Puerto Madero & Heading Home

The last two days in Buenos Aires we spent around the Puerto Madero, Plaza de Mayo and Florida Street shopping areas.

Puerto Madero was a really pretty area with plenty of tourist and English speaking people... and the prices that often come from such areas.  The bridge that links the two sides of the port is really stunning at night.

Bridge at night

Uruguay - historic boat

If you are in the Puerto Madero area I highly recommend taking a tour of one of the two historic boats that are docked there.  The entrance fee is only a ARS 2 Peso donation, which is less than 50 cents US.

Fragata Sarmiento

Below Deck - Fragata Sarmiento

Spanish Controls - Fragata Sarmiento

Helm - Fragata Sarmiento

Tiny Cannon - Fragata Sarmiento

I am not sure what the last cannon pictures is really supposed to do, it was pretty tiny.  I guess you could use  shoot tiny clowns out of it, if you wanted.

We made it to the airport about 3 hours 30 minutes before our flight departure time.  I would recommend between 3 and 3 1/2 hours if you plan on flying out of Ezeiza Airport to an international destination.  I would also recommend printing your boarding passes ahead of time.

Boarding Pass Line:  30 minutes (estimate, we printed ours in advance - but another lady on our flight didn't)
Baggage Check Line:  50 minutes
Immigration Exit:  45 minutes
Security:  30 minutes

Airport

Our plane was having some maintenance issues so we were delayed about an hour.  When we were ready to go it was told to us that the Argentine air traffic control had discarded our flight plan and that we had to submit a new plan.  We were lifting off around 2 hours and 30 minutes after our initial departure time.

I was really impressed with American Airlines when we arrived at Dallas Fort Worth Airport.  They had already advised customs that there was a plan of about 300 international travelers that were delayed so they had extra staff waiting.  We went to collect our bags and took them to the ticket counter that was conveniently located right past our baggage claim area.  We lined up and one-by-one they got us on new flights.  They called over additional personnel here also to process our line faster.  We were through customs, had a new flight and our bags checked within 45 minutes of landing and were only delayed 2 hours and 45 minutes from our original landing time.

Now I am home and back to the daily grind.  So, I guess - this is my last post.  It has been fun and I hope everyone enjoyed reading my entries.

Until next time,

Tim

Review: Say Hueque, Andesmar, CATA Internacional, ByT Argentina, Hilton

So, I decided to save all of my reviews of the various places that we stayed and services we used for one blog so people that aren't interested in hearing about these can just skip this post.  That way readers didn't have to sift through the other blogs for more interesting information.

Say Hueque
This is a company that made a presentation at our initial orientation when we arrived at the University of San Andres.  I understand why they say the are the "travel agency for independent travelers."  The people at the agency were extremely nice, so that part of the service isn't the problem - it's the support and actual value.  I almost used them for my trip to Iguazu, but what they were quoting for $510 - I found for $350.

I know that travel agencies offer the value of not having to figure some things out for yourself, so initially I felt better that I booked the Mendoza trip through a travel agency when the bus companies went on strike.  I sent my representative an e-mail, so she decided to call the hotel - I wasn't there.  She didn't reply to my e-mail until after I returned to the hotel and they told me I had a phone message from her.  I asked her about options to get back to Buenos Aires and her best advice was to just wait.  I ended up finding an airline ticket that could be reserved for up to 6 hours without payment.  I went ahead and reserved a plane ticket for the next day and then not having to pay for it, but had the strike continued at least I would have been able to return to Buenos Aires.

Overall:  I would not recommend this agency - for the amount of support they offer, you are better off just booking it for less yourself.

Andesmar
This was my favorite bus line - we took it going to Mendoza.  If I have advice for travelers in Argentina it would be to use the Omnibus service.  If you have the extra $25 USD it is MORE than worth it to take the "cama suite" option on the lines.  The seats recline like a bed, you get your own t.v., they have curtains, the seats are leather and the food is better.

Cama Suite on Andesmar

Also, the added bonus on Andesmar is that you get to play BINGO and the prize was a bottle of wine!

Overall:  HIGHLY RECOMMENDED

CATA Internacional
This is the bus line we took returning from Mendoza to Buenos Aires.  It was comparable to Andesmar because we booked the "cama suite."  The difference was the shocks on this particular bus was probably due for maintenance because it was a little bumpy at times.  The service was still good, but there was no BINGO.  Also, they only had one of the movie options in English with Spanish subtitles.  Both bus lines offered your own selection of movies.

Seats on CATA Internacional

Overall:  Recommended

ByT Argentina
This is a service that was recommended to me from one of my professors.  There is a search engine and you can rent an apartment that comes fully equipped for less than many of the hotel rooms.  The minimum stay is generally 3 or 5 days depending on the apartment.  The other catch is that you have to pay in U.S. Dollars - so you will have to come prepared.

