After a brief visit to Santiago, Chile and a sketchy taxi ride across the city (trying out my Spanish for the first time), I settled myself into an hostel in the heart of Buenos Aires. My first impression of the city was a sprawling metropolis of concrete! The city itself is the third largest in Latin America (after Rio and Sao Paulo) and is home to over 13 million people (hmmmm....that´s three times the population of New Zealand centralised in on one spot; how am I ever going to cope)! It wasn´t until a local friend mentioned how quiet the place felt (because everyone is still away on their Christmas/New Year break) that I realised how lucky I am to have an inch of pavement all to my lucky little gringo self!
Buenos Aires is made up of lots of very unique Barrios (neighbourhoods) which makes for perfect aimless wanderings; not because I have an appauling sense of direction, it´s just very easy to get lost amongst the beautiful
facades of some of the most magnificent buildings I have seen. Recoleta was the first barrio I explored. Being home to the Cementerio La Recoleta it is probably the most obvious tourist spot to visit, as this is where Maria Eva Duarte de Peron is buried ('Evita' to the rest of us)! I buddied up with a lovely Aussie sheila, Pip whom I met at the hostel and we set off on one of BA´s hottest days imaginable. Wow! It really is a fascinating wander - it's like b
eing in another 'mini city' with lots of narrow little avenues made up grand monuments of dark granites and marble and countless stone angels pearing at you from every direction. Most of the graves consist of a shrine or a little chapel at ground level where the families come to pray and feel close to their loved ones. The loved ones aren't actually too far from them as in most of the graves you can see all of the coffins stacked neatly on shelves below ground level. I think we counted 22 coffins in one particular grave (2 shelves up each side, so they go quite deep into the ground)! I´m not sure if I can explain the beauty of such a place without giving it the justice that it s
o deserves so I´ll try and publish some photos (which, lets face it, is what half of you have logged into this blog for anyway). The walk around was a tough one. We were told later on in the evening that the temperature had hit the early 40's and blimey, we felt every degree of it. I even stopped at some of the taps around to soak my shirt in the cold water and we took shelter on many occasions just to rest in the shade!San Telmo barrio was next. Made up of cobbled stoned street and crumbling buildings it is the home of any antique dealers dream (Jeannie, you would love the markets here) with the added bonus of tango bars clustered here and there. Everywhere we walked there was always a hint of football (lots of the local
children playing in the streets). Pip and I then walked to La Boca famous for its brightly coloured buildings ma
de of wood and corrugated-iron. It is also home to Boca Juniors which is probably the most legendary Argentine football team abroad, partly thanks to Diego Maradona. Not really my ´cuppa tea' as the area was just brimming with tourists but a quick 15 minute wander was a must. One chap was touting for photographs that you could pose with Diego Mardona himself. I did have to look twice to see if it was really him, but never-the-less the yanks were lapping that one up!! I thought the one with me (taken by Liz, with papier mache version) would be mush more authentic! Bless!My Spanglish is coming along quite nicely (even Liz agrees). I can ask for pretty much everything I need, ordering tickets, food, asking for directions, the time etc. but I don´t always understand the answer! Never the less I am trying and having a few laughs along the way! If in doubt I just smile, shrug my shoulders and explain 'Soy Neozelandesa!' It works a treat. I´ve hit the odd problem however. In a tango bar the other night (yeah, haven´t mentioned my first tango lesson, we'll just keep it at that) I went to order Liz another glass of vino tinto (red wine) and ended up coming back to the table with a whole bottle! I know, some of you may not see this as being a problem and I think I am actually quite blessed that that´s the only boo-boo I´ve made so far!! Of course the food problem has been a bit of an issue. Being a vegetarian in a proudly meat eating country has proved to be quite the joke in most cases. The Argies just look at me in disgust and wonder how I survive. I have to admit, I have slipped up a couple of times (sorry Harry, but I am trying) only to not cause offence though!
