Buenos Aires

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26. II.

Arrived at Kate’s in the morning and met her friends Katie and Dave. They had all been traveling together with a variety of French and Dutch additions for about three months after a chance meeting in Peru. Kate has a really cool flat- can imagine it would be really cool to live in BA.

Katie and Dave met a young couple from BA when they were Florianopolis in Brazil and the guy invited us all over to his flat for a BBQ with a couple of his friends and his parents. Not a bad introduction to Argentinean life- the only bad thing was that I had had about 2 hours sleep in two or so days and I was falling asleep at the table!

Sussed out a few schools and hostels for a couple of days and went out to some nice bars.



1. III

Moved into Hostel Clan and met a German guy called Andreas. Joined the hostel trip to watch Boca Juniors in the evening. Was cool, although I didn’t actually realize that we weren’t actually at the Boca stadium. Hardcore fan. They were playing in the Copa de Libertadores - basically the S.American club championship. A fairly tame game and yet singing and dancing from the fans all the way through.

Fair bit of sightseeing in the following days and a couple of meals at the excellent ‘Desinivel’ in San Telmo. The matre de (?) has hands like a bear, and the steak is fantastic.

Went to a futball game at the proper Boca stadium on 4.III and saw what I had been missing on the Wednesday- absolutely phenomenal atmosphere. Boca Juniors lost 3-0 and yet the crowd couldn’t have been happier or louder. We were stood in the tier above all the fanatical supporters and the stadium was literally bouncing up and down with their dancing. Hopefully will be able to add some photos of this at a later date when I get sent them from someone else.



5. III

Started Spanish lessons in a group of 4 (Me, Monica, Mike and Komiko) with a lovely teacher called Silvana. Good, but note to self: learning a language is seriously hard!

Went to La Recoleta, the cemetery where all the great and good from BA have been buried over the years. Some seriously impressive ‘gravestones’. Not sure understatement is a particularly Argentinean trait. Went out for drinks and food with an Irish couple- Fiona (who is going to be doing the same job as me in Deloitte Dublin) and Graham (or just ‘Grom’ when introducing himself to foreigners!). We were happily chatting away when we noticed a couple of Argies literally just leaning in and listening to our conversations. ‘How rude’ we thought, but we ended up chatting to them for ages. Fiona definitely has the gift of the gab- I think she knows the same or less Spanish than me, but once she’d had a few drinks she seemed to become fluent. Well, fluent in Spench, Spanrish, or Spanglish anyway!



7. III

Michelle arrived this evening. She came looking for me when I was in my Spanish lesson, only to be turned away. The staff said they new of a German Will but no English Will. The cheek!.....German! Spent the evening at the Clan BBQ. Met a really interesting guy who had cycled through S.America form Venezuela. Pretty amazing and he had some great stories. Went to a cool Tango show on 8.III with a few people- very impressive and definitely not a dance for the prudish Brit! Went to a really nice bar in Palermo ‘Hollywood’ after for a few drinks. It’s not easy to have a dry night here!

Went to the cinema the next day to nurse the hangover. Am also training myself to drink coffee, so I can actually ‘go for a coffee’. Bought myself a newspaper and tried to decipher some of the stories. However, it seems that if you are not a regular coffee drinker it is not advisable to have four cups in a few hours. I was somewhat wired that evening.

Went to a massive rock concert on the Saturday eve (10.III) - really annoying as only caught the last three-quarters of an hour or so, but there were thousands of people there. Went to a club called Opra Bay after (going out to a club at 03.00 seems very normal out here!). Very trendy. Was introduced to the phrases ‘Ginerbriation’ and ‘To the face!’. Will definitely be using these from now on!

On Sunday, (11.III) was lucky enough to get invited to the house of someone Ouda (an American girl in the hostel) had met at a party. Took the train out to Tigre and we just sat around with them (think it was Flor, Ana and I really want to say Pedro!) and had a few drinks and a late night swim. All cool, before I realized that I was being severely abused by the local mosquito population! Went back to the hostel in the morning when Ana drove into work.



12. III

Another week of Spanish lessons starting from today. Just me and Monica this time. Went to a cool little microbrewery with our teacher this evening to hear her boyfriend/ex-boyfriend play a live guitar set. Was really cool.

Next day, another microbrewery! This time with the Argentineans and a few others from the hostel. Went back to Flor’s flat for a few cheeky drinking games.

Another Clan BBQ on Wednesday night then last Spanish lesson on Thursday. Met up with Kate and her friends for a meal on Thurs night. 90 Pesos for a seriously good meal and a fair bit of very good wine. Now that seemed an awful lot at the time (when you are used to paying 40 at the most!), but there is no way you would get a meal of the quality for fifteen quid at home! A definite recommendation- ‘Milion’ Parana 1048.



So I think reflections on BA are thus…..If I was going to be working or studying in the city for a year or something (which a lot of people seem to be doing) I would be more than happy to hang around. As it is, I’m not a massive city person so I am quite looking forward to getting out and about in Argentina and the rest of South America.

Otherwise though, it is a really interesting city. The architecture goes from beautiful to ugly and modern then back again in only a few paces. The people are very diverse too- very chic and European looking.



Next stop Bariloche for some hiking!

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