Prior to the beginning of our cruise from Buenos Aires to
Santiago, we had several surprises. As
you might expect, not all surprises are pleasant…
Exchange Rate
Our first surprise was the currency exchange rate. We try to enter a country with a limited
amount of local currency. We don’t want to
look for an ATM or money changer when we are tired and jet lagged. While waiting for our flight to Buenos Aires
from Houston, I exchanged dollars for Argentine Pesos. After the commission, we received about 5.5
pesos to the dollar, while the standard exchange rate is 6.5 pesos to the
dollar. Not a good start, but we had
pesos in our pocket.
While on the bus from the airport in Buenos Aires to our
hotel, we were told the official rate is 6.5 pesos to 1 dollar, but many
merchants and street traders will give you a much higher rate for dollars. This fluctuation in value appears to be caused
by a high rate of inflation – the US dollar is in demand! The first day in Argentina, we were offered
an exchange rate of 8 to 1. With this
better exchange rate, we discovered it was much better to pay dollars with for
our purchases. If we paid using our
credit card, we got the official exchange rate.
If we paid in cash, we could get an exchange rate as high as 10 pesos to
1 dollar! As you might imagine, we went thru much of our
cash… After we left Argentina, we read the
government deflated the peso by 15%. Not
sure what that has done to the unofficial exchange rate. Based upon our experience, it was better to
use American dollars than credit cards or pesos.
Electrical Outlets
The standard electrical voltage in Argentina, is 220 volts,
but many of the electrical outlets appear to be the same shape as found in the
US – your plugs will fit these outlets. However,
you might have a nasty surprise when you burned out your electronic gear. Some
of these conventional outlets were marked 220, but not all. We were fortunate that most of our power consuming
gear would work on 110 or 220 so it was not an issue, just a mild surprise.
Tour of Buenos Aires
Not sure what I expected while visiting Buenos Aires, but I believe
we didn’t get to see much of what the city offered. The highlights of our two day visit to Buenos
Aires was visiting the La Boca neighborhood (birthplace of the Tango), going to
a Tango show, visiting the tomb of Eva Peron, visiting a church, and driving
thru the city. I don’t know what I was
expecting, but we had hoped to see more of what the city of 3 million residents
has to offer. Maybe on our next trip to
Buenos Aires…
Weather
What can we say about the weather, except it was sunny and
warm – what a great place to spend January!
Since we were in the middle of a large city, we didn’t feel comfortable
wearing shorts, but wore casual pants and shirts. During our stay in Buenos Aires, the daytime temperatures
were in the low 80 degrees.
Food & Drink
We enjoyed our dining experience during our short stay. The wine was excellent – and reasonably
priced. Our meals were good, but I was surprised
by the taste of the beef. In the US, our
beef is grain fed, but in Argentina, the beef is grass fed prior to going to
market. I believe this makes a
difference in the taste and the marbling of the meat. However, we didn’t lose any weight during our
stay…
Hotel
We stayed at the InterContinental Hotel in Buenos
Aires. It was the nicest hotel of the four
we visited during our trip around South America. Per our guide, we were to have
coffee and breakfast in the hotel at 5AM (prior to our departure for Iguazu
Falls). However, what we found was a box
breakfast for everyone and two medium carafes of coffee. Can you imagine how long two pots of coffee
lasted when it was shared by 40 sleepy tourists? We are not sure where the disconnect
happened, but we don’t consider a cold cheese sandwich and a bottle of water as
a suitable breakfast. We finally got a cup of coffee at the airport on our way
to the falls.
Cruise Ship Terminal
In Buenos Aires, all cruise ships use the same dock facilities
as freighters. Therefore, we couldn’t
walk around the docks – we were bussed everywhere. Since all the cruise lines
use the same port authority building, the slow boarding procedure becomes a
major disappointment to those trying to board a ship for a cruise.
The day we boarded the Celebrity Infinity, there were five
cruise ships in port. The process was to clear security, check in
with the cruise line, go outside and wait for a shuttle that took us to our
ship. The shuttle took us back out to
major streets to a difference entrance to the pier. We didn’t get to our ship until 7PM. The problem was not with Celebrity, but with
the Buenos Aires port authority. They
need to find a better way to get passengers to the ships. Our ship stayed in port overnight, but the
next day, we didn’t get off the ship for more exploring in Buenos Aires. We didn’t want to experience the hassle of
leaving/entering the cruise pier terminal again. It’s a working port…
Some minor disappointments, but we had a GREAT trip! We still need to write about our surprise with
our international roaming plan on our mobile phone …
