Buenos Aires...where the adventure began

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It was an epic journey from Hong Kong to Buenos Aires... An eight hour flight to Sydney, two and a half hours in Sydney airport, and then a fourteen hour flight to Buenos Aires! All worth it though!

Incidentally I had great aerial views of Sydney as we left circling the city.

Flying into Buenos Aires over the Andes range was a breathtaking first glimpse of this continent. I could see lakes and snow covered mountains, and the dramatic coastline.

I couldn't believe it! I was in south America! A dream come true! Fiona, my travel companion, was already in arrivals when I got to Buenos Aires airport, having come from London, and we headed off in a taxi to San Telmo, the district where our hostel was. After a shower, we both needed to stay active in order to stay awake so we went exploring!

We discovered little antique market and a pretty courtyard in which we had some lunch. After more walking we found Casa Rosada and the Plaza de Mayo. It was pretty cold so we joined in the coffee culture and sat in a cafe for a while before walking back.

In the evening we went on a hunt for our first steak! Much to our surprise... restaurants in BsAs only start up at about 9pm! So we went to more of a pub/cafe place called La Poesia which was lovely and whilst most people in there were sat down to coffee and cake, we fed our jet lagged bodies our first steak and glass of red wine! Since writing this, I have seen a couple sit down to dinner in a restaurant at 11.20pm! There is a different schedule in Argentina.

We walked a lot in Buenos Aires over the next few days, exploring the different areas of this big, beautiful city. Our first stop was Recoleta cemetery which may sound odd, but is on every tourist's itinerary. There are around 5000 plots in the cemetery, each with vaults in different styles and different levels of grandeur. There are vaults holding the coffins of many famous Argentinians, including Eva Perón. Oddly there are also small niches for individual coffins... but after seven years the family has to move the coffin!

Palermo was a nice area of town with arty shops and cafes where one could easily while away an afternoon, or as we did, gossip and people watch over a coffee on a rainy afternoon!

Recoleta is the posh end of Buenos Aires, where you will find the designer goods and fancy hotels.
There are some beautiful buildings with romantic balconies and pretty architecture, much like a lot of buildings in all of Buenos Aires.

Markets in Buenos Aires have a great atmosphere and there are different markets at different times. We spent a lovely Saturday afternoon at Recoleta market (dont get there too early... It runs on Argentinian time). It was a beautiful sunny day and after wandering round the market we sat on the grass and listened to the live music along with many other maté-drinking locals. Maté is a hot herbal drink that Argentinians drink all the time.

On Sunday morning we visited the San Telmo Defensa St market which stretched a long way down the cobbled streets to the main square, in which everyone was enjoying a public tango performance.

Yet another area of town is Caminito in La Boca. This little street is a colorful haven for photographers and filled with little shops and restaurants with tango performances. It is also very close to the Boca Juniors stadium.

Of course, in amongst all this exploring, we have enjoyed some delicious steaks accompanied by red wine, and now I know why this country is famous for these products! A carnivore's heaven.

We left Buenos Aires on a bus heading for Iguazu Falls. Eighteen hours away. It wasn't your regular bus though, it was a cama bus (sleeper bus) much like a business class seat on an airplane I would imagine - so it was a fairly comfortable ride...

JHG

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