I won´t bore you with the historic details of this part of the world, but (and
just briefly) Buenos Aires used to be the fourth richest city in the world, until its economy declined between the first and second world war. Since then Argentina has struggled to stay afloat; its potential wealth has been hindered by incompetant or corrupt politicians. 'The Crisis' in early 2002 saw the peso drop again and although things are ´looking on the up,´ the desperation of the people here is still evident.I have been told that 48% of the population is unemployed and of the 52% that are lucky enough to have jobs, a vast proportion of these are street cleaners that come into the city from the poorer suburbs between 8-10pm every evening to rummage through the bins. Here, they recycle anything they can get their hands on and push their overloaded rickety old trolleys back into the thick of the night from whence they came! This practice started during the crash of 2002, but the government has turned a blind eye on it since. I guess that makes sense as us Kiwis know the importance of recycling!
Yes, I am calling myself a Kiwi. It seems to sit very well with the Argies who still seem to have a little chip on their shoulders about the British in certain parts of their history. (fair enough, we shan't mention the Falklands war and I am particulary careful to hide a photograph of my father that I carry with me in full naval uniform)!!
Other employment includes dog walking. They just love their four legged friends here. It is not uncommon to see some poor sod attached to a dozen or so canines trying to march his way through the chaos of leads and road crossings. It cracks me up everytime I see them - a chiauau on one lead, the next a Doberman and funnily enough they seem to be mad keen on their Boxers! I wonder how Kane and Emma would ever cope with such a life. I would have to pay the walker danger money! Contrary to popular belief that I would be spending half of my well earnt savings on feeding the strays here, I haven't actually met a pooch yet that needs an extra bone! Phew!
New Years eve saw the arrival of my travel partner Liz, whom was unfortunately delayed 7 hours from Auckland. We narrowly missed out on a free concert that was set in the heart of the city, but we made it back to the hostel with a few hours to spare before midnight. I had bought over a very expensive bottle of Champagne that I was given in Auckland, so we counted the new year in in style and hit the clubs at about 4am (which seems to be the time everyone heads out here). Unfortunatley, being New Years, we couldn´t get into the one recommended by the locals so we settled for a little bar close by - fine by me!
I adored the little hostel I was staying at. I had made some really good friends there and with it's rustic charm and lovely host it really felt like it was a home away from home. However, Liz and I had agreed to meet at another hostel and try out another suburb, we hadn´t envisaged what was going to happen next. Liz was put in contact with a niece of a sister´s cousin's aunt's hamster that was once removed from a Peruvian musician 
friend of hers in Auc
kland (or something along those lines). When she made contact with us it was completely out of the question for us to be hidden away at a backpackers and so we made the journey out to another suburb in San Martin (a taxi ride, followed by a tube ride, followed by a surburban rail ride and a little walk through the most amazing neighbourhood we wouldn´t have otherwise experienced)! I say 'amazing neighbourhood' as I can't quite describe where our new home was. Lets just say I think it was the first time any of the locals had seen a gringo in their neck of the woods! The streets were almost always deserted at night and during the day, the children would mill around the parks (probably up to no good). But our little host family (Merly, Daniel and their little 9 year old boy, Gaston) were just so sweet to us. By Western standards I wouldn´t expect that they have much to their name, but there generousity filled my heart with the all the right guey stuff and my tummy was filled with much 
vino tinto and the largest portions of food I could stomach! They live in a shoebox (a knee high pair of stilletoed boots one no less). It was a tiny two bedroomed abode with a lounge and kitchen all blended into one and it was an experience I will never forget. My life was completely immersed into the Spanish speaking world and into the thick of South American urban life - BINGO! The added bonus was their roof top swimming pool (ok, so it was just a paddling pool filled by a meager hose, but boy was it great to keep the heat at bay, to catch up on some sunbathing, some trip planning and just to relax without a care in the world)! I learnt more Spanish there in three days than I ever did at night school in Western Springs! (Maz and Phil are you still reading this....?...... you must be bored ......you would be so proud of my spanish now)! Yes, we were way out in the sticks and it was hard to sort out the logistics of travel and meeting other friends in town, but I learnt a lot in a short time we spent there and I found it very hard to leave.
But leave we must! Next installment will be our first mamouth travel leg; a 22 hour bus ride to Bariloche, the gateway to some of the worlds most breathtaking treks in Patagonia (I hope).......
