Today is the last few hours in Argentina before we head off to Peru. Our checkout was at 10am, and breakfast stops being served at 10am so we packed up our stuff, checked out, and hunkered down at the restaurant until our ride shows up for the airport. Breakfast was all sugar items again, but the baked goods are extremely delicious. I’m going to miss Dulce De Leche since I sincerely doubt it will be available in Peru. After we finished our coffee and breakfast we hung out around the hotel until our ride arrived at 1:20pm. We spent our time just watching people, the scenery, and writing a bit.
When our ride arrived, we had errantly thought it was the taxi sitting outside so the gentleman was very disappointed to learn that our ride was directly behind him and he was there for someone else. The hotel manager explained the misunderstanding and while he seemed annoyed, he understood. We arrived at the airport in time to do some readings, and run into a few people from our Antarctica trip. We stopped by in line to say hi, before departing on our way. The flight from Ushuaia to Buenos Aires was uneventful. I finished one book and started the next.
When we arrived in Buenos Aires, we knew we would have some time to kill. We have a 7.5 hour layover, and luggage with us. After trying to do an early check in with the luggage, we were told we could not check anything in until 3 hours prior to the flight so we would have to cool our heels somewhere outside the secure area of the airport. Brad and I discussed the options and decided that the airport was the best spot for us and our luggage where we would not be targets so we instead chose to entertain ourselves at the airport. We walked around the terminal and found the only restaurant like food place we could find. In Argentina, the service is not as quick as it is in the US so having a restaurant experience would kill the most time. It was also the only place that served something other than ham and cheese sandwiches. The place we chose is called “the Emberger” and appeared to have an American theme. Brad orders nachos and I ordered a chicken sandwich. When the food arrives, let me tell you it is inedible. The ONLY reason I ate it was because I was hungry and didn’t want to get into an argument in a foreign country. The chicken sandwich was so dry I could peel it off and took some extreme energy to chew. The french fries it came with were fried in the wrong type of oils so it tasted mucky. Brad’s nachos may have well been served as punishment. We joked that the reason the McDonalds downstairs was so busy, was because it was probably the only edible option in the whole airport. We quickly paid and made our way over to an all-night wine place across the airport. Here we played Uno, and drank wine until three hours before check in.
When the check in time came, Brad and I hustled downstairs to find a massive line for our airline. When we got to the person directing the person traffic, he re-directed us to the electronic check in. After messing with the electronic check in machines for a while, we finally gave up and asked for some help as to why it isn’t finding our reservation. The assistant there didn’t speak English but did usher us over to the check-in line where we should have been to begin with. In line we talked with an Austrian lady who was traveling South America for a few months before beginning work. She seemed to be very friendly and we enjoyed speaking about our different adventures. We didn’t catch her name but she is traveling towards Cusco to go to Machu Picchu.
After making it through check-in and through security we walked around the airport a little bit and grabbed some snacks for the plane. Also, just to see what it flavors they have here. One such flavor was a ham flavored chips. I didn’t purchase it, but it did catch the eye. Our flight left Buenos Aires at 3:30am local time, so we were pretty tired. The flight itself was was uneventful… I slept.
