Author Topic: Argentina Master Thread  (Read 159722 times)

Online Yehoshua

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Re: Argentina Master Thread
« Reply #780 on: August 14, 2022, 12:44:56 PM »
I’ve got 7 hours in BA
I’ve booked a 75 minute private tour of La Boca and then I will be going by myself to check out San Telmo market.
I think that should be enough time.
As far as food is concerned, is McDonald’s a must?
Are their fries the same as any fries or do they have the famous Golden Fries?
To me McDonald's was more gimmicky, but I never ate there (not surprisingly, it's closed on when shabbos).

Online Something Fishy

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Re: Argentina Master Thread
« Reply #781 on: August 14, 2022, 12:55:15 PM »
McDonald's is absolutely vile. You go there for the shtick, then you go eat somewhere normal.
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Offline ad120

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Re: Argentina Master Thread
« Reply #782 on: August 14, 2022, 10:51:12 PM »
To me McDonald's was more gimmicky, but I never ate there (not surprisingly, it's closed on when shabbos).
McDonald's is absolutely vile. You go there for the shtick, then you go eat somewhere normal.
Thanks.
But what about the fries?
Are they classic McDonald fries or just like Unger’s frozen French fries?
That’s really all I care about here.

Online Yehoshua

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Re: Argentina Master Thread
« Reply #783 on: August 14, 2022, 10:53:57 PM »
Thanks.
But what about the fries?
Are they classic McDonald fries or just like Unger’s frozen French fries?
That’s really all I care about here.
Imo it's not worth going just for the fries.

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Re: Argentina Master Thread
« Reply #784 on: August 15, 2022, 01:37:11 AM »

Are they classic McDonald fries

How would anyone here know the answer to that question lol

For me the fried were the best part. Everything tasted like cardboard, but the fried were salty cardboard.
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Offline Zalc

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Re: Argentina Master Thread
« Reply #785 on: August 15, 2022, 03:34:44 AM »
Thanks.
But what about the fries?
Are they classic McDonald fries or just like Unger’s frozen French fries?
That’s really all I care about here.
10 years ago they were Classic McDonald fries, if that helps.
Everything else was very meh.
Back then McDonald’s kosher was one of the only places to have American ketchup, but that’s probably changed since.

Offline ad120

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Re: Argentina Master Thread
« Reply #786 on: August 15, 2022, 05:58:07 AM »
Okay.
So where to go for a quick bite in BA?

Offline saw50st8

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Re: Argentina Master Thread
« Reply #787 on: August 25, 2022, 12:50:00 PM »
Does anyone have a recommendation of a tour company that could customize a patagonia trip?

Offline saw50st8

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Re: Argentina Master Thread
« Reply #788 on: November 30, 2022, 08:16:59 AM »
I finally made it to Argentina! I may not have time to write a real TR, so I'll add some information here:

1) We flew JFK - GRU, and had an 11 hour stopover. We hired a guide who picked us up (and had room for our luggage) and drove us around for 7 hours. We basically all the sights of the city. Sao Paolo is nice, but 7 hours was mostly enough.

2) We flew GRU - IGU and had transportation arranged through the hotel to get to the Gran Melia. You have to get out of the car at both Brazil and Argentina border control. The Gran Melia is gorgeous and the most shabbos friendly hotel I've ever stayed at (with the exception of room keys). We did a day on the Brazil side - we took a bus tour of the Itaipu Dam (I couldn't convince my travel partners to take an engineering tour), went to the bird park, the boat ride and the trails at the falls. The nice part of the Brazil boat ride is that you can opt for a dry boat - you get close to the falls but not get soaked. We hired a driver/guide for this which allowed us to get through customs much faster and stay in the park later.

3) On the Argentina side, you do not need a guide at all. If anyone in your party has any sort of limitation, you cannot take the boat ride. Argentina in general is very friendly to individuals with disabilities including discounts for the individual and often for a companion.  The trails are easy to walk on; they are mostly metal platforms.

4) We went to Salta Sunday to Wednesday. Aerolinas Argentina has non-stop flights on Sunday from IGR. With delta status, we got 23kg luggage instead of 15 kg. In Salta, we stayed at the Sheraton. It's a beautiful hotel with great views of the city because it is on a hill; the hotel has a beautiful rooftop pool. The hotel is walking distance to the main square and the cable car.  We went to the salt flats one day (it's a bucket list item for me but I don't know if I will ever get to Bolivia; this one is much smaller but didn't disappoint) and the Las Cordones National Park and Cachi the next.  Our last morning, we went to the cable car, which has great views of the city. We used Tangol for our tours and they were excellent and have whatsapp for communication.

