Thursday, March 19 – transit from Salta to Buenos Aires

Well, the good news is I made it to Buenos Aires. We’ll get to the bad news later!

Being able to board the plane in Salta became a non-event. Laughably easy, actually. The only check was the typical screen of the bags. All that effort and anxiety for nothing. I’m just happy I was able to make the flight.

I booked a boutique hotel for the night in Buenos Aires before I left Salta (confidence in making the flight!). I got a quick response from them though stating that they were closing for two weeks due to the virus. (I was really impressed with their prompt reply). After that I decided to book something with a major chain from their website, figuring that would provide up-to-date information. I ended up going with an ibis property in the city center. (that I could cancel by 6pm tonight – confidence eroding?)

(I checked on going back to my usual apartment, but their rates had tripled since I left for Salta – from $50 to $150 per night!)

When I departed Salta, the city was like a ghost town. Apparently the president had issued a lock-down order for the country the previous day, in place for two weeks. You wouldn’t know it in Buenos Aires though! When I arrived what I observed was pretty much business as usual – including a major traffic jam on the taxi ride from the airport to the hotel (cost: $6 – the domestic airport is close to the city).

During my check-in at the hotel the Brazil quarantine issue came up again. This has me concerned. They were good about it though, letting me stay there, and telling me to just be careful when I’m outside. She also mentioned that people were supposed to be staying inside. I pointed out that that obviously wasn’t the case today! She just sighed and agreed.

Friday, March 20 – Buenos Aires

The fact that I’m writing this today is a hint of the bad news…

I was scheduled to fly out at 11:30am today. I woke up early, ready to make the trip to the airport. Checking the status of my flight however, I discovered that it had been postponed until early Sunday morning. Not good!

As I was getting ready to head down to reception, I coincidentally received a call from them. They wanted to confirm that I was checking out. When I responded that I actually wanted to extend a couple nights, I was informed that the hotel was closing today! Apparently there were only two of us staying there, so the company was consolidating all the guests from their three hotels in the city into one. And the new hotel was only about 7 blocks down the road. $65/night.

As soon as I stepped out of the hotel, I discovered that Buenos Aires had gotten the message about the lock-down. There was very little traffic or people outside. Strange!

Checking into this new hotel we had to discuss Brazil again. This hotel is going with much stricter measures though. Basically, I can’t leave my room! The only food I can have is from room service. Convenient for them! (I went out from my hotel last night to pick up some take away for dinner)

This Brazil quarantine issue has me frustrated on so many levels:

• They’re not even considered a high risk country by the CDC. I suspected the policy was due to Argentina’s animosity towards Brazil, and discussing this with the hotel reception staff this morning, they pretty much agreed.
• The policy was announced on March 16. I returned to the country on March 12. So, obviously there was no mention of it when I went through immigration. I didn’t even know about it until March 18. It seems like I should be exempt, but that ruling is left to the interpretation of the enforcer in each case!
• So, since from returning from Brazil, I have: a) re-checked in to my apartment hotel in Buenos Aires with no issues, b) flew from Buenos Aires to Salta, c) checked into my Salta hotel with no problem, d) flew back to Buenos Aires, and e) checked into last night’s BA hotel with no restrictions. And now, this latest hotel invokes the the first strict set of rules I’ve encountered? Pointless.

So, this all has me worried that when I go through Argentina exit passport control on Sunday morning, they will prevent me from boarding the plane because it has been less than 14 days since I arrived from Brazil. If so, I’ll provide the above points in defence. (talking to the hotel reception staff this morning, they thought they’d let me leave) We’ll see what happens…

And I received more bad news today. My flight from Panama to Chicago has been canceled. I’ve been trying to call the airline, but haven’t even been able to make a connection (“all the circuits are busy”). I went to their web site and noticed they have some flights to Miami on Sunday (but none after that day!), so I’m hoping to switch to one of those.

So I’ve spent my day in the hotel basically researching various travel scenarios, including if I’m delayed until Friday due to quarantine. (of course, things are changing so quickly, it’s hard to say what the situation will even be like on Friday!)

I think I need to spend the rest of the day chillin’! (Just ordered some spaghetti from room service) Unfortunately, all the TV stations are spanish language, and the internet service isn’t fast enough for streaming. But I do have a book I’m reading, and I have some iTunes videos on my laptop.

If anything happens tomorrow, I’ll post an update (hopefully no more bad news!).