February 3rd 2010 – Argentina
With a smooth beginning to the journey, the realization that I was travelling again was predictably delayed until I set foot on Argentinian soil. The only minor hiccup occurred one hour out of Buenos Aires when we were diverted to Santiago, Chile due to bad weather. A reasonable dose of turbulence kept things interesting along with the puzzlement of ground staff at Santiago as to how to refuel the plane as, according to the pilot, they were not used to this type of aircraft. Though our 12 hour flight turned into 16 hours travel time, I had to spare a thought for the passengers whose final destination was in fact Santiago. Unable to disembark at Santiago, they had to continue on to Buenos Aires and then fly back again to Santiago.
The rainy weather made for a rather dreary introduction to Buenos Aires, although we had little trouble locating the right bus and shuttle combination to our hostel, the V & S Hostel on Viamonte. Having to navigate three or four flights of narrow winding stairs to reception, we checked into our reasonably clean but crowded seven bed dorm, and decided to go in search of food and refreshment.
Spooked a little by the constant stories of petty crime and muggings associated with South America, I was probably a bit over cautious as we wandered down the streets , regularly checking for my wallet and walking with hands in my pockets in crowded areas, but paranoid or not, that I still have my wallet is the main thing.
Finding a nice little restaurant a block or two from the hostel, we settled in at a window to people watch, drink some beer, and sample some of the famous Argentinian steaks. Successful in the first two endeavors, unfortunately a breakdown in interpreting the menu on our part saw us eating a very ordinary cut of meat with what looked to be part of the rib cage embedded throughout the steak. Not exactly terrible but still a bit of a struggle to finish. It did serve as a good reminder to research the menu a bit better before ordering.
Thoroughly buggered by this stage, we had a short walk around the area on Florida, then went back to the hostel for a little bit of internet, a scrub up, and an early night. Or so we hoped… After sleeping for a maybe an hour, there began what appeared in my hazy state of a consciousness, to be a constant stream in and out of our dorm room until around three or four in the morning. Stranger still, at roughly five am, a girl in the dorm woke up, packed all of her stuff and then went back to sleep…she wasn’t leaving for another few days.
With an early breakfast the next day, we headed off in our sleep deprived state and wandered around the streets and down to ‘the waterfront’. Not quite what we anticipated, finding instead a few dirty brown canals and an eerie overgrown jungle area marked as a park on the map, and a bad case of sunburn to boot. Nevertheless it was good to be out in a bit of sun, we happened across a few nicer areas and managed to find that steak that had eluded us…unbelievably good.
Given our terrible sleep the night before and the consensus that BA was just another city, we decided we’d only hang about one more night before busing up to Puerto Iguazu (ig-wassoo) the following day. Trying to book a bus at the massive and chaotic Retiro bus station initially proved a bit of a struggle with the language barrier but Dan managed to get by with what he had learnt during time in Central America. I’ve never seen such a busy bus terminal though, with what seemed like a hundred different ticket windows for all the different companies and destinations. In any case, most of our money was back at the hostel so we decided to head back there and see what we could find out online. The saving grace of the V&S was the extremely helpful staff, and rather than trudging all the way back to the Retiro, they were able to book us a bus and print out a ticket at the hostel. It is hard to imagine travelling anymore without the wonders of the internet as we did some further planning in booking hostels in Puerto Iguazu and paid a deposit for a Inca trail trek in late March, fingers crossed it will be re-opened by then. We also had a brief chat to some girls that happened to be from Newcastle and had vaguely the same travel plans as us, though a day ahead, as they were bussing it that night to Puerto Iguazu before making their way up to Rio for Carnivale. I guess there is rarely any originality on the backpacking trail.
I was also informed of the fact that one of Joel’s mates, Johno, had just arrived in BA and so we organised to catch up for a beer his hostel, the Obelisk on Corrientes. Getting slightly lost, and having a breakdown in communication, we found the hostel but no Johno, so decided to hang out at the bar there for a few beers and hopefully spot him. Given that the last time I had seen him was possibly at Big Day Out nearly ten years ago, I was a bit uncertain of what he looked like and awkwardly went up to some random at one point thinking it was him. The hostel however was amazing compared to our current digs, with a cool little bar and pool table area, a cat walk over head with big rooms full of bean bags looking out over the street and most of all some real vibe and atmosphere that V&S was sadly lacking.
Managing to send Johno a text through the computers at the hostel we eventually caught up for some bevvies and swapped a few stories and travel plans. Having travelled some of South America previously, he was able to offer us some sage advice, and had some pretty interesting ink to show from his recent travels.
Still pretty zoned out from lack of sleep, the beers knocked us about a little so we said our goodbyes and went in search of dinner. After a bit of wandering we chose a parilla on Lavalle that had about three or four spruikers out the front and a friendly atmosphere. Sure enough, as soon as we walk in, Johno happens to be there also, so we join him for another beer, and what else but… steak.
Thus arrived our descent into a second night of humid, hellish sleep. This time however, it was punctuated by a random guitarist down on the street until 2am, a nightmare of a girl in our dorm wrestling with the locked door for half an hour before managing to get in around 4am, and the most ridiculously loud garbage trucks and buses swarming through the streets below.
Although BA had started to grow on us a bit more, we were thankful to be getting the hell out of there that evening, and were comfortable in the knowledge that there would be time to experience the essentials of BA such as the nightlife, a tango show and hopefully a football game, before we flew home from there in May.
Another drizzly day saw us wandering over to San Telmo and the Plaza Dorrego. Saw some very cool graffiti work and an interesting cathedral.
By the time we were due to head to the Retiro, the heavens once again opened up and we struggled for a while to get a taxi in the rain. The weather played havoc on an already crowded and chaotic bus station. Nervously eyeing the departure screens (and our bags) our scheduled time came and went still without our bus showing on the screen. We asked several people in broken Spanish about our bus, only to be told to listen out for it over the PA system…right…
All was well eventually, and our bus, though a little delayed was quite the experience in luxury bus travel. I’d been told that buses in Argentina were good, but wow! Unable to purchase the top of the range seats that fully recline, we nevertheless got the Cama exejuctivo. Large comfy seats, more like an armchair than a bus