The flight, June 1, 2005.
From Kansas City, we flew to Dallas, and then caught the overnight flight to Buenos Aires. This was the longest flight (11 hours) I have ever been on, and it was about what I expected. They feed you dinner at the beginning and breakfast at the end, and movies way into the night, and then you are expected to try to get comfortable till you get there. Everything was in both English and Spanish. I would say half the passengers were Americans and half were Argentines. The best part of the flight was passing over the rain forest of Brazil. The forest was dark, not a light anywhere, which made the stars in the sky brilliant. I watched them for a long time, realizing they were different constellations here in the Southern Hemisphere.
5555 miles from Kansas City, we landed in Buenos Aires and Mr. and Mrs. Liberal Texan and Victoria were there to greet us. Our adventure had begun!
Our rooms.
The economy in Argentina is so bad that the peso is weak, but the American dollar is strong. So everything is a bargain ~ and especially our hotel rooms. We had a furnished apartment with modern furniture, king sized bed, air conditioning, 2 cable TVs, a CD player, two bathrooms, and a kitchen with stove, refrig, microwave ~ for $70 (American money) per night! It was in a great location in the city, it was spotless, with maid service, and security entrance off the street. The LTs had a room like ours one floor below us.
The city.
In many ways the city is very beautiful. It is approximately as old as the United States, with buildings dating back to the 1700’s. Ornate old buildings, as well as shiny modern ones. It is a bustling city, with 13 million residents. There are wide avenues, and palm trees and lovely parks and historical statues, etc. The streets are congested and busy, and everyone drives like maniacs. My son in law says “lanes are optional.” People step off the curb into the streets to cross without even looking what is approaching. I was holding my breath in the traffic! Many people do not own cars, so more than half the vehicles are taxis, and there are many busses. It is a pedestrian city…all hours of the day and nights the sidewalks are full of people who are focused on their destination and seem rude and will knock you right out of the way on the sidewalk if you are in their path. The sidewalks are all tile and you must watch every step you take because the tile might be broken or uneven and falls are common. There are stray dogs wandering around all over the city, and that makes for a lot of doggie doo doo on the sidewalks. LT kept saying, “Poo poo ahead … don’t step in it.”
We saw all the tourist places…the Casa Rosada (The Pink House, their version of the White House), the Congress, the Cabildo (one of the oldest govt. buildings in the city), the famous opera house Teatro Colon (would have liked to go inside it), the Obelisco (which looks like the Washington Monument). We were in many different tourist neighborhoods ~ La Boca (the old Italian barrio down on the riverfront, which is now a colorful area of shops and restaurants and street entertainment, including tango dancers), San Telmo (an historic district of lovely architecture, restaurants and shops), La Recoleta, the cemetery where all the coffins are in family mausoleums and some are spectacular in their design; we made a visit to the mausoleum of Evita, Eva Duarte Peron. We stopped to look in the Basilica of Nuestra Senora del Pilar, a stunning old church from the 1700s. We visited the shopping district of Micro Center (downtown) and we walked to the Plaza de Mayo, a large park near the government buildings. Sat on benches near a fountain and watched Victoria run around chasing pigeons. We visited several neighborhoods where the LTs lived in Buenos Aires. One of the areas had a Curves, so we stopped in, met a lovely woman working there who let us take some pictures for me to take back and show my local Curves people in Kansas.
The food.
These people know how to eat! We had so many awesome meals! The specialties of Argentina are the renowned beef, empanadas, homemade pasta, and pizza. We ate plenty of all of them. Meals in restaurants are very cheap with the peso devalued and the American dollar strong. We could get a full course meal in a upscale restaurant, including appetizers, dessert and lots of wine
for about $10 per person. Meals in pizza places cost about $5.00 per person. The coffee in all the cafes and restaurants is extremely strong; almost like espresso (so I was happy). Argentine wine is very good, and is served with nearly every meal. The desserts were just awesome everyplace. The Argentines do not eat and run … lingering over a meal and talking is known as “sobre mesa” (over the table) and even business people have several hours for lunch. Most popular drinks with meals other than the wine were soft drinks and water. They have CocaCola, Pepsi, 7up and Sprite, all in glass bottles. The water was always bottled and you ordered it “con gas” or “sin gas” ~ with or without carbonation. The carbonated water was like club soda and was yucky. Mr. Tow and I got brave after a day or two and plunged in and tried to order our own meals in Spanish, with a lot of assistance from the Liberal Texans.The language.
Few people speak English. I actually only encountered four Argentines in that entire week who were fluent in English. I think it is for much the same reason that we don’t want the second language influence in our country. They love their language and are not interested in learning another. There were some people who could speak a little English, which they were always eager to try out, as we were with our limited Spanish. The young checkout man at the neighborhood grocery store was beaming because he got to speak English to us.
Argentine Spanish has a very strong Italian accent, flavor and some words, and it is beautiful to listen to. It is called Castellano and not español.
Victoria’s baptism.
Victoria, was, of course, a little doll the whole time we were there. She took the long days and the sensory overload like a trouper. Life is an adventure to her and she is soaking up everything. She wanted to smile and make friends with everyone she met. She is on the move; she walks so fast now that she nearly runs. She babbles and tries to say words, and she is fun to teach new gestures and faces to. I never saw a kid eat so much; she got regular entrees with veggies and seafood and ate as much as we did. She loves to give kisses. We love to get them.
