10 Traveling Lessons For the Inexperienced...Like me

Throughout my trip to Buenos Aires I kept a list of "Traveling Lessons". These are things I wish I had known before leaving the safety of my beloved Utah. They are very simple and you may think "duh, how could you not know that", well...I didn't, so here they are. I hope if nothing else, they make you laugh!

When Traveling to Argentina...

1. Know the language or travel with someone who does.

Pretty obvious right? Well not for us. We believed people who told us that everyone in BA speaks English. This is false. And to be honest, I think it is pretty rude to expect that everyone there would cater to our language when we were in their country. None the less, we somehow survived off of knowing 30 word of Spanish. :)

2. Always have a map and know how to read it.

Again, another no brainer. But let me tell you, when you get dropped off in San Telmo at the wrong place and you have no idea where to go, it gets pretty scary. Lucky for us, "hablas de Englais?" was one thing we knew. The first person I approached for directions was from Spain and was carrying a map of the city. He told us "if you are going to be here for any length of time, you might want to get one of these." Point taken. Lesson number 2 learned.

3. Carry a (cheap) watch with you at all times. Make sure the battery works!

Neither Heidi or myself wear a watch. So it is no real surprise that neither of us thought to pack one. We ended up carrying my brick phone with us every where we went. When we went to Uruguay, we talked about how silly this was and stopped into a local shop to buy a super cheap watch (side note: never Carry an expensive watch unless you want to get mugged). Well about 3 hours later we discovered that the watch had stopped. We went back to the watch store and pantomimed that the watch was no longer working. They changed the battery and everything was fine until we got back to our room and the back fell off. Still, I recommend carrying one.

4. Keep a hotel business card with you to give taxi drivers (room key can double for this as well).

Luckily this is a lesson I already knew and served us well our entire trip. I found that even if I told the taxi driver the address, my pronunciation was so horrible I would have to show him the address anyway. Me: "Honduras". Taxi Driver after being shown the address: "Oh, si! Honduras (pronounced without the h and rolling his r's)". Me: "That's what I said, Honduras".

5. Make sure the taxi driver has change for larger bills before getting in.

This is a lesson that Santiago taught us. Apparently some taxi drivers will give you fake currency for change or they will not have it at all. So if your taxi ride is going to cost around 17 pesos, don't hand the driver a 100 peso bill. Most hotels will have change so it is best to do that before leaving.

6. Know how to make local and long distance phone calls.

I few days into our trip, Heidi and I went to an ATM to pull out some money. My card was declined for some strange reason. I completely panicked! Went back to the hotel, checked my account online and there was plenty of money so I had no idea what was happening. I emailed my bank but they were taking too long so I wanted to call them, but I had never really made an international call. I looked online and got several different answers. The front desk of my hotel told me another answer too. Best to know in advance. Oh, and the reason my card didn't withdraw money (I figured it out the day before we left) was that it was pulling from the wrong account. Again, all the more reason to not only be able to speak Spanish, but read it as well.

7. Men are encourageable. Stay guarded at all times. Never be too friendly.

Now this rule serves true no matter where you are. The fun loving spirited Argentine men we ran into seemed to be very nice...but they didn't catch on to our we're trying to be nice, subtle hints. Best to not tap dance around things. Be firm if you do not want or appreciate their company. It is not only the best way, it's the only way!

8. Expect to pay airport taxes.

What can I say? At the airport, after waiting in line to get checked in, we then had to wait in line to pay "airport taxes". It was not big deal...about $18 US dollars. Just expect it, that's all.

9. Remember to bring your American Express for airport VIP lounge.

After waiting through countless lines and going through security it is always nice to unwind before boarding a long 10 hour flight, right? So when Heidi and I saw that there was an American Express VIP lounge we got excited! Only 2 problems: 1. I don't own an AE card and 2. Heidi didn't bring hers. We ended up using our last 20 pesos to buy 2 beers and sit in a crowded area of tables instead. Would have been nice though...

10. Get to the airport a minimum of 2 1/2 hours early when leaving.

Luckily Santiago advised us of this as well. I think we were both a little skeptical, but very glad that we heeded his advise. There was a line to check in, a line to pay taxes, a line to go into the terminals, a line for security, and another line for security once we got to our gate. It is always better to be early than late. Missing our flight would have sent us over the edge!

Well that is it! My 10 traveling lessons for going to Argentina. Hope you enjoyed them and will either learn from them or be grateful that you already have traveling experience and at least got a chuckle out of my lack of common sense!

