Argentina 1

Well, we’ve had a few days in Buenos Aires which definitely feels quite like a European city but why it’s called “the Paris of the south” I don’t know. It’s sunny, sticky and Spanish.   Heather found a really good little hotel in the Boedo district which is so discreet it doesn’t even have the name outside and is run by two sisters, one of whom is wildly over the top.  First time I met her I got the arms flung round me and a kiss on the cheek as if we were old friends parted by years.

Good subway network here with tickets to anywhere costing about 18p a throw (petrol is 60p a litre).  We ended up doing nothing in particular but wandering the city and organising the first bits of our trip.  Very touristy stuff including someone trying to open Heather’s shoulder bag on a crowded subway.  That said, the city seems very safe and we haven’t felt threatened at all, although several complete strangers have warned us of pickpockets and I’m definitely carrying my dummy wallet. 

Strangely, one of the most stunning places we saw was a bookshop set in a restored theatre with shelves where the stalls and balcony seats were and a café on stage – really very impressive.  One of the most bizarre things we saw was one of those people selling things at lines of vehicles waiting at traffic lights.  Ah, I hear you think, matches, tissues, carvings ?  No, fishing rods !  Twelve foot rods with demonstations of casting as he moved between the cars.  He didn’t seem to be shifting very many of them.  

I’m writing this on a luxury bus on the way north westwards towards Cordoba.  We have upstairs front seats with semi recliners for the 11 hour journey and return in a few days overnight with full recliners – all part of the travel experience.  This side trip fills in the gap between Buenos Aires and when we could get the first flight to El Calafate, the southernmost point we expect to go to.  We’ll sort out how to get away again when we’re there.  The road north from El Calafate is the unmade adventure route on gravel for two days or so.  Recommendations include carrying two spare tyres and spare fuel (because fuel tanks get punctured by stones), windscreen grille and headlamp covers.  Oh, and phones are all out of signal area.  On the other hand we might fly out.  

Just had a break in Rosario on the Rio Parana, where there was the most tremendous downpour, roads were flooded to kerb height and we crept out with it still bucketing down.  It’s stopped already and the roads are dry.   Rosario turns out to be the birthplace of Che Guevara and Lionel Messi. 

The countryside from Buenos Aires has been generally agricultural but never really open country as there are lots of odd buildings and industrial stuff around.  We’re about 300 kms out and so far I’ve not seen one thing I fancy stopping to look at.  Now north of Rosario it’s bit more open and looks surprisingly English (or at least northern French) with green fields, trees lining the roads and the odd copse.