Adios BA

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Day 7 - Tuesday 18th October 2011
Well we have been in the big BA for 5 days and it is now time for us to leave. As per any move we both get a little nervous and apprehensive, especially for the first one on any trip. Today we followed our familiar pattern of getting up early and having breakfast and then preparing for the day except today we had to pack our backpacks. We had hardly bought anything but we really struggled to get everything back into them, and they weighed a tonne.
At 9.30 we wandered down to the foyer and finalised our bill and waited for our taxi. The staff at the Duque hotel have been fantastic and we had got to know them all really well and was kind of sad to say goodbye but we had a bus waiting and so when our taxi turned up we were off. Probably the only problem we had with the staff at the Hotel was the advice that it would only take 30 minutes to get to the bus station, but in fact took nearly an hour. Luckily neither of us really enjoy running late so we always allow additional time for ourselves otherwise we may have missed our bus. Buenos Aires traffic is almost as bad as Sydney and although we didn’t need to travel far the bumper to bumper traffic had us crawling along.
Finally made it to the bus station with only 10 minutes to spare and the taxi driver dropped us as close as he could and tried his best to explain where we needed to go, but the silly gringos that we are got it slightly mixed up. Found another guy who then led us to where we needed to go and as an added bonus carried Shelley’s backpack. For giving directions and then leading us there I had prepared 4 pesos as payment but after he carried Shelley’s bag I had to up the fee to 10.
As I have stated previously the Buenos Aires bus station is 400 metres long, and that is 400 metres of ticket sellers on one level and 400 metres of bus parking below. Our ticket vaguely stated “52a 66 section E ”, which we discovered meant that the bus could be parked anywhere between gate 55 to gate 66. Buses were continually coming and going and we stood there trying to figure out if any of them was ours. While I minded the bus Shelley went in search of our bus and with the help of a friendly local we found it and we were soon on board and leaving Buenos Aires behind.
Buenos Aires has been a great base to start this trip, it has been extremely easy to get around and although not jam packed with things to do and see we have both enjoyed it heaps. The food in the touristy areas has been great and we even discovered several Vegetarian, Sushi and noodle places.
It took about an hour for the bus to extract itself from the grips of the city traffic and we were soon plodding our way towards Mar Del Plata, through lush flat cattle country. The bus seats were huge and we could recline them almost flat into a bed, which would be handy if we decide to do an overnight trip later on. This was perhaps the best bus trip we have ever taken as the seats were so comfortable and the ride so smooth, it was so good we both in fact snoozed for a bit.
At around 5 we hit the outskirts of Mar Del Plata and after about ten minutes we were parked in the brand new bus station. We got off and got our bags and decided that whilst at the bus station we should pick up tickets to get out of town on Thursday. Once again we had a choice of about thirty bus companies and thankfully we chose one that had a guy running it that was patient with our lack of Spanish. It is amazing how we have been able to communicate with others when we don’t know what they are saying and that they don’t know what we are saying. Somehow we sign language and fumbled our way through till we got tickets out of here.
We then trudged out under the burden of our backpacks and secured a taxi into town. The driver was a great guy who shook his head in disbelief when he discovered how little Spanish we knew “loco Gringoes”. Booked into the Etoile Hotel near the centre of town, which is one of those hotels with a huge glass and brass foyer that is out of all proportion to the rooms. The foyer had all the appearance of a grand hotel but the rest of the hotel was about ten years past its prime. The manager was a really great guy though and as per most people in Argentina seemed to have unlimited patience for our lack of Spanish. To our surprise our room was a “smoking room” which I thought had disappeared with the dodo and the room is tired and barely clean…..a long way from the Duque Hotel in Buenos Aires. But that is the joy of travelling; you never know what you will get in the next town and ultimately it all adds to the experience.
We dropped our bags in the room and because it was now nearly 7pm we headed out onto the town to seek out a feed and hopefully a beer. Soon discovered that despite there being a hundred cake and chocolate shops there were few restaurants. The few places recommended by the Lonely Planet were closed or gone and the few others that were opened refused to serve food because we were too early. After a couple of false starts we ended up at a great little pizza place where we once again got fantastic service.

Day 8 - Wednesday 19th October 2011
Oh what will breakfast bring; I am sure it will not be what we have been having the past few days at the Duque. As we walked into the dining room from a distance we could see a table which looked full of food, distance is sometimes good. On closer inspection the choice was sweet croissants, cake, white and brown bread for toast, marshmallows, sugary cereal and then I spied yoghurts. Sitting at the table with my toast, yoghurt and a croissant I thought I had done well, unfortunately the croissant was sickly sweet coated in sugar syrup, too sweet to eat for breakfast. Next was the yoghurt, Oh My God death by sugar, Argentinians love sweets. So the plain toast is the go with tea or coffee. We usually only run on two meals a day when travelling with the free breakfast being one of them but we may need to alter our travelling diet. It would appear that if we wanted to dine like Argentinians we would certainly need to increase our daily intake of cakes and chocolates.
Mar del Plata is a beach town set up for the Argentinian tourists, it is a bit like the Gold Coast with a Casino and touristy shops. We walked to the beach and walked along the promenade following the coast for about 6km. it was amazing how nothing much was open and all along the beach were fenced off areas filled with empty beach huts; it all felt like we were too early for a really large party. Towards the end of our walk we finally spotted a restaurant on the beach that was open and decided that today we should stop for lunch. After a bit of pointing at other people’s food we now know calamari is called rabis, the meal was great and a nice change to have seafood and it is cheap.
The weather is still cool, but in a few weeks this town will be in full swing as party central and the accommodation will be hard to get so we came at the right time. Being the South Atlantic Ocean it would neither be warm enough for me to swim in – Shelley.
After walking all day we cheated and got a taxi back to the beginning of the walk.
Had a bit more of a walk around town checking out the shops before retiring to our room and sorting out some internet banking and such. on our return we discovered that our door doesnt lock and in fact the door can be pushed open with no effort at all. The lights over the bed are also hanging loose from the wall and you have to keep tapping them to keep them on. This hotel is such a dump that we should complain or bail on it, but the people running it are so lovely that we sort of feel like a pack of whinging tourists if we did. Headed out for dinner at 8 and went back to the pizza shop from last night and again got great service and an even better feed.

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Comments

[One Angry Dwarf]

look again
Ahhh the empty beach huts . Take a closer look at the third hut from the front and slightly to the right. Oh Yeah you guessed it . Thats me waving....