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Published: March 10th 2007
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We flew from Amsterdam to London with British Airways, then from London to Sao Paulo with TAM Air. The flight was approximately 12 hours. It was surprisingly a very good airline. We were given a little pack which included an eye mask, toothbrush, toothpaste and a comb. The food was very good but small portions. We had personal monitors to watch whatever films we wanted. We saw 'Night at the museum' (very good film, highly recommendable) and 'Flushed away' which was very amusing. Pieter was sitting next to 2 Brazilians who gave us lots of recommendations of places to go in Brazil. When arrived in Sao Paulo we exchanged a little bit of money to have some coffee. It was the best coffee we have had in a long time. Much better than anything that you can get in London. The flight from Sao Paulo to Buenos Aires was about 2 hours and it was difficult. Squished in the back, with a grumpy woman in front of us.
We arrived in Buenos Aires in the early afternoon. The taxi was waiting that we ordered and took us to our hotel. We were pleasantly surprised with this hotel. The room was
small but clean and quiet. It is in a lovely old building with a wonderful decorative elevator. The thing that I didn't like was that we had to buzz in every time. The breakfast was simple with coffee, juice and 2 sweet croissants. They also have internet. If you are looking for something central around US$50 this hotel may well suit you. Hotel Frossard. We slept nearly straight away until the next morning. We do intend to travel on the cheap from the most part but we thought that for our first couple of nights it was nice to go mid-range to help us settle in.
We had the whole day Sunday wandering around Buenos Airos. It was fantistic! The buildings are amazing, old and new, all crowded together. It was a beautiful sunny day and we found market after market to keep us amused, as well finding some nice museums. We feel in love with the place.
The Cemeterio de la Recoleta was fantastic. It is known as the city of the dead because of the streets and streets of crypts. Old and new all together, it is an amazing place to stroll around. It is full
of famous people, politians, military big shots, and the rich. You probably won't know any of them except for Eva Peron. We just walked around to ages, peaking into the crypts. It is necessary to go here.
Our favourite museum was the Anthropological Museum. We were blown away with the quality. When we arrived a lady explained about the museum in English and when she realised we were kiwis she called her colleague over as she had been to New Zealand, to Te Papa museum in Wellington. A shrunken head was returned from their museum to New Zealand a little while ago. They still had 2 big old wooden tikis. The museum is very well laid out, plenty of english pamplets. You could also ask the girls anything. There is a special exhibit of objects from the north west of Argentina. Lots of pots, vases, stone carving, and Raewyn's personal favourite, the fertility statues.
Another good museum is the Penal Museum. This place was a convent a long time ago. In the 19th century it became a women's prison and also a man's. It was in use until 1982. It has very interesting displays of photos, the things
that prisoners made (homemade knives and shoes with secret compartments) and the kind of labour they had to do, and the guns and uniforms of the guards. There are some cells left intact and a chapel. It was a bit run down but that just adds to the charm.
The best thing about the National Historical Museum is the building itself. It is beautifully done up. The museum is most about military history including photos, paintings, furniture, weapons. There is some artifacts belonging to General San Martin, a famous guy in Argentina. It cost 2 pesos each to get in. Good value. If you have some time pop in. But you won't miss too much if you don't get there.
We stopped at El Hipopótamo for lunch. It is on Defensa, near the historical museum. Happily it was a cafe only used by locals. We ordered a Picada which is Argentinian. It was a lovely selection of 8 different cold meats and 2 different cheeses, bread and olives. It was very tasty. There was a wonderful relaxed and cosy feeling about the place. Nobody was in a hurry.
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