I´m on to my final few hours in Buenos Aires, my bus leaves at 7pm today for Mendoza, wine country. I might be a little excited!

I had dinner with the Pinsky´s 2 nights ago. I met them at their hotel for a drink, then we headed off across town to a resturant which they had been to when they passed through Buenos Aires a week and a half ago. It was an amazing resturant, the food was superb, and the company excellent! It is amusing that we ended up in Buenos Aires at the same time and I´m glad we were able to meet up for a visit.

Last night I met a friend for dinner, we went to a new grill house (parilla) and it was really good. This time I had bife de chorizo and it was another great cut of meat. After dinner we were walking around for a bit when the lightening and thunder started. That brought in some cool winds which was great as we´ve been roasting in the city. That also meant the storm was closer than I thought. We found cover just in time and watched the sky open up. It was raining really hard so I did not think it was going to last, we so sat on the steps of the building and chatted. An hour later we hailed a cab as the rain showed no signs of letting up.

I´ve done a ton of walking the past few days. I´ve basically walked across the city (or more) each day. It´s been really good, but I´m happy for a night on the bus tonight where I can rest my feet. I went out for another walk this morning out by the water east of town. I ended up downtown and then walked back to the hostel. I developed a blister on my baby toe a couple of days ago, but I´ve been able to keep is mostly in check. I travel with blister material as they are really easy to get when doing this much walking.

I´ve heard a lot of really good things about Mendoza, so I´m really looking forward to my time there. I currently have 3 nights scheduled there, I´ll see how it goes, if I may need a fourth. A big thing to do for backpackers is a wine tour by bike. Ok, if I must. I´ve already found a wine from Mendoza I like so I´m hoping to go to that winery, it is called Norton.

I think I will be hanging out at my hostel for most of the afternoon until my bus. I may walk around the area a bit, but my feet really need the rest. One thing I will not miss are the fumes from the buses, trucks, and cars. My throat is a bit raw from it all. In that respect this city reminds me a bit of London or Paris. The buses spew fumes in a crazy way.

The drivers in this city are intersting. They pretty much respect the traffic lights, however when the light is green and they are driving, all bets are off. Some streets have lane lines, not that they mean anything. The moving back and forth across the road takes a bit of getting used to. As for pedestrians, there are signals at some intersections, however the rule appears to be, so long as there are no cars coming do whatever you want. The more I think of it, the more it feels like Montreal when it comes to driving and walking around. One thing that is different is that some of the smaller streets don´t have any real indication of what´s going on at the intersection. No lights or stop signes. Drivers slow down a bit and take half a look around. Despite all of this I have not seen any accidents. I think that is mostly because I have not been driving. I´ll definitely leave the driving to the locals.

Yesterday only went partly as planned, but it was a really good day. I started out by going out for a walk around the San Telmo Sunday antique market. It has both indoor and outdoor parts and overall is really huge. Overall 12 blocks or so of one of the streets are shutdown for all kinds of vendors. Antiques, leather, and all kinds of local and generic merchandise. I bought a couple of things including a leather belt, so it was a very successful venture.

After a quick stop back at the hostel and a bit more of the market I ended up right downtown in the main square. I did not mean to be there, but that happens. As I was there I started to take a few pictures and walk around. I found out I was at the Pink House which is where the president works. There were free tours so I hung around to see more of the building, and I'm very happy I did. Before the tour even started I met a couple from Israel (parents age or so). They were really nice and we chatted throughout the tour. The tour itself was ok. It was the 'English' tour. That means that the guide spoke for 5 minutes in Spanish, then 1 minute in English. It happens. The building/castle is really nice, as you would expect for the president's office. As it was the weekend we got to see all of the fun rooms, where they hold all of their meetings. The building is of French architecture so lots of colums and rooms with high ceilings. The president has their own private elevator that only they are allowed in.

After the tour I made off to where I had intended to go, which was to the Recoleta cemetary where Evita is entoumbed. This cemetary is all mausoleums and really impressive. I also walked around the Recoleta neighbourhood which is a nice residential middle class area. After that I walked back to my hostel which took an hour. I had not planned to walk that far, but once I started I just kept going.

For dinner I went back to the same parilla I went to the first night as there was more on the menu for me to try:) I had a tenderlon steak (bif de lomo) which could have been 16oz, and was cooked just right. It was amazing. I met a few people durning dinner and went out for a walk by the water with them afterwards.

Overall another really good day.

On a side note, this computer is set for Spanish so every word shows up as being spelled wrong, there is no easy way to spot errors. Sigh. I'll fix it up once I'm home.

I finally got checked in at my hostel just before the official check-un time at 3pm. After walking around the city a bit to get a feel for things I had been hanging out at the hostel. It was just too hot outside (and inside) to do anything else.

Things got much better once I was in my room. There are many things I like better about this hostel as opposed to the one at the falls (but neither is perfect). The staff are very nice and friendly and speak good english (which is a big help to me), the washrooms are better, and the rooms themselves are ok. One thing I don't like as much is the social areas don't seem as social. I guess that's what I get for avoiding the hardcore party hostels.

I had the room to myself for the moment which was nice. I had a shower and got a bit organised. Feeling much better I decided to head out to one of the shopping districts recommended by one of the staff to walk around. The walk to the subway was way too hot. The subway has no AC anywhere. The platforms have large fans, the cars have open windows which do almost nothing. I arrived at the shopping area and quickly found the mall, which had AC. One thing I noticed in the mall, as well as around town in general is how many security guards/police there are. They are everywhere!

I walked around the mall, had a frozen yogurt, then went back outside and down the street. It reminded me a bit if Young street in Toronto or St. Catherine in Montreal. It was a good walk, then I took the metro back to the hostel.

It was getting close to dinner time and I was set on finding a Parilla (bbq) for my first dinner in Buenos Aires. After checking a few books I settled on an area with I few to choose from. Just before heading out I bumped into another Canadian (Montrealer) and he came along to the bbq. It was a feast! An amazing sausage, fantastic flank steak, and some fries and wine. Amazing, and exactly what I was looking for.

During dinner we started chatting with the people at the next table, a couple of 25 year olds from France. I got to practise my French a little bit:) They were out for their last night and were good to chat with. After dinner the 4 of us headed out to see what else we could find. the finding part was quick, a couple of blocks away a small square had been filled with tables and we managed to snag one for drinks. All I can say is 1.5L pitchers of sangria taste even better when it is that hot out! After looking at the menu a bit more I found an Argentinian cider which I had to try. It tasted so similar to Wapoos I asked where it was from. That's when I found out it was local.

That pretty much wrapped up my night. Overall a very successful first day/night in Buenos Aires.