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

San Telmo & Sushi Club

We made the trek to the San Telmo arts/crafts/antiques fair that happens every Sunday.  According to the website the fair has been happening every Sunday since 1970, which is a pretty impressive run.  I am pretty sure this is something I will want to bring Jason to when he gets in country because there are so many things that, if they aren't too expensive, would probably make great little gifts.

As you walk into the street art section you just see all of these amazing prints on both sides of you as you walk down the street.

This is an example of just one of the probably over 100 stalls that were at the fair.  It was a pretty impressive display of things that no one needs, but everyone wants.

This fine gentleman was providing a little bit of last minute entertainment on the way out of the fair.

After San Telmo I met up with an old friend named Tammy.  I went to undergraduate with her and she moved away to do awesome things and I moved away to do other things and we just happen to both be in Buenos Aires for a short while together.  It's pretty great to have friends that even though you haven't kept in touch with very well you can still hang out with them.

She has a friend that is from Buenos Aires and he took us to another park that was filled with more local individuals.  It was pretty and obviously in the distance there were still large corporate buildings.

We walked around and got to see the Ecological Reserve from a bridge close to it.  There are better parts I was assured, but you had to walk around it and we were hungry...

Ecological Reserve

We had been craving Sushi for several days so we decided to break down and head to Puerto Madero for some delightful sushi.  We ended up choosing a fantastic place called Sushi Club that is not available in the U.S. and were able to sit outside in the 60 degree weather with no problem.

View from one of the bridges at Puerto Madero

All of these plates were full of sushi when we began...

The cost of the sushi wasn't outrageous.  Tori and I shared a 30 piece combination and water (which you pay for here) and 1/2 of an appetizer for about $38 USD each.  Also, they were playing Adele throughout the meal which I kind of enjoyed... 

Another successful day in Argentina - until next time.

Ciao,

Tim