South America here I come.....

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October 14th 2007

Published: October 14th 2007

Hola!!

Once again, I'm off on another adventure across the seas which has landed me here in Buenos Aires, but for some reason, it doesn't feel too different from home. After Antony's Wedding (which was beautiful, and I'm glad that I didn't stuff up my groomsman's duties - or at least, I don't think I've stuffed up), I packed my gear, boarded a qantas domestic flight bound for Sydney, then on to Santiago, and finally Buenos Aires...... at least that was the plan.

For the first time in my life (at least the first time since I've organised a holiday for myself), I got left hanging at the airport. Whilst there was no problem actually getting to Sydney, once there, in the plane, on the tarmac, I hear over the PA, "This is the captain speaking, uuuh, all the terminals are currently occupied, so we have to wait for another plane to depart before we may approach the terminal. This will hopefully be done in 15 minutes". This did not bode well for my connecting flight to Santiago due to depart in UNDER 50minutes - and I still didn't have a boarding pass, as the lady at the domestic Qantas terminal in Melbourne had refused to give me one.

20 minutes later, a mad dash ensued, only to be held up by the shuttle from the domestic terminal to the international terminal not being there, though that didn't take to long. Onto the international terminal, now absolutely sprinting, hit the LAN Chile check-in desk only to find to closed. Apparently they closed half an hour early!! Hyperventilating due to anxiety and the fact that I probably just sprinted 800m, despondent, i trudged to the Qantas ticketing counter. Thankfully, the guy there was onto the job and after calling around, managed to reroute me through LA, then onto Lima, and then Buenos Aires - for what was to going to be 30-or-so hours on multiple planes.

After getting the tickets sorted, the rest of the flights were rather uneventful. Qantas food was rather substandard, although I was surprised at the quality of the fleet for LAN Chile, which I have to say, had better planes than Qantas, although the food was crap. Slept on and off, and managed to churn through a few movies (Knocked Up, Evan Almighty, Surf's Up, Die Hard 4). At least I'm racking up the frequent flyer miles.......

Anyhow, landed in Buenos Aires without a hitch, no problems with immigration or customs, got out the other end. I once again realise that I am travelling again, after being approached by two Korean guys (thinking I was Japanese) for change for a 500 Euro note (apparently currency exchanges places at the airport only change to a maximum 100 Euro notes). I pointed them to the ATM...

Organised a remise taxi (sort of booked taxi - generally safer than the black and yellow cabs) which was relatively easy and set off for the city. Arrived at my apartment on Av del Libertador, and was greeted by the people from ByTArgentina (the guys i booked the apartment with, obviously.... otherwise that would've been a bit strange...). Payment made, i settled in to my one bedroom apartment, with TWO bathrooms. Fully self contained, it's certainly the way to go if you're spending more than a week in BsAs. As I find out in the days to come, the location is no too bad, far enough away from downtown to avoid the seediness and the noise, but close enough to walk to (at least by my standards, and for those who know me, I WALK EVERYWHERE, well, at least when I travel....). It's also close enough to Recoleta, which is the poshier barrio of BsAs, though the further reaches of Palermo was a bit of a hike.

After settling in, I basically crash after the mammoth flights, and wake in the evening. Another one of my patented "get to know my bearings" walks and I head downtown amidst the neon and cascading headlights of traffic. After repeated SMSs to Shu-Fen and Anna, I figure they must have left their phones at home, though after rocking up to their hotel, and leaving a couple messages, I was beginning to wonder if they were snubbing me. Exploring downtown (aka Microcentro), and the pedestrian malls of Florida and Lavalle, enjoying a street Tango show and taking photos of the Obelisk, I head back to the apartment to try and sleep, which I didn't do till 4am given my jet-lag.

