abbydancer2003

I'm on the Infinity. With our premium wifi, we get 4 devices. The retreat concierge says that's now fleetwide (as of March 11 or so), but no mention here on cruise critic. On the Solstice in February it was still one device, but I could use a second device at the same time with my Elite minutes. I just had to remember to log that one off.

That's exactly it. Celebrity offers a better minisuite (and suite) experience, but if you want Glacier Bay, it can't be Celebrity. Princess is a closer experience, but I think Norwegian can do it, and I've heard the Haven is pretty nice. That said, Hubbard is a pretty great glacier.

I remember Humphrey. It was an amazing rescue as I recall.

Heads up. My last week of course work dropped yesterday. I'll try to finish by tomorrow and then will post the rest of this cruise at the start of next.

Yes. How depends on ship and game.

Correct. Works sometimes.

Day three Puenta del Este While this is our first time here, nothing offered by either the cruise line or private tour operators appealed, so we we decided to just check out the port. Linda and Don also had no plans, so we decided to walk together. The tenders started around 7:30, so we decided to go at 9 to avoid the really hot part of the day. We ordered some coffee from Maria, and drank it while getting dressed. At 9am we headed to Michael’s club, where Milca or Jairo would take us to the tender. We met Linda and Don there, and Milca took us down. We got some of the last seats on the tender currently leaving. It was about a 15 minute ride, and then tender seemed further out than either Cabo or Falklands. Leaving the tender, we followed a boardwalk around the water. This is the mouth of the Platte river. We then followed the crowd along a boardwalk past a harbor and lots of hotels. We were approaching a point on the land, and it just looked like more hotels etc, so we headed away from the water. We walked on streets with a few closed shops and restaurants, and eventually got to the other water, ie the Ocean, since Punta del Este is at the edge of the Platte river. On the way, we saw these guys: And here’s the ocean: We walked along there for a while and eventually turned back towards the tender area. On the way, we saw some sort of a park: As we wound our way towards the ship, shops were opening, so we found a gift shop so that Don could get his refrigerator magnet. Success! We decided it was getting very hot and time to go back to the ship. Linda and I made a quick stop at the tourist information building but there was a line of people so we just went straight back to the pier. There was a tender boat filling, so we were almost the last people on that. Once on the ship we decided the closest place to get some water was Michael’s club. We stopped for about 15 minutes, hydrated, and headed back to the room to drop our stuff. At about 1:15 we went to the buffet. They had beef stroganoff which looked good. I had a salad. Their salad bar (being served at this time) doesn’t have croutons, so I have to then go to the Caesar salad bar to get those. Next stop was the pasta bar for fusilli. The do a quick cook of it, so I waited about 3 minutes for that. Then to the beef stroganoff. Last stop was the Mexican food bar for some sour cream. I will say that I did end up making a tasty stroganoff meal. After lunch, I went back to the room to work on the assignments for my class that were due tomorrow. At 6 we went to Rendezvous for dancing and ran into our friends from the east bay (we’d met them in February at a Starbucks). We danced a bit and chatted with them, and then headed to the show. It was a male trio doing Michael Buble songs. Not our thing, so we decided to go dinner. We stopped up at the room for a bit, and then went to dinner. Bob & Melissa arrived right after we did, so we joined them. I started with eggplant tapenade from Blu. Melissa had a cute crab martini. I ordered a game hen with spaghetti squash, pepitas and sherry vinegar, but with chicken. It was quite good, and unlike on the Silhouette, they had pipitas. For dessert I had the vacherin. Glen had the lemon olive oil custard After dinner, we walked a bit, and then went back to the room. I caught up with family, watched a bit of Harry Potter 3, and went to bed. Tomorrow is our first sea day.

The turkey? I think I have, a little messy but good. Thanks. Maybe next Cobb I'll have regular bacon and see which I like better.

I had the Cobb for lunch today on the Infinity, and it was still the big thick lardons. Once I took out the egg, and removed the onions, it was really good.

