BillT

Guen- pleasae give us some moe ideas about what things cost there. I had heard that BA was a bargain but I'm not seeing anyhting that tells me that is the case so far.

rhkkmk

thanks for the update....we are anxious for our trip to BA in april...

magical

Guen,
Great report,especially the Evita private tour. As I recall, for someone to get in to Recoleta cemetery, it's not enough to just have a lot of family money, but you need fame and notoriety too. For example, Juan Peron who was President of the country is not buried in Recoleta, but his wife Evita managed to get in, albeit it took quite a few years for her to do that (after she was dead for some 20 years or so).

Are you planning to try Argentine beef? We found a great restaurant in Puerto Madero, on the river side. The whole meal was fabulous...especially the huuuge appetizer plate, and of course the steak. We did not finish the large steak they gave, since we were already stuffed with all of the other food we wanted to try too. Dollar is strong there, so you'll get good value. At least the dollar was strong when we were there in 2006.

Keep it coming.

mrwunrfl

BillT, the tour prices do sound a bit high. At the end of 2002 the Argentine Peso was pegged to the USD at 1:1. They had a financial collapse around that time. They let the peso float, and by the end of 2003 the peso was 3 for a USD. It seemed, though, that prices had stayed the same. For example, a city tour was 25 pesos. At the time when the ARS/USD exchange rate was fixed that tour was about what you might expect at $25. But after the collapse it was the equivalent of about $8.50. A bife de lomo was $6. For the best steak in the world.

I returned a year or two later and it wasn't such a great bargain (still a bargain), but the city was much more alive.

Considering that it is one of the largest cities in the world it is a great value. There is no substitute for it. And there is much more to Argentina than Buenos Aires. And Uruguay is next door.

Guenmai

OK. I just spent over three hours on the continuation of this trip repot, and hit post, but it got lost somewhere and didn't post. SO, I'm going to try it again and type real fast to hopefully remember what it took me three hours to organize and type.

So, I'm home as of last night around 8:00PM. I was up ALL day in Buenos Aires as my flight wasn't scheduled to leave until 11:25PM, but didn't leave until 12:15AM. Then there was a 12-hour flight and I don't sleep on flights. Followed by that was a 7-hour layover at JFK and then on to L.A. Thank goodness one of my best male friends met me at the airport at JFK. I hadn't seen him in 10 years. It was a GREAT reunion. He stayed with me for about 3 hours. The plane got into LAX half an hour early, but there was no available gate so it sat on the runway for half an hour.

Now, I'm going to see if this will post before I type on. Happy Travels!

Guenmai

I will now continue knowing that the above info didn't end up in cyberspace somewhere.

Now to answer some of your questions:

BEEF- No I didn't try any as I stopped eating meat as of Oct 1976. So for me it's either vegetarian, vegan, macrobiotic, or I will also eat fish. I ate quite well in Buenos Aires and one of the best known organic, vegetarian restaurants, called "Bio" was three blocks from the apartment building.
Plus, directly across the street from the apartment building was a really good restaurant called, " Morelia." It was at the corner of Nicaragua and Humbolt in Palermo Hollywood.
I got two large, whitefish filets, a container of mashed potatoes or penne pasta, and a container of steamed veggies and all for 51 pesos. That was enough food for 3 generous servings. The exchange rate was between 3.38-3.4 pesos the dollar. So, while living in the apartment, I just went to both Morelia and Bio and had my food packed to- go and then walked back across the street to the apartment and dished it up . I had a very large terrace with a dining table and two chairs. I didn't go to the supermarket not once to buy food which is VERY unusual for me when I'm renting an apartment.

About a 25- minute walk down the street was the huge Jumbo supermarket, but I never saw the insides of the place. Luckily there was a gas station next to the apartment building, slighly around the corner. So, I went to the little store there to stock up on bottled water, with carbonation, which was quite refreshing on a summer day. I then used the big wedges of lemons that Morelia restaurant had included with my fish order to make lemonade with.


