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Published: April 6th 2011
San Telmo, BA
Annnnnd tango...Monday 21st March – Saturday 26th March
We reluctantly dragged ourselves away from the hostel pool at Iguazu, packed our bags once again and headed for the bus station and our much anticipated 'Cama suite' ride to Buenos Aires. Now let me tell you about cama suite.. this is no ordinary bus journey. This is a bus with fully flat beds, waiter service, pillows, blankets, and regular movies. But it gets better.. they even serve you a steak dinner, red wine and champagne to finish. Whilst not quite within Chris' excel magic budget, it wasn't far off (much cheaper than a flight and it was a 20 hr bus ride after all!)
We arrived in Buenos Aires at 9am feeling ready to take on the big city. Although in need of a shower to feel fresh, we were unable to check into our hostel until the afternoon. We dumped our bags and wandered out to soak in the sunshine and get a feel for our surroundings. BA has a lot of European architecture, so it immediately felt more familiar. However, unlike European cities, the Argentinian culture fills the streets in the way of the tango dancers in the plazas,
complimenting the warm air and a nice cold Quilmes (brand of Argentine beer), and a warm Enchilada. (We also saw a very impressive tango show at the famous Cafe Tortoni with travelling friends.)
We had heard about the great party scene in BA and within an hour of arriving back at the hostel, we'd showered, met our new room mates and all headed off to the famous La Bomba De Tiempo (drums show) with them. It reminded us of the samba in Brazil, and we had the moves ready to go. Good times, and amazing talent.
BA is split into a number of districts/barrios (the chic Recoleta and Palermo, the working class San Telmo and colourful La Boca, and the waterside Puerto Madero) which we managed to cover in our week here.
We spent a lot of time wandering the streets in the sunshine, goofing around sucking on our water bottles and stopping for cheap icy poles.
Recoleta has an incredible cemetery, which is pretty much a mini city of ornate statues and tombs built for the rich and famous, including Evita. Kind of crazy to see the coffins on shelves inside the sarcophagi, resting there forever.
La Cabrera, Palermo, BA
Steak o'clock...(food pic for you Juliet) Palermo was great for night life, we had a few great nights out here, generally starting with a steak feast and a bottle of red (including the amazing restaurant La Cabrera, as some of you may know.)
Probably our favourite neighbourhood was La Boca, situated along the old port and built by Italian immigrants from Genoa. It has lots of colourful buildings originally painted by residents using left over boat paint from the port. The streets were full of artists selling their paintings, tango dancers, sprawling cafes and plenty of market stalls to browse (even if it is a bit touristy). Chris promptly chose and purchased his 'second team' football shirt, Boca Juniors. This led to numerous cheers of recognition and support from fellow fans, and equally jeers from the rival River Plate fans. Just a shame we weren't able to be there for a Saturday match. We were also moved by the local bus trip which opened our eyes to the reality of life in the impoverished areas surrounding the colourful streets.
Whilst enjoying BA, we decided to head out of the city for a day so we took a train 1 hour north to a
popular local weekend destination, which coincided with the country's national holiday. Tigre is situated on the delta del parana, a network of rivers and islands which we explored by kayak. Having convinced the rental crew that we knew how to control the kayak, and were knowledgeable in the rules of the river we set off alone, only to be confronted with huge catamarans and passenger ferries spitting out a large swell... it was a baptism of fire, but the cries of the rental crew soon faded as we paddled further away, zig zagging between boats until we found the calmer side rivers. Great fun, and they were pleased/surprised to see us return with a few more skills under our belt and a fairly dry kayak. We finished off the day with a boat cruise around different parts of the river, all in all a really pleasant day which felt like a 'Sunday'.. if that makes sense.
So Saturday came and it was time to pack away the summer clothes, wave goodbye to the heat of the north and take a flight to PATAGONIA... El Calafate here we come - the part of the trip that we've been yearning for
Tigre, BA
Kayaking jedi since landing in SA.
More adventures to follow....
K & C xx
ps Cooko - the beard challenge has begun, one week down and feeling the itch damn you!
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Jim
non-member comment
Excellent work on the beard Chris. Hattie and I are enjoying reading about your adventures! Turns out we narrowly missed you in BA, we were there from April 2 for 5 days...boo. In NZ now - Rio carnival seems a long time ago. Hope your enjoying Patagonia. Jim.x