Travel

Day Trip to Buenos Aires

January 21, 2010 by Brian

It was time for us to renew our visitors’ permits again, so we decided to take a day trip to Buenos Aires last weekend. We wanted to make sure we got that taken care of before the baby’s arrival.

We were told by a few expats that as of January 1st, 2010 there is an entry fee for all U.S. citizens entering Argentina. After doing a little digging before our trip, we discovered that the Reciprocity Fee of U$S 131, for now, only applies if you arrive at the Buenos Aires Ezeiza Airport (EZE).

However, you only have to pay the Airport Reciprocity Fee once every 10 years and it covers multiple entries. More information about the Reciprocity Fee can be found here.

Even though we found some cheap flights to Buenos Aires, we decided it would be best to take the ferry to avoid the Airport Reciprocity Fee. Last time we went to Buenos Aires, we took the Buquebus ferry direct from Montevideo to Buenos Aires. This time, we decided to take the bus to Colonia and the ferry from Colonia to Buenos Aires.

It actually worked out quite well for us. We arrived at the bus station around 7am and Zoë slept the entire bus ride out to Colonia and was refreshed when we got to the terminal there. She had a blast talking to everyone from her seat on Daddy’s back.

When we arrived in Buenos Aires, the forecast was for sun, but it was raining quite to our surprise! We didn’t come prepared for that. We were headed to a friend’s apartment who only lives four blocks from the Buquebus station, so we thought we’d try walking. Big mistake. The rain was coming down much harder than we anticipated.

So, we decided to grab a taxi. The only problem was that all we had on us were Uruguayan Pesos – we still hadn’t stopped at a Cambio to get Argentine Pesos.

We asked the taxi driver if he’d take Uruguayan Pesos and he agreed, so we hopped in the cab and off we went. He definitely took us for a bit of a ride. Then, when we got to our destination, the total fare was about 18 Argentine Pesos.

Brian handed him 100 Uruguayan Pesos and was planning to give him an additional 20 UY Pesos for a tip if he was honest. By the way, 18 Argentine Pesos equals about 92 UY Pesos… The guy looked at us like we were nuts and asked for 70 more UY Pesos. He really must have thought we were morons. He said that we had to pay for him to return to the place where he picked us up at.

So, Brian told me to get out of the taxi with Zoë and he gave the guy another 20 UY Pesos and said that’s all we have. And, we left.

It’s amazing how some people think it’s okay to take advantage of people that way. We had been warned about taxi drivers in Buenos Aires so we weren’t completely surprised though.

After arriving at our friend Lyle’s apartment, we decided to head out to find a Cambio and then some lunch. We walked over to Florida Street (a big pedestrian street that is a tourist trap) first to find a Cambio.

There were some guys standing out in the middle of the street soliciting a cambio. We grabbed one of the guys and he took us to what looked more like a travel agency, but whatever. We went inside and to the counter. Brian handed the woman 1700 UY Pesos. She did some calculations and gave him 170 Argentine Pesos.

Luckily we are more informed about exchange rates than the average tourist would be, so Brian tried to give the 170 ARS back and the lady acted like she didn’t know what we were saying (they were speaking English when we first came in). After a brief exchange the lady reluctantly and obviously irritated gave our money back to us… She thought she’d just made a little extra cash off of some ignorant gringos. Wrong!

We found another Cambio about a block away and guess what… We got well over 100 ARS for the same 1700 UY Pesos. Moral of the story? Be informed and aware when you’re traveling as a tourist anywhere.

At least we got the bad encounters out of the way early in the day. The rest of the day was very nice. The rain cleared up and we had a nice lunch and good conversation.

Our ferry was headed back to Uruguay at 8 pm, so we got to the Buquebus station at around 7 pm so we’d have time to check in and go through customs. We boarded the ferry and were pleasantly surprised at how nice this one was. There were sections with couches and even a duty free store on board!

