Today was mostly about travelling to Buenos Aires. We said farewell to Rocco and Alex, and caught our flight from remote Atacama to Santiago. We picked up the bags that we stored on Monday, checked in for our flight to BA and had plenty of time to grab lunch. Only we had basically 4 choices in the international terminal: Dunkin' Donuts, Starbucks, Subway and Ruby Tuesday's. A couple of local options existed but they were wine bars or pastry shops (not the good kind), so we settled on Ruby Tuesday's. The portions were absurd. Glad to know that the American influence is all over the place.
On the flight to BA, Marc somehow managed to telepathically inform the flight attendant that he is a chocoholic and snagged more "bon bons". A truly proud moment. As we were filling out the customs form, we were literally asked what kind of mobile phones we have along with any accessories. An odd request, but things became more clear later on. Our guide, Ana, was waiting for us after we cleared customs and we were off to the hotel.
As we head into Argentina, I'll share with you a couple of news stories that we are following. One is around the murder of Alberto Nisman, the lead prosecutor who was about to have the President of Argentina arrested for corruption. This is in relation to President Kirchner's alleged participation in a cover-up related to a bombing of a Israeli center in 1994. I just finished a spy thriller called "I Am Pilgrim" and let's just say that what is going on in relation to this murder investigation rivals the book I just read (which is fiction). And we have a winner for "you can't make this stuff up."
Another story that we need to keep tabs on is around the general economic situation of the country. Argentina is experiencing severe hyperinflation and a significant black market exists for currency exchange. Even in Argentine Pesos, much counterfeiting exists so we need to be careful. Lots of protests taking place in Buenos Aires these days around Nisman, Kirchner's regime and some of the bad blood still associated with the war with Great Britain over the Islas Malvinas in 1982.
I remember on my last visit thinking that BA struck me as a cross between Madrid and Paris with the layouts and the architecture. It still holds true. While the country may have some serious problems, BA still remains a beautiful city. Marc immediately noted that the lanes on the motorways are rarely, if ever, adhered to. Ana's response was that "well, it seems to work for us." Heh.
For the oenophiles, we also learned of a new varietal - Torrontes. It has 3 types and I tasted the Rianjo version, which tasted like a Gewürztraminer. It was pretty good and I look forward to trying more of this.
As for why we were asked on the customs form for what kind of mobile phones we have, we later found out it is because smartphones are so expensive in Argentina and citizens typically buy them outside of the country to not pay the taxes associated with those purchases. For example, Apple doesn't even have a store in BA because of the costs associated with running the operation and the pain for consumers. All of their business is done via resellers.
A long day for the Becks, but we feel we should be set up pretty well for our stay in BA.
On the flight to BA, Marc somehow managed to telepathically inform the flight attendant that he is a chocoholic and snagged more "bon bons". A truly proud moment. As we were filling out the customs form, we were literally asked what kind of mobile phones we have along with any accessories. An odd request, but things became more clear later on. Our guide, Ana, was waiting for us after we cleared customs and we were off to the hotel.
As we head into Argentina, I'll share with you a couple of news stories that we are following. One is around the murder of Alberto Nisman, the lead prosecutor who was about to have the President of Argentina arrested for corruption. This is in relation to President Kirchner's alleged participation in a cover-up related to a bombing of a Israeli center in 1994. I just finished a spy thriller called "I Am Pilgrim" and let's just say that what is going on in relation to this murder investigation rivals the book I just read (which is fiction). And we have a winner for "you can't make this stuff up."
Another story that we need to keep tabs on is around the general economic situation of the country. Argentina is experiencing severe hyperinflation and a significant black market exists for currency exchange. Even in Argentine Pesos, much counterfeiting exists so we need to be careful. Lots of protests taking place in Buenos Aires these days around Nisman, Kirchner's regime and some of the bad blood still associated with the war with Great Britain over the Islas Malvinas in 1982.
I remember on my last visit thinking that BA struck me as a cross between Madrid and Paris with the layouts and the architecture. It still holds true. While the country may have some serious problems, BA still remains a beautiful city. Marc immediately noted that the lanes on the motorways are rarely, if ever, adhered to. Ana's response was that "well, it seems to work for us." Heh.
We checked into the hotel and had to clean up quickly for dinner. We went to Oviedo, which was in a neigborhood that reminded me of the West Village. It was an old school kind of place with exquisitely prepared food. They kept it simple in terms of ingredients and everything was just super high quality. To cap off the evening, I even ordered dessert wine in Spanish and was able to be understood. A proud moment for me since Marc is the "Spanish Speaker" on this trip.
As for why we were asked on the customs form for what kind of mobile phones we have, we later found out it is because smartphones are so expensive in Argentina and citizens typically buy them outside of the country to not pay the taxes associated with those purchases. For example, Apple doesn't even have a store in BA because of the costs associated with running the operation and the pain for consumers. All of their business is done via resellers.
A long day for the Becks, but we feel we should be set up pretty well for our stay in BA.