So we have come to the end of the South America adventure. Its been very interesting, a few eye openers, a few GEL places and all in all great to have done it. Buenos Aires was our last city in South America and twas certainly different!
We had huge expectations of Buenos Aires as a city and expected to be bowled over but we just werent. I guess our first impressions didnt help seeing a gazillion bags of rotting smelly rubbish on the roads. Sexy time. Apparently there was a bin strike for the few days before we arrived and a few days after so the whole of the city kinda nasty - you can just imagine the smells. Gross. At least we were back to speaking spanish!
We stayed in a place called The Art Hostel and it twas actually a fab place to chill out. Staff were local artistes (mostly overtly gay and your very best friend, I loved them) and brillo for the fab local knowledge. I'd deffo recommend this place. Met some cool people had the craic, banter and few beers in the bar each night.
The great thing about Argentina is it is so so so cheap. Mal and I being the foodies that we are (My Dad has already asked me have I got fat. Cheers pops) we asked Carlos at reception for a recommendation of great food, not too expensive (bless our naivety) and good craic. He looked at us when we said '"craic" so we replaced that word with 'good atmosphere'. He got it. Much better.
Fair play to Carlos, talk about getting us spot on. The restaurant was called "Siga La Vacha".which in its literal translation is Follow the Cow. I didnt take it personally! The place had a queue out the door, it was that popular.Get this right, you pay 79 pesos which is 15 QUID and you get all the salad, ALL the type of meat - chicken, sausage, and then there was the STEAKS.......rump, striploin, sirlion, fillet....you name it, you could have it. Mal couldnt believe his eyes, I reckon he literally was the happiest man in BA that night. Whatsmore, along with the food they threw in home fries, desert, a bottle of house wine and any soft drinks.I swear to God, I fell out of the place like a roundy. I was like an oompah loompah except taller and no dodgy orange skin. The next night, we had another AMAZING Meal. 2 fillet steaks with all the trimmings, huge fresh salad, house bottle of red and some water. 20 QUID. WTF! I truly recommend people to experience the food, it has to be done.
Tour-wise, we did the open air bus which was fine for most except I got a gammy pair of earphones so that was kinda shite! We were driving past all these buildings thinking "oh that looks nice wonder what it is!!".
If you meet me when I get back, dont ask me about BA and where to go. Got on and off at various stops which was cool.
Interesting random fact - BA are big on dog walking!
(I have realised on the trip that I just love dogs. I really do)
The dog walking in BA is coz most people live in apartments so they hire people to walk their dogs when they are at work. Talk about a cushy job except the dog walkers are such skivers! They are always in the park chatting to their mates drinking coffee whilst brutus and God knows what other names go mental on the leash all tied up. The poor little mites.
We went to this park one morning, Mal was doing what every normal tourist does - taking pictures of buildings. I spot the dogs and I was off. Good luck with the buildings Mal, I'll be back in 20 mins...Next thing, I spotted 3 lazy dog walkers by a bench and their 36 dogs all tied up! No joke, doing the aul maths, I reckoned each dog walker had about 12 in tow. So the owners were sitting down drinking coffee, laughing and gossiping ignorning the fact that there were a million dogs going MENTAL around the mini park. I was in my element! Then I noticed a few dogs that werent let run free and were tied up. They were probably the ones who would leg it off. One poor fella was so excited to see his mate running around the park and clearly wanted to join in the fun. Despite being tied to the fence, he made a feeble attempt to jump it, free himself and off to his mate. Not so. As he was jumping his goolies got stuck in the leash. I felt his pain (even though I dont have goolies). It was one of those moments where I tried to shout but nothing came out! His dog walker was oblivious, too busy chatting to her mate. So mean. There I was looking at this grimmacing dog caught up in his leash by his argentinian goolies. How on earth was I gonna try to explain the poor fellas trauma in spanish to the dog walker? Imagine if I had gone up and pointed at the dogs swollen crown jewels! I'd have been locked up. So I did what every other Irish person did. Nothing! Well, No I ran over to Mal and told him the story, he broke his shite laughing which made it worse. And then we walked off. God I am terrible.
What else about BA. Oh yes, we went to an area called La Boca. Apparently home of a very famous football team and also a really poor area. Met this funniest impersonator of Diego Maradonna. Mal got the pic taken, must put it up on line. Will do, I promise! They are obsessed with Diego, the amount of tatoos I saw with the number 10. Hadnt a rashers until the penny dropped...ahaaa!
Also did a Tango lesson and went to a show. Yep feel free to slag the hubbie, ha ....Twas all part of the 'show'' and fair play, he got the steps right! Dont think we'll be on 'Dancing with the Stars' soon though. Jees, its harder than it looks, no wonder the celebs loose stones, the stress of it all. The show itself was authentic. Lots of Diegos jmping in the air with tight trousers (steady) , doing splits and very fast stamping on the ground. The chicks were amazing. Gorge tango dresses and shoes to match. I was in heaven. We went to see the Eva Peron museum. Quite interesting to learn all about her. She died at 32 which was mad wasnt it? Very young. Her clothes & shoe collection were all behind glass to see, pretty stunning and very modern for the age. Maybe we're going back to that age though.... Took some pics to give to a pal back home who designs shoes. I couldnt believe my ears when I heard some gobshite canadian behind me ask someone 'who is eva peron''. No words necessary.
So yeah all in all, we came, we saw and we ate! BA is a good place to visit for sure but I would deffo add another dimension to Argentina with your visit, such as Patagonia etc.
Feel really lucky to have visited quite a few countries of South America but definately would say we only touched on the surface of the few that we visited - Peru, Brazil and Argentina. They are so massive, you need way more time. Will we come back? Dunno....lots more in the world to see.
And onwards to Aussie, aw yeah mate. The longest flight in the world apparently. Buenos Aires to Sydney, just the 15 hours. Holy hit. Not nervous at all.(yeah rat). I'm told we fly over the south pole and cross 14 different time zones. God knows what state I'll be in when we land down under.
I come from the land down under, c'mon everyone!!
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