The Paris of the South

12/06/2013

Dear Diary,

Yes this is yet another airport entry, at this current moment I am sitting at the Buenos Aires domestic airport ready to fly to Iguassu Falls for a few days. By the time I actually post this however, I will probably be sitting in the airport in Iguassu ready to head to Brazil!

So the low-down on Buenos Aires (BA)… To be honest it was a pretty slow week. BA is quite like a very dirty and slightly more colonial Brisbane. It was like there was this huge economic boom that produced all these old grand buildings however the economy clearly did not keep up because those beautiful building are now all in a state of disrepair and decay. Apart from Puerto Madero (the rich suburb where apartments sell for $2-4MIL), the city is pretty dilapidated. It is also apparently known as the Paris of Latin America due to the mass amounts of dog poo mines EVERYWHERE. Serious they are a major hazard. Now that the negatives are out of the way, BA seems like a lovely city. Its very safe and we didn’t stand out so much as foreigners, which was nice for once.

One the first day, we headed down to the main shopping mall/street to trade our measly amount of USD for some peso on the black market. Sounds a tad riskayy but its not the people are lovely and fully legit, and by trading on the black market you can get almost double the rate. BIG PLUS. In the end we got 8.3peso for every dollar compared to 5.3 which makes things very cheap J (otherwise prices are very similar to Brisbane which is depressing…I am going to struggle big time adjusting back to my old spending habits). The rest of the day we spent on a bike tour of the city. It was nice and it took us around the south of the city including the hilarious little town of La Boca where the settlers first came to BA. La Boca was BA’s birthplace of the tango (originated in Paris I believe) and it is full of dancers on the street, funny colourful buildings, cafes and Afajores! Afajores are kinda like wagon wheels I guess… they are two biscuits that are squished together with a layer of dulce de leche (condensed milk caramel) and covered in chocolate. That night we attended the hostel BBQ which for $8USD we ate a banquet of what was more than thought physically possible. It included fried corn, chorizo, steak, lemon chicken, potato salad and greens all done over a spit roast type thing. We went to bed that night feeling revoltingly fat, yet satisfied.

Day two we woke early and caught the train to Tigre, which is a town in the Delta region. We spent the day walking along the rivers and canals enjoying the sun and not doing anything particular. That afternoon we went to the markets (which were all closed by that time… planned that well… whoops) and had a late lunch on the water before heading back.

The next few days Jess and I came down with a cold so we spent the mornings sleeping in before heading to the Recoleta Markets and Cemetery. The markets were great and we may have accidentally spent all our money on leather bags, which are really cheap over here. I suppose they have to do something with all the cows they cull for their legendary steaks. The adjoining cemetery was amazing. It is save to say I was more than awestruck at the grandeur of the family tombs/crypts. They were full on gothic houses that also lead to underground rooms for the older family members. 

Only the most prestigious and affluent families were buried here. For example, the national figure Evita Peron (presidents wife who seems more famous that the president) was buried there in 1952, which sounds pretty important to me. The interesting thing, however, is there was a major uproar because her family bloodlines were not prestigious enough.

That night we went on a pub crawl with some of the hostel crew. All I can say about that is Latin men are well… very forward and well… I don’t really like them all that much… let me tell you though they love blondes :/ * cough cough quick someone grab a base ball bat *

Next were the San Telmo Antique markets. The markets themselves were not antiques, but were based on a street where a lot of second hand stores presided. Despite spending nothing (I spent it all the day before), I really enjoyed these markets and definitely recommend them if you ever are in the area. Jess bought some lovely leather bags and bound books that I am extremely jealous over!

The last thing of note in Buenos Aires was the tango lesson, dinner and show on our last night. Lesson was interesting to say the least. There were not enough guys in the group so I partnered Jess as her masculine savior he he he.. The show was fantastic however. Your eyes could not keep up with the pace and intricacy of their legs! It was insane. Sadly its also very hard to get photos of but this was the best I could do.

Oh and I almost forgot! Got the best leg wax ever!!! Got a full leg (so ankle to hip for those who don’t know…) and it barely hurt at all and only cost me $60p which at the bad exchange rate is like $11 and at the good rate is $7.25!!! SO cheap and so good!!!

Now for Iguassu, I might do both the Brazilian and Argentinian part of Iguassu together since it is kinda the same thing.

We arrived on the Argentinian side of the falls in the town called Iguazu around 1.45pm. By 4pm we had checked into our hostel and caught a bus back out to the waterfalls to try and catch the sunset on day one. It was a massive rush, having to run through the trails but it was worth it for these bad boy pictures.

Day two we reentered the Argentinian side for the rest of the park and a boat tour. The boat tour was really cool, but sorry there were no pictures from it as we actually got to go under a few of the water falls! I had a poncho which didn’t do too much but I was better off than jess who had nothing and had to catch the bus home soaking wet.

That afternoon we ran back to the hostel, darted crossed the boarder, checked into our new hostel in Foz do Iguću and ran back to the park for sunset on the other side.

Again it was worth it! nothing else to report really from the trip apart from meeting a lot more Aussies at the hostel. (Cant get away from them), oh and playing with Sophie the cutest kitten alive (the hostel also had two resident turtles).

Sorry for all the pictures of myself but hey... in most of them i look good right??? and if i dont want to spam fb tooo much with selfobsessive travel snaps... 

Next post from brazil!!!

Xoxo Dee