Buenos Aires

---

On saturday the 12 September it was time to leave Peru and Cusco for the bright lights of Buenos Aires in Argentina. My last night out in Peru was really good, the remaining trek members went to a really nice restaurant for some final pisco sours and good grub. the food looked and tasted fantastic. was a nice way to finsh off a magical week.

getting to Argentina was never going to be easy, and it all started off on the wrong foot. i got a taxi to cusco airport just to find i didn´t have enough money to pay, so after trying to argue in spanish, which didnt work well at all, i showed him my empty wallet and he made a huff and drove off. at least the flight from cusco to Lima made up for this, looking at the glaciers we had been trekking near was awesome. shame i cant say the same about the 3.5 hour wait in Lima airport. god it was boring. but after a 4 hour flight i arrived in Buenos Aires.

My first impression of Buenos Aires was wow look how green it is. compared to the dry baron landscape i had been used to, it was like a piece of heaven. from the initial bus journey to the hostel you could see the difference between here and lima. it was all so much more up market and felt so much safer.

our hostel was quire nice, we shared our dorm with a german couple for the first few nights, god the guy was awful. he had the longest hair i had ever seen on anyone. and seeing him come out the bathroom in just pants and flip flops was enough to give me nightmares. he also magaed to completely flood our bathroom, he must have showered with the curtain on the outside of the bath, our bathroom never did recover from this before we left.

on sunday we had breakfast in the docks of Buenos Aires. this really was like being back in canary wharf. it had the same old warehouse buildings that had been converted to flats, same flash business buildings etc etc, was a home away from home. in the afternoon we went to watch a football game between river plate and colon, the game was really poor compared to football back home but the atmosphere was more like a carnival. before the game started it was like a celebration when the drummers and flag bearers entered the stands. our guy pointed out the one place you really dont want to be, the die hard fans make millwall supporters look like little girls. in the evening we had drinks in the bar under the hostel, quite nice and very cheap.

on monday we decided to explore the city by foot and got very lost. we was heading for palermo and the nice parks and zoo there but later realised we were well short of there. turns out BA is a very big city. i didnt really enjoy being back in the city and couldnt wait to leave to get a taste of the great outdoors again so we booked our bus ticket and trip of Iguazu from the brazilian and argentinian sides. in the eveing we went oan all you can eat buffet where you simply helped yourself to the salad buffet and they had a massive grill where you could keep going up for as much meat as you liked. it was amazing, the whole meal with wine and pudding was 57 pesos, which is about 10 quid. i ate so much like usual i could barely walk home. going out in BA is way different to back home, nothing gets going until gone 11pm. the restaurants are totally deserted before this. so you end up eating around midnight and then sitting in the bar until 3am. then as you could imagine wake up around 11 the next day and totally have missed the free breakfast. oh well.

on tuesday we literally had to sprint to the bus stop to get our bus to iguazu. with my full pack on and it being very hot, the weather in AB has been glorious sun shine, this was not a very nice experience. my pack is slowly getting lighter as i tend to bin things and leave things behind in hotels for others. mike will be bringing my jeans and shirts home when he leaves, i really am cutting down to the bare minimum. i cant possibly hike up into the andes and around patagonia with a pack this heavy. ill either come back like mr muscle or with terrible injuries.

so tuesday concluded with the beginning of a 19 hour bus journey to the falls, the bus was very comfy and the seats were more like beds as they went so flat, time really zipped past.

ill pick it up in a fews days after the conclusion of our iguazu tours. hope everyone is well back home. if anyone wants ay more details on anything just send me a message and ill make my blogs more precise.

adious

---

Comments

[Mum]

I now have a vision of this fella in his underpants, flip/flps and long hair, begining to feel ever so slightly anxious that when we meet you in Os that you would have off loaded so many items of clothing that you will look the same!!!