February 1st
I got up and had to quickly get downstairs to catch the shuttle. After checking out, a gentleman speaking English was having a hard time with a taxi driver who was trying to charge him $35.00 USD for a drive from the airport. What the gentleman did not seem to realize is he picked up a Black Taxi Cab and they charge whatever they want. I asked him why he didn’t take the shuttle and he said he couldn’t find the counter. He was not a happy man, but did get settled on $20.00USD. The lady manager asked if I was going to have breakfast, that I had 6 minutes before the shuttle left. I really wanted to get something, but did not want to take a chance and miss the shuttle … that was a priority for me today. Besides, I would get lunch in Buenos Aires airport.
Well, I got dropped off and checked in. The lady at the counter informed me that I had to go through and pick up my suitcase. I was shocked and indicated that I only had 1.5 hours to go through process. She double-checked and it was confirmed that I had to do this … no choice.
I got on the plane and was very pleased that the lady at the counter gave me a seat by an exit door that did not have any seats in front of me so I could stretch out my legs. The problem was the plane was over half an hour late taking off. I did sleep some of the way, but not well as I was thinking about how I was going to get through to the next flight.
Normally, I am not aggressive, but I was moving my way through the crowd of people and was able to get near the front of the customs line. My suitcase was one of the first ones off as it was marked with a tag that it would be going on a connecting flight. I moved as quick as I could through the crowd to get to the ticket counter. An employee for the company who was working the floor asked me what I was doing and I told her I had to quickly catch my connecting flight. She said the gate was closed and told me to go to the side counter and they would book me into a flight the next available. She indicated that all flights were booked full for today and that I would have to wait until tomorrow. I was not happy.
I went over to the side counter and the lady said my flight was not late, I indicated that it was and at this time a young couple came up behind me and indicated that they also were on the same flight and that it was late. The lady looked confused and told us to go talk to the lady at the back of the lines where you enter. So we did, and to my surprise, she marked Gate 6 on my ticket … told me to go up to the counter quickly. She dropped the line belts so we could go directly to the lady at the counter. She took my ticket and my suitcase, did the paperwork in 20 seconds and told me to quickly get to gate 6.
I quickly had to run through the airport … why do they have the ticket counters on the opposite end of the airport from where you go through customs? LOL Well, let me tell you it was not easy running through with a backpack on loaded with camera gear and a laptop computer. Two ladies hollered something to the customs people and they let her through. I said, “Me too!” and the customs guard held his hand up for me to stop. The people in the line said, go through here … go! I got passed the few people that were in the line, “thank you kind people”. I went through customs quickly and didn’t even bother to put my belt back on. Running to Gate 6 holding my belt in one hand and my pants up with the other. LOL
I got to the gate – 2 people were just in front of me boarding and I looked up to see the sign LAST CALL!!!!! Oh, what a rush! I slept well on this flight to El Calafate! LOL
I was so tired from the flight down, that I went to sleep at about 7:30pm.
Feb. 02
Today, I found out that Ron was definitely not going to make it down. Between the cancelling of the first flight and a long delay on the second attempt to the point where he would miss his connections, it was not in the cards for Ron to come down to South America. I know he was sincerely frustrated and disappointed and I was saddened that he was not able to make it.
I started to revamp the plans, the days that I could change. I made every attempt to get ahold of the car rental agency, but was informed that I had to go to the airport to pick it up and they were not answering the phone.
After working on changing some of the plans, I went to the bank to get some cash and also to the grocery store to load up on groceries. I was informed that taking cash out and buying groceries in El Chalten was much more expensive then El Calafate. So, I was getting prepared. My thanks to Michel, for filling me in on these important points. Along with this, Michel informed me that most places only accept cash, so take extra Argentilian pesos.
At 2pm I caught the shuttle back to the airport and met with the Budget staff. We went through all the paperwork and I informed them that I could not purchase insurance through them where Ron and I had already purchased it. When we went out and checked over the vehicle they were getting me to sign everywhere and then they placed that I would be responsible for all car damage. I again informed them that the insurance covers it. We went back inside the airport and I talked with the two main gentleman. It turned out that where I purchased it through Expedia they this is not the company insurance. I thought I had gone through Budget, but it turns out this was not the case. We came up with the solution where they signed that I waived the insurance and signed it. I was happy with this result, and will most definitely try not to make that mistake again. They too indicated that it is much easier to deal directly with each company then to go through a middle process. I apologized to the gentlemen for my error in judgment.
This afternoon, I just drove around to see what was near the outskirts of town. I couldn’t get over the amazing color of the lake – so aqua!
