Argentina

For all of you curious folks, I’ve returned from Argentina an unmarried woman. Now that that’s out of the way, I can tell you all about our trip. I had high expectations, so ignore me if I sound blasé.

As punishment for The United States requiring a visa from Brazilian citizens, Brazil requires a visa from all United States citizens. As odds would have it, Andre and I scheduled flights to Buenos Aires, Argentina through Sao Paulo, Brazil. Doing our homework, we both checked with the Brazilian Embassy to confirm that no visa is needed for a layover. Well, United Airlines hasn’t bothered to update their records, so after being threaten with deportation, imprisonment, a $10,000 fine, and against Andre’s better judgment, I took my chances and flew to Brazil. Unfortunately, there’s a whole lot of ramp up for little return. In Sao Paulo, we were herded, with the others passing through, to our next gates.

Ultimately, we arrived to Buenos Aires, where David, Andre’s cousin, picked us up and took us to his home in the suburbs. Graciella and Lucas were home making a fabulous chicken and pasta lunch while David and Eziquiel finished class for the day. Argentines eat next to nothing for breakfast, their largest meal at about 2:00 pm, and a little supper, if you will, sometime after 10:00 pm. Not my kind of meal schedule, but when in Rome…

Unlike when I was in Spain with Andre’s Uncle and other cousins, I was forced to practice my Spanish with this part of the family. And, while in Spain I needed to practice my lisp, Argentines use “shya” instead of “ya.” We first found this when asking for pariya (Parrilla is Argentine BBQ), and no one knew what we were talking about. Finally, we pointed to one of the signs you see on every street corner like churches in South American countries or ATMs and gas stations in the US, and found that it’s called parishya. Looking forward to world famous Argentine steak, Andre and I were terribly disappointed. Although Argentines are famous for their steaks, it seems that they don’t actually like them. Instead, they eat lots of fat, bones, skin, blood sausage, etc. YUCKY!!! Thankfully home cooking and ice cream kept Andre and me from starving at the local Parrillas.

Buenos Aires is a big city, like many others. It’s on a river, if you can call it that. It’s probably 30 miles across, so I have to think it’s clean somewhere in the middle. There are some wonderful parks. I’m not sure how it’s organized, but there’s definitely a professional dog sitting career option there. Walk into a park, look at the wonderful trees, and just around the corner are 800 dogs. Most are running and playing fee, yet some have leashes, and a couple have muzzles. Seeing all of them made me smile.

The Argentina vacation was planned to see David in Buenos Aires and Andre’s Aunt, and another two cousins, Suzy and Lilly, in Cordoba, in the center of the country. We’d planned to fly until we were told that non-Argentines weren’t allowed. So, when is a 10 hour bus trip a good thing? Although the airline thing seemed like discrimination at its worst, the very next day the airline went on strike and didn’t fly. So, I suppose sleeping on a bus with plush seats is living large.

While Cordoba is the 2nd largest city in Argentina, its 1.5 million in population shadows Buenos Aries at 13 million. As a smaller city, it’s got a lot of character and charm. It’s actually where folks go to vacate Buenos Aires. Most importantly, we were able to visit with Andre’s family after not seeing them for 20 years. It’s amazing how quickly family is able to catch up. Overall, we had a good time.