Buenos Aires, Argentina

November 14 -19:

From Rio we had an easy flight into Buenos Aires with the exception of landing at the airport. It was one of the roughest landings we had during our travel. The plane took forever to land and all the folks on the plane cheered and clapped their hands when the plane came to a halt.

At the airport, we wanted to exchange our Brazilian reals for Argentinian pesos. This took us on an adventure in the airport. We tried going to one exchange office, but the line was too big. I had another issue to sort out with United as my miles number was wrong on the ticket and had to straighten it out. We went into the main terminal to find the exchange office there. The line was quite big there as well, but we decided to que up. Just then we were approached by a guy in suit (he looked Indian), offering to exchange our money. But when he found out that we just wanted to exchange 50 reals, he was not interested. He was interested in pushing more pesos for dollars than anything else. The guy claimed that he was a businessman and that he wanted to buy reals to return to Brazil. As to why he did not que up like the rest of us was suspicious. Just then, an American traveler called him a fraud, to prevent his friend from going ahead with the money exchange. This completely ticked off the "businessman", who started swearing at the American (in English with a typical Indian accent :)......). The security guards had to step in and hold him off. After a few minutes, the "businessman" and his friend walked away from the place.  The exchange office told us that we should be careful about fake bank notes, but their method to detect fraudulent notes, did not make sense to us....... Anyway, not something we wanted to worry about just after landing in a country.

After this weired exchange, Nicole and I decided to grab something to eat at the airport (as we were starving). We took a bus into the city which took an hour to get there. We were dropped off near our hotel in a car, by the bus company. The driver told us that the hostel was farther than the authorized stop, but he could drop us closer for a "propina". We did not understand the word, and just nodded our heads. He was glaring at us when he dropped us off near the hotel, as we said goodbye. Not until later that night when we were eating in a restaurant, did we realize that "propina" means "a tip" and we had not tipped this driver for the extra effort he had put in to get us to the hotel. Ouch!

We had a bunk bed in the hotel and even though the hotel was nice, the room was very tiny and things were too cozy for comfort. Nicole was beginning to feel under the weather when we arrived in Buenos Aires and it was worsening.

The next day, we had a late start. The hostel we were staying in was in the San Telmo region. We walked from San Telmo to the center of Buenos Aires. Spring had started and the entire city was covered in trees with purple blooms. We saw the Evita building and walked along the 9 de Julio avenue which is one of the widest roads in the world (Takes two signals to cross the damn thing, unless you are bolting from the beginning). After walking along the center which included a buffet lunch at a newly opened per-kilo restaurant, we went into Theatro Colon. Unfortunately, the theater was undergoing light checks for a show and we would not be able to see anything. So we skipped the theater for a later date and went to the Galerias Pacifico mall and Florida Avenue. After walking around for a bit, we decided to head back, since Nicole wasn't feeling well. In the evening, we cooked dinner in the hostel.

By next day, Nicole's sore throat had gotten worse and she was running a slight temperature. We had a very late start to the day. We walked around the neighbourhood of San Telmo and had lunch in the plaza. We were treated to a street tango performance during lunch at a cafe in the plaza. It was very passionate stuff (also, this was the only tango performance we were able to see). After lunch we had some energy and walked around the neighbourhood. We stopped at an english bookstore (my first in 2 months...). I tried so hard to buy something to read, but when you are SO into travelling, who has time for books???

Nicole and I took the subway from around here and went back into town. We found ourselves in the familiar territory of Florida avenue. After a while we made our way to Cafe Tortoni which is an old establishment. After our fabulous coffee and dessert, we headed back to the hotel.

I had managed to get in touch with a local through couchsurfing. Miguel had offered to come pick us up from the hostel. We arrived back just in time, as Miguel was approaching the hostel. He took us to his house in a suburb of Buenos Aires called Villa Urquiza. To get there, we had to drive through the Palermo region of Buenos Aires. Once at his apartment, Miguel gave us the keys to the apartment and made us feel at home. We were very taken with their friendliness and how trusting they were.

Miguel and his wife, Veronica, are in a similar age group to Nicole and myself. So connecting with them and staying at their apartment was very easy. As hosts they were wonderful. The night of our arrival, they treated us to empanadas for dinner.

The next morning, Nicole and I ventured out back into town.  Miguel had advised us on how and where to take the local bus to the subway station. We had been told that there were new airline routes being offered with direct connections between the smaller cities of Argentina (in the past one had to come back to Buenos Aires for connecting between various cities). Nicole and I had decided that we would have to cover some of the country by flight since it is so vast. After making an initial reservation at the Aerolinas Argentina office, Nicole and I made our way to the Retiro bus-station to book our bus ticket to Iguazu, which would be our next stop after Buenos Aires. Our flights would be from Iguazu to Salta, Salta to Mendoza and Mendoza to Bariloche.

