Argentina day 4

Day 4: Monday Jan 8

Apparently, today was not the day we were supposed to get anything done. Well, almost anything. Last night I booked myself a ticket online to take a trip to Iguazu falls between the trip to the beach and the trip to the glaciers. Somehow though, there was no option to pay online! Apparently, you had to pay in person or on the phone. So I called. After waiting on hold for 15 minutes or more, they said I could only pay with Visa or American Express on the phone. Unfortunately, I only have a Discover and Mastercard. So I had to go in person. We arrived at the headquarters in the main part of the city, and I took a number. I pulled number 89. I looked at the display, and number 87 was next. Hrm…then what were all these people doing in the waiting chairs?? It turns out that I was #89 of the second group of 100 people waiting. However, we found out that we could immediately pay if we had a confirmed reservation if we wanted to pay in cash. So that’s what we did. After our excursion to the Aerolineas Argentinas office, we walked for a couple hours on Florida Street. Florida street is a pedestrian only street, spanning kilometers through the city. There are shops, tourist stores, indoor malls, etc. on this street. Because leather is an important moneymaker for Argentina, supposedly you can get nice leather jackets for “cheap”. We went into 4-5 shops looking at different jackets, trying them on, touching them to see their quality, etc., and though the prices were good, they weren’t much better than one could get in the states on sale. We must be looking in the wrong place. I am determined to find a jacket for less. We had lunch and then wanted to see the Teatro Colon and the Historic Synagogue. This begins our stream of bad luck. Apparently the Teatro Colon which is a huge, gorgeous opera house has been closed, and will not reopen until 2008. Yeah, our trip isn’t quite that long. So we headed down the street to the historic Synagogue. A beautiful building from the outside, but apparently one can only get a tour on Tuesday or Wednesday afternoons. Yeah, we’ll be out of town on all Tuesdays and Wednesdays during this trip. Go team. Time to head back. We’d been in the sun a while already. We took a break at the apartment, and then headed back out in our neighborhood to see the Museo De las Bellas Artes – the Fine art museum. Upon arrival, we discover that they’re closed on Mondays. Disappointed, we head to another part in our neighborhood (we live in Ricoleta by the way) to see the famous Ricoleta Cemetery. It is located near a bunch of restaurants we’ve been eating at every night. We get to the gate, and apparently it was closed for the day. Damn. 0/4. Dad had seen an ice cream shop in his guide book that was supposed to be really good, so we decided that instead of getting dinner, we’d have ice cream and have dinner later. I got a chocolate cone with a scoop of Dulce De leche con Brownie and a scoop of White chocolate. Yum. It was really good – and tasted good in the hot sun. We walked more around the yuppie neighborhood in which we live, strolling past the expensive stores and fancy restaurants, and then headed back to the apartment and packed our things for the trip in the AM. After packing, we leave to have dinner. We arrive at the restaurant at 8:00 pm, and we are the only people there. It’s amazing. It’s like being in the States and trying to eat dinner at 4:30. Sure you can get it, but the rest of the world won’t be eating for hours. Even when we left there was still just one other table filled in the restaurant. I get Gnocchi (I love Gnocchi and am determined to have my fill of it while here), and dad got fish. Including drinks and dessert and tip our bill totaled $10 US. We’re back in the apartment, and it’s time to hit the sack. We’ve got an early bus to catch in the AM tomorrow.