Buenos Aires

We are coming to the end of an interesting week in Buenos Aires.  After our lovely hostel experience in Pucon we didn't wish to tempt fate so had enquired with a local short term rental agency to book an apartment for the week.  We foolishly thought that when a website said it would get back to us within 24 hours that it actually meant what it said.  So young, so naive. We emailed them on the Tuesday and when we hadn't heard back from them on the Friday (and we were meant to be checking in on the Sunday) we became a little anxious.

A bit of Evita action on the Avenida 9 de Julio.

The Obelisk on Avenida 9 de Julio

This led to the very rash decision of booking a hostel for one night in BA.  Our first night was ok if not a little dungeon like but we thought we would be fine and would be able to contact the rental agency first thing Monday morning.  This was not the case.  Not wanting to be outdone by their Portuguese speaking neighbours, BA decided to have two days off for Carnivale!  One friendly taxi driver pointed out stands and barricades along the widest main road in the world (this fact has not been substantiated) and we thought we were in for some awesome Latino semi-nudity.  Again this was not the case.  Not only did we no longer have any accommodation on what turned out to be a four day long weekend in a city already jam packed with tourists, we also failed so see any skimpy high cut sequined bikini bottoms or nipple tassells.  You can imagine our sheer devastation.

Anyway we (being Marc) rallied and managed to score a lovely corner room (read small and cramped) in a hostel a few floors up from the one we had stayed in.  The exiting couple had told Marc that the room was lovely but could be a little noisy at night from the endless parade of buses and trucks driving past the building all night.  They recommended keeping the doors closed and turning the fan up high so we didn't overheat.  Joy!  Suffice to say, the night was not the most pleasant and we promptly checked ourselves in to a lovely and cheap 3 star hotel for amazingly the same price as a private room in a backpackers!  The Asian in me was very proud.

So after two days of faffing about with accommodation we finally started to explore the city.  First stop was Florida Street for some retail therapy.  Here we happened upon PICNIC!!!!  A vegetarian/organic cafe.

The bustling Florida Street where you will probably get robbed! 

How is their economy not stronger when they have 25 hours in a day!!!

PICNIC!  VEGETABLES! YAY!

The next day we intended to head off to Recoleta to check out the famous Recoleta Cemetery.  We made it here...

which is actually opposite the cemetery so you know, we were close.  We then decided to do this...

Look how cute my little beer is compared to Marc's half a litre!

 And eat these...

Attractive looking but horrible tasting onion rings.

This is where we met Sheena and Justin (as seen in the background of the onion rings photo), a lovely couple from Wisconsin.  We stayed at the little micro brewery where the boys sampled most of the beers on the menu (twice) and discussed everything from religion to American politics to most importantly, cheese!  Sheena and Justin were full of delightful Buenos Aires tips, one of which was a small steak restaurant called Dada, which at around 9.30pm we decided would be an ideal place for dinner.

Justin watching Marc piss off the waitress, and Sheena perusing the delicious menu. 

 The next day we did actually make it to Recoleta Cemetery.  It was beautiful and eerie (or as eerie as a packed tourist attraction can be).  The wealthy and famous of BA are buried here with new shiny marble mixed amongst old crumbling stone mausoleums.  The place is set out like a city with tree lined main streets and it feels like it goes on forever.  We stayed off the main paths and managed to find some deserted areas.

After the Cemetery we were starving and luckily there was a lady serving up delicious Choripan (chorizo in a bun) for AU$2.50.  BARGAIN.

Once our hunger was satiated we made our way down to Puerto Madero which is pretty much the Southbank of BA including a brown Yarra River equivalent.

Random giant chair

Southbank?

Definitely Southbank.

One of the more random tourist attractions in BA is the A line subway.  It's a short line which takes you along Avenue de Mayo and was the first subway in South America dating back to 1913 (this fact has been substantiated, thank you wikipedia).  They still use the old wooden carriages with wooden benches and there is a sweet little conductor man.  Was very cute!

The next day we decided to explore the barrio of Palermo which is meant to be the chic cafe, bar, restaurant and boutique shopping area of BA.  It did have some lovely cafes etc but it may need a few more years to really come in to its own.  This is where we conducted our vegetarian food crawl!

Out of what I believe now to be nothing but pure travellers guilt, we signed up for a tour to a Gaucho ranch to see how they "used to live".  Traditionally the Gauchos were nomadic so I'm not sure how going to a ranch with homesteads and the like is a true representation of their traditional ways.  Anyway we headed out of Buenos Aires city for a day trip where we ate empanadas and grilled meats and salads.  We went on a horse and cart ride, rode horses and watched the gauchos compete in some odd sport where they had to pull a pin out a strap of leather.  When they won they had to kiss one of the many old ladies (most with copious amounts of peach fuzz on their top lips) and give them the ring so I am not really sure how this can be considered "winning".

View from my horse.

Making friends with a group of mustachioed Colombians. 

One of the Gauchos looking extremely proud of himself for no particular reason. 

One of the "winners" going in for a furry lip kiss.  Winner!

As a side note, yes Lisa and Andy, this is exactly the same place we went to when we were in BA way back in 2007.  The same old creepy guy that was cracking onto Lisa was still there and everything!

Our last day in BA was spent at the San Telmo antiques market with Sheena and Justin.  At first I felt like I was walking through the Argentinean version of the rocks market but once we got in there it was full of gorgeous old wares sold by equally gorgeous old people!  Such a delight!  Marc and I both showed great restraint and managed to walk away empty handed!

We are now heading west to Cordoba (Argentina, not Cordoba Spain, where we may have accidentally booked accommodation).

Ciao!