It was finally time for me to leave Europe and drop below the equator to the countries in South America. This was the original phase 2 of my trip which has had about a million changes along the way! I used my Chase Sapphire points to book my ticket from London to Buenos Aires. If you are a person that can handle having a credit card, this is one of the best ones for traveling internationally and really racking up the points fast!

Anytime I book with points or with a website that I have never used, I am always a little afraid the ticket is not valid. Alas, I have not had any issues. My flight was London-Madrid-Buenos Aires. Just 24 hours and I was going to be in South America! However, I forgot about a little thing called reciprocity that is required before you get on the plane to Argentina as a US citizen. Basically, we charge them to get in our country so they charge us. After a very frantic $160 internet transaction, I was on the plane and on my way.

Once I was in Buenos Aires I took a shuttle to my hostel in San Telmo. Great area to visit and not the best area to stay. I moved to Palermo pretty soon thereafter.

However, San Telmo is one of the oldest neighborhoods in Buenos Aires and has a lot of charm and interesting things to offer. I went to the Museum of Contemporary Art after walking around the Sunday market and loved a ton of the pieces!!!

The economy in Argentina is very unstable and the government is not accepting the fact that inflation is a real thing here. Banks give you a conversion of 1:8.5 where as you can head to Florida Street and receive 1:13 or so depending on the day. You walk down the street and there are people saying, “Cambio. Cambio.” as you walk by. You ask the rate and decide if you are willing to take it or not. You are taken into a room of some sort and you exchange your USD right there. This is a common practice that even the locals partake in.