Our First Few Days in Argentina

To get to Argentina we took the fast ferry from Colonia, which meant an hour ride on the very comfortable Buquebus. We had a bit of a challenge trying to get our tickets (their machine was having issues) and we ended up being the last people to board. During our voyage, some members of the family had lots of fun talking with a large group of very friendly dairy farmers from southern Brazil. You could have plopped these guys down anywhere in the mid-west and they would have fit in perfectly, (except for their Portuguese).

Julia & Fiona in the Buquebus station with the ferry behind them

We arrived in Buenos Aires around noon. We had all read and heard quite a few horror stories about the experiences people had had with crime in Buenos Aires. On top of that, we're not particularly fond of large cities (Buenos Aires has over 12 million people), so we were all a bit nervous. Fortunately, our fears proved to be unfounded. We rented a van at the Buquebus station and headed off through the city Buenos Aires to the town of Lujan, our destination for the first day. We were all quite amazed at how clean and beautiful the parts of the city we saw were. In fact, from what I saw, Buenos Aires is actually quite an amazing city. I can understand now why it has been called the “Paris of South America.” I’ve decided that I would love to spend a few days there sometime, but probably not with all of my kids in tow.

As a side note: I mentioned that we rented a van when we arrived in Buenos Aires. Let me add here a quick comment about my experiences with cars in Uruguay and Argentina. I am now convinced that there is a "conspiracy" in our country that keeps us from being able to buy cars that get good gas mileage. I rented a Renault van in Piriapolis that seated 7 and got around 40 miles to the gallon, and the Hyundai van we rented in Buenos Aires seated up to 11 and got close to 30 miles to the gallon. The Hyundai was one the nicest, most comfortable vans I have ever driven in. Granted both vans were manual and diesel but I just don't understand why I can't buy a van like those in the states - O.K. that’s enough venting on cars.

Lujan, our first destination, is about an hour outside of Buenos Aires. From what we had read, the cathedral there is evidently the most visited Catholic shrine in the world. Our plan was to visit the shrine for an hour or so before heading towards the San Luis & Cordoba areas where we planned to spend the bulk of our time. We located the amazing cathedral (pictures below) and went to Mass. During Mass, however, an unfortunate, yet providential event occurred. One of the city’s many street dogs came in and plopped himself down in the isle. Elisabeth was sitting in a row behind me and suddenly I heard a cry of pain. Turning, I discovered her bleeding and realized she had been bitten in the arm by the dog. The dog also managed to hit her in the nose with its head, causing a large nosebleed. We rushed her out to the bathroom to clean her up and survey the damage. Unfortunately, the dog punctured her skin deeply on the arm. The ladies who were working in the restroom called the traveling doctor and put some iodine on her arm. The doctor arrived in about 20 minutes, checked her out, and told us that she didn’t think we needed to worry about rabies, but that she did recommend a tetanus shot. She gave us a prescription for the shot, gave us all hugs and kisses, and didn’t charge us a peso.

Elli with the very kind traveling doctor

By this time we noticed that there was something starting to happen in the plaza in front of the church. A band started playing Argentine folk music, people started dancing, and a hot air balloon was being inflated in the middle of the square. Lo and behold, we had happened upon the 257 anniversary of the town of Lujan! We decided that we would stay the night in a local hotel and enjoy the festivities.


The cathedral at Lujan with a hot air balloon to celebrate the town's anniversary

After checking into the hotel, we headed back to the plaza just as a well know Argentine folksinger, Abel Pintos, started to play. Wow! We were all totally impressed! It was a wonderful evening that ended with a fabulous display of fireworks directly overhead rivaling anything I’ve seen in the states. We all thanked Elisabeth for getting a dog bite or we would have missed a fabulous evening. The next day we sought out the needed tetanus shot, which Elisabeth was given (again at no charge), treated ourselves to gelato, and headed towards San Luis. We all came away from our first two days (the dog bite excluded) absolutely in love with Argentina – the country, the people, and the culture - and very excited about the weeks ahead of us.


In the first of MANY Heladerias in Argentina