Today we travel. We checked out of our comfortable apartment in Buenos Aires to begin Phase #2 of our adventure, our cross-country drive. Our general plan is as follows:
Friday = Drive to Córdoba via Rosario (about 9 hours)
Saturday = Córdoba
Sunday = Drive to Mendoza (the wine region at the foothills of the Andes, about 10 hours)
Monday = Mendoza
Tuesday = Mendoza
Wednesday = Mendoza
Thursday = Drive back to Córdoba
Friday = Drive back to Buenos Aires
Saturday/Sunday = Buenos Aires
Monday = Fly home
So with all that being said, today we returned our keys and said goodbye to our great doorman Andrés.
We grabbed a quick cup of café con leche before departure:
Then I zipped to Calle Santa Fe to exchange some "cambio" and my secretive guy was waiting for me at the end of the dimly-lit alley, as promised. I knocked on the locked glass door to his very tiny, bathroom-sized electrical "store", which consisted of a few different types of light bulbs hanging on one wall, some keys waiting to be copied, and a few other odds and ends scattered throughout the cluttered and somewhat dirty space. The guy was behind the counter, back to the door, counting a massive pile of money...probably $3,000-$4,000 worth of pesos in small bills. He turned to me, said today's rate went up 10 cents from yesterday, and that he was offering 8.40 pesos per dollar. Remember that the sketchy guys on the street gave us 7.80 our first change 10 days ago, so the peso has decreased in value nearly 8% since we've been here. Incredible!
Following my very illegal (but quite entertaining) business deal, we caught a taxi to the airport to pick up our rental car. Upon arrival, we went to the Avis counter, from whom I had rented our mid-size car nearly 2 months ago and confirmed the day before leaving for Argentina. The not-happy-to-be-there middle aged man behind the counter searched my name and promptly informed me that he gave away our rental car an hour ago. Um...what?
Apparently (and I am not joking...this really happened) the guy said that because on my original rental over the phone back in April I did not specify an exact time to pick up the car, it automatically listed it as 8:00am, the earliest possible time. But the reservation only holds a car for 30 minutes here in Argentina. Because we arrived at 10:00am, they had given our car away and had no others, "Until maybe after 3:00pm but I would have to check back later to make sure." Really??? Are you kidding me? "It's a very busy time of year" the man informed me. I don't swear often, but I sure wanted to then!
I walked next door to Hertz: No cars available.
National/Alamo: No cars available.
Enterprise: No cars available.
Small local company I have never heard of: One car left, take it fast. So I signed on the dotted line and a half hour later we were happily yet stressfully sitting behind the wheel of a Chevy Cobalt (which actually happened to be brand new...the odometer read 33 miles total). They only had one baby carseat, so Gemma got that. Isabel, I guess, would get to ride in a "big girl seat" for the first time!
Here we are, pulling away from the airport as we begin our drive:
Both girls fell asleep before long, as we set out across essentially barren and flat countryside heading northwest. A few hours later we passed through Rosario, a medium-sized city with two very large claims to fame: Che Guevarra and soccer star Lionel Messi were both born here. Other than that, the city is a drive-by.
For the most part, driving in Argentina is not like the US. There are no McDonald's or Starbucks along the way. No cities to go through except for the 2-3 big ones on the map. No small towns. No tiny villages. No pitstops or rest areas. Almost nothing, literally. Here is what most of our drive looked like:
The only interesting thing happened about 5 hours into the trip, somewhere in the middle of nowhere, when I realized we needed gas. So we kept our eyes open and in about half an hour there was a sign for a GNC gas station (interesting name, huh?). So, given that there is literally nothing for miles between things, we knew we should stop. I pulled in and opened the gas tank and here is what I saw: a gas cap with a lock on it.
I asked the attendant at the gas station how it opened, and he informed me that my car only takes gas from a NAFTA gas station, who have a special key to open the lock. Most cars here are gas station-specific. What??? Only one particular kind of gas station? Are you kidding me? (It was one of those kind of days.) I had never heard of that before. But he said we are in luck, because a couple miles down the tiny road to the left is a NAFTA station. Good thing too, because with only 1/4 of a tank he wasn't sure when the next NAFTA station was and we might run out of gas. This country gets stranger every day!
So we got gas from the station down the road...34 liters for 310 pesos (about $45 US) and continued on our way.
We made it to Córdoba around 7:30pm, then proceeded to drive around the downtown area searching for our hotel for almost an hour. The street address was "M. T. Alvear 251" which we drove around looking for endlessly...and no hotel. We probably did 10 big loops around the area on different side streets, but to no luck. After asking for help numerous times (and each time getting pointed in different, conflicting directions) a policeman informed us that the city of Córdoba has 2 streets by that name, a MANUEL T. Alvear (where our hotel is) and a mile away, a MARCELO T. Alvear, which we had been on for an hour. Are you kidding me? And the hotel--a nice 3-star place--only listed it's address as M. T. Alvear? Why?
We eventually found it with this new small--but quite helpful--piece of information, and checked in to our "triple room" (with three tiny twin beds and Gemma on blankets on the floor next to the closet). We found a quick pizza dinner at Charle's Restaurant (note the spelling...not Charles's or Charlie's, but CHARLE'S):
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