Buenos Aires - We're Back!

Brazil doesn’t want us, so Buenos Aires is goin to have to deal with us instead,

We had better luck finding birds this morning, but it was mostly the noisy black birds with a bit of red on their backs. 

After packing up we had some breakfast, checked out and headed to the airport for out 11am flight. We had some time to do some window shopping but did not buy anything. 

I had a nice nap on the flight and the flight was good, although a bit bumpy prior to landing. 

We hailed a taxi and checked into Carles Hotel. We walked a fair distance to La Brigada and when we arrived there was a 20 min wait for a table. So, we crossed the street and checked out the art and craft fair that was set up in the middle of the street in the antique shop district. 

We were seated upstairs at La Brigada which is decorated with signed jerseys and soccer memorabilia. We had a great lunch - sirloin steak that was cut with a spoon, amazing venison sausage and tomato & bocconcini salad. Topped off with a great bottle of Malbec of course!

We made our way through all the street side booths back to our hotel. Along the way I bought a bracelet with a cityscape painted on it, a ring and some souvenirs for friends and colleagues. 

We walked back to the room and were planning on having a cocktail at The Four Seasons lounge, but Bill watched 3 movies at once and I dozed on and off for several hours. When he woke me up at 10 and told me to get ready for bed, which I did, and slept all the way through. Maybe I have not 100% recovered yet....

Since this was a short blog day, I will recount what our vacation was supposed to be before we did not get our Brazilian Visas.

Starting on Feb 2nd, we were supposed to spend two nights in Columbia, then head to Rio on Monday for three nights, then head to the Brazilian side of Iguazu Falls for two nights and visit the Argentinian side for a tour on one of those days, then starting on the Saturday night we were going to head to the Pantanal of Brazil to spend a week doing eco tours to see birds, animals and jaguars that eat caimans! Then we were going to spend a final night in Rio and one more day in Bogota, then land back in Toronto at 5am on Tuesday the 20th. 

What has/will happen, we spent four nights in Columbia, two nights in Buenos Aires, two night on the Argentinian side of Iguazu Falls, two more nights in Buenos Aires, three nights in Santiago, three nights in Rio, one more day in Bogota, then land back in Toronto at 5am on Tuesday the 20th. Yes, our amazing race has comprised of a grand total of eight flights and three time zones in 18 days! 

So far it is turning out to be a great trip, but not exactly what we had planned. So, a lesson my friends, when the website says it is going to take a week for your Brazilian Visa, take their word for it and ignore the advice of your travel agent that says “don’t worry about it!”.