So we got the express ferry into Buenos Aires, and we were happy to spend a couple of days in civilisation. Buenos Aires is a big, busy city and we stayed in a hotel in the Centro (Central) area, with a big shopping mall across the road. Note for Jemma: I managed to find a Subway in there, so I took a photo for you!
We had a laugh trying to find the laundromat about 2 blocks away, as the guy on reception at the hotel gave us the wrong directions. We ended up stopping in a cafe and holding up a bag of our dirty laundry and saying 'laundry laundry', until someone pointed us in the right direction. Who knew that a place called Lave-rap would do laundry anyway?
I feel I should also mention the pavements in B.A. which are very narrow. You have these huge big buildings and then these tiny narrow pavements, which combined with the crazy taxi drivers (driving on the wrong side of the road and inventing new lanes ala cairo), makes for an interesting experience here. Note for Steven W: There are plenty of taxis here (radio taxis) and they all have meters in them, so if its too far to walk you can always hail a taxi on the street, and they cant rip you off because of the meter (well unless they drive in circles), although in our experience they are quite grumpy and dont tend to speak any english, so its best to have the name and address or map of the place you are heading to written down, so you can give it to them.
We were happy to find that there is free Wifi pretty much everywhere you go in Buenos Aires - in every corner coffee shop and restaurant, so we spent an hour in Starbucks having a cuppa tea and checking our emails for free - hurrah! And Yes Starbucks as in the very same...and you thought we were in deepest darkest South America. It is also worth mentioning that in Buenos Aires they have the cheek of charging you a Service Charge (or table charge) if you sit down in a restaurant and eat something. This varies from like 4 pesos to 35 pesos depending on the restaurant you go into, and takes a bit of getting used to. It only takes once for you to get a bill with 2 x 35pesos added to the top, when all you ordered were burgers for you to think twice about sitting down in a restaurant without checking the service charge at the bottom of the menu first.
The first day out in B.A. we took a walk down Florida street (a pedestrianised road that is packed with people selling knicknacks on the street to tourists, a bit like Leicester Square but longer and thinner) and visited a Falklands War Memorial, and then Plaza de Mayo, and a beautiful cathedral on the square.
We had to come back to Plaza de Mayo the following day to see the Mothers of the lost children slowly making their way around the circle in their quiet protest, carrying banners displaying photos of their lost children from the 70s - quite sad.
We also took a taxi to La Boca (the mouth) to see the colourful houses and tango shows outside the restaurants. This area is pretty small (2 streets) but worth going to see as it makes for some great photos. Again we had an interesting experience with a taxi driver that dropped us at the Football Stadium, that is a good 10 minute walk from Caminito (where the tourists go) and we walked around the slum for a while until we found what we were looking for. We ended up stopping in a shop and asking a woman (who was merrily breastfeeding at the time) for directions, and although she didnt speak any english, she got the message across by pointing and gesturing. It is worth saying that you have to get a taxi in and out of La Boca, as its surrounded by a slum (not a v nice area at all, well dodgy) so you cant just walk your way out of there, anyway its pretty far from Centro.
So that was the end of our first gap tour, and we had a farewell dinner in a fab steak restaurant (steak in argentina is obligatory) to say our goodbyes to the gang, and also wish Steve a happy birthday. He got a pair of thermals as his bday present (what a rock n roll lifestyle we lead lol).
Then we met up with our next gap tour that will go onwards to Santiago, only to be told that there was a bus strike going on, and we would have to spend another day in B.A. before we could head on to Bariloche.
So we had an extra day to play with and went to Palermo to see the street markets, and then took a walk down to the Botanical Gardens. Oddly their Botanical Gardens are full of cats. Well there were some plants in there as well, but we counted 67 cats while walking around there for half an hour and people seem to leave food for them on the ground. V odd indeed. As we had an extra night and our mates at the other hostel could get a good deal, we decided to take in a tango lesson, dinner and tango show, which was great fun. We had a very amusing tango instructor that picked me out from the crowd to demonstrate the importance of maintaining a connection with your dance partner, by looking deeply in to their eyes (very weird for a strange man to stare deeply into your eyes 2 mins after youve met them). The tango show was great too and we took a bit of a video, so hope it comes out okay.
Oh and we also managed to cram a big night out clubbing while we were there. We had a mad dash around the shopping centre where i managed to find a going out top in half an hour (new record) before the shops closed. And happily they let us in in jeans and trekking shoes.
The only catch with clubbing in B.A is that the clubs only get going at 4am. So we had a short sleep and then headed out to a bar at 12pm, to have a drink, before heading on to a club. They played a mix of normal dance music and some spanish salsa type of stuff, so it was good fun, although people faded a bit and were ready for home again around 3h30 am. Luckily we didnt have to get up too early the following day.
The other thing worth mentioning about B.A is that we saw an unusual number of woman who had clearly had a lot of work done to their faces (you can tell because those woman are all starting to look the same with their too tight faces, hooded almond shaped eyes and goldfish pouts). I had been told about the arrogance of Argentinians (portenos) and we did find some examples of these plastic woman walking around in fur looking down there unnaturately perfect noses at us. But then we were in fleeces and zip off cargo pants, so not exactly making a fashion statement!
So that was all we had time for in B.A, before we got on a 20 hour night bus - yes 20 hours nightbus to Bariloche.
Now its worth saying that the nightbuses in Brazil, Uruguay and Argentina have all been pretty comfortable so far. So although it was a long way to go on a bus, they seats did recline pretty far, and they actually gave us a snack, a hot meal and a small brekky on the latest bus. Of course the snack consisted of a ham and cheese sandwich with a side order of rolled ham, but beggars cant be choosers. We still dont seem to have left the land of ham and cheese. We actually saw a Museo of Jamon (Museum of Ham) in B.A - can you believe that?!
So now we are in Bariloche and its absolutely bloody freezing. I am currently wearing the following layers: thermals, long sleeve t shirt, thin fleece and thick fleece and to top it off im sitting next to the radiator in the hostel typing this.
We arrived yesterday and went for a walk around the pretty little town. Its exactly like being in a ski village anywhere in Europe, except its next to a large lake. The shops are all full of ski gear and designer sunglasses. Apparently the Brazilians come here for their winter holidays. We stopped in a pizza place for lunch and the friendly waiter asked us where we are from. We said South Africa and his response was Springboks!!? We said yes...he didnt actually speak any english so thats as far as the conversation went. We also tried to catch the number 20 bus to find a ski lift that takes you up to see some beautiful views. Unfortunately we couldnt find the right place to get off the bus, so after about an hour, and trying to converse with a bus driver that didnt speak any English we got off the bus to see a mangy dog, that was literally convulsing and foaming at the mouth (very wide berth). So we got back on the bus and headed back home.
Today we got up early and went on a 4 hour hike in the snow to see a waterfall and a black glacier. The waterfall was beautiful and it felt a bit warmer once we were on the move. However unfortunately when we got to the glacier it was snowing so heavily that we were in a bit of a white out and couldnt see much of anything. We took some photos in the general direction of where the glacier was meant to be and we will see if anything comes out!
Tomorrow we catch the bus out of Bariloche again on our way to Puerta Varas (2 more stops to Santiago) and about 7 hours on the bus... but Ive got a Steven King book ive just started and will be charging the Ipod tonight, so were going in well prepared :)
Love to all at home.
Kirst x
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