So here´s the first official blog post.... no pressure. Actually, if this manages to reach you it will be a minor miracle as I´m currently battling with a decrepid computer and a very dodgy internet connection - good combo. So, we arrived in Buenos Aires on Wednesday, after 22 hours flying and through bleary eyes realised what a big city we are in. For two country folk this was a little bit daunting! After a few minor slip ups we got into the swing of things and I think it´s fair to say that for people who are not such big fans of cities, we are slowly coming to appreciate this one... who knows in a couple of days time, we may even love it!
The owner of the hostel that we are staying in is amazing and has given us an abundence of information on different places to visit. He even shared his top secret pizza place with us! The city is divided into convenient areas so we´ve been spending our days visiting these. One of the most impressive sites we have experienced so far is the Cemetario de Recoleta. We sort of stumbled upon this about 5 minutes before it closed and have plans to re-visit it in the next couple of days. It used to be a private cemetary in BA for the likes of Prime ministers, politicians and famous folk and then became a public burial place. Anyway, we have never seen anything like it - you step inside and it´s like another world. The tombs form a maze of streets that look like a model village and it really is incredible - Tim proposed a game of hide and seek but I think this might be pushing sight seeing a little too much towards the scary side of things...especially at night!
Another impressive sight was our visit to Plaza de Mayo. This is right in the centre of BA and bordered by some really amazing buildings. On the day we visited, we were privilidged enough to experience a visit from ´Los madres de Mayo.´ Every Thursday at 15:30 these women parade around the square with banners requesting to know what has happened to their children. During the dirty war of 1976, several children disappeared (they are referred to as the ´Lost Children´) and the government has never explained what happened to them. In protest, these woman have marched round this square every week and it was a strange, but amazing thing to experience.
Anyway, I won´t bore you with any more details, needless to say we have seen some wonderful things, including a trip to a place called Tigre, which is on the river delta just outside BA. Tomorrow we hope to visit the oldest districts of the city to experience some traditional music, markets and tango. Unfortunately the computer here is too pants to let me upload any photos but these will follow soon!
Hope all is well in the UK. I won´t tell you that it´s currently 30 degrees over here!
Hasta luego.
Lucy and Tim xx
P.s Just to update you on our last couple of days in Buenos Aires, we decided to visit La Boca and San Telmo, which are some of the oldest districts. La Boca was very touristy, but it was great fun to see all the brightly coloured houses and to see a little bit of tango in the street. San Telmo is famous for it's antique markets, and on Sunday they hold an enormous one that runs right through the district - you can buy just about anything you can think of and it was interesting to have a rummage. Don't worry, we won't be bringing you any junk (i mean delicate antiques) back. Off to El Calafate and Patagonia now to do some glacier trekking and hiking so we'll keep you posted soon!
