We leave Puerto Iguazu and after eighteen more hours on the bus we’re in Buenos Aires (or "Buenos F**king Aires" according to a popular T-shirt slogan). We arrive very well rested after the trip on our luxury bus (our seats turned into beds and they even gave us Champagne). The bus pulls into Retiro bus terminal which, in the absence of any long distance train network, is BA’s equivalent of Kings Cross or Grand Central Station. As you’d expect, it’s not the most beautiful area of the city (or at least we hope it isn’t), and we jump straight into a cab and head towards the San Telmo barrio (district/area).
San Telmo was recommended to us by a Spanish couple we met in Nairobi, and the Rough Guide gives us the name of a hostel we can try. That’s enough to go on...
Scrap that. The hostel we try is full and looks pretty rubbish anyway. After about an hour of walking round, we find another hostel called Carlos Gardel, named after the famous Argentinean Tango singer. We get a nice little double room but we’re really on the lookout for a flat to rent. After all, we are going to be here for three weeks.
The plan in Buenos Aires is to learn Spanish. We’re going to be in Spanish speaking countries for almost 3 months so it’s necessary and we can’t get by on the "un poquito espanol" that Alicia knows.
