¡Bienvenidos a Buenos Aires!
Day 1- 07 January – by Lola
The polar group gets reunited at last in hot and sunny Argentina, a far cry from the Scottish weather we left behind. As a few of us had landed the evening before, or even a few days prior (and yes, they did consider themselves ‘locals’ by now), we made our way to the Sheraton Park Tower hotel throughout the morning to join the rest of the group, still fresh from the plane ride.
I joined Sonja, Mike, and a few of the early arrivals for breakfast at the Sheraton in a lovely room overlooking the busy streets below. The breakfast buffet was impressive – a cornucopia of eggs, bacon, toast, veggies, potatoes, cakes, fruits, juices and more – but Mike only had eyes for the coffee.
Bellies full, Sonja & Mike went to find the Hurtigruten welcome team while I went back to reception to check in. That’s where the first little problem of the day arose: as I was waiting in line, the others messaged me saying they were ALSO in line to check in… but they were nowhere to be seen. After many confused texts, we figured out that there were in fact TWO Sheraton hotels right next to each other, and they were at the wrong reception. Five minutes later, several St Andrews faces popped in sight and joined me in the queue – crisis averted. However, our relief didn’t last long – our rooms would not be ready for yet another few hours. So here we were, sweaty and tired, sat in this fancy reception lounge, playing cards and watching Argentinian birds out the window for a long while. Following the team expedition briefing, some students found their rooms ready at last while a few others were not so lucky.
No matter – this leaves time for an exploration of Buenos Aires! Six students, along with Sonja, headed out for an adventure. We stopped at a little coffee shop for lunch, before making our way to the El Ateneo Grand Splendid – a magnificent library built into an old theatre. Spread over four floors, the library offered a huge variety of books with themes ranging from travel and fiction to philosophy and yoga, as well as vinyl and DVDs. There was even a pretend trolley disappearing into the wall of Harry Potter’s Platform 93/4, where we made sure to snap a picture.
After having thoroughly explored the library, we emerged to find ourselves caught in the middle of a thunderstorm – and suddenly the 30-minute trek back to the hotel didn’t seem so appealing. Taking shelter under shop awnings every few hundred metres, we ran from safety stop to safety stop yet even this manoeuvre couldn’t prevent us from getting utterly drenched. Let’s just say that by the time we got back to the Sheraton, we got plenty of odd looks from staff and guests alike… (I can recall one of the students employing the term ‘drowned rats’, a more-than-accurate description of how we looked).
Luckily, all rooms were ready by the time we got back, so the rest of the day was spent drying clothes and enjoying a warm shower. By the time dinner came around, the storm has dwindled to a light shower. The dry half of the group braved the rain (prepared with waterproofs this time) to have dinner at a nearby Indian restaurant, while the other half (victims of the earlier storm) stayed in for dinner at the hotel’s associated Italian restaurant.
We then finally headed to bed for the night, ready to continue our journey the following day onto Ushuaia – the southern-most city in the world!”
nner came around, the storm has dwindled to a light shower. The dry half of the group braved the rain (prepared with waterproofs this time) to have dinner at a nearby Indian restaurant, while the other half (victims of the earlier storm) stayed in for dinner at the hotel’s associated Italian restaurant.
We then finally headed to bed for the night, ready to continue our journey the following day onto Ushuaia – the southern-most city in the world!”