We quickly packed up so we would be ready for our airport transfer due to arrive at 9am. We waited, we enquired, we worried and at 9.20am we called a cab.
The cab turned up about 10 minutes later which was starting to cut it fine to get to the airport by 9.55am for our flight at 10.55am. He assured us it would be fine, then ran low on petrol and had to pull into the petrol station which was full! He did manage to get some, and screamed off down the road, getting us to the airport at 9.56am. Anna dashed in while we got the bags, returning to tell us after all that, our flight was cancelled! It was rescheduled for 2pm.
We filled in the time by having lunch, but really by shopping for gem stones. Ok, much of it was wishing we could spend our entire holiday budget on one necklace, but Anna and I did get very nice and reasonably priced pendants.
Finally we boarded and got to Buenos Aires. It was an awful flight for poor Amy who is still feeling sick, but the sight of the city cheered us all immensely.
Buenos Aires is a gorgeous city. In many ways it reminds me of Paris, with the architectural style and wide tree lined boulevard down the centre of the city. But it is a city of contradictions, between the old buildings are absolutely modern ones and it is filled with billboards and neon signs. Next to the designer stores are tacky souvenir shops. In the middle of the pedestrian shopping mall near us (much like a much larger version of Pitt Street) people sell everything from paintings, to jewellery and handicrafts and things like packets of tissues or plastic toys.Our hostel, Hostel Suites Obilesko, is located In the city centre just near the major obelisk that commemorates the city’s 200 year anniversary. It is very nice, it is in a renovated old house, we really like it although it is more impersonal than the last few.
Amy was feeling awful, so we left her in our hostel room and went in search of dinner. We found a supermarket and got pasta and sauce which we cooked up. Excitingly we also found Twinnings English Breakfast tea – South American tea is awful.
This morning, after a breakfast that did not match up to the last few, Amy decided to stay in while Anna and I explored. We wandered the streets, not really doing anything touristy or seeing any special sights, just savoring the flavor of the city. We each bought an original oil painting of tango dancers from a woman in the street. They are beautiful and at $30A each, a real bargain.
We collected Amy for lunch and headed off in search of something a bit healthy. On the way we got distracted by the many great shoe stores and I bought a gorgeous pair of ridiculously high heels, they are fantastic. We found a place where they made really healthy quiche type things and got two large pieces, one filled with chicken and pumpkin and the other with all sorts of veggies and rice accompanied by salad. Mmmm so good and our bodies thanked us for the veggies.
We found a camping store and got some more warm waterproof clothes for the coming weeks.
Amy also loved the paintings and got two smaller ones from the same lady. As we were about to turn back to the hostel, some tango music started up and some people started doing a tango in the middle of the street. They were promoting their DVD and CD and they danced beautifully. The older guy keep talking to the three of us, and although we are doing pretty excellently with our Spanish we had no idea what he was saying, well actually we got the gist pretty well. He came up, kissed our hands and then after the demonstration got us to pose with him (as per the photos).
We headed back to the hostel, stopping only for hot chocolate to rest up because tonight is more tango! We are having a lesson, followed by dinner then on to a Millonga, a tango dance party. It should be fantastic.
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