Blogs from Buenos Aires, Buenos Aires, Argentina, South America - page 17

29 janvier 2014 - Jour 104 Comme quoi, quand on a des bons sièges, il est possible de bien dormir dans un bus. Je dormais encore profondément à 9h quand le steward m'a réveillée pour servir le petit-déjeuner. Autant le repas d'hier soir était très complet, autant le petit-déjeuner laisse à désirer. Quelques biscuits avec du thé ou café. Pas de pain, pas de jus de fruits. Heureusement qu'on avait acheté une petite pâtisserie la veille pour compenser. On découvre par la fenêtre l'ampleur de cette grande métropole avec tous ces buildings, ça faisait longtemps qu'on n'avait pas été dans une aussi grande ville. Mais pas besoin de se lancer à la découverte des transports publics pour le moment, notre hôtel n'est pas très loin du terminal, on peut s'y rendre à pied. Une fois nos ... read more

After a few weeks in Buenos Aires we realized we would need to learn Spanish before heading out to smaller towns in South America. We looked on Craigslist and found Ivana. We contacted her and arranged for her to come to our apartment for two hours a day, Monday through Friday. We could have gone to her studio or met at a cafe. We asked her for a travelers class. She is great, very positive and she focused on what we wanted to learn. How to order food, how to ask and understand directions, how to check into a hotel and so much more. She is also available for Skype lessons if we want to continue. You can contact her at gamarnik.ivan@gmail.com. Rachel also wanted to study Spanish but in a group lesson. She wanted to ... read more

We started our last week with dinner with friends of Mark's from Chevron. A few live here in BA and one is on a trip with three friends. We had a fun dinner at Camp Bravo, we ordered many items and shared the food, the wine and conversation flowed. We went out to a club after and we did not get back to our apartment until after 3 am. We were surprised to see how many people were out in the middle of the night. We also visited Casa Rosada, the President of Argentina holds meeting here. Evita also addressed the people from the balcony. We were on our way to La Boca to watch fireworks. This was a questionable decision to begin with, people get robbed in La Boca in the middle of the day. ... read more

Renting a bike is a easy and cheap way to spend the day. You can rent a bike and just take off or pay for a bike tour. I would only do the tour if I was alone and wanted company on my ride. The city is full of bike lanes that are physically separated from the street. We rented from La Bicideta Narana located in Palermo at Nicaragua 4817B between Thames and Jorge Luis Borges. The cost was 40 pecoes for one hour and 120 for 4 hours. We rode for 3 1/2 hours and they prorated the fee. The bike included a helmet and the bikes have a basket. The company also has a location in San Telmo. I would recommend the Palermo location because it is near multiple parks. We rode around the ... read more

I distinctly remember a certain night in the summer of 2003 when I was waiting tables at Landry’s Seafood House. I took care of a table that started at disaster and then quickly proceeded further downhill. While I certainly could have avoided my own mistakes, many were honestly outside of my control. However, as any former or current server knows, you should never blame a colleague for your table’s gripes. As a result, my table berated me the entire meal; all to my face…but entirely in Spanish under the assumption that I couldn’t understand them. News Flash: This is Houston. It may not be Miami, but Spanish is pretty integral to getting by here; however cursory the exposure. Spanish is my second language, and I understood everything they said to me that day, but I played ... read more