The same, and not the same

Well, we've discovered that rural Argentina looks pretty much like much of the American Midwest from the air. Who knew? 

Let me (C, aka she who does the writing and leaves the photography to J) state for the record: 12 hours is a LONG time to be on an airplane.

I tried to post from the Toronto airport (which was quite lovely, I might add, compared to the hellhole that is LAX), but couldn't hold on to a free wireless connection long enough.

So we arrived in Buenos Aires today right on schedule at 2:15 p.m. local time (8:15 a.m. Pacific Time), had a long but uneventful wait to have our passports stamped, followed excellent advice from the Video Poker King (who knows who he is if he's reading this) to NOT exchange money at the exchange kiosks, but instead to hit the Argentine national bank after we cleared the luggage check area (we were waved through; didn't have to crack a single bag), then took the longest cab ride in the world. After sitting on a long flight, it's no treat to sit in a cab for another hour, can I just say. We paid for the ride in advance, so the driver wasn't taking "the long way" to try to make an extra buck, but still...we were mighty glad to get to our rental apartment.

Our sole ambition for the late afternoon was to walk several blocks to the Jumbo supermarket to stock up on bottled water, fruit, and some other essentials, lugging it back on foot.

I've seen Jumbo described as the closest thing Argentina has to a Target. I would agree. It's a huge supermarket-plus. We noticed massive sections for school/craft supplies, auto supplies, gardening gear, and we didn't even walk into an area that has televisions and lamps, among other things. It's also the scene of our first awkward "we don't speak Spanish" incident. The cashier was chattering away at us, and we could not comprehend a word. We managed to convey that we don't speak Spanish and successfully determine that yes, we could use a credit card as long as we had a photo ID. We remembered to have our bulk produce weighed and tagged in the produce section, but I totally forgot that we were supposed to bag our own groceries at checkout (ironic, since given half a chance and no designated bagger, I tend to bag my own groceries at home anyway). Felt like a dork, but no lives were lost.

Side note: I do feel guilty about my almost complete lack of Spanish. I know numbers, many food terms, greetings, and how to say "please," "excuse me" and "thank you." But that's about it. I intended to teach myself more, but time just slipped away. (And frankly, it was more fun deciding what we might do and see.)

It's quite hot here, but there is a nice breeze going. Note to self: shut windows before mosquitoes come out.

We weren't sure how we would adapt to the Buenos Aires custom of eating dinner freakishly late. As it turned out, my internal clock got thrown right off the rails as soon as we hit Toronto. It was 4:30 p.m. PT, 7:30 p.m. ET, but I felt like it was about 10:30 p.m., also known as Buenos Aires time. So it's currently 8:25 p.m. and J is napping until 9:30 p.m., when we will go take our pick from one of the restaurants a stone's throw from us. Guess we're going native!

Greetings from Santa Monica

We're in quasi-sunny California en route to Argentina. We were amused to see this notice plastered in the back of our taxi from the airport:

DRIVERS CARRY

ONLY $5.00

IN CHANEGE

Because "change" is such a hard word to spell...

We logged several miles walking around the Santa Monica boardwalk (which was only four blocks from our hotel) and pedestrian promenade (a car-free shopping and restaurant district). We swear we saw chef Gordon Ramsey (of "Hell's Kitchen" and "Kitchen Nighmares" fame) on the boardwalk. A little Google search revealed that he does have a restaurant in Santa Monica and, in a January 2009 interview with the Arizona Republic, said that the first thing he and his kids do when they hit Santa Monica is go to In-and-Out Burger. So, we don't think our eyes were deceiving us.

We toured the small amusement park on the boardwalk, which had an intriguing aroma that we attributed to a mix of sand, surf, cotton candy and fish guts (lots of people were fishing on the pier). We ate dinner at P.F. Chang's, which, yes, we could have done in Seattle, but I (C) had not enjoyed Chang's Spicy Chicken since I was in the hospital awaiting surgery for a broken ankle more than two years ago, so sue me!

We leave LAX tomorrow for Buenos Aires by way of Toronto. That's a LOT of time on an airplane, but the end result will be worth it.

Any more questions?

Today it was damp and drizzly in Seattle, with a whopping high of 45 degrees.

Here's how things look in Buenos Aires this week:



'nuff said.

More for us

Was quite excited to find out that the US$131-134 fee (reports vary) that Argentina was going to start charging U.S. residents to enter the country has been postponed until at least March. Originally, it was supposed to go into effect in early January, causing some crankiness on our part.

The fee amount is roughly equivalent to what the U.S government charges Argentina residents when they apply for a visa to enter our country. So it's a little tit-for-tat, only without the added hassle of actually applying for a visa, if you're from the U.S.

Other South American countries (Brazil and Chile to name two) already do something similar (to visit Brazil, you do have to get a visa, though), and Argentina isn't just picking on the U.S--they plan to assess similar reciprocal fees to more than 100 other countries. So, I can't quite argue that they're not playing fair. Doesn't mean we wanted to pay it, though. Not when we can spend that cash on more leather, instead!

We still have to pay a $20 per person fee to leave the country (an airport fee), but we can live with that.

Why Buenos Aires?

Since announcing to friends, family and coworkers that we were planning to spend two weeks in Buenos Aires, one of the most common questions we got asked was, "Why Buenos Aires?"

Why, indeed? We've talked about traveling to many other countries (France and Italy first and foremost), yet our only travels outside the United States have been to Canada.

The biggest factor that moved Buenos Aires from off-the-radar status to the top of our "let's go there" list was the number of coworker-friends (mostly J's) who traveled there last year and had great things to say about the city.

So we did some investigating, and quickly committed to the idea. Since airfare to Argentina is expensive, but staying in Buenos Aires is not, we decided to get the most bang for our airfare buck by staying for two weeks. (Note: J tracked airfares with laser-like focus during the turbulent high-fuel-cost months, finally nailing well-priced tickets.) We're renting an apartment in a quiet residential area of the trendy Palermo neighborhood, close to a supermarket and lots of small restaurants and cafes. Mass transit is plentiful, and the city is described as being very walkable.

Never having headed south for the winter, we are beyond ready to trade what has been a particularly gross Seattle winter for two weeks of sunny, warm cosmopolitan living. While we slowly creep toward spring in the Pacific Northwest, Argentina is gently sliding toward autumn.

Other things we are particularly looking forward to experiencing in Buenos Aires:

• Beef. Argentinian beef is reportedly high quality and grass-fed. We can't wait to compare it to the share of high-quality, grass fed beef we purchase from a local small family ranch each fall.
  
• Shopping. The value of the peso continues to drop relative to the U.S., dollar, which means our buying power may be growing (although, BA has been experiencing rising inflation, so it may be a wash). Leather (duh!), soccer jerseys and unique fashions are high on our list.
  
• Cafe culture. With some four out of 10 Argentinians being of Italian descent, cafes are king.
  
• Ice cream. Some of the best in the world, or so we hear. I suspect this also has something to do with the country's Italian heritage.
  
• Tango (again, duh). We'll choose dance hall and street fair dancing over the big, glossy tango productions.
  

That's only a sampling, of course. There will be so much to do and see, two weeks won't be enough. Whatever we go do and see, we'll be blogging it here, so stay tuned.