Buenos Aires Part I

---

Hello!

We finally made it to Buenos Aires! Okay, we actually got here on the 23rd. Can you believe it took us almost six weeks to reach the first big city of our trip?

First, a bit about the journey here. After our finishing our last blog, we walked around Sierra de la Ventana. We eventually made our way across the railroad tracks to a nicer residential neighborhood. We stumbled across Casa de Té La Angelita. It is a lovely old house set amidst walnut trees. Here we enjoyed late afternoon tea and pastries. Headed back to the center, had dinner, claimed our bags from the luggage store at the train station. The train from Bahia Blanca with destination Plaza Constitución in Buenos Aires arrived about a half hour late to Sierra de la Ventana. Just about on-time by Amtrak standards. The ride was very bumpy, but we made it to our destination just fine.

The first day here (Saturday), we checked into a hostel in the San Telmo district. San Telmo is one of the older districts of BA, containing examples of older arquitecture and many antiques shops. We decided to take a stroll through part of the city to get our bearings. Walked through San Telmo to the center (Plaza de Mayo area), along the pedestrian shopping street Florida, to Plaza San Martin (near Retiro bus and train terminals), along the waterfront, and back to our hostel. By that time the lack of sleep caught up with us, so we decided to take it easy that night. We stayed in the hostel reading and relaxing. For dinner, we joined the hostel staff and other guests for a traditional Argentinian asado (barbeque). Mmmm... meaty.

The next day we woke up to find that the water in the building was not working. This prompted us to change living quarters in the same city for the first time on this trip. We called around to see that most of the other hostels were full. Then we found a more centrally located hotel room with private bath at less than two-thirds the price of our hostel room with shared bath. Checked into our hotel room and enjoyed the running water and extra space.

After some debate, we returned by subway (BA has a wonderful subway system) to San Telmo to check out the antiques market on Plaza Dorrego. Lots of vendors selling costume jewelery, glassware, porcelains, gaucho artefacts, and the like. Some interesting things, but nothing that we could not live without. We walked back towards the downtown in the direction of our hotel. We had perfect timing for the guided tour of the "Manzana de Las Luces", the oldest school area in BA. We learned a bit about the role of the Jesuits in colonial times.

That´s it for now. Our Internet Cafe is shutting down for the night. More to follow.

Ana and Ryan

---

Photos

Afternoon Tea
We had wonderful tea, crepes, and tarts at La Angelita.

Sunrise over the Pampa
Taken from the train.

Train Car
A fuzzy picture of the luxury pullman class.

Harborfront in Buenos Aires
Puente de las Mujeres (the bridge) is supposed to represent either a couple dancing tango or a harp.

Iglesia San Ignacio de Loyola
Part of the Manzana de Las Luces

Comments

[Joaquin]

Nice Trip
Congratulations for this Blog. I Live in Argentina, in bahia blanca, and i found this blog very nice. I hope you had a nice time here in argentina.