Day 8: Arriving in Argentina

On Sunday we ended our time in Chile and Argentina welcomed us. It was also the time to say goodbye to our new Atlantic friends and our wonderful guide Andres and driver Horatio.

On our way to the airport Kenny Graham, one of our new Atlantic friends, gave a wonderful farewell by commenting about what he learned about each AALPer. It was an extremely thoughtful send off.

Once we got to the airport we learned that our flight was delayed more than an hour. Why, you ask? Our flight was coming from Toronto and of course our wonderful winter weather had delayed the flight. We made the best of out of it though - there was no Timmy's but we quickly found the Starbucks. A small taste of home!

One thing we noticed about our two hour flight from Santiago to Buenos Aires was that they served us a meal – a sandwich, fruit and free alcoholic beverages. If this was a North American flight we would not have had this. So is it South American hospitality on Air Canada or a mandate?

When we landed in Buenos Aires we had to go through customs again and in Argentina Canadians must pay a reciprocity fee. They also wanted to know how many mobile phones we were bringing in each and what the models were as apparently they do not want anyone to sell mobile phones in the country.

After customs and baggage claim a few of us found another piece of home - McDonald's! And more than a couple of burgers were eaten.

Our tour guide in Argentina is Jorge - a very knowledgeable man with many years of experience in agriculture including years spent in Canada and Washington as part of Argentina’s agricultural attaché. He gave us a brief history of the city before dropping us off at our hotel.

As a welcome to Argentina, we enjoyed a Tango show at one of the oldest shows in Bueons Aires. We dressed in our most sizzling attire and stepped off the bus at Senior Tango where we were seated at round tables facing a huge circular stage. The vino Tinto and thick, juicy steak were quickly delivered to our table. The show enacted the history of Argentina, the sultry origins of the tango and ended with a resounding and soulful "Don't cry for me Argentina". The intricate dance moves were only slightly upstaged by the live horses and awe-inspiring moustaches.

The Tango was created in Buenos Aires in the 1890s - invented in the houses of ill repute and later introduced to France and embraced there.

Accordion, violin, la musica! An amazing show that we will never forget.

"I don't often eat sirloin steak while watching the tango, but when I do, it's in Argentina!" -Donna

-Class 15

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