Saturday, February 22 and Sunday, February 23 – transit from Madison to Buenos Aires

It’s been a busy start to the decade. After a month in western Europe, I was back in Madison for just a couple days before heading off to NYC for Ali & Matt’s wedding. And what an amazing event it was! It was such an honor to participate! Thanks to you both!

Then it was back to Madison for a few days, and now I’m making a return visit to South America. This is going to be a long transit! My cheapness is well documented, and so I’m sure my angling for the lowest-cost fare contributed to this marathon! The journey’s steps…

• Departed my house at 9:30am Saturday en route to the pickup point for the bus to O’Hare (thanks for yet another drop off Chuck!).
• Flight from Chicago to Toronto.
• Overnight flight from Toronto to Santiago.
• Get off the plane in Santiago, standby in the terminal for a couple hours, and then…
• Get back on the same plane to Buenos Aires.
• Take a bus from Ministro Pistarini International Airport to the city center.
• Transfer to a shared minivan for transit to my hotel – arrived around 5pm (cost of the bus/minivan combo: $10)

Buenos Aires is 2 hours ahead of Madison, so the total travel time works out to be 29 1/2 hours. Not the worst I’ve been through, but still ugly (especially at my advanced age!!)! Fortunately, I was able to sleep for most of the 10 hour flight to Santiago. In fact, I only watched one movie – Parasite. I thought it was pretty good, but not sure if it was worthy of all the Oscar accolades. But then, what do I know, I liked Crash, and some consider that one of the worst Best Picture winners ever!

Correction!: I’ve discovered that Buenos Aires is actually three hours ahead of Madison. Therefore, my trip only took 28 1/2 hours! Wasn’t so bad after all!!

Monday, February 24 – Buenos Aires

I posted a lot of pictures during my stay last year in Buenos Aires, so I don’t anticipate as much this year. Just enough to keep you interested!

So, back to exchange rates. Last year’s trip: 40 Pesos to the Dollar. This year: 60. Yes! I’m using ATMs here to access local currency, and that’s an interesting experience. The limit on how much can be withdrawn per transaction is rather low. Last year the max was 2,000 pesos ($50). This year I tried requesting 6,000, but was rejected. The max amount on the default screen was once again 2,000, so I went with that. (Think about it, that’s around $32!). And here’s the interesting (or aggravating) part: The fees they charge are exorbitant! It works out to the equivalent of $6 (on a $32 withdrawal!). So, I looked back at my transactions from last year, and with the exchange rates then the fee still worked out to be $6. Obviously the banks are adjusting the Pesos they charge in fees in conjunction with the exchange rate to keep it at a consistent $6! As I mentioned in my posts last year though, I fortunately use the Schwab debit card, which charges no foreign transaction fees and (most importantly) refunds all ATM fees. Again, Yes!

I had another stupid-but-lucky travel experience today (a previous one being my stay in Monaco coinciding with the start of the historic car rally) – it’s Carnaval time! It was a national holiday and the festivities took place in the city center. It turned out to be a fun family-oriented event!

And here are a couple bonus pictures from around the city center…

Tuesday, February 25 – Buenos Aires

I’ll lead off by saying that the weather has been beautiful here – temps in the 70s with low humidity. Makes for a perfect day of strolling and relaxing reading in the park. Sounds like a plan!

Travel Note: Those of you that have been following along here know that my South America trip last year was pretty manic. My intent is to calm it down this year! Less countries. Longer durations. More relaxation. Will probably make for less interesting journal entries. Apologies!

Before I make my way to the parks though, I’m going to stop by the Museo Nacional de Bellas Artes. Why go to a Museum on such a glorious day? Because it’s free Tuesday! (the cheap one is saving $3 on the entry fee!) I posted a bunch of pictures from this lovely museum last year, so here are just a couple reminders…

And as I said, I spent the rest of the day roaming through some of the beautiful parks in the city. Just sitting on a bench; reading and watching the world go by. Sounds boring, but it wasn’t! (I still managed to accumulate 20k steps!)

Wednesday, February 26 – Buenos Aires

When I walked out the door today I had no plan. It ended being a little bit more of the same from yesterday. I gravitated towards the city center though, with less of the parks.