Also, with this service I would recommend booking the transfer through their company to the apartment.  It is only $190 ARS Pesos, but they organize a car that will take you directly to the hotel you have rented.

They are kind of willing to work with individual situations and arrival times - so that helps and they will help you determine how long it will take to get to the airport and will be waiting to receive you at the apartment.

The apartment above was bigger than many hotel rooms in the city and it had T.V., WIFI and local calling included for $75 a night.  You are able to search by the area of town you want to stay in.

Overall:  Recommended 

Hilton
Hilton Buenos Aires is where we are staying on our last night in Buenos Aires.  I would recommend booking this through a website once you are in Argentina if you have the chance.  Some of the discount website like Despegar will give you a better rate in Argentine Pesos than you can get from the states in U.S. Dollars depending on the exchange rate you are getting from your bank.

The above room was about $200 USD per night.  The service has been absolutely excellent and when we showed up earlier than scheduled check-in from our bus returning from Mendoza they gave us two free drink vouchers for the restaurant and free WIFI while we waited.  The check-in time is 14:00, but they got us into our room at 10 a.m. because they told us they knew we probably wanted to shower.

Overall:  Highly Recommended


If you have any questions about the services that I didn't answer above - please e-mail me.

Ciao,

Tim

City of Mendoza

Yesterday we had planned on visiting several parks throughout Mendoza, Argentina.  However, in the morning, we dropped off our laundry and found out that there was a "paro" or strike for all long distance omnibuses throughout Argentina.  This was concerning because we were booked on one of those buses at 7:30 p.m. from Mendoza to Buenos Aires.

The night before we had been out looking for a place to eat and were able to snap a couple of pictures of the beautiful fountains at Plaza Independencia near our hotel.

Throughout the day there are also street vendors in this park.  I tried to take a picture of the vendors, but one of them took that opportunity to offer me some marijuana.  I politely declined...

Inside of Plaza Independencia there is also this huge sign that reminds you that, in fact, you are in the Ciudad de Mendoza.

The day of the strike we still wandered around and were able to visit a couple of parks between checking the newspapers and e-mailing the travel agent.

This is a gazebo in Plaza Bellegrini that I am sure looks better in the summer time.  This isn't a great picture, but it looked like a cozy place to sit.

Fountain in Plaza Espana

We referred to Plaza Espana as "Tile Park" because there was so much detailed tile work.

This is one of the only public water fountains I have seen during my stay in Argentina.

We ended up getting a little lost en route back to the hotel to check for updates on the travel situation and stumbled upon another park, but I can't remember the name.

Unknown statue is unknown park... I don't get lost very often and was frustrated.

As we walked around the city we saw the intricate canal system.  Our tour guide told us during our mountain tour that the runoff from the Andes fuels the entire aquatic system of Mendoza.

This is one of the canals.  These lined the roads, parks and sidewalks.  In the summer apparently they flow with the water from the melting snow.

Long story short... we ended up making our bus and it left on time for Buenos Aires, which was quite a surprise to everyone.  We took a CATA Internacional bus back to Buenos Aires - which I plan to review in my next blog.

Ciao,

Tim

Andes Mountains

We booked another tour during our stay in Mendoza through Say Hueque travel agency.  I wouldn't recommend them, and I will talk about that more in a later blog.  We ended up having a great time taking pictures of all the beautiful scenery.

Our first stop was at the dam, the city of Mendoza utilizes a lot of the melted snow from the Andes Mountains.  It collects in the dam pictured below and then is distributed to the various canals.

As we drove to our next stop we had some pretty great views from the windows of the bus.  The bus was a bit uncomfortable, but the tour guide Claudia from Huentata was fantastic.  She was bilingual and explained everything in fantastic detail.  It made the full day tour fly by.

View from the bus window.

Our next stop was at this historic bridge above.  To be completely honest the tour started at 7:30 a.m. and I think I dozed off a bit in the explanation so suffice it to say that it is an old bridge and was pretty cool.  While we were at this sight we also were able to watch two condors fly around one of the mountains for about 10 minutes.

To give you perspective, if you enlarge this picture you should be able to see the houses in the bottom left-hand corner of this photograph.

At this stop we got to watch one of the boys that was on our trip experience snow for the first time.  He was pretty energetic and him and I became friends throughout the day.  In the back and to the right in the photograph above you can see Mount Aconcagua.  Also during this stop Jason was able to get the tour guide to talk about the rugby team who crash landed in the Andes and resorted to cannibalism.  She said we weren't too far from the sight of the crash and that one of the members of the team still makes a trek each year to the spot of the crash.

We then made a quick stop at this Incan bridge.  This is a natural made bridge and apparently a hotel decided to develop on this land.   Not pictured above is the huge mountain that stands behind this bridge and then what used to be the hotel.  Some years ago there was a massive avalanche and hotel was destroyed and 7 people were killed.  After another avalanche in 2005 it was completely fenced off and trespassing is discouraged.

