Viernes, 11 de Abril

A rough landing, after a rough flight, we flew from LA to Dallas and then took the red eye from Dallas to Buenos Aires. I was lucky enough to get two seats to myself, but my attempt to use the three-foot space to sleep in the fetal position failed. There was no time for rest though, Jaspar and I had meetings with a potential investor, our lawyers and a real estate agent.
For the first five days of the trip we would stay with Jaspar’s parents at the Alvear Palace hotel. The Alvear is a classic old world, luxury hotel.: marble, white gloves, and crystal chandeliers. It feels the way I imagine the New York Plaza Hotel felt in the 1920’s.

One of the main reasons we choose Argentina is because Jaspar’s dad, Jack, has been doing business in the country for two decades. His familiarity with the country and contacts would be vital assets. After dropping our bags at the Alvear we met one Jack's oldest business partners, Henri. Jaspar had worked for Henri while studying in Argentina. Henri had served as Jaspar’s mentor and told Jaspar we would help him with any business idea he had . The meeting was short and to the point. It was Henri’s sons bar mitzvah that weekend so he had little time to talk. He referred us to Santiago, his real estate agent who would help us look for a location for our business.

Santiago worked a few blocks away from Henri, in Recoleta (the Beverly Hills of Buenos Aires). This meeting gave me insight into what to expect from all of our meetings with Portenos. For two hours, Jaspar and I sat in the sweltering heat of Santiago’s second floor office. We conversed in our half broken Spanish and inhaled the smoke of his Marlboro Red’s.
Next we walked down Av. Libertador to meet with our lawyers Liliana and Ezequiel. Liliana is the mother of Carolina, a close friend of mine from NYU. I knew we needed legal counsel and was lucky enough to find that Carolina’s parents had moved back to Argentina to open their own law firm. But in reality I had no idea what to expect. To put it short: I was blown away. This was a top notch, international law firm, and both Liliana and Ezequiel had read our business plan and presentation and conducted research into all of the legal challenges we needed to be aware of.

When we got back to the hotel it was time to go to Henri’s house for a reception for all of the foreign guests of his son’s bar mitzvah. Here we ate delicious churipan and lomo and drank copious amounts of red wine. We also met Henri’s family who had flown in from Mexico, Brasil and other parts of the world.

After leaving the dinner at 1 a.m. the night had just begun. Jaspar and I teamed up with two of Henri’s nephews from Brazil and Mexico to go to Pacha. There we met Nick, an old friend of Jaspar’s from Argentina and a bunch of Colombian girls he knew. A bottle of vodka latter Jaspar and I were on the dance floor doing what all Argentine guys do best, unsuccessfully hitting on Argentine girls. Next was Crobar, which was a bit empty, but equally as fun. The night ended with a long cab ride through the park. Those who have been out in Buenos Aires at 4 in the morning are familiar with the beautiful prostitutes that roam the streets, prostitutes who happen to be transsexuals. As they approached the taxi, there muscles and deep voices made it all too apparent. After the tour it was back to the hotel for some much needed rest.