Buenos Tardes from Laluke in Buenos Aires

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Greetings from the road once again. Travelin' LaLuke coming at you rollin' solo throughout the great big continent of South America. You know, you can only take steps forward from where you are standing and so I found myself standing at a perfect crossroads to once again hoist the backpack, pack a limited amount of underwear and jump on a plane.
Traveling in foreign lands brings forth an excited anticipation of adventures to come and an ebb and flow of a thousand emotions. Traveling solo only intensifies those emotions. Fortunately for me though I do have a little travel experience under my belt. My previous two traveling companions, while ensuring a glass of wine with each setting sun (amen to that), also were fantastic planners, list makers and I took pretty good notes in the process.
So without incident I arrived safe and sound with all my pieces in Buenos Aires. I booked ahead of time a bed for two nights at the BA Stop Hostel in the heart of the city. I recommend it to any would be travelers as its not too rowdy at night and is pretty laid back. Another hostel around the corner, the newer built Millhouse, is where you want to go for big parties, drunken debauchery, and late nights which turn into early mornings as clubs go till 7 in the morning in this town. Which is why I start at the Millhouse and get a quite nights rest in my humble hostel.
My first steps out the hostel on my own had me exploring the city by foot. Armed with my travel guide book, (which clearly indicates your tourist status) I set out for the major attractions. Buenos Aires loves its plazas and monuments thats for sure. There is a clear European influence everywhere you look in the architecture and city design. I walked from the Plaza de Mayo to the Congress buildings and from one plaza to another. I spent some time in a beautiful cathedral (said a prayer for all of you, hope you got it) and then went back outside to check in on a local guy attempting to set a Guinness World Record for walking on a treadmill. Yep, you heard me correctly. When I arrived he had just surpassed the 20 hour mark and had 4 more to go. Apparently he needed to walk more than 268 km or something in 24 hours to obtain Guinness Record fame. I contemplated if there was within his record attempt another record to be made. Where does watching someone walk on a treadmill for 4 hours rank up there in the Guinness accolades? I guess we'll never know.
Towards the end of my first day I began to become a little lonely. Not to get into details, but simply stated traveling solo has, and will have its lonely moments especially after not traveling solo. Fortunately, I did not spend my first evening alone as a lady in my room, Sue, asked if I would like to join her and some friends for a drink. So, I had a lovely first evening with Sue from Scotland, her friend Justin from Bermuda and Ruben, a most annimated and wiry German. We had drinks at the Millhouse Hostel and made our way to a restaurant for dinner. Weary from travel as well as the beer and wine I retired while the others stayed up in the common room. Happy to report my bottom bunk was comfy and I slept pretty well.
The next day had me off on foot again. This time I headed north towards Recoleta, a part of town originally settled by the monks of the Franciscan order, Order of the Recoletos. During the 1870s, following the epidemic of yellow fever which ravaged the city, many upper-class Buenos Aires neighborhoods fled and moved to the northern part of the city, Recoleta. So the wealthy move in and set up mansions, beautiful gardens, and cafe's around the monks, eventually giving them the boot. The point of this very loosely factual history lesson is that the heart of Recoletta consists of a beautiful cemetary, a mini-city of mauseleoms where Buenos Aires wealthy forever rest. Included is Evita, the hugely popular wife of the president who captured hearts world wide. I spent much time wandering through the area taking in all the different types of mauseleums. Personally, Id be content in an urn on the mantle or in the spice cabinet, occasionally sprinkle me on the pizza or some holiday cookies.
Guess what I did Saturday? Yes, I walked all over the stinkin place once again. Its been decided that bicycle tours will now take precendence over walking. This time I walked past Ricoletta up to Palermo. Palermo is another splendid neighborhood within Buenos Aires. I spent some time in the botanical gardens as well as in the Japanese Gardens (where it should be noted I had the first picture taken with me actually in it), and I also visited the musuem of modern art. It was a Saturday so more people were out and about, local markets were setup, and the city was alive with the weekend hustle and bustle. I had just a few beers Friday night but did meet a nice Canadian couple (aye) and we bought tickets from the hostel Saturday morning to see The Black Eyed Peas that evening. While I do not have many, if any, Black Eyed Peas songs in my music collection I recognized most of their songs and we all danced the night away to their huge production of special effects, huge video screens and laser shows. I personally appreciated the detail in which Fergie went into on all her outfits. Aye Aye Aye!
The following morning had me packing a side bag for what was planned to be my official departure from Buenos Aires. However, it goes without saying, you never know what plans will be made and what plans will be broken. A friend of mine says, "when we make plans, God laughs". Not that God is cruel and enjoys raining on our planned parades but we need to be, as Bruce Lee says, "like water". Speaking of water, my slightly changed plans consisted of a lot of it cascading down from the heavens above.
My original plans had me taking off on the 19 hour bus ride towards Iguazu Falls and staying overnight, leaving for Cordoba the next day. However, I learned of the option to take an all included bus (food & drink) to the La Boca Football match coming up on Tuesday here in BA. Which means I would take a 19 hour bus to Igauzu Falls, arrive in the morning, tackle the falls all day and then, in order to get back in time for the football match, jump back on a 19 hour long bus ride to make it back on time for the party bus. Crazy huh? Who would do that? Well, of course I would. So, 19 hours on a bus, yikes, I know. Kinda makes 4 hours of watching the guy on the treadmill seem appealing doesn't? It wasn't that bad though . I left at 2:30 pm and knocked out a couple 'grand master' level Suduko puzzles, did a bit of reading, some non-stressful thinking and then slept most of the evening away. This is a "cama suite" bus which means the seats are like lazy boys and recline almost the full way. They provide dinner, some no-name movies, and unfortunately, similar to Thailand, some music playing louder than necessary. It is way better than Thai music hands down though. More latin rythems as opposed to Thai rock ballads or ridiculous game shows with even more ridiculous as well as ill-timed sound effects.
I arrived in Puerto Iguazu around 8:30 am and jumped one bus for another to head to Iguazu Falls national park. Apparently, back when Eleanor Roosevelt visited the falls back in the day she remarked, "poor Niagra". I was a more subtle "holy $%@!" 4 times the size and scope of Niagra Iguazu didn't disappoint. At its fullest potential Iguazu will have up to 275 different waterfalls gushing. You can pay extra to take busses to the Brazilian side (apparently the best panoramic view) but I opted to pay a little bit more to take a boat ride into two of the falls. It was a beautifully hot day so the Iguazu Falls soaking I got was well worth it. The log rides at 6 flags have nothing on this! I spent some time swimming in the river beneath the falls before doing some more hiking and waterfall exploring. Eventually, I caught the local bus back into town so I could catch the 19 hour bus back to Buenos Aires and make the football match. The bus on the ride back was nicer than the one there. Along with dinner they served wine and champagne, I know, not bad for a bus ride, and I slept like a baby that evening.
Unfortunately, the lady who booked our football tickets had the wrong Tuesday in mind so my crazy bus schedule was all in vain! Oh well, be like water right_ No big deal. we have plans to go to an irish bar tonight for a bit and tomorrow I will say Hasta Luego to Buenos Aires and head for the city of Cordoba.
Till then, take care.

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