Buenos Aires, Agrentina

The bus rolled in around 11. We both slept like babies so feeling pretty good. Decided to trek all the way across town to our hostel. Probably about 5kms straight down the main street.

This city is very cool. So European. Lots of cafes.

Hostel was a little difficult to spot. But some locals sitting on the entrance footsteps could see we were tourists and pointed us in. The dude didn't speak English but we had a booking so we sorted it out. We hit the streets straight away. We want food.

We headed to San Telmo. Lots of food places and bars there. First place was a little pricey, so went next door. All meals seem to come with bread and dip, so we tucked in while looking at the menu. After some Spanglish exchanges with the waitress we finally figured out we were in probably the only vegetation place in Argentina! Food was awesome tho. Can't complain. The cows live to fight another day.

Came home for a siesta, woke up, decided to have a picnic in bed and left trolling the streets for another night.

Day 2

So the place to be on a Saturday is the other end of town in Recoleta; the rich suburb.

We walked the length of Buenos Aires again on a different street. You could see the shops getting more and more hoity-toighty as we got closer to Recoleta. Lots of cafes here, all pretty pricey. Even Maccas was expensive. Also they hate customers here as well :)

Surrounding the cemetery (which we forgot to go into in the end!) is a long, winding hippy market. Some cool stuff in there. They had toffee apples covered with popcorn. I went for the fruit cup instead. We chilled out in a park and people watched as everyone was doing some form of exercise or another. There was a small lake thing where a dude was wake boarding being pulled by a winch. Pretty cool.

Having adopted a football team here (Club Althletico River Plate), Courts bought a hat, and I got a shirt. When in Rome, right?

Ok, time for some proper Buenos Aires night life. We wandered to a highly rated restaurant nearby. There was a line up out the door. Only had to wait about 20 mins though. Sat out the front and watched the chaotic traffic. This is about 10:30 pm and not even a main road.

The food was ridiculous. Courts' steak was perfect in every way. I had massive food envy. My pollo & pasta was fine though... (why did I not order steak!? Idiot!). The wine was ok as well. So far I still think we have the better of South America in that department.

Throw in some empanadas and the total bill was about $50. Crazy. The owner was super friendly as well even though he was run off his feet.

Ok, so now we are aiming to find a Subte (subway) station to head to a tango show. But we stumble onto a massive concert in the city. People everywhere. All very friendly... wait.. are those 2 dudes kissing?.. And those girls? Why are there rainbow flags everywhere? Oh.. I see... It's a gay rights celebration. Obviously a famous group playing coz everyone is singing along. The last song is played and fireworks are set off. Beers are everywhere you look. Everyone is having a great time. We joined in. It was awesome fun.

We wandered home and slept. Another massive day accomplished.

Day 3

Decided to have a pretty relaxed day today and recharge the batteries. Did heaps of sleeping and watched breaking bad etc.

The urge for healthy food took us on a journey to find a Subway. Not much is really open on Sundays in South America, so we had to go all the way into the centre of town.

There was a red bull event on in one of the main streets. It was all shut off. Looked like it was set up for a motor bike stunt or something. Turned out to be a soap box rally. Strange.

Got my subway (more expensive than in Aus!?, same as most big fast food places for some reason) and felt a million times better.

We wandered home through San Telmo which has markets on a Sunday. Basically the whole suburb was one big market. It was ridiculous. We walked through some but had to head back for the Football tonight.

Went to jump on the transfer bus wearing my River Plate shirt. The organiser is like "not a chance mate, take it off". I then learned that for this season in the Primera Division there are no away fans allowed due to recent violence issues. Also no alcohol is served at or near the game. We were a little nervous, Courts had a red shirt on underneath her jacket. Plus a football match without a beer? Whoever heard of such a thing.

We arrived an hour before kick off. Stadium pretty empty. Within the next 30 mins though, the home crowd were in full voice. Drummers made their way to the reserved spot behind the goals and the singing stept up a notch.

The home team enter, the singing grows louder again. The away team enter to vicious, each piercing whistling, which was slightly subdued when the River Plate players gave a little clap to the crowd.

The game starts and it's very lively. It's been raining slightly so the pitch is slick. Plenty of bug slide tackles. The ref gives a few 50/50s (including paying a foul throw, lol) to River Plate and the crowd are hurling abuse at him. He is escorted off the ground at half time by the policia.

The game seems a lot tougher than in Aus. The ref let's a lot go. All aerial challenges are let go, even though some are in the back and use of arms etc. I like it a lot better. Much more free flowing.

Oh, and a genius invention of the Argentines is a bit of spray paint showing where a free kick must be taken from and where the wall must stand. Which meant no mucking around trying to stop teams pinching metres all the time. Very clever.

The game ends 0-0. The crowd are somewhat happy. Both teams where rubbish in front of goal. Lacked the finishing ability. But a good game none the less. Amazing experience.

Dropped off home around 12, went to the nearest place and had some pasta. Still plenty of people wandering the streets, as always. Which we think is good. We prefer that to empty streets at 1 am, that's for sure.

Day 4

We moved from our hostel to terrace apartment today. Did it through air bnb and it's working out cheaper than the hostel. Rocked up around 12 and could not believe how good it was. Massive balcony/terrace overlooking the city. We were stoked.

Went and got some coffee and brunch. Went to a supermarket and bought some stuff to cook, which is the only way to eat healthy here really Haha. The little super markets had shocking fruit and veg. Really bad quality had to go to a bigger franchise supermarket instead.

Headed back to the apartment and hung out. Played some cards on the balcony as the sun went down. Then cooked and ate and drunk in the views of the city. Ah, life is hard.

Had to add to my casino chip collection, so off to the cas we went. Pretty decent set up. Lots of table games and not heaps expensive. Walked out even, so that was cool.

We walked down to the middle of town to look at the obelisk. Took a photo. It wasn't worth the walk. We went home and crashed. Clocked up a lot of kms again today. Like I said, life is hard. Right?

Day 6

We woke up mid morning to an extremely warm and dry day. Bright as biting sun and hay fever central. We hung out in the apartment for a few hours before heading off to Palermo.

Along the way we stopped at the post office to check the pricing on sending our one bottle of Argentinian wine home, decided it would be better value to drink it here. Plus, who knows when we'll find another decent bottle of red?!

So off to the Subte (subway) we went. The train kind, not the sandwich kind, much to Jeff's dismay ;)

Once there we acted like total tourists, gawking around, bags hanging wide open trying to figure out what train to catch. A good Samaritan made a few hand gestures basically telling us to secure our bags and stop looking like subway amateurs. She also appreciated Jeff's new soccer team's shirt.

So obviously we got on the wrong train, hopped off at the next stop and made our way up to the street. Along the way to the correct subte station Jeff was accosted by a man with a pamphlet and nearly lost his lunch. Still a little jumpy from our dangerous subte experience I guess
;)

Finally made it to the correct subte station and a short ride later we were in Palermo. What a cool place. We wondered over to a sort of fitness park where there is a lake in the middle and a track around the edge where people either run, roller blade, cycle or skate. We hired a two person bike thing and did a few laps. Really fun afternoon.

Day 7

Our last day in BsAs :(

Had breakfast (home cooked again, which was good. Most breakfasts provided haven't been great so far. Everything has so much sugar in it. And Jeff was still feeling sick from a bit of water he accidentally drank... again).

Then hiked it back to the bus depot.

We had a bus booked at 3pm for Iguazu, about an 18 hour ride. The bus was not a nice as other ones. But we managed to sleep, so it was all good.