Buenos Aires

Neil got on the bus from Rio Galleagos to Buenos Aires feeling undaunted. How many times had even been on a 36 hour bus trip before, and how many would he ever be again? It included to nights, so he could spend a lot of it asleep, and indeed he did. The only drawback was the presence of hoardes of screaming children, seeming localised around his seat at the rear of the bus´s top deck - it's like a bloody creche back here, he thought. Fortunately, although the bus was full when it left, he had a double seat to himself for most of the journey. The time was passed reading, watching films (which usually had Spannish subtitles and a barely audible English soundtrack) and listening to his iPod, though after 10 months he was becomming overly familiar with his selection of 600 songs. He was mainly eating biscuits and fruit, as this was the cheapo bus and food was not provided. The monotony was only broken by manifold wee stops at inumerable identi-kit bus stations. The scenery was unremarkable.

When he arrived in Buenos Aires he was in reasonably good fettle, and managed to take care of some business - buying his ticket out and cashing some Travellers Cheques at the American Express office, as this was the only place in South America offering a vaguely reasonable rate. He took tehe subway into the centre of town and opted for the Clan hostel, and had to hang around for while to make sure they had a bed for him, which fortunately they did. In his dorm were two nice English chaps, by the names of Mike and Rick, with whom he spent much of the next few days. He had planned a day trip to Uruguay the following day, but the combination of unfriendly boat schedules, cost and rain (which was now falling incessantly outside) put him off. He nipped out to walk around town in the afternoon, stopping first for his first non-biscuit meal of the last few days. Setting out again after that he only made it to the pink palace 5 minutes away before he gave up due to the pouring rain. Instead he sat in a cafe and had a few cups of tea and went internetting. Back at the hostel he was pleased do discover Rick and Mike had over-ordered on the pizza, and had a beer before heading off with them and two English girls (Rachael and Sam) to see a drumming show in an big warehouse like structure. This he found enjoyable, especially for only 10 pesos. Then it was back to the hostel bar for a few hours where he made the aquaintence of four Irish girls. As is the usual schedule in Buenos Aires, about 2am he headed off to a club near the hostel with them. He only wished he could remember more afterwards, but seemed to have suffered from a bit of a beer labotomy. Next day he was up and off and out and went for a very nice set lunch at a nearby restaurant. This include a free sherry before, half bottle of wine with, and limoncello after, so he remained lit-up for most of the day. He actually had a great time wandering the city, taking photos and philosophising. However, sober reflections later in the day convinced him his conclusions were best kept to himself.

He perambulations took all the way to recoletta and the famous cemetry, full of ornate tombs and crypts, adorned with statues. This certainly was an interesting place to walk around.The most famous resident here was Evita, and while in elsewhere he mostly wandered alone (appart for some encounters with very friendly cats), here the crowds gathered. After the cemetry is was the museum of fine arts, and that was very enjoyable too. Back to the hostel he headed, taking a different route throught the city. Many miles were covered that day.

That evening he went out for dinner with Mike and Rick. Then it was back to the bar in the hostel - the plan was to go to a Drum and Bass night later, but being Buenos Aires things wouldn't kick off till around two. Neil had known he was in a good hostel when he heard Interpol being played in the reception, and indeed it was played again in the bar that night. Later on they did go to the Drum and Bass night, along with Rachael, Emma and an Argentinian called Mariano. Neil even managed to have a mostly good time there, despite no previous experience of Drum and Bass. His hips didn't lie the next day when they told him he's done perhaps two much dancing and walking.

There wasn't much time to sleep before he had to check out the next day - his bus was leaving at 10pm. It wasn't much time for Rachael and Sam, who missed their planned morning departure. Neil went a-walking through the city again, first to San Telmo, where he had another nice lunch, and then down to Boca. Many warnings had been given about Boca, but it didn't seem so bad to Neil, he didn't go flashing his iPod about though. He passed the Boca Juniors stadium, and made it down to the main tourist part of Boca. Here was another art museum and some colourful streets crowded with vendors. He walked back to town, did a little internet and then hung out at the hostel a little before it was time to head to the bus station on the metro, for another 20 hours on the bus. This time however it was to be the far more luxurious full cama bus, with meals provided.

Neil reflected that Buenos Aires was a really great city, but there was not a huge amount of sights. The main thing to do was just to walk around and enjoy the restaurants and going out. Perhaps if we was to return to South America he would come back here, and go to Uruguay, and also to Iguazu and Paraguay, which he also had to excise from his itinerary as it would have been to much rushing around, expense, and time on buses!


Somewhere grand.


Statue in Recoletta Cemetary


Street in Boca.