That afternoon, we made our way to the Malba museum of modern art.  The museum is near the border of the ritzy neighborhoods of Recoleta and Palermo.  Now, those are neighborhoods one can really live in....very very nice. Once at the museum, we went to the cafe to grab a bite to eat.  But once we saw the menu, Nicole and I decided to find another place. $20 sandwiches seemed a bit too expensive for anybody let alone for budget travellers like us. We grabbed lunch at a nearby food court in a mall and visited the museum after.  The museum is really nice with works from Argentinian artists.  The main exhibit though was not that awe inspiring (compared to some other modern art we have seen). The paintings looked like Windows 7 wallpaper (even though the artwork had been done in early 2000).

After the museum, Nicole and I walked through the neighborhood of Palermo to get back to the subway station. It was great and we really enjoyed walking in this neighborhood (with its fairly wide roads and green park spaces).

In the evening, once we returned to Miguel's house, Nicole went for a nap.  After a while, it was clear that all the walking had taken a toll on Nicole's health.  She was completely out...Miguel and Veronica took me out to dinner that night in Palermo and Nicole could not make it unfortunately.  I had dinner at this vegetarian restaurant and had a quinoa burger!!!

The next morning, we decided that we would take it easy and not do much. Miguel and Veronica again took us out to Chinatown which was close by.  Veronica had told me that the herbal tea I had had in Peru (called Muna), was also available here and it was called "Muna Muna" (don't know why they use the same word twice).  I had also wanted to introduce them to some Indian spices. In the Chinese market, I found some coriander powder (but not good quality Muna).

We rested most of that day and did not go out.  Miguel had a guitar in the house, and I got some good practice (and also broke a string :)... ). In the evening, I decided to cook some Indian food for our hosts.  I made chole, raita and some rice with vegetables. We had some great dinner conversation and shared stories from our travels (M&V are also very well traveled and have visited a host of countries around the world). We really enjoyed this couchsurfing experience and gained new friends in Argentina.

The next morning, Nicole was feeling much better. The day of rest had really helped her in recuperating.  We had a packed day before we had to leave for Iguazu in the evening. We finalized our airline tickets in the local airline office and went to see the city.

We bought tickets to Theatro Colon for the evening and headed to the Boca region to see the zinc sheeted houses.  Very colorful....We also saw the Boca Jr football stadium from the outside and had a pizza lunch in a nearby restaurant. We made our way back to the Theatro Colon and had a guided tour of the theater.  It has been only two years since the theater has been fully restored. It is a really great theater and very beautiful from the inside.  We will definitely go see a show when we get back to this city.....

After the Theater, we took a taxi to see the Recoleta cemetery where Evita Peron and other rich Argentenians are buried.  The cemetery is really beautiful with very ornate mausoleums.  Nicole and I made it just as the gates were being closed, but managed to stay in for an hour or so.  We were among the last people to be chased out by the guards.  After the cemetery, we walked out to the hotel across.  I wanted to go to the top floor of the hotel, to get a birds eye view photo of the cemetery, but I was of course denied permission, so that was that....Although, there was this magnificent tree right across from the cemetery which made a perfect circular canopy, with huge branches stretching out ~30ft in each direction.  Nicole and I spent some time under this.

Time was running out and we made our way back to Miguel's house.  I also picked up a set of guitar strings for him (since I broke one on his guitar). We had hoped to be back by 6.30pm so that we could head back to catch the 8pm bus to Iguazu.

We had somehow lost track of time and we got to Miguel's apartment at 7pm!! we rushed out and Miguel helped us get a taxi. Nicole and I were freaking out since we had only 40 minutes to get to the bus station, the roads were jammed with traffic and to top it all, the taxi driver was very talkative and wanted to make conversation.... Move it!! We just want to get to the bus station!!! After a lot of driving through crazy traffic (someone needs to redesign the car entrance to the Retiro bus station), we were dropped of at the bus station at 8pm on the dot.  Nicole and I bolted to our terminal, the bus had already left the station.........

What followed was quite incredible and happened quite quickly.  I remember cursing loudly, Nicole almost getting hysterical, the employee of another bus company telling us to go contact our bus company immediately.  If not for this quick suggestion from this stranger, the story would be different.

Nicole left the backpacks with me and bolted to the bus company booth.  Two minutes later I saw her running back with an employee.  After explaining our situation, the bus company employee had radioed the bus, which had stopped half a mile away from the bus station at the highway entrance for us!!!! How often does that happen???? Any other place, people would have told us "tough luck folks". This was the hardest run I have ever made in my life.  Running for half a mile with a 22kg backpack to catch a departed bus......  We made it.  Had we not, we would have had to wait for 12 hours to catch the bus next morning, and then make the 16 hour bus ride to Iguazu. Needless to say, we slept very well on that bus ride......