Luckily we were some of the first people to board since pregnant women get priority boarding and we were able to get one of the couches. It was great for Zoë because there were some other kids sitting in the same section. She had a blast playing with them for the duration of the ferry ride.

When we arrived in Colonia, we got on the bus and headed back to Montevideo. The bus ride definitely felt much longer on the way back. I think next time we might consider taking the bus to Colonia on the way out, but taking the direct ferry to return, especially so late at night.

Weekend Trip to Punta Del Diablo, Uruguay

November 13, 2009 by Brian

Some Uruguayan friends invited us out to Punta Del Diablo for the weekend. They rented a house a few miles outside of town and knew it was an area of Uruguay we really wanted to explore.

We took the bus from Tres Cruces bus station in Montevideo to Punta Del Diablo rather than renting a car. The bus cost us UY $289 (U$S 14.13) each for one-way tickets. Zoë sat on our laps, which was no problem because the seats were large, very comfortable and reclined. We even had plenty of legroom. Definitely better than airline seats.

The ride was 4 ½ hours, but it was a very nice, scenic drive. Unfortunately we realized on the trip to Punta Del Diablo that Zoë does, in fact, get carsick. Poor baby.

When we arrived at our destination, we got settled into the house and then shared some asado with our friends. It was a peaceful, relaxing evening.

The next morning, we got a ride into Punta Del Diablo so we could explore the town for the day. The beaches in Punta Del Diablo are clean and beautiful.

We spent some time relaxing out on the point, watching the waves.

The town is small, but it’s exactly what you would imagine for a rustic beach community.

We had lunch at a restaurant overlooking the ocean. Corvina cooked on the parrilla is their specialty, so we all had that. It was delicious, but I was surprised at the cost given it isn’t high season yet – UY $440 (U$S 21.52) for a two-person serving of corvina and a salad. I guess that’s not expensive by US standards though…

Overall, Punta Del Diablo is a beautiful little beach town that would be great for a relaxing vacation. I don’t think it’s somewhere we would want to live full time (too many buildings too close together). But, if you haven’t been to Punta Del Diablo, Uruguay yet, we definitely recommend checking it out.

Boycott Uruguay Taxis This Friday

October 29, 2009 by Brian

We apologize for the short notice, but wanted to let everyone currently living in Uruguay know that there is a call to boycott taxis on Friday, October 30.

The boycott was organized after two young people were killed in two separate incidents where taxi drivers ignored stop signs in Montevideo. One of the victims was a passenger in a taxi and the other was a young mother of two who was killed while walking down the sidewalk. A third young woman has been in a coma for a month.

We’ve talked about Uruguay driving on our blog in the past, but these stories really drive home the point. So, if you want to make a statement against reckless driving in Uruguay, please join the boycott of taxis for the day.

You can read more about the reasons behind the boycott of Uruguay taxis here.

36 Hours in Montevideo, Uruguay

October 23, 2009 by Brian

It’s always neat to see US newspapers running stories on the tiny country of Uruguay that we’ve come to love. Today, it’s the New York Times highlighting Montevideo.

The news story, titled “36 Hours in Montevideo, Uruguay,” gives a breakdown of the writer’s stay in the capital city. It’s a nice story, especially if you’re planning a trip to Montevideo.

He gives some detail about museums, hotels, architecture, food, nightlife, markets, mate and more. For only spending 36 hours in Montevideo, he made good use of his time.

Read the story on the New York Times Website.

The Exploring Uruguay Forum is Now Live!

October 2, 2009 by Brian

Thank you to all of our blog readers for asking so many great questions about Uruguay. The number of questions we’ve been getting has increased significantly, so we decided it was time to create the Exploring Uruguay Forum.

We’ve been working hard on getting the forum ready over the past several days and we’re excited to announce that it’s finally live.

So, come by the Exploring Uruguay Forum today and post a question about Uruguay. Or, share your experiences with living in Uruguay, or visiting Uruguay.

Thanks in advance for contributing to the community!

