Buenos Aires

Buenos Aires 8 & 9 April 2013


Another night bus looms.

...A 17 hour night bus!!

After our experience in Bolivia we are all a little apprehensive. But Mark and Jeremy had spent ages scooping out the best one and this one looked pretty flash. Not the dream of full cama (seats recline to flat!) cos it was crazy expensive, but coache cama whatever that might be, apparently somewhere between semi cama and full cama! Anticipation is running high! Apparently Bolivia was where they send the normal buses from the rest of south America to die so that might have explained our previous experiences!
This bus was magnificent, super comfy wide seats that reclined heaps and had leg rests!! They even gave us food! Tho the breakfast comprised of crackers and biscuits so not really amazing! Plus the road was smooth and tho the bus engine was noisy there was no crazy music so we all got a reasonable amount of sleep. Phew!!

 
 We arrived into Buenos Aires at about 1 pm and made our way to the hotel. The taxi driver ranted to Mark in Spanish the whole way, a very opinionated chap!!
By this time we are all starving so we venture out to check out the city and find food. Menu of the day (gnocchi and ravioli) at the Revolutionary cafe on the edge of a nice plaza was just what we needed.
Meredith headed back to the hotel for a siesta and the rest of us wandered down the main street towards the Casa Rossada.  We lay on the grass in the park for a while them headed over the bridge to the docklands area. This is a really cool area which was previous neglected old dock areas and has been revitalised to make it into a modern restaurant and residential area. It was so beautiful to sit and have a beer by the side of the canal. And watch the sun set over the Woman's Bridge.

We then wandered back to the hotel for a fierce game of Settlers over a bottle of local red before venturing out for a meat fest!! Meat of all types is pretty big here so we had to check out a parilla - grill restaurant.
It was almost a fiasco when Jez accidentally didn't order a giant steak and got a salad! Mark saved it by using the fantastic Spanish phrase "mi amigo est moy stupido" !!!

Day 2
We wandered around the Recoletta area of town, its the rich area and was really flash. For me its really interesting to see all of the high rise apartment buildings yet it looks so lovely and is such a nice area.

There are so many beautiful parks and plazas here its really a lovely city to wander around. We popped into the art gallery for a bit too.
Lunch was Milaneses - essentially schnitzel with toppings, and sometimes in a sandwich, described by the waiter as pizza of meat!
Then we visited the Recoletta Cemetery. This isn't just any normal cemetery, its more like a city of giant tombs. These things are huge!! Everyone who is anyone in Buenos Aires or Argentina is buried there. Must are family vaults so there are several coffins inside or stairs down to a crypt plus an alter. Many have been restored but some are clearly neglected. I think those those ones were the most creepy, doors hanging off the hinges, some of the coffins broken open! Actually pretty sad too. We, of course, visited the grave of Evita who is still pretty big here. Hers was the one with the most flowers on it.

We took another wander along the docklands area and back past the Casa Rossada before catching the rush hour sub te back to the hotel.
Although we had wanted to check out a tango show or some place interesting for dinner, tonight was our last night all together so plans  were laid for wine and more games of settlers. This morphed into more wine, more settlers and pizza. An excellent and entertaining night!!! Feel sorry for anyone who might have had the rooms next door cos there was much hilarity  :-)
We were all very sad to part in the morning, the original trio back to Santiago and home to reality and lucky Mark staying in Argentina and travelling the world for the rest of the year. We had such an awesome time together and travelling as a group of four was so much fun.