Noa Noa Lofts Buenos Aires

MOTOS ARRIVE IN BUENOS AIRES – ARGENTINA – HURRAY – 26.10.09

At 2pm we caught a taxi, with a much more sedate driver this time, to Lan Chile Cargo, to get the paperwork finished regarding the motorbikes. Much walking around the International Airport complex did wonders for our waistlines. Back and forth we went from one building to another. Customs took forever, but our two crates with our bikes finally ...

... that happens, is pretty good.

As I write this, I am about 14 or so hours into my journey towards Iguazu, with a few more left to spare. The original time of arrival was 11am on Saturday, but now it appears we will not get there until 2pm at the earliest. I am supposed to meet Scott in Brazil by 3:30pm, so here's to hoping I get there in time... but either way, I'll just go with the flow, and get there when I get there. In other words, I am totally freaking out man.

... understanding of how little Spanish we recognise! He laughed off Andy's attempt to climb into the driver’s seat (driving occurs on the right side of the road, or in my opinion, the wrong side) and soon enough broached the topic of football. I kept occupied by talking to the children in the backseat as our little sedan speedily wove from one lane to another, narrowly missing cars, buses, motorbikes. Indicators were universally ignored. Traffic seemed ...

... so we decided to check it out. We had a good taste of some of the city's culture, then it was time to make our way over to the Mecca for meat eaters.

Dinner, as I emphasized before, was phenomenal and filling. We ate no less than fifty (50) ounces each of different meats including rack of lamb, chorizo, chicken and a few different cuts of beef. The salad bar was perfectly stocked with multiple types of salads (my favorite was the caprese salad with Roma tomatoes ...

... dead citizens. Among dead Presidents, doctors, generals, lawyers, and anyone else who thought highly enough of themselves to build one of these audacious eternal resting places, lies the famous and beloved Eva ''Evita'' Peron. Though not near the front and without a map to guide us, her tomb was easy to find, for it has a constant and abundant supply of fresh flowers dropped off by well wishers and fans.

After the cemetary, we ...

... The other game was a World Cup qualifying game between Argentina and Venezuela at the Monumental - stadium of River Plate - the more afluent arch rivals of the working class Boca Juniors club. The match was Maradona´s first competitive game in charge and ended up being a formality with Argentina winning comfortably 4 - 0. After Richard´s return and some last minute drama involving my friend Veronica being admitted to hospital for a few days, I decided it was time to move on.

... con was working this time, so it was pretty comfy. The only problem was (and it was a pretty major problem for me) that we stopped at around 11pm after leaving Foz at 6:45pm, to get something to eat at a restaurant. I had a burger, my first proper Argentinian meat. But it didnt agree with me at all, and I ended up having diarrhoea for the whole bus journey. Talk a bout you burnin ring of fire! I was delighted to get to BA in the end, and not have to use ...

... photo I did get will be lucky to remain uncrumpled! The cemetery was amazing, but also somewhat creepy. It was like this deserted town, all walled up where thè streets were lined with mauseleums and monuments. We wandered for a while just examining everything and taking in the statues etc. we ended up at Evita`s grave which to be honest wasn`t half as elaborate or beautiful as many of the other graves, not to mention you had to line up to get to the front of the line ...

... 3 hours of my life to finalizing and kicking-butt with that paper. As it is now, I have a small paper due tomorrow, and it's actually 1AM Monday 19 January, so I think I"m going to bed... So maybe I'm re-learning the beauty of wandering?... But how does that look? Can I be a business school student who wanders? I've already been dubbed "bohemian" and "hippie" in various corporate and business school ...

... our dollar, everything costs almost the same here as it does in Australia- maybe a bit less. Actually we went hunting for an evening dress for Tills and it was difficult to find anything particularly original (..and we were in Palermo, boutique capital of BA!) Having said that, im sure that if you know where to go maybe there ARE treasure finds here- and if you have alot of money and want to go on a massive shopping spree then BA is the place for you!!.....We also observed ...