After we hightailed it out of Mexico we went via Houston to Buenos Aires and had to make a sweaty mad dash to make our connecting flight- thank you super unhelpful Houston Airport staff! #unhelpfulbastards!.
We stayed right in the centre of Buenos Aires and spent our first day there trying to find a laundromat for all our damp smelly clothes. En route we came past a couple of riots which whilst it was interesting to us must have been the norm for others as no one really seemed to care that there was rubbish on fire in the street and people banging drums obstructing traffic! Ah latin America you never cease to amaze..
One of the main tourist sight seeing trips we did was go to the cemetery which was pretty spectacular. The site contains 4691 vaults, all above ground, of which 94 have been declared National Historical Monuments by the government and are protected by the state. It includes notable families throughout the ages with all their relatives and, of course, Argentinas own Evita.
We hit up the metropolitan Palermo neighbourhood with its amazing shopping and eateries (probably the best place for a gringo to stay) and drunk bottles upon bottles of red wine, it would be rude not to as its so bloody cheap!
On our last night we felt like a bit of normality so hit up the neighbourhood of San Telmo for some pool and pints at a local pub. Met a really nice english bloke behind the bar who had a few good yarns and as the bar started to get packed and a wait on the pool table became circling with pool sharks we decided to head off for a local Parilla.
Argentinians are famous for their ‘Parillas’ pronounced ‘Parisha’ to us, and they really do put our little ol gas bbq to shame! For hours these meats are slow cooked over a grill and come out perfecto! As the locals don’t generally start eating until 9pm we were the only ones in there at 7:30pm and the waiter and Dom struck up some camaraderie over the rugby world cup so he hooked us up with a few limoncello shots on the house- happy there!
We have to admit though, BA isn’t all flowers. The streets are busy and you definitely do have to watch your stuff. While we got nothing stolen, on our way to the bus station for our 20 hour bus ride to Puerto Madryn we got hit with the classic gringo hustle whereby they squirt (we think/hope it was mud, vinegar and water) over you so that the guys accomplice could come and offer us some tissues at a super inflated price and we wouldn’t have a choice (you have to also pay for the toilet paper here in the local bathrooms and you don’t exactly get much for your money). We told her no as I reminded Dom that I had a plethora of baby wipes in my bag but nothing could really get rid of the smell…… lets just say we’ve both had better 20 hours of lives!