4 - Oct 16 - Burgers, Bike Carts and a Boat Ride

Wednesday, October 16.  We started out our daily adventures walking around to find somewhere to eat.  We ended up with some tasty burgers from a restaurant called 1516.  We were the ONLY ones there during the lunch hours, which was so awesome!  Marcos became fast friends with Diego (the manager of the restaurant) and they chatted throughout lunch.  Marcos had such a great time, that he ended up going back to the restaurant several times during our trip to watch soccer games on the big screen.  That man LOVES his soccer!  

Marissa and I found a cool tree in the restaurant and looked it up.  Diego told us it was called "níspero."  We looked thait up and found out it is a loquat tree.  Super cool!  We loved finding new plants and animals during our time in Argentina.

We started walking to Rosedal (a big park area with a famous rose garden), but we decided we were a little far from it and ended up grabbing a taxi.  We squeezed in the backseat and Marcos hopped in the front.  Thankfully our taxi driver didn't care - that was NOT what we found throughout most of the trip.  We often ended up needing to take two Ubers to get our clan of 5 anywhere.  

Rosedal was BEAUTIFUL and the weather was PERFECT!  We had such a great time!!  The park reminds me of Liberty Park.  It's HUGE and has paths for bikes and pedestrians without cars.  We rode these fun bicycle pedal carts around the paths.  We all fit on one, but the guy talked us into getting two so we wouldn't be crowded.  We would have been find with one!  We got super close on this trip and learned to do EVERYTHING together.  It was really fun to watch our strengths and weaknesses come into closer view and fall into place to work like a well-oiled machine.  

We also had a ride on paddle boats.  It was AMAZING floating through the water and seeing all the plants and trees surrounding us.  We had a great time.  Caleb was a champ and paddled for a big portion of our ride.  He loved it!  

We headed back to the Airbnb to rest a bit and then set out to find a grocery store.  We knew that eating out for every single meal wasn't a good idea so we needed to find some simple foods to eat from our home base.  The kids were so excited about milk in a bag.  We were definitely a sight to see trying to figure out how to make milk in a bag work with the little plastic jug in the fridge!  We started out by pouring it into the jug.  Marcos later told us we were just supposed to put the bag into the jug.  Who knew?  We made some pasta for dinner and later took a walk through the neighborhood and ended up getting some tasty ice cream from a place called Alfa.  DELICIOUS!  The kid who owns Alfa is 20 years old and makes all the ice cream flavors himself.  Super impressive!  The kids immediately fell in love with dulce de leche ice cream!! 

3 - Oct 15 - Culture Shock, Old Fashioned Keys, and an Expensive Dinner

We were excited and relieved to finally be in Buenos Aires!  We got a little emotional as our plane got ready to land and we watched on the screen as the name "Mercedes" popped up.  I guess there is an area named Mercedes in Argentina, but none of us knew that.  It felt like a wink from abuela when we watched her name pop up on our screen right before we landed.  There was also a place called "Durazno," which means peach in Spanish.  Mercedes used to call Preston "Mi Duraznito" (my little peach) when he was a baby because his head was soft and fuzzy like a peach.  We definitely shed a couple of tears as we realized she was with us.  

Getting through customs was fairly simple (hallelujah!), with one slightly tense moment when Preston was asked to stop filming as we went through customs.  He was super excited to document everything on our trip and didn't realize there were places he wasn't allowed to film. 

Our Uber driver, Carlos, showed up with a van that fit all 5 of us plus our 5 large suitcases.  What a relief!  We were off to Palermo to find our Airbnb!  We passed the Buenos Aires temple, which somehow felt like home away from home.  The kids and I were trying to take it all in during our drive from the airport while Marcos and Carlos chatted away.  When we arrived, Andres met us at the door of the Airbnb.  He hauled all 5 of our suitcases up two flights of stairs before we could protest.  Oh yeah!  That was one of the first things we realized.  Segundo Piso (second floor) meant something different to us than it does in Argentina.  For us that would mean walking up one flight of stairs to the second floor.  In Argentina, Segundo Piso means walking up two flights of stairs.  The first floor is called planta baja (or bottom floor).  So we were on the 2nd floor, which actually felt more like being on the third floor to us.  

Our Airbnb apartment was simple, but perfect for the 5 of us.  We thanked Andres and started to unpack our bags.  We rested for a bit in the afternoon, but tried not to sleep so we could get onto the different time zone a little easier.  

Marissa was so excited to discover that our apartment used old fashioned keys.  She often tells me she thinks she was born in the wrong generation because she loves vintage things so much.  She was locking and unlocking doors and closets, etc. with fancy keys all afternoon.   

Before long, we decided to venture out to find some food.  We walked and walked and had no idea where we were.  Andres left us an amazing book and map with lots of ideas for shopping, restaurants, pharmacy, etc. but we didn't think to take it with us while we were trying to get oriented to our new location.  We called Andres and Marcos said, "Where is a good place to eat dinner?"  I think Andres must have assumed we didn't like the list he had left us, so he pointed us to a restaurant called "Lo de Jesus."  We arrived and ordered and were so excited to finally be eating.  It was DELICIOUS, but we quickly realized he had sent us to an upscale restaurant.  We spent a big chunk of money on our very first meal in Argentina...and went in our shorts and t-shirts. 😬  Whoops!  We agreed to figure out what the heck we were doing before venturing out from then on.    

