Buenos Aires: we were told that it would be like Paris lost in another continent. The only strange thing here is that they donīt understand any French, or at least they pretend not to do so. As a result we do speak a lot of Spanish here, which is okay by me as well. Buenos Aires is just great, exciting, relaxing, magnificent, comforting, cheap, 19th centuriesque and huge.
Great
because there is such an amazing amount of things to do. Lots of nice neighborhoods where you can scroll around and visit antique markets or hang out in nice green parks. Good museums that are too be big to 'just visit quickly'. You can wander around here for hours and check out different kinds of collections: Argentinean, European and North American art.
Exciting
because we enjoy ourselves more than is good for us (and our health). There are loads of (dance) clubs, theatres, ballets, movies and tango show options. Besides we have a cable television in our room (which some people in this world would envy strongly). We seldom go to sleep before 2.30 and never wake up before 11.00 which means we get out around noon. This is not as 'bad' as it looks, because it has been raining a lot here lately. What you also should know in this context is that people usually have dinner here at ten or later, so going to sleep at 3.00 is no big deal (just after dinner).
Relaxing
because there are loads and loads of bars, restaurants, coffee bars and 'confiteria's' (where you should have a nice peace of cake or pie with your coffee) where you can hang out any time of the day. Most of these nice places are 19
th century buildings with a lot of mirrors and style. Very nice to hang out indeed! The only bad thing is that we've been told that officially we're not allowed to play any cards in these places. Apparently there is this Argentinean rule forbidding any kind of card game in public places
Magnificent
just because it is. It is just too magnificent to be here!
Comforting
because of the European atmosphere; we feel like we're doing a 'regular' city trip in Europe (with the important difference that our city trip this time is unlimited; we can stay here as long as we want to). The food, the people, the buildings and the streets, everything resembles Europe. A very nice experience after travelling through Latin America for half a year (which I probably wrote in the Salta story as well).
Cheap
because of the current economical and financial situation. For a nice bottle of Chablis (of the Mendoza region) we usually pay around 40 dollar cents! You can imagine that we're back on our usual alcohol consumption level Of course, it's awful for the locals, but for us it's really extremely cheap right now.
Huge
because amongst other things there is this huge street or call it a highway going straight through the city center which consists of 22 lanes! For the record: this is true. 11 lanes from north to south and 11 the other way around. It really is a huge challenge to cross this street every time. We actually invented a kind of game in which you have to try to wait for the least time possible. This means that you cross the street zigzagging: cross a few lanes, try to do a part on the 'sidewalks' and at the next traffic lights, you cross the next part. Go on until you reach your destination. Okay, this might sound funny, but I bet its hell for grammas and grandpas. It would take them at least 10 minutes to cross.
Before we visited this great, exciting, relaxing, magnificent, comforting, cheap, 19th centuriesque and huge city, we went to Cordoba, which is 'just a nice city' (compared to BA). We liked it there as well and I succeeded in buying some new hiking shoes. After 6 months of non-stop use my Caterpillars were at their end. Sad but true. . . I now am the proud owner of a nice pair of French Salomon mountaineering shoes. Cordoba was, just like Salta, an excellent place to see some movies, so that's exactly what we did there.
A last great thing about travelling in Argentina in general is the bus. We've been travelling from Salta to Cordoba and from there to Buenos Aires by bus-cama which means something like 'bed bus'. And indeed, we felt like lying in a bed: completely flat and a special thing for your legs and feet: excellent. And we havent even talked about the smooth and straight roads!
Enough enthusiastic reports for now. We'll be back soon: alive and kicking in the USA!
