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Published: February 15th 2007
Our second stop in Argentina was the biggie - Buenos Aires. It had been hyped up by friends and family and it did not disappoint. My sister bought us a night´s hostel accomodation as a Christmas present which set us up well and our 8 days in BA were fantastic. A laid back, cosmopolitan, european-style city with so much to see and do, most people get lost in BA and 3 nights stay eventually turns into 3 weeks, especially if you are staying at the Millhouse Hostel - party central. And just what we wanted!
We visited Evita´s musoleum, a black marble structure hemmed in among rows and rows of mini architectural marvels where the rich lie in coffins behind wrought iron and stained glass windows in huge musoleums, some the size of a garage, decorated with life size holy statues. Impressive yet spooky as you can see inside to the coffins and its strange to know the bodies are decaying and not being returned to the earth as they lie on marble ledges. We ventured into LA Boca with Kam and Gannon & Gerard the Auzzies, our common bond being our love of Melbourne. This is BA´s poor hood
and we lapped up the touristy gimmicks, watched some tango dancing and bought tacky souvenirs. Its a cool wee part of town on the docks, the main street Camiseta is the main feature of BA´s postcards because the tin houses and their balconies are brightly painted all the colours of the rainbow so it doesn´t matter so much that the sewers give off a bit of a whiff.
We met a fun bunch of people like Dean the South African, the NI boys, Nicola, Sarah and Louise the Blackrock girls and all other randoms that were out for the night. Opera Bay nightclub was graced with our presence til the early hours as was a bar in San Telmo which housed a great girly gossip night with the girls and Kam. We were treated to a bit of ad hoc tango by locals in an golden oldie bar that reminded me of the Gleneagles when it used to be up and running before ending up in techno/electronic venue that despite the soundtrack managed to make a good night. We loved the craic and got used to night living as nowhere in BA starts to 2am and daily routine is
Evita´s Grave
The majestic museoleums of Ricoleta Graveyardweirdly altered to a lateish start, evening nap and getting up at 10pm to start getting ready for the long night to come.
But it wasn´t all nightlife and we managed to squeeze in a tour of San Telmo´s Sunday antique market (the day that confirmed I was sick yet again and needed a trip to the pharmacy as urgently as I needed many trips to the loo!) and we saw a brilliant tango musical called Tangueria which was sexy, hot and fabulous with girls flinging their legs every which way. Duly inspired we took a tango lesson ourselves with a few daring boys from the hostel and took advantage of free wednesdays to see the modern art museum where they had some great glass potatoes! We searched, sometimes in vain, for a good steak but always managed to find a satisfying glass of red to wash it down.
The only disappointment we had in BA was when we realised our play it by ear attitude meant we had to leave BA early to go to Rio (in time for the Carnaval) via Igauzu Falls and therefore had no time to go visit our darling friends the Feds
Dog Walkers
A common sight in the rich suburbs across the water in Urugauy. We met them in Vietnam (see ´Life as a Beach Bum´ entry for pics and facts) and we were so looking forward to seeing them again but buses are buses and they were all filled for the dates we had planned so that trip will just have to wait for another day. Besides its just another excuse to come back to South America...
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fiona mac
non-member comment
cant wait to hear all ur craic!
only getting a real proper look at ur blog now and im addicted - class! u must have put so much work into it and its a great wee read!! BA, Santiago and Rio sound unreal - lucky ducks...make the most of the last few weeks and cant wait to catch up! i better go..ive been surfing ur blog for the last hour!! Fi Fi