The Striking City of BA

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  Buenos Aires, Capital Federal District, Argentina
Friday, March 12, 2010

People had told us that in South America the Argentinian bus network was by far the best - our 16 hour journey from Puerto Igauzu down to the capital Buenos Aires did not disappoint! As we'd booked so far in advance we managed to get the front seats on the top of the double-decker coach so had loads of leg-room and no one leaning their chairs back infront of us. We were plied with two meals, sweets, a glass of wine and fizzy drinks and a couple of movies were shown - one of which was Avatar which I'd really wanted to see at home but not managed to, though I doubt it was the same watching it on a coach as oppposed to 3D cinema! The journey flew by and before we knew it we were in the capital city and heading to our hostel...

The hostel we stayed in - Augur Hostel - was a bit out of town but an absolute bargain. We paid $25 ARG a night (4 pounds) and at first had a big room for 4 just to ourselves along with a balcony! On the last couple of nights we were in a dorm room of 6 with at most two other people but that was still a luxury for the amount we were paying. The hostel itself was nice and clean but there was a significant lack of people staying there which we found very strange considering the location didn't hinder us whatsoever - actually it was quite nice to be a little out of town - and it was so cheap! The included breakfast was really good as well as it was served in the little cafe beneath the hostel. Not that we made it to breakfast more than twice though!

The city of Buenos Aires is really lovely and laid back and the European influence is definitely noticeable. We spent a day walking around the sights - such as the pink palace where Evita made all her famous speeches. (Evita being a famous president's wife who held the official title 'Spiritual Leader of the Nation' and died of cancer at the age of 33 for all those who have not seen the movie or don't know anything about Argentinian histroy...I didn't!) We also wandered around the downtown area looking at all the street stalls and having shopkeepers try and entice us into their shops for anything from leather jackets to exchanging our currency! There was a lot of elements from home I felt because the city had such a European, safe feel - there was even a massive shopping mall just across from our hostel which wouldn't have been at all out of place in London with a multiplex cinema and loads of posh shops. I even managed to find one dedicated to rugby which I was obviously very pleased to see.

We spent one day in the lovely neighbourhood of La Boca which is the birthplace of tango. The area surrounding the couple of streets filled with tourists is quite rough as we found out on the bus journey there as we didn't know where to get off and found ourselves in the wrong part of town at the bus depot. A kind lady who spoke as much English as we do Spanish (ie none!) managed to convey we were in the wrong place by gesticulating that people would be looking at our bags (as we were obvious gringos) and looking to take them. Not what we wanted to hear! Anyway, we managed to get a bus back to the safe area and a cab to the right place from there. Phew! If it hadnīt been for that lady Iīm not sure what would have happened as we would have just ended up wondering around so thank goodness for that! Anyway, when we eventually made it to the right place La Boca was lovely, very touristy but of course thatīs to be expected. Itīs so colourful with the houses painted bright, bold colours and lots tango dancers waiting to have their photo taken with you - at a price of course! I managed a couple of sneaky shots without having to get my wallet out which I was pleased with. We spent a few hours looking around the shops and buying some postcards and trinkets for home. We then sat and had a coffee where there was one of the free tango shows happening - I wasn't impressed with what I saw. When you're used to watching the zest of an Argentine tango on Strictly Come Dancing, just watching two lacklustre dancers going through the motions (as they obviously do every single day) was a bit of a disappointment. Oh well. I suppose if you want to see the real thing you have to pay big bucks but alas our backpackers budget doesn't stretch that far...

We ate lots of good food in BA - not surprisingly! As well as the mall, right next to our hostel there was a huge hypermarket called Coto which easily shot straight to the top of my 'favourite supermarket' list (not a very long list I must admit). It was just cavernous inside and had everything you could imagine. Our favourite part was the fresh-food deli though which was sampled for lunch or dinner on more than one (well, five) occasions because it was just so delicious. There was everything from fresh steak meat to potato gratin to empanadas to fruit salad to pasta to chinese food.....fantastic tasting and great value for money! We didn't cook our own food that much because we didn't need to - we had it all freshly prepared and dirt cheap right on our doorstep! On our final night in the city we sampled the Argentine barbeque 'parilla' at an all-you-can-eat restaurant where I think I ate my (and everyone else's) money's worth. There was a barbeque at the back of the restaurant with just all kinds of meat on there, freshly-made and delicious-tasting. You could go up as many times as you wanted so it would have been rude not to taste a little of everything - so yummy!

We had a couple of great nights out in the city as well - visiting another hostel to listen to some cheesy music from home and take advantage of their happy hour (which came as and when they wanted it to and deemed the hostel busy enough...odd). The 'going out' hours in South America are so different with people not going clubbing until 1 or 2 in the morning and get home at about 8 or 9! Some mornings we found ourselves walking past revellers as we were making our way to breakfast...! I can definitely see why it's tradition to have a siesta every afternoon! It was really fun to go out in BA and we went to a couple of gay clubs which were pretty much like they are at home. The trannies in one particular place were trying it on with David but he wouldn't be enticed by their massive bazungers...

Overall we spent a week in Buenos Aires which is the most time we've spent in any one place up to now - it was lovely to get to know a place slightly better but also to have lots of time to spend doing things around the city but also chilling out and doing washing (this time by hand!), lie in and do bits and pieces on the internet (like update the blog!) instead of being go-go-go all the time. Scott has decided to stay in Buenos Aires for an extra week to do a Spanish language course so he'll get to know the city even better and we get our own personal translator!

As for David and I, our plan is to make the four-hour journey north to Rosario - the third biggest city in Argentina and birthplace of Che Guevara.

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Colourful streets in La Boca

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