Up again in the morning, and I FINALLY meet up with Anna and Shu-fen, by crashing their hotel room, at an hour that was probably too early. Soo good to see them (it's always great meeting up with people overseas!!), we finally head out of the hotel around midday to grab something to eat. Stepping into a Havanna outlet (no, not the outlet that sells flip-flops), we grab coffee and some gemelitas (sort of like a tim-tam) and alfajores (sort of like a wagon wheel without the jam), before trudging onto the Culturaco Centro San Martin to see if we can book tickets to a free tango show. Bimbling around, we make our way down before arriving at the centre and finding that they no longer do any tango shows. Eh well.....

Slightly dismayed at this, we continue to head down calle Sarmiento to Congreso, and walk back down pretty Parisian like avenues towards Plaza de Mayo before heading back to the hotel. Apart from the fact that Porteno's don't know the concept of pooper-scoopers, and the overcast and occasionally drizzly weather, it was a nice stroll.

A quick rest at the Lafayette Hotel, before heading out for dinner in Puerto Madero - the newly redeveloped port district that resembles Docklands a little too much in spirit. Filled with modern apartment towers, refurbished warehouses turned into restaurants, all next to a rather uninspiring brown waterway - for those who live in Melbourne, you understand the connection.

Dinner was at a seafood restaurant that where I forget the name - all quite nice and reasonably priced. Shu-fen asked about a fish, which they proceeded to bring out for inspection, only to find it to be a metre long!! We opted for other things on the menu.....

Trudging back to my apartment after leaving Shu-Fen and Anna at their hotel, the downtown area didn't feel too unsafe, though a pimp and his did approach me asking if they could be of any service. For the record, I politely declined.

Next morning, it was to be Shu-fen and Anna's last day in BsAs, so after they checked out of their hotel, they came over to the apartment before we head off to Recoleta. Feeling quite hungry, we stop by for a lengthy lunch at Liber, the restaurant just near the entrance of my apartment. Justifiably, the steak was good, and the pizzas looked yummy, if oily. It wasn't until mid afternoon before we headed off, to bimble around the streets near Recoleta Cemetery (we didn't go in, as the s had already been there). Tis quite a nice area, quite liveable with plenty of shopping and cafe's & restaurants aplenty. We stop off for ice cream at a chain ice creamery called Freddo. Back to the apartment, I still jet lagged, I fall asleep on the couch, before being woken up by Shu-fen to bid farewell before the s head home. Hope Aerolineas Argentinas were kinder to them this time around.

This morning, a late start and I decide to head towards Palermo to visit the parks and gardens and do more bimbling. The flea markets were out in force around Recoleta, with tourists abound and many a handicraft. Personally, I think most markets are the same, and not being a trinket shopper, I head on towards Palermo. The architecture in BsAs is truly a mishmash of styles, from art-deco, to french gothic, to modern rationalist, it's all a bit strange. It's not until I get back from my 6 hour walk that I realise the importance of some of the landmarks I had passed by.

A nice encounter was had when I stopped in a park in Palermo, and an elderly gentleman by the name of Carlos Alberto struck up a conversation. In my next to non-existent Spanish and his broken English, we somehow managed to talk about all the usual things.... where I'm from, what I do for a living, climate change in the world, goverment and politics, how his wife is waiting for him for lunch, how his wife enjoys watching McLeod's Daughters which should be on at 2pm..... Carlos also introduced me to the resident "crazyman" in the park who's name was Nicholas, who's thoroughly into gymnastics and even demonstrated some on the uneven bars in the park. Carlos, having not really spoken to this man before, settled on the fact that perhaps Nicholas is only "half-crazy".

Onwards, and I trudge around the water-logged greenery of the Tres de Febrerar park, before visiting the Japanese Gardens, which weren't too bad. Even managed to catch a Taekwon Do demonstration held by the local schoolchildren. I looked at the list of other demonstration being held, and they all seemed to be headed by Korean Professors..... interesting.

That basically concludes my first few days. Haven't really been the most descriptive, and I will upload some photos soon. Will keep y'all posted.

Hasta leugo.

South America here I come.....

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