(Written on Wednesday, January 7)
Mom, Mac and I are in Buenos Aires for a few days. We had a quick flight down on Monday, January 5, got checked into the apartment we rented which is lovely and comfortable and located in my favorite neighborhood of Recoleta, and then we went to eat at a great Italian restaurant called Sotto Voce where we ate in June on the recommendation of friends who live here.
On Tuesday morning we were to meet our tour guide Melanie at 10:30 right outside the apartment. I went totally off the reservation to organize this tour and didn't use anybody's recommendation for a guide. Instead I found this company called Buenos Tours on the internet that got great reviews and so I decided to use them.
A nice-sounding British guy named Alan runs it and one of his reasons for founding the company is to allow people to take tours by expats who speak the same language and who might be able to offer cultural references that a local wouldn't necessarily get. It's a great concept.
I bought Alan's sales pitch hook, line and sinker. I even paid up front for the tour. I was that convinced we were doing the right thing by choosing Alan.
So imagine my surprise when Melanie, our assigned tour guide from northern California, never showed up at the appointed time or place! We waited patiently, but all the while I was thinking that Alan had already bought himself some nice furniture for his London flat using my credit card information. And still Melanie didn't show up. So after giving her a reasonable 10 minutes (it was only a 3-hour tour after all!), I called the cell phone number that Alan gave me, only to get voice mail. Do you know that feeling that sinks in when you're sure you've been hoodwinked? Yeah, okay I was past that feeling about that time.
I waited a few more minutes and tried the number again and Alan answered in his adorable British accent. Turns out one of Melanie's tours for the day was cancelled and Alan got a tiny bit confused and thought it was ours. So he told Melanie not to come to us. Well Alan was beside himself with upset over this mistake. He apologized profusely, offered to refund the deposit amount and agreed to send Melanie that afternoon.
So we used the morning to tour the Recoleta Cemetery (where Evita "Don't Cry for Me Argentina" Peron is buried among other notable Argentines) and Alvear
Avenue (the Rodeo Drive of BA), and to have lunch at Cafe Las Violetas before meeting Melanie at 2pm back at the apartment.
Melanie did a fantastic job in the 98 degree heat with a child who thought a 3-hour historical tour was about 2 hours and 55 minutes too long. We learned so much and it was made even nicer by her being a really interesting person to be around. After graduating from college in the US, she was a Peace Corps Volunteer in Morocco where she met her boyfriend. After they finished with Peace Corps, they moved to Indonesia for a year to teach English before coming to Buenos Aires where her mother is from to work here and improve their Spanish.
After the tour ended, we went over to Puerto Madero to walk around and to see the famous Starck-designed Faena Hotel+Universe that is totally extravagant and spectacular. At this point all any of us really wanted to do was crash the pool at the Faena because it was so extraordinarily hot but that seemed tacky and a bit low-rent so we didn't. I haven't sweated like that in many a day in Sao Paulo. So we ate an early dinner at this cool and delicious restaurant called iFresh Market (the "i" is not a typo - there's an "i" or an "I" in front of Fresh Market - what does that mean?? I am so not in the know) and then came back to the apartment where we promptly received a phone call from the famous Alan who was still apologizing and asked if he might bring over a goodwill gesture to us within the hour. How do you say no to a charming Brit who wants to bring presents?
So Alan came and we were the lucky recipients of some flowers that he said were to remind us of the blue and yellow of the Argentine flag, a box of delicious Havanna Alfajores (these divine chocolate cookies with dulce de leche in the middle) and a bottle of his favorite Argentine Malbec wine. How nice was that??? And he still offered to refund our deposit. But how could I let that happen after we got all these nice gifts AND a fantastic tour?
So before I go further, if you come to Buenos Aires, I highly recommend using Alan's tour service. He's also booked our tango show for tonight and he assures me we'll be picked up on time!! Go to buenostours.com for full information on Alan's company. And I definitely recommend Melanie specifically as the tour guide if you can't get Alan himself.
Today we got up and went to El Caminito in the La Boca neighborhood of BA. It's a seedy neighborhood but it's totally packed with tourists by day so you don't feel the grit so much. We enjoyed some fun shopping and watching dancers perform the tango while we ate a light lunch.
After lunch we headed over to the huge pedestrian street, Calle Florida, for some shopping, people watching and Freddo's ice cream. Freddo's is Argentina's gift to the ice cream-loving world. I am a big fan of the dulce de leche ice cream there which is almost like eating frozen caramel. It's so decadent and probably makes your teeth fall out after extended use, but oh my, is it good. We are trying to enjoy it as often as possible (within reason) during out stay here.
Now we're resting a bit before grabbing supper. The tango show starts at 10:30 tonight which means a late night for those of us who normally are asleep by 9:30! More details to come as the trip progresses!
I'm having trouble downloading photos here, so those will be forthcoming!
No comments:
Post a Comment