And I'm back. Infinity day 2 - Montevideo 1 Sunday Yesterday, we agreed that we’d walk around Montevideo with Linda and Don. I’d become Facebook friends with Linda when someone on our 3/23 cruise suggested we connect on this one (they’re on 4 and this is leg 2 for them). We agreed to meet at the martini bar at 10. We woke up just before 9 and I ordered coffee from Maria. I’d asked for cream, so she brought several packages of International Delight. I don’t like those packets, and even when they are half and half, I don’t like the plastic waste. (I waste enough as it is). She said they didn’t have cream but they did have milk. I said that was fine. She came back with that, and gave us a laundry slip that I’d asked for (we had a bag, no slip). She refreshed our ice, too. At 9:40, Linda texted that they were at the bar, but no rush. We joined them around 9:55, and headed off the ship. The last two times I was here, I was on a winery tour, with a brief tour of the city. We left the ship and followed the crowd. There was, just after the exit a small set up of street vendors. One of them had belts, so I thought maybe by the time I’m done with all this, I’ll get one. We walked by several streets over to the main beach and the water walk, which I’ve been told is the longest one in the world. We’ve seen it on our previous stops. We did see some cool things: In a shop: Along a wall: It was too hot to walk it so we took some pictures and walked over a block or two to walk back towards the ship. On the way back we saw this interesting building (the one in the background) Don looked it up and it’s called Palace Salvo, named after the businessmen who commissioned it in 1928. It’s one of the tallest buildings in Montevideo, and was the tallest in Latin America at it’s completion. On our walk we also found a park with a statue to the founder of Uruguay. I don’t know why, but I didn’t take a picture. We then stopped at a store for them to buy a refrigerator magnet. I collected them before we remodeled our kitchen. I did see this sign while they were shopping: We arrived back at the ship around 11:30 or so, and stopped at Al Baccio for coffee. After that back to the room. As we arrived, our room steward showed up, Than, from Thailand. Apparently, he just joined the ship, so he doesn’t have cards yet. At about 1:45 we decided to go to the buffet for lunch. It was crazy busy. Nothing much appealed so we got pizza and salad. After lunch, we went back to the room so I could work on my blog and class. While working on this, we watched the beginning of the Extended Edition of Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets. We also arranged to meet Bob and Melissa for dinner. The dance band had their first set today at 5, so we headed down to that. Their next set was at 6:45, so we headed to Michael’s club for a dink, and snacks - small veggie platter and potato chips. This takes the place of the afternoon snacks they used to deliver to your room, and are now on the food bar on revolutionized ships. Towards the end of the dance set Bob & Melissa showed up, and we finished drinks and went to dinner. Three of us chose to start with the baked brie in Blu. It was disappointing, as it appeared to be fried and over done, so very little oozing brie. Bob also chose the short rib appetizer and it looked great. For entrees, Glen and I both had the New York streak, with carrots and beet reduction. Here’s a blurry picture and you can see that the carrots consisted of 2 little pieces and the beet reduction was just smeared on the plate. That said, the steak was very good and cooked perfectly. (A little blurry - sorry about that) For dessert, I had Cherries jubilee from either the main or Blu (I’m not sure which they gave me, as it was on both menus. The problem for me on the Luminae dessert is that of the 3 desserts, two had chocolate, and the third was pine nut flan, which is just odd. Bob and Melissa had the Hazelnut cake, which looked good. After dinner we walked around for a bit, and the went back to the room and did our usual - finish the movie and bed. Tomorrow is Punte de Estes. It’s one of the two new ports for us (not counting Santiago).

For you, anything. Here you go ...

Following. I was on the Solstice with my sister in February. Her first trip to the Mexican Riviera. Have a great trip. I'm currently on the Infinity in South America. And Charla, please forgive me, but what is neurodiverse? I've never heard the term before.

