Buenos Aires!

There is so much to say about Buenos Aires but I`ll start by saying just what an amazing city it is. I think I could go as far as to say my favourite city in the world so far, I could have stayed there a lot longer. It`s strange to think that this time last year I had pretty much decided to move here if the Hays start-up were to go ahead. Obviously it didn`t so spending two weeks-ish there instead has to do!

I was in Buenos Aires on three separate occassions as it is also a perfect hub from which to visit other areas of Argentina. So, to start from the beginning, I arrived on a Friday night about 11pm with the five girls I had been travelling with from Uruguay, first class on the ferry from Colonia. It sounds flash but really it was our only option having not taken into consideration the East holiday week that started the day we decided to travel and therefore no space in the cheap bit. Arriving at 11pm is still early in Argenintian time as nothing happens at night until at least midnight to one o`clock so we made a dash for our hostels to get ready and hit the town. By midnight we were in the crazy hostel bar drinking fizzy wine (champagne as they called it!) and making plans to spend our first night in the posher area of Palermo Hollywood which is full of watering hole options and nightclubs. As it happens, we all bumped into three guys who had been in the same hostel as us in Florianopòlis, Brazil and so we headed out as a group of nine. Finding this club that was also called Palermo Hollywood we paid our ten pesos and went in. I`m not really sure what happened next however it wasn`t long before four of us - Bek, Alexia, Juno and I, the other two Aussie girls had a lot more decorum - were in the bathroom taking it turns to drink out of this Jereboam - (I later found out this word after telling Dad the story. For those that don`t know it is a bottle of champagne one size up from a magnum so pretty big). My friend Bek is a drunken thief rather than a sober one which apparently makes it ok, and so when at the bar and faced with this huge, full bottle decided it had to be taken which it obviously very professionally was and there we were. It`s amazing that nobody noticed, especially as by that point we were probably far from being subtle, yet we managed to finish the bottle by the end of the night and leave it hidden under one of the tables. Having seen the nine of us in the group together and having found the bottle under our table after we had left, when the boys from Florianopolis came to leave the bouncers cornered them and demanded they pay 500 pesos (about 100 pounds). We were long gone...Ooops. They were actually going to pay as well although didn`t have enough money or a cash card and so eventually they left paying nothing! Fortunately they had a sense of humour about it the next day!

That night we returned to the hostel, Juno and I were in a room together with four boys we hadn`t yet met. Juno found one of them in her bed when she got in and then I bounded in (quite respectfully not turning on the lights or making too much noise) to be confronted by this huge Israeli guy who must have had a really bad night because he was not in a happy place. In fact for whatever reason he was fuming and began this tyrade against English people, women and generally verbally abused the hell out me just because he had woken up when we got back which when you share a dorm with 5 others is unfortunately part of the experience. Well, I stood there like a rabbit caught in head lights trying to figure out what was going on (bearing in mind my part in the consumption of the jereboam not that long before). I think I managed to tell him that the crime was not mine but in fact his for being so boring as to be in bed at 5am on a Friday night / Saturday morning in Argentina. It didn`t go down well and so Juno and I thought it best that we check out of that dormitory ASAP. We also reported those guys to reception the next day. I later found out that there exists hostels only for Israelis across South America and didn`t have to wonder too long as to why.

You may not believe this, but we still managed Saturday night out too and hit the newly constructed riverside area of Puerto Madero and the club called Asia de Cuba, aslo a famous restaurant in London. It was a great night followed by a few hours of blackjack in the floating Casino which was a lot of fun as you can imagine.

Sunday, being the day of rest and all, we did exactly that and then spent Monday night at this amazing venue called the Konex for a famous display of drums called La Bomba Tempo which is literally 4 hours of world famous drummers playing together on stage. It really was great and as it started at 8pm meant for Argentina an earlyish night with us in bed by 2am. Not before we returned to the hostel though where there was a "party" going on. By party, they mean grown adults dancing to embarrasingly cheesy music. It wasn`t great and when I got hit on the head by the elbow of an Irishman whilst he was dancing to Mika, it was definitely time to try the not so much better club over the road. We all got in free because I told the guy on the door that we all lived upstairs therefore couldn`t get to sleep and so had no choice but to come down. We didn`t stay there too long but it was better than the hostel and fun nonetheless.

This brings me to Tuesday night and the last night of us girls together before we all went our separate ways. It could mean one thing... a huge meal out in Palermo with lots of famous Argentine meat and red wine plus and earlyish night.

