by Jennifer Petoff San Francisco CA

My husband Scott and I visited Buenos Aires in April ’08. It was our first trip to South America and we wanted to make it memorable.

For a number of reasons we decided to rent an apartment for our 10-day trip rather than stay at a hotel. We expected it would give us a more authentic and local experience and hoped it would provide us the opportunity to be a part of one of the unique barrios that comprise Buenos Aires.

In addition renting an apartment would cost about half the price of a comparable hotel making it affordable to rent the apartment for an extra day at both the beginning and end of the trip to better coincide with airport arrival and departure times.

Finally it would give us a good home base to store our things during overnight trips to Iguazú Falls and Uruguay.

We touched down in Buenos Aires after nearly 19 hours en route from San Francisco. We stopped for an alfajor — a double-decker cookie typically filled with dulce de leche and covered in dark or white chocolate — and a café con leche (both local favorites) at the airport to wake ourselves up after the long flight. We then booked a remise (car service) at an airport kiosk (88 pesos or $27.50) to take us to our apartment in Palermo an up-and-coming barrio in Buenos Aires.

For safety and to ensure the best fare it is recommended that you book a taxi using one of the services at the airport rather than walk up to a vehicle at the curb.

Our flight landed ahead of schedule so we were really early when we arrived at our apartment building. The building was gated with 24-hour private security and there was much fanfare as the security guard welcomed us and tried to figure out what to do with us until the owner showed up.

Sandra the apartment owner soon arrived and took us up to Apartment 8B our home for the next 10 days. We speak a little Spanish and Sandra speaks a little English so we were able to make ourselves understood to each other with simple phrases in both languages plus ample miming.

The apartment was a beautiful one-bedroom unit with a full kitchen and balcony which we had secured in advance of the trip through ByT Argentina (www.ByT-argentina.com.ar). There were hundreds of units listed online with detailed information in English about each one and copious pictures.

We selected our unit based on a combination of location price recommendations by previous tenants and the charming photos posted. Reserving an apartment through an agency like ByT Argentina is a bit less formal than booking a hotel. We simply submitted a reservation request through the ByT Argentina website and provided our credit card number to reserve the apartment. Payment of rent ($500 for 10 nights) in US dollars was requested upon arrival along with a cash security deposit of $350.