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Published: March 15th 2013
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Our 18 hour bus journey from Puerto Iguazu had bought us to the Argentine capital feeling surprisingly perky and fresh faced. We'd heard a lot of good things about Argentinian buses and our first experience had been a pleasant one. We were in 'cama' class, meaning three spacious seats to a row, the chairs reclined almost all horizontal, on board entertainment with movies and music videos and we even had three meals; lunch, dinner and breakfast. It certainly beat flying Ryanair!
We took the subway in the directions of our hostel but as we ascended the stairs we began to hear the pounding of drums, sharp whistling and chanting. Sonya and I looked at each other completely dumbfounded - had we arrived back in Rio for Carnaval? When we got the top of the stairs we saw the cause of the commotion, lots of separate groups of protestors waving banners all with the t-shirts with different slogans. I asked a policeman for directions and to my concern he told us to follow the crowds. Our hostel was located right on plaza de congreso, the square in front of Argentina's parliament building which just so happened to be the site where
political and social protests usually started in the city. We were greeted at the hostel by Juanjo, our dreadlocked host who explained to us the reason for all the noise: it was March 1st, traditionally the date which signals the end of the Argentine summer and the start of parliament after holidays. The hundreds upon hundreds of people literally right outside of our balcony were there to hear the president give a speech. Just our luck. The crowds were so raucous we decided to drop our bags and head for somewhere a little quieter.
We took the advice of Juanjo and set off for Puerto Madero, a modern part of the city with nice hotels, parks and a wetlands nature reserve right by the shore. After a lazy stroll down to the promenade we came across lines of foods stalls, the guy from the hostel had told us to try out one in particular, 'Mi Suenos' (translated 'My Dreams'😉. The 'bondiola complete' was the speciality of the house; a monster sub-like sandwich containing pork, beef, bacon, fried egg, cheese and a self-serving of salad. It was quite simply the best sandwich in the history of all sandwiches. A struggle
to get your chops around but so worth it! Now full up, we found a nice park across the road and took a nap on a bench. Later that night we continued gorging ourselves as the hostel put on a BBQ on the roof terrace. The food was superb, the red wine was cheap and did just the trick and the atmosphere was great. It was a fantastic way to get to know everyone and it was clear we'd made a fantastic choice in staying at Hostel KM0 - the place also known as the 'rock hostel' because all the rooms were named after rock bands and decorated accordingly. Our room was 'The Beatles,' quite fitting given we were the only Brits there at the time.
After an unsuccessful shopping trip on Saturday, we wanted to spend the evening and wee hours sampling Buenos Aires' famed night life. Every guide book tells you the city's bars and night clubs are the best in South America so that would be our sightseeing for the day. We'd heard in Buenos Aires you go to bars late. Even so, when I'd asked where to go that night and what time to arrive,
I was still a little taken back to hear '2-3am!' Back home that's what time I'd be stumbling up the drive and trying to get the key in the lock. But still, when in Rome. We had a nap to prepare ourselves for the long night ahead before drinking and having sing alongs at the hostel until 2 in the morning. It was time to head out and a group of us headed to the club in good spirits. Our dreams of great night out were dashed though as soon as we'd paid the entry fee on the door. Inside it was heaving and getting to the bar was a nightmare. What's more, the music was awful, South American pop which I just couldn't for the life of me understand how to dance to. After a couple of hours we headed back to bed, having not had the greatest experience of BA's nightlife but still, it was a good night with some cool people.
The next day we headed to the barrio of San Telmo for it's weekly flea market. We walked down the cobbled streets perusing the handcrafts, alpaca jumpers and antiques. We grabbed a 'choripan' - a
chorizo hotdog from one of the street stalls and came to a square where a couple were putting on a tango show for the admiring tourists. Sonya tried her hand at bartering after seeing a cardigan she liked and came away with a bargain. Then we spent the rest of the afternoon pottering around taking pictures of Buenos Aires' old colonial buildings. It was a nice, relaxing day before starting Spanish lessons the next morning.
We decided that as we were spending the next three months in Spanish speaking countries, it may be an idea to learn some of the lingo. Therefore, we'd enrolled on a five-day intensive language course, four hours a day starting at 9:30am. To say that trying to learn the basics of a language in five days was going to be difficult was a huge understatement, we both found the course incredibly challenging and exhausting because of the huge amount of information you have to try and process throughout the day. What's more after your four hours are up, you had to revisit what you'd learnt that day and do your homework. Yes, homework. We were officially back at school! All in all the course was rewarding and I'm sure in the next three months it will prove very helpful. I wouldn't say our Spanish is up to scratch at the moment but with practice and patience we will get there. I hope.
As a result of the classes, we didn't really do Buenos Aires justice that week. We did have a nice afternoon walking through the well kept parks of Palermo though. It was a gorgeous, clear afternoon and it was a perfect way to relax after four hours of mind boggling 'No hablar Espanol.' We also spent time catching up with friends we'd met on our way to BA. One evening we joined a group of Brits studying in the city for dinner. There was 15 of us in total, we ate some inexpensive and tasty Argentinian steak, drank lots of red wine and chatted until way past bed time on a school night. We had lunch with Dan, my old Cardiff uni housemate's brother, on the Wednesday afternoon. Dan had been living in BA for a number of years now and had some good local knowledge to pass on. For a cheap and tasty meal, he recommended a Peruvian restaurant near to where we were staying called 'Chan Chan.' We met our friends Emily and Stephanie there, who bought along a couple of their pals and despite having to wait an hour for a table, the place really hit the spot. The food was delicious, Sonya and I both had fish dishes which were a nice change from the meat-feast we'd had in Argentina up until this point. Again, we stayed up way past our bedtime and had to hurry through our homework but you can't have all work and no play!
On our last night, we were given a fantastic send off by the guys at our hostel. We drank on the roof terrace and chatted for hours until the early morning - we didn't really consider going out to a club. The hostel was warm and intimate. Everyone knew each other, everybody got on well and again our friends Stephanie and Emily made the trip over to bid us farewell. It was a great ending to our time in Buenos Aires, a city which is very a liveable place and has a distinct European feeling to it. We may not have visited all the parts of the town we'd have liked to but we sure made up for that in sharing some great times with some brilliant people.
From BA we fly to El Calafate in southern Patagonia. It's going to be cold and I've packed only one jumper. Wish me luck!
Thanks again for reading, Jon
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joy bagley
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Fascinating experience for you both! if i'd known you needed spanish classes before you went on your travels I could have helped! "Mi hablo espanol un piquitto!" I have a certificate in conversation spanish!!! I bet sonya didn't know that! I am loving keeping up with your travels I would love to experience what your are both doing and i think you are both very courageous in going far away and meeting people from all nations! love to you both and keep safe! xxx