Buenos Aires

Sunday, November 25

Arrived in massive Buenos Aires in the morning and made our way to our hostel the Milhouse (which we have now renamed Madhouse). Our delirium from the 14 hour bus ride made it so we didn't realize for quite some time that the hostel we just checked into was not the one we had intended on booking. It's a two part hostel and our girlfriend Hannah was at the other one, but it turned out okay, only three blocks (including the widest intersection in the world-18 lanes) between us! We had breakfast and showered and got our groceries while waiting to check in. When we finally did get our room at 2 we were surprised to find all our new roommates asleep! We quickly caught on that this place is basically nocturnal because of the night life! We silently and in the dark dropped our stuff off and then headed to an antiques market we heard about in the San Telmo district of town. As we were walking we bumped into a girl, Emma, that has been at two other hostels we have been, the backpacking world is so small! The three of us enjoyed walking up and down all the booths, it was a massive market, with so much different unique stuff, and plenty of stores on the street to check out too! Once satisfied we had seen every knick knack possible we headed back. That night a friend we met in Santiago, Raj (yes, like Big Bang theory), invited us out to a "electric tango" show that a local friend of his was taking him too! It was really neat, and we were excited we got to experience a totally local bar, we were definately the only tourists there! The show included a singer, pianist, two cellos, violinists, and five accordions! Super interesting mix! The show hasn't started until 12, so we got back pretty late and hit the hay tired from the long day!

Monday, November 26

Today we went with a group from the hostel out to the Palermo district to go shopping! There are blocks and blocks of outlet stores there. Lisa managed to get a shirt, but for the most part we found it all too expensive, so we spent much of our time at a cafe with Emma :) We got back to the hostel, made some dinner and then were just thinking we would have a nap to rest up for this crazy nightlife we kept hearing about, when we learned there was a must see drumming show on- in 15 minutes! We frantically got ready (challenging with roommates still asleep around you!) and just as we were running out the door another new roommate, Dieter, came in so we convinced him to join us and off we went to La Bomba del Tiempo! We got to the CC Konex centre and found a packed outdoor area with a stage and a beer gardens. We were excited to find our friends Emma and Hannah were both there too, among other friendly faces! The show was so great, there was at least a dozen drummers, and they played some awesome music and we enjoyed some beers and dancing with everyone, it was a great atmosphere! Once that wrapped up we all headed back to the other hostel for the nightly party at the bar there! It was a lot of fun meeting tons of other travellers and everyone went out to a club (the hostel suggests one each night) to continue the dancing. We were shocked when we decided to leave and walked out into the sunshine!!! I had no idea it was already 6am! A McDonalds breakfast later, we were finally in bed by 7:30, and now we finally understood why our roomies slept all day!

Tuesday, November 27

Slept. We finally dragged ourselves out of bed because we were going to our friends Murray and Alissa's apartment that they were renting here for dinner. We were excited to see them (and Hannah) again because we hadn't seen them since we finished the tour in La Paz. It was great to catch up on each others travels and reminisce and we laughed a great deal. They treated us to some lovely cheese and bread and cracker appies, and homemade pizza, and we brought a pie for desert, and there was plenty of Argentinian wine to go around! All in all, a very nice night!

Wednesday, November 28

Lisa and I navigated the bus system back to the Palermo district to check out more of the sights there. We wandered through the park and garden and bumped into an Australian couple from the hostel so basically just wandered and chatted with them. We then trekked on to another district, Recoletta, which is sort of the ritzy area. We headed to the main attraction there, the cemetery. It was massive, and has a lot of rich/important Argentians buried there like military men, politicians, doctors, stars, etc., including the notorious Evita. I couldn't believe the architecture- such grand intricate impressive tombs and you could even look into some and see the caskets! It felt like walking around an eerie, mini city. We made our way back, and were quite exhausted from a long afternoon of walking, but returned to a message from Hannah about dinner plans so we had another frantic rush to get ready. We went with Raj, Hannah, and a few others out to a fancy popular restaurant La Cabrera to treat ourselves to some nice Argentian steak. It was a delicious meal and we had a really nice time together, we were surprised to find out it was 1:30 am already by the time we got into the cab to head back! I'm not sure what it is about this city that makes the nights fly by! We went back to the hostel and joined in the party there, an headed out to a club again.

Thursday, November 29

Despite being out so late (or early I guess technically), we dragged ourselves out of bed in time for breakfast and headed out on a walking tour of the La Boca district. This is the poorer part of town, it's next to a port and has all the brightly coloured houses that you always see in photos of BA. First we got a tour of the Boca futbol stadium, and the guide talked a lot about how crazy and passionate Argentinians are about futbol, as we got a glimpse of in Mendoza! We then had lunch which included a tango show while you ate. Then we went to Camito* street to get some photos of all the bright houses and grafiti and quickly shop the art market. When we got back there was again no time to nap we had to rush to meet up with Hannah and Alissa and Murray to go out to a tango night thing the hostel offered. We got taken to a restaurant where we got a nice dinner which we enjoyed while meeting all the other people who came. Then it was time for our tango lesson! It was an absolute whoot (the unlimited wine that was included helped)! We got taught the basic box step first, then a figure eight type step and then the finale pose, including your 'tango' face. The instructor was great and quite funny. He would show the girls a step and we'd practice, then the guys' turn (while we laughed and took pictures), then he would hit the music and the guys would grab a girl and attempt a couple times before he yelled to switch partners. It was good fun and we all 'passed' haha, we have a certificate to proof it. We were rewarded with dessert and then the actual show began. It was a kind of tango through the ages theme and it was so impressive, such a passionate dance. After we went back it was another party at the hostel, but we managed to get to bed before the sun came up this time!

Friday, November 30

We finally got a couple hours this day where we weren't rushing around which was nice. We spent the morning planning our next move (Iguazu Falls) and then made a nice lunch. We headed back to the San Telmo area to so some more shopping and Lisa and I both were successful, much to my overflowing backpacks dismay. We hung out with our finally awake roommates while getting ready (in our new clothes, yay) for the hostel party which was big since it was an anniversary of the hostel. All the staff put on a funny little skit which was cute. We had fun partying there and it was nice to see some friends who we met in Santiago had arrived there as well :) We went to the club with everyone but didn't last long, it was a massive massive club, impossible to find your friends when you get split up, and it was a bit overwhelming so we called it quits.

Saturday, December 1st (ahhhhhh, can't believe it's December already!)

We had to get up and check out and then just lounged around the hostel until our bus at 2pm. We are currently on our way to Iguazu falls which is a 18 hour trip, but we are getting there in style! We opted for the slightly better seats, so we are currently relaxing, watching movies, and have been spoiled with a snack, a full dinner, and free wine and champagne!! Also probably going to get more sleep on this bus than we got all week in crazy fun Buenos Aires!

- Court :)