Her baptism was on June 5 at the church where her Daddy grew up. It was held in a small chapel which was very beautiful. I would say about 30 people were there, many of them family members and friends of Mr. LT from his childhood, and some friends LT had when she lived in Buenos Aires. Of course, the entire baptism was in Spanish, but one of LT’s friends sat next to me and translated everything.
It was all so beautiful. Victoria had on a white lace dress with a pale blue sash and she looked like a little angel. The baptism, even though in a language we did not understand ~ was a universal act of love and family and faith and it was beautiful.
The party after the baptism was at a party house that was geared to children…several play areas and the kids had a ball. There were about 25 of them there. There were about 45 adults at the party, with more food than we could all eat, a beautiful baptism cake….and lots more of that good Argentine wine. We got to see … and try to talk to … the Argentine people who came to the LTs wedding in the USA in 2000. Everyone was taking a lot of pictures…and no party in Argentina is complete without music and singing and dancing and laughter. It was just wonderful!
Victoria will not remember her baptism and how she was the star of the party, but she will have many pictures to see.
The homes.
Many American visitors to Argentina do not get to see the inside of any Argentine homes, so we were really fortunate. We attended a baptism party for a little baby who is Mr. LT’s godson. The house was hidden from the street through this long narrow passageway, but the house itself was incredible…built around a center courtyard full of plants and seating areas. We were among all strangers … who hugged and kissed us and were so friendly.
We also attended dinner at Mr. LT’s mother’s house … Victoria’s other grandmother, “Abuela”. She lives, as most Argentines do, in an apartment. We had a good time, and Abuela pulled out pictures of Mr. LT as a baby and we all laughed a lot at those and drank champagne. And she served us two incredible desserts ~ one was a custard with a peach topping, and the other was a crepe filled with dulce de leche.
The estancia.
One day we went to an estancia, a ranch out in the Pampas west of the city, complete with gauchos riding horses and ladies in 1800s costumes passing out trays of empanadas. YUMMMM. And of course….wine.
There was the estancia home which had been restored and was a museum of the way people lived on the Pampas in the 1800s.
There was also a traditional asado … a grill cooking LOTS of chorizo sausage, beef, and chicken for our lunch. Lunch was simply awesome. There were probably 200 people there from about 15-20 countries of the world. After lunch we watched tango and folk dancing, and a woman sang songs familiar to the people from the Latino countries. Everyone began singing and dancing and we all joined in. At one point we looked up so see Mr. LT’s 75 year old mother dancing with a woman (complete stranger) from Kenya. Some things just seem to be universal ~ music and dancing are that way. Victoria was mesmerized with the dancers.
Afterwards was Victoria’s favorite part… we got to go out to the corral and watch the gauchos ride the horses. She got to pet some of the horses, and she saw a lot of cows. She was practicing her “moooooo”s while watching them. It is winter in Argentina right now and there was a cold breeze blowing out on the pampas.
Miscellaneous comments.
Bear with me…I am nearly finished.
Kissing culture: In Argentina, everyone meeting in a social situation hugs and kisses one another. Everyone. At the baptisms we went to and the parties afterwards, everyone greets you with a hug and a kiss and a smile. Women kiss women and men kiss men. It was a little disconcerting at first, especially for Mr. Tow, but we both got into it and felt comfortable with it after a very short time.
Flags: The Argentines love their flag, just as we love ours, and it was flying everywhere. There was a major soccer game that week against Brazil, so maybe more flags than normal were hanging. But many of the flags were faded and some tattered. I mentioned it to LT. She explained to me that the pollution in the city causes the flags to fade quickly, and there is little money in the economy to replace flags when they become faded. That made me sad.
Technology: I was surprised at the technology. It is just like the United States ~ every teenager in the city was talking on cell phones. And there is a locutorio on nearly every block ~ a place where people can go to use telephones and computers. I used one of the computers to post a message here one day ... they are broadband and fast. The keyboards are different, though.
American influence: There are McDonalds everywhere, and I also saw TGI Fridays, Burger King, and The Hard Rock Cafe. There is also a popular restaurant called "Kansas" which specializes in "American food."
Stray dogs: They are everywhere. Wandering around on the city streets, always looking for food, always hoping for a handout. Some of them look well fed, but most are skinny and dirty. That made me sad, too.
Medical care: is free. Argentina has socialized medicine. The doctors there are good, but they don’t have the modern tools we are blessed to have in this country, and that we take for granted. I had the opportunity to have a short tour of a very small section of one of the poorest public hospitals in Buenos Aires. A very nice man named Alberto showed me an outpatient clinic, which was new and somewhat modern, at least by their standards. He told me patients had to wait for hours in the clinic to see a doctor. I said “Hey I have to do that in my country!”
He said “Some things are universal, I guess.”Graffiti: The beauty of Buenos Aires has been ruined by graffiti. It’s EVERYWHERE. And so sad to see such lovely old architecture defaced in this way.
Immigration and Customs: We really pretty much breezed through Immigration and Customs in Dallas and Buenos Aires both coming and going. We had to report that we visited the estancia in Argentina, and that we saw cows, but that we were not in close proximity to them and we did not touch them. Also, I was questioned about the needles and syringes in my carry on, and had to show them my insulin vials with the prescription labels on them. The security checkpoint in Buenos Aires was not as strict as in the U.S. ~ we did not have to remove shoes or our jackets.
When we knew we were going to make this trip, I thought of it as a once in a lifetime experience, as I am not a world traveler and really have had no desire to be. Bad knees and the long flight were a worry. But it all went so well, that I would do it again … maybe if there is a second grandmonkey someday to see baptized.
~~Sharon
