Buenos Aires..... a delayed bus ride from Rosario due to a masty accident on the outskirts of BA, but finally arrive at destination!

The journey in by bus was astounding.... the scenery in the country very much reminded me of NZ... in particular seeing fields of the grass -like plant - the long one that has a fluffy cream head! Approaching BA, I reaslied the size of the city and the outskirts was laiden with shanty houses!

Driving into the city, amongst the skyscrapers and narrow streets, then approaching the 20lane main road across downtown part of the city. Avenua 9 de Julio.... a street that was to be only a few yards away from the hostel! Never seen such a road! 10 lanes one way and 10 lanes the other!

So... lets try and give a snapshot of my stay in Tango city.... in no particular order!

Millhouse Hostel, as recommended by a couple of aussies whom I met in Rio!

I had been warned it was a party party house, but apparently very conveniently located and was a very clean hostel! Yep.... this description was correct! Unfortunately, the party party house did not just mean that the residents were to party all night (and sleep all day!), but also meant that the venue was next to a club! (That I did not know, but soon found out given my first night was a Friday night!) Low and behold a similar night followed on the Saturday, with the clubgoers hanging around outside from midnight til 630am. with music blaring from the club! I was in a 9 bed-dorm, on the 1st floor, above the front door! Not the best location! Similarily, the residents of Millhouse would also congregate outside on leaving the hostel at 2amish before heading out to clubs! It didnt happen often, but did happen!

I also noticed most of the residents were either 18ish or early 20s, having just graduated, but then again, there was some late 20s, 30s and 40+ somethings in the house, but we were the minority! Met some lovely people, eventhough a lot preferred to be out clubbing all night, sleeping all day and not seeing any of BA or the sites! My latest `clubbing night`was about 1am and I didnt even manage to go clubbing! I had a couple of drinks at the ´sister´hostel then went home to bed! I had a few hours kip before the rest came back at about 7am in the morning!!! Glad I did go home, as I needed to be on a tour starting at 9am!

My first night in Millhouse was also the night that I met Geraint! For such a big city (capital of Argentina), and the number of hostels that are in BA, as well as the number of rooms as well as beds in Millhouse (can accomodate 300 or so), my bed lay next to Geraint... a Welsh speaking Gog! I was about to go to bed, so was he, when I introduced myself.... probably the wrong time to have met someone from `back home`, as ended up yapping for a while..... :)

Buenos Aires- what did I see and do...

Visited Eva Peron`s grave at Recoleta cemetry, an impressive burial site, had a walk along the cafe bars of Palmero, walked the avenues of downtown BA, saw some of the main buildings and monuments, inc the sight of Eva Perons famous speech and the place where mothers hold a protest every Thurs at 330pm as their kids disappeared late 70s/early 80s. La Boca - the colourful houses... seeing Tango performed at the cafes/resturants... and even a man parading as a Maradonna lookalike.... whom you could have your picture with... at a price!

Fiesta Gaucha

I spent one day out of the city at an éstancia´, a kind of ranch, where they would have a Gaucha Festival type thing. A fab day out in the country, plenty of wine, food and in particular meat! Not sure how vegetarians are meant to survive in Argentina.... its all about the meat! They love it! It is wonderful and they are very generous with their portions! Arriving at the ranch, you were met with ladies and gents in custom clothing offering wonderful empandas (baskets full of the warm cornish pasty type pastries) and trays of wine, wether red, white, rose or squash! You could help yourself to as much as you wanted! At the ranch, we had opportunity to visit the museum and have a horse ride! My horse just wanted to eat, but once we all took off for a little stroll he seemed quite content! I was feeling a touch nervous and was wondering why... then realised.... there were no helmets! But it was great! After some horseriding, we were then alerted by the bell to go and have lunch!

I saw lunch being prepared and my mouth was watering at the prospect of a feast, though also a bit concerned whether one could consume what was on offer! Basically, a BBQ, like no other I have seen lay along the side of the hall! It was MASSIVE! On it lay whole pieces of chicked, ribs, steaks and sausages... and basically there was one each of each piece of meat and enough to feed 300 heads!! The gauchas were busy keeping the BBQ going and would turn the meat when needed.... it looked divine!

At the table, more wine was on offer along with beer! Salad was first dished out, before the platters of meat would come out one by one.... but not until one portion of meat had been consumed would they bring out the next platter!

During lunch, we were also entertained, by song, dance (tango) and a gaucha type dance thing (with balls on a string!). Then after the meal we were escorted back out onto the ranch and watch a horse show! it wasnt quite the type of show I expected and there was a lot of dust! Initially about 5 horsemen were in charge of their own group of horses. One man and about 10 horses - they were in control of their own group! They would criss cross between each other and still all horses would be by their correct gaucha! Quite clever! But then, some excitement followed, when the gauchas would have a race type thing.... with the aim to capture the love of their life... or the love for the night... not quite sure what was what! Again... this was just aweinspiring! 3 guys each on their own horse would gallop, with a pencil in hand (or a wooden stick that looked like a pencil) and their aim was to grasp a silver ring that would dangle from a linchpin from a wooden arch... precision.. accuracy was the key! Once they had grabbed a ring, they then would then offer it to the ´lady´and that would mark her as his! Ideally, the lady would jump on the horse with the gaucha and trot off onto the sunset!! I didnt trot off into the sunset... but I did get a ring!!! :)

More tales of BA to follow... to include... Tango, Steak, Police and Passport!!!

:)