Buenos Aires

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  Buenos Aires, Argentina
Friday, April 18, 2008

***Buenos Aires - where it´s cheaper to eat out!
Flew from Igazu to Buenos Aires which took about an hour and a half. Beats the bus for an extra couple of euro! Arrived in the afternoon and it seemed foggy coming into the airport. Turns out it was smoke. More of that later.
We took a Taxi to Casa Esmerelda, a Hostel that was recommended to us and we are really happy with it. The most infamous resident is a big black dog who minds the place and keeps the guests entertained..he even gets a mention in Time Out Magazine! We`re staying in Palermo. Can`t beat it, our thanks to Aoife`s mates Barry and Ricardo for all their tips on the city and the area. `Why can`t there be cool bars like this in Dublin`..If Michael said it once he said it ten times. The restaurants and the bars are spectacular and cheap. 
But ok, let me note the haircut first

average tango

. Oh my God. Went to a really swanky place down the road from the Hostel. Booked in for a cut which cost the equivilant of eight euro. Post-chop, well, let´s just say i fit in with the locals, everyone here sports a mullet. Aghhhhh! 
Moving quickly along...it`s one peso to five euro so we are eating like kings! Went to a restaurant recommended by B&R the other night called Cluny. The Matre D looked at me in the flip-flops and the trainers on Grechy and put us out in the front garden with the plebs. Didn`t matter, food was to die for! Did lunch that day at Freud and Fahler, another B&R recommendation and it was also really good. That day we visited the Eva Peron museum, the MALBA Museum of Art, a Barbie Museum (?!!! - Katie, you´d love it) even found an Irish dancing Barbie (she was weird looking), and went to the Recoleta graveyard. Took a pic of Admiral Brown`s grave (and Irish man who set up the Argentinian Navy) for Rourky (go back far enough and theres a bit of Brown in Christina!). 
Since we´ve arrived, the city has been full of smoke. The farmers are burning their weeds as a cheaper alternative to using labour..so the smoke is reaching the city and has resulted in a number of deaths on the motorways and the airport was closed down as visability is really poor. We went into the centro today and there´s a cloud of smoke hanging over it. Think it is subsiding a bit now, but it was a strange introduction to the city

san telmo

!
Met Paul and Niamh, mates from Dublin the other night, ít was a late one - clubs stay open until 6am -  we didn´t stay that long!
Bought food at supermarket and ate in last night - works out cheaper to go out, so that´s what we´ll be doing for the rest of our stay. All in all a very cool city. Loving Palermo (Michael equates it to Melbourne), the city centre is a bit more like New York (busy) with European influences (that would be the buildings dahlings). 

***One week later.
Ok, this will have to be quick as the internet cafe is about to close. 
1. Change in this city is priceless: We need every coin we have to take a bus. The shops don´t have coins so if you are lucky enough to get coins..keep them, just like everyone else, keep your coins.. (have i mentioned the word ´coins´enough? Because i don´t think i can stress how precious the little round things are) There´s no circulation of COINS in the city..just on the buses. Crazy system. Metro is better..if you are going somewhere on the Metroline, that is, Aghhhhhhhhhhh!
2. Watch where you walk. Dog lovers are massive here

corte

. (Don´t worry, people love cats because they scare away bad omens and all that, but no one wants to take care of them, so they hang out in the graveyard). Dog walkers are an even bigger deal than the owners. Some have vetinary degrees as they are required to spot ilnesses in the dogs they walk. The photo we have on this blog..that girl is smallfry. We saw a guy one day, he must have been walking thirty dogs. And, if these mutts gotta go, no one cleans up after them. Swear to god. Place is full of ..merd!
3. Speaking of which..eh..pee before you go to Bocca game: Craziest thing we´ve done. Not the peeing part obviously, but the Bocca game. We were amongst the local supporters, so tight a squeeze. We were standing belly to back with the Bocca fans. Hilarious. They bounce the whole time throughout the game..and when there´s a goal, you end up hugging whatever random big bellied Argentinian you can find (in our case, too many!) next to you! No beer at the matches and there´s no chance of going to the toilet at half time, that´s how tight a squeeze it is. Maradonna was there..the chant was something like..DIEEEGOOOO, DIEEEGOOOO, DIEEEGOOOO...think my Spanish is improving! 
4. Eat Steak at Desnival in San Telmo: The chef had finished all his lunchtime cooking when Michael and Marcus (another residente of Esmerelda and from Holland) gave him pleading looks..he said ok (that was seconds!!)..he said `ok`, and he said `ok` to photos too

