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Published: October 15th 2011
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Day 2 - Thursday 13th October 2011
Woke up late after a great sleep and made our way to breakfast, which had a good selection.
Due to the overcast weather and the issues with our email, we had a slow start to the morning. Decided to go window shopping (no actual shopping as nothing else will fit into our backpacks) and have a good look around the area. The staff at the Hotel are superb and were able to point us in the right direction. Walked for several kilometres going through all sorts of shopping areas and ending up at Murillo street, which is filled with leather shops. The prices and styles were varied and although we were tempted the thought of carrying a large leather jacket around with us stopped us from reaching for our wallet.
After walking for miles decided to chill at a bar called Sugar, the drinks were cheaper than the previous night but not as nice. We sat at a table outside to watch the people go by and learn how to reverse park a car in Buenos Aires. The method we discovered was to reverse back until you hit the car behind and then move
forward and sometimes hit the car in front, but you must hit the car behind and try to push it back. The bar is quite popular and later there was a line to get in, it might have had something to do with Ladies Night.
Day 3 - Friday 14th October 2011
Up nice and early today for our first real solid day of site seeing. After a hearty breakfast of omelette and toast, with a small croissant we were back in our room preparing for the day. Because this was the first day of site seeing, the preparations took longer than expected with most of the time wasted just rummaging through our backpacks trying to find things. By the end of next week we will have this routine down to 5 minutes but this morning took over an hour.
We finally made it out the door when Shelley decided to run back in to get her jacket (because the breeze felt cool) and also to get our sunscreen because it was a beautiful clear day. Unusually for her this was the one and only return to the room. We decided as a good start to seeing this great
city we would trace the walking tour recommended by the Lonely Planet. As the starting point was close to the bus station we thought that the first thing we should do was pick up our tickets out of here.
Rather than suffering in the peak hour traffic of Buenos Aires we opted to catch the Metro line or Subte as the locals call it. Walked the 1 kilometre down to the nearest Subte station and after a little confusion on what side of the station we should go to we picked up our tickets for the day. At 1.1 pesos (0.25c) a trip you just couldn’t beat it. The train was chockka block with peak hour commuters but it was superfast and despite having to change trains we were at our destination within 20 minutes.
We exited at Retiro train Station, which is this huge grand old station that would dwarf Central station back home. After emerging from the substation we quickly got our bearings and headed off to the bus station to get our bus tickets. Retiro bus station is not just any ordinary bus station. It is 3 levels high and stretches 400 metres long. A guy at
the information desk gave us some information where we could pick up tickets for Mar Del Plata and as you would guess it was at the other end of the building. Neither of us has ever seen so many “bus companies” in all our lives and we had a choice of about twenty companies out of nearly 200 kiosks selling bus tickets. It was pure pot luck as too who we would buy tickets from but we eventually settled for “Impressa Argentina”. The woman who served us couldn’t speak English and of course we know very little Spanish but we all soon discovered how stupid we are because not only didn’t we have our passports on us but we didn’t have enough cash. Luckily the woman accepted our credit card and was happy to forgo the usual security check probably because she figured we were too stupid to hurt anyone or commit a crime.
With our tickets in hand we scampered out of the building only stopping to pick up some cash from an ATM along the way. Getting the bus ticket had been easier and yet more difficult than I expected. It took longer than we had wanted but
the language barrier thing wasn’t quite as bad as we thought it would be. We do realise though that we need to start studying our phrase book and start trying to learn more and quickly.
Across from the station was General San Martin Park, which was a beautiful leafy space filled with memorials not only to General San Martin but also to the recent war for the Falklands. The nearby Arms Museum was closed and I don’t think I have ever seen Shelley look more relieved than when we discovered that those doors were still locked. We pushed on down Florida Street, which was a more hectic version of Pitt Street filled with shops, shoppers, and shop owners and touts preying on silly gringos like us following the Lonely Planet walking trail. Thankfully these touts were fairly laid back and have a long way to go before they can come close to matching the ferocity of an Egyptian or Indian tout.
We had been warned by several people (and even the Lonely Planet) that the people of Buenos Aries can be arrogant but on our walk today we saw little sign of it, and in fact most people were polite
and helpful. The footpaths however were hard going and you really needed to watch your step, with broken concrete and alternating levels everywhere. Having rolled my ankle twice before I had to be extra careful and I wouldn’t do a repeat performance.
After walking for a couple of hours taking in the amazing architecture of Buenos Aries we finally found ourselves down at the Casa Rosada (Pink House). This is the President’s house and was immortalised by Eva Peron’s speech from its balconies. Up to this point we had seen so many huge, grand old buildings that the Casa Rosasda seemed rather sedate next to them. Maybe because the building is a bit of a celebrity it just looks smaller in real life. We pushed on from there but we were quickly running out of steam so stopped for a feed and a beer at a café. Once again we realised our limitations with Spanish and ended up just ordering a couple of hamburgers and a beer. I really wasn’t sure what I ordered but just picked one at random and ended up with a burger that had a mountain of asparagus and pickles all over it…..damn. Tried my best at eating what I could of it but just ended up eating the meat, cheese and roll. Shelley ended up with a great burger that had a pile of salad with it so at least she was getting her greens. We finally completed our long and winding walk crossing the huge 16 lane AV 6 de Julio 3 times and then headed off to the Subte station for a train home.
The first train that came along was packed so we waited 2 minutes to see if the next one was any better and of course it wasn’t so we just jumped on and packed in like the locals do. We managed to stagger back to the hotel picking up some water along the way and got back around five feeling pretty tired after such a long day walking but happy that we were finally starting to relax and get into the swing of the trip.
Later in the evening we when downstairs to the lounge area of the hotel for coffee and cake, before planning the next day’s adventure.
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margaret nowland
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Love the blog - I\'ll check in daily for a taste of S. America. Hope you sang a few bars of \" Don\'t Cry For Me Argentina at \"Casa Rosada\".