First Day in Buenos Aires

We arrived in Buenos Aires at 7:30 AM, after a 9 hour flight. Luckily, we were in crazy cushy seats in first class on our flight from Miami. Each seat took up enough space on the plane to fit 3 seats. The chairs swiveled and we had an ottoman to kick our feet up on. Leg room galore!! And, I thought that the emergency exit row was comfortable… Sheesh! This was EXTRAVAGANT. There were buttons on the arm rest to lean the seat back, and to extend the foot rest. “Foot rest”?!?!?! There was another button. It was a magical button. It was labeled “bed”. WHOA!!!! So, the seat lays all the way back, and the foot rest extends to connect with the ottoman, and suddenly, I’m laying all the way down, stretched out, and getting ready for bed. They provided us with a mattress pad, a sheet, a blanket, and one of the best airplane pillows I’ve ever seen. I really wanted to watch another episode of Dexter (I’m only on season 2). But, the opportunity to get a good night’s sleep was too much to pass up. I woke for breakfast in time to see a bit of the Argentinian landscape. It’s crazy how much the countryside looks like Oklahoma.

The Buenos Aires airport was a piece of cake. You never know what you’re going to get at Passport Control and Customs. And, when there is a language barrier, it’s even more nerve wracking. But, everyone was very nice and we sped right through. The taxi ride to the hotel was slow, and occasionally harrowing. We arrived at morning rush hour. Bumper to bumper traffic on the highway, combined with the apparently lax vehicle emission standards, made for a pretty smelly ride.

When we arrived at the hotel around 9AM, our room was already ready to check in, a full 6 hours before official check in. This isn’t common at all. But, it’s one of the perks of traveling with one of Hyatt’s best customers. They really roll out the red carpet for Krystal. Checked in, we went to our room, which is fairly small, but quite modern and beautiful. This city is packed with buildings. So, much like NYC, most of the hotel room views are of large buildings across the street.

We took a nap for a couple of hours, then decided to set out on foot in search of some lunch. Buenos Aires, or maybe just this particular area where we’re staying, feels much safer than where we stayed in Quito last year. I’m perfectly comfortable walking around the city, even after dark. There are the requisite warnings about pickpockets and watch/purse snatchers. And, maybe this kind of over-confidence is dangerous. But, I have a hard time imagining that someone would see me coming down the street and think that I’m a good target for any kind of crime. I’m not a tough guy by any means. But, it’s nice to look like one sometimes.

Our hotel concierge recommended a restaurant called el Mirasol. In Argentina, restaurants that specialize in grill cooking are called Parillas. I’ve really been looking forward to trying Argentinian beef. And, this place did not disappoint. But, I didn’t want to jump in head first on day one with a giant steak for lunch. So, I chose the Brochette de Lomo y Pollo, which is basically a chicken and beef kabob with onions and peppers. The sides, as we would later learn, are served “family style” in very large portions. But, the prices on the menu are so cheap, that we didn’t know this until the food was brought to the table. We had a hint when we were ordering and the waiter stopped us and said, “too much”. We thought that he may just be underestimating the raging hunger of two travel weary Americans. But, when the food was brought to the table, everything made much more sense. We did have way too much food. But, it was delicious.

Next, we walked around our barrio. It’s called Recoleta. It’s pretty swank. Lots of high end shopping and really nice buildings. We found a great park and a cool art museum that we plan to go back to. The weather is just gorgeous. Highs in the 80s. Lows at night in the upper 60s. There were many people outside enjoying the park. Here are a couple of interesting things we found in the park.

First, something really big:

Giant park bench!

And, something much smaller:

Really big dude. Really tiny fig leaf.

It was a really pretty park and we had a good time walking around.

We had another short, relaxing nap before dinner. Dinner was at a nice basement restaurant called Juana M. We made a 9pm reservation. We assumed that the Argentinian people dined later, so we expected lots of people there when we arrived. We were the only people in the restaurant. I thought we may have been given a bum recommendation from Lonely Planet. But, by 10pm, the place was packed! People definitely do dine late here! I had a great steak in black pepper sauce. And, we had another delicious bottle of Argentinian Malbec.

After dinner, we went back to the Park Hyatt for dessert and cappuccinos. We were blown away to find that one of the nicer restaurants in our hotel had a late night dessert buffet. So, we tried lots of fantastic desserts under the stars!

What a great first day!

Here are a few more pics from day one: