Today we had organised to walk to the bus station with Romin
– he was travelling around the world with his girlfriend for a total of 11
months. His girlfriend had gone back to
London and he was going back in a couple of days to go to his girlfriends
sisters wedding, three quarters of the way through their travels! It seemed an inconvenience
but Romin was pretty happy it was happening as he needed a break from
travelling. Anyway when he returned he was
travelling to Iguazu. Before our walk
there was an important matter to deal with, rugby! After an unsuccessful attempt by Mum and Dad
to skype me the All Blacks vs Ireland test (skype kept cutting out), I turned
on the tv and ESPN Argentina was playing the Australia vs Wales game live. I watched the end of this game and afterwards
they played the replay of the All Blacks vs Ireland. Unfortunately after our unsuccessful skype
attempt I had a look at the score. It
was a great game however, All Blacks win 22-19 with an 80th minute
Dan Carter drop goal! The commentary was
in Spanish and the commentator was very excited when the drop goal was
successful – “GOOOOOAAAAALLLLL!!!” Would have been a great game to have been
at, very jealous of the Robb family who had front row seats at AMI Stadium!
After the game we walk to the bus station on a very crisp
but beautiful day. We all buy our
tickets, Ann and I for Monday, and walk back into the city. We walk past the Economy museum which illustrates
the economic history of Argentina. Unfortunately
this way closed (Saturday today) so we continued on to Casa Rosada, where the
President works and where Eva did her speeches to her adoring public, to have a
tour of the Palace. We had to wait 20
minutes until the English tour started but it was worth it. The tour guide wasn’t anything special but
the Palace was very nice. We got to walk
through the entire building including where the President works, the ceremony
room, press conference area and also the balcony where Eva made her speeches to
a packed Plaza de Mayo when her husband was in power. After this tour we took Romin to a restaurant
that Nico had recommended we go for some empanadas. Romin had not had any empanadas in his time
in Argentina so it was time to introduce him to them, and also I wanted some
too! This place served us the best empanadas we have had in Buenos Aires so far,
they were fantastic. After this late
lunch we went for a walk to Puerto Madero which is the old wharf that has been
converted into a really modern and new area of the city. Some buildings here were modern and there
were also old port buildings that had been converted to retail and office accommodation. It looked really cool, a nice place to have a
wander through. We went back to the
hostel and met up with John and Erika.
Last night we had organised to go to a Milonga tonight and have a tango
lesson. We all watched the Argentina vs
France game (won 23-20 by Argentina) and then went our separate ways. Ann and I went out for dinner at a Chinese
restaurant because we were constrained for time, and then met up with Jon and
Erika at the Milonga for our Tango lesson (30 peso per person). We were the only people in the class which
made it quite fun. There were two
instructors, a man and a woman. We were
put through our paces and over the course of the night we learnt a 16 step
move. I hate to say it but it was
actually quite enjoyable. The time flew
and the class went for about an hour and a half when it supposed to have been
for only an hour. After our lesson we went
into the Milonga dance area and bar to watch the locals some us how it is really
done. John and I needed to get our ‘manhood’
back as John put it, so we had to have some beer. These dancers were fantastic. The tango dance is very intense and requires quite
a bit of concentration. We left the Milonga
at about 1am, it was very quiet at this point but if we wanted to see it busy
we had to stay until about 3 or 4am!
Once again Buenos Aires residents are up and about at late hours of the
night. Saturday nights are worse than
the rest of the week however. We then walk
back to the hostel with John and Erika, have a beer at the hostel and have a
good laugh about our nights antics.
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