I arrived in Buenos Aires 5 days ago after an un- eventful flight with TAM airlines who were very good. I was delighted to get an empty seat next to me and lots of free drinks and a simple connection flight from Sao Paulo.
Buenos Aires is not quite what I expected. I'm staying just outside the main centre in an area called San Telmo. It's got some old traditional buildings mixed with newer and some very clever graffiti. It feels pretty safe. I'm more worried about the state of the pavements and the traffic than the people around me!
I fitted quite a bit into my days here. Everyone on the trip has arrived throughout the week so now we've all met each other. Everyone seems nice and pretty sane. I'm the youngest on the trip by 7 years but it doesn't really matter.
I've walked many miles and got a hop on hop off bus to see the sights. Some of us mingled with the rich and the regular of Buenos Aires at a polo match which is very popular here. It was great to see the game and try and work out the rules which we nearly got at the end. We've also been for day and evening wanderings around Puerto Madero which is pretty new and the home to many office blocks, fancy restaurants and parks. I've also visited Plaza de Mayo which is home to Casa Rosada which is the pink coloured presidential palace which is where the famous balcony Eva Peron spoke from. In the north of the city in Recolata the cemetery in which she is buried is full of people trying to find her grave. It's not as fancy as others there and it's said that it's more expensive to be buried in that cemetery than to live in the area. The cemetery was amazing to walk around with some of the mausoleums looking like mini churches it was like a small town! Another must see in the city is Caminito street in La Boca. Its colourful buildings nearby the banks of the Riachuelo river were originally settled by Spanish and Italian immigrants during the 1880's when there was a meat trade boom. Originally the houses were painted with the left over paint from the barges but now it's a very quirky tourist trap.
The food here is for meat lovers only, the steaks are massive and not well cooked enough for me so I've avoided them. Everyone's raving about the steak but I'll be pretty happy to get normal food on the truck.
On the note of the truck, we are leaving tomorrow, heading south without it. Having been shipped from the UK the truck was supposed to arrive in Montevideo in Uruguay on the 12th November but it is stuck in a queue to get in the harbour. We have stayed an extra day in Buenos Aires to give us a bit of time for the truck to catch us up. We are going to head south to the next stop in an overnight sleeper bus which are apparently very nice and hopefully after a couple of nights on the coast in a hotel the truck will have arrived.
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