Thieves in Buenos Aires
Kevin and I got home from Portland on Wednesday, January 2
and turned right back around for our first business trip of the year. Our first
destination was Baltimore, Maryland. We flew to Baltimore on Friday January 4
and arrived around 6:30pm. We collected our bags, picked up our rental car and
drove to my friend Lucy’s house. Lucy is a great friend of mine from high
school and she lives about 15 minutes from the Baltimore airport. We saw her
and her kids in July, but this time we got to see the whole family (mom, dad,
and her husband)! We didn’t stay too long, but it was so great to see everyone!
We got to the hotel around 10pm and went down to the lobby to grab a bite to
eat. We fell asleep around midnight.
We went to the ship around 9am and were finished with work
around 11am. We arranged a late check out and didn’t have to leave the hotel
until 2pm. We found a pub called The Pickle Pub and had a delicious lunch. We
went back to the hotel to shower and pack before heading to the airport. That
evening we flew to Buenos Aires! We used a few upgrade certificates to upgrade
to First Class from Baltimore to Miami and arrived in Miami around 8pm. We had
a 4-hour layover in Miami and flew to Buenos Aires around midnight. We slept
through most of the flight and landed around 11:30am on Sunday, January 6. We
got to the hotel around 1pm and went straight up to our room. We changed into
our pool gear and grabbed a quick bite to eat at the pool before taking a short
nap. We found a Parilla (Argentinian Steakhouse) right across the street from
the hotel so we went out for dinner around 10pm. The food was AMAZING! I had a
steak with Gruyere cream sauce and Kevin had a steak with a peppercorn sauce.
They were fantastic! We also enjoyed a great bottle of Malbec with our dinner!
We fell asleep around 1am.
Welcome to Argentina!
The restaurant where we ate dinner.
Here’s how it all went down: I had my phone in an outside
pocket of my purse without a zipper – a mistake that I was aware of before the
phone was even taken. I checked the pocket to see if the phone was still there,
because I must have had a sense of what was to come, and told myself to move it
to a different pocket (with a zipper). For some reason at that moment I didn’t
act on the thought and we continued walking – ironically, right past some local
police officers. About 30 seconds later, while we were crossing a major
intersection with lots of people around, I went back into the same pocket to
move the phone and it was gone, just like that! I felt nothing! I told Kevin my
phone was gone and I think for a quick minute he thought I was joking. We
started pacing the area trying to see if we could catch anything suspicious,
but it was useless. These thieves are clever! We called Kevin’s parents to have
them try to lock the phone but they were not home, so we found the closest
hotel to use their computer. Within 15 minutes of the incident the phone was
set to erase as soon as someone tried to access the internet. The problem we
faced was that the phone was in Airplane mode. I keep my phone in this mode
when we travel so I don’t get charged for incoming phone calls, but it ended up
being a real problem. I also didn’t have a passcode on the phone, so anything
stored on the phone, that doesn’t require internet access, was accessible to
these jerks! Basically, because the phone was in Airplane mode, none of the
messages we sent to lock and erase the phone would be sent until someone tries
to access the internet. It is my hope that these people don’t want the personal
information but just want the device to restore back to the factory settings
and re-sell it. To be safe, Kevin and I went back to our hotel to deal with the
aftermath. We called AT&T to suspend the service on the phone and changed
any necessary passwords. To this day, the phone has still not been erased.
Needless to say, after the excitement of the day, we were
not too keen on going back out. Instead, we hung out at the hotel and crocheted
some hats. We enjoyed our dinner the night before so much that we decided to go
back again. It was close to the hotel, comfortable, and delicious. We ended up
ordering the exact same dinner plus Proveletta (grilled Provolone cheese with
olive oil and oregano). It was nice to get out of the hotel and get our mind
off of the situation, as much as possible. I had a very hard time falling
asleep that night as I re-played the situation over and over again in my head,
but eventually drifted off.
The best empanada I have ever had!
Delicious Proveletta
The steaks are so simple, but so delicious!
Can't go wrong with a local Malbec.
