A quick post as we spent most of the day on planes…

Eli said goodbye to his snooker buddy at the hotel

We piled into a cab for the short drive to Salvador airport

We passed through the (now) iconic green tunnel by the airport

And soon we were in the air heading to Rio

In Rio, Eli found a cool robot in the terminal…

… and very soon after we found ourselves in a tense situation to do with visas as we prepared for our onward flight to Argentina.

Americans and Canadians traveling to Argentina have to pay a ‘reciprocity fee’. We’d read (in Lonely Planet) that you could pay it on arrival, but it turns out that our airline at least (Emirates) wouldn’t accept us for travel unless we’d already paid it.

There was a language barrier and Semma was sent to an office somewhere that didn’t exist and came back empty handed. We were on a fairly tight connection to add to the drama.

Long story short I got on my laptop at the check-in desk using my phone to get online, paid it online, and emailed the barcoded receipt to the Emirates ticket desk. They printed it off but check-in had already closed. Fortunately they made an exception and we were soon dashing through security to the plane.

We made it ok, a little sweaty, and began relaxing for our very comfortable flight with Emirates. I particularly enjoyed the live nose camera.

And Eli the incredible array of goodies that kids receive – a rucksack, a kids meal, tons of little toys, pens, travel diary, colouring books etc

Upon arrival in Buenos Aires there was a spontaneous rendition of the Argentine football song (video).

And then we were passing through security and in a cab to our hotel in Buenos Aires

Our hotel (Mio) is a small boutique hotel with some hidden talents, most significantly an amazing carved wooden bath

Within minutes however we’d nearly destroyed the place thanks to an accident featuring a loose shelf. 3 wine glasses tumbled from a great height and smashed all over the floor.

Quite a lot of unneeded excitement… we cleared it up with the help of the hotel staff and went to bed!