The real magic in that journey was in how the aeroplane we boarded in Sydney could ever travel around the world. It hardly looked as if it could make it across a DK Atlas. The plane was old enough to have a model in the Airfix series but surely this one had some bits missing; maybe it should go back to the shop. And if we still weren't convinced that it's the type of flight run by the devil or his current Mikey 'Ryanair' O'Leary incarnation, they managed to project the same Zac Efron movie onto the aisle wall twice. Things, we assured each other from the "Brace Brace" position, can only get better...
And they did. Buenos Aires is a fantastic city. From the sugar-filled treats they called breakfast to the constant protests down every corner you turned, we fell in love with the place. It's the Paris of South America, they told us, though I think that's due to the amount of dog shit everywhere rather than the wonderful architecture. We loved the antiques market in San Telmo on a Sunday morning where we bought an English to Spainish dictionary for 20p with phrases like 'Dear sir, can you tell me where I can purchased some kid-gloves', 'What the Dickins!' and 'I'd like a hat box for my hat' as well as some real Raybans for next to nothing.
We also ventured, some what aprehensively, into La Boca to see the colourful houses down by the docks.
"What's the best way to walk down there?" we asked.
"You shouldn't walk in La Boca," replied the hostel receptionist.
"How do we get there, then?"
"By cab."
"We don't want to go by cab, is there a bus?"
"Yes, the 29, but do not take any valuables. Only get off at the colourful houses and back on at the same place. Don't go anywhere else, it's too dangerous." Riiiight.
Nothing untoward happened though: we took some photos of the houses, I talked football with a homeless person (he thought I was French because my top was striped) and we watched some tango without getting anything nicked. A b it of a non-story really, but I've got space to fill.
The wide-awake-it's-4am jet lag worked perfectly over there too. Everyone was eating their dinner at 11.30pm. It's rare that I've seen people drinking coffee at midnight, but here it's mandatory. Not everyone fell into step though, the French girl in the bunk above Georgie, for example, managed to fall from it and bleed everywhere before weeing with the door open and scowling back into our room. Maybe she needed more sleep.
Right, I'm rambling and not saying much. We also vistied Evita's gave, a small mausoleum compared to the city of excessive tombs that surrounds it. Some of the graves were like mini houses with their own statues reaching for the skies. I'd be annoyed if mine was the tomb next to the toilets though. The sewers in Argentina can't take toilet paper and people were piling it into an already full bin in some heat. Well, you shouldn't come to a cemetary for a dump really should you?
The Rest of Argentina
It turns out we visited some of the less touristy spots in the country after Buenos Aires...
Rosario
The birthplace of Che Gueva and Messi also had more mosquitoes than anywhere else on the planet and, unfortunately for us, we visited on a Sunday and Monday when EVERYTHING was closed. So there are plenty of photos of me swatting away the dengue swines next to a muddy lake in the drizzle.
Parana
Not much to do here either. We visited a history museum that was entirely in Spanish and spilled red wine on the hostel's white tablecloth. We also walked to the bus station three times as we'd forgotten our passports. Yup, that's the most worthy mentions of our two days there.
Resisentcia
The city of 500 statues. We got onto the wrong bus and ended up in some dusty barrio but once we found our bearings we saw about 145 of the street statues (yup, we will do a slideshow on our return) before I tripped over a curb and cut my toe open. Big thanks to the shop keeper who wanted to pour Dettol onto it.
Posadas
Too hot to do anything, so we shopped around for an hour trying to find an avocado. We did take a look at Uraguay but it was so steaming warm we decieded to sit by the hostel pool instead. We also visited here on a Sunday. Noice.
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