Tours: As for the prices. There are different types of tours in town. There is also one of those topless-bus tour companies that drives around the city to different places. I had posted, before leaving to BA, to see if that type of tour existed and nobody knew, not even those living in BA. They are the types of tours that exist in most major, overseas cities. I didn't find out about that type of bus tour until the very end of the trip when I saw the bus parked across the street from the Marriott Plaza Hotel. I wrote down the name and telephone number of it, but have temporarily misplaced it. I would have liked to have done one of those for only ONE day for fun as the weather was absolutely beautiful. However, overall, I was more interested in doing very educational types of tours and geared to my interests.

There are also the type of tours similiar to the Greyline Tour Company type. I don't remember if they specifically have Greyline down there, but I did look up one tour company, on the internet, that had inexpensive city tours. I didn't use it however. They were quite inexpensive though. So, there's a variety in different price ranges.

I also contacted a travel agent that was very highly recommended on the forum. She sat up various possible tours for me and e-mailed a list. Her tours were out of my budget....one was US$400. for a private 8-hour city tour. Another was inexpensive at US$35.00, but I was told that she had never used that tour company, but that the tour sounded interesting. Another city tour was priced at US$320. as she basically books private tours based on 2 people. One of the tours that she listed sounded very much like one of the tours listed from the company that I took my tours with. Plus, some of her tours were led by locals, but people who weren't guides. She was very upfront.

So, after I went over her proposed tour schedule, I e-mailed her and thanked her for the proposal, and mentioned that I had decided to go with," Eteranautus". I also e-mailed her the tours that I had selected with them and the prices. She e-mailed back stating that they were an excellent company and that she also booked clients with them. Ah, ha, so why pay the middle man, so to speak. I just went straight to Eteranautus. So, tour companies are good for booking hotels and flight arrangements within Argentina, but although they also handle city tour bookings etc... they can be quite expensive. She owns a small, specialized company that handles everything. I will keep her company in mind, in the future, but for other things.

One thing that I noticed in BA, is that one person does many different jobs. Like at the apartment building on the say that I was to check out, I called the reception to send up someone to help with the luggage, and the girl, who sits at the desk in the lobby showed up at my door to handle the luggage. I said to her, "So, you're the bellhop,too?" She laughed and said, "Yes".

When I had arrived to the building, a young guy named Juan had noticed me getting out of the cab with luggage and immediately ran out to help me. He wheeled in the luggage, showed me how to work the 5 remote controls in the apartment and dragged the luggage upstairs to the loft. He also went looking for maps for me of Palermo. He was very nice and said he wanted to talk with me more as he wanted to practice his English. He was of great help. I also saw him in the elevator holding a huge mattress and transporting it to one of the floors. I also ran into him in the hallway and asked if he could get someone to empty my kitchen trashcan. He said, "Sure, no problem" and then came on in and emptied it himself and put a new plastic bag in and asked if I needed anything else. The chambermaid was busy, and he had no problem with emptying my trash.

The same happened at the hotel I stayed at. I went to the bar and asked the girl, who was the bartender, if I could order food. She said no problem. I said I'd like to eat on the rooftop terrace. So, I went up to the rooftop terrace to wait for a waiter/waitress to take my order, but she appeared. Then the next day when I called the reception, to order room service food she appeared pushing the table and food into my room. I said to her, "Ah, so you're room service,too?" She just smiled and said, "Yes!". So I then told her that since she as also room service, she would get the tip! She laughed. Happy Travels!

Guenmai

Bob- To answer your question about the price of the apartment. I paid a total of US$813.64 for 5 nights at the Hollywood Suites and Lofts in Hollywood Palermo.
The building is on Nicaragua(5490) between Juan B. Justo and Humbolt.

