No sleeping in today either
and up at 04:00 for a specially prepared breakfast of fruit and coffee which we
sadly had to share with a very haughty and snotty Argentinian female second
officer of our flight. I'm certain that she believed she could fly
without an aeroplane and already had wings. Our transport arrived at
05:30 for the 30 minute trip along the motorway to the airport. The
Santiago airport is all very professional and comparable to any great airport
in the world. Our LAN Chile flight 453 departed on time at 08:35 arriving
Buenos Aires at 10:40. Baggage collection was a bit tense as my bag came
out 15 minutes after Malcolm's and I thought that it may have been lost.
Customs clearance was also interesting because security took a particular
interest in the teenage couple in front of us and no notice of us. They didn't
even collect our Customs Declarations so we walked straight through
saving our Peruvian carved gourds from any further inspection. Later I
heard that the chap and girl friend were arrested, probably for carrying
drugs. Our driver to the hotel didn't appear to speak English until
Malcolm made a comment about the Opera House being of interest whereupon our
driver responded in perfect English and continued the conversation until we
arrived at the hotel. The Argentinians don't have a great love for the
British at the moment. Our hotel is the 5 star Hotel Emperador with utter
decadent luxury and organised by Thesan Travel, the company which booked our
Antarctic trip. After booking in we pottered about for a bit before
taking a two hour nap, followed by a couple of cold beers and nibbles at the
bar. For dinner it was El Mirasol steak house just around the corner.
El Mirasol was recommended by both the taxi driver and hotel as being the best
steak restaurant in Buenos Aires. Malcolm and I shared our steaks, being
a very tasty skirt steak and an end tenderloin which was brilliant. The
tenderloin was unbelievably tasty and tender and when shared with french garlic
chips, spinach, mushroom sauce with whole mushrooms, and a bottle of local
Merlot was a meal for Kings!! Our waiter, Tito, was the friendliest of
people and given a free hand to recommend the best steak and wine on the menu.
After that feast it was back to reality in the hotel with hand washing to do
before retiring at 21:00.
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