Buenos Aires - the Beautiful City

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Sun 28th Oct:
A few from the dorm went out clubbing on Friday night... they didn´t leave intil 2:39 am and were back at 8:00. Apparently night life starts late in BA. They spent much of the next day sleepng. I was surprised to get a phone call from Jose in UK (Alicia´s husband) on Saturday morning. He hadn´t realised I changed my travel plans to be in BA earlier than anticipated, and wanted to know if I managed to meet up with Carmen. Carmen came round to the hostel soon after, but our conversation was limited as my Spanish was not fluent enough. We arranged to meet on Sunday morning and she would bring friend who could speak English.
I explored the centre of the city on Saturday - a walk down Florida Ave (a shoppers' paradise with all the major stores and boutiques), Casa Rosada, the English Monument and next to it the memorial to the Falkland War soldiers, and the Metropolitan Cathedral. The temperature here is a comfortable 25 degrees C, a pleasant relief after the oven temperatures of Asuncion and those in Brazil. BA has a European feel about it - lots of British influence evident in its architecture, and comparatively wealthy to its neighbours. Yet the cost of living is cheap.
I was just about to do some cooking on Sat evening when Steven ( the French chap I met at Igucu Falls) walked into the hostel. He was as surprised to see me as me him. We shared a meal and chatted about our travels since the Falls.
After good night´s sleep Carmen came round with her friend and we went to the Recoleta area where there is the famous cemetery which looks like a mini city, housing hundreds of tombs of the very rich and famous. It was a very popular tourist site and among the presidents, higher ranked military and the very rich was the tomb of Evita Peron. We had a stroll around some of the parks and a coffee. I went back to the hostel afterwards and joined Steven for Sunday lunch at a local restaurant - "eat all you can for 13 pesos" (under £3 !). It was a great meal as the range of food available was wide.
I later booked a ticket at the port to got to Colonial tomorrow and Montevideo the day after. I hope to spend a few days in Uraguay and return on Wednesday evening to Argentina.

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Photos

Horse-drawn Cart in Asuncion
Not a rare sight on the main street of the Capital; the gap between the few rich and the many poor is wide.

A Piece of Irony in Buenos Aires
In the background is the English Monument, a gift of a clock tower from the British Government to mark Argentina´s indepenence anniversary. In the foreground is the memorial to the soldiers who died in the Falklands War.

Base of the English Monument
When I went close-up to the monument, I noticed that it has been renamed to the Monument Tower and door and lower walls were covered with graffitti saying that the Malvenos belong to Argentina.

Casa Rosada
The pink house, the presidential residence.

The Metropolitan Cathedral
The entrance to the city´s main cathedral,the interior is not quite as ornate as many of the churches in Brazil or Paraguay.

Downtown Buenos Aires
The main drag in BA with the Obelisk in the background - it marks the centre of the original BA.

Florida Avenue
The most popular pedestianised shopping street in BA, packed with many major European shop names. Lots of street vendors littered the centre of the avenue.

Tango in FLorida Ave.
Two professional dancers perform a Tango for the tourists in busy Florida Avenue.

The Colon Theatre
A fantastic feat of architecture, this theatre was having a face-lift so could not go round it.

In the Recoleta Cemetery
Carmen and her friend outside one of the many tombs in the cemetery.

A Mini Dead City
Looking down one of the streets in the cemetery.

At the Dead Centre
Posing at the centre monument in the Recoleta Cemetery