In the planning stages of this trip, I communicated with a woman from Ottawa and one from the UK.
We decided to meet up and go to a pub.
In the mean time, at about 7 p.m., there were horns honking, yelling in the streets, chaos. I'm staying in the heart of the city and it is LOUD. I have no clue what is going on and if I'm being honest, I am a little afraid. I know there has been elections here in the past couple of weeks and there was going to be a run off election. I didn't want to get involved in something potentially dangerous. I stayed in my room and watched it from my window.
When I met up with Lucie and Anita, we figured out that one of the local football teams, Boca Junior, won the Copa Argentina. I have no idea what any of this means except this:
We managed to find an English pub in the middle of the city and had some dinner and a couple of drinks. We're all about the same age and it works well for us.
The next day, I went for a bit of a walk.
Buenos Aires is huge but very walkable.
I had to get money out from the bank (always dodgy) and walking down the street are men calling out "Cambio, cambio", which means change; they want to
Once I have some money from a bank machine, I set out to find Recoleta, the cemetery with all the cats. As should really be expected, Google Maps gave some terrible directions and I didn't end up seeing it.
What I did end up seeing was a very beautiful city.
I crossed Avenue de 9 Julio, one of the widest streets in the world. This required two traffic lights to be able to cross.
Obelisk in the middle of Avenue de 9 Julio, to commemorate the fourth centenary of the first foundation of the city.
The city is in mostly a grid pattern, but they're not that great at labelling their streets. I don't mind, however. It is beautiful. The architecture reminds me a lot of Paris so it's no wonder Buenos Aires is called the Paris of South America.
I came across the Pink Palace, which is the executive mansion and office of the president of Argentina.
It is a very pastel shade of pink.
I had to get back to the hotel to meet up with the rest of the tour group.
There is a good mix of people here, mostly from the UK. There are five Canadians out of 16 people! Three from Vancouver, one from Quebec City/Ottawa and me. So awesome.
We are informed that we need to check out of the hotel at 3:00 in the morning to catch an early fight to Cataratas del Iguazú International Airport and on to Iguassu Falls, Argentina. Gross.
As a result, we won't be at the hotel for breakfast. Lucie and I head to the grocery store for breakfast things.
This is where I learned I will not be having yogurt on this trip. Canada bags milk? Argentina bags yogurt.
We went out to dinner as a group and set in for a quick nap early bed time.
No comments:
Post a Comment