Buenos Aires

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Ola,

That is the extent of my Spanish so far unfortunately - more than I spoke when I originally arrived but still not great is it?

5/6 Days in Buenos Aires certainly hasn't been enough, and definitely not enough time in Argentina! When I originally booked this trip I think I was incredibly unadventurous and the extent of which I am only just beginning to realise - but hey, at least that shows I'm enjoying myself!

Firstly, for some unknown reason my flight was upgraded! Only from Economy to Economy Premium, but still! TVs are better, seats are wider with more leg room and just general service from the staff is nicer - I'm now hoping for Business on the way home (I'm allowed to dream). I actually ended up sitting next to a really friendly Argentinian man who helped me get to the hostel (I cab shared with him which made it cheaper and stopped the taxi drivers trying to rip me off due to my lack of Spanish) and invited me over for dinner. Another reason why 5 days certainly hasn't been long enough as I haven't been able to take him up on the offer! Nevermind, next time.

The hostel is really really nice. The staff are incredibly friendly and on the first day give you a tourist map telling you all of the places that are worth visiting, and on the flip side, all of the places that you should only visit with a death wish. The entire hostel actually has a really nice vibe, great guests, great facilities and a really good location.

Now, Buenos Aires itself actually feels very European as far as cities go. Firstly, it's huge, which ties in with most Western European capitals. I think that I would describe it as a mix between Prague and Berlin due to architecture, layout and just general feel when walking around the streets.

A huge difference, however, is the food. It is cheap, and it is steak. Everything is steak, chorizo or an emponada. I randomly guessed from a menu for lunch one day (as nobody I was with spoke great Spanish,) and for 10 Pesos (about 1.70) I ended up with a steak. And on the note of steak, a trip to Buenos Aires certainly isn't complete without a trip to the restaurant Siga la Vaca (in English "Follow the Cow"). For 92 Pesos (about 15 pounds - don't know where the pound sign is on this keyboard) there was all you can eat steak (I should really say all you can eat cow, as all parts were on offer), Chicken and Pork. You also had a bottle of wine/jug of beer and pudding included! Unfortunately I ended up going on the night before the primary elections, and so no alcohol was being served, but a jug of coke was just as nice. I'm not convinced that in terms of quality (and quantity) of food being served I will top that (peaked far too early) but I certainly got my moneys worth. I won't say exactly how much I ate as some people reading this will probably be marginally disgusted, but I think it's fair to say it would have cost me well over 100 pounds in the UK ...

Touristy things to do in Buenos Aires are fairly typical, so there isn't much need to go into that, however, one thing I will mention is a show I went to last night. For 35 Pesos I went to a drum concert at, what I am told, was the cultural centre. The entire hostel went (well, certainly 2 floors of 3) which just emphasises the atmosphere, and it was really quite different but also amazing. The venue itself was rather bizarre and felt very much like a warehouse, but that only added to the experience. The show was a 2 hour improvised drum/percussion performance where a 'conductor' would make random hand signals at the drummers to dictate the rhythm etc. he wanted them to do and they would just do it. Admittedly it sometimes sounded a bit dodgy when the rhythms didn't quite match up, but on the whole it was great. Reading back what I have just written I really haven't described it well, but then how can I really? I took a video or 2 which I can upload which will probably show it much better!

Tomorrow I fly to Santiago, which I'm both looking forward to and not. I really want to stay in Buenos Aires longer, and there are things in Argentina (such as Iguazu Falls) which I really want to do. However, that can be left for another trip and I've only heard good things about Santiago and I genuinely am excited about seeing it.

So, I leave you with the news that beer in Argentina is bought in bottles by the litre and I will update in a week.

Ciao,
Sam(uel) x

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