Argentina is a large country but over 80 percent
of the population lives in Buenos Aires. As we arrived at the bus terminal in
downtown Buenos Aires I was impressed to see a terminal that had over 50 gates
for buses coming and going. Bus travel in Argentina is popular and first rate.
We had definitely saved money because the bus terminal is downtown and we were
able to avoid the expensive cab ride from the airport. This was our first
opportunity to put on our backpacks and start walking in search of a hotel.
Karen had done her usual homework and had zeroed in on Calle Florida a walking
street in the middle of Buenos Aires and only a mile or two from the bus
station. We did not have a reservation for any hotel but Karen was determined
not to spend more than $50 US a night. This is a big modern city and I knew we
would not find such an animal. The first stop was $85 US a night which was to
much so we walked out. Karen quickly opened her book trying to cross reference
hotel location on the map and price. Since I don't speak any Spanish I thought
it would be better if I set out on a walk about in search of a room. The guide
books are a great wealth of information but sometimes it is a lot more
efficient to see for yourself. I probably went into about 10 different hotels
in a four block radius asking the price and looking at the rooms. I did not
find many good options. Most of the hotels are old and have not had any major
remodeling in years. Even the rooms in the $150 a night hotels looked like the
rooms in the $80 a night hotels. The only different was a red carpet in the
lobby an extra star in their rating. I went back and found Karen still looking
through her guide book and delivered the bad news. Nothing for less than $65 US
a night and the hotel is not that nice. We could of course stayed in hostels in
the various suburbs in Buenos Aires but we had decided that we are not Hostel
people and wanted to be centrally located. We checked in to the room and as
expected Karen was not thrilled. The primary complaint that we both have about
staying in cheap hotels is that they are usually very dirty and just plain old.
It was lunch time and a flyer on the desk of the room mentioned a TGIF Fridays down in the Puerto Moreno area. We sat out on our walk to Puerto Moreno only to find a restaurant Mecca. Buenos Aires had prospered in the early 1900's as a port town and a major beef and agriculture exporter to Europe. The waterway in Puerto Moreno consisted of at least four miles of beautifully restored four story brick buildings. Each building in its day had been part of large warehouse district for loading and unloading of cargo on the boats. Now they served as the home to hundreds of restaurants, business and apartments. It was very impressive to see the amount of money that must of been spent to bring this complex up to date. The only problem was that at noon all the restaurants were empty. We finally found TGIF Fridays after walking four miles and enjoyed a very expensive American style meal. I am a big fan of Ice Tea and drink it in abundance at home. South America on the other hand does not know anything about Ice Tea and I will admit that the primary reason for going to TGIF was Ice Tea consumption. The price of an Ice Tea is $4 and you only get one refill. I was beginning to figure out how the restaurants made up for a lack of customers. The restaurants in the Puerto Moreno area are not places to grab a quick bite. As we looked through the windows every establishment had the perfect interior and just the right touch that left you going, "We should eat there it looks really good". Being from Boca Raton, Florida we have our share of nice restaurants but Puerto Moreno just by sheer numbers was unlike anything I had ever seen.
We spent the rest of the afternoon walking around the main shopping district on Calle Florida and decided it was time to take a nap. Dinner in Argentina starts at 10:00 PM and that is way past our current "be at the airport at 6:00 AM" bed time. After recharging our batteries, we set out at 11:00 PM in search of food and found pizza. We were in the mood for some festive activities and started to wonder around, but nothing looked interesting so we decided to head down to Puerto Moreno and all the restaurants. The taxi driver pointed out that nothing was going on in Puerto Moreno and he took us to the Recolleta area. Recolleta is a great spot with a very old cemetery which is worth a day trip and lots of late night bars and restaurants. It was getting to be around 1:00 PM and everything was winding down but we stuck our head into a couple of places and had a couple of beers. The area has a good mixture of cafes, discos and upscale bars. The final stop for the night was a large four level disco with an Egyptian theme. It was done very nicely and after paying a $10 US cover I got a $7 US drink that was so strong I could not drink it. The night was getting long and morning was just around the corner so we called it a night at 4:00 AM.
The people in Buenos Aires take their weekends very seriously and today is Saturday. Needless to say we were slow to rise and our plan was to have a "Work Day". Work during travel involves our travel writing and updating our web site. The highest priority was to get out of our dingy hotel room, grab some lunch, followed by sitting in a cafe, doing our travel writing and drinking Ice Tea. We walked down to Puerto Moreno and ended up at TGIF for Ice Tea but it was very busy and noisy so we moved on. We did not feel like working anyway. On the East side of the Puerto Moreno district was a rode that crossed over the waterway and it appeared to have quite of bit of traffic. We were not sure if it was a military base or big park, so we jumped in a cab and did some exploring. We discovered a very large park and a conservation area along a polluted river. It seemed everyone in town was here taking in the Sun and drinking their Yerba Matte. It was a beautiful area and great to see so many people outside in the fresh air. We then asked the cab driver took us over to the Tango district. The Tango district is known for the brightly colored buildings and all kinds of street vendors and locals dancing the Tango for a few extra bucks. This port area was a common stop for Cuban sailors in the early 1900's and the local women loved to dance cheek-to-cheek with the Cuban sailors. The Argentina men had to combat this intervention so they developed the very complicated dance called the Tango. The Tango has lots of body parts touching and fancy foot work that made it difficult for the non-practiced Cubans to compete. I wonder if they were drinking Yerba Matte when the Tango was developed. A word of caution on the Tango district it Stinks, as in Smells, as in hold on to your lunch. It is on the water and whatever is going into the water is not very pleasent. We quickly got back into a cab and headed back to the park and conservation area.
We had the taxi driver drop us off outside the conservation area and started walking back through the park still in search of that place to sit down and get some work done. The afternoon turned into a people watching event as many couples seemed to be enjoying their Yerba Matte. This is a word of caution to men who take their lady to Argentina; get ready to feel like a real romance looser. Every couple in the park was glued together at the hip, kissing, holding hands and trying to see if they could get anymore body parts to touch. Girls this is the place to bring your dude to teach him a thing or to. As it turns out women in Argentina our treated like Queens. We had heard stories about Argentina couples who went camping. The girl has a very small backpack dressed to the hilt and the guy carries his gear and her gear in a very large overwhelming backpack. I came away from Argentina wanting to hold Karen's hand a little more often and a little bit longer. I think the root for all the affection is in the Yerba Matte.
The afternoon was getting late and we ended up at a restaurant in Puerto Moreno that had an Internet Cafe sign. No Internet but they have large pitchers of Summer White Sangria filled with fruit. The evening got late and we decided to head to the bus station and pick up our bus tickets for the 22 hour ride to Bariloche. The cost of this deluxe bus ride is $75 US and comes with the big reclining seats, movies and meals served at your seat. The alternative was to catch a $265 US flight per person plus the $50 US cab ride to the airport. We started to get the hang of the bus thing and were actually looking forward to doing nothing for 24 hours. The ideal setup for me on the bus ride would be a power outlet so I could plug in my laptop and get some good quality work done. I am looking forward to doing train rides in the future for exactly this reason.