I think we last left me in Buenos Aires. Here's boarding day before I go to bed having just finished my coursework until Tuesday. Infinity - Day 1 - Boarding Today is the day for our most days ever cruise. We decided to get a quick breakfast, so we set the alarm with enough time to pack before breakfast. We got up, did most of our packing and headed to breakfast. We were seated and got coffee. About the breakfast - it wasn’t one of the best buffets I’ve seen. There was fruit and pastries, juice, and a couple of hot plates of things I couldn’t identify (same thing in the lounge). The second day, the server offered us an omelette or fried egg, but they didn’t do that today or Thursday. I had a dulce de leche filled croissant and fruit salad. On our way to customs on Wednesday, I got an email and text from Celebrity that boarding was going to be delayed due to Norovirus. So I’d coordinated with the other people on my transfer (Bob and Michelle) about moving it to 11 or so. I contacted the company, but they were unable to do it, so it stayed at 10:30. We left breakfast at 10:10, and headed to the room to grab our stuff. At 10:14, the hotel called to say that our ride was here. I said we’d be right down. We did one final sweep and grabbed our luggage and headed down. Michelle was there with her bags, so we loaded those. Her friend Debbie was still upstairs dealing with the fact that, because she’d been rerouted onto a different airline, her bags didn’t make it. Debbie eventually came down and reported her bags were still in Panama. Bob and Melissa soon joined us, and we were off after confirming we had the right shuttle. We saw S&K outside waiting for their transfer. We arrived at the port in about 15 minutes. They dropped us off and we entered to ask where to drop the bags. They told us to go to door 7. We went down there, and there were a bunch of people looking at boarding passes. They had rolls of stickers with numbers (sort of like you get if you do a cruise line tour), and currently had 1 and 3. At first she gave us 3, but I said we ere in a suite, so we got 1. We gave them our bags, and headed into the waiting area. There apparently wasn’t a separate suite area, so we sat with the rest of our shuttle. Apparently no suite waiting area. I asked how we would know what to do and they said they’d make an announcement, and then we’d head to the lone desk in the center of the room. Since there are over 50 suites, that might be 100 people around a small desk, but it turned that once they called us at 12:15, we just walked behind the desk to security. After putting our bags through we went upstairs, to a small room in the corner of the second floor with rows of chairs. Once sitting a rep came up to us to check us. We were asked about vaccines and symptoms. Once we were checked in, the put a bracelet on us to indicate we were done, gave us what looked like a boarding pass, and sent us to the next stop - immigration. I think the US is one of the few countries where they don’t check you out when you leave. It was the same as on Wednesday, thumb print and picture. We were then sent to the next station which was passport. The agent took the passport, put half the boarding card in it, and gave us the other half as a receipt. Then it was down the stairs to the busses for the ship. We were first on our bus, and I thought maybe we’d have to wait until full, and given the trickle of people it could be a while. A second couple boarded the bus, and then what appeared to be two Celebrity people, and we left. A 10 minute ride and we were on the ship. We first went up to drop our bags, but the corridor was closed off. So we decided to head to Luminae for lunch. Our muster station is the Rendezvous lounge, and so we stopped there on the way. They checked us off for arriving, and we commented that we hadn’t been able to watch the drill on the tv, and if we did it on the phone we’d each have to do it. So they suggested that they just give it to us. I said I’d do it, and proceeded to rattle off what to do. We had fun with that, and when we checked, we were all checked in. About then I got a text from Bob, that they were at Luminae. We arrived soon after and were seated at a table next to them, so we pushed them together and had a nice lunch. I had the pea soup and filet mignon. We skipped dessert. After lunch we went to the room to drop our backpacks and our luggage was there. So we unpacked. The storage here is a little odd, in that the closet is in the corner of the entryway, but we got everything into someplace. I also got a message from Linda, a woman on both our cruises, and we’d agreed to meet. She said they were in the martini bar and I said we’d be there after we unpacked. While we were unpacking, our butler Maria came in to talk to us, and we went over a lot of things. She’s very nice. We finished unpacking and then went to explore the ship, since it’s Glen’s first cruise on an M class. We started on Deck 3 with Tuscan and when we got to deck 4 we saw Linda and her husband Don. We started chatting but there was a DJ in the atrium, so we went to the Rendezvous lounge and talked for a while. After that we finished our tour, we went back to the room to get ready for the evening. I was surprised that we didn’t see our room steward, nor did we have a card for him. We noticed their dance band was playing at 6:45, so we got dressed and headed to the Lounge. They were pretty good, and played danceable songs. The had a 45 minute break, so we decided to go to Michaels Club and maybe have a drink. We spent a bit of time with the concierges, Milca and Jairo. Jairo recognized me from the Eclipse last summer, and then I remembered him. It was nice to see him again. We’d noticed that the counter in front of the tv was sticky, so Glen asked the concierges to let someone know. We went back to the lounge for a 7:45 set. We did see S&K there, and the said they’d had dinner early. After the set, we had dinner. I started with burrata, as I usually do, but for dinner I had a new choice. Prime Rib is back in the dining rooms, and tonight I had a choice between main dining prime rib and Blu prime rib. I went with Blu and probably next week will go with main dining. After dinner, we went back to the room, and I set up our DVD player. While home from my last cruise, I found the power cord and the remote. It turned out that the TV simply had a bunch of channels and none of the smart features of the rest of the ships, so setting it up was a matter of attaching everything, and voila! For the DVDs, I bring all the Star Wars, Lord of the Rings and Harry Potter movies. We started tonight with the first Harry Potter movie. We watched it and then went to bed. Tomorrow, it’s Montevideo.

