Beautiful architecture, friendly people, hot tango dancers, melting steaks, cool city districts and sunshine..this is Buenos Aires.
After a 20 hour bus ride from the Iguassu Falls I arrived to Buenos Aires. I have to say this trip was rather pleasant with its 3 course dinner and Malbec, breakfast, convertible seats so you almost felt like sleeping in your bed, great crowd..i didn’t have problems with the air conditioning either so in Argentina it’s definitely worth doing the long distances on bus..(toilet liquid only..however there is always one or two who doesn’t consider this making the whole bus suffer until the smell clears from the air con…
Unfortunately upon arrival my usual acid problem came out, and I guess this was a warning from my body on the need of slowing down a bit…
I really wanted to see my great Argentinian friends, Nati and Lia though so I decided to be stronger than the pain and went out in the evening for the first steak in Recoleta district….
Well…I have always been a big fan of steak but this one…just made it my top 1 food during my stay in BA…the steak here absolutely amazing. I have to say that I wasn’t 100% happy with the wine though but maybe I didn’t choose the right Malbec (this is valid for my whole 1 week stay in Buenos Aires not just on that night).
We didn’t stay out long, just literally a quick catch up, dinner, laugh and home.
The next day I didn’t feel good at all, so I decided to have a lazy day in the hostel. I did the right thing even though I was going mental if I thought about wasting my time instead of exploring outside but hey…you need to take a break sometimes don’t you?
Early bed time, good sleep..and I was the old Aliz again!
Next day I decided with Iain (we met in Lencois and met again at Iguassu so we travelled together to Buenos Aires) to take the yellow hop on hop off City bus to get an idea about the size/structure of the city so we can pick the locations we would like to explore more in-depth afterwards. I ended up buying a 2 day ticket because BA has a lot of things to offer. Museums, parks, history.
It has become very quickly clear to me that Palermo is going to be my place…with it’s little Parisian bohemian atmosphere, crammed with art galleries, book stores, bars, restaurant. In fact I changed hostels half way because my initial hostel was in the centre and Palermo was a bit out.
Lia and Nati looked after me -they were sweet, we met almost every day. Rollerblading, house party, dinners, deep chats, we did everything together. It’s been very nice..
On Sunday I went to Tigre to check out the market, Delta tour and the legendary casino that everyone was talking about:) in the evening I went to San Telmo, where there is a massive handicraft market on every Sunday along with live tango show. I enjoyed it a lot. Then on Monday I decided to do a day trip to Uruguay- Colonia town.
Everyone recommended it instead of Montevideo and Punta del Este so I did it. Too bad that I haven’t checked the weather beforehand…That day was just a disaster.
I set my alarm at 6am, as I ordered the taxi for 6.40 (ferry left at 8am but check in started at 7am) Events on the day:
1. alarm didn’t go off, the receptionist woke me up saying that the taxi arrived. 2 minutes to get ready and check out. Luckily I was packed..I am learning:)
2. I was convinced that the Colonia Express ferry left from the same place as the major Buquebus one…well it didn’t so I had to take another taxi and go to somewhere else..obviously I was late.
3.once we left the port the waves were just incredible..i have never had a ride like this.. spilt coffee everywhere and half of the people throw up
4.got a travel buddy half was who was the loudest person on the ferry making sure to keep the people entertained during the rough trip..he probably partied through the night so he felt confident coming up to me and making fun of me in front of the people..luckily it was funny so i joined him in his game
5.In Colonia..dark..and tornado..I have never seen a rain like that…I knew I had only a half day as my ferry back to BA left at 4am..so I tried to make the most out of the situation and rent a car..after a few of them tried to screw me over i decided to go sightseeing in the rain..needless to say I didn’t enjoy it and i got absolutely soaked in rain ..and in addition to that it was cold and i was wearing a linen dress…
So after all this I went back to the ferry station and in the moment of getting back on the return ferry the sun came out..31 degrees..Murphy..
In the evening I met my Hungarian gaming fellow Gabor..he started travelling a week after me and i was always one step ahead of him. Same day I met a Hungarian girl who stayed in the same hostel..small world.
So yesterday we had our farewell night with Lia and Nati..I am sad to leave them and this great city but Bariloche is waiting for me and the whole Patagonia…
Waiting for the bus at the moment and will arrive tomorrow 2pm.
In fact I need to leave now.
Few pics of Buenos Aires to make this post more colourful:
alizroundtheworld 