You Either Need a Visa or a Ticket Back to the US…

August 26, 2009 by Brian

When we flew into Uruguay for the first time, we bought one-way tickets and didn’t have any problems whatsoever (May 2009). This past week I flew back to the US to pick up some stuff we had in storage and came home. I discovered that flying round trip out of Uruguay and back is a lot harder than one might think… if you do not have a Visa or a return ticket to the US.

Here is the background on my flight. I flew out of Montevideo on TAM connecting in Sao Paulo, Brazil. Upon arriving in Sao Paulo, I checked in with Delta to fly into Los Angeles (LAX). On my return flight from LAX to Montevideo, I was scheduled to fly Delta from LAX to Sao Paulo, and connect with Pluna in Sao Paulo for my flight to Montevideo.

Leaving LAX

Wow did I have an experience with Delta Airlines at LAX. Mind you, I called Delta earlier that day to confirm my flight and to see if they would accept a debit card to pay for my excess baggage, or if I needed cash (they accept plastic). No questions or issues about my flight were raised on that call…

I arrived at LAX 3 ½ hours prior to my scheduled departure time. After waiting in line for 45 minutes at the Delta counter, the agent asked me to step forward. The agent saw that my flight was to Brazil and asked me for my Visa. I told him that I was just connecting there, and that I was heading to Montevideo, Uruguay. He then asked for my Visa for Uruguay. I told him that I was on a tourist pass to Uruguay and that I could stay for 90 days without a Visa. He did not agree and had to check with his supervisors.

Everything checked out with what I said… but the next problem was that I did not have a return ticket back to the US. “Delta can’t verify that you are not going to overstay your visit in Uruguay.” According to Delta, because I did not have a return flight scheduled to the US, I would be required to purchase one. He said, ”It is an old rule we are now vigorously enforcing for any foreign travel.” It made no difference if I was traveling to Uruguay or Canada… the same rules applied.

Finally I said, “I’m just trying to get home to my pregnant wife and infant daughter (as I pulled a picture of Zoë out of my wallet)… Sir, would you please help me get home to them?”

He went back to the supervisor and returned to tell me, “We are going to let you slide on this one… But in the future, if you decide to do a trip like this, you will need a return ticket to the US.” I know the agent was just doing his job, but it’s still frustrating. This is now 10 minutes before my plane is to board as well…

So I got out of LAX. Now on to Sao Paulo… The flight was long, but I was assigned a window seat and the seat next to me was empty, so it wasn’t too bad… I’m pretty sure the agent hooked me up with that.

Leaving Sao Paulo

Upon my arrival in Sao Paulo, I went to check in for my connecting flight. Apparently all of Pluna’s flights were canceled because of a strike. I was informed by the Pluna liaison that they had switched my flight to TAM (which was fine by me, because from my experience TAM has been a great airline to fly on.)

Everything went smoothly with getting my baggage switched from Pluna to TAM (with both agents assisting). The TAM agent printed out my boarding pass, looked through my passport and said, “Where is your Visa for Uruguay?” Here we go again… I told them I didn’t need one.

We went back and forth and they said, “If you do not have a Visa for Uruguay or a return flight to the US, you cannot proceed.” After escalating it to their supervisors, they told me that the ONLY way they would clear me to board the flight to Uruguay was if I bought a return ticket to the US because I didn’t have a Visa.

I asked, “Can I just buy a ticket from Montevideo to Buenos Aires?” They thought about it… It really looked like she was going to say yes when the smile came across her face and she said, “Only if you have another ticket showing you are returning to the US after your trip to Buenos Aires.”

I asked what would happen if I decided not to buy a ticket back to the US… They said because I didn’t have a Visa to enter Brazil, I would have to “wait” until I got a ticket back to the US… in the terminal.

The reason I had to have a return ticket? “Airlines are now starting to get fined for not making sure US citizens have a return ticket back to their country, if the US citizen overstays their Visa.”

