Friday Family Newspaper #2…Sunday Edition

Friday was our longest travel day of this trip (hopefully!) and so we just didn’t get to writing the newspaper on Friday. We just tried to survive a very hot seven hour flight with one beverage service. They ran out of water and almost didn’t let us on the plane because the gate agent didn’t like our paperwork. We had high hopes of writing on the plane, but our spirits couldn’t do it. But anyway, this Sunday edition comes with a bonus section (Financial). Jobs this week: Tommy (sports and financial), Anna (advice), Harper (photo editor), Ruthie (top story)

Breaking News - Ruthie is 8!

Top 8 Things About Ruthie’s 8th Birthday

By Ruthie

I got presents!

Harper and Ruthie drawing at breakfast with Ruthie’s new pens. She is also wearing her brand new scarf!

2. I was the boss.

Ruthie got make-up as a gift and chose to do everyone’s makeup. Anna loved hers!

3. I got candy!

4. I was older.

5. I chose the things we did.

Ruthie got to ride the carousel an extra time. No Fair!

6. I got calls from my family.

7. I got yummy snacks.

8. I was 8!!!

Sports

By Tommy

In sports news this week, I took time to focus on Argentina’s two most iconic sports: soccer and polo. Anna has been finding some really interesting stuff on Airbnb experiences. Ruthie and I did a polo lesson and then I went to a soccer game between two popular Buenos Aires clubs.

While soccer is clearly the most popular sport in Argentina, polo is the one where they really standout on the world stage. According to the instructor, 80 of the 100 best polo players in the world are from Argentina. No other country has more than 3 of the top players. We didn’t see any actual polo matches being played – polo season is in the fall – but there are several giant polo fields around the city.

Ruthie testing out her horse named Tango.

For our polo lesson, we had three challenges. We’ve never played polo before, we don’t really know how to ride horses and Ruthie is terrified. But hey, that’s how you start, right? So the instructor picked us up in his car and instantly Ruthie felt better – because his little dog, Charlotte, was riding in the front seat. Charlotte spent the whole lesson with us and was a source of much comfort for Ruthie. We drove about 30 minutes into the country to a fairly large farm. We got fitted for helmets and saddles and we were off. I was impressed that Ruthie hopped right on her horse and grabbed the reins, following the instructor by herself. And that lasted until she dropped the reins and the instructor freaked out and explained how dangerous that could be if the horse bolted. She wanted down and didn’t really get back on the horse after that. I don’t think she’d considered that anything could be dangerous until then.

So she played with Charlotte and became our photographer for the rest of the lesson. So I ended up with a solo polo lesson, which was fine with me. Here’s a video of me practicing polo. I won’t bore you with details – this video is pretty much what it was like. The challenge of controlling the horse and hitting the ball held my attention, the instructor was very patient and I have a much better grasp of polo now. I was surprised to learn that you don’t hit the ball with the end of the mallet, but with the center. And I’m certain that being good at riding the horse is equally or more important than being good at hitting the ball with the stick. And it’s a killer forearm workout – the mallet is long and you ride around holding it up in the air. My arms were dying. All in all, a good time and I think learning polo in Argentina is something I’ll always remember about the trip.

Ruthie loved the dog Charlotte, and can’t stop talking about her.

My Argentina soccer experience was not as memorable. It was supposed to be going to a soccer game with a local sports reporter, who would tell you about the history of the teams, the stadium and other tidbits about soccer culture in Argentina. There are 2 teams in Buenos Aires that are clearly the most popular – Boca and River Plate – but then dozens of other professional teams. The game I went to was Boca vs San Lorenzo. The reporter cautioned the group ahead of time to wear red and blue if possible (San Lorenzo colors) but definitely not blue and yellow (Boca colors) because we wouldn’t be allowed in. Because of the history of hooliganism, only home fans are allowed in stadiums. It’s not safe for visiting fans. And I thought going to Texas-OU was intense.

Unfortunately, the reporter handed us off to his friends via Whatsapp shortly before the game and those guys didn’t speak English. So I didn’t learn anything else about the game that I couldn’t just observe. But they did help me navigate the whole scene, which I maybe wouldn’t have figured out. So it was annoying but ultimately not a huge deal. The fans were definitely intense. The stadium was smaller than Q2 (new MLS stadium in Austin) but not tremendously smaller. We went to a USMNT game in Austin in June and this atmosphere was pretty close to that – for the 5th? most popular Buenos Aires team in a regular season game. We were there 2 hours before game time and it was already filling up. People were tailgating like a fall Saturday. People were handing out blue and red flags (fabric taped to PVC) to anyone who wanted one (so I took one, of course).

