Lovin' Buenos Aires

I arrived in the domestic airport in Buenos Aires yesterday afternoon. I can proudly say I am now one of those "sign people." My hotel picked me up at the airport; the driver was waiting outside baggage claim with a sign with my name on it. I felt pretty darn special. It was nice to not have to worry about transportation. It was also nice to have a driver who grew up in BA show me a bit of the city on my way to the airport. His broken English, and my horrible (pretty muchnon-existent) Spanish, we made it work.
I waited (a long time) to check in. I'm in a lovely hotel, really five-star rating here, but the wait to check in...man, a bench would have been nice. And the concierge took my bags. So, when I finally got into my room, I had to wait for someone to bring up my luggage. What, wait? How could I wait? Only a day and a half to see BA and you want me to wait in my hotel rom for my luggage? No. So, I went back downstairs to get it my damn self, which is what I should have done in the first place, only to find they had finally brought it up. Whatever, It was in my room. Good. Great. Let's go. I had every intention of visiting the botanic gardens. I got a ride from the hotel to the gardens only to find the gardens closed. Why? No clue. So I wandered around Palermo looking for dinner. Only 6PM and I was already looking for dinner. I guess I could never be Argentinean. I finally found a cute vegetarian cafe. I did not realize how hungry and thirsty I was. By the time I got there, it was 7PM, I had been walking for two hours, about. The carrot juice hit the spot. And, of course, I found ice cream before heading back to the hotel. Heladerias on every other corner, how could I not? Dulce de leche ice cream is pretty delish, not gonna lie.
I took the subway back. Only 1.1 pesos. Wow. Pretty darn cheap. Also pretty clean and safe at 8:30PM. (No one goes out till 1 or 2 AM anyway.) There was a man playing the accordion. And I picked up on an American accent. Another college kid - from Washington state. I walked a bit on Florida St - the vendors were setting out their wares. Then headed back to the hotel. I sat at the bar (isn't it amazing?) and ordered a glass of wine. I had tried and liked Malbec and Torrentes, but not the Turrialba. They happened to have one by the glass. So, I tried that. (I have to say I prefer the Malbec and Torrentes.) I had a nice chat with the other Americans at the bar: two from Florida, one from upstate NY, one from Missouri, and a couple from CA. The couple is boarding a cruise to Antarctica today. They were interested to know how I liked my experience. Liked. Loved! Unfortunately for them, their ship has over 2000 passengers. They definitely will not get to do as much. I would love to go back.