I had a decent night’s sleep last night that somehow continued through a 5 am tour group scramble of doors opening and closing according to Nicole. We had our breakfast at the hotel and then walked around the town of El Calafate to check out some tchotchke shops. Nicole got a small alpaca figurine and a magnet for our refrigerator.
The weather was again quite windy and there was a chill in the air. After checking out, we got some petrol, and returned the car to the airport. We attempted to check-in at the counter, but because we were standby we were told to come back about an hour before. In the meantime, we looked at the one airport shop and had an empanada and croissant for lunch. When we returned to the counter, we were told to come back in another twenty minutes. Thirty minutes later, we were cleared into seats that were almost right next to each other. We were on opposite sides of the aisle, the closest we’ve been in some time. We were cleared before the other standbys who had some sort of United affiliation and were cleared into separate seats. Take that other standbys!
We basically went straight through security and onto the plane, though we did have to check our bags due to the small 8kg limit imposed by Aerolineas Argentinas. We went from 50 degrees and windy to 95 degrees and humid in the span of three hours. We rolled out of a bus into Jorge Newbery to collect our luggage where a thousand people were amassed around our carousel for a flight that only had 130 people. We were somehow able to get our bags by forcing our way through the crowd and were soon on our way to the DoubleTree hotel in Buenos Aires.
One never knows how branding will translate abroad, but we were both given two cookies upon check-in. Huzzah! We then set about to find some dinner. We settled on a place just down the street called Martineta. I had another slab of meat (ojo de bife) and Nicole had a couple of empanadas chased by some Quilmes, the national beer. We enjoyed a nice meal out on the street in the heat when we weren’t being hustled by the occasional homeless person.
After dinner, we got some drinks and mayo-flavored crisps at a market before returning to the hotel to get ready for a long day of flying (or if nothing else a long day at the airport). We are hoping to get as far as Guatemala, which is a long way from here. There are not many seats, so we are hoping for the best.
passports & pepto bismol 