Arrival in Argentina

Flying through Dallas, Jeannie and I arrived in Buenos Aires this morning, four timezones ahead of Arizona. One of the smoothest long flights I've been on, which is good to know since I was a little concerned about flying a US airline (AA) abroad. I was actually able to sleep for about half the flight, which was a real blessing. Our luggage was literally right in front of us when we got to the baggage claim (another blessing based on our past issues!), and then we went out to the car service station, where there was a reservation waiting for us. 

Ezeiza airport is north of Buenos Aires city, and it's just over an hour's drive south to La Plata, where the car took us directly to the Home school I'm here to visit. We passed Queens/Bronx style apartment buildings, some sheetmetal slums, and then undeveloped coastal plains (with JUST a view of the sea) before reaching La Plata. This city was planed out entirely before being built in the late 1800s, so it's gridded with planned plazas and all the streets are numbered, making it very easy to get around without getting fully lost or really needing a map. The crazy part is the drivers! They don't stop for pedestrians, and often there aren't lights, stopsigns, or crosswalks, so crossing streets requires your full attention! But most of the streets are one-way, which helps. 

After a quick tour of the Home school, which we'll work with more tomorrow, its director, Andrea, took us on a driving tour of La Plata, pointing out "the forest" and zoo, the linden tree-lined streets (the city of lindens), a cathedral that was only just finished about ten years ago, the universities, etc. We then checked into our hotel, which is nice and looks like it will be quite comfortable (though anything with a bed would look that way right now!). We went to lunch with Andrea, then back to our hotel. To keep ourselves awake, we went for a nice long walk up to the main plaza where the cathedral is, which we went into, and then walked a different route back. Now it's just about dinner time, and we'll see how much longer we can stay awake past then! More tomorrow!