More travel fun!

My Dad said he wanted more travel stories, so sorry to all of you who may be bored by this "exciting" adventure.


Yesterday I flew from Sao Paulo, Brazil to Buenos Aires, Argentina - about a 3-hour flight. I flew TAM Airlines, which is a Brazilian airline that I've flown before - pretty nice (much better than the airlines from you-know-where - see my first post).


The flight was uneventful, although the poor flight attendant didn't speak much English, and my Portuguese is much worse than my Spanish, so we had a few problems, but I understood enough to get some dinner (yes! outside the US airlines still give you real food!) and to get off the plane safely at around 11pm.


One of my least favorite things about flying internationally is when you have to get off the plane directly onto a bus, and then to the terminal. I say international, although Washington Dulles is terrible for this also (sorry Alan and Chris!) - and that's where I'll be tomorrow night, er, actually Saturday morning.


Anyway, I take a bus ride to the terminal, breeze through immigration, congratulate myself again for not checking baggage on a weeklong trip (yes! a new record for me!) as I breeze through customs, and find my taxi driver was waiting for me with my name - even spelled correctly!


When I travel to other countries, especially in Latin America, it is usually safer to arrange for a ride before you arrive, and the driver is usually waiting for you at the exit with a sign with your name on it. Or some version of your name. I've had the usual Brian Brunner (one N people, one N!!), Brain Bruner (I suppose I should be flattered), and my favorite, Brian Brunen.


But I digress. My non-spelling-challenged driver picks me up and we take off towards downtown Buenos Aires. Because I'm a little paranoid, I casually mention to the driver that, as I had arranged before, I would be paying with a credit card. Uh oh. Yes, I know what you are thinking - paying a cab with a credit card? Are you an idiot? OK, yes I am sometimes, but it's pretty common to pay with a credit card in some countries. Just not in Argentina. And I had no cash, US or otherwise. Actually that's not true - I think I have some Dominican pesos in my wallet for some crazy reason. But the driver assures me we can "work it out" and we speed away.

-- We interrupt this blog for a special public service announcement! Did you know that the Buenos Aires LDS temple is between the airport and downtown? It's so cool to see it when you arrive and also when you leave! I often want to say "Hey! That's my temple! OK, not mine, but you understand. Now back to your regularly scheduled blog --




We arrive at the hotel and the driver makes a phone call to his home base or home planet or something. I am confident we can "work it out". "Work it out" to me means - yes we will accept your card! "Work it out" to him means, sorry, you need to pay me in cash. No problem! - I'll go to an ATM in the hotel. Problem! - there is no ATM in the hotel. You must go in front of hotel across very busy street. OK, not so busy at 12:00am, but still. The driver takes me across (relatively) busy street to get cash, but has no change. No problem, the hotel has change. So finally I get the driver paid, check in, and head to my room.


In the process of checking in, the hotel employee hands me a piece of paper and tells me that there will be a short electrical outage between 1am and 2am, which would affect the air conditioners. By the way, it's summer here in Buenos Aires and pretty darn warm. No problem, I thought. Even though it's after 12am, I should be asleep and not even know.


But then I check the paper again and notice it also says that there will be no water from 11pm until 7am. Hmmm, that could be a problem, but I figure, I'll be fine. In my room there is just enough water in the pipes to brush my teeth. But then I notice there is no iron, so I call and request one. Then call again. Then call again. Finally, 45 minutes later I get the iron, and I climb into bed.


Sometime around 1:30am I hear the AC turn off but I'm already almost asleep. At 7:30am my alarm goes off and I reach to turn on the lamp by my bed. Nothing happens. Great- no electricity. I send off a quick text message to a friend here letting him know that I'll probably be a little late coming into the office. Then I head to the bathroom in the dark (cell phones make great flashlights!) and, out of habit, turn on the light. It turns on. At this point I realize the AC is on so Yes! I am an idiot! Something wrong with the lamp by my bed.


But then I flush the toilet and the water comes out brown. Water from the faucet? Also brown. I go back to bed (Emma would be proud!). A half an hour later I get up again and try again. Water is clearing up, but there is no cold water - only hot.


Now I had several ocassions on my mission to experience bathing in pure cold water - not a pleasant experience, but survivable. But pure hot? Painful. I decide to use my hard-fought-for iron and wait for the water to come back. Once done, I find a little trickle of cold water. Tired of waiting, I take a short and very interesting shower, get dressed, and leave for the office.


You would think I stayed in a local cheap hotel, right? Nope, all this from a hotel called Sheraton....