You've Got To Pick A Pocket Or Two

After journeying through Brazil illegally we passed checkpoint after checkpoint and finally arrived in Argentina at Puerto De Iguaçu where we got to see the outstanding falls again but from the Argentinean side this time. The main difference is the amount you can see you are up more close and personal this side of things where as from Brazil you get a more overall perspective of the sheer size of it all and you can also see quite a few individual falls. This is not a place to come if you do not want to get wet because going to the devils throat simply drenches you. From this point you get quite a good idea of the amount and power of the water coming off these waterfalls. Due to the power you could not see the bottom as it kicked up masses of spray so you could only see a quarter of the height.

‘When in Rome…..do as the Romans do’ so the first meal in Argentina had to be their famous steak and believe me when I tell you that it is the best meat that you will ever taste compliment this with another famous aspect wine and you are well on your way to becoming an Argentinean. Steak is also very cheap in the supermarkets with two succulent sirloins costing only two pounds, the same goes for the wine with a cheap bottle of their wine costing about the same but in the UK this would go for ten times that amount…..we were in Jane’s heaven.

We got a bus from Puerto De Iguaçu which was complete luxury where we were even served Champagne on the bus, Jane prior to this commented how she didn’t like Champagne but as soon as the waiter came over asking if we wanted any naughty sauce I have never seen anyone shout YES so quickly. So you don’t really like it eh Jane?

I got the dates wrong when I got to Buenos Aires and this is because when I organised my couch surfing the emails were sent just after midnight meaning that the date on my watch clicked over creating us a day out of sync. So not to worry Xmas in BA shouldn’t be too busy. I was wrong, it took 4 hours of walking around with our heavy backpacks navigating buses, aggressive drunks and fatigue to finally find a place for one night and once we got settled a beer was deserved.

The next day we ventured into Recoletta one of the districts in BA to spend three nights at our host Ornella. Ornella was very helpful and an amazing host cooking us dinner and taking us to parties. While we are on the subject of drinking and going out apart from that Jane is a bad influence on me in Argentina it is completely different to back home for instance back home on a Saturday night you would go out around seven and come back maybe at twelve but in Buenos Aires you don’t eat dinner till ten and then head to a club at three in the morning.

Pick pockets are very common in BA with most people wearing their backpacks on their front so with this I was extra cautious and this paid off. Whilst on a packed tube on the way to some tourist sight during rush hour I had a short fat man try and dip into my pocket unlucky for him I was too clever holding my wallet but I could feel him lifting my ripped and battered map from my pocket with it inching ever so slowly further and further from my pocket, I confronted him with a glare and some over the top words which he probably didn’t understand, I did want to smack him one but resisted to try and find some police but alas there was no presence in the subte! After this I had a whole mixture of feelings ranging from anger to feeling that I had won and beaten the skilled con artist!

There is a money shortage in Buenos Aires meaning that people hoard coins so that they can use the public transport as the buses do not accept notes, this can cause a major pain as no shop or person wants to give you the coins. With this coin shortage it probably wasn’t the best of ideas to play as much pool as we did where we had a running game with Jane winning 20 to 7 but before you judge this score thinking that I have been given the beating of my life if it was the best of 10 I would of won and I seriously believe there is cheating evolved with rules being made up as and when it suited Jane best…..writing this on a bus and Jane comments that ‘this statement is a load of rubbish’ so I have put her side in and I will let you all decide.

We had Christmas in Buenos Aires where we went to a party organised on the internet in a park in the district of Palermo, it was different and fun, getting home was an event having to walk in excess of 40 blocks! Christmas day we made beef stew where we cooked for 10 people in the hostel.

You can not talk about Argentina without talking about the quality of the women, never before have I seen so many good looking women who right there and then I would take back home in one place it goes to show what good food and good weather can do. The weather in this city was around the 30-40 regions but felt a lot hotter with the humidity and the lack of air running through our hostel.

Some of the highlights that we had seen in the two weeks in this hot and busy city were:

Caminito – this is a street in the rough and poor district of La Boca where all the houses are coloured, this attracts many tourtists thus there is a wealth of cafes and restaurants all with tango shows and lessons.

La Tiempo Bumba – this is a lot like ‘Stomp’ in the west end it’s basically a drum show every Monday night.

Metal flower – this metallic flower opens and closes with the sun rise and set.

Recoletta Cemetery – this cemetery is not like your ordinary run of the mill this is full or ornate mausoleums containing some of Argentina’s premier elite such as the famous Eva Peron.

So there you have it my time in Argentina has come to an end and with that my time with Feargal. The next stop is Uruguay where again I will be saying goodbye to some more people.