Buenos Aires is BIG!
6.01/2006 - The most impressive thing about Buenos Aires is its size. The city is huge. But when i say huge it’s really huge. Going from one quarter to another is a journey. We spent the whole day getting lost in the city. Went to the Playa de Mayo to see protests from wifes who lost family members during wars, went to the largest avenue in the worlrd, around 20 lanes wide. We met my buddy Ayrton aka “Mono” at night to have dinner and a few drinks. We ate at a new trendy area in Puerta Madera. 30 pesos for as much food as you can eat. Great meat of course! Talked a about politics, life after the crisis. Amazing to see that locals cannot afford to rent an apartment and certainly not buying one. A standard salary is around 1000 pesos per month (300 euros). A manager earns 1000 euros, and it´s a great wage. For now, many cannot travel outside Argentina, too expensive. Then we headed for a bar area in San Telmo. They know how to party here.
World’s biggest avenue - more than 20 lanes
7.01/2006 - Trip to El Tigre. This area has been recommended by Manuel, the hostel owner. It’s an area located in the delta of the Rio de la Plata. Little paradise for Porteños willing to get away from Buenos Aires. We were told to take “El Tren de la Costa” from Mitre, which is the touristic one but it was a bad idea. There is not much to see and it´s a lot more expensive. We should have taken the direct train from Buenos Aires to Tigre, it’s the one locals use. When in Delta, we looked for something off the beaten track. You can take big boats and see the delta in a couple of hours, but we were suggested to take public boats to avoid the crowd, taking locals to their vacation homes. We stopped at Mara Negra and headed to a hotel/restaurant called the AlpenHaus. They serve german but local food ad well. It was expensive (22 pesos for a meal) but it was great to get out of Buenos Aires (noise and polution). Not tourists there. Only locals. The area is very charming. Little private peers and wooden cottages, very green. We took a walk, relaxed in the sun… We came back to the hostel with the latest boat for a good night of sleep. We’re heading now to the country. Next stop : San Carlos de Bariloche.
