The etiquette of waiting in thirteen different lines

The day started out perfectly.  Kate and I had the usual breakfast of medialunas and cafe con leche at La Imprenta.  We lingered afterwards, catching up on all the myriad of things I have missed in the last three weeks.  And when we were done, we realized we had completely failed at planning out our week-- the primary purpose of our leisurely breakfast!!

We spent some of the morning waiting in the Buquebus terminal to purchase tickets for our planned trip to Uruguay later this week.  Quad and I traveled to Colonia with Buquebus, so I had slight idea of what to expect.  I told Kate to bring her book.  For your amusement, here's the process:

1.) Arrive in the terminal.  Ignore signs telling you to present to the information desk.  Instead, head straight for the tourism office.

2.) Check in with the nice secretary who asks for your passport for no good reason.  She will put your name on a list to meet with a travel agent.

3.) Sit and wait in the waiting room for about an hour to meet with an agent.  During this time, a chime periodically rings to signal that the next customer should present to the next available agent.  I was entirely unclear how to know when and where to be waited on...  until it was my turn.

4.) Enjoy the numerous slide shows of possible vacation packages available from the Buquebus company-- Hungary, Aruba, New York City.  Guess what, folks.  I just want to go to Uruguay.  Thank you.

5.) Realize that when your turn is called, your name flashes in HUGE letters on the t.v. screens surrounding the waiting area.  I seriously had a minute when I wasn't sure who "Sra Conquest Anne" was... ummm.  Duh.

6.) Meet with the travel agent for about five minutes, explain you simply want ferry tickets to get to Uruguay.  She types in all of the information and tells you go to the cashier.

7.) Wait in line for the cashier.  Pay with a credit card (a rarity in Argentina) and leave with the hard fought fruits of labor... tickets to Uruguay on the ferry.

Other than administrative tasks, we had a basic plan for the day: eat, wander, eat, wander, eat, wander:

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[The best pizza in BA-- we did not leave a crumb on the plate]

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[Kate photographs the statue of General San Martin]

[An alley of galleries and shops in the Recoleta neighborhood]

  Bicycle helmet count: 4