After a sad farewell to Cape Town, I took off on the first leg of my 31-hour (yes... 31 hours!!) trip to Buenos Aires, Argentina, at just before 7:00pm on Thursday, May 17th. We flew first to Johannesburg where I was able to stay on the same plane for the next leg to Doha, Qatar. In Qatar I had an hour layover before heading overnight across the Atlantic Ocean to Sao Paulo, Brazil. I was able to stay on the same plane again before finally landing in the Argentinian capital just before 9:00pm on the following night.
If you're keeping track, that meant I had to fly way northeast in order to fly pretty much directly west. That's because the flight on Qatar Airways was about a third as much as a direct flight from Joburg would have been. In retrospect, I probably should have extended my layover and spent a night in Doha where one of my friends actually lives. The problem was I didn't know how to arrange that over the internet until another traveler explained it to me later (for the record, you would book a multi-destination ticket, which should cost roughly the same price.) In any case, I finally made it to South America, my sixth and final continent. I was so exhausted when I arrived that I hopped right in a cab to my hostel. Luckily I had to the dorm room all to myself -- though it was right off the lobby, which made it rather noisy come morning.
My hostel was located in the San Telmo neighborhood so the next day I grabbed a map and wandered from there to the Plaza de Mayo in the Microcentro area. I wandered around the plaza for a bit and saw a lot of people lining up to go into a building surrounded by a high fence on the far end. I followed the crowd and discovered that I was at the Casa Rosada (Pink House) where I could get a free tour of the inside. At that point I wasn't even quite sure what exactly the Casa Rosada was. The all-Spanish tour, which was difficult for me to understand all with the echoes and huge crowds of people, didn't really help clear things up right away. Finally I was able to gather that the building was the executive residence and offices of the President of Argentina -- basically the equivalent of the U.S. White House. We got to see some of the reception rooms and the presidential office, but the highlight was definitely going onto the balcony where Eva Peron addressed the people upon her husband, Juan Peron's, release from prison. I'm not going to lie, I felt a bit like bursting into "Don't Cry for Me Argentina!"for the mingling crowds down below, but instead just shuffled along and took some pictures.
After leaving the Pink House, I tried rather unsuccessfully to find the Puerto Madero (Old Port) Waterfront along the Rio de la Plata riverbank. Despite quite a few wrong turns I finally made it down there. By this point, I really needed to go to the bathroom so I wandered around for trying to find a coffee shop where I could grab a bite to eat and use their restroom. Unfortunately, this recently revitalized warehouse district sports mainly higher-end sit-down restaurants that didn't quite meet my criteria. I finally resorted to paying a buck or two to go onto an old sailing boat museum just because they had a bathroom. I did wander around the boat for a bit afterwards, figuring I should at least get my money's worth. I then headed back toward my hostel, stopping along the way to pop into the Metropolitan Cathedral and grabbing some empanadas to eat for dinner.
The following day I took it easy for much of the morning then had a late lunch and wandered back to the Plaza de Mayo. This time I went into the Buenos Aires Cabildo, which was used as the seat of government during colonial times. The building is now a museum dedicated to the history of the city in the 18th century. It gave me an opportunity to learn more about the colonial era and revolutionary history of the country. I had gotten a late start that day so I left just as the museum was closing and it was starting to get dark (being late fall and all in Buenos Aires.)
On Monday, I took the subway from San Telmo to the Retiro neighborhood. I walked around the nearby park and went into a church before heading in the general direction of Recoleta with the hopes of going to the Recoleta Cemetery. As usual, it took me much longer than it should have to get where I was going, but I finally made it after a few short unplanned detours. The Recoleta Cemetery is where Eva Peron is entombed in the Duarte plot. The layout is a maze of towering tombs that were built above ground because they sit on marshy land. I finally found the right spot and paid my respects before heading indoors to the Del Pilar Church to escape the city's drizzly autumn weather. I thought about going over to the Fine Arts Museum, but it was closed on Mondays.
When I had first arrived in Buenos Aires I had asked Paul to put me in touch with his friend Matias, who I finally had a chance to catch up with for lunch the following day. Paul worked with Matias, a comedic actor known as the "Argentinian Jack Black" during the 2010 World Cup. I took the subway to meet Matias in the trendy neighborhood of Palermo where he lives. He was very welcoming and as we were eating he slipped out to call his girlfriend's mother to ask her if she'd be willing to host me at her house. She offered to have me stay with her and since I felt it was ungrateful to turn down the offer, I accepted their generosity and decided to move out of my hostel the following day.