I'll warn you that there's a train track that runs alongside Juan B. Justo. Buenos Aires is the nosiest city I've ever been in with trains, traffic, sirens, barking dogs....dog crap EVERYWHERE...even at the front door of my very upscale hotel in Recoleta. The delivery person at the hotel plopped right into it as he was entering the hotel. I screamed and tried to warn him, but too late! I was walking right behind him, entering the hotel. Someone eventually cleaned up the crap and watered down the entire sidewalk in front of the hotel. Yuck!

As for the Hotel that I stayed in, it was the :
Melia Recoleta Plaza Hotel at Calle Posadas 1557 in the heart of Recoleta. I paid a total of US$629.20 for two nights and then an extra US$170. to have the room until 8PM on my day of departure.

This was the place that looked like a mini Versailles inside. But it was not stuffy as I found BA not to be stuffy in general. What was interesting was that the hotel was totally into jazz. All of the guests rooms have gold plaques below the room number and with the name of a jazz great. The room next door to me was the Ella Fitzgerald room.

And then in the basement is the room where both the breakfast buffet is served and there's 9PM dinner with music. It looks like a N.Y. style jazz club, brick walls and all. The walls are lined with black and white photos of the jazz greats....like Dizzy, Parker, and all the great guys of that era. Then there's a Baby Grand piano in the middle of the room and music is played while having breakfast...very nice.

While I was in the lobby, on the hotel's borrowed computer, typing the first part of this trip report for 3 hours , the lobby music was Old School Marvin Gaye and the other Old School R&B greats. So, there I was sitting in the Versailles lobby listening to, humming, and bopping to Old School R&B hits, while typing my trip report. At a different time, in the lobby, it was a different kind of music. It was all mixed up...like Buenos Aires!

As for the train, two nights before Christmas it seemed to have run all night. I got no sleep. But, the other nights I slept. I always pack foam earplugs. I mentioned to the apartment building receptionist that Buenos Aires was the nosiest city I'd ever been in. She laughed. She said that one night she had to sleep at the apartment building and slept fine, didn't notice any noise at all. She said she's used to the sounds of the city. Happy Travels!

Guenmai

Airport Departure: As for departing. The departure terminal is VERY nice. It's MUCH better than the arrival terminal which looked like the 1970s.

The Melia Recoleta Plaza Hotel made the transportation reservations for me. They recommended a taxi. I requested a remis. The remis was set at 110 pesos or if I had wanted to pay in dollars, then it would have been US$35.00. I paid in pesos as I had so many left over. Remember, when I entered BA, I exchanged US$500. into pesos (1,609 pesos). I paid everything in cash...taxis, food, souvenirs, Christmas present to my mom, some things for me. This is the first trip that I didn't use a credit card, not once, for any of the abovementioned.

The transportation company that the hotel called and has been using for years was: www.taxiactitours.com.ar
The e-mail address is [email protected]

And the telephone number for English speakers is:
(011) (15) 6178.1690

They have bilingual drivers although mine was not. But, it wasn't necessary as I was only going to the airport. The vehicle was very nice and new. It was a black and yellow taxi-van that could seat 6 people. The driver had a TV screen inside and a big collection of CDs. He took out one of a young jazz musician named Robbie Williams and popped it in. It was Robbie Williams in concert. So, I sat in the back and watched the concert, on the screen, the whole way to the airport. It was very relaxing. If I need a private driver, in the future, I'll call this company and enquire.

The driver picked me up at 8:00PM sharp for my 11:25PM flight. We arrived to the airport at 8:30PM . I entered and American Airlines was right there as I entered. The sign, for my flight, wasn't up yet on the check in line. But, I was told to go to the line of the N.Y. flight scheduled to leave before me.

There were maybe two people ahead of me as I was getting in on the tail end of the passenger check in of the flight before mine.

I stood in line 10 minutes and then I was checked in. The exit-tax window just happened to be next to the American Airline counter, so I stood in line for 5 minutes to pay my US$18.00 exit tax. I had exact change. Then I filled out the immigration form which I kept until the passport line. The airline had given it to me.

