For me, I start to relax when I’ve got the l get the carryons in the overhead bins and we’re ready to push back from the gate. All the prep work is what makes me nervous, but when we’re on the plane all that’s behind us and, sure, unexpected problems will arise, but that’s part of the challenge and fun of adventuring. BTW, thanks, Marilyn and Steve, for the stress-free ride to c.

No sooner had I slammed the bin door shut at Tampa International, but the pilot came on to say that President Biden was landing at Miami and the airspace had been shut down. Expect a 30-minute delay. Thirty became sixty became even more and, when we eventually got to Miami, it was a two-hour hold up. Enough to make a guy pull the elephant lever next November for sure.

That caused us a serious issue. Our expected four-hour stay at the Ambassador Lounge was cut to two. We had to gulp down our food and have a quick conversation with Rebecca (we’d talked with Jeff earlier) and beat feet to the gate. Time to spare? Go by air.

Not only that, our flight from Miami to Buenos Aires was delayed by 45 minutes but the wind gods must have been blowing in our favor because we landed right on time, 8:05 AM. That’s Argentina time, two hours ahead of EST, which we’ll be observing for the entire trip.

We cleared Argentinian formalities, found our Viking representatives (it took five Viking folks to herd us from the customs hall to the far end of the mostly deserted terminal. An hour’s bus ride got us to the Hilton Buenos Aires by 10 AM or so. Our room became available almost immediately and, after a departure briefing from another Viking rep (7:20 AM bus call tomorrow, bags out by 8 PM tonight) we were in our room and ready to start exploring.

Buenos Aires is suffering from an unusual 95 F heatwave. And we’re talking muggy heat, not that dry heat from the Australian Outback we experienced last fall. But that didn’t stop us. We set off with four objectives: see the Casa Rosada (Pink House); change a crisp $100 bill into pesos; find some empanadas for lunch and; buy bathing suits.

Wait a minute. Aren’t you guys going to Antarctica? Sure, it’s summer but really. Swimming?

Our problem is that we unquestioningly do what people tell us to do. Yesterday evening while waiting to board the plane, we met two ladies going on our trip (Viking luggage tags was the giveaway). They said, “Hope you brought your bathing suits. We were on the Octanis on the Great Lakes and it has a marvelous swimming pool. You won’t want to miss it.” Hence the swimming togs.

The Casa Rosada is the building where the President of Argentina has offices. The site started out as a customs house, fort and post office, which were amalgamated by 1898 to more-or-less its current state. It faces the Plaza de Mayo, which commemorates the May 25, 1811 victory that kicked the Spanish out and left Argentina as an independent country. The left balcony of the Pink House is where Evita Peron made her “Don’t cry for me, Argentina”  speech that Andrew Lloyd Webber made famous.

So check the Casa Rosada off the list. We actually remembered well our previous visit in 2019 with cousin  Sharon. You can read about that, if you want, at https://jonandjudy.com/day-4-1-9-19-buenos-aires/ and the following day.

We’d been told that Florida Avenue is a pedestrian street full of shopping opportunities. And sure enough, it was. I had my eye out for a cambio where we could do the exchange when much to my delight a random guy said, “Cambio señor? Best rate? 1,190 to the dollar.” Later, I discovered that virtually every Argentinian on Florida Avenue had the same come-on. “Cambio? Dolares?” But whatever. I was feeling a little like a tourist about to be taken for a ride, he led us into a nearby building, up the elevator to a small hole-in-the-wall office where his compatriot made the change, not however, without first casting a dubious eye at my pristine pure $100 bill. Task two accomplished.

In my broken Spanish, I asked Señor Cambio where we could find empanadas. He told us where, and then led us to the street level of the same building where there was a small shop selling “the best empanadas in Argentina!” I ordered two empanadas suave. The total bill, including two bottles of water, came to 4,300 Pesos, or $3.61 U.S. at our newly established exchange rate. I’m not sure if they’re the best but they were pretty darn good, right up there with what we had in Santiago.

Speaking of exchange rates, Argentina recently elected a new progressive-right president. Some call him the Donald of Argentina. One of his first acts was to devalue the peso. Our guide driving from the airport said the current official exchange rate is 800 pesos to the U.S. dollar. Before devaluation, it was 300. That makes the “blue” rate that we paid on the street attractive but not as attractive as it was a few weeks ago. They’ve been holding strikes here in Buenos Aires in protest. Hopefully that won’t cause problems for us tomorrow as we travel to Ushuaia.

Traje de baño is the Spanish term for bathing suit and it took us several stores to score one for each of us. Actually, they were running a BOGO at my store so now I have to figure out how to cram two suits into my already overloaded suitcase. In Judy’s case they had a buy two get one free deal, so she ended up with a two piece and a one piece with the same packing issue.

So now it’s siesta time, catching up on our sleep (we each got about five hours on the plane last night) and getting ready for our night out at the tango show. We’ve booked dinner and the show at the same place as we did in 2019, El Viejo Almacén. We looked at a number of other venues but they all looked like tourist traps styled after Las Vegas shows. One of the Viking guides told us, “Good choice. It’s my favorite and the only one that does the real traditional tango.”

After our nap, we went for an helado (ice cream) run to a food truck kind of place along the river. Turns out, our hotel is in the trendy Puerto Madero district, an eating and shopping complex on either side of the Rio Darsena Sur. The Punte de la Mujer (Woman’s Bridge) connects both banks of the river. We had dulce de leche cones. I dropped my double scoop on the ground just like a five year old. The nice guy gave me a new one, just like he’d do for any little kid.

Wikipedia says of dulce de leche: “Dulce de leche, caramelized milk, milk candy or milk jam is a confection popular in Latin America, France, Poland and Philippines prepared by slowly heating sugar and milk over a period of several hours. Next time you’re in Buenos Aires or any of those other places, try some. That’s an order, not a suggestion.

They’re picking us up at 7:30 for dinner, the show starts at 10 PM so we’ll be back in bed by midnight, ready for the morning trip down to Usuaia and the good ship Octanis. Rather than staying up past midnight, I’ll post the report on the tango show tomorrow.