We had a very late lunch and then had to make a stop so some people could return some of their rented snow equipment and then headed back to the city as night began to fall.  I got this last picture on our way out...

Ciao,

Tim

Mendoza Wine Tours

We arrived in Mendoza on a fantastic bus from Andesmar that I will do a full review of later.  It is a pretty city and a lot more clean than Buenos Aires.

We checked into our hotel and had some lunch and then it was off to tour some wineries.

The first winery that we visited was Dante Robino.  It was the more modern, industrial and higher capacity of the two that we visited.  The picture below is how they used to store the wine in barrels, but now that has been turned into this museum portion.

The picture above is the private tasting room of the family that owns the winery.  They keep 300 bottles of each type of wine on hand, I guess in case of a wine emergency.

The second bodega that we toured was much smaller than the first.  It is pictured above and you can see that building on the right looks a bit older than Dante Robino.  This winery is the Cavas de Don Arturo.  Notice there is no link... this is small enough to forego a website altogether.

This winery was much more personal than the first winery and the tour guide, Denise, was much more proficient at English.

At this winery they still complete a lot of the process manually.  This is where the grapes stripped of the leaves and stems before they are crushed and sent to the other building through underground pipes for further processing.

At this winery we ended up purchasing two bottles of Syrah Roble Premium and two bottles of Malbec Roble Premium.  We also bought grape oil, a byproduct they sell.  All of this for about $65 USD, which I thought was quite a deal.

After the winery tours we went to tour an olive oil and food dehydration processing plant named Pasrai.  It was pretty interesting to learn all of the rules behind making extra virgin olive oil.

We took a picture of all of the products they make from olives:  soap, lotion, body oil and other things.

We ended up having a tasting at this place also and big surprise ended up buying some cheap things there also.  We got a three pack of garlic infused olive oil, balsamic vinaigrette,  and balsamic infused olive oil, a dried tomato and olive oil paste and a green olive paste for around $25 USD.

It was an interesting day filled with a lot of tasting.  We met some nice people from the states that were on vacation and it turns out that one of them was actually in Argentina studying to be a Spanish teacher also.

Ciao,

Tim

Uruguay Redux

So, now that the program has ended and I am on vacation time I have switched gears into a bit of a tour guide.  I went back to Colonia, Uruguay but took the faster ferry through Buquebus this time.  We ended up leaving a little late, but it turns out that even though they quote 1:15 minutes to get to Colonia, it probably takes closer to an hour.

The Duty Free shop on the faster ferry was much larger - two floors!  However, you aren't allowed to go on the top deck, so the only view is from the windows.

This time we went to Uruguay it was imperative that we eat at El Drugstore again.  I know I alluded to the delicious food here in my previous blog, but I never got around to writing the review because of my computer problems.  Everything that I have had there has been ridiculously delicious.

El Drugstore

Shrimp in Lemon Sauce

Sweet & Sour Chicken

This time the weather was much better and some of the pictures we were able to get were a little more typical of what people might enjoy about Colonia.  It was easy with a golf cart again to finish all of the sights in one day.  We arrived at 10 a.m. and then our ferry left at 8:30 p.m. which allowed us to view the sunset.

The wind was a little stronger on the second trip.

The sky was a little more clear. 

Sunset with a man and his dog fishing

Sunset

Sunset

Sunset

Sunset

Hope you enjoyed the pictures of the sunset.  Shortly after we returned to the terminal to be processed back to Argentina.  I now have a lot of stamps on my passport...

Ciao,

Tim

Iguazu - Day 2

On the second day at Iguazu we had much better weather.  It was really sunny and the sun decided to be quite photogenic.  On this day we decided to only go to the Garganta del Diablo, which is the biggest opening of the waterfalls.

If I have any advice it would be to do the Garganta last if you have the time to explore the rest of the park first.  I think it would make the other waterfalls seem less impressive if you did them after.

There were a ridiculous amount of people in he park the second day and it was a little more difficult to get pictures without hoards of people in them, but it was worth it.

In this photo you can see the water rising from the waterfall, it looks like smoke from a fire to me.



This is the spot where you could really start to tell the water was pickin up speed.



Garganta del Diablo

Garganta del Diablo

In this photo you can see the trajectory of the water, the power pushes it so far from the ledge before it falls.

Across the canyon these smaller waterfalls were more visible the second day.

Just as in my last post I wanted to take some video to share with everyone.

Also, on the second day we were able to make some cute, new, little friends.

There were about 20 of these little guys jumping around the trees.  One of them actually started to approach a lady who was not intelligent enough to put her orange away while she watched.

Hope you enjoy.

Ciao,

Tim