Thanks, but it is. Other people have the same problem.

Actually, course work. I should have updates starting tonight - I've got a couple of days ready, and should get caught up soon. Internet is OK, Good on laptop, but the phone goes in and out. No idea why.

Well, I should have said usually. We actually had one cruise that was a Princess ship coming out of drydock in Victoria in December. It was a straight 3 day cruise from Vancouver to LA. We circumvented the customs area in Vancouver, and did it in LA.

There are two systems. The older system, which my anecdotal evidence says is on the non-revolutionized ships, is that you ask the cashier to transfer some multiple of 50.00 (today someone told me on the Infinity it's 5 - I'll see tonight). You get a ticket for 50.00, which you can put in a slot machine, play, and then cash out for a redemption ticket, which you can give to the cashier and get cash (or keep playing with it - my sister ran down to about 4.00 before cashing in last cruise). I think you have to actually put it in a machine, and not just walk back to the cashier with the slip they gave you. On the revolutionized ships you can load the machine directly from your card.

Infinity Day 0 - Buenos Aires Day 2 Today was our food tour. Two ladies from our roll call were joining us, Michelle and Debbie. They both arrived yesterday, although Debbie missed a connection, so was rerouted to Copa, We met them in the lobby, and learned that while Debbie arrived, her luggage didn’t. Right around 10:30 Fabian, our guide arrived. The tour is a walking food tour in San Telmo. Fabian agreed to meet at our hotel, and we can cab over. Because there are 4 of us, it will take two cabs. We went outside, and within about 10 minutes had the two cabs. Fabian told the driver of the first cab where to go - we sent Glen and Michelle in that one, and Fabian took Debbie and me. We arrived at the corner specified, the cabs were paid and we went into our fist of 3 stops - a bar/coffee shop, where we learned all about mate tea, the Argentine drink. We also had several pastries. On the pastries, Fabian showed us a report on instagram of the best cookies in the world. The first was an Algerian cookie, and the Argentine Aljajores (Dulce de Leche sandwich cookie) was second. Incidentally, form the US there were 3 in the top 100. Chocolate chip at 13, and further down, snickerdoodles and then peanut butter cookies. We also had croissants, and some Dulce de Leche, which I spread on the croissant. Most of the time was spent learning about mate. First we drank some from tea bags, and then we learned about the gourd, where loose tea is put in, water is added, and you drink it out of a a filtered straw. We learned about some of the sharing traditions, although there’s less of that since Covid. He also told us about the plastic kits, which have a small tub of loose tea and a plastic filter. You add water, and we drank it and then more water and drink again. Each drink gets smoother. That was a lot of fun and then we were off to our next stop, the Empanada stop. We ended up at a empanada specialty restaurant. We could pick beef lamb or pork. I had pork and Glen had lamb and we traded tastes. That’s where we learned that the dough was decorated differently depending on the filling. For example, as we saw yesterday, the veggie ones are folded and the beef are braided. They were all good, but we were sitting outside, and it was very hot. Fabian promised the meat stop would be air conditioned. From there we walked to a local Parrilla. Steak is, of course, what Argentina is famous for. We had a popular French Fry preparation - with garlic and parsley. The garlic wasn’t overpowering so it was good. We also had grilled Provolone cheese, also good. For steaks, we had flank, tenderloin and sirloin. For sauce you usually get chimichurri and a mix of onion, tomato, and red peppers. It was accompanied by a very nice red wine. There were leftovers, but he had another tour, and we