Dad arrived the next day to spend just under three weeks with me travelling. It was great to see him and also great to depart the hostel life for a while. After 3 and a bit months, I was ready to burst through the door of a boutique hotel in Palermo in flip flops, combat trousers and my walking boots hanging from my pack without being thrown out.

"It`s ok, I`m with the grey-haired guy in the Harris tweed!"

Dad also told me that my blog sounds more like a blog written for an alcoholics anonymous meeting and so from here on in things are to be more sensible. For a start, we had a lot of sightseeing to do across the whole city, some fab restaurants to try and some tango to watch. It`s amazing how much you can fit into five days and we certainly did. By the time we left for Ushuaia we were all walked out as Buenos Aires is a HUGE city and I also like to walk as Dad discovered!

So on a cultural level, firstly we hit the area of Buenos Aires called La Boca, amongst many things there is a famous football team based there called La Boca funnily enough. Maradonna used to play for them a long time ago. It`s essentially a rundown but improving area of B.A on the mouth of the river Riochuelo and home to the ship yards and docking areas. La Boca translating as "the mouth" as it was the key commercial entrance to the city. Originally the home to the immigrants entering Argentina people built their homes here and borrowed left over paint from the ship builders to cheer up the neightbourhood. El Caminata is now one of the most famous streets in Buenos Aires and arguably the most colourful, I really liked it and there is a buzzing atmosphere but you don`t walk around La Boca at night or stray from the tourist areas unless you want to go home with less than what you came with.

We also visited the Congress building which is awe-inspiringly huge and as many other buildings in the city on an architectural level is comparable to those within Paris and other European cities. To get to congress you ride the line A route on the subway that was opened in 1913 and was offically the first underground line within the whole of Latin America, the southern hemishphere and all hispanic countries. It`s really cute, the carriages are made of wood and there is a constant operator that opens and closes the carriage doors for you! We rode a lot on the subway which is an experience. People walking up and down the carriages selling things including 2009 diaries in May, kids dancing and in one case a guy with his own sound system preaching to the suicidal. I`m not sure about the others but we certainly felt more depressed getting off that tube than when we got on having listened to his droning, super-loud tones.

The Plaza de Mayo is the key plaza in not only Buenos Aires but Argentina as a whole. The stories it has to tell and it`s relevance in history in undeniable and I was very excited about paying it a visit partly because as part of my Spanish studies I learned about the Argentine dirty war, the corruption and how the people used and still use this plaza to voice very strongly their views and protest, often violently about the political situation, workers rights etc.. Along the monument there are painted on the ground womens head shrouds, a symbol of the mothers (the Mothers or Las Madres de La Plaza de Mayo) who banged their pots and pans every Thursday in the plaza for over 30 years demanding to know what happened to their sons who were abducted by the Police for their involvelement relating to resistance against the state. At the bottom of the plaza is also La Casa Rosada (The Pink House named after it`s colour) which is not the residency but the royal palace. The Ministerio de Economia is also facing the plaza where you can see bullet holes in the side of the building following the bombings during La Revolucion Libertadora which brought down Peron`s regime.

One of my favourite things we did however was an amazing Tango Show in San Telmo which followed the best steak I have ever! The San Telmo market on a Sunday is also not to be missed as it is never ending and the jewellery and the leather products are fantastic.

In addition to this we had some great meals including one in some guys garden where he sets the menu and the wine and you just eat. Fantastic!

Dad and I then pushed on for a couple of weeks in Patagonia but returned to B.A for him to fly home. I then went to Iguazu falls, returning to B.A for the weekend where I made a visit to Pacha nightclub which was pretty cool and my last night in B.A was spent at the Riverplate stadium at an Oasis concert. Not a bad way to end my time in the city for Oasis were pretty amazing and despite being caught in the moshpit in flip flops where I no joke thought I was going to die, it was great. I was very sad to leave this city but I had to move on and see the other sights this amazing country has to offer.

Do not underestimate the size of the Argentina. My longest journey by bus so far has been 23 hours. You know you`ve been on a bus too long when they give you breakfast lunch and dinner, but they are amazingly comfortable. You get red wine with dinner followed a plastic flute of champagne whilst watching a film and we even had a game of bingo on board the other day...... in addition to that I have taken 5 other 19 hour bus trips to the point where I am now saying things like "lets go here for a day, it`s only 10 hours away"!

Next blog, Patagonia. I have to rush as have a roast chicken in the oven and the french girl who is part of my current road trip has an apple pie cooking.... welcome to the backpacker world!