We woke up around noon on Tuesday and went to the port
around 1pm. When we got to the port, the ship was not there yet. It was
scheduled to arrive at noon, but was not actually arriving until 4pm. We went
back to the hotel and changed into our pool gear again. We ate lunch at the
pool and then went back up to the room. We saw the ship pull in to the port
around 3pm, so we went back to the port around 4:30pm. We were finished with
work around 7:30pm and went back to the hotel. We ate dinner at the same
Parilla and then packed our bags.
Slow cooking the meat!
Our flight left at 11am on Wednesday and we could not wait
to get out of Argentina! The steaks and wine were wonderful, but we were not
sad to leave! As we were leaving I felt like I was having a panic attack. The
reality that we were leaving and my phone was not set in. I was very anxious
and just couldn’t wait to get back to the States to deal with the situation!
We flew 9 hours from Buenos Aires to Miami, had a 4-hour
layover in Miami and then flew to Tampa. We got to Tampa around 11:30pm and went
to get our rental car. There was one person working at the rental car facility
and there were about 10 people in front of us in line. It took over an hour to
get our car and we did not leave with our rental car until 1:15am! By the time
we got settled at our hotel it was 2:30am! Fortunately there was a gas station
near the hotel with a Subway so we were able to get some food, but it was a
crazy night!
We got to the ship around 10:45am on Thursday and were done
with work around 1pm. The main goal for the day was to get a new phone, so we
drove to a large shopping center with an Apple store to see what my options
were. We ate lunch at an English Pub first and then proceeded to the AT&T
store - we figured that was a better starting point than the Apple store. The
news was as we expected…I could get a new phone, but it wouldn’t be cheap. We
weighed all of our options and decided to upgrade to the iPhone 5. I had to
sign a new 2-year contract to get any phone and the price difference between an
iPhone 4s (which is what I had) and the iPhone 5, was not as much as I
expected. If I was going to be “stuck” with this new phone for another 2-years,
it only made sense to get the newest model. We signed all the paperwork and
added an insurance plan and then went over to Best Buy to get a new case and
screen protector. I felt a little more at ease having a new phone, but was
still so frustrated with the situation. We spent the rest of the day at the
hotel getting the new phone updated. I got a new computer for Christmas, and
had not backed up the old phone to the new computer, so I got to start from
scratch! We picked up Taco Bell for dinner and fell asleep around 11pm.
On Friday we flew from Tampa to JFK and JFK to Barcelona. We
were upgraded to First Class from Tampa to JFK and sat in an exit row from JFK
to Barcelona. We arrived in Barcelona around 10:30am on Saturday January 12. We
were unable to check-in to the hotel at that point in time so we dropped off
our bags and walked around Las Ramblas for a few hours. We went to the Boqueria
and went into sensory overload. This is a market full of fresh fruit, veggies,
and meat. It is a very cool experience, but if you are sensitive to smells it
may not be the best place to visit. We walked down to the end of the Rambla and
then went to eat lunch at Flaherty’s, our favorite pub! We were able to
check-in to our room at 2pm and we proceeded to nap until about 8:00pm. We went
back to the pub at 10pm to watch the Broncos/Ravens game. I was so excited that
they were showing the game, although I was very disappointed with the result of
the game. Because the game went into double overtime, we closed down the bar.
We almost didn’t get to see the end of the game because the bar was closing. We
went back to the hotel at 3am and fell asleep around 4am!
Welcome to Barcelona!
The Boqueria
A candy stand in the boqueria. I love the colors in this photo!
Christopher Colon (Columbus) Statue at the end of Las Ramblas.
We woke up on Sunday at 2pm! We went to the pub for Sunday Roast and then walked around Las Ramblas. We walked over to the Cathedral and then went back to the hotel. We watched a movie and crocheted some hats and then had McDonald’s for dinner around 11pm.
The beautiful Cathedral in Barcelona.
Some of the hats we made on this trip!
We went to the ship at 10am on Monday and worked until about
2pm. We ate lunch on the ship and then went back to the hotel. We took another
nap and woke up around 7:30. We went back to the pub for a quick bite and then
packed our bags. We had a hard time falling asleep and only slept for about 2
hours before we left the hotel at 5:30am.
We finally flew home on Tuesday January 15. The incident in
Buenos Aires really put a damper in the rest of our trip. We spent a lot of
time sleeping, watching movies, and crocheting hats. We made almost 40 new hats
in 12 days, so I guess something good came out of the unfortunate situation!
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