Buenos Aires it is... After quite an early start from Auckland ( 6.30 am flight) with a connection via Sydney it was off to a 13h flight to Buenos Aires. The funny bit was that at Syndey airport I met a guy who I had seen on my bus tour in NZ and he was on the same flight to Buenos Aires two rows behind me. He didn´t have a hostel yet so he joined me at mine. I thought it was quite good because that way I wasn´t alone for the first day and a half and gave me a bit of time to get used to the new setting.. First things first after dropping the bags at the hostel we headed straight for some late lunch some nice Argentinian meat in a really cute restaurant around the corner. I liked it because it wasn´t the standard modern design of the restaurants you have nowadays but it was more unique with black and white tiles and a bit of an old style.. After that we went walking in town then along the water front and then back to the area where we are staying ( San Telmo).. so far I have a bit of mixed feelings about Buenos Aires.. I like how things are still very individual by that I mean all the different little stores you sell from nothing to everything which is really nice given that in Europe mainly everything are shop chains now.. There are a lot of skyscrapers and many parts of the city haven´t wowed me yet. on the other hand you have really nice little corners with European architecture which are quite cute. Like the little square in teh area of the hostel where they tend to danc eTango in the street ( unfirtunately when I was there :( For dinner some Empandas which are little meat meat filled pouches like bread.
Today we went to Recoleta where there is an old cemetery with some beautiful stones and tombs from there we took the subway to Palermo viejo which so far is my favourite part of the city. Mainly flat buildings a bit more colourful and simply a relaxing atmosphere hangs in the air. There is lots of clothing stores heheh I think I will go back there and everyhting is really cheap.. ;))) I really liked that part of town..
The Swiss guy is off to Brazil tomorrow so I will have a wonder on my own tomorrow. wa quite good to slowly get used to the city people made me a bit paranoid with all their stories about mugging and drugging.. but so far it looks alright.. Decided to stay off the road at night though. The day after tomorrow I think I will head over to Uruguay. The plan is to take the train to an outside part of Buenos Aires ( El Tigre) and then cross over to Uruguay by ferry from there. Rather than going to the big cities that boat takes you a bit to the pampa and a small town called Caramelo so I am hoping to see a bit more of the country and its people... we´ll see if that plan works ;)
hope you are all well
