... Which as everyone knows is "Being Stationary in Buenos Aires".
B.A (to us Porteños... ask Ben for explanation, I`ve temporarily forgotten) is a way cool city! We liked it the first time we came through and since we`re flying out of here, thought "why not hang around and get to know her a little".
So within the first two days (an impressive schedule to say the least) we had found ourselves a wee short term lease apartment and moved on in. Its called a studio apartment - which essentially means its one room with some practical stuff (like fridge, stove and sink) in it. Oh and a bathroom. With a bidet no less. Seems its standard for Porteños. Ours doesn`t work. Bummer!
Where was I? Oh yes... cool little apartment. Its on the third floor of a classic inner city building. Complete with old clunker elevator. Tis one with concertina grill doors - which if you open between floors will stop the lift. And the "t" button doesn`t mean top... it makes an alarm go off! This is what being stationary leads us to, people. We feel the need to explore in any way we can!
Essentially, getting to know B.A means readjusting your body clock in a fairly major way! To head out to dinner at around 9.30pm is perfectly normal. In fact, if you make it out that early - you beat the general rush. Sitting down to a meal or popping in to an icecream parlour at around midnight is just plain common-place. And this isn`t just for jobless travelling backpacker party types. Families, kids, post match sports teams... all and sundry are out and about. LOVE IT!!! Of course in order to maintain this kinda time frame one must undertake the arduous task of a siesta in the arvo/evening. Oh and forget leaving the house before 10am. Won`t be anything open.
As is our way, we`re making a darn good show of eating our way through this city. The many Parillas have come out as our favourite places. A Parrilla is a grill, basically. An ENORMOUS, choice cut of amazing Argentinian beef is slapped onto the grill turned in less than a minute and served up in less than five (if you`ve asked for it vuelta y vuelta) to the accompaniment of an impressive Malbec from Mendoza, papas fritas and ensalada mixta. Simple but OH...SO...GOOD! This feast that leaves us groaning and clutching at our shamefully distended bellies, is usually had for lunch and has us not needing or wanting our next meal for many hours (or days) indeed! As for the weight we may have lost on our numerous treks..... yeah well.
In our defence we have been trying to walk wherever we go. Not just to combat some of the calories, but it also serves as a great way to see the cool city scenes that are so everyday but so great. Amazing plazas, stunning architecture, flower vendors, gorgeous old coffee shops and the like. Roaming around Boca and San Telmo on a Sunday is a pretty cool way to spend a Sunday. Craft Stalls, antique vendors, old pubs, tango dancers, galleries and all the rest of it just makes for a tops day.
Have met up on a few occasions with travellers we`ve met along the loop. This, of course, leads to rather big nights out followed by very slow moving strolls to the riverside choripan stalls for lunch. Chorizo is the yummiest sausage ever and a choripan is this yummy (fat) sausage served up on fresh crusty bread with lashings of your choice of dozens of condiments.
We`re popping over the waters tomorrow to spend a week in Uruguay. Why not?... still got a page or two free in the ol` passport. Not done with this wonderful town yet though. We`ll be back. For a wee while longer anyway.
