Argentina

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Buenos Dias

Well we have made it to Argentina and arrived in Buenos Aires with luckily quite an uneventful flight and our luggage made it to which was good. The plane bothered us slightly as appeared to be very old with ashtrays in the arm rests and the seats didn´t recline, no TV and you had to duck your head to look out of the window. Once we landed we made this observation to Dan who informed us that that particular airline have one of the worst track records! Glad we found that out after and not before and I don´t think we will be using that airline again.

Anyway we were met at the airport by Dan who is a friend of Robs from back home and he took us to his and his wife´s place and it was so nice to speak with English people again and be in civilisation. Buenos Airies is a beautiful city and alot more cosmopoliton than we were expecting. The buildings are pretty amazing and it is very classy with a similar look to New York. The best thing however is the prices, it is so cheap over here and eating out only costs a couple of quid and you can get tons of nice stuff from a bakery for all of 50p! In the afternoon of our arrival Dan and Cat took us for a walk around part of the city and we then crashed out in the afternoon as had been on a night flight and had hardly slept at all. That evening they had arranged for us all to out for dinner at a traditional Argentine restaurant with obviously the main attraction being the meat. There were a few of us as Dan has a couple of English friends over here plus one of Robs room mates is here on holiday so we invited him. The resturant was Lgaradelito which is named after a famous Tango singer and we had a fantastic meal. They eat every bit of the cow over here and the first part of the meal which came out was the gory bits such as intestine, kidney, glands and black pudding sausages. Sounds horrible but if you forgot what you were eating most of it was okay although not sure I will be repeating that experience. The main part was the best where you get platters piled high with steak, ribs, sausages etc and is pure meat lovers heaven. Along with all the wine cosumed we all felt pretty relaxed and full after. Over here everything starts very late at night and most people don´t go out for dinner until at least 9 or 10pm and it all stays open through to dawn. How they all do it I don´t know, we managed until 4am on the first night which we were quite impressed with. In Argentina 1 in 10 teenage girls suffers from an eating disorder and there are more shrinks here per person than any other capital city! Along with all the food and late nights I can see why. On the Sunday we went to a street market in San Telmo and spent most of the day wondering around and sitting at the cafes eating and drinking which is pretty much all the happens over here. In the evening we were invited to Dans friends place for dinner, were we went to watch some Tango music being performed in the park first and then went back to his for a very late dinner at about 11pm with moe drinking until the early hours. We are becoming quite nocturnal and I will be the size of a house by the time I come home. On Monday it was more sightseeing with Dan being our tour guide and he took us to the poshest neighbourhood in Buenos Airies called Recoleta. The main attraction here believe it or not is the cemetery. This is where all the most famous and richest people are buried and rather than having plots with gravestones it is like a small village with every tomb the size of a small house and there are road names so you know where to find each person. Evita is buried here and tons of tourists (including ourselves) come here to see her grave. It is a very surreal place and I have attached a photo to give you an idea of what it looks like. That evening we were all pretty knackered especially poor Cat and Dan as they both have to get up early for their work so we had a quiet one in and an early night. On Tuesday Dan and Cat were both tied up with work (Cat is studying Spanish and Dan is a freelance Journalist) so we met up with Mark and headed over to La Boca which is one of the very poor neighbourhoods. Buenos Airies is amazing as in the centre of the city you could be mistaken for thinking you were in America or Europe and all you have to do is travel 10 mins in any direction and you end up in the slums which brings you back to reality about how poor Argentina actually is and that such a high number live in poverty. La Boca although a poor neighbourhood is another tourist attraction due to the brightly coloured houses which have been painted by the locals to try and make it look better, it is also famous for it´s Tango. La Boca is also home to one of the most famous Argentine football clubs La Boca Juniors (don´t worry I had never heard of them either). Being with Rob and Mark we had to go on the stadium tour which was thrilling (not) and got to see the pitch (yippee), the press room (wow) and the dressing rooms (would of been okay if the players had been in their getting changed). You can´t wander too much around the actual neighbourhood as it is not the safest place so we headed back after a while to the security of Dan and Cats. That evening we headed down to the port which was pretty and Dan then cooked for us and we sat round chatting. Wednesday was pretty quiet as we had been on the go all week and were feeling pretty lazy so we spent the day lazing around and sorting a hostel out for the following night as we felt we had imposed on Cat and Dan for too long especially as they currently have a studio flat so our sleeping area was their lounge floor. We will obviously being going into the Amazon Rainforest in our time in South America and found out that Yellow Fever is a must for going their and for some reason none of us (me, Rob and Mark) had been given this by our wonderful healthcare system at home so on Thursday we managed to find a clinic who jab you for free. It was like a conveyor belt, you turn up and stand in this courtyard area with a door which leads through to where you have your jab. A man comes out and takes you passport and then you all get called in turn, go in, get jabbed, go out and then next one goes in and so on. Being not the biggest fan of needles I was slightly worried as I am used to a nice nurse sitting me down, being nice and chatting away to take my mind of it and then telling me how brave I was after. Not here it was