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Published: October 9th 2009
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On my second day I headed out into this scary new city (not really but I am sometimes pessimistic until proven wrong) and walked from my hostel to the Plaza Italia and gardens and around there.. It was very pleasent, European with statues in Roman style. One that had me laughing was the statue of 5 people in a state of drunkiness and falling over. Now why don´t we have statues like that in NZ?
Later I asked at the hostel what there is to do on a Sunday and they reccomended the San Telmo markets and to go by Subte (Subway). I got my ticket and rode the Subte which was surprisingly easy to the San Telmo station. When I came out of the station looking at my map to see where to go next a guy came and asked in Spanish if I needed help. I told him where I was going in Spanish but then he switched to English when he heard my accent and said he was going that way so would walk me there. His name was Oscar and he was a Tango teacher/musician and we talked a bit about things.. He thought NZ was very close to England for some reason! He then said ´do you want to play a little game?´I said ´ok...´ kind of thinking I might be about to be conned for the first time in Buenos Aires. He said ´Ill tell you one thing about me you don´t know in my native language and then you tell me one thing about yourself that I don´t know´. Sounds easy I thought, we had only just met so I could tell him practically anything and he wouldnt know it... he then said a dialouge quite serious about life and death and what kind of significance his life should have...then it was my turn...´well...I grew up on a farm...I had lots of animals..´ I started lamely. I felt I had to say something else so I spluttered something about wanting to travel the world and get to really know other cultures..and live like they do for a while... hmm better. We then parted with an Argentinian peck on the cheek and he gave me his number as I was in South America for one year and so could meet up again some time.
I then wandered round the San Telmo markets for an hour or two watching the Tango dancers and looking at the paintings, photos, leather and other trinkets for sale. I saw a girl who also looked alone and approached her, asking if she spoke English and wanted me to take her picture. She was from Brazil and here for a long weekend. We ended up spending half the day together and walking and talking and ice creaming from San Telmo to Recoleta to the City Centre. One interesting thing we talked about was sterotypes of people from different countries... I said all the Brasilians I had met were friendly and nice and fun, and asked what the reputation for New Zealanders was. She said ´well you live by the sea but don´t act like you do´. I asked what she meant and she said in Brasil there are two types of people - those that live by the sea like in Rio and enjoy parties and are easygoing and those that don´t like in Sao Paulo who are more serious. She said kiwis are known for always tracking time and having diaries and agendas...even though they are by the sea. I suppose yes that is true in some ways. We parted to our hostels as night came and I got another contact to stay with in Rio now 😉
I then couchsurfed for two nights with Marcela and Jota, an Argentinean couple in their early thirties. They had a cute little apartment in Villa Crespo and I arrived just in time for Marcela´s home cooked soup. It was great with real meaty chicken and veges. I then left her to work upstairs and walked around the city, getting lost a bit until dinner time at an appropriate 9pm. We went to the local cheap but really good resturaunt and I ordered a ravioli with meat stew thing on top. Only NZ $6! the thing about BA is that there is really great Italian food that´s mega cheap. We also shared a giant 1 litre beer and then a desert. I couldn´t even finish my main but was told you have to have something sweet to finish in argentinian culture. Italian pannacotta even came with dulce de leche - a kind of condenced milk with loads of sugar they are obessed with here. it is EVERYWHERE in BA!.
Next Derick came and I moved to a hostel closer to town. The first night we went out to dinner and then the second cooked it and chopped down some cheap as ($1.50NZ) 1 L bottles of Beer. That night we also tried out the free Tango lesson we got through Aerolineas. The class was a little more advanced than us but we were kept busy learning the 2 basico steps. It was quite fun but at the beginning I was ridiculed a bit by the teacher for stepping too big and unlady like. We had to also dance with our cheek and breast on the man leaning on him which was a bit weird. At least it was Derick!
The next day we went to La Boca which is famous for the coloured houses and Caminito St but MAN is it touristic! Everybody was trying to sell you some postcard or magnet or jewellary of something! We eventally found a nice quiet st with a set menu of Entre, Main and Postre (desert) for 25 pesos ($8 NZ). The couple who served us (woman from Chile and man from Argentina) were very cute and the food was AMAZING. Steak with potato, olive and sun dried tomoato cakes and spinich fettecine with tomato salsa, followed by Pannacotta and coffee....hhmmm I like being unemployed...taking two hours for lunch....we even ended up talkign to the womens whole extended family who was visiting from Chile! A gente buena onda (good people)!
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