5) Next we hit Buenos Aires. We stayed at the Sheraton. It was also very shabbos friendly - we got a room on the third floor and the stairs were easily accessible. In BA, we went to the Tigre delta, did a city tour, walked through the cemetary and went to Uruguay for the day. We ate out at Al Galope, Ioko Sushi, La Empanaderie, Luba's Cafe and McDonalds. Al Galope was very good (cash only, will take USD), Ioko Sushi had amazing sushi (takes CC), La Empanaderie (cash only, took USD and gave us the blue dollar rate) had delicious empanadas, Luba's Cafe (delicious but we just got some desserts, they take CC) and McDonalds was disappointing because it wasn't terrible (they take CC).  We went to Chabad Recoleta for Shabbos and had a really nice lunch with their community and of course met other Jews from NY.

I was surprised at how much of a cash society Argentina is. We usually just use credit cards everywhere, but the exchange rate was drastically different. If you bring $100 US bills, you get a much better exchange rate on the black market.

Online Yehoshua

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Re: Argentina Master Thread
« Reply #789 on: November 30, 2022, 12:24:46 PM »
Wow, sounds like a nice trip! Thanks for sharing.

Offline Joe4007

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Online Yehoshua

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Offline lcm

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Re: Argentina Master Thread
« Reply #792 on: January 24, 2023, 11:13:13 PM »
Good stuff.
You gotta love how the big corps are embracing it

Offline ZCN

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Re: Argentina Master Thread
« Reply #793 on: October 30, 2023, 01:52:33 PM »
Looking to plan a trip at the end of the year, and I'm not finding that much to do. I will be traveling with 2 middle aged kids, and plan on spending 5 days in Argentina.
I plan on spending 2 days at IGR, but not sure what to do after that. The Lujan Zoo has apparently closed, and having gone through a bunch of trip reports, I'm not seeing a whole lot else to do that would be super interesting. Besides for going to Ushuaia, is there anything in the BA area that people would recommend?

Offline jonesy

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Re: Argentina Master Thread
« Reply #794 on: October 30, 2023, 05:19:26 PM »
You can take the ferry for a day trip to colonia Uruguay. There isn’t a ton to do there but we enjoyed the quaint town for a few hours.

Offline ad120

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Re: Argentina Master Thread
« Reply #795 on: November 01, 2023, 10:29:52 AM »
Looking to plan a trip at the end of the year, and I'm not finding that much to do. I will be traveling with 2 middle aged kids, and plan on spending 5 days in Argentina.
I plan on spending 2 days at IGR, but not sure what to do after that. The Lujan Zoo has apparently closed, and having gone through a bunch of trip reports, I'm not seeing a whole lot else to do that would be super interesting. Besides for going to Ushuaia, is there anything in the BA area that people would recommend?

Bariloche
Mendoza

Not near BA and not near each other.
Both really nice.
Bariloche has everything Pucon, Chile has to offer but costs much cheaper.

Offline ZCN

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Re: Argentina Master Thread
« Reply #796 on: November 06, 2023, 11:27:21 PM »
Couple of more questions: 1- Are there any risks to booking flights/hotels on an Argentina site to get the better rate (the tourist rate via a CC)?

2- I know this may vary depending on time of day, but how much time would it take to get from both EZE and AEP to a kosher food place (I'm assuming that in the Once section of BA)?

Online Yehoshua

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Re: Argentina Master Thread
« Reply #797 on: November 06, 2023, 11:46:13 PM »
Couple of more questions: 1- Are there any risks to booking flights/hotels on an Argentina site to get the better rate (the tourist rate via a CC)?

2- I know this may vary depending on time of day, but how much time would it take to get from both EZE and AEP to a kosher food place (I'm assuming that in the Once section of BA)?
AEP is closer, about 20 minutes vs EZE's 45 minutes.

Offline ZCN

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Re: Argentina Master Thread
« Reply #798 on: November 13, 2023, 07:02:34 PM »
Looking for Shabbos friendly hotel or Airbnb recommendations that are within walking distance of Chabad for Shabbos. Looking for options besides the PH or The Alvear Palace.

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Re: Argentina Master Thread
« Reply #799 on: November 13, 2023, 08:19:08 PM »
Looking for Shabbos friendly hotel or Airbnb recommendations that are within walking distance of Chabad for Shabbos. Looking for options besides the PH or The Alvear Palace.
San Louis apartments in Once did the trick. It's not fancy, but it's right in the middle of the Jewish community and super frum-friendly (for example, they will hold your room key for you while you go out and give it to you when you come back because there is no Eruv).