Day 2 Buenos Aires

Deplaned no problem but mom had to stop 5 times to ask directions on how to get out.  I told her all airports are the same and just follow me.  Apparently she thinks the ice cream vendors know better!  Got bags-no problem but almost lost dad on a trip to the bathroom.  We decided to divide and conquer until we could get a bell on Mickey.   Taxi to hotel Savoy was fine and so was check in.  I told mom and dad to meet us in our room when they were unpacked and ready to explore and we heard them in the hall talking to people but they never came.  The front desk called and said they got lost and for us to come down, so we did.    We wanted to get a quick bite so my mom asked where there were good empanadas and she came out and said the BEST empanadas in BA are one block away.  Unfortunately, she did not get the name of the place or the direction so we believe we ate the best empanadas in BA but very much could have sat across the street from the best empanada place in BA.  I like to believe we did find the right place.  They were AWESOME.

Walk to the plaza de mayo, where in the 70's all the women had children taken from them and given to soldiers and anyone who was not on the right side of politics was brought up in a helicopter and dropped in the ocean.  My dad was very proud to report that of the 11 times he stowed away in ships leaving the county that he never picked anything except a us ship because they did not throw the stowaways in the water to drown.  The .9 mile walk which I directed was long, hot and brutal.  Every step we took on the broken, pot holed, uneven sidewalk could have ended our trip and it was 101 degrees.   We finally made it and saw the Presidential Mansion, btw the president is the old former president of Boca Juniors Soccer Team (only in Argentina).  Every single TV on in this country has a soccer game being played.  We walked back at an Alex Betke pace and decided to take a break before our big Tango/Dinner Show that evening.   I called and told them we would walk the block to the restaurant instead of getting picked up but that proved to be a mistake in the end.   Got to our room and popped open a few beers I got at the market and invited dad down for a wine cocktail before we left.    Now the story starts getting better.   Walk to show in 101 temps and got front row seats to the sit down dinner for 500.  We immediately met Peter, a Swede who travels the world for business and he was very much bragging about how great Sweden was and named a ton of inventions that we would not have today without Sweden.  (dad could not hear that well because he took a shower with his hearing aides in-first day and they no longer work!).  Here are a few of the items he took credit for (Erin, can you please check the validity of these as I do not have time and i told him before i put in my blog, i would do the research).
Coke Bottle Design, Milk from cow Separator (the centrifuge), zipper, 3 pt seat belt (1950), absolute vodka, Ikea, H&M, Abba (the band, not the girl) and incidentally musicals in general, yellow and blue colors boca juniors because they could not decide on colors and they decided to wait until the next ship came to harbor and it was Sweden so the colors of boca is yellow and blue (Sweden colors), Swedish fish, Ibrohimovich, Nobel peace prize, dynamite, face recognition, Swedish meatballs, skype, spotify, ball bearings, bluetooth and there was more but i got hit with MIND ERASER if you know what i mean.  Now i have a notebook to write down when fresh.  He also claimed they invented the adjustable wrench, which i told him was a complete f up and they are personally responsible for stripping bolts all across the county.  He said if used correctly it is a miracle tool.   To top it all off, he said he projected Michelle Obama to be the next president of the United States.  Anyway it was really fun to talk to him and hear how proud he was of his country even though, i told him no one uses skype anymore.  I think he had a crush on Jen!  I wish Americans were as proud of their county as people we have met in Spain, South America, etc.  I rattled off a ton of things the Swedes could thank us for also. 

BTW, Peter the swede carries a purse just like me!  He's not embarrassed at all!

Food was good but Tango dancers were unbelievable.  Forget any other sport because this one is for keeps.  Screw up in football and you give up 7 points,  screw up in baseball and the most you give up is 4 runs, soccer 1 goal, hockey 1 goal.   You screw up in Tango and you could possible get kicked square in the nuts (most likely with a chubby).    I leaned over to Jen and said, "you never wear dresses with slits in them anymore!" (which is a true story).  I'm not sure how many of you know, but Jen and I are both classically trained in Tango and other dance, FYI.  I saw my dad losing attention span and even though they poured us unlimited wine, 2.5 hours of Tango is a lot.  Needless to say, we took a car home and got to bed by 1:30 AM.   6:30 AM came really quick BUT we made a smart move and bought small luggage to use for our 2-3 day trips out of BA.  We are leaving our big bags in the hotel Savoy as we always come back to it.    Good First Day in Argentina.  Tomorrow we go to Posadas to see where my dad was born and lived and we will get picked up at the airport by Poroto, my dads brother, if he got the letter they sent 3 weeks ago.