The supervisors of Pluna and TAM both backed their agents and said the only way for me to get out of the airport was to have a return ticket to the US in my hand. So, I bought the cheapest ticket I could find to the US from Montevideo (to Miami)… I showed it to them, they confirmed it and allowed me to board my flight to Montevideo. Thank goodness for refundable tickets.

All of this bothers me on a few different levels… Since when do airlines dictate what country you are going to, how long you can stay, and where and how you are going to travel? The last time I checked, that was the job and responsibility of each individual country’s immigration department. To my understanding, if there is a problem with immigration, then the immigrations department is supposed to deal with it, not the airlines…

Please comment… Has anyone else experienced anything like this?

Very interesting side note: When I arrived at LAX and had to clear US customs, it went VERY quick (5 minutes tops). The US Customs officials fast tracked all US citizens to the front of the immigration line. Apparently, US Customs and Border are now taking biometric information (photograph and handprint) of all foreigners entering the US. Retinal scan machines are up there as well. If they aren’t doing retinal scans yet, they will be soon…

The Best Way to Fly…

August 16, 2009 by Brian

I have no problem skydiving. Going up in a plane with a parachute on my back and jumping out… I love it. BUT… Yes… I have an aversion to flying.

The first time I ever flew was in an Ultralight when I was 12 years old. My cousin had one; it was a 2 seater… We reached 6,000 ft and he told me we were just over a mile above the ground… it was awesome.

I spit between my legs, because in an Ultralight when you look down between your legs, you see the ground… I hawked a HUGE lugey, and I remember watching it get smaller and smaller until it disappeared.

When you fly in an Ultralight, you fly kind of sideways, not straight forward like a car or an airplane… Similar to a helicopter, except a helicopter is MUCH more agile in the sky. It’s kind of weird, but hey… After about 30-45 minutes, we were running low on gas and we headed back to the landing strip.

Then, I got to go up in my cousin’s buddy’s single engine Cessna (small one propeller airplane). We did loops upside down, barrel rolls… We went vertical and he stalled the engine, then we fell towards the ground… He started the engine back up and we went into a huge loop upside down then into barrel rolls… It was awesome…

But over the years of flying commercial airlines… I’ve discovered I just don’t like flying.

I was “fortunate” enough to be on a small commuter plane that blew out a tire on landing about 12-13 years ago. We didn’t crash, but we did use the emergency exits… I was the first person off of the plane…

I don’t remember how I got off of the wing… I just remember running. I probably looked like Wiley Coyote in mid air off of the wing… I got 2 free tickets anywhere that airline flew in the world, but I never used them….

A couple of years later, I was on an airplane and the fasten seat belts lights were taken off, so I undid mine. Sure enough we hit turbulence and I hit my head on the overhead compartment… got a huge knot on my head and a free ticket from that… Never used the ticket. I only fly if I have to…

So, now it’s time for me to fly again… I have to… So, the best way to fly is drunk… Seriously… I have eight beers in me. I can smile and pretend to be sober until I sit in my seat. About the time we reach Brazil, I’ll be just waking up…

So, long and short… The best way to fly is drunk… and remember to keep your seat belt fastened at all times.

Flying Out of Uruguay

August 15, 2009 by Brian

I’m heading back to the States for the weekend to pick up some of our stuff we have in storage… Why not have it shipped? Because, it’s cheaper to get on a plane and bring it back (by a couple of thousand dollars).

When you are getting ready to fly out of Uruguay there is something you should know. You have to pay an airport exit fee. Why? I don’t know… But, they won’t let your through security until you’ve got your bar-coded receipt.

It’s U$S 31 or $744 pesos (as of today’s exchange rate Friday Aug. 14, 09). I tried to whip out my good ole MasterCard, but the lady wouldn’t accept it… Maybe she didn’t like me, but whatever the case may be… all she wanted from me was my boarding pass and my cash… I’m sure glad I had pesos on me.

