Day 1, Tuesday, 8th September, Buenos Aires, Argentina.
Arrived in Buenos Aires on a Tuesday morning; a chilly, dull, grey Tuesday morning. We were dressed for summer. Serves us right for being so damn smug; “We’re going to be avoiding winter for a whole year” we’d told everyone back home. Oh well.
Couldn’t help but regard everyone who approached us with suspicion, although they were all taxi drivers looking for their next fare. Opted for the bus into the city as it was so cheap but failed to have any small change. This was resolved by a helpful German couple, also starting out on their year long travels.
The bus was an experience to say the least, crammed in with locals and no sign of any reprieve in terms of space and comfort for a good hour and a half. It took us through all the slums surrounding Buenos Aires or the ‘Barrios’ as they are known. Barrio is a word meaning neighbourhood but most often used for the poorer rundown areas. The sight of a dead dog lying on the side of the road was quite unsettling for some reason.
We arrived into the centre of Buenos Aires and things began to look up. We parted ways with the German couple and made our way down the massive Avenue 9 de Julio. It has something ridiculous like 17 lanes and is quite a hair-raising venture when attempting to cross. We found Hostel Sol, our choice of temporary abode during our stay in this fine city. A nice place, basic in service, interesting in design if a bit cold and overly spacious, which of course was part of its charm. The owners were very lovely people who didn’t speak a word of English, and made me truly regret I didn’t speak better Spanish. This regret will be consistent throughout my travels here as I am sure to meet so many interesting people but will never be able to truly converse with them.
That evening we took a walk into San Telmo and treated our eyes to the delights of an antiques market there and then subsequently treated our mouths to a mouth-watering steak and delicious red wine, a Malbec, a very popular grape over here in Argentina, and quite possibly my favourite.
All in all a fine first day in Argentina.
