Buenos Aires 10. - 14.01.07
Posted at 08:09, 11 January 2007 in South America
10.01.07 Ushuaia - Buenos Aires
So the moment had come to definitely say good-bye to my beloved Ushuaia... Having been here three times made me almost feel at home ;-)
The flight was allright, and in Buenos Aires then the humidity and heat got to me - puh! It apparently had rained very hard in the morning here, and then in the afternoon the sun had come out. So it was just a sweat-pool!
I checked into my fancy 4-star hotel :-) and for the first time in 3 weeks again enjoyed to be on my own... One just needs such moments on a long trip.
The evening then Alison (from Tucangroup) came by my hotel and we went for dinner together - guess what we ate??? STEAK, of course!
11.01.07 Recoleta & Palermo
Alison and I did some sightseeing today. We started off with the famous Recoleta Cemetery, where Evita Peron is burried - and a lot of other famous people. The graves are like little houses... And the only living "things" are the cats.
Walking along the "Bahnhofstrasse" of Buenos Aires - the Avenida Alvear - we had a tea in the fancy shopping-center Patio Bullrich. And well, you know how much I love shopping! So of course I had to buy something there..., and I got a Nike skirt (even a limited edition one - boah!) which coincidentally is very colourful ;-)
After uploading my fotos in a very hot Internet Cafe I needed a siesta in my air-conditioned hotel! And in the evening then 9 of us from the Tucantrek met up for dinner at a very nice restaurant. We enjoyed the last get-together and had good laughts! And of course another wonderful steak...
12.01.07 La Boca & Puerto Madero
Early in the morning I started off by myself to catch the right sunlight on the colourful houses of La Boca. And I also made it there before all the tourist coaches ;-) La Boca is like a little Legotown! The houses painted in different colours and decorated with some very funny things - have a look at my pictures :-)
My next stop was at the harbour section Puerto Madero. It was a very hot day today, but beautiful to enjoy the cafes along the waterside. The famous "Puente de la Mujer" unfortunately was closed for renovation, but I was still able to see it from the side. Interesting architecture, that apparently reflects a couple dancing the Tango.... well....?!?
I then met up with Alison, to have a farewell-steak-eatery at the fancy restaurant Cabana Las Lilas (their speciality: 800 gram and 10 cm thick steaks!!!). To be honest, we did not eat that one, but treated ourselves to an upclassy lunch in a very nice location.
Another ice-cream for us, and then I had to say good-bye to Alison :-(
Strolling along the pedestrian shopping streets I made my way back to the Internet Cafe to finish uploading the pictures and updating my blog.
And then I fled into my nicely coooooool hotelroom again ;-) It was 36 degrees in the sun today!
13.01.07 Taking it easy in Buenos Aires
Today I enjoyed doing what I normally do not have time for: sleep in; take a very nice, long shower; hang around in my own room - just taking time for myself :-)
I then went to have my fotos burned on CD, ate a little something and sat on a plaza watching the people. Everything here is very much like a USA city - I do not really feel like being in South America here...
In general I can say, that travelling in Bolivia and Peru was much more about living the South American culture, meeting locals and getting the indigo-feel. Patagonia was much more about nature with beautiful landscapes. And Santiago and Buenos Aires - well, just big cities. And Easter Island of course being an exception, as that was polynesian culture.
So I am curious now, what Costa Rica is going to be like :-)
The rest of the day I just relaxed...
14.01.07 Buenos Aires - San Jose
VERY early airport transfer (5am!), then a 5 hour flight to to Lima, and from there another 4 hours up to San Jose - that is this day for me...
But in San Jose I had a really nice hotel, and so was able to relax after this long travelday and get ready for the next adventure!