas. I have been going to La Estancia since my first trip to Argentina in 1984. I think I've taken all three big groups out to a meal there. Elena loved it! After dinner, we stopped at another internet café and then took a cab back to the hotel. We were beat. Both of us took a shower and went to bed.