After lunch Matias brought me in a cab to the Blue and Green Pavilions near Plaza Italia where the final day of the contemporary art festival, ArteBA, was underway. Matias had to go back to work so he didn't come inside with me, but he did graciously loan me the entrance fee when I found myself short on cash. I, of course, paid him back in full the next day, but it was still very generous of him. I've never been to Art Basel in Miami, but I imagine it to much the same as the setup in Buenos Aires. I had a great time wandering around checking out all the artists and different styles of work. The show was so massive, though, that I only got to see a portion of what was there and my feet were still killing me by the end. Probably my favorite piece was the statue of a mini Joe Lieberman look-a-like covered in sperm(?) and holding a crystal ball. I mean, come on, you can't deny this guy looks like the spitting image of the former Connecticut Senator, right?
Wednesday morning I had to drop off my visa application at the Brazilian consulate before going to meet Matias in Palermo to head over to his "mother-in-law" Adela's. I had heard that the Brazilian visa was as big of a pain as the one for China and India (and also Russia... it's those darn BRAC countries) so all morning I rushed around trying to print copies of plane tickets, bank statements and hotel bookings. In the end the only thing the woman asked to see was my bank balance, which she wrote down on the application. She then told me to come back the next day to pick up my passport. It ended up being totally painless. I went back to my hostel to get my bags and then hopped on the subway for Palermo. Matias met me there and we went back to his place where I met his girlfriend, Greta, and their baby boy, Antonio. We then walked the few blocks over to Adela's house, a huge old brownstone with a courtyard. Adela was lovely, though I felt pretty bad that she was just getting over the flu. She had lived for much of her childhood in the US so her English was nearly flawless. We had a cup of tea and a great chat before heading to bed for the night.
On Thursday, I went back to the Brazilian consulate to pick up my passport and was chastised because I wasn't there right at noon. I thought the woman had said to come AFTER noon, but apparently I was supposed to be there right on the hour. She then proceeded to tell me that it was too late because they were already closed (even though she was still clearly there working.) Thankfully the woman then handed me back my passport and sent me on my way. The consulate was right in the heart of the city along the main avenues of Carlos Pelligrini and Avenida 9 de Julio. The sun was finally shining so I grabbed some food and then took a bit of a walk past the Colon Theater and the Obelisk of Buenos Aires to see the multi-story portrait of Eva Peron on the side of the Ministry of Health building. Afterwards I walked toward the theater and went on a wild goose chase trying to buy some video tapes before heading to the Tribunales subway station next to the Palace of Justice to get home to Palermo.
Friday, May 25th was a holiday in Argentina for the May Revolution of 1810. Adela and I went to the restaurant across the street from her house to pick up some of the lorco meat stew traditionally eaten on that holiday for lunch. I then got ready to head to the Puerto Madero where I prepared to board a ferry en route to Uruguay.
If you're keeping track, that meant I had to fly way northeast in order to fly pretty much directly west. That's because the flight on Qatar Airways was about a third as much as a direct flight from Joburg would have been. In retrospect, I probably should have extended my layover and spent a night in Doha where one of my friends actually lives. The problem was I didn't know how to arrange that over the internet until another traveler explained it to me later (for the record, you would book a multi-destination ticket, which should cost roughly the same price.) In any case, I finally made it to South America, my sixth and final continent. I was so exhausted when I arrived that I hopped right in a cab to my hostel. Luckily I had to the dorm room all to myself -- though it was right off the lobby, which made it rather noisy come morning.
On Monday, I took the subway from San Telmo to the Retiro neighborhood. I walked around the nearby park and went into a church before heading in the general direction of Recoleta with the hopes of going to the Recoleta Cemetery. As usual, it took me much longer than it should have to get where I was going, but I finally made it after a few short unplanned detours. The Recoleta Cemetery is where Eva Peron is entombed in the Duarte plot. The layout is a maze of towering tombs that were built above ground because they sit on marshy land. I finally found the right spot and paid my respects before heading indoors to the Del Pilar Church to escape the city's drizzly autumn weather. I thought about going over to the Fine Arts Museum, but it was closed on Mondays.
Friday, May 25th was a holiday in Argentina for the May Revolution of 1810. Adela and I went to the restaurant across the street from her house to pick up some of the lorco meat stew traditionally eaten on that holiday for lunch. I then got ready to head to the Puerto Madero where I prepared to board a ferry en route to Uruguay.
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