Day 6: Take me to Bueno Aires for beef and wine

(This was the day where I really started to get behind on sleep. This is also when Internet access got spotty. ;-)

We got up at 4:15AM to catch a flight to Bueno Aires at 7:30. With a group this large, you need to have folks moving a bit earlier than if you were on your own. The trip was without incident, but there was a weird thing that happened on the plane. Flying to Argentina they spray some sort of antseptic spray once all of the passengers board the plane. It was the weirdest thing I'd seen, and seemed like a fairly ineffective method to clean up whatever they needed cleaning. (I need to do more reading on this.)

Bueno Aires is quite beautiful. The buildings are a mixture of different styles: modern, french, italian, and spanish influences all brought together in a complex, frenetic, and vibrant downtown. The stories of the buildings were interesting as well. Many of the older buildings were part of a economic boom many many years ago, and were large for their time. We also toured Boca, a historic, but poor part of Buenos Aires. In boca (like the picture to the right) there were buildings where immigrants lived together in very small rooms. The whole building shared one bathroom. These poor immigrants worked and lived together to pull themselves out of poverty. In fact, according to the guide, different sets of immigrants would work through this neighborhood over time. First it was poor Italian immigrants, today there are mainly Peruvian immigrants.

The team wound down the evening with a fine wine tasting led by a sommolier. We then visited Porto Moderno and had a traditionally influenced meal at Estilio Campo. This was a carne-fest with lots of good wine and beef for a moderate, but definitely American price.