were in a hotel so they stayed there. After the tasting we said goodbye to Fabian. Debbie and Michelle wanted to buy some wine and needed a pharmacy for some face cream. Fabian had given us directions and we found a very nice wine shop. They bought some wine. We have a day in BA after the cruises so we might go back. Across the street was a pharmacy, so we headed there. It was small with everything behind the counter, which was similar to the pharmacy I went into in Curacao last year (contact solution). They got what we needed, so Glen called an Uber for us. The Uber guy came reasonably quickly, and we headed back to the hotel. After a break, we were going to change money for dinner. Michelle indicated she wanted to go, so asked me to text when we were were leaving. About 30 minutes later, I texted, but she said she’d rather rest, which was fine. We didn’t know exactly how to get to Florida street, so we decided to ask the concierge. As we headed to the elevators, I decided to go back to the room to get some cold water. Alas, my key stopped working for the second time. So I went back without water. One of the Concierges told Glen to go to the Howard Johnson, and there’s a guy there that will give you the Blue Rate. So we found it on a map on Florida street and walked over. We entered the lobby and wandered around for a bit, and finally asked the bell guys. They said it was the office across from them. We thought maybe it was a gift shop because there were things displayed. But walking in it was an office and a guy there. We gave him a US 100.00 add got back around 33000 thousand. Enough for dinner and maybe the rest of our incidentals. We headed back to the hotel for a while. Around 6:15 I got an email from one of the people we are going to the port with that they’d arrived, and were heading to the lounge. I said I’d stop by and say hello. I went up and we spent a while chatting. I’d made a reservation for 6 people for dinner, but that assumed S&K were coming, but apparently they’re not hanging with other people. So I invited the couple, Bob & Melissa to join us and Brenda and Bill, the other couple. They said yes, so I said to meet in the lobby at about 7:45. In the meantime, Brenda & Bill arrived. We were meeting them for a drink in our hotel at 7 and then going to dinner. We had a nice drink, Bob and Melissa joined us and we decided to get two Ubers. Bill had no trouble, but both Glen and Bob did. We sent Bill and Brenda off and told them to check us in. Eventually we did get an Uber, and arrived only about 10 minutes late. The restaurant was called Fervor, and it was very nice. We decided to split a 500 g rib-eye, and have creamed spinach and baked potato. Bob ordered the provolone appetizer and we split it. We also ordered dessert and coffee. For dessert, I ordered a pancake with dulce de leche, which turned out to be a slightly bruleed crepe filled with dulce de leche. It was fantastic. At the end, and about 10:45, we decided it was easiest to split the bill 3 ways, since nobody had a whole lot more than anyone else. It ended up, with tip, to be about 19000 Argentine, around 50.00 total for us. That was a great meal for that. We then Ubered back to the hotel and said good night. Before bed I put on my luggage tags, because tomorrow we board.

Our February cruise had San Diego after Mexico before going back to LA, and yes, we had to do immigration there. And if you cruise from Vancouver to Alaska, or down the California coast, you will do immigration in Vancouver. We once did an Alaska cruise round trip LA. Our first stop was Vancouver. We had to do immigration before reboarding and if you didn't want to go ashore you still had to get off the ship. You have to do some sort of immigration on your first entry to the US.

I'm on the Infinity and had my choice of Prime Rib from the MDR or Blu (I'm in a sky suite) last night. I had one and it was good. I was also told that one night there would be lobster in a 3 dining venues. Cheers.

