Long Bus Rides and Thanksgiving with the Natives

Thanksgiving is time for friends and family, so I was very happy that Lyle arrived today on Thanksgiving morning to visit me for the next week and a half. After a very long overnight flight from the states, I thought he might appreciate my meeting him at the airport rather than taking a taxi. I did a little research on the internet and found a bus line that reportedly takes an hour. I’d need about 30 minutes to take the subway to this bus. So, just to be on the safe side, I doubled the time requirement thinking that 3 hours would be plenty of time to get there. Oh what wishful thinking!!! When I got to the reported location of the 51 bus line, there was nothing there. This was supposed to be a large terminal. I asked someone who told me it was right here 5 years ago, and is now around the corner. I have a 2008 bus guide known as the Guia’T. Maybe more than 5 years is needed to update the info. There are also about 4 different 51 bus lines, none of which go directly to the airport. I needed to take two of them. And of course, each of these bus lines took about 45-60 minutes with a 30 minute wait in between them. At the end of the morning, my quick little jaunt to the airport to meet Lyle took 4 hours!!! I think I could have cycled faster. And to add to the whole scenario, Lyle’s flight arrived early. I have little patience waiting. This Thanksgiving I’m glad Lyle has a lot more patience than I do.

During the day we went to a few tourist attractions. In the evening, we went to a Tango show at the famous Café Tortoni and then for Thanksgiving dinner at a local parilla, La Cabrerra. I had previously been to the Café Tortoni show in their upstairs room, but this time we went to the downstairs room and I highly recommend the downstairs show to anyone planning on visiting. Nothing defines Buenos Aires more than the tango. This show goes back to the roots of Tango with a fabulous historical theme to the dances and acting.

We decided to forgo the traditional turkey dinner and have Argentine steak instead. La Cabrera has been recommended to me by over 5 different people. Seems it’s been recommended to every traveler to Buenos Aires, as I heard more English than I do in San Francisco. We were finally seated around 11pm. I invited two argentine friends, Martin and Agustin, and a Swiss friend from the school, Domenica. After a quick explanation of what Thanksgiving is in the States, Agustin piped up saying, “So, I guess we’re the natives here,” and pretended to add a feather to his hat. This Thanksgiving I’m grateful for the wonderful Argentines I’m meeting who are adopting me to their country, friends from all over the world as we struggle to get through the Spanish language together and share travel tips, friends like Lyle who come to visit, and of course my family and friends back home. BTW, the steak was excellent. I may have to adopt this as a new Thanksgiving trend.


Thanksgiving Dinner at La Cabrera


Although not typical in Argentina, dinner was served with many tapas.