Then I walked around and looked at the shops. After looking in shops, I went up to the upper level to head for the gates. There were more nice shops, so I took my time and browsed.

After browsing, I entered the x-ray line of which there were maybe 3 people ahead of me. After the x-ray line is the immigration line. That took about 3 minutes to get through. The immigration officer was very pleasant, made a few funny comments, smiled, and told me to have a pleasant trip. I was waved through. No problems. Now, I was in the gate ares where there were some nice eating places and a few more shops to browse. All very pleasant. Timing was everything, arriving 3 hours before my flight and not standing in long lines.

I couldn't believe how many people showed up late, to the gate, of the N.Y. flight before me (The 10:15PM flight) and missed it. There were two girls who walked up to the gate at exactly 10:15PM, looking puzzled and wondering why they couldn't get on the plane. Huh? There were others who had arrived before them all looking puzzled, too. I even commented to the American Airline flight attendant sitting next to me that I'd never seen anything like it with so many people arriving to the gate after the plane had closed its door. A mystery. Happy Travels!

Guenmai

Five Star Hotels- For those of you who are interested.

1) Hotel Alvear- It's the most famous hotel. Goes way back in history. This is where I was to meet the tour guide the day that I missed my tour. The staff was great. They told me to come inside and called the tour company for me and then let me talk to the tour company rep. They then got me a taxi back to the apartment. The next day, the same staff worker noticed me and smiled and waved and came over to greet me. Another staff member led me inside and told me where I could wait for the tour guide. I wasn't even a guest at their hotel, but they went out of their way.

On the, "Paris of South America" tour, we walked through areas of Retiro and Recoleta that look architecturally like Paris. I walked a LOT in BA...nearly walked the soles off of my shoes.

As for 5-star hotels along my walk:

1) The Sofitel- It's on a lovely street and the building is very architecturally beautiful. It's in Retiro the same area of the Marriott Plaza Hotel.

2) The Four Seasons (Mansion). The guide stopped us in front of the building. The Mansion looks totally French in architectural style. The Mansion is connected to the regular hotel. It has 7 suites of which Madonna rented out the whole Mansion when she was filming, Evita. The guide said that Madonna stood on the terrace of the Mansion practicing her lines as Evita speaking to the crowds off the terrace of the "Pink House" as they call it in Plaza Mayo. He said that it was quite exciting and folks were all around trying to get a glimpse.

The Four Seasons has very high ratings in Buenos Aires.

3) The Park Hyatt Hotel- Absolutely beautiful at the Alvear Avenue entrance. The guide stopped us there,too and said that he wanted to take us inside. He said that sometimes they let him in and sometimes they don't, but to just follow him and keep walking. The security looked at us curiously, but we just walked on in. Being only 3 people in the group probably helped. This structure is the Palacio Duhau. We went all through the hotel and the guide explained to the folks inside that he was a guide. They allowed us in. The garden at the hotel is said to be the best in Buenos Aires. It was absolutely lovely. We went upstairs,too and again beautiful.

I didn't realize that there was another entrance to the hotel until I checked into the Melia Recoleta Plaza Hotel, two blocks down the street on Calle Posadas. The car entrance and the "modern" looking entrance to the Park Hyatt is on Calle Posadas. When you enter the hotel on Alvear Ave, you feel like you're entering a palace, which it was.

My future plans for Buenos Aires: Remember, I had cashed in my frequent flyer miles, on United, months ago. and had a ticket issued to go to BA at the end of August, for 8 days. But, when I canceled BK and then had to Plan B a vacation real fast, BA ended up filling that spot, especially after I came across that $557. (base price) round trip from LAX to Buenos Aires. So, then I thought, "What am I going to do with that frequent flyer ticket for August"? Well, I'm going to keep it. I'll play things by ear and hopefully be back to Buenos AIres in August!

