Hotel Palermo Buenos Aires

... but we pick up more enroute at various bus stations.
Just before dark the sky blackens and a storm breaks, torrential rain, thunder and lightening. It continues off and on for most of my awake night.
Apart from DVD's on the TV we have a game of bingo, I end up one number short when bingo is called.
This is followed by the airline style (loosely) dinner, no vino! Off to sleep.

... but only caught the foot-stomping end to a pretty enjoyable folk-pop act. After that, some José Gonzales, Gulag Orkestar (by Beirut) and some local brew Quilmes, we left for a faux-irish pub called Puggs. I mean Kilnenneys. Same thing, different countries. Although I´ve never heard Creedence Clearwater Revival covered live in Spanish at Pugg´s. Emerged at 2 (way early by local standards, but it was a monday...) to some Stones they decided ...

... according to the official statistics. The government was able to work out debt-restructuring arrangements with foreign investors and return to the capital markets. In walking around BA, I could see no visible signs of absolute economic collapse less than a decade earlier. Much as I remarked when walking the streets of Bangkok, it is a testament to the people at the ground level - the average laborer, shopkeeper ...

... beef, and, what we later looked up on the internet to learn, were salted pork bones, white beans and corn, hunks of fat, and...wait for it...pieces of cow intestine (Chad thought it was misplaced calamari at the time!). Apparently, our friends had tried the Ecuadorian version, which is a simple potato stew. We both agree, it was worse than the pig skin incident. Hey, at least we are out there trying! Another overnight ...

... I'd imagine..... cant put up any photos as yet as SOMEONE appears to have forgot the USB connection for camera. Ok enough, over to Joe' Joe says 'Thank god we arrived when we did i was doing my head in on the aeroplane, theres only so many films you can watch in one sitting. Just realised today how heavy my backpack is think i might have packed a small bit too ...

... We had a wonderful romantic evening out and afterwards, we joined the bustling nightlife scene of Palermo Viejo on our way home. Unfortunately we missed a live Flamenco show when we were in Spain, but found a theatre who presented a show on the last night in BA for a very reasonable price. It was brilliant! The dancers were both masters in Flamenco and trained in Spain. I wish I understood more Spanish as I'm sure we missed a bit of the story told through the songs ...

... turned into shops, painted very brightly. There are café's and bars, tables in the streets, tango dancers, musicians. It was a circus environment, but interesting. After about 40 minutes here, the bus picked us up and we asked to be dropped close to La Recoleta Cemetery. One of the hotels where we picked up some other passengers was near there, so we only had a few blocks to walk. Unfortunately, the ...

... to sexing up astronomy so he could pick up girls (pointing to a star and saying how you are seeing it back from the day the girl was born...!). We were there at the time the full moon was closer to the earth than it had been in many years. This meant it was very bright and an incredible sight through the telescope, but also meant the other planets and stars were harder to see. Our last experience in San Pedro wasn't so great- the bus company ...

... as we didn´t know how to tango so we left and decided to check out another popular street for shopping called Florida street- best known as a pedestrian only street with tons of stores including: leather goods; shoes; clothing for men, women, children; sports and futbal related stores; accessories; souvenirs; and of course food establishment & cafes. In fact, cafe´s are everywhere in Argentina! They grace corner after corner, street after street and many of them ...

... considering that I was literally walking in the footsteps of some of the world's greatest players.



I would have LOVED to been able to kick a few balls around out there, it was special ...