Despite
an epic 36 hour journey where we relived 13 of those hours we got a good
night’s sleep and were up early ready to explore. Elefanta Rosa’s included breakfast was a nice
and simple self-serve affair and the strong coffee has us raring to go! Before we set off Deigo provided us with a
map of the city and pointed out the main tourist sights, the best way to get
there and any areas that were best avoided.
The day had dawned chilly but with clear wintery blue skies so off we
set.
Although
the underground station is handily placed we wanted to walk as we always find
it’s the best way to take in a city.
Especially as we knew there weren’t any undesirable areas to avoid along
the way. First stop was to take a look
around the cobbled streets area of San Telmo where we kept having to tell
ourselves that we weren’t in Spain. To
be honest I’d best describe it as a scruffy Spain as it was bin day and there
is graffiti everywhere. Still we enjoyed
pottering and decided to splash out on a brew in the Plaza Dorrego.
From
there we wandered down to the newly renovated Puerto Madero area which is
basically Buenos Aires answer to the docks in Liverpool. As we were ambling along we stumbled upon the
Reserva Ecologica Costanera Sur which both of us had thought was further out of
town. It was great wandering around a
green area of the city along the banks of the River Plate. Even though it is winter it was quite warm in
the direct sun and there were lots of birds fluttering around. Nothing very exotic looking but of course not
the usual sparrows and minor birds that we’re used to. It was great to see parakeets squawking in
the branches as I still miss those from our days in Sri Lanka. We also spied some rodent looking things that
we can only assume are some relative of the guinea pig.
By
this time we were rather peckish and as luck would have it down the broad
avenue along the side of the reserve there was glorified hot dog stand after
hamburger stall. When I say hot dogs I
mean chorizo in baguette with any number of salads for you to add and all for a
couple of dollars – yum! With our energy
supplies suitably replenished it was time to carry on exploring the city. Around the main square Plaza de Mayo many of
the old buildings are very reminiscent of Madrid and we felt we’d found the
Buenos Aires we’d seen in photos. The
city is very pedestrian friendly and by the end of the day we’d walked miles. Following the long journey from the previous
2 days we were exhausted so had a quick beer in a local café near our
guesthouse, popped into the supermarket for some supplies for tea and crashed
out early. Well we needed our rest as we
were due in another country the following day.
