| August/September 2013 - Argentina/UruguayI
decided to go to South America for this trip. Specifically,
Buenos Aires, Argentina and Carmelo, Uruguay. My reason for going
was simple: I had not been there and it piqued my curiosity.
I stayed at Four Seasons again. First in Buenos Aires, then next in Carmelo. The trip from Sacramento to Buenos Aires was relatively short. It took approximately 17 hours, including the layover in Houston. (Compared to most of my trips, that's short.) Customs in Buenos Aires was good. We got through immigrations, baggage claim, and Customs in less than 45 minutes. That was good. (Switzerland holds the record for great.) The driver from Four Seasons Buenos Aires was waiting for us outside of customs. 45 minutes later, we were at the hotel. We arrived early at the hotel. Hours before check-in early. Our room wasn't ready. I was willing to go to the bar or a local restaurant to wait, but the woman at the front desk gave us a free upgrade to a suite. We had to use a private elevator to get to it. (Insert booking.com commercial here.) I figured out later it was the Ambassador Suite located in the "La Mansión" part of the hotel. Here's the floor plan. The next day we did tourist stuff. First stop, the cemetery! Specifically, “Cementerio de la Recoleta”. That’s the cemetery where Evita Perón is buried… Besides a whole bunch of mausoleums, that’s pretty much it. The Basilica next to the cemetery was interesting. From the Basilica, we went to the Recoleta Cultural Center. To our surprise, there was a Hard Rock Cafe in there. Of course we had to go in and have a couple drinks. I also did something I would never do in America… Bought Hard Rock paraphernalia. After Hard Rock, we went to 3 different museums… Or we tried to go 3 different museums. We went to “Museo de Arte Latinoamericano de Buenos Aires" (Malba) first. When we arrived, there was a HUGE line to get in. So instead, we went to the second museum “Museo Nacional de Arte Decorativo". No line, old mansion, a lot of furniture. The last stop was “Museo Nacional de Bella Arte”. It was little deceiving and quite huge. Day 3, we went to a few malls. It’s the end of Winter there, so there were a lot of winter closeout sales. We didn’t buy anything… Buying Starbucks coffee doesn’t count. Side note: McDonalds and Starbucks may be everywhere, but their menus are definitely not the same everywhere. (No, we didn’t eat at McDonalds.) The next day, we transfered to Carmelo. Four Seasons Carmelo sent a car to pick us up. It was about a 20 minute ride from the hotel to Buquebus. (They provide high-speed ferry service between Buenos Aires, Argentina and Colonia, Uruguay.) Checked bags; Flew through immigration; Boarded the ferry. We had a first class upgrade so we got to sit upstairs. They have much nicer seats and a glass of Champagne waiting for you. About 1 hour and a quick nap later, we were in Colonia del Sacramento. Four Seasons Carmelo had another car waiting for us in Colonia. It was more of a van actually… Make that party bus. We were the only two on it. Our driver loaded our bags and then another 1 hour drive to Carmelo and the Four Seasons. Once there, we checked into our bungalow. Buenos Aires and Carmelo are very different. Where Buenos Aires is city, urban, etc., Carmelo is country, rural, laid back. Where there are many tall buildings in Buenos Aires, Carmelo has one… I think it may have been 6 stories tall. You go to Buenos Aires for night life. You go to Carmelo to relax and get away. One other big difference between Buenos Aires and Carmelo: The stars are much more visible in Carmelo. Here's the resort map. The following day was a lazy day: Eat, sleep, sauna, massage, eat, sleep. We went horseback riding the following day. Four Seasons has a deal with a stable, Tierra de Caballos, a couple miles down the road. We arrived and met our guide. He said his English wasn’t that good. I said my Spanish wasn’t that good. He asked if we have ridden before. I said a little. Then we got on our horses and off we went. It was about an hour ride. It was very nice. I even got some pictures this time. For dinner, we decided to eat at a local winery, Narbona. They also have a restaurant and sent a van to pick us up. We were the only ones there. Which meant for excellent service. The food was quite good. The next day was another do nothing day... We were supposed to go canoeing on day 8. Though it was sunny, unfortunately, it was also cooler and very windy. Too windy for canoeing. We had to cancel. But our guide, Fernando, suggested we go to a local winery, Narbona, instead. We had eaten at their restaurant a few nights before. We toured the winery and had some wine (their specialty is Tannat) and cheese. We found out our tour guide had worked in Napa valley for a few years. The tour was fun. After the winery, we went to the Four Seasons golf course just because… We went bike riding the next day. Four Seasons has bikes you can borrow at no charge. We took them off the resort and went to the Carmelo golf course. We rode around for about an hour. (During which time, our butts reminded us we had been horseback riding earlier in the week.). There were very few golfers there. There were a few construction workers too. (They’re building houses around the course.). We did a quick stop at the club house, then headed back to the resort. The last day, we caught the shuttle into Carmelo. (The resort has free shuttle service.) Carmelo is a small town. They have many small restaurants and shops. It's a good choice to eat if you're staying at the resort. I got a few questions about why I chose Four Seasons Carmelo to visit, or more accurately, how did I find the place. The resort, though very nice, is out of the way, approximately 10 minutes from Carmelo, on the shore of Río de la Plata. It's a 4 hour car ride from the Montevideo airport in Uruguay or 3 hours, by car, ferry, and shuttle, from the Buenos Aires airport in Argentina. You can also charter a plane to the local airport. We lucked out with the weather in Argentina and Uruguay. It was sunny just about every day, except the last day, and most days it was warm. However, it was the end of winter/beginning of spring, and although about 80% of the plants and trees had foliage, the others were just starting. We arrived at the end of August, but arriving at the end of September probably would have been better. That said, it was still a very good trip. For those that missed it, my blog updates from my South America trip are here: Richard's Tumblelog. Things to know about Argentina and Uruguay
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