Infinity - Day 1 - Buenos Aires 1 Today, we have a Jewish Tour planned, followed by a dinner booked with a company called Eat With. We get breakfast, and we were meeting Rosty, our guide, at 10. After breakfast, we went upstairs to get our stuff and headed down at about 9:45. Just before 10:00 he arrived. Before we started, he asked if we had our passports, because we would need them to get into the synagogue museum. Glen went to get them and I chatted with Rosty. He’s from Ukraine, but grew up in Buenos Aires. He was not raised Jewish, but is by ancestry. Glen soon joined us with both passports, although we did have a brief discussion of whether or not a passport card would suffice. Rosty decided to ask them when we get there. He asked where we’d been, and we said the basic city tour. He did say that among other places we’d be going to the Cathedral, because there’s something there related to our tour that we’d likely not been shown before. We went out to car, and met our driver, Ceasar. We hopped in and away we went. Here are some highlights of the day. Our first stop was at the original location of the Israeli embassy. In 1992, a suicide bombing occurred when a truck loaded with explosive smashed in to the building. 29 people were killed, including a priest in a nearby building and the building totaled. It has never been rebuilt. Instead, it’s been made into a memorial park, with trees, and a small display with rocks, menorahs, a cross and a teddy bear. Unfortunately, two weeks ago, that display was broken into and the items removed, probably for the silver. Some of the original framework of the embassy was left in place. Here’s a picture. Another early stop was the Cathedral. Before we went in though, we went to the museum of Argentine Independence to look out of the balcony, which gives the best view of the Plaza De Mayo, from across from the Casa Rosada. Following that, we went into the cathedral itself. We stopped by a chapel on the side. It took a few minutes to get to a display on the wall that Rosty wanted to show us, because there was a group there. They finally moved out of the way, On the wall was a memorial to the holocaust. There were torah pages from some of the camps, and some other documents. Another stop was at a former jewish neighborhood. We first saw some very cool building graffiti We then walked the neighborhood. Rosty pointed out some of the few kosher grocery stores, and we did see a couple of synagogues that weren’t in use anymore. This one is gorgeous, and we don’t remember if it’s being used. Next highlight was a market in San Telmo, where a longtime Jewish artisan family made ceramic items. They were mostly colorful little buildings, because, as Rosty explained, that’s what the tourists like. In some open area areas they’ve decorated the top with umbrellas/. While most of the aisles are colorful, they put this up in December after the World Cup: Notice it’s the flag. The yellow umbrella is the sun in the middle of the flag. We had lunch at a very nice restaurant in San Telmo called Ideal, I think. It was closed for a very long time and then just reopened. The chef is a baker, so we had sandwiches followed by a dulce de leech cheesecake. Very yummy. After lunch we headed to the mail synagogue of Buenos Aires. Rosty took GLen’s passport card and tried to see if they would take it. They didn’t. The synagogue has a museum and we looked at some of that, and eventually made our to the main area. It’s gorgeous. As we left the synagogue there was a scroll with pens. Visitors are asked to sign the scroll with the next number. The goal is to get to 6 million, the number of Jews killed in the Holocaust. The next major site was another terrorist site. We drove through a neighborhood of fabric stores to a bombed out building - the site was the Argentine Israelite Mutual Association, a Jewish community Center. In 1994, two years after the embassy bombing another suicide van drove into it and exploded, killing 85 people and injuring 300. The site is preserved and across the street there’s a plaque on the ground by a tree with a QR code. It opens to information about a victim. It was getting close to our finish time of 5, but Rosty didn’t want to finish with a sad thing so we went to the Rose Garden park. There are lots of statues there, including one of George Washington as a statesman. Also in the garden is a series of statues of poets. One is Shalem Aleichem, who is mostly known for writing “Tevya and his Daughters", the basis for Fiddler on the Roof. We walked through the garden with lots of roses. After that we went back to the hotel, arriving around 5:30. It was a very nice day. Tonight, I’d booked a dinner through a company called Eat With, that connects people to eating experiences with people who like to cook. I’d picked out an experience with a local young woman named Josafina, who offered a cooking class for empanadas. A few years ago, we had a Blue Apron empanada dish. There was extra filling, so Glen decided to make dough. It didn’t go great. So I thought we’d learn. We were supposed to be there at 7, and Rosty told us 20 minutes. So at 6:35ish we went downstairs to get an Uber. Glen then realized he didn’t have it set up. So he went in to add a credit card. Then we tried calling the Uber. It took a couple of minutes to get a driver, and it said he was 9 minutes away. For a long time, he didn’t move. It really took about 20. I let Josefina know we were running late. At about 7:15 the driver dropped on a street. We didn’t see the address, so we wandered for a few minutes and found it. We let her know we were downstairs, and she came down. We went up to their third floor apartment where we her boyfriend Natcho. The dining room table was set for 4 but we went into the kitchen where 2 stools had been set up with a work table. We started with making dessert, which was Flan. She made the caramel but we mixed the dough. Next was the empanadas. We were having beef with olives, eggs, parsley, onions and pepper. Glen cooked up the meat and then Josefina showed him how to make the dough. While this was going on, Nacho brought out some picked eggplant, cheese, bread and olives for us to snack on, as well as an aperitif, and wine. One wine was called orange wine. No, it’s not made from oranges, but rather it’s white made with red processing techniques. It was quite good. We enjoyed good conversation, while we waited for the dough and meat to be ready. Next, we assembled the empanadas. In addition to the meet, we had cheese and onion. Those got folded into a u (you can see them in the picture0 The last thing we made was a jar of our own pickled eggplant. She gave us a bowl of sliced and dried eggplant, and some spices and olive oil and we filled the jars. Then it was time for dinner. Here we are: The moon was beautiful rising over the building across the way. We had good conversation and enjoyed both types of empanadas. We finished with the flan, and it was amazing.. After enjoying our dessert, it was time to go. Josefina walked us down and we waited about 3 minutes for an Uber. This was easier, and we were soon back at the hotel with our jars of eggplant. Overall, a very nice day.

