Saturday 22nd November 2014
Typical – when we look out of the window the next morning, the sun shines from a perfectly blue sky. But we have made the decision to go to Buenos Aires today because we still want to visit Uruguay. On the way to the bus stop the heat becomes almost unbearable… 😉
For some reason we thought that it would only be a short hop from the coast to Buenos Aires but the 376-kilometre journey takes more than five hours, as the coach also serves the other seaside resorts on the way up north.
The countryside is green, agricultural and rather lush – a welcome change after hundreds of miles of steppe…
Welcome to the Capital Federal…
The original plan was to go straight to the tourist information at the bus terminal upon arrival to organise 1) accommodation and 2) our ferry trip to Uruguay but we fail at the first hurdles: due to the coach breaking down, the natural delay in finding a spare bus and then shifting all passengers and their luggage between vehicles, we get to our destination rather late. Then we are informed that the tourist office at Retiro is closed and we’d have to walk seven blocks to find another one. Needless to say that the promised office has also shut its doors – maybe because of the advanced hour, maybe because of the long holiday weekend. I’m getting slightly stressed when all the hotels where we ask for a room are either fully booked or far too expensive (I mean, even if you think: OK, we are in the capital and it’s a long weekend and it’s late in the day). There are many bridges in Buenos Aires…
Just when I think that we don’t have a choice but to eat into our loved ones’ inheritance and spend thousands of pesos in a five-star palace, I get the last room in the Hotel Maipú, right in the micro-centre – just between the Avenida Córdoba and the red-light district in the Calle Viamonte. The house has been built in the 18 somethings, was once owned by wealthy aristocrats and has lots of period features and character. The current owner is in the process of getting the building acknowledged as patrimonial heritage.
The ceilings are almost six metres high
… and our room even has a window to the quiet inner courtyard
The hotel’s location is just fantastic from a tourist point of view – the major terminals are in walking distance and we’re just one street away from the Calle Florída and the Galerías Pacífico – with their famous frescos and, of course, the fabulous Christmas tree.
It’s almost 22.30 hrs when we finally settle down for dinner and we’re still discussing what to do the next day: shall we try to find another tourist office to gather information or go directly to the terminals of the ferries to Uruguay? Shall we just hope that we still get seats on the Sunday of a long holiday weekend and take all our luggage with us? If we don’t, what do we do about accommodation? What if our excursion across the Río de la Plata doesn’t materialise? What do we do about meeting our friends in the city? They may appreciate a bit of an advance warning that we are coming. Lots of decisions to sleep on…
Pumpernickel on Tour 
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