Days on the trip: 243
We were both very excited as we left Australia, as it was going to be our first time in South America. In preparation, Andi had been trying to learn some Spanish (Thanks, Adrian) and soon was the moment of truth – would it would be useful / good enough? And how would Martin cope?
Our first stop was after a little hop to Auckland, New Zealand. Unfortunately, it was only a very short stay, not even leaving the airport. But it was long enough to switch on our phones, with our Australian sim card, and learn that it was 52 Aussie dollars per MB. Wow! Fortunately it wasn’t necessary because the airport had wifi and we didn’t have very long to wait anyway.
We landed in Buenos Aires after a pleasant 11 hour flight, and thanks to crossing the time/date line, we arrived earlier than we left Melbourne! After 2 months living in the future we were now very much in the past. At the airport, we booked our bus into the centre at one of the kiosks just after collecting our luggage, and then tried to get some cash out from the cash machines. No luck – there was no cash in any of the machines. Ah well, we didn’t need it just yet and we could simply try in town. We also had some US$ and credit cards.
After getting into our hostel, we loaded trip adviser to find somewhere for dinner. We found a cheap place nearby – a burger restaurant, where (conveniently) it said that they accepted cards. At the restaurant, we ordered, but then found that none of our cards worked. So Martin was dispatched to find a cash machine, based on some dodgy directions he couldn’t really understand from the uncertain restaurant staff. This, inevitably, turned into a bit of a mission. After quite some time, the first one he found had no money, as usual, but then the second one did. Few. All the while Andi was waiting in the restaurant and really got into a game of beach soccer on the TV. It seems to require quite a different set of skills to the soccer we are used to, but was still very interesting to watch. It was the qualification for the world cup, but unfortunately Argentina lost. Martin returned and we had some yummy burgers while Andi introduced him to her latest passion.
The next day was supposed to be a nice sight-seeing day. But we were both quite tired and jet-lagged, so by the time we were both up, it was pretty late in the afternoon. Ah well, we had a few more days here, so instead we did some admin. First on the list was to get an Argentinean sim card. Martin had already checked out the deals, decided that we would buy a sim from Claro, and found a Claro shop near the hostel.
Unexpectedly, the Claro shop didn’t actually sell sim cards for their service. Instead they sent us to a small independent kiosk a few blocks away, where they did indeed sell sims, but of the wrong size. Andi’s epic spanish was now called into action, and the woman said that the thing to do was to buy it anyway, go back to the Claro shop we’d just been to, and ask them to cut it. So we trotted back to Claro, asked them to cut the cards for us, and they did! Martin was very impressed with Andi at this point, and after putting some credit on the cards, they worked a treat. This was the first real test for Andi’s Spanish and she was very proud when we were successful at the end of it.
Next we felt like we deserved some food, and after that we actually did a little bit of sight-seeing. The comic strip walk consists of a short road with murals and sculptures of South American cartoon characters. They were pretty cool but we didn’t recognise any of them.
After taking lots of photos on the walk, we went back to the hostel ready for the tango lesson, show and dinner that we had booked in the morning… only to find out that apparently the building had suffered a water leak and they had to cancel the performance. Instead they would give us a ticket for the following day – Valentine’s day. Not too upset at the change of plans, we decided to check out the famous Argentinean steak at a parillia nearby and it was absolutely delicious. High quality steak, cooked perfectly, with a huge portion of chips, and a glass or two of Malbec, all for not too much money.
The next day the plan was to go to Boca in the morning, and then do the free walking tour in the afternoon. It was a reasonably busy schedule, but doable… except when you leave the hostel way too late. Anyway, we went to Boca, which is a place with lots of colourful houses, little markets, arty places and exhibitions, and lots of tango. It was really pretty to wander around there but we couldn’t stay too long because we needed to get a cab into the centre for the free walking tour.
Plan A was to get an uber. But turns out we couldn’t get one. So plan B was flagging down a taxi. There were loads around but they were all busy or didn’t stop. Damn. Eventually we realised we wouldn’t make the tour. So we had to sort out our own little tour and ended up going different ways for our sight-seeing. Andi went to Puerto Madero, past Parque Micaela Bastidas, where they were setting up for a formula-E race, then along the walk of fame (where she only recognised Messi). Afterwards she went to Plaza de Mayo, to some Manzana museum and finally to the national congress. Martin focussed on the historic centre around Plaza de Mayo and then Recoleta and the famous cemetery there.
We met back at the hostel, ready for our tango evening (once again). This time there was no unfortunate surprise. We first had our lesson, where we learnt 3 basic steps, and then enjoyed food and a show. It was a great way to spend Valentine’s day.
On our last day in Buenos Aires we split up once more. Martin did some admin, went to the barber and bought a new jumper, ready for colder Patagonia. Andi went to Recoleta, checked out a posher neighbourhood of Buenos Aires, went to the cemetery where she found Evita’s grave and at the end joined a critical thinking free walking tour. It was a great tour where she learnt a lot about the history of Argentina, politics and education. Not knowing much (meaning close to nothing) about Argentina it was really helpful and interesting to get an overview of the developments, struggles and thoughts of the people there.
For our final night in Buenos Aires we once more had steak, and even though we wanted an early night, it ended up getting quite late after all the sight seeing and an extensive dinner… something we would definitely feel the next day when we had to get up at 3.30am for our flight to Ushuaia. We were so excited though to be going to Patagonia 🙂
Road Monkeys 