Our last day

On Saturday we met up with Santiago again for lunch to return some business cards he let us borrow and say our goodbyes. I truly am so grateful to him. He showed us around, took us sailing, introduced us to his wonderful friends and gave us a lot of advise and recommendations.
After lunch we met up with a client/friends good friend to give her a present. She was delightful and I enjoyed getting to meet her. She seemed very moved by the gift too. We all went to Freddos and had some gelato together.
After saying goodbye to Santiago and my clients friend with the traditional kiss on the cheek Heidi and I headed to the airport where we learned how fun it is to stand in lines and that sometimes you have to pay unexpected airport taxes and that sleeping on airplanes continues to be the worst experience nights sleep you will ever get.
I learned so much from my first trip to South America. I fully understand why people in other countries think that Americans are stupid. Truthfully I felt stupid most of the time. Maybe Stupid is the wrong word, I felt naive. It is a large world and Utah is a bubble, a bubble that I have grown accustomed to. I am so grateful to have explored outside of the bubble. I learned a lot and I will always cherish the memories from this trip!

Ciao!

Shopping, the museum and our last night

On Friday Heidi and I decided to go to a nice mall called Alto Palermo. We asked the front desk if it was walking distance or if we should take a taxi. They said we could walk it and showed us where to go on the map. Turns out is was about a 30 minute walk, which normally I wouldn't mind, but the air quality is so bad. It is what I assume downtown New York is like. There are so many people and so many cars and the smell of exhaust is quite overwhelming. The mall was really beautiful. Probably 4 stories tall filled with designer shops.
Buenos Aires has a lot of amazing museums. After spending a little money at the mall, we went to the Malba Museo. It was so amazing. It was my first time in a museum of that size. The architecture of the building was incredible and the art work was very modern. They even had an original Frida! How many people can say they have seen one of those!
For our last night we decided to treat ourselves to one of the very best restaurants in Buenos Aires. It was at the Hyatt hotel and is called Duhau Restaurant and Vinoteca. It was so elegant. We had at least 4 people waiting on us. The food was amazing...except the forgua (I am not sure how to spell that) which is duck kidney pate. Guess my tastes are not that refined.
After dinner we went to another expensive and classy hotel called Faena Hotel and Universe. We had some super expensive champagne and observed all of the rich and beautiful people in a red swanky room with antique looking furniture.

Taking the day easy & Las Canitas

On Thursday, Heidi and I decided that we needed to take it easy. Buenos Aires is incredibly overwhelming for a foreigner like me who does not have a lot of traveling experience plus my 30 words of Spanish haven't been taking me too far. So we shopped around in the Soho area that surrounds our hotel. We ate the most amazing pizza I have ever had for lunch at a local bar/cafe. It was very different from Pizza in the US (duh). Very thin crust, no sauce, lots of cheese and very fresh. We also had some Gelato at a place called Freddos. Gelato is basically the most amazing ice cream ever. It is water based instead of milk based, but tastes the same...well better...but you get the point.
Thursday night Heidi and I got all dressed up to go see Opera Pampa, unfortunately, we waited for 2 hours for our shuttle bus and it never showed. The Hotel manager recommended that we go to an area called Las Canitas to eat. The area is a hot locals spot which was really buzzing because there was an intense football (soccer)game on. We ate at a place called Jackies Steak house. It had half a pig roasting right when you walk in (that's how you know it's good lol). Our waitress didn't speak any English and we had no idea what anything on the menu was. We ended up ordering some yummy sausage (chorizo) and really tuff steak with french fries. After dinner we went next door to a pub that looked like an Irish pub. After that we hailed a cab to a club that the hotel manager also recommended. It was fun, but let me tell you, Argentine men, at least the ones who approached us, drink way to much and are way too aggressive. It was not a very fun experience.

Tango! Oh La La!

Wednesday night Heidi and I went to see a tango show at a "touristy" place called El Querandi. For the first time, the food was actually pretty bad. Guess that is what happens when you go to the touristy places instead of the more authentic places. The show however, was amazing. It was tango through the ages (we think). There were live singers and 3 couples dancing. It was a lot of fun to watch.

Recoleta

On Wednesday we went to Recoleta to see the amazing cemetary. It had rows and rows of these amazing tombs. There is no way to fully understand just how amazing this place is without seeing it. We took a ton of pictures trying to capture the beauty and creepyness of the place. We found Evitas tomb and found out that it was her birthday so there were tons of flowers and people singing anc crying. Her actual tomb, you would think would be very large and impressive, but it is the opposite. You could walk right past it and not notice it at all if it were not for the flowers.
A funeral procession was going on while we were there. How odd it must be to try to have a funeral among the tourists everywhere.

Heidi's Birthday Dinner

Tuesday night we made reservations at the 647 Diner Club which was recommended by one of Heidis friends. We had looked it up online and saw that it was very hip and trendy. Once we got there we had the wonderful amazing experience of having a lovely waitress who spoke perfect English!!! I had never been so happy! After traveling in Uruguay all day and being inundated with Spanish and culture all the time, I can not tell you just how wonderful it was to be in an American friendly beautiful restaurant. For the first time since we arrived we were able to just relax and enjoy our meal (which was amazing) without worry of confusion. Ahh! The things we take for granted! I think it was the perfect present and ending to Heidi's birthday.