As I sit here at the airport, I am enjoying one of my favorite pastimes. People watching. One thing about Uruguay is, the mullet has definitely not fallen out of style, both for men and women (it’s kind of scary)…

Either have tie-dye outfits, from head to toe tie-dye outfits that is. In addition, it’s around 20-22C degrees today (68-72F)… By looking at everyone in the airport here, you would think it’s 20 below. People here tend to overdress for cold weather… or even warm weather. Tons of clothing, hats gloves and scarves… and when they take those off… they have 4 layers of sweaters on below. None of that bothers me, it’s just observations.

If you are one of the people I’m getting ready to describe, and you take offense to this… good… I really think there should be a law passed here (and everywhere) about men not being allowed to wear skin-tight low cut V-neck T-shirts… AND… There’s just something wrong with men carrying a purse… I don’t care if it’s called a “man-purse”… There’s just something not right about that… So if I’m describing you, you’re doing wrong.

Buenos Aires, Argentina – It’s like New York… but Bigger

August 11, 2009 by Brian

We knew when we moved to Montevideo that we’d eventually have to take a trip to Buenos Aires to get our passports stamped. Not to mention, we just wanted to check it out.

As we cruised across the Rio De La Plata from Montevideo on the Buquebus (ferry liner) we really had no idea of what to expect of Buenos Aires. We had heard it was “dangerous” and to be “very careful.”

On the other hand, we also heard that Buenos Aires had wonderful shopping, had every type of restaurant you could think of and that it was a wonderful city.

As with traveling anywhere in the world, if you let yourself become a victim, you will be one. We had no problems in Buenos Aires.

Our first stop to plan our trip to Buenos Aires was Buquebus Turismo by Punta Carretas Shopping (not the one inside, but the one on the other side of the street from the front gates).

We were able to book our tickets for the Buquebus, reserve a hotel and get a transfer from the Buquebus Station in Buenos Aires to and from our hotel in one package (the location inside Punta Carretas Shopping only sells ferry tickets).

We chose the ferry that went directly from Montevideo to Buenos Aires in three hours opposed to taking a two-hour bus trip to Colonia and a one-hour ferry ride to Buenos Aires. The total for the three of us: U$S 320.

On the morning of our departure, we took a cab from our apartment to Ciudad Vieja (Old City) where the Buquebus terminal is located. Going through customs was extremely easy.

There was an Argentinean official and an Uruguayan official sitting next to each other at a counter. We handed our passports over with our Buquebus tickets… BAM BAM BAM BAM… Our passports were stamped by both countries’ customs officials, we walked through the “Duty Free” area and we got on to board the Buquebus ferry.

The Buquebus ride over to Buenos Aires was nice. There were plenty of little ones for Zoë to play with. She seems to make friends everywhere we go. There was a galley, where you could buy food and drinks… A little overpriced for what it was, but I’ve had a lot worse… They sold alcohol too.

For the kids who were a little bit older, there was a PS2 set up so they could play video games. On the way to Buenos Aires, there were a half a dozen 10-14 year old kids playing Futbol… On the way back, there was one lone kid who had the whole system to himself…

When we arrived at the Buquebus port in Buenos Aires, we had to pass our stuff through an x-ray machine, which went so fast there is no way possible they could have seen anything inside of it.

We then headed to the left to the Buquebus counter, handed our voucher for the transfer to our hotel to the attendant who had us escorted to a bus and away we went with front door service to our hotel.

At the Buquebus Turismo office, we had 30+ hotels to choose from. We ended up randomly picking “The Liberty Hotel.” LOL… That night, we felt like Kramer in that episode of Seinfield where the bright red light keeps flashing outside of his window… That was the same position of the ‘Hotel’ sign to our room.

It was pretty funny looking back on it, but getting to sleep was a different story. The noise outside didn’t help (we were on a busy street). The next time we go, we’ll be choosing a different hotel.

Once we checked into our hotel… We decided to go get food. What type? Thai… We found a place through Google and went. My iPod Touch came in super handy, there were free connections to the Internet everywhere we walked.

