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Neil's Round the World Trip!
Amira woke me up around 9 and I had my shower. I asked her to wake me up as I knew I wouldn't wake up at 9 because Cliff would keep me awake snoring and so I'd probably sleep in. I had breakfast with Amira and I made us some yerba mate.
I left the hostel at 10ish and walked towards my new hostel called Che Lagarto. However when I arrived to check-in, the receptionist said they hadn't received an email confirming my bed. I said I'd never received a reply from them but the bed was taken! I was pissed off as you can imagine. It looked like a nice hostel with a funky bar downstairs and lots of common areas.
I left my backpack there and got the subte (underground) to the Retiro bus terminal. I waited on Mariana's bus which was delayed because it broke down. I welcomed her off the bus and we walked to the subway past the Torre de Los Ingleses (a scaled down Big Ben). We got the subte to Che Lagarto and picked up my backpack. We then got a train to Recoleta (posh area). However the hostel was fully booked too! So we got a taxi to a HI hostel called St Nicholas in the Barrio Norte area.
After banging on the door for 15 seconds as the sign informs you to do; a woman appeared and welcomed us in. We checked-in and watched the dying embers of England's mediocre world cup campaign. I missed Wayne Rooney's ill-tempered ball bursting stamp. However I hadn't missed (pardon the pun) the penalty drama. I watched with glee as the overhyped English players hit pathetic penalties. The game was over; anguish for the English..joy for everyone else! I was annoyed the tv cameras didn't show Gary Neville's greeting face.
I went for a walk with Mariana to the Recoleta cemetery where Argentina's elite are buried including the famous "Evita". We entered the ornate cemetery and ambled around the necropolis looking for Evita's grave. We peered in eery mausoleums which had coffins still sitting on the marble shelfs. After walking down the spooky alleyways for some time with no joy we asked a guide. Mariana asked where Evita was and the guide looked up to the sky and pointed then chuckled and gave us the directions. When we reached her mausoleum, her remains are in the "Duarte" family section. There were lots of tourists reading the many plaques on the mausoleum.
We walked around the nearby park and watched the many artists, mime artists and hippy vendors. I bought some churros and we walked through the ritzy, swanky neighbourhoods. It was sunny and "footing" around works up an appetite. We found a restaurant called Cumana and went inside. We shared a yerba mate with el campo bread (quite soggy bread). Everyone was chatting and sharing mate around us whiling away the afternoon. We laughed when I was a baboso earlier, a striking woman with blonde hair and voluptious body in skin-tight clothes overtook us while we were walking. I couldn't take my eyes off her and walked straight into a telefonica phone booth. I was ok but a little embarrassed.
We chilled out in the hostel and listened to music then we went out after contemplating a tango club. We went to a Mexican restaurant called El Salto de Las Ranas. It was really nice inside with a nice, intimate, interior. We ordered a meal for 2 which was the usual Mexican fare like fajitas, burritos and tacos. It was fairly average, to be honest I've made better Old El Paso fajitas at home.
The wine from Mendoza was nice although we added a little Speed (Argy Red Bull). We sat dining and chatting until 11.30pm.
We went to the nearby Irish bar called Shamrock and drank vodka-redbulls. It got really busy and smokey. We eventually went downstairs to the boliche. It was a little empty but had the biggest disco ball I've ever seen. They were playing some really weird electronic music and some guys were dancing really badly. The dancing was a bit David Brentish; arms flailing and head bopping. It was funny to watch but after a while we decided to head back to the hostel and got to sleep about 3ish.
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