in, jab, out! However I survived and I guess it is better than contracting Yellow Fever. We checked into a hostel in Palermo that afternoon along with Mark which had been recommened to us and was pretty nice although had a massive skylight and no curtains so waking up with a hangover to bright light has not been fun but it´s clean and so far no bed bugs. The hostel Mark had been in previously seemed to have a major problem with these and his legs looked like they had been savagely attacked by some huge animal so thankfully this hostel was fine. Dan and Cat met up with us in the evening and we went out for food and then to a Tango bar away from the touristy bit and where all the locals go which was good fun. On Friday we decided that as we had spent the majority of the week eating and drinking and we had covered most of the city attractions we had better get on and plan our itinery. It took the majority of Friday to do this as nothing is simple in South America, it was like Peru all over again! Talk about stressful, no one will let you book flights within South America over the internet and everything you want done takes for ever. We ended up in a travel agents with some poor old bloke who spoke basic English booking our flights from here to Bolivia. It took almost 3 hours just to book the flights, whatever system they have over here desperatly needs sorting out. Anyway by the end of Friday we were all completely stressed out and returned to the hostel at 8pm with the good news being we had boat tickets to Uruguay for the Sunday and flights to Bolivia booked for the Wednesday. That evening we decided we deserved a drink after the day we had had so we headed out and found a good steak restaurant and had a huge dinner along with vast quantities of wine. After that we headed to the lively area of Palermo where there is a square surrounded by bars which are open 24/7 and it is obviously warm enough to sit outside (it has been 30-35 degress everday). Well we decided to attack the cocktail list as they are less then a pound a drink and we had got a flavour for them after Mexico. We kept drinking and chatting and chatting and drinking and then we started to notice that the sky was going a funny colour. We commented on this to each other and said how strange it seems to be getting lighter! I then looked at my watch and realised that the reason it was getting lighter was that dawn was breaking and it was 6am. It is unbelievable out here, they never go to bed, there we were sitting their at dawn whilst the whole square was still packed out with people eating and drinking and thinking nothing of the fact it was 6am. We however were very shocked and quickly got a taxi back and as you can guess Saturday was pretty much a right off as the majority of the day was spent in bed sleeping although we did take it in turns going to get water and food from the bakery next door. On Saturday night Cat and Dan turned up to take me, Rob and Mark out to a local carnival and found us not in the most socialable mood, however we went and put the effort in. The carnival was about an hours bus ride away and was a Gaucho Fair (cowboys), there was loads of dancing and it was very lively with tons of stalls and the best bit being the food stalls which again consisted of meat, meat and more meat. The BBQ´s were amazing and it was definately the best cure for a hangover. On Sunday we went to Uruguay as it is only an hours ferry crossing and we thought we would just spend a couple of days their to kill time before going to Bolivia. Well we managed to miss the ferry we were booked onto due to complete laziness and being unorganised but luckily we made it on the next one which was only 2 hours later. The ferry took us to Colonial in Uruguay which is a beautiful town with cobbled streets and pretty houses. We spent the afternoon wandering around and the evening we found a fantastic place to eat overlooking the river which again did the massive meat BBQs. Being such a small place a day is all you really need their so the next day we got the bus to Montevideo which is the capital. It is much smaller city than Buenos Airies although very similar in architecture and not as lively. Again we went on the suggested city walk although it was varied slightly due to Marks (lack of) map reading abilities. Yet again that evening more food and we then decided to have one drink at a bar and then head back as pretty tired. Well we walked past this place with Nightclub written in bright neon letters and the boys said that wouldn´t it be fun to go in and see their nightclubs and we would just stay for one drink. I really wasn´t sure on this but followed and at the door stood 2 massive skantily clad girls with mini skirts doing them no favours as they were huge, 8 inch stilettos and a few spare tyres. They gave us strange looks as we walked in and I said to the boys that this looks like the seediest place ever and I am not sure it´s a nightclub. The boys however did not believe me so in we went and the place was about the size of your average living room with a bar, pool table, sofas, fish tanks and a randomly placed pole for pole dancing! We ordered a drink and sat down and we were the only people in the place except the bar lady and these girls who had been on the door and were now lounging around on the sofas watching the TV and shoving burgers in their mouths. I again stressed to the boys that this was not a nightclub and was definately a brothel but they insisted that no it wasn´t a brothel but just a dodgy club. Anyway we were halfway through our drinks and about to leave as it really was a dive when an old man came in and went over to one of the girls and lead her by the hand out of the door and over to street to a seedy hotel. The boys did at last realise I was right and we left rather sharply. Today (Tuesday) we caught the boat back from Montevideo back to Buenos Airies and we are staying here tonight before flying to Bolivia tomorrow. We fly into La Paz and from their we can access the Amazon and we are going to book a 3 night, 4 day excursion which sounds fantastic as you stay at a plush Eco Lodge and they take you on jungle walks and river trips. Hopefully the Yellow Fever has kicked in and the insects stay away from me!

Anyway must go and pack. Hope all is good at home and will update you when I come out of the jungle. (as long as not eaten by wild animal or scared to death by large spider)

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