Return Trip Plans: If I get to return, in August, I would like to do the following:

Stay nights at the Soho All Suites Hotel at Hondurus 4762, between Malabia and Armenia. sohoallsuites.com. Check it out. This is in Palermo Soho.

Palermo Soho is hip,cool. bohemian, downscale, upscale, and full of architectural wonders. It's about an 8- block walk from where I was and on the other side of the railraod tracks as railroad tracks divide the different Palermos.

Then take 1 day at the Four Seasons and 1 day at the Park Hyatt.

I'd like to end the stay with two days at the Hollywood Suites and Lofts, the apartment building that I stayed at. I like the building, the staff, Morelia reataurant across the street, and the beat-up neighborhood. Smiles.

Plus, one of the most famous polo boot makers is exactly three blocks down the street from the apartment building and between the exact same cross streets. I went down there twice. I want my custom-made polo boots! 99% of my wardrobe consist of skirts and knee boots. So, custom-made polo boots with my skirts....how cool is that? Plus, the polo stadium is in my neighborhood. I hope it's polo season then. I'm mad for polo and was a regular when we used to have it at the equestrian center in Burbank (Los Angeles area). More on custom-made polo boots later....
So, that's all for now as I've finished retyping my 3-hour report that was lost in cyber space the first time I tried to post it. I hope I haven't forgotten anything from the lost report. Smiles. Happy Travels!

Guenmai

Correctionquot; Stay 4 nights at the Soho All Suites Hotel."

Happy Travels!

rhkkmk

thanks for all this info...it sounds like you had a good time...

i can't believe you did it on $500 cash however....did not buy anything leather...?? how about new leather chaps.... or a long supple leather skirt...

we are of course staying at the marriott plaza when we first arrive and then at the park tower sheraton before we go home...

tenombre has already shown us some of their leather purchases....i have to devise a way to keep karen away from the shoe shops...

hawaiiantraveler

Bravo! Muy Bueno! Muchas gracias!

We will stay at the Park Hyatt when we go.....won't be till 2010 at the earliest so will travel there online again with you in August.

rhkkmk, Too late, Linda has already emailed Karen about the boot shop. She will be looking for a pair to do the flamenco, ole!

Aloha!

rhkkmk

one pair is fine....25 pairs pushes the envelope...i am thinking of polo boots for myself...my ponies have all had back surgery so are again ready to be mounted...

simpsonc510

guenmai
Thanks for all the info on BsAs. I think you've found yet another place to make an annual jaunt... (let's see: Paris in April, BsAs in August... BKK for the holidays?

I think you'll have your FF miles built up again pretty quickly.

Carol

mrwunrfl

Polo! I saw part of a polo tournament, a major one I think, in the second half of November a few years ago. It was in the grounds across the avenue from the Palermo race course (worth a visit). It was late spring and the jacarandas were blooming and the sun was very intense (to this person coming from winter in D.C.).

It will still be winter in August, 42 to 62F, so maybe too cool for polo?

I was reading, at flyertalk, that inflation has been bad this year down there and there have been some strikes (tho EZE was not closed).

I booked a business class award ticket on Air Canada and United to travel LAX-EZE-LAX at the end of October.

United's mileage requirements are increasing on Thursday, Jan 1, for travel to Europe, S.America, Asia. It will be 100K miles instead of 80K for biz class to S.America.

Guenmai

You're very welcome, folks for all the info.

It's now 9:45PM and I'm going to finish this trip report.

Shopping: There's lots to buy in Buenos Aires. When I was staying at the Melia Recoleta Plaza Hotel, there was a hardback book that the hotel puts out, for the guests. So, I was reading through it and there was an article on the top 11 shopping cities in the world. The article didn't print a list, but wrote that in regards to shopping, that Buenos AIres is rated second in the world, the first being Bangkok.

There are a lot of silver items for sale. Silver everything. Plus, there's the leather. The cow is definitely not sacred in Argentina.

