Argy Bargy!!

Another overnight bus (Fri 1st April)... this time from Punta del Este back to Buenos Aires. We went for the bus this time instead of the bus and boat route we had taken on our way here, it worked out a bit cheaper and we could save on a night´s accommodation. Apart from the rubbish movie the 10 hour journey was a piece of cake compared to our previous bus trips.

The plan was to stay in the hotel (Gran Hotel Oriental in Congresso) we previously stayed in until Wednesday then we were due to fly to Santiago in Chile. We tried to phone the Hotel from the Bus Station but it was just ringing out, so we jumped in a taxi. When we approached the hotel we noticed that the road was blocked off and the taxi driver had to drop us off round the corner. The building next to the hotel was no longer standing and looked like it had collapsed. There was no access to the hotel and we´re not sure when this happend but the manager must be fuming because he had just spent a fortune decorating the foyer over the last few weeks. I suppose we were quite fortunate as it could have happened when we staying there.

We tried a few other hotels but they where a bit expensive so we head to the St Nicholas hostel. They didn´t have any rooms available in the main builing but they had a double free in a building across the road, we agreed to take this even though it was almost twice the price of the Gran Hotel Oriental but I suppose the building was still standing. On entering the hostel we soon realisd the communal area was very damp and our cell like room wasn´t much better. The private bathroom was also not that private as it was adjacent to the communal kitchen and it was also so small that when you sat on the toilet your knees hit of the sink. We decided to ask for our money back.

We got our money back and got a hotel in the San Telmo district, the room was quite small but it had a good shower and it was also very handy for all the happenings at the weekend markets in San Telmo. The room was also very cheap (5 UK pounds a night for the room). The markets in San Telmo is how I would imaginge the Barras where like 20 or 30 years ago before it was overun by copy DVD´s, cheap tobacco and fake designer gear. There were hunderds of shops and stalls selling antiques and books and not just your usual touristy trinkets we have seen everywhere in South America so far.

Now for our first unsavoury incident of our trip..

Sunday morning we headed for something to eat about 10 o´clock (some might even call it brunch - Cheese & Ham omlette if you are interested) to a cafe we had been in the previous day for a coffee. As we ate our breakfast a guy came up to our window and chapped a few times... trying to sell us Clorets... (my first reaction was how bad must my breath be if he could smell it through the glass) he did this a few times. At the same time three girls entered the cafe, stood quite near Joanne, took their jackets off (they looked as if they where going to take a table near us) and one asked Joanne for the time. Just after this the guy came into the cafe from the door behind me and again tried to sell us something. We both turned to the guy say we didn´t want anything. A few seconds later the 3 women left the cafe via a door behind Joanne. I didn´t know what had just happened but something didn´t feel right, so I checked my bag and wallet (both were ok) and I then said to Joanne if her bag was ok, it wasn´t there. I saw all of them running up the street and almost immediatley Joanne was up off her seat after them. I got to the door, realised that I had left my bag and turned to get that first before trying to catch up with Joanne, who I have never seen run so fast in my life (I haven´t ran as fast as that since I was in the 100 metres aged 15 in school (Joanne)). As Joanne got up to the end of the street two of the women and the guy were sauntering across the road they hadn´t seen her behind them......as she screamed at them she realised it was one of the girls who had the bag....there was a look of disbelief on her face and she dropped the bag. I caught up with Joanne just at this point. After checking the bag nothing was taken but Joanne´s sunglasses had been broken.

After the adrenaline had dropped off we realised that we probably shouldn´t have chased after them, we were pretty shaken up for a while that day but again we were very lucky to get the bag back. There wasn´t much in the bag: a sweatshirt, sunglasses, guidebook, a few pesos and the small digital camera but it was good just to get it back for the hassle factor.

That afternoon we decided to stay around San Telmo. We wandered about the antique market stalls as there were twice as many as the day before and watched the numerous street performers (we also saw one who reminded us of our old neighbour Maime playing drums, plastic cups and a Kazoo!!).

Next day we walked for miles to the Palermo district, it´s a bit like the west end (Byres Road, Ashton Lane & Gibson Street areas) with plenty of small cafe´s, bars, and arty shops. It was a lovely day and the place looked great with the sun filtering through all the trees. On the way back we took loads of pictures of the main avenues at night.

On our last full day in Buenos Aires we walked along the river front, Buenos Aires is about 5 to 10 years ahead of Glasgow in the redevelopment of their previous industrial river front. They have all the things up and running which Glasgow have planned for the next 5 years; fancy bridges, museums, international hotels, business headquarters, yauchting pontoons, loads of restaurants and great weather. I´m not sure if Glasgow will be able to compete on the last one.

Went on an late 19th century Argentinian ship (we weren´t sure if it was a warship or a cargo vessel) but it sure had a lot of guns and cannons. We also went to the Modern Art Gallery which was also really interesting.

Despite what happened on Sunday Buenos Aires will always hold special memories. It is a fantastic place with a great atmosphere with loads of cool places to eat, drink and chill out in. People here also love protesting so much that almost every day there was a march and demostration for one cause or another. We would recommend Buenos Aires to anyone and it is up there on our list of places to come back to.