Buenos Aires

Argentina » Buenos Aires

We arrived in Buenos Aires in the morning, together with Ina that new the city already. And we had a long first day... we started off in the harbour with breakfast, left our luggage at a friends friend :) and walked around in Palermo, a very beautiful area of Buenos Aires.

We had a local beer for lunch, and a local pizza for dinner :) Between the beer and the pizza, we managed to walk around a lot and even see the Japanese garden!

In the evening we said goodbye to Ina (see you again in Sweden soon), and hello to Pedro - our host in Buenos. We were dead tired after the long bus ride and the whole first day in the city, we passed out completely. Had a good sleep in a bed that was not moving - wonderful! :)

We explored more of the city the next day, starting with the harbour, Puerto Madero, again, after a short train ride for 1.20 pesos (!!). It's amazing how expensive the country is in general and how CHEAP the local transport is...sponsored by the government! Good!

We went to the main squares - Plaza de Mayo,San Martin, San Telmo, La Boca. Had a local steak at a VERY local place just before their siesta, when we, gringos still walked around in the city.

We watched some tango, which was only for tourist purpose, but still nice to see :) We returned back home, did some dinner, and surprised Pedro with that we actually eat pasta with sallad on the same plate :) It's funny how we exchange experiences with different couchsurfers.

Pedro, on the other hand, introduced us to the famous 'drink' MATE. For us, it looks like tea, and they drink it in special 'cups', with a special 'straw' out of metal. Litterly, everyone is drinking it everywhere! They walk around with a little termos, and just refill with water every now and then :) Its very strong in the beginning, but gets ligther and better with time. You can have it with sugar, with some lemon, or orange peels, but most of the locals drinks it stright. It is like a hot energy drink. A big part of their culture, thats for sure!

Another part that Pedro introduced us to that night, was the good wines of course! Which, in turn, lead to a night club in Palermo! Great fun, and a lot of dancing! The music like in clubs back home, house music...but with a Latin touch. The later it was, the more Latin moves were coming out of the speakers. We also had a live band on the dance floor playing some cumbia, which we enjoyed a lot!!!

What we enjoyed less, was the next morning ... :) But we managed to jump on a ferry to Uruguay for a day anyway - more about that in the upcoming post.

Our last day in Buenos Aires, was a great day as well, thanks to Pedro, since he took us to Tigre, an area outside of Buenos.
It is next to a river, with small houses and boats everywhere. The autum is really beatiful here!! It is also a place where the locals go for a weekend for example and hires "cabanas", to relax, It was also nice to see.

We returned back, took our backpacks, had a wonderdul pizza (!!) and gave Pedro a BIG HUG!! Thank you for everything, we will miss you, man! :) See you some day again!!

We ran through the city, feeling like locals by this time :) to the "Terminal del buses" (can you see how our BASIC Spanish has improved ...not!) for another ride...

...this time to MENDOZA - the famous wine region of Argentina.