Well, I'm going to attempt to write for 15 consecutive days about each of the days of our trip to Argentina (from which we just returned on Thursday). Mainly this is a way to share some of our photos from the trip with my mom. But if you're reading this, and you're not my mom, welcome!

Argentina Trip 2008 - Day 1: Bagless in Montevideo

Really, this trip started in Miami - our least favorite city. This is where our flight from LA to Montevideo, Uruguay connected. Miami is also the city that was the port for our Honeymoon cruise and - suffice it to say - we have adequate reasons to hate it. So there was a part of me that felt like being in Miami was a bit of a bad omen upon which to start our trip. But we connected without too much of a problem and took the overnight flight to Montevideo.

This Iphone photo is of the lady across the aisle from me on the Montevideo flight. Every time she left her seat, she went over the arm rest instead of around it. And this process took her about 30 seconds each time. I had to work very hard to get this photo...




Now, going to Uruguay was never part of this trip's original plan. But because we were using frequent flyer miles for these tickets, and because we couldn't get a flight into Buenos Aires using those miles, we decided on Montevideo which is only a 3.5 hour ferry ride from BA. We were only staying one night in Montevideo - but hey, it's a chance to see another country.


So we landed in MV, bleary eyed, exited the plane, and waited at the turnstile for our bags. And waited. And waited. We watched one couple, with child (loud, screaming, on-the-flight-child), who had been on both our flight from LAX-Miami AND Miami-Montevideo, pick up about 8 bags. Not kidding. They were both pushing those baggage carts piled high with suitcases. Somehow every single one of their bags arrived - but our two backpacks did not.

So we go to the counter and start that-whole-process. The rep was very nice and assured us it wouldn't be a problem to get our bags to us at our hotel the next day. However, there was a problem: the next flight from Miami was at 2pm the next day and we were leaving for BA at 12noon (of course). The rep didn't know what they were going to do, so she took our info and said she'd call our hotel.


We took a taxi into Montevideo and had it drop us off at the ferry port so we'd know where it was. Then we walked into town.


This is Sarah experiencing the cognitive dissonance of feeling like something is missing... oh yeah. OUR BACKPACKS.
We arrived at the Montevideo Holiday Inn. Yeah I know. But it was the cheapest way to stay in the heart of a city that we only had a day to learn. They were very nice... MV doesn't get near as much tourism as BA. In fact, Uruguay in general is kind of like the uglier step-sister of Argentina. Their currency is worth a lot less, poverty is higher, but the people are very nice!

This was the "view" from our room. (I bought this wide-angle lens right before we left on the trip. So you're going to get a lot of these photos as I try it out. )




After dropping off our bags in our room (meaning, carry-ons), we set out for some sights of the city and a lunch place that had been recommended on a blog I'd read about MV.

One of the ways that the poverty of the country was most obvious, was by the trash collection system. On and off throughout the day, we'd see men (or boys, some as young as 12-13) taking these horses/carts from corner to corner collecting the trash that was left there. I think the government must pay them for it... pretty sad. Especially seeing the kids out late at night doing this. And for the horses, some of whom looked old and over-worked.

Wow. This blog entry is a DOWNER.

We found our lunch location: El Fogon. Which I just looked up and it means "The Stove." That's appropriate for the kind of food that is most prevalent across Argentina and Uruguay: Parrilla. It's basically cooking meat (or pizza or pasta or whatever) in a wood burning oven.

The eating schedule is much different in South America compared to what we're used to in the US. Breakfast is very, very minimal. Cafe (coffee - espresso) with a piece of toast or a pastry. Lunch (later than it is for us, around 1-2p,) is a big meal. Often times it lasts between 1-2 hours, includes wine and big entrees. All this because after lunch comes.... siesta! We need to adopt this in the US. Nap time. Then dinner is MUCH later. If we went to dinner before 10pm we would be the only people in the restaurant. And at popular places, it wouldn't really get hoppin until nearly midnight (including families with small children).

Anyhow, this is Sarah and I jumping headlong into a parrilla lunch of red meat and pasta. We definitely had some great steak on the trip... but this wasn't it. If you ever travel to this part of the world, as us for tips on ordering different cuts of meat. We learned the hard way.

This is a building we found as we were walking around MV. It didn't seem uncommon to have a tree growing out of the side of your house. Some of the buildings were beautiful, but very unkempt (and even condemned in some places).

Parks seem much more prevalent in their cities than in ours. They are used - a lot. It's the place to hang out in the evenings.

As the afternoon headed into night, we found this park with a huge, beautiful tree at the center.

Underneath said tree.

Before dinner we hit a couple of convenience shops. We try to do this in every country we go to in order to pick up the weirdest candy that country eats and bring it back to share with friends. No candy here. But we did discover that they store their eggs on a shelf. Unrefrigerated. This is for Rodger Rushing.

Finally, dinner. A simple place on the main strip - pizza! Both Argentina and Uruguay have large Italian populations and Italian food is very prevalent. Great pizza! And we took a photo of the menu... who knew McCain is a menu mascot in the Southern Hemisphere?

More tomorrow...