Buenos Aires
After arriving in Buenos Aires on Saturday I headed down on the subte to Plaza de Mayo where I had a bit of a wander the trains are still in their original 1913 form and were surprisngly quiet and comfortable though they didn’t even have automatic doors (and the stations even have wifi!) Unfortunately it seems they are going to be replaced soon but for now they are fun.
The other thing to note is the language unlike most of the world everyone here assumes you speak Spanish so for products of the English education system it makes life more challenging to say the least. Maybe I should get some lessons.
The city centre at least seems to be very European and is very beautiful; though there is a fair bit of graffiti around. There is also a lot of litter around it’s not exactly a clean city by any means. It also seems to be a pretty safe city at least in the centre. The only issue with safety is the driving, especially by taxi drivers. If your taxi driver isn’t clearing the junction when the lights change from red to red Amber he isn’t getting you to your destination quickly enough!
On Saturday evening I had a very delicious steak for only £5 at a steakhouse it was the best steak I’ve ever eaten and was delicious!
Then on Sunday afternoon after staying out very late on Saturday (Argentina’s clubs barely open by 1am!) I headed down to San Teno and the Feria de San Telmo which is an antiques Market that takes place every Sunday. After that I headed to the national history museum which wasn’t that great to be honest and took about 5 minutes to have a good look around.
This morning I had some chores to do including getting cash out. You are limited to withdrawing £100 here (even the Sheraton where I went as I was desperate, had this limit and many machines are further limited to £50) which even given it is cheap here it is annoyingly low as you pay by cash for everything. This is something I’ve never experienced before, even in Vietnam.
This afternoon I headed to buy my bus ticket to Puerto Iguazu and then went to the recoleta cementry where Evita is buried and it was very moving.
Posted: August 25th, 2008 under Travelling.
Tags: Argentina, Buenos Aires, culture, South America