Hotel Americano Buenos Aires

... packed subway. But the main form of public transportation here is not the subway, but rather the buses. There are a few reasons why I hate the Buenos Aires bus system. For one, it is confusing as hell. Two seemingly identical buses, with the same route number can have different routes. Also, the buses are very cheap (about $.30) but they have to be paid for with coins. Therefore, coins are impossible to come by around here ...

... the stuff and then keep going. Just beware of this little trick folks as it is fairly commonplace in some places in South America. Mustard is also a favourite.

We decide we need to change more traveler´s cheques for the trip down to Ushuaia so head down to American Express. Wouldn´t you know it, a bank holiday and they are closed for changing cheques. The woman at the counter points us toward the Sheraton Hotel across the sheet. OK no drama, 30 minutes later we have changed ...

... cut) says she has had lots of double takes!
- A common breakfast or mid-morning snack here is medialunas (literally ´half moons´- aka croissants) which are smaller than croissants in NZ and have a sweet glaze on them. They are YUM. We like them.
- Public displays of affection are everywhere. There seems to be a rule here that every public space and public transport vehicle must have at least one couple making out in it.

... with all the government buildings, San Telmo, La Boca and passed through a lot of other parts... Buenos Aires is very big, and has so many different kinds of areas, everything from the cosy artist blocks with small scale buildings, to the majestic modern high rise skyscrapers of Puerto Madero. But every place I´ve been to so far has been nice in its own way.

After feeling dead ...

... entire population of the city and why, of course, all the other streets were empty. We navigated our way between the endless stalls of imaginative, colourful and creative craft items, paintings, musicians, street artists including a very convincing and comical statue in white, tango dancers and food stalls for what seemed about 2km, arriving at the Playa de Dorrigo. En-route we purchased a tasty snack of a perpita bread made from cheese, potato and ...

... play in front of the church, I decided I would go by myself if no one else would join me. I tried - I invited the Canadians from the Kootenays whom I'd met in Uruguay and the British girls I'm sharing a room with. The Canadians went to see the tango show I saw last week (and told them to see) and the British girls, as anticipated, were too indecisive so I left without them. It didn't matter, I had an incredible time on my own. Pull your spine up ...

... in a random hostel in Palermo but had a good time just finding out about the area and as usual with us we picked the wrong day to choose to do things (Mondays everything seems to be closed) but we found some nice gardens and got on with a few errands and took in as much sun as we could before moving on to the gateway to Antarctica!

... ve experienced here repeatedly watching a family values film starring the Rock is possibly the most bizzare. Of cousre the first four times it cut out at vital moments so on the fifth we were just about able to piece the plot together. Argentinian buses are great though. Juniors we arrived in BA on Sunday and discovered that there was a Boca Juniors game on that day, versus Argentina Juniors another B.A. side. So we got our tickets in one of the goal ...

... amid earthy woods, cool white walls and a ridiculously high warehouse ceiling. We nursed our drinks for a bit (Brother Bilbo Baggins had to finish mine), and chatted more about Johanna's business. Turns out, she designed the artwork for Hiho batik, one of the brands I work with, and is currently working on the new line of clothing for Stephan Marbury. I get the distinct feeling that we will be working together in the future. As the night wore on I was reminded of a ...

... the ground. I don't know if I tripped or was pushed but I was very nervous and quickly got up on my own (difficult to do with all of my stuff!) shoving away the woman who came over to help me, figuring it was some new ploy to rob me! (Don't worry, I was ok from the fall, just some scraped knees and a big bruise which ended up lasting for a few weeks!) I stayed in Palermo Hollywood, a different part of the city from last time. It had a very different feel to it. I ...