Expectedly, the crowd had a bunch of chants that everyone knew, hand gestures and other rituals. A college football game is the closest comparison I’ve been to as far as spectacle. San Lorenzo won, 2-1, and the fans were ecstatic to have beaten Boca, one of the two big teams. I’m glad I made time to go to the game – there’s few things better than live sports when fans are engaged. It’s got me excited for Quinn Ewers and Bijan Robinson in a couple of months. Bring on a sport that matters.

Dear Anna…

I have two weeks to go on vacation with my kids. Should I go to one place or visit several places?

(Forgive the silly “advice column format here”. When we planned this trip, we weren’t sure if we would rather spend a longer time in one place or maybe two, or move around more, like we might on a regular vacation. We’ve been talking about whether we liked spending two weeks just in Buenos Aires or we regret not seeing more of Argentina).

Great question. We spent two weeks in Buenos Aires, staying in one apartment with our kids. It definitely feels more like living and less like vacation. In many ways, that’s more relaxing. However, we did do numerous loads of laundry and make most breakfasts at the apartment. This was great from a convenience standpoint but also still felt like doing chores at home. Most days we didn’t leave the apartment until noon. Trying to fit “Thompson Travel School”, so that the kids days aren’t just ice cream and walking around, plus a workout for us, so our days aren’t just ice cream and walking around…takes a lot of time.

Thompson travel school. Theo usually just hangs out or goes shopping with a parent. The girls are making maps.

However, it was also long enough to relieve the feeling of pressure of trying to see everything in one day. This sense of “see it all” on a vacation can take away from the fun and turns a trip into a success (we saw it all) or failure (logistics, energy, or in the case of Europe right now — strikes prevented us from seeing it all). If you are a little Type A, this detracts from the joy of travel, the sense of discovery, and the fun of being with friends or family, or meeting new friends on the road.

Buenos Aires is also a great place to not try to see it all, because all of our top things we did were actually cultural experiences, not sites. An asada experience at a local’s home, seeing Carmen (Ballet) at the Teatro Colon, cooking class and learning to make empanadas, park days and numerous playground visits, and celebrating Ruthie’s birthday were our top memories of the trip, and not a one of those is actually a top sightseeing destination. Buenos Aires feels European, and also Latin American, and is a fun place to stop and eat a medialuna (croissant) or alfajor (chocolate sandwich cookie) or get a delicious cup of coffee or cheap, great wine. We enjoyed the luxury of time in a city that truly has a lot to offer outside of sightseeing, and had the change to spend enough time with locals that we understood some of what was going on and could appreciate the patterns of life.

A fun time at the park close to our apartment. The kids love to play “King Of The World".

I would recommend spending two weeks in one place with the kids. It also required only unpacking and re-packing one time. which is pretty great. Slower travel with kids has a lot to recommend.

Top Pics

By Harper

The kids pretending to be trapped in an old phone both. We were in a cute old fashioned square.

We went on a tour bus with Mimi and Timbo. You could plug headphones into the seat and it would tell you about where you were.

July 9th is Argentina independence day. They traditionally eat locro, witch is what Harper is having.

??????? What do you think is happening? Comment below!

Financial News
By Tommy, again

I’m getting a little extra credit this week, because you need to know about Blue Dollar and why it makes Argentina a fantastic vacation destination. We didn’t learn this until the beginning of our second week (sorry to our friend Sarah, who joined us the first week) but when we did it changed our trip. Like every country, Argentina has an exchange rate that you can find on the internet. You’ll get that rate when you use your credit card or pull money out of the ATM. We learned on our trip around the world that pulling money from the local ATM is usually the best exchange rate and most convenient option. Use your credit card when you are able to and local currency when you can’t.

But in Argentina, that’s not the case. The government exchange rate is 125 pesos to 1 dollar. But inflation has been 50%+ for a while and money changers in Argentina want US dollars – they refer to Argentina money as “funny money”. So if you have US $100 bills, they’ll give you anywhere from 250 to 280 pesos to the dollar. So we were using ATM money and our credit cards and the exchange rate was 125 to 1. Prices were pretty similar to what we were paying at home – nice dinner for 2 for $50-70, bought some sneakers for $100, etc. But when we figured out the blue dollar (that’s what they call it there) sneakers became $40 instead, dinners with drinks for $25-30, Rapanui ice cream for $2 for a double cone.

I’m wondering if there’s an arbitrage opportunity to take US cash to Argentina, change it at Blue Dollar rates, buy something (fancy watch?) on Argentina prices and bring it back and sell it and use the profit to pay for the trip to Argentina. Boom – free vacation. If someone tries this, let me know. And you should go anyway, because Buenos Aires is like going to Paris or Rome, but for 30% the cost and in almost the same time zone.