It has been a while, but do not fear we are both safe and well. The attached video is from a tango show we attended. After they perform they also wander through the crowd asking for volunteers to get up and get involved. No way Junior's ankles were going to stand up to the dancing that guy was doing. The couple before this one did an easier dance, but after seeing the first volunteer (who could've been in the show himself) we were both a bit shy about putting our hands up as we both have no idea of the steps.
Our arrival into Buenos Aires coincided with the Soccer (Copa America) final between Brazil and Argentina. A huge rivalry spanning many years, despite a few of Brazil's big names not playing they still smashed Argentina in the final 3 - 0. A bit disappointing as we would have loved to see how the city reacted to a big win, almost all eyes in Argentina were watching this game, whether in a Restaurant or in front of the TV at the hostel. The following day we even saw a brave young man sporting his Brazilian guernsey around town.
The following few days were consumed by our search for suitable accommodation for the ensuing month. This would be our longest stay in one place and we found a quaint little apartment in Recoleta, the affluent neighbourhood of Buenos Aires. No strangers waking us at all hours of the morning to check in or getting home from a night out. Pretty much no problems other than the odd failure of the flush button on the toilet and the infrequent hot water (but that is Argentina). It was quite fun viewing apartments with a guide who didn't speak any English. So we were forced to use a lot of hand gestures and calling back to the office to ask for translation from the chick who could speak English (why wasn't she showing us around you ask ... so did we!). You can have a look at our home away from at:
http://www.tucasargentina.com/deptos.asp?id=276&action=rent%20a%20flat%20in%20Buenos%20Aires&area=Recoleta
After 3 months of getting up at dawn every second day and jumping on a bus or plane to the next city on our adventure it was great to spend some normal time. We have been cooking for ourselves, enjoying our own space and sleeping in. The first week we both experienced a bit of what we think was slight food poisoning. We went out to a place called "El Gauchos" and shared a mixed grill. The Argentine definition of this differs somewhat from my own, yeah I'll throw sausage and steak on the grill, but I draw the line at brain, liver and what we think were some kind of animal's balls. Our first taste of Argentinean meat was nothing like what had been reported to be "mouth watering", "best meat I've ever tasted" or being able to "eat it with a spoon" as the lonely planet described.
The local supermarket near us deliver our groceries which has been great. After doing the shopping we do our best to talk with the check out person to give them our address and then walk home empty handed only to have our groceries show up an hour or so later at no extra cost ... fantastic!
Argentina is a pretty good bargain for the buck when compared to most of the places we have visited so far. The architecture is absolutely stunning and there are a lot of parks hidden between the streets which gives it a real community feel. We have been lucky to see the famous dog walkers, this is where one person walks about 10 dogs at the same time. It is unbelievable how well behaved the dogs are, however BA is yet to bring in the “pick up your poop” rule so it is easy to fall prey to one of the many surprises on the not so clean footpaths!
We have both managed to find our way around the city, not that it's very hard as most things are within walking distance from our apartment. However, when the need arises to travel a bit further from home a taxi is real cheap going for about $2 to $4AUS for a 5 or 10 minute ride and the subway is easy to navigate (too bad if you get claustrophobic though, these Argentinian’s don’t like to miss out on anything, by this I mean everyone jam packs themselves into these trains, even if it means having your head stuck in someone’s armpit or worse!)
Nat met up with Soph and Lizzie (a couple of English chicks who we met in Cusco) and went out for dinner at a very swish restaurant called Donata’s in Puerto Madero (the port). Now restaurants don’t open till 8pm and clubs don’t open till 2am, so the girls headed out to dinner at 11pm (after a quick nap). They were treated to the very best service and very best steak! By the time 3am came they thought they better go and check out the nightlife. The girls were home soon after as the clubs just weren’t what they were after…
We visited the Plaza Dorrego Market in San Telmo (where we found the restaurant with the free Tango show) and were also treated to some local street theatre. This includes music, posing for photos with dancers in their kit and a few other odd bits and pieces. The link below is to another video of a puppeteer in action on the street.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wKa8RLuuCYg
We made a purchase from a “very happy” old man selling chickens. Not real ones but ones he had obviously made from whatever he could find. You pull on the piece of string attached to the chicken and it makes a “bok – bok - baguurk” sound. A cool little gift for Patrick to eventually annoy everyone with!!
