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After the best 17hour bus ride of our lives- equipped with wide reclining chairs and a conductor that offered us whiskey (whicky), champaign and served up a hot meal that was a hell of a lot better than our recent Alitalia plane food- we arrived rather suspicously into BA. Paranoid about the stories of mugging in BA we got out of the bus station unscathed (although stupidly in an overpriced unregistered cab which I am sure wouldn´t pass a roadworthy) to arrive in one of the worst hostels we have ever stayed in. The room was basically on top of busy 6 lane highway, looked like it was about to fall to the ground, had holes in the floor and dirty sheets. On top of that the staff were rude creating "rules" that they failed to tell us when we arrived such as guests not being able to use the fridge that works as it is reserved for staff but are allowed to use the fridge that doesn´t work as it is "better"! So happy we booked 5 nights in the place!!
Lukily San Telmo, the area we were staying in, rocked. The local bar we got wine from had peoplee crowded around a piano player clapping and swaying to some old classics while the square on weekends was full of people sitting around taking in a rock band whose main attraction was a geriatric tap dancer. It also had the biggest Sunday markets I have seen with local salsa dancers so old they could barley bend their knees. With young and old respectfully mixing to embrace their passion for dance and music it was like stepping back in time which really added to the romance of the area. A little bit grimy and full of some amazing street art, San Telmo had an edgy endearing vibe that transports you straight into the soul of Argentina.
Then there was the meat. Giant succulent pieces of meat being barbequed in shop fronts. I don´t know what it is about Argentinian meant- weather it be the way the cows are raised, the unique barbeques they use or the fact that no one eats until 10pm- but it is insanely good.
On day three in BA, JoJo arrived!!! Hadn´t seen miss Jo in about 2 years and it was so good spending some quality time eating meat, drinking wine and being merry! Although I was very envious of her lovely new hostal! We ventured out to the famous Caminito street which is a vibrant, touristy area with colourful houses, stages of latino dancers and cartoon-type statues lining the balconies representing the settlers that came to the area in the 1800´s. The area is rad because it is restored from when the impoverished Italian settlers arrived and couldn´t afford paint and so would do up their corrogated iron huts in any colour they could collect from the boats arriving into port which resulted in patches of multicoloured houses. Very cool spot!
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