Day 5 - Buenos Aires

It's my last day here in Argentina's capital. Reflecting back, my original opinion on BA wasn't a good one. This truly is a magnificent capital city and I have enjoyed my time here. In fact, I might even agree to an extent on it's designation as the "Paris of the Love". It was really by design to. There was wide sweeping boulevards in many areas of the city, many of them tree lined.
There is a cafe culture here as well. Another Paris comparison, the couples here are quite amiable. There is kissing everywhere. And one last Paris comparison, they have Paris' trash problems as well. There are trash cans on every street but the locals have no idea what to use them for. I've seen many people just tear the wraps or lids off of their food and dispose of the garbage right on the street. It's
a shame too, because they don't realize what a beautiful city they are trashing. And the trash is VERY noticeable. Thankfully, it's mostly just plastic and paper and none of the stinking, rotting food you'll find
in many cities.



The itinerary has been a little slower the last two days. I finally got to meet up with my touring group yesterday. For those of you that don't know, I'm doing most of this trip with a company called GAP Adventures(Great Adventure People). I have not done a trip with a touring company since I was in DC in middle school. This won't be you're typical guided tour. Our leader makes clear that he is exactly that, a group leader and not a tour guide. Much of this trip, we are on our own. They just set the city-to-city itinerary together for us, arrange the public transportation, suggest entertainment options and help when any predicaments come up.
It's exactly what I'm looking for really, as my sole purpose to using a touring company is to be a little more social on this solo trips of mine.

Last night, we had a group meeting. There are 16 of us in all, but not everyone showed last night. OUr group consists of people from Denmark, the UK, the Netherlands, Ireland, Aussies (of course), France, Germany and one other American,
who just happens to live in NYC but grew up in Franklin, TN. Many of them have traveled elsewhere, so I hope to pick their brains throughout the trip. Many of them have been to Cuba, so I'm interested in hearing about their experices
there as well.

We left our group meeting and had a group dinner. Zema, our Brazilian leader, as for suggestions...and I'm the first to buzz in. I was so disappointed with my steak dinner for two days prior that I requested red meat. I got my wish.
Not only that, he took us to a place that had a wait and a line out the door, which is something I've not seen all week. I ate a parrilla earlier in the week, but the one last night was an all-you-can eat affair. I forgot my camera,
which is a true shame because you should have seen the hunks of meat that were served. You took your plate to the grill and just pointed at the meat selection that you were interested in. There was chicken, pork, steak, ribs, sausage
and organ meet for the true carnivore. Top that off with a free dessert and also a full liter to drink (wine, beer or soft drink). You got all of that for the price equivalent of $15 (tip included). Wow!

Argentina is cheap for Americans. There's not too many places left in the world where that can be said with the currently devalued US$. Argentina has had major economic woes for a decade now. Their government default on their foreign
debt back in 2001. Part of the arrangement for a $10B IMF loan was the condition that they could no longer peg their currency with the US$, but it instead had to float on the open market. Considering their economic conditions at the time,
this was a very bad thing for Argentina and the peso and a very good thing for incoming world travelers, as Argentina instantly became a bargain overnight. The situation has improved considerably, but Argentina was hit hard again during the
current recession.

So how cheap is Argentina right now?

- my hostel for the first half of the week was $12/night. Typically I pay $20-25 or even $30-40 in Europe.
- I've had good street food for $1.50 (smoked sausage on a bun, ice cream, carton of OJ, etc). Most meals are 50-70% what you would pay back home.
- Subway fares are the rock-bottom single trip price of about 25 cents!!! I'm basically riding the subway for free. The taxi fare roundtrip last night was $6..for about three miles in the city, split three ways ($2 each)

The temps have started to warm. Today was around 83-84 with no clouds in the sky. It's been very nice all week.

Tomorrow starts another day and a new city and a new country. We take a ferry early in the morning for three hours across the Rio de la Plata to Colonia in Uruguay. Get your Google maps out, you'll need it for the rest of the trip.


An impromptu street band...



This skyscraper was built in the 1930s (around the same time as the Empire State Building and was the largest in Latin America at its time. It rises about 350 feet.



Monument to the dead of the 1982 Falkland Islands War between Britain and Argentina. Think the soldier's faces still appear bitter?



Puzzling Argentina questions...does cotton grow on trees?...the trees even "rain" here. It's happened a few times where it will be sprinkling under blue skies and it is spitting raindrops under the trees...weird stuff...answers hopefully to come...