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So 6 days in buenos aires, fairly chilled out but couldn't muster the energy to update this so sitting on the plane catching up.
Don't know what we expected but thought this plane was going to be totally bogus and Ryanair-esque, 5 hours to lima for about a fiver. Turns out there's even business class - missed a trick there. Economy is fine, and currently nobody smells of death so all good. Even got a full row between the two of us. The meal though, some sort of scone based sandwich. Dubious about that. Looks like a chicken biscuit (for those who are familiar with that top quality meal!). No thanks.
Despite many warnings about BA not being safe, it felt fine. We were sensible though and didn't take out handbags or anything. The area out apartment was in was lovely. Palermo Soho was full of bars, boutiques, all very cafe culture. The apartment had a roof top pool and BBQ area, would be a nice place to live!
General perceptions:
- the Argentinian diet is not varied, meat, pasta, pizza, beer, wine
- hardly anybody speaks English, so we had to try a bit harder with our Spanish
- chip and pin is a concept that blows their minds
- cost of living is cheap, cost of buying anything made from outside the country- very expensive e.g. iPhone 5c was 1000 US dollars.
- the roads are crazy, the white man and the green light come on at the same time, the cars can turn the corner giving way to pedestrians, but they edge right up to you which is a bit scary when 5 lanes are turning.
- air pollution is an issue
- the school uniforms are funny, the kids all wear ties that wouldn't look out of place on a clown
- there are a lot of pet stores and many options for pet pampering
So bullets on what we did:
Saturday
- arrived, ate, slept
- randomly met somebody we had met at the falls who'd stopped to ask us to take a picture and he has kindly sorted us out with some tips for Texas.
Sunday
- toured the Casa Rosada, got on the evita speech balcony, actually saw the presidents office, bit random. They did put us through a metal detector to be fair, but ignored it when I set it off.
- favourite thing, the soap dispenser in the place, water bottle with a hole stabbed in the top
- walked to a wee market in San telmo, it was heaving
- freshly squeezed OJ for a quid and lots of tasters of dulce de leche
- watched a wee dodgy pocket picket man, aimi's mug me defence was to sock him the face with her dulce de leche crepe. To be fair we would just have handed over our 100 peso aka £8 notes. They only let you take seven out at a time anyway.....
- lunch was steak, pasta, drink, tenner for the two of us. Sold.
- interesting watching the chef on the parilla with a cleaver in one hand a fag in the other.
- can't mind what we did Sunday night! Maybe went for pizza and beers.....
Monday
- had a chilled out day, explored Palermo, came back, did some wind bathing, had lunch in a wee place called Mark's deli as recommended in the lonely planet, was yummy
- then had booked on a at Patrick's up crawl as recommended on tripadvisor- note pay attention to the last review date. We were stood up on our pub crawl! Made our own fun, went to some bars including an Irish one, got mistaken as Irish, got some free t shirts as a result, happy days. Weird thing was they had a jazz band playing, we asked the bash what that was about and he said "we are a fake Irish bar".
Tuesday
- took a bus tour in a howling gale, was warmer when I did the glasgow one, but we got to see lots of sights: boca stadium, la boca district, the polo grounds, blah blah blah
- found a cafe that served toast and dulce de leche - yum
- found it funny that people were surprised that the boca area is dangerous at night, would anybody take a wander round parkhead or ibrox at night when there isn't a match on? No, exactly.
- went to the Hard Rock Cafe, never been in one when there is actually live music on until BA, but on the downside, they had no pin badges..... Will be writing a letter about that.
- the band played covers, fine, one in Spanish then one in English. The crowd (except us) had no clue about the English ones, even flipping guns and roses.....
- the lead guitarist was a bit of a violation, our table was right at the stage and he kept putting his foot on the amp and thrusting. He looked like he'd crawled out a swamp.
Wednesday
- took a boat to Uruguay
- hired a golf buggy
- just a normal Wednesday really
- home, went out in Palermo soho for awesome burgers, prob the best we've ever had. Another trip advisor recommendation.
Quote of the day
- "Uruguay? No you're a Guay!"
Thursday
- we were going to do a walking tour but figured our own out instead which included taxis on the itinerary
- went to the evita museum, it was interesting, probably c10 mins too long for my attention span but good all the same
- had lunch in the restaurant there, wasn't expecting much and it was great, meal, wine and dessert for 8 quid each
- spoke to some New Yorkers and got lots of tips for May
Quote of the day goes to the New Yorker- "we don't really need to vacation cos NYC has everything you could ever want"
- then we went to Recoleta Cemetery saw Eva Peron's grave and that was that. Tick. Bit of a creepy place, lots of tombs above ground all glass, with the coffins on show. It gave me the boke if I'm honest.
- then we went to Fuerza Bruta. What an awesome show. Won't saw too much other than check out YouTube.
- home, pack, alarm set for 4.45........
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