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Happy Hippos on Holiday
Hi everyone!
Here it is, the long awaited second installment of our stay in Buenos Aires.
Friday was our day for exploring the main central area of the city, and we started our day with a walk along the Avenida de Mayo, from the main square down to the National Congress. From there, we headed back to the waterfront (quelle surprise!), pausing en route to take the obligatory photograph of us in front of the obelisk.
Having sucumbed to the call of the golden arches in Montevideo, we continued this trend and were lured into TGI Fridays by the thought of Baby Back Ribs and Chocolate Fudge Brownies. However, we never made dessert, partly due to filling up on ribs, but mostly due to spotting a happy hour offer with 2 for 1 on coctails and 3 for 2 on desserts, so figured we would return another day to take full advantage...which we did...bad hippos!!
We spent the afternoon in the Casa Rosada, first having a look round the museum, which explained the history of the palace and presidency and then taking the guided tour around the main areas inside. We were disappointed not to be able to follow in Evita's footsteps and go out onto the balcony overlooking the Plaza de Mayo, but nevertheless, found the tour insightful.
That evening, the free tango lesson in the hostel went ahead as advertised, unlike the previous day's salsa class. We had a great time, taking to it like ducks to water and felt rather smug when the instructor thought we had both learnt some tango previously! After all this exertion, we had built up quite an appetite, so back to the waterfront we went! This time it was for a lovely Italian meal at "Il Gatto", where we raised a glass to Gato (Kirstie's parents' deserted and confused old cat...m''''a''''!)
We woke up the next morning delighted to find the forecast rain had not yet made an appearance. Packing our umbrellas and raincoats (best be prepared!) we decided to go back to the Rose Garden, deeming it to be an inspirational location in which to compose our previous Buenos Aires postcard. (Ed. in response to questions on the writing of our postcards, they are all a joint effort and are drafted in relaxing surroundings, be it a beach, cafe or indeed Rose Garden, NOT by one of us sitting alone in front of a computer in an internet cafe).
We stopped for lunch at a cafe nearby and after eating, ordered a hot chocolate and cortado (a small strong coffee). However, the waiter obviously hadn't registered that we had eaten already and came back with a pot of hot chocolate and a plate full of toasted ham and cheese sandwiches (tostadas)...linguistically quite similar, conceptually really rather different! Tostadas swapped for a cortado, the fun then continued with the chocolate pot apprearing to have some kind of magical powers, providing a seemingly never-ending supply of hot chocolate and much amusement!
Next stop was the Evita Museum. This gave an excellent account of Eva Peron's life and work, which was very balanced, in that it neither exonerated nor condemned what she achieved or the way in which she did it. Having had such a positive museum experience, we decided to visit another one straight after, the National Fine Arts Museum. Now before you get too shocked and think that we've turned into culture vultures, you won't be surprised to learn that we left within the hour and headed to the Hard Rock Cafe opposite...fine art really is wasted on us!!!
Our last day in Buenos Aires began with another cultural experience, this time a tour of Teatro Colon (the Opera House). We weren't sure what to expect, as we had been advised on booking the tour that the auditorium would be in total darkness. Avid theatre-lovers that we are, we decided to go ahead anyway and were glad that we did. We could see perfectly well inside the spectacular auditorium and also had a fabulous tour of the backstage and workshop areas...this is more the kind of culture we can appreciate!
The last areas of Buenos Aires left to explore that afternoon were San Telmo and La Boca, both vibrant and colourful districts, with flea markets and street performances in abundance at weekends. Over lunch, we watched a traditional Argentine song and dance show. Feeling inspired by the day's earlier exploits, Kirstie allowed herself to be "volunteered" to take part in the show...and we have the photos to prove it!
Speaking of photos, following a lot of effort on our part (we'll spare you the details), we were delighted to find a Kodak shop open on a Sunday evening that could process all our films onto CD the same day. These are now available for viewing on the website photos page, so if you've not done so yet, check them out!
The following morning, we left Buenos Aires, having had a wonderful experience in this delightful city (we'd recommend it to anyone). The rain we'd been expecting never did materialise, lucky hippos that we are!
We hoped that this trend would follow us south, where rain was forecast for the whole of our stay...Ushuaia postcard will be coming soon to a computer near you!
Hope you are all well!
Take care!
love,
Zena & Kirstie
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