YO AMO BUENOS AIRES

Probably no one will believe it, but we just had a great time, no missed flights, no burning busses, no stolen backpacks, Buenos Aires was wonderful!! (a real holiday for a change!)


We left grey and cold Lima on the 18th straight for BA. The hostel was booked for the next 5 days, the first night paid for, didn't want any surprises this time. Already on our drive from the airport to the Milhouse-Hostel the differences between BA and Lima became quite clear, the clean air the perfect roads...And then the next morning as we were stroling down the Av. de Mayo we felt as if we had been copy/pasted into Paris. The sun was shining (we could wear shorts!!!) everywhere beautiful cobled streets lined with grand old houses and parks and flower pots and the people on the streets were friendly (someone actually apologized for bumping into me!) We fell in love with Buenos Aires right there and I think it was exactly the change we needed after 2 months of Lima and Peru.


18.10. Totally starved we went out for dinner after changing and leaving our stuff in the dorm. Meat was on the plan, delicious argentinien beef. I love beef. We ordered 2 platters for 3 persons, almost enough for the 6 of us. Unfortunately the one platter consisted only of blood sausage, chorizo, guts, lung and kidney. No way I could eat that. So I stuck to the second platter (steak, ribs etc.), just like Sebastian and Lucas, but especially Moritz and Laura were keen to try all the undefinable stuff and Jose finished off the blood sausage! That night we celebrated our reunion, drinking and dancing till 5 in the morning.


19.10. Although we were slightly hung over from the night before
and had barely gotten more than 3 hours sleep, we decided (better say the boys decided) today was the day to discover La Boca, a part of BA right in the west. La Boca is famous for its football (Maradona played there) and for the Caminito a road of colorfully painted houses. It's all a bit touri-style with tango dancers infront of the restaurants and maradona imitators etc. but definitely worth a visit. That day we were happy the woozy feeling was slowly dissappearing and spent part of the afternoon resting in a café watching Argentina beat France in rugby!


At night we walked down to the docks, with their newely renovated 19th century warehouses (a bit like Hamburg). The waterfront is lined with bars and restaurants and I swear that evening I had the most delicious piece of beef of my life!


20.10. Today was cemetery day, the cemetery of Recoleta where
Evita Perón is buried. The place is very impressive, we were totally
fascinated of the elaborate tomb stones and took many beautiful pictures.
Evita's tomb although is very plain and stuck in a tiny side path of this
huge graveyard. Afterwards we strolled to the Parque Francia with his big artesanal market and Laura and I indulged in souvenir shopping (beautiful bracelets and earrings there!).






21.10. San Telmo's main street is one big flee market on sundays. They
have everything you've always wanted, many old and hand made things.
Small combos on the side walks were playing folk music, the sun was burning down, another perfect day. Although not totally perfect cause it was time to say goodbye to Lucas who already left at noon and Jose and Sebastian who had to catch their plane that evening. I was happy to stay longer in BA but it was also strange to be left behind.
Luckily we still had Moritz to comfort us :-) We spent the evening sitting on our balcony drinking Quilmes and concluding how idyllic life can be.














22.10. We behaved pretty well the night before, and after yet another hot shower (unbelievable, huh?) we were able to leave for Tigre via train in the morning. It's a small town north of BA on the banks of the Río Lújan. After eating a hotdog (which tasted like foam, yuck!) and being healthy with a fresh orange juice we found a speed boat only for the three of us which took us through the delta of the Río Paraná. It's the place where the more or less rich BAns spend their weekends, innumerable canals and rivulets lined with colorful houses and landings. We took a small break (after like 30min) to have lunch, sitting in the sun, enjoying cold Quilmes beer with a perfect breeze, white sand under our feet and piles of grilled meat on our plates (an ideal way to spend the day I'd say!!!)
That night was our last in BA. We went for dinner in a cozy little restaurant where Laura could indulge in drawing on the paper table cloth with colorful crayons. The drinks we had afterwards weren't such a good idea, especially cause Moritz convinced me to try Fernet - Cola, typical for BA. Oh my god did I feel sick, it took two gin tonics to get over that ;-) It was a great last day and night and the ultimate way to end the holiday.


23.10. Moritz left us around noon, yet again Laura and Anna standing on the side walk of Av. Hipólito Yrigoyen and waving. I wanted my coffee in one of those traditional old coffee houses that day, so that was our first stop after the farewell. Afterwards we took the subway to San Telmo and walked to the Museum of Modern Art only to find out it was being renovated for another year, o.k. we only had a quite old travel guide, so bad luck there! Laura was quite dissappointed so I had to get her something to eat or to buy real quick. We strolled down Av. Florida, the pedestrian area for the last time, bought 2 I love BA t-shirts and had lunch. We were so sad to leave, I'm not sure if I've mentioned it, but Buenos Aires is GREAT!!! Anna