There was a lot of excitement about Sprite in a glass bottle :)

We still hadn't slept since arriving in Buenos Aires so we headed back to the Airbnb to get ready for bed early.  It was around 7:30pm (which is 4:30pm in Utah) but we were exhausted!  I'm glad we didn't sleep that first day because it was much easier to get acclimated to the time change by going to bed early and sleeping in the next day.  

2 - Oct 14 - The Kids Take Their First Flight

Our "Adventures in Argentina" started out with Preston, Marissa and Caleb experiencing their first flight ever.  Our amazing friend, Clara, offered to drive us to the airport in our van and take the van back to the house.  She also agreed to water my indoor plants while we were gone.  Holy moly!  There is so much to coordinate when everyone goes out of town for three weeks!  

We lucked out and had a fairly empty airport with all security procedures running fairly smoothly.  Caleb's favorite stuffed animal from abuela named "Bear Bear" made the trip with us and was stopped every single time through security to be swabbed and checked for drugs.  I also had to chuckle when Marcos's bag was pulled aside for inspection.  I heard the security guy say, "Oh, it's just granola bars."  Apparently our stash of granola bars looked slightly suspicious on the x-ray machine.  

We grabbed some Burger King for lunch and to pass the time since it was a slow day at the airport and our check-in went so smoothly.  Caleb insisted on wearing his Burger King crown for the remainder of the day and during both flights.  

Caleb got a little nervous as the time approached for us to board the plane.  He sat in between Preston and his mama, and Marissa was seated next to Marcos across the aisle.  I explained what was going to happen, held his hand during takeoff, and before long, he felt super comfortable in the air.  

The flight attendants found out it was the kids' first flight and were so sweet.  They put together a baggie with treats and a note thanking us for flying Delta.  I got a little emotional about it.  This trip really is such a special moment for our family and it means so much when others reach out in kindness and acknowledge it with us.  

We had a layover in Atlanta and a delayed flight to Buenos Aires so we headed to the food court to figure out dinner.  Most of the restaurants were closed so we had a combination of not super fresh slices of pizza and Chinese food.  I tried to order at the Chinese place, but there was a major breakdown in communication.  I had no idea what the lady was trying to tell me, even though English was clearly her first language.  We were definitely speaking different dialects!  I ended up with something similar enough to what I had ordered so I called it a win.  I told Marcos I was a little nervous for communicating in Buenos Aires if I was already having trouble with the language in Atlanta.  We had a good laugh about that!  We eventually boarded the plane for Buenos Aires after a 2 hour delay.  It was a long flight with lots of movies, games, and moments of managing to nod off for a few minutes here and there.  Poor Marissa did not fall asleep the entire flight!  But we made it through the long flight and arrived safely at our destination.  

EN ESPAÑOL

Nuestras aventuras en Argentina empezaron con Preston, Marissa y Caleb experimentando su primer vuelo.  Nuestra amiga, Clara, ofreció llevarnos a aeropuerto en nuestra van y llevar la van de vuelta a nuestra casa.  Ella también ofreció regar las plantas en nuestra ausencia.  Qué locura!  Hay muchas cosas que manejar cuando uno se va de viaje por tres semanas.  

Tuvimos mucha suerte ya que no había mucha gente en el aeropuerto y los procedimientos de seguridad fueron bastante rápidos.  El animalito favorito de peluche de Caleb "Bear Bear" también viajó con nosotros y fue revisado en todos los puntos de seguridad por si tenía drogas.  También me dio risa cuando revisaron la mochila de Marcos.  Yo escuché que la gente de seguridad dijo "Ah, son solo barritas de granola."  Aparentemente las barritas de granola tenían un aspecto sospechoso cuando pasaron por las maquinas de x-ray.  

Almorzamos en El Burger King para pasar el tiempo en el aeropuerto.  Caleb usó la coronita que le regalaron durante el resto de la viaje hasta Argentina.  

Caleb se puso un poquito nervioso cuando íbamos a embarcar.  El se sentó entre Preston y su mamá, y Marissa se sentó al lado de Marcos.  Le expliqué lo que iba a suceder, le di la mano, y en unos minutos después del despegue se sintió bastante cómodo en el aire.  Las azafatas se enteraron que esta era la primera vez que los chicos volaban y se portaron de maravilla.  Nos regalaron una bolsita con muchos caramelos y una notita agradeciéndonos por volar con Delta.  Esto me dio un poquito de emoción.  Este fue un momento especial para nuestra familia y significó mucho para nosotros que personas extrañas fueron tan amables con nosotros.  

Tuvimos una escala en Atlanta y nos enteramos que nuestro vuelo a Buenos Aires se había retrasado algunas horas así que fuimos a comer.  Era tarde y varios de los restaurantes ya estaban cerrados.  Pudimos comer algunas porciones de pizza y comida china.  Cuando hice el pedido en el restaurante chino, no me pude entender con la persona que me atendió.  Aunque hablaba inglés claramente, estábamos hablando dialectos diferentes.  Por suerte la comida era algo parecido a lo que quería.  Le dije a Marcos que estaba un poquito nerviosa de como me iba a comunicar en Buenos Aires ya que estaba teniendo problemas para comunicarme in Atlanta.  Nos reímos bastante.  Por fin, después de dos horas de espera, pudimos embarcar rumbo a Buenos Aires.

Fue un viaje largo con muchas películas, juegos, y lograr dormir aunque sea un poquito.  Pobrecita Marissa.  No pudo dormir durante todo el vuelo.  Por fin, después de un largo viaje, arribamos a nuestro destino sin algún problema.