I’d been planning for months to surprise Dad at the airport when he arrived in Buenos Aires. I had told him that I had class so I arranged for a driver to pick him up. He was to look for the driver holding a sign with his name and the driver would bring him to my homestay. Dad asked many questions about this because he was concerned about getting by without knowing any Spanish. I assured him that it was taken care of, and mom also assured him on her end back in the states. Needless to say, I would have never made him do that and so I went to pick him up myself. I held up a sign saying: “Daddy! Welcome to Buenos Aires” and had a bag full of dulce de leche pastries. He was shocked. I watched him exit customs with this determined look on his face as he tried to find the taxi driver with his name amongst the throngs of people. When he saw me his entire face lit up – the surprise on his face was absolutely priceless. We spent the day wandering Buenos Aires and went to Plaza de Mayo to see the Madres de Plaza de Mayo march, but mainly we just ate a lot of food. Time flew fast and before we knew it we had to head home to finish up packing my thoroughly messy room. We pit-stopped at Daiana’s to drop of my suitcases and headed to the closed dinner that I arranged for Dad’s birthday. It was a nine-course meal with five other people and the lovely hosts that invited us into their homes. Truly some of the best food I’ve had in South America, and hands down the best empanadas I have ever tasted. Totally drool-worthy. Everyone MUST go to Adentro Dinner Club (and make a reservation beforehand) – Thanks Kelly & Gabriel! They even surprised dad and brought out desert while singing happy birthday to him. So cute.
Post food-coma we headed back to my homestay to get a whopping 3 hours of sleep before we had to wake up to go to the airport for El Calafate.
