The beginning of a short trip to the southern hemisphere

Earlier this year when discussing vacations, we decided that a trip to Argentina in their spring would be nice. The jacarandas in bloom, the fields coming alive, tangos at night and the Pink House during the day.

So we booked one of our last "Global Services" flights from Houston to Buenos Aires (IAH to EZE for you flight geeks) and headed south.

The flight took an interesting path (Argentina is farther east than most people realize) cutting across Chile and the Andes:

The last time I was in Argentina (that sounds snobby, doesn't it?) was about 25 years ago, so I did not really know what to expect. What I did not expect was an hour wait at immigration:

Note to self: Always pay for expediting services to get through customs.

But we did get through (in a strange way, I was very calm. When you have no choice in a matter, it is sometimes better to just let the waves of frustration roll over you)

But that all passed, and we arrived at our charming little hotel, the Be Jardin Escondido by Coppola:

A really charming little hotel in the neighborhood of Palermo Soho, the Montrose of Buenos Aires.

As usual, Doreen had done a lot of homework and realized that "Choripan" would be the perfect lunch on our first day there. So we headed to Chori for the same. It was delicious. 

Palermo is so cool that even the tree dress up:

 This is another shot of the courtyard in our hotel:

Gladys at the hotel suggested we eat at a place called Proper, a short walk away. (An incidental side note: In our experience, Buenos Aires is very save. We never felt threatened or uncomfortable. We took street cabs anywhere we wanted to go, and we walked day or night with abandon.)

IT was a charming place in an old Mechanic's Garage.

Two young chefs who really delivered on the promise of great food cheap. (one other aside. We benefited from the fact that we eat "early" We would show up at 8:00 PM, a time that any self respecting Argentine may be - just MAY be thinking about a cocktail, for dinner. So we didn't way for a table here at all, but there was at least an hour wait when we left about 10:00)

If you click through to their website above, you can see that oven being made.

More later.