mine too, and I know how you feel.

Infinity - Day -2 Sao Paulo to Buenos Aires Moving on, there were was no need to worry as the flight only arrived about 2-3 minutes late. We exited the plane, and wound around, following all the workers saying “Buenos Aires - this way”. It led us to a security line which had about 30-40 people ahead of us, but it moved quickly and by 10am we were done. On our way up the escalator to the international gates, the power went completely out. We walked up the stairs and found the gate, after a fairly long walk along the terminal. Nothing seemed to be happening, so I went to the UA app to see if there was a lounge we could go to. There was one, and it said it was above the duty free shops. We thought we’d seen them, so back we went in the very hot airport. We wandered around and no sign of a lounge above the shops. We asked someone who pointed us to a corridor of the. Shops 90 degrees from our gate corridor. We wandered there, and saw the lounge above us, but saw no way to get there. We asked at another lounge, and she told us where the stairs were. We arrived there, and it was still hot, and the bathrooms were closed. So I grabbed some water, and headed to the gate. As we were leaving, there was an announcement that the flight was boarding, 10 minutes before the boarding pass said. We shlepped back to the gate, and found the zone one boarding, and got held. At the lounge they told Glen that the power would be back on by 11am. And at 11 the various systems came back up. Funny thing - I asked the gate person how they would get the plane boarded for an on time departure (not that I care at this point) and she said it was a smaller plane. Huh, I still had my seat number on the app for wide body. And sure enough, when they let us through, it was still the 787. On the way to my seat I saw so said hello and talked to him for a few minutes. We got in roughly on time. We waited a short while for customs, and then headed out to baggage claim. The baggage started coming quickly, but there was a lot of it, and it took our luggage about 15 minutes to come. We chatted with S&K until it did. From there we had to go to an X-ray machine, and then out to the meeting area. Our ride wasn’t there. We wandered around for about 10 minutes, and then tried to figure out how to call the company. While Glen was figuring that out, I found our driver. We quickly loaded into his car, and it was easy from there. We got to the hotel around 4, and quickly got checked in. We had been upgraded to a club room. We came in got settled, rested and then around 6 went to the lounge to meet a couple from the roll call. We spent a very nice couple of hours with them, and then around 8:00, I went back to the room, did some email and then went to bed around 10:30. We have a couple of busy days here before the cruise.

Great info, thanks.

Pending does not necessarily mean the bid was accepted. I looked at mine a day or so ago, and it was pending. Now it's rejected.