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Published: February 7th 2006
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The Obelisk
BA´s central point, the land mark to use for orientation! I hope this entry will be slightly more comprehensible than the previous jet lagged one!
After my last email session I headed off into the sweltering heat to find something to eat. My sister has told me that I need to notice the details, so to start
1. Coca cola is sold in 350cm3 bottles
2. Dogs are very common in Buenos Aires, from your bog standard Heinz 57 mongrel, to you 3 Dalmations, Gt Dane (white), Irish setter and Collie. All good city dogs in my opinion...
3. My sunglasses seem to give the world a slightly pinkish hue, so I feel very much as if I´m looking through rose tinted spectacles. Not a bad sensation, just slightly odd when you take them off!
A little more generally...
....Buenos Aires was very hot - so much so that I couldn´t pound the streets for long, and soon found myself in the ´Reserva Ecologica Castenra Sud´. Not mentionned in any of the guide books, it´s actually a large area of reclaimed land right on the edge of the river banks. The government never fully finished the project in the 60s, so the plants and wild life took over. In
Dogs in BA
A few of the dogs in outside my hotel 1986 they decided that it was much better as a park, and it´s been that way ever since! Inhabited by large reptiles, ( photos to prove it!) and their version of cute rabbit like mammals, as well as parrots it´s all very pleasant. I was hoping to get to the river bank, look out in the direction of the sea, perhaps even go for a paddle, but unfortunately the ´bank´is litterally the old brick and rubbish that was initially used to build the area, and the river is just a horrid muddy brown colour. Despite the heat I wasn´t even mildly tempted to go for a paddle! Reminded me of being in Cromer less than a week before. Perhaps not the most beautiful of seaside resorts, and the weather was decidedly gray, but amazingly the water there is soooo much more appealing!
The rest of BA I shall describe when I return. It´s a beautiful open, green city, reminisent of Paris, a little like Sydney. The main road is the widest anywhre, with upto 7 lanes of traffic in each direction! Makes it very airy, but horrendous for a pedestrian!
I met the rest of the group last
BA from the air
The view from my first class window. The grid system of BA can be seen, similar to NY night. I´m sharing a room with an older Spanish lady (Luisa). She seems lovely, but our communication is limited to my V basic Spanish. I´m hoping to improve, though. So far however, I have found out that shé run the Marathon des Sables. Twice. Not bad going. Gives Tim something to aim for?
There is also an Italian couple, I´ve not really spoken to them, again 50s. A trio of 3 Brits (2 women, 1 bloke), aged again 50s, pleasant and very friendly. Another Brit, Andy, who´s probably 30ish? and seems quite independant, but ok. Then there´s the final Italian, 50-60 ish again, and he´s learning English. Pretty good at it so far though, and even his non existent Spanish is better than mine. Oh well, I´ll be fluent when I leave. I hope.
Today I´ve spent 1.5hours getting travellers cheques changed. Don´t normally bother with them, and certainly won´t again, as it took 30mins at the desk to change them. Horrendous. Stick with the good old Debit card in future. Something about them being too easy to fake, no one wants to take them any more. TIp for anyone else thinking of going away, forget travellers cheques.
This afternoon has been spent getting ANOTHER flight (no 3 in as many days - Real jetsetter!)
We were split into 3 groups, as they couldn´t get us onto 1 flight, I was on the second flight, from BA to Ushuaia, the most Southern city in the world. Landed a first class seat- amazing! Handed a glass of champagne as we sat down, full leg room, 2 windows to look out of, proper cutlery, china plates, and waited on hand and foot! Could definately get used to that! However, not all of us were so lucky. One woman, who was on the flight on her own, due to arrive 2 hours before, landed an hour after us, as her plane´s navigation system broke and they had to land and sit around whilst it was fixed. Not the worst however, as her companion is now without a suitcase - lost in transit somewhere, a real nightmare.
I´m aware that I´m waffling, and it´s past my bed time. I´ll tell you more tomorrow if I get a chance, before I head off into the wilds, where telephones and electricity, let alone mobile coverage and internet are a rarity! Thanks to everyone who has messaged me, keep it up.
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Beth
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What your sister really said/meant...
Thanks for the coke bottle etc details, but the stuff I meant was the stuff you waffled about later, like the china plates etc in 1st class! I just want to know EVERYTHING so that I feel like I'm there with you! Keep it up and be careful nt to fall off the bottom of the world! Love you lots xx