As I'm one who has a handbag passion, I'm always out looking for them. Peter Kent makes some gorgeous ones at affordable prices. Since it was summer, they were made in all colors of bright and beautiful leather. There's a Peter Kent store. on Alvear Ave directly across from the Hotel Alvear. They have them throughout the city,too.

The other handbag place that had handbags that were works of art in leather was Perez Saenz at Posadas 1477 across from Buquerbus Turismo (Travel Agent) and between Rodriquez Pena and Calloa. When you walk out the door of the Park Hyatt on Calle Posadas, then you'd turn LEFT and walk about 1 or 2 blocks and it's on the opposite side of the street. You have to walk up stairs to enter the boutique. I had to get out of there. It was enough to make one hyperventilate into a paperbag. Smiles. These bags aren't cheap, but could easily be 30-50% more in Europe.

As I'm crazed for polo, just get me to a polo store. Oh, there's a huge and beautiful Ralph Lauren store on Alvear Ave. I hear that it's less expensive to purchase Ralph there than at home.

But, I went to Arandu for my polo items like the great key ring with the polo mallet on the end for 33 pesos and my long-sleeved polo shirt for 170 pesos. The boutique was loaded with folks. There were quite a few Americans in that shop along with all the Spanish-speaking customers. Downstairs are the clothes, handbags, keychains, belt buckles, great suede shirts, jackets and beautiful open-fronted ponchos...and upstairs are the saddles and horse-related items.

There are several store locations, but there is one at Ayacucho 1920. This store is very easy to find. The Hotel Alvear is right on the corner of Alvear Ave and Ayacucho. So, if you're standing at the Hotel Alvear and looking in the direction of the street, then cross the street and walk up Ayacucho and it's right there on the right side around mid block. You can't miss it. It looks in the style of a Ralph Lauren store, just smaller and with more interesting items.

The day that I was on my," Images of Buenos Aires" tour, the tour ended at Recoleta Cemetary, a 5-minute walk from the Arandu store. I had been wondering where the store was when suddenly the tour van turned up Ayacucho and I kind of hollered out, "Arundu!". I was kind of supposed to concentrating on the upcoming arrival to the Recoleta Cemetary, but I kind of had polo on the brain. The tour guide just laughed. So, after the cemetary tour, I told the tour guide that I didn't need to be dropped anywhere, but would just walk.

Next door to the Arandu store is a very nice little shop called, "Traditiones Argentinas at Ayacucho 1958. Tel: (11) 4804-5667. I stumbled upon it and curiously walked in and am I glad that I did. I bought my mom's Christmas gift in there and the same item, different color, for myself.

I had been wanting one of those open-front ponchos in a soft type of wool. I had gone to the Cardon store (cardon.com.ar) that's next door to the Hotel Alvear. I saw the pefect open-front poncho there...price 2,100 pesos. Yikes. It was black and white and absolutely gorgeous, but also handmade thus driving up the price.

Well, when I went into the Traditiones Argentinas boutique, I noticed, at the back of the boutique and on the left side, a lot of open-front ponchos hanging. I went over to check them out and immediately liked them. They were of a soft, maybe llama wool, and right for L.A. climate. The price....155 pesos! I bought two....one for me and one for my mom. I pulled out cash and the woman in the boutique said, "Oh, since you're going to pay me in cash, I'll give you the tax-free price. She didn't do any paperwork or anything, just knocked down the price from 2 for 310 pesos to 2 for 265 pesos. Sounded like a deal to me. I asked for several business cards to pass out to friends on their way to BA.

I saw one of the exact same open-front ponchos like the one I had purchased at one of the airport stores for 175 pesos instead of 155 and then of course I got my two for 132.50 pesos each. They had other interesting items in that store,too.

