Day 109: December 1, 2007 Buenos Aires
Trip Start
Aug 15, 2007
1
109
202
Trip End
Mar 01, 2008
Buenos Aires,
Argentina
Saturday, December 1, 2007
We awoke somewhere between Rafaela and Rosario. Both of us had slept fairly well. We watched the kilometers across the immense pampas roll by for the final few hours. I'm always amazed by the extent of the pampas, wherever I am in Argentina, as I am with the extent of the North American Midwest. The character of the flat land changes immensely as the latitude varies. The area north of Buenos Aires is almost exclusively agricultural.
Long before we got to Capital Federal we started seeing the outskirts of the city. The last hour of the trip was through suburbs before we finally reached El Retiro Terminal. I sent a text message to Liz and actually got a reply-she's figured out how to do it!
As soon as we picked up our bags, an official Remis driver came up and offered his service. We followed him to his company's window and paid 30 pesos for our ride to the Hotel 8 de Octubre. We got a very recently renovated room above the street. I started reading David Baldacci's "Camel Club" on the bus so I read some more while Elena showered. After my shower, we both dozed until noon.
Around 2:00 we went out into the midday heat and had a not so great but expensive lunch across the street from the hotel. It was one of those places that offers a full menu but only served three of the dishes and one of the desserts. We walked around afterward, looking for an internet place but they were all closed. We finally found one on Paraná that had an ambient temperature in the mid '80's. We stayed there for almost three hours getting caught up on everything and letting people know that we had arrived in the city. Liz sent me the number she used to text me.
We went back to the hotel to veg until dinner. Elena watched a movie and I read. I was very glad to have air conditioning. Around 9:00, we walked down to a restaurant at the corner of Paraguay and Paraná and had a good pasta dinner-for the same price we paid for a great pasta and parilla dinner in Salta. BA sticker shock-ya gotta love it. Elena wasn't feeling well, so we walked back to the hotel. She seemed to be running a slight fever. She watched another movie and I continued reading. Around 11:30, the movie, "The Doors" came on. I had never seen it so I ended up watching it until 2:30 before going to sleep.
