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Published: April 20th 2007
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La Boca
The "scary" part of town with so much character! I loved it! Having been in Argentina for two weeks now i think it is about time i started updating you on my travels...
After a soft landing, where we checked ourselves into a V nice hotel for a few nights we finally moved into a hostel to begin travelling like true backpackers. It worked out quite well because the first few nights we were staying in the posh part of town so we were able to discover what is the Recoletta. It is close to a lot of the nice bars and very good meat restaurants. It was a great opportunity to get to know the town on foot and get our bearings.
BUenos Aires is a great city! (definitly up there with London and NY) the people are chillled out, friendly but still a little arrogant (adds character!) and there is loads to do! the night life doesn´t start until 3AM here. It took us a while to become nighthawkes like the locals because nightlife in the UK pretty much finishes towards this time!
BA is so much fun that we decided to return to the city before we head down south. We have checked out every part of
La Boca
Houses built out of tin and painted with the remaining pain from the shipyards. Where the Itlian immigrants settled when they arrived. town and experienced the different atmospheres, deciding that our favourite area is Palermo, the equivilant of Soho in NY.
Last night we went to watch a band play Tango music (for just 1.5 pounds!). They were brilliant and recommended by loads of people. Unfortunately we have not yet seen a Tango show other than the dancers we saw in the streets of La Boca (a very cool part of town but a bit dangerous for the tourists)
For all you foodies out there BA is the place to be! the food is so cheap and the quality so so good that you could spend weeks trying all the great places to eat here! we have spent many hours trying various restaurants followed by a different bar each night! the choice is amazing! (just be warned the waiters will "ask" you for a tip no matter how good or bad the service)
As i said the people are very friendly sometimes too friendly! we have had few people come up to us to ask if we do drugs and if we would like a tour of BA! (i didn´t think we had stupid written accross our foreheads!).
In the
space of two weeks we have met some very interesting people from all walks of life! From the hippy banker to the crazy Bbrit who claims to be a film director (we googled him and couldn´t find anyting about him)! I could write a story about all the characters we have met. It´s such a nice change to meet people who see the world so differently from us Londonners. It does help that they are backpackers with no worries...
We left the city for one day during our stay in BA to go and visit a Gaucho Ranch (equivalent to the american cowboys). It was not as fun as i though it would be since we didn´t get to see the Gauchos in action. We did get to see a show with the local dancing, ate a good old barbercue and visited the ranch; this was however spoilt by a ride on the horses where we were attacked by moskitoes! i have never been so horrified in my life! if moskitoes ate humans we would have been eaten alive in minutes! no joke!
I must admit that i have been shopping just a little. The best buy has
Me
me in Puerto Madero, BA to be my Beatles mixed with tango music CD! The stores themselves are worth checking out. Tey are like art galleries with so much personality that i could spend hours just wondering around Palermo looking at the stores themselves (they are very similar to the stores in Soho NY). Argentines are very good at design! and i can afford to buy the great designs here (unlike in London)! Luckily I am limited with space so I have not been able to go all out! But for any keen shoppers out there put BA on your list of destinations!
Well after a fab week in BA we decided to head to the north of the country. We hopped on a bus for the 20 hour journey to discover Iguasu falls. The falls were worth every hour spent on the bus!
To be honest the bus ride was actually not so bad. There was a trolley dolly like on aeroplanes, the films were all in English and seats went as far back to make a bed (like in first class on planes!) Not bad huh?
As for the falls they were breathtaking! we spent the day in the park
Street Art in BA
Very commong in Buenos Aires to find Street art not considered vandalism! looking at the falls from every angle, even taking a boat up close and under them! The falls really showed the sheer power and beauty of nature! The last time i was such awe was in Pertra (which btw is still the number one place to visit on my list!).
The hostel in Iguasu was not bad either! It had a swimming pool and great cocktails! The downside were the rooms- small and smelly. Unfortunately because we are on such a tight schedule we had to head back to BA the following day making our visit very short.
As soon as we arrived back in BA we got straight on a boat to go to Uruguay. Although just an hour away from BA it is very different to Argentina. The landscape is the same but the people are more mellow and definitly here to enjoy life!
We spent one day in Colonia del Sacramento a very small, quiet town declared a historical heritage site by UNESCO. Although there is very little to do there it was nice to relax after all the travelling.
The following day we went to Punta del Este, a 5 hour bus ride down the
Me
meanwhile down at the ranch... me looking all glamed up for the Gauchos. Hahaha! coast. There we stayed with some of Revathi´s parent´s family friends. We had a great time and got see how the locals live. If we had gone to Punta alone i would have hated it! It is a very Ugly place but one has to know the nicer parts to truly see its charm. It is definilty a place to consider moving to much later on. It would have loved to stay there for more than 2 days but unfortunately we couldn´t change our tickets. We ate so well there and were treated like royalty! The couple who greeted us have a maid, a cook, everything! I was in heaven! I would say that it was definitly the high point of this trip in terms on accomodation and food! We spent a fare bit of time around their pool too.
We have been so lucky with the weather! We were told that after easter it tends to cool down. We have seen temperatures on 30+! and it has rained mostly on the days when we have been travelling! Hopefully our good luck will continue!
We have two more days here in BA and then we are flying down
rooms in Iguasu
sleeping in luxury! south to hike the glaciers (Patagonia) for 6 days. Then we are bus-ing our way back up North over the following 2 weeks. I will definitly update you all in a week to tell you how the hiking went!
So far so good! I have not had a chance to miss London and it feels so good to be free of most responsibilities and to just go with the flow! My Spanish is still pretty none existant (as is Revathi´s) but we are slowly picking up the language and have managed to get by with what we know and gestures!
Will update you all soon!x
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