Another gorgeous store is Cardon. There are 10 stores in Buenos Aires. The one I went to is next to the Hotel Alvear at Alvear Ave 1847. They have beautiful items. I didn't have time to check it out as extensively as I wanted to as the day that I dropped into the store was on the day that I was supposed to meet the tour guide to take the tour I'd missed the day before. So, I was watching the clock as not to be late. I had arrived, to the hotel, 30 minutes early that day. Smiles.

Another store that I really stumbled into is located inside of the Galleria attached to the Hotel Alvear. The store is called, Los Lettres de Buenos Aires at Alvear Ave 1883-L6, Galerie Promenade Alvear. The website is www.lospeltres.com.ar. It's a tiny shop. If you are facing the arcade, from the street, then walk straight ahead and when you come to the first passage opening, which will lead into the inside of the Hotel Alvear, then the shop is right on the left corner. It's not the first shop, but the second one. Or, if you were walking into the Hotel Alvear , then come to the first corridor and turn right and walk out of the hotel into the Galeria. When you get outside into the Galeria, then it's the first corner store on your left.

I peeped into the shop and the woman started talking to me in English and I followed her in. There were a lot of pewter items. I'm normally not into pewter, but these items were interesting. They had book marks made of pewter. They were long and thin, about half the width of a straw and then on the top there were different designs. She had some with tango dancers on them which were quite nice. I bought two at 20 pesos each. Then she and I chatted.

She showed me some other items and then I left to explore the rest of the arcade. When I walked back by her store, I asked to see some items she'd previously shown me. There was an item that must have been an Argentine invention. I'd never seen one before, but it was like a round, solid pewter box, about 2.5-inches in diameter, with a curved hook attached to it. I thought,"What in the world?".

Well, you take it with you when you go out to a restaurant. You just sit it at the edge of the table, next to you, and then hang your purse from the hook! Ingenious! Then you don't have to put your purse on a chair or on top of the table for someone to easily steal....like what happened to one of the Bush girls when her purse was stolen right from in front of her at a bar/restaurant in San Telmo....so much for the Secret Service. She could have used one of these 60- peso gadgets.
They come in all kinds of designs and prices. I paid 60 pesos for mine because it was decorated with tango dancers on it. There were some for fewer pesos and some for far more. I even saw jeweled ones at a shop in the airport. So, definitely drop by that boutique. The woman was so nice trying to explain everything to me in English and Spanglish.

Another polo shop that I went to was the La Martina polo shop. I went to the one right inside of the Patio Bullrich shopping Mall. It's a small, three-story mall, that's on Calle Posades 1245. That's one entrance. The main entrance is on Libertador. Since my hotel was on Calle Posadas, I went in through that entrance. It's about a block after you exit the Park Hyatt Hotel and to your right out Calle Posades. The polo store is called La Martina (lamartina.com). It's on the middle level of the mall. On the lower level there's an exchange place. There were Spanish-speaking folks in line with lots of dollars to exchange. The exchange rate was 3.30. So, if you need an exchnage place, in that area, then that's a very convenient one.

I loved the La Martina store. It had items for both men and women. Lots of different types of polo shirts and small, leather messenger -style shoulder bags with polo and polo designs stamped on them. They also had leather ,luggage, carry-on bags.

I bought a long-sleeved, men's polo shirt that was of a heavy, cotton knit. It's perfect for this climate. Carol, it was similiar to the one we bought at the Shanghai Tang store in Ala Moana Shopping Center in Honolulu, GTG weekend. But, the La Martina cotton was heavier and of a higher quality. Mine has Argentina and polo written on it.

They have all different kinds. The store was crowded with folks. It reminded me of the Banana Republic store on Little Santa Monica Blvd ,in Beverly Hills, back in the 80s when Banana Republic only sold safari clothes which was it's original concept when founded up in Northern California before Madison Avenue got a hold of it.

The La Martina store is similar. The theme is just polo instead of safari. The shirt that I bought was either 450 pesos or US$130. I only had a few pesos on me that day as I was a only few blocks ,from the hotel, and didn't really need any.

