To travel from Mendoza to
Buenos Aires, you either fly or take an overnight bus.
Meika and I elected to endure the 14 hours bus ride, and very wisely chose to purchase
executivo (first class) tickets. The cost was several pesos more than the
turista class, but when we converted it to dollars, the difference wasn't more than a few bucks. This ended up being one of the highlights of the trip. Our seats were on the top level of a double
decker bus, and I was thrilled to discover they reclined to a nearly flat position with a foot rest. Our journey began with a game of BINGO! Our
attendant, Andres- who we became fast friends with, called numbers over the microphone as we eagerly punched out our numbers. Not wanting to be the stupid American calling out a false "bingo", I was sure to double check my numbers with
Meika after each one was called out. I would like to say that we won, but the lucky card belonged to the lady
in front us, who
received a bottle of wine. Shortly after the game, our movie and dinner service began. We dined on hammy treats and
alfahores (a cookie layered with
dulce de leche and covered in chocolate... they are everywhere) and accompanied by packets of mayo and salt. Wine was complementary
and so we made the best of our meal while we watched
Leathal Weapon... to our
surprise and delight a second course of turkey, potato fritters, and overcooked veggies came, as well as refills on the vino. We giggled and munched our dinners while strapped up in our
Andesmar issued dining bibs. By now your thinking, it cant get much better, but it does. With the start of our second feature film, Twilight (these were all in
English with
Spanish subtitles...
Meika was brave and snuck over to the electronics area while Andres was away to turn up the volume for us) we were served champagne- I let Andres know this was
Meika's favorite, and he kept it coming! With a swollen full moon out the window, and bellies full of beverages we snoozed and
cruised all the way to
Buenos Aires. We bid our new friend, Andres, farewell and tipped him for his great service.
Upon arriving at the Florida Suites Hostel downtown, we realized this was NOT what we were looking for. We immediately nicknamed it 'the dorms' because of its sterility, lack of character, haunting smell, and abundance of drunk high school graduates. Everything was clean and nice, but it was lacking the charm we were looking for. There was no common kitchen area, but in its place was a cafeteria type set up on the bottom floor. We made the best of it, and decided to change
accommodations after our upcoming trip to Uruguay.
Buenos Aires is definitely a big city, and we were right in the heart of the hustle and bustle. Street vendors, performers,
McDonalds, tourists cars and cabs were everywhere. We set off to soak up some serenity at the Botanical and
Japanese gardens while the winter sun still hung in the sky. Just down the street from there, we visited MELBA, the modern art museum. It housed some intriguing
pieces, including a self portrait by
Frida Kahlo, and a portrait by Diego Rivera, among other things. However, most of it was a little arts and crafts for my taste. The following day we took a train to
Tigre, a popular get away about 35 km north of BA. There was plenty of shopping and views of the delta, which has a rich latte color due to its high content of iron from the jungle streams of South America that feed into it. It was an all day trip, and we spent as little time as possible in 'the dorms', aside from sleeping, using the
Internet, and having few beverages in the basement bar.