barbie and ailbhe

!
4.1 Don´t eat pasta if you are in a steak restaurant - it was not good (not in Desnival - in La Dorita, Palermo). Chefs too busy cooking meat!
5. Take a Spanish Lesson: We did a lesson at the hostel. Cheaper than anywhere else we could find in Buenos Aires. An hour long. Michael just wanted to learn numbers, for prices..and i ended up haggling for the lads at the market, so me-thinks someone needs to do homework!!
6. Do Tango....we may take photos at the next one...or when we improve. Really inexpensive. Good fun. Met loads of people who are mad into the dance. It was worth the 3 euro each for two hours - at the cultural centre in the microcentre. There are shows there too.
7. Go to the internet cafes: They´re cheaper than Hostels but the only down side is they kick you out..eventually...byeeeeeeeee! 


***Final week in BA (This installment by Michael).
 Back from the ranch,we strolled around the lovely area of Palermo. Took a short cut to get back to the hostel and stumbled on the main race track in town! In was heaven for a punter. 1st race was at 3pm, followed by a race every 30 mins. With 15 races on the card it was a big day out. We got there at 16:30 or so and we put our 2 pesos per races on the Irish bred horses and horses with english names. We put a couple of pesos on a horse Mr. Pharlap and I can tell you, he did not live up 2 his name..
Monday evening we went La Bomba de Tiempo. Its one of the best nights out in BA

dog and ailbhe

. We met up with Erin and went to the gig  for 8pm. Its a PERCUSIÓN night with about ten musicians being led by a conductor. Well recommended if in BA on a Monday.
May 1st was a public holiday which included a big night out the night before. Went to some cool bars including le bar was recommended by Barry and Ricardo, cool bar with happy hour and the worlds smallest kebabs. I was so disappointed.. Kicked on to la cigale a bar owned by our hostel owner, cool alternative bar with 10 euro bottles of mumm champagne, well worth the visit. Then the Standard queuing for a club and  eventful ride home on a public bus and the endless search for munchies in the wee hours of the morning..
 Rest day for Ailbhe on Thursday! I bumped into a friend Sarah Wintle from Melbourne who happened to be staying in the same hostel and is touring south america around the same time and same spots. Went to dinner and was well impressed with my 5.50 steak, with, chips, egg, pumkin, rice, onions, peppers and not to mention the goats cheese. Special mention to Las Cabras. We could not resist a photo with the FitzRoy sign where the restaurant was located .
Special mention to Moira the dog at Casa Esmerelda who was too busy trying to open a pot of peanut butter to say goodbye! (last time it was seen before that was on the kitchen counter) Miss you already you crazy mutt!

Post your own travel photos for friends and family More Pictures

some girl named alba	grechy skateboarding...	eva peron last resting place	admiral brown
Enroute to Bocca with Kristina & Marcus	Where´s Grechy?	find maradona	la boca
maradona on the right	la boca match	half time	dog walking
spot the ginger	show me the money	studying	find ailbhe
happy men...	the cooks	steak and ailbhe	dress ups
Steak: Janet, Pierre & Kristina-la photographer!	bring it on...	streets of palermo	palermo
at the track	checking the form	irish silks..	le bar, camera on double timer
5.50 euro meal deal, better than mcdonalds	Sarah and i on Fitz Roy street	moira and the peanut butter

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