Buenos Aires

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So we arrived in BA on our 20 hour bus trip. The bus trip was really comfortable as the seat went nearly the entire way back, we got to watch some movies (although two were in Spanish but they were really slapslick comedy so you could understand what was happening even without understanding what they were saying!), got given food (which was awful but still at least it was something! Breakfast consisted on 3 cakes and I´m still not sure what dinner was supposed to be!) and we got wine and champagne! Nice.

BA is known for petty crime and scames and being ripped off by taxis. Well I´m ashamed to say we fell for one! We got a taxi from the bus terminal to our hostel. The taxi ride was A$35. Ian gave him a $50 but the guy was saying you gave me a $2. We were of course really tired and out of it and so were like ´oh sorry´. To then make it worse we gave him a $100, which he wouldn´t take as it was slightly ripped so he kept asking for US$ instead. We were still looking for the $50 which had disappeared and were saying the $100 was all we had (which was true). He eventually took the $100 and we were going ´thanks so much for taking our ripped note - it´s so nice of you´! As soon as we got into the room Ian realised that we never had a $2 and the taxiguy had clearly swapped the $50 for a $2 when we weren´t looking! What idiots - but in our defense we had been on a bus for 20 hours!

Stayed in a lovely part of BA called Palmero Hollywood in a hostel called Casa Esmeralda. Palermo Hollywood is an area of BA which has loads of amazing restaurants and boutique shops. I have never eaten so much nice food as I did in BA! Had amazing steak, homemade pasta and beef strogenoff while there. Makes me want to go back when I think of the food! The only downside was that cause the food was so good on our doorsteps we didn´t venture to any other areas to see them. Oh well. Will just have to go back one day!

BA has a very European feel to it. It is full of old buildings but as the traffic is really bad it ruins them as you have to fight through people and cars to get near them. You always feel really dirty after about 10 mins of walking in BA cause of all the polluction. The whole of BA also seems to be a one-way system which is strange. Even where we were which was semi-far out every road was one-way. They love the one-way here.

Didn´t think much of the parks in BA and they were really difficult to find. When we were looking for them we saw a few homeless people who were sitting around with massive fires going - have no idea why as it was really hot. Was very sad. There is high unemployment in Argentina but I think it is hidden well as we haven´t seen that many homeless people - but I know there are lots out there. Also it is really safe in Argentina (apart from the petty crime in BA) which is nice after Brazil.

We did most of the touristy stuff like visit the old buildings and parks, went to the Malba mesuem which was ok but a bit too much abstract art for me, and to the graveyard in Recoleta. The graveyard was amazing, which is a strange thing to say about a graveyard. But the graves are massive, like little houses and they are arranged in streets. Clearly all the people buried there are minted. We saw Evitas grave twice. The first time we didn´t realise it was her grave and then we were following some other people who were looking for her grave as I wanted to see it and when we got there we were like óh, I´ve already seen this!´. Sometimes we really are stupid tourists!!

Saw a tango show in Cafe Tortini, which is one of the oldest cafes in BA. The building was lovely and old and people had to queue to get into it, even though once we were in there were loads of empty seats so they must just make people queue to make the place look more important or something! The show was ok but there wasn´t enough dancing for me as there was also a guy singing. He was a good singer but I had come to see the dancing, not singing. The band were really good and consisted of a piona, double bass and accordian.

Had the most cheesfeast pizza I have ever had! It was double cream cheese, parmasian and mozzerelo with onions and ham. Now I love cheese but it was too much for me. I had about 1 and a half slices and Ian had to eat the rest, which he was very happy about, although I´m expecting his heartattack to happen any minute now! The pizza was from El Cuartito which is a bit of an instition in BA and apparently the pizza we had was a traditional one but I´m not so sure!

Overall I liked BA and would like to go back. Mainly cause we weren´t there at the weekend when it is supposed to be better, also want to see a better tango show and Ian would have liked to have seen a football match. I also wanted to go shopping but we ran out of time which was a shame as there have lots of lovely things to buy, especially leather stuff. Oh well, guess will just have to wait until NY to buy lots of things!

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Comments

[Eric and Heather]

Hey Stephanie and Ian, We really enjoyed your Buenos Aires post. It reminded us of our time there. Our blog is looking for some good travel photos. If you have time, email us some at [e-mail] or check us out at dirty-hippies.blogspot.com Continued fun on your travels, Eric and Heather