Day 1: Hola Buenos Aires!

When you have 16 people flying into a country they've never been to on three different days, you'd think whimsical weather patterns, belligerent baggage carousels and the fact that nobody has a working phone might cause some coordination issues, yeah? Well, apparently not. Think we cashed in a collective year's worth of good luck finding each other and moving into our apartments in Palermo, BA right on time. I did have to spend a full two hours with our dear but formidably chatty apartment manager Gloria, learning how not to break, flood, set fire to, or otherwise molest said apartments, but that's almost nothing. Really.

We did however, happen to fly into Buenos Aires on a rare dry day; which, to souls parched for some of that fabled Argentinian Malbec was a tad annoying. No alcohol before 8 pm. Something about an setting a precedent? Or electing a President. One of those two.

[Update: We have since made up for those few hours of teetollaing several, several times over. So don't worry. We're totally on top of it]

The highlight of the afternoon was definitely our first run at delicious empanadas. But that was followed by the news that the lunch place we were at (placed called El Sanguino? in Recoletta) were out of antelope stew. Which was quickly followed by the realization that venison stew was a damn good substitute. The meat eating had begun. Meat eating. Meating!

And here are two of my favourite shots of the day. One features a jump for joy at the discovery that the BA Tango festival is just around the corner. And the other featuring a studly MBA2 pondering which of his two-and-a-half killer Espanol pickup lines to use.

Nighttime saw us descend upon the capable Don Julio restaurant in Palermo. It was here that I met this fine cut of steak they call 'vacio' - so tender and fresh, that it mooed as I had a moment with it.

The evening took an unfortunate turn with some trekker-on-trekker violence involving one very red glass of wine, and one very white, very absorbent linen shirt. Names have been withheld to protect.. the vinery from whence the wine came. There are no pictures either. Eyewitnesses remember it being quite a sight.