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Published: April 7th 2008
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Day 145 cont: Back in Buenos Aires
Our flight arrived back in Buenos Aires on time and we were soon in a taxi on our way to a different hostel in Buenos Aires. On a par with the Bed and Breakfast in Mendoza, we had a really nice room. There were even dried flowers, a chest of drawers and a carpet! More like a hotel than a hostel, I'm almost starting to feel like a grown up again!
We didn't stop for long, but went out for a walk around the main shopping streets to get some food (for me at least, Nick wasn't feeling so good and so was sticking to wine)! We found a nice cafe downtown and shared a bottle of wine whilst I had a salad and nibbles.
Getting back to the hostel at gone midnight, we pressed the door buzzer several times, but there didn't seem to be anyone on reception. It took Nick, standing on the opposite side of the street, jumping up and down and waving his arms, to finally get someone's attention to let us in. Going upstairs to the reception and bar, the music was playing at full volume and we found two very drunk hostel employees playing pool, having just built a 'chair tower'. With the high ceilings, I reckon the tower (constructed only of chairs precariously balanced one on top of another) was probably a good ten feet tall, although I've no idea how they built it. Turns out I'm easily impressed; I wish I'd taken a picture! With football on the television, we curled up on the sofa with a bottle of wine, where I fell asleep to be woken up forty minutes later, as the chair tower collapsed.
Day 146: Wanderings in Recoleta
Since it was Nick's last full day in Argentina, we had a bit of sightseeing to do, and after breakfast we set off in the opressive heat of the capital, towards Recoleta. It being Good Friday, I wasn't sure how much would actually be open, but fortunately the gates to the cemetery were open and so we had an interesting wander round, trying to stay in the shade of the mausoleums.
Recoleta was really busy and pretty much every restaurant was heaving well into the afternoon. We found a nice Italian that had a free table and stopped for a very leisurely (cf slow) pizza and salad. Having finished lunch, we wandered through the market, where there were all kinds of arts and crafts on sale from Argentina and beyond, before arriving at the art gallery, which unfortunately turned out to be closed for the day.
Both quite tired, and with not much else on the agenda, we headed back to the hostel, a good forty minutes walk through town. Nick had been longing for a thunderstorm all day, and sure enough, not long after we arrived back at the hostel he got his wish, the heavens opened and the rain started.
It didn't stop raining all evening, which did kind of ruin the atmosphere along Puerto Madero where we went for dinner. Normally a lovely place for a leisurely evening stroll looking out over the water, it was a bit of a wash out. Trying not to pay too much attention to the weather, we went to one of the restaurants on the waterfront anyway and had a lovely meal with ample vegetables and salad for yours truly (and a steak for Nick!), before a soggy walk home.
Day 147: Alone again
The last two weeks with Nick have absolutely flown by, but sadly his holiday came to an end today and I'm all on my own again. Although I don't mind travelling on my own, in fact I really like it, I still miss Nick (and the rest of you)! Anyway, we had a few hours in the afternoon, and so after checking out of our room and checking me into a single where we could leave Nick's bags, we walked into town. The only real tasks on today's agenda were to get Nick and one of his friends son's Boca Juniors football shirts. This didn't prove too problematic, and since we were shopping, I bought myself a couple of pairs of ultra-cheap Havaiannas to send back with Nick since they're five times the price in England.
After a pleasant lunch at another italian restaurant, we head back to the hostel, where I had an hour to think of everything else of mine that I didn't need and wanted Nick to take back with him, before we took a taxi to the airport.
I waited around whilst Nick completed the rather thorough check-in process (he's flying via the USA), and then with time to kill, we went for one last beer together, before saying our goodbyes at the departure gate.
I wasn't really in the mood for it, but being at an airport, and with Nick gone, I didn't think it would do much harm to try and talk to British Airways or one of their affiliated airlines. I saw the BA sign in the distance and headed towards the desk. The guy manning the counter didn't speak any English, so I explained the problem as best as I could in Spanish. Unfortunately he turned out to be incredibly rude, but made it quite clear that there was no BA desk at the airport (despite the sign), you couldn't buy tickets for BA flights there, nor could I change any of my existing flights. By this point, it was late and I'd had enough. Cursing BABA once again, I found the right stop, and caught the bus back to Buenos Aires.
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