Gran Hotel Dora Buenos Aires

... a 2 peso bill and of course the lady said she did not have any coins. After pleading with her, she grudgingly gave me a peso back.

BA is known for its nightlife, and the weekend here was probably the best one yet of my trip, culminating with a Manu Chao concert on Sunday night. Argentinians usually take their dinner around 10 PM, and then go out at 12 or 1, coming home as late as 6 or 7 in the morning. I got a total ...

... by four very similar looking guards, in all the same regalia, who were on their way out with the same determination. At first it seemed an unlikely place to be changing the guard until we discovered, inside, the final resting place of Liberator General Jose de San Martin, Argentina’s Independence leader, draped in the Argentine flag and being guarded by two of the guards. Presumably the other two guards are to guard ...

... Argentinians always sit down and chill out when they drink their coffee. There are no takeaway coffees here and no mega lattes.

After that at Evanīs request we set off for the armaments museum in Retiro. This was chock full of lances, swords, pistols, rifles, artillery, figurines dressed in various military uniforms from Argentinaīs history, and a few oddities such as a traditional Japanese suit of armour and a gas mask for ...

... given a miss as we felt like dads at the disco. A few more drinks there and off to Pacha where we hoped to meet up with the septics. No chance. The place was ridiculously crammed and broke every health and safety rule in the book - have come to realize however that health and safety are not things that are considered much here. We gave it a couple of hours and disappointed we left. Not ones to dwell on the negative Sunday was much better as ...

... stop and I am wondering if its worth it with all of the other wonderful choices we have.

Today has been about research for future adventures. We walked to Juramento searching unsuccessfully for a market that Christie was told about and home afterwards.

Jodys Story
Today we had our last lesson of the week. It was very fun. All we talked about was time and we played 3 ...

... embarrassment. Across the street from where we alighted the van that brought us into town, was a beautiful park; much like C Central Park in New York. Argentina is where the Tango originated, but we suppose age keeps us from experiencing the full impact of the dance. So-long for now we will be in Montevideo, Uruguay tomorrow.

... Apart from me messing up my feet considerably on the first day of my arrival and then having a substantial limp for the next few days, it was excellent. Visited Evitaīs grave in Recoleta cemetery (the graves there are immense. It's a proper town with a grid system!), went into a church where discovered that Argentinians love the pain and suffering associated with christianity (ie the staues are bloody, crying, looks of ...

... raiding the galley at the back coming back with armfuls of muffins and crackers. Still, it was better than Iīm sure virtually all of our local bus tripsīll be!! We met up with our friends Lynette and Sichy from Adelaide, who we were travelling with through Argentina an Chile for the next few weeks, and spent the day wandering around the city, the cemetery where Eva Peron was buried, and sorting out some sort of plan. Montevideo, the capital of Uruguay ...

... was full. Oh joy. My attempts at charades and the use of the word agua didn,t quite get the message across so we dragged the guy sitting next to Anthea along to translate. The result being I was told they would turn off the A/C and that would stop the dripping. Thus placated I went back up to the top level of the bus, got out my sleeping bag and blanket as a cushion and sat beside Claire in the aisle at the back of the bus. An hour or so later the dripping hadn,t stopped and ...

... at the stadium, as I didn't bother doing the tour, and noticed Robert was there with a few others from the hostel. La Boca is working-class BA, and is supposed to be a more authentic neighbourhood - but not in El Caminito! It's where all the souvenir shops and tango shows are found - a neat place to walk, but far from authentic. There were a number of restaurants to choose from for lunch, but I choose mine based on which ...