Since I didn't want to exchange anymore money, into pesos, although I did actually have enough pesos to pay for the shirt, I asked if I could just pay in US dollars and the salesperson said, "Oh, course, no problem". So, I walked back to the hotel and went into the safe and took out US$130. I had US$1200. cash on me for the trip of which I used US$297. to pay my tour guides. I had gotten 100s/50s/20s/10s/5s/ and 25 ones before I left the States and in crisp bills. So, I paid for the shirt in dollars and noticed a 2- peso discount on the receipt.

Polo boots- The custom polo boot maker is La Casa De Las Botas at Paraguay 5062 between Humbolt and Juan B. Justo in Hollywood Palermo. casadelasbotas.com.ar. It's polo boot paradise. There's a catelogue of different styles and colors. I think the salesperson said there are 5 different leather types to choose from. Everything is done in Spanish.

The second time I went there, I talked to the owner, in Spanish, and tried to explain that I was interested in soft, flexible leather. He said no problem. Females order the boots to wear with their skirts.

A ready-made pair, bought off the floor, costs 1,000 pesos. A custom-made pair costs 1,350 pesos. I was told, by a worker, that it takes 10 days to make a pair. So, if you're going to be in Argentina a long period of time, go there first and see if, the owner, Jorge (Da Silva Villagran) can make you a pair that you can take home with you. If not, it's going to cost you US$170. to ship them by Federal Express!!!.

He has a book, with the drawings of people's feet and complete leg measurements. The leather is great. And you can have either leather bottoms or rubber over leather bottoms on the boots. This is the shop that's three blocks from the apartment that I had and between the same two cross streets. I got real lucky as for the location because I thought the shop was over in Palermo Soho.

Buenos Aires Tips:
BE CAREFUL. Leave the jewelry AT HOME. You will notice that women do not wear the bling there. I saw many women wearing no jewelry at all or just wearing a pair of pierced-ear posts.

Don't wear an expensive watch. If you have a Rolex, leave it at home. The criminals love them and will cut it off your wrist. I took my watch, NOT a Rolex, but a nice watch, and didn't wear a watch at all the whole week. I took it off my wrist as soon as the palne landed. I locked it in the safe. I just threw my raggedy, plastic, $10.00 travel clock into my purse.

Be careful with your purses. As in any big city, it's best to wear a shoulder bag and close to the body. Don't have it facing the street. Flip it around to the other shoulder if walking along the street. There was a huge billboard, in my neighborhood in Palermo Hollywood, of a woman walking and a guy on a motorcycle snatching her purse...well,,,,a picture speaks louder than 1,000 words. The bulletin board is there to serve as a reminder to be on guard. You don't need to be paranoid, it's not anywhere near as bad as Rome in the 80s, but just be careful. It's fine to dress nicely, but just DRESS DOWN.

So, this finally ends my travel report. I hope this has helped and will cut down on the amount of time you'll have to spend doing research and reading. I spent a LOT of time speed reading a lot of stuff, within the less than three weeks I had, before taking off on this trip.I felt like I was back at university cramming for exams. Smiles. Happy Travels! Midnight straight up.

wintersp

Thanks Guen, for all the great details. Sounds like you had a great 'Plan B' trip.

Polly

BillT

Guen- WOW a Topless bus tour- I'm sure that no other city can boast that! Wouldn't it get a bit chilly for those girls? Any how I'm sure all the guys will want more details on how to catch this Topless Bus Tour!

Guenmai

BillT...Shame,shame shame!

Wintersm- You're welcome. Happy Travels!

mrwunrfl

I'll eat the beef so that there is plenty of leather for your bags and boots.

Here is info for August, 2009:
TORNEO GRAL. SAN MARTIN
Organiza Media Luna Polo Club.
Tel. 03388- 15 671815
Para categorías juveniles, potrillos, potrillitos y principiantes.
Fecha: Desde el 18 de Agosto en adelante.
http://www.aapolo.com