Advertisement
Published: February 8th 2007
Edit Blog Post
African flava
Spot the new parlangi member of the band. Great day out in La Boca - home of Deigo Maridona. Shattered from 24 hours on the bus... dealing with yet another arrogant Argentinean - in the form of a bus conductor we were releived to arrive at Millhouse hostel.
I am going to set this entry out slightly differently. Nights out, cultural activities and steaks.
This is due to the fact that the massive nights out blurred in to one and really whilst in BA you have no conception of time or days. This place turned even civilised people in to animals.
NIGHTS OUT
From the moment we set foot in the hostel, it was set up for carnage. An Irish guy joined us for corn flakes and explained how he had been out, fell asleep on a bench and some kids had taken just ONE of his shoes. He then walked for 2hours to get back to the hostel. He was more upset his mate had gone to bed!
We got a couple of hours sleep before being awoken by bellowing Australians. The hostel was bursting at the seems with them and we had arrived on Australia Day.
Leon on I went down for a beer at the hostel bar and part took
Aussie Day
Upon arrival we were told to get kitted up for a muggy night out. Pic taken in the 3rd verse of Waltzing Matilda. in some karioke which included some tradtional Aussie songs... no need to mention.
It was good to catch up with Brendon Wright and Jake Olsen again - they had been in BA since we left Medoza. The 5 or so Kiwis at the hostel were challenged to a haka - the easiest beer i had ever earned... before the Aussies took over again with Waltzing Matilda.
The place was out of control with a blur of green and gold, flags, beach balls and stubbies.
As you can imagine, there was no girls left in site and testosterone was flowing.
The trend for this continued through the weekend with big night out on Saturday to Opera Bay which was a building similar to the Opera House in Sydney. Pimp. Several rooms... from what i remember it was a great sunset.
CULTURAL EXPERIENCES
Leon and I realised with 2ays left we hardly knew anything about the city. So jumped on a bike and visited the famous areas of the city - including La Boca the home of Boca stadium and Deigo Maradona. Arguable the greatest footballer (apart from Pele).
We visited some markets at Caminaro where
Kiwi resistance
The 7 NZers were asked for rubuttal - hence an impromptu haka. Brendon, me, Northcote boy, Jake post haka. GRAMMAR fired up. we were approached by a lady with fliers. She intruduced herself and her sister - a gay guy. They joked around feeding off each other and it was a show in itself. We walked around and experienced African influenced dancing to the beat of a mobile drum brigade. I was also pulled in to dance Tango by some random lady in front of a crowded restaurant.
We took a day trip to the Deltas of River Tigre. Amazing as everyone has river side properties and spends the days chilling on their lawns and wake boarding in the myriad of waterways. It is interesting to think they reside on river islands.
We took a boat trip up the river and chilled out at a restaurant. The muddy brown water taunting us as we lay in the sun. There was no chance i was getting in that!
Other visits included a massive graveyard, museum of contempary art, the widest road in the world - with 18 lanes at one point and much aimless wandering.
STEAKS
Steaks in Buenos Aires definately deserve their own heading. Basically, we ate like lions whilst in Argentina. It is quite cheap
Entry to the bathroom
Half cut, this was worth a photo. to dine and wine. We took full advantage of this.
We went to a range of places - ranging from white table cloth to fish and chips style.
I discovered the benefit of eating a little way out of the city centre and took Leon the following day to a place had the decor of a World War 2 bomb shelter. However, it provided us with a massive steak, bread rolls and chips for $2.
We dragged it to the park and ate it with our fingers like savages. Very impressed.
The other memoable place was on our final night. We learned of it from a reccommendation. It was busy with locals and after having a little trouble pronouncing the pasta i wanted, the waiter looked noticably unimpressed with me.
After eating my pasta, it was obvious my steak was not coming. So I yelled out to the waiter. He gave me a synical expession like: 'oh I forgot your steak gringo, how terrible.'
So he power tripped on me hard and i stood staunch.
I ate my steak which was delicous and about the same thickness as arm. I then mentioned to him that it was
Bike tour
Stopping off at the great river which seperates BA from Uruguay. 65kms across! delicious but a little cold. He retorted took about 10seconds. He plonked down a second steak in front of me and walked off in dramatic fashion. I sat there amazed before shrugging and devouring it.
This was one way to do business i guess. Game over - i was too full to continue the fight. The 700g of steak knocked all the fight out of me.
As far as fine cuisine goes it is worth mentioning our favourite bar. It sold 3 things - hamburgers, hotdogs (called Pancho) and banana milkshakes. You could buy a feist for $3.
So we frequented the place often for a quick bite (open 24hours). Leon was in love and religiously went there up to 3times a day - including breakfast after our nights out.
All in all Buenos Aires was simply an amazing place. We enjoyed it for what is but were glad for the pain of the exhausting heat and bender nights out to be over.
Advertisement
Tot: 0.082s; Tpl: 0.014s; cc: 13; qc: 57; dbt: 0.0521s; 1; m:domysql w:travelblog (10.17.0.13); sld: 1;
; mem: 1.2mb
caz
non-member comment
milhouse hostel
hahaha. i stayed at the milhouse in november, i don't think there has been any backpacker who's been to BA who hasn't stayed at the milhouse... i never made it to opera bay... i actually didn't go out at all while i was in BA.. haha.. there is still so much i didn't get to do, so i wana head back that way sometime in the future... i loved la boca and bought a painting from one of the street artists... happy travels!