Uruguay II

Uruguay

On Tuesday Heidi and I went to Colonia in Uruguay. For those of you who are not familiar with Southern Americas Geography (like me), Uruguay is a small country next to Argentina. In order to get there we had to take the Buquebus (boo-coo bus) ferry. Ours was called Buque Patricia Olivia II. It is incredibly large and had a cafe and duty free shop on board. It took about an hour to get there. Once we got there, without any real plan, map, or language skills, we went through their version of security and headed into town. Lucky for us this is a big tourist trap so we were able to get a map and pointed in the direction of the historic part of Colonia. It was very beautiful, but had a very odd smell. All day we tried to figure out what the smell was. Camp fires? Burning garbage? We never figured it out though. Colonia is very small and there is not a whole lot to do. We wandered around and took pictures for several hours but the shops were not open at that time so we stopped to get some lunch. After lunch we went to a shopping center. It was actually a very nice, but small, mall. Currency is different in Uruguay than Argentina so they have places to exchange money everywhere. Most stores took dollars or Uruguay pesos which was nice because Argentina does not take the dollar.
After shopping and seeing all of the historic district, our feet were sore so we rented a tiny little red car. It was fun to drive around and see where all of the local live and visit a little of the country side.
On our boat ride back to Argentina, we met a lovely couple from Chilie. The wife spoke English, French, German, and of course Spanish. We did a lot of small talk until they realized that I knew a little Spanish, next thing I knew I was in a full blown Spanish course. It was again, very overwhelming for me. They helped us get the "correct" type of taxi once we got back to Argentina and even shared it with us so our ride only cost 5 or 6 pesos (about $2). They recommended an opera to go to so we may run into them again.

San Telmo

On Monday Heidi was not feeling well so we got very late start. We went to the local ATM for the first time and my debti/visa would not work! This of course sent me into a panic attack! "OMG I'm in another country and I have no access to money!" Lucky for me Heidi's card worked and my bank sorted things out.
We took a taxi into San Telmo and asked the driver to take us to a bar/restaurant that Santiago had recommended called Rey Castro. The lovely driver dropped us off in the middle of San Telmo, but no where near the restaurant. We paniced for a minute, gathered our wits and asked a pedesitrian whe turned out to be a Spaniard where to go. Lucky for us he had a map and pointed us in the right direction. Castros ended up being about 30 minutes away. Once there we ordered some sandwitches that could have served 4 people. When we left Castros, it was starting to get dark. San Telmo is not a place to be after dark. We somehow ended up in the finatial district where everyone was getting off work and was hustling to get home. You pretty much speed walk or get ran over. We were completly lost so we spotted a Hilton in the far distance and made our way there where we unwound in the lounge for a minute then got a taxi to take us back home. We only took 2 quick pictures in San Telmo because we were afraid to take the camera out. I have never been so intimidated by a city. I was truly an overwhelming experience!!!
Not wanting to be far from home again, we ate dinner at the authentic restaurant next door to our hotel. Absolutely no one spoke any English. I am getting better at ordering, pretty much I point and mispronounce, but it works. We had some acetunias (olives) for an appetiser and a mixed salad, Heidi had some authentic Spagetti with homemade noodles (to die for!), and I ordered a bife de chorizo (super amazing steak) and papas pure (mashed potatoes). Again, we had enough food to feed an army. I suppose it was supposed to be family portions, but they didn't try to tell us.
Sense we were both feeling incredibly physically and mentally exahusted we went back to the room and planned out our trip to Uruguay.

More Sailing & Rugby party pics

Sailing Adventure

On Sunday Santiago took us sailing with a group of his friends. Most of them spoke some English, but since we were the outsiders they mainly spoke Spanish to each other, which was actually so incredibly fun to watch and observe. I can pick up quite a bit of what they were talking about.
Sailing was amazing. We were on one of the largest rivers in the world. It was a blast. They brought food to share, most of it was good. Like large white bread sandwitches with mayo, ham, cheese, and heart of palm. Bread slices and salomy (not good by the way) chocolate churros and some yummy cookies. We were also able to try mate for the first time. It tastes like an incredibly bitter green tea.
After sailing we were going to go to the club house to have some coffee, but there was a rugby party going on. We got invited in to enjoy the festivities. They had a live band, fresh pizza, and dancing. Argentine men have the attitude that you will have fun weather you like it or not! They would not let us sit down, they always were passing us around the dance floor and they even made us sing along to a Blind Mellon song.

