Well, we went to bed last night wondering if Denise was going to survive. She slept most of the evening and groaned most of the night. We had an early start. For me, it was about 2:30 AM. Unfortunately, I looked at the plane loads going home and it looks really bleak. And to get us both home on some other airline will run about $1800 for both of us. And being a tight wad, you can see why I didn't sleep. Nonetheless, my body rested while my mind churned and my ears listened to Denise breathe, groan or talk a bit. At 5 AM, I got up and showered. Our bus was leaving at 7 AM back to Colonia where we would get on a water ferry and travel back to Buenos Aires. At about 5:20, I woke Denise up and got her going. She seemed better. And I'll say this now...it was kind of a little miracle as she seemed to get stronger as the day wore on. So glad I am. So glad she was/is. Anyway, we had checked out at 5:45 AM and had the front desk hail a taxi. We went to step outside to wait and the front desk person told me not to do it...to just wait inside. He said because it was Friday night/Saturday morning, it was unsafe because the people still lingering around from a night of partying downtown. The cabbie arrived within a few minutes and in about 10 minutes in his car, we were at the bus terminal.
Tres Cruces bus terminal was a beehive. Holy smokes they have it down in getting buses in and out. We ended up waiting about 40 minutes before we went to get in line for the bus. When we went outside to get in line, we were shocked how long it was. We shouldn't have been as most of these folks were doing what we were doing...going to BA via the Water Ferry at Colonia Del Sacramento. I don't know how many buses Buquebus filled up...I'm guessing 7 or 8...heck maybe more. They would fill one up, ship it out, fill another up, ship it out and so on.
Upon arriving in Colonia, after coming off the bus, we got into another long line to get through customs. The first step is to put your bags through a scanner. You then go to a desk and get stamped by Uruguayan officials noting you are leaving their country. Then for non SudAmerica individuals like us, we had to go to another desk and have our passports stamped that we were coming back into Argentina. Once we cleared customs, we got back into yet another very long line waiting to board the Water Ferry. That took about an hour or so before boarding began. This process took me back to France, where we stood in long lines that all went through a single door about the size of my front door. You would think that they could load from multiple doors on these ships...but they do not. Weird. Anyway, this time the boat was really full. As a matter of fact, many people just sat on the floor. The ride was about 1n hour long, but it left about 45 minutes late. Who knows why.
Upon exiting the ferry in BA, we walked away from the terminal to get out of the taxi frenzy. I wanted to use Uber once again. So we walked through a very muddy construction zone into the beginning of a downtown area. We stopped on a corner to hail an Uber. It worked great this time. Our driver actually spoke English quite well. He was from Venezuela...a younger man. He described the conditions in Venezuela to us and the massive exodus that is going on due to the economic conditions there. Many Venezuelans are and have migrated to Uruguay. Anyway, our ride took about 15 minutes to the JFK Apartments right across from the US Embassy here in Argentina.
When I entered the Uber, I texted our host. So he was quick to meet us. The apartment is on the 6th floor of a fairly tall building. The apartment is clean. It is somewhat narrow but very long. My first visual of the bed made me wonder what I had done. It looked a bit lacking. But...I could have slept on a rock. I was quite tired. Anyway, we were up looking out the balcony when we heard a voice, 'Hey Tiner's'. Our friends, Zella and Kelly, had walked down to greet us. They had some water bottles in hand and some other goodies to share. Their hotel room is about 3 blocks or so from where we are.
After Steven exited, we visited with Kelly and Zella for a few minutes and then we hit the road. We did not even un pack our bags. We headed up the street to a very bustling street (Santa Fe). There we were able to find a bank and get some pesos. The hotel gave Kelly and Zella a bus card that they could load money on. So we stopped an loaded money on to it. To ride a bus here is about 10 pesos....or 50 cents USD. Cheap. We jumped on a bus and headed back into the city to see the main capital building that Evita Peron made famous. But first, we were all kind of starving so we went to a restaurant that Kelly and Zella had eaten at when they lived down here. Man was it GOOD. We shared a beef tenderloin that was in a yummy mushroom sauce with fried potatoes. I had also ordered a grilled sausage and Zella had ordered fried mozzarella to share. It was so good...all of it. After dinner, our walking tour began. I think we walked about 3 or 4 hours. We covered this part of the downtown area pretty good. Although my feet were sore (and I could hardly walk this morning), it was awesome. BA is vibrant town. One highlight was a stop in a small square where a couple was doing some Tango dancing. They were dressed really nice and elegant. It was fun to watch and visit with Kelly and Zella. We ended up on he Main Street of BA...I think it is called 29 de Julio...something like that. They have a Washington Monument like thing in the middle. They had a big set of letters 'BA' in shrubbery where we stopped to take pictures. We eventually jumped back on our bus and found our way back using the App 'Moovit'. Fantastic app for knowing bus routes and tracking the point you get on until it tells you where to get off and then how to walk to your location. Just awesome. Anyway, we hit a small convenience store for some orange juice and milk. Zella had some homemade granola that she wanted us to have for breakfast. So we stopped at their hotel (really nice) to see how the other half live to grab the granola. And then we returned to our apartment...pretty wiped out.
It was a very long day...but quite wonderful in all that we accomplished.
Some pictures...
Early lines...if you look closely you can see the pole that has 29 on it. We are in line for pole 37! That is how long this line is to get on Buquebus buses.
Tired at the Colonia ferry terminal...
Waiting to get on the water ferry...lines, lines, lines.
Some bus pics of us. I'm a bit paranoid about pick pockets on these kind of vehicles.
I struck up a conversation about what the young lady was carrying in the yellow bag. Turned out it was a Cheescake. That is what they called it. I asked why they had it...they were going to a 'Baby Shower'. Again...they used that term in English. They giggled as they did not know why they used English terms for these things...but they do.
They have these in restaurants on every corner. You can see the very large chunks of beef on the grill. Cooked stuff is placed in the left corner...like suasages and other things.
This was a huge piece of meat. Glad we shared....
Sausage and grilled mozzarella! Yum. Unhealthy...bummer. Oh well.
La Casa Rosada...their White House. Well, no one lives there. Here is where Evita spoke to the masses. Maybe I should say Madonna spoke to the masses (via the movie).
The plaza in front of the Casa Rosada was under construction...bummer.
The tourists....
Tango dancers in a small square.....
This is the Main Street with the Washington Monument thing. They call it an Oblix...something like that.
What does BA stand for. I'll leave that up to you. But here it stands for...wait...Big Apple. I thought it would be Buenos Aires. But I was wrong.
They have chairs down here that look like they are cushioned with dirty cushions. But they are actually concrete. But a good place to end a good day.
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