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Published: October 29th 2018
So today I decided I should try to change some money rather than use the atm again, after working out that the commission I paid at the airport was over £8 for a single transaction of £100. It would be the same for a smaller amount and some atms only let you take out £40 in one go. Yowzers! I was clueless as to the exchange rate on arrival so did it, or I’d have tried harder to find the cambio place. My buddy offered to show me where the local hole in the wall casa de cambio was but the blocks are all very similar and after getting a bit lost we stopped to ask a group of 3 wholesome looking men (who wouldn’t need our cash) where it was. They said it was a no go on a Sunday. We went back to the hotel, I left my passport etc in the safe and trotted off to find the open top bus stop. I didn’t see it at first but a man out jogging, also wholesome, stopped to help me, asked where I was from, VERY friendly and helpful here and tolerant of my Spanish.
The stop was
a connection for the red/blue and green routes and luckily the r/b came first, only a few minutes to wait. It was blowy on the top and the cover was over us. It started off following the walking route we’d done the day before, along Av. Libertador , so I was able to pay attention this time rather than just relying on following my colleagues. THere was was a lot of loud music for the commentary and some information. My buddies had done a great job the day before of showing me the main sights. The route took us this time through San Telmo and La Boca, the grittier area, which was great to see from the safe vantage point of the top deck. It had super colourful houses, including a street painted blue and yellow, the colours of the local junior football team. They chose those because the first ship to sail there came from Sweden so they copied the colours of the flag. Or something like that. Under a flyover was a memorial to men who had disappeared and were found in a mass grave, covered in concrete. Their names were on small cards around an outline of
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Demonstrators and TV crews gathering. Protests about allowing sex education in schools!a body. Every area had its own street market with stalls selling clothes, souvenirs, food, as it was Sunday, the day for it. I marked a street called Defensa on my map for a return trip as it looked really good fun - goes from the pink palace through San Telmo.
After La Boca the route went through the newest part of the city, Puerto Madero, where there is a lot of construction and an ecopark next to the river. it looked quite a quiet area for birdwatching etc but my buddy went that day and said it was absolutely heaving with people. By this time I’d been on the bus for 3 hours and the seat was getting harder and harder, the last part went through Palermo, where the hotel is and on to an area called Soho, more upmarket and lively with cute shops and cafes and children playing in parks. It looked good for a visit another day. The parks were full of people and in one there was a coffee festival. It smelled delicious but I couldn’t be bothered to get off and go to it.
When I finally got back to the start
of my route and more or less fell off the bus, 4 hours was a long time, I lost the will to do the green route, which duplicated some of what I’d just done. After collapsing at the hotel and packing (travel day tomorrow) I went out to eat with 2 colleagues to the Italian restaurant belonging to the hotel, in the next block. We had the most delicious steak, I had homemade lemonade and a dessert, everything was gorgeous and by the time we left it was full. it cost about £18 a head, so I’ve yet to find the really cheap options.
Early to bed with Cabify booked for 8.30am. Back to the same hotel in 12 days after my trip to Rosario.
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