Empire Thai was fantastic. The owner Kevin is originally from New Jersey, but has owned his restaurant for about eight years. We had breaded and fried prawns to start, which were phenomenal.

Then Chrystal and I both had Chicken Panang Curry. We both like spicy food and ordered ours spicy at a 7 on a scale of 1-10… Next time, we’ll be ordering a 6. We ordered Zoë the chicken Pad Thai, which was really good too.

If you are in Buenos Aires and you want extremely good Thai food in a cool place, check out Empire Thai. By the way, if you are a vodka drinker, Empire Thai has one of the largest selections of Vodka I’ve ever seen in a bar… and I’ve been to more bars than most. Our food was in the U$S8-10 a plate range.

We spent about 24 hours in Buenos Aires. We walked all over the city. There is a lot of beautiful architecture, although it’s a little hard to appreciate with the hoards of people on the streets. There are tons upon tons of places to shop and restaurants to eat at. One thing we found was that children’s toys were less expensive in Buenos Aires than in Montevideo. The city doesn’t sleep… It’s a very busy city, and a very big city. It’s like New York, but bigger.

And the Road Trip Continues: Punta Ballena, Piriapolis and Atlantida

August 10, 2009 by Brian

After breakfast, we set out for our first stop of the day, Punta Ballena. We had heard that it was the Punta Del Este of 15 years ago, but more affordable now, so we wanted to check it out as a potential location for our next home in Uruguay.

We stopped at a viewpoint in Punta Ballena and took some pictures of the beautiful scenery.

This was clearly a tourist stop because there were some vendors set up selling trinkets.

There was also museum nearby. But Zoë fell asleep so we didn’t get to check it out this trip. Instead of waking her to check out the rest of Punta Ballena, we decided to head out to Piriapolis.

I guess a motorcycle convention was in Piriapolis for the weekend because there were motorcycles everywhere. We really liked the feel of Piriapolis. It has more of the small beach town feel we’re looking for.

Although we didn’t get to spend a lot of time there today, we’ll definitely be taking another trip out there within the next couple months to explore it further.

The only Piriapolis pictures we got were of a fountain at one of the small parks on our drive out to Punta Del Este the night before:

Our next scheduled stop was Atlantida, but we decided to drive though several of the smaller, more unknown beach towns on the way. There were some really neat little towns tucked along the coast. It was really cool to see that even though these communities were very small, they still had markets, restaurants, etc.

We also noticed that peat moss roofs are quite popular in these small towns… Brian kept commenting about how it reminded him of Ireland.

We stopped off and had lunch in one of these small little beach towns at a quaint family restaurant called La Caracola. The owners (I believe it was a husband and wife team) were very friendly and welcoming.

And, the food was excellent. Brian had the Milanesa with puré de papas
(mashed potatoes) and both Johnny and I ordered the Chivitos al Pan.

The portions were huge so in addition to eating her own serving of puré
de papas, Zoë shared with all of us. We definitely recommend stopping
here if you’re taking a road trip down the coast.

After we had lunch, we headed to Atlantida. Atlantida had even more of a sleepy beach town feel… it felt more residential than Piriapolis did. I’m sure during the summer it picks up quite a bit more.

We found a small park with a large fountain so that Zoë could run around. She had spent a lot of time in the car that weekend and was getting pretty antsy. She had a blast running around, picking up leaves and giving them to us as presents.

The beaches in Atlantida were nice as well, but we didn’t get a chance to enjoy them this time around. Here are a couple pictures of the beach in Atlantida we shot the day before when it was raining.

One thing we noticed on our drive down the coast is how untouched the beaches are. You still see vegetation growing on the dunes in many areas (it isn’t pulled out to make the beaches more tourist friendly). The sand even comes back onto the road in many places, making navigation interesting.

We’ll definitely be taking another trip to Piriapolis and some of these other beach towns in the next few months.