Buenos Aires, Part II: Every City is Better with a Friend

When I arrived in BA for the second time, I felt much more confident that I knew how the city functioned. I raced off to check into the hostel, then hopped a bus to the airport. My feelings of confidence shattered, however, when I realized I could only pay with coins on the bus. BA has a consistent problem of never having any change. People don't like to part with their change, and people in shops and restaurants will beg you to give them exact change and express exasperation if you don't have the right bills or coins. I was already on the bus, feeling (again) like a moron, when a kind young girl interveined and popped some change into the ticket machine for me. I was so grateful! Then, two stops later, I heard a man outside the bus ask the bus driver if he was going to the airport, and the driver replied in the negative. Panicked, I jumped off the bus and practically into the arms of the old man who had asked the question. After some discussion, I discovered that the 28 that has a red sign goes to the airport, while the 28 with a black sign does not. The old man ended up being named Ruben, and we rode together with another couple and chatted the whole way. The couple, by the way, were the most darling couple I have ever met. The woman had just gotten pregnant and her husband was so excited, they were both constantly smiling. I think the universe is conspiring to make me want a boyfriend! Ruben accompanied me all the way to the airport, and seemed reluctant to leave, so he stuck around and met Becca, then tried to make plans to meet up with us. I explained that we would only be in BA for two and a half days, but he seemed so excited that he had befriended a gringa, it was difficult to let him down. We finally parted with the tipcal besito to the cheek.

How do I express my joy at seeing my best friend of over 12 years in the Buenos Aires airport? It is nearly impossible, but as I hugged her bony body to my not-so-bony one, I just knew the next two weeks were going to be amazing. We went to the hostel and got settled, giggling and chatting the whole way. Then, we got some food, and I took her to all the sites of the city, including Av. de Julio, Plaza de Mayo, Plaza San Martín, and the Plaza del Congreso. We walked all over the city, and capped off the evening with a bottle of Argentine Malbec. Exhaustion creeped up on us quickly, so we went to bed early in preparation for the busy Sunday we had planned.

Becca arrives and promptly explodes in our hostel.

Relaxing after our hectic arrival with some beer at an outdoor cafe.

Best pals on Avenida 9 de Julio, the widest street in BA--14 lanes at its widest!
The Casa Rosada as seen from the Plaza de Mayo.
Another of BA's cool old buildings.
Me with part of the Statue of San Martín, who I have been informed is the Argentine George Washington.
I was really excited about this movie poster because it features two of my favorite Mexicans, Diego Luna and Gael Garcia Bernal! Here I am posing like Diego.
The Plaza del Congreso as the sun starts to set.

Sunday dawned and Becca and I headed over to experience the chaos of the weekly antiques fair in San Telmo. We had a lot of fun scanning the booths for amazing finds, and I especially enjoyed looking at the antique jewelry. Some of it is so weird! Afterwards, we were a little overwhelmed and lounged outside a cafe drinking cold beverages and sharing a salad before heading to La Boca, BA's famously colorful working-class district. As the story goes, La Boca was initially a neighborhood filled with dockworkers, and they brought home the extra paint from repairing the ships and painted their houses. Now, it is a cute, if highly touristy, little area. There are plenty of outdoor cafes that put on tango shows. Becca and I camped out at one and burned through a couple of forties of my new favorite beer, aptly called "Patagonia." It was a spectacular amber! I could have sat there drinking it all day! Instead, we took the bus to the Puerto Madero district and wandered along the riverside. We feasted, as you must in BA, on steaks and Malbec for dinner. We were rewarded by our waiter with a free glass of champagne, which inspired us to find this bar Becca's friend had recommended. Pretty soon, we were giggling and making a scene in the late-night streets of Buenos Aires.

Becca drinking iced coffee in San Telmo. You can see part of the antiques market over her shoulder.

El Caminito in La Boca. Some sort of traditional dancing--the pictures of the tango dancers are in Chillan. What a shame!
Creepy balcony in La Boca.

Cheers with strawberry champagne drinks! I love my little girl!

Our third day in BA was a little rough,as we paid dearly for the night before with a pair of hangovers. So, we tried to sleep it opff in a the nearby plaza, and then after a bite to eat we felt up to a bus ride out to the Palermo neighborhood. We wandered around the botanical garden, where I chased the cats that live there trying to get one to pretend to be my pet. Our stomachs drove us to the center of Palermo, where I was irritated to discover that no one was serving lunch and it was too early to order dinner. Defeated, we took a cab back to our neighborhood and ate heaping helpings of pasta and salad before boarding an 8 pm, 15-hour bus to Neuquen.

Sleeping off my hangover in the Plaza del Congreso.

The Botanical Garden.
This park was filled with cats, which I spent the afternoon trying to pet.
Becca and a pond.
As fun as BA was, I have to admit that it was in Neuquen that our real adventure began!