Buenos Aires and Tigre

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After a very sedate and relaxing bus journey of a mere 4 hours (national express travel is going to be a breeze back at home. Anything under 10 hours over here is seen as a short hop, and not really worth counting. When I arrived here in B.A and asked the others how far they´d travelled to get here, one answered.."oh not long, only 10 hours"), I arrived in Buenos Aires, adding another capital to the list. Arrival itself is also worth a quick note. B.A´s Retiro bus terminal is like nothing i´ve seen. A huge complex resembling an airport terminal, with 75 departure bays, showers, shops, banks. Like a mini city.

After Claire´s prolonged exploits here I figured there must be some reason for her liking it so much, so as soon as i arrived i checked into the excellent "Chill House" hostel in the trendy district of Palermo Veijo and got set to go out on foot to explore the city by late afternoon light.

However before I could get stuck into such things I was sat out on the roof terrace here with some fellow hostellers and talk turned to money (probably because none of us have very much). Anyway to cut a long stroy short it turns out my first deed in B.A was not to book into the hostel, but in fact to be ripped of by my taxi driver and given change in fake currency - hooray. Luckily it wasn´t for very much and it´ll make a good souviner. But looking at it now i´m kind of annoyed I got ´done´ by such a blatant forgery. It looked nothing like the real thing. Weak. Before realising my ill fate I had been stupidly moaning on how i´m sure that sort of thing would never happen to me, now i´ve been away for so long and become such a well seasoned traveller - ha. You live and learn.

Anywho, after a long hard laugh at myself I did venture out to see some of the sites B.A had to offer. First up was Eva Perons grave. Itself not much to behold to be honest, and there´s always a constant stream of toursits keeping watch over it (the guide books correctly said you didn´t need to be told where it was as you just need to follow the line of tourists from the Cemetary gate to the grave). More impressive though is the cemetary at large. An amazing mini city, with massive graves and small houses which hold the coffins of the city´s elite.

After Eva´s tomb, I though i´d continue in a similar vien, and go and see the large Casa de Rosa, where she famously made her speech to the masses. Very nice and very pink in nature, I was unwittingly lucky to be there at sundown when the palace gaurds lower the flag from the park in front of the building and have some sort of small ceremony involving lots of slow walking and bugles.

The following day after waking reasonably early (early for Argentina is any time before noon) an Irish chap staying in the same dorm as me wondered if i wanted to pop to Tigre for the day. With no other plans i decided to go.

And what a good decision it was. The train ride out to Tigre takes about an hour, but the views make it pass quickly. You get to see every different side to the city all at once. On one side the window´s view is very rich appartments, embassies, huge mansions...while on t´other side (literally ´the other side of the tracks´) is a shanty town full of poverty and problems. I´ve realised quickly that as with most big citys, B.A has its equal share of super rich people and super poor people. That said its noticably more affluent than other places i´ve visited farther north, such as Salta and Rosario. The city centre itself is a lovely place to take a walk and pretty clean for the most part.

Once in Tigre the main attraction is to go out on a boat cruise in amoungst the surrounding islands. It´s slightly Venice-esq as all the houses are reached by boat and an intricate system of canals and waterways. Also this is the posh end of B.A and some of the houses, well mansions, were absolutely huge with swimming pools, football pitches, tennis courts...swish. Our activities included a brief strole around the area where our boat dropped us, my Irish friend having his flip-flops stolen by a cheeky dog, sitting in the glorious sunshine, enjoying a good old Argentinian steak, having one or two beers (well, the sun was shining..bla bla bla), and then as the sun went down getting the boat and train back to Palermo. Definately a good day out and a nice break from the hectic nonstop lifestyle in the city.

On my return I again had a brief wander around the downtown area and absorbed all that there is to be seen. Strange heart shaped monuments with arms and legs, shops, the subway, many many old buildings. All in all a very nice city to wander in.

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