Day 5

---

Took a bus tour today around Buenos Aires. I really enjoyed it. The city centre (or downtown, as my friend calls it) is very different from the Buenos Aires that I've seen in the past few days. One thing I've learnt from today was that BA has great architectures. The buildings are made from the French era and whatnot, reminding me of upperclass areas in developed countries. Trees line every street in the city, giving shade to the streets and its passer-bys. Sitting on the rooftop of the bus, the streets look very picturesque.

We passed by various monuments and key buildings of the city. As BA is a huge city, I thought the bus was a good way to see the city. The only downside is that you only have 5 seconds or less to take a picture of an iconic landmark before the bus moves off or the view becomes obstructed.

We got off the bus to see the Recoleta Cemetery and Caminito street in the La Boca area. Recoleta Cemetery is a for the rich and influential. Famous people, presidents, presidents of jockey clubs/rowing clubs, affluent people are all buried there. Eva Peron was buried here too, but we didn't managed visit her tomb as we found out later that she was buried under a different family name, the Duerto family. Tombs were used to bury generations of family. They extend many storeys below the ground, each coffin given a place. What I thought was slightly creepy was that they displayed the coffins in plain sight. My over-active imagination sees zombies and vampires pushing open the lid at night and crawling out of their coffins to stretch their legs. The tombs were all designed differently, some plain, some ostentatious, some dilapidated. It was like a city within a city, a necropolis within a metropolis. If time permitted, I probably would have spent half a day there, just walking through the cemetery.

Caminito is famous for its multicoloured houses. Its situated at a slightly less developed area of BA and its neighbours with Estadio Boca Juniors. I definitely would have spent more time here if I could, just admiring the funky houses and sift through the various quaint souvenir shops. We had lunch in a fancy cafe called the Pani near the Recoleta Cemetery, but I would have liked to have lunch in Caminito. The restaurants here offer great views of the fascinating street and each have a pair of salsa dancers on their made shift stage to entertain the customers.

We didn't stop in most of the stops as we were rushing to beat the traffic and nighttime. But I think it would have been nice to be able to take a stroll down some of the lovely looking streets.

Map of the bus route - http://www.buenosairesbus.com/en/map.htm

---