Our first night on the town

Patricias cousin, Santiago, met us at the hotel and went over maps of BA with us. He invited us to go to dinner with him as well. We went to a place called Ink. I can not tell you how happy we were to have him with us. We ate a very nice dinner and there was even entertainment. A drag queen who was lip singing songs and pulling people on stage to embarass them. Most of the time we had no clue what was going on, but it was still fun to watch.
Around 1am they cleared all of the tables out and it became a discoteca. They played a lot of 70's & 80's American music. Everyone dances. No one sits on the side. You get out there, whether you look silly or not, and dance. A lot of the men were broken hearted when they found out we didn't speak Spanish. We ended up getting back to our room around 3:45am.

We Made it!

We survived the travel process with flying colors (no pun intended). I am not sure how much sleep I was able to get durring our 9 1/2 hour flight from Atlanta to BA. Our flight arrived at 7:45am, which is about 3:45am in Salt Lake. We took a scary ride taxi ride to our hotel and found out we couldn't check in until 3pm. Being the troupers that we are, we drank some cafe con leche (coffee with milk) and decided to walk around our new stomping grounds. There are several designer shops where we are, trouble was that none of them were open. Guess the days don't really get going until after 11.
We decided we needed to get some food to counter act all of the coffee we ha so we walked into a very authentic Cafe & Bar along a busy street. Lesson number one: Do not believe people when they tell you that everyone in BA speaks English. The truth is that not very many people do! We learned this the hard way. They had no menu to point to an item to order, so I ordered us the only thing I am proficient at ordering - 2 coffees. This place was quite the local hot spot for old men who like to play pool. They paid no attention to us and made it pretty clear that we did not belong. There was no check with an amount given to us and when the waiter/owner told me the amount I had to ask him to write it down.
Now incredibly jittery, Heidi and I some how made it to a more touristy part of town and found a restaurant where they spoke a little English. We walked around a park with some street vendors then headed back to our hotel to see if our room was ready. Unfortunately it was not, so we did the only logical thing, sat at the bar and drank until it was.

I need to start getting ready for tonights adventures, so I will write more tomorrow!

The excitement keeps building

For those of you with a little bit of free time, I recommend visiting the Today show web site (http://today.msnbc.msn.com). Yesterday, on their segment called "Where in the world is Matt Lauer?", viewers found out that he was in Buenos Aires. There are some great clips showing all of the different places I hope to visit while I am there. It got me so giddy to watch!

Yesterday I found out that one of my wonderful clients has a very close friend who lives in BA. He told me an amazing story about their friendship withstanding the test of time over lunch. In fact, they have been friends for over 20 years! They lost touch and were reconnected through a serious of events. His story touched me so much and I hope to be able to meet her while I am there.

Today I went to lunch with my amazing friend Patricia. She lived in BA with her husband for 13 years, until the economy collapsed. She gave me a list of places to visit, complete with hand drawn maps! She recommended some restaurants as well. I can't wait to try authentic empanadas, bife de chorizo (steak), provoleta (fried cheese), and the Italian influenced foods like pizza and pasta. My mouth is savoring just thinking about it! Patricia also gave me the contact information for her cousin, Santiago, who live close by where we will be staying. So now I will have a local connection!

I have the dreaded task of packing. I started pulling clothes out on Sunday and putting outfits together, but I have found it more difficult than I expected. I have never taken this long of a vacation. I know I am going to over pack, but I am not sure how to not over pack (if that makes any sense). I just want to be prepared for whatever occasion arises. The bad news is that the airports are making things more difficult now. Apparently, as of May 5th, you are only allowed to check one bag. Each additional bag will cost you $25. Luckily we leave on the 2nd so we will only be charged on our way back. Oh, and your bag can not weigh over 50 lbs or you will be charged an additional $80!

Well I am off to pack now! Wish me luck!

A Few Pics

It is now 7 days until I leave! I can barely contain my excitement. I pirated some pictures of the beautiful hotel we will be staying at off of their website. Enjoy!

The Count Down has begun

It is now 9 days until I leave. I fly out of Salt Lake on Friday, May 2nd to Atlanta. From Atlanta it is a direct flight into Buenos Aires. It will be an overnight flight and we will arrive at 7:45am. My hope is to sleep for the entire 7 hour flight.
Yesterday I had the scary realization of just how much I still needed to get done before I leave. Some little, some big. Get my hair done, pay bills, do laundry, fix iPod, find a babysitter for my cat...those sort of things. I did manage to cross one major item off my list however, Learn to speak Spanish. I went to Barnes and Nobles and bought some CD's that claim that I will be able to speak Spanish in 7 days (plenty of time!). So worry about me being in a foreign country no longer. I will blend like one of the locals. :)
We will be staying in Palermo at a swanky hotel called the Soho All Suites. You can check it out at www.sohoallsuites.com
I am hoping to be able to keep this blog updated daily and add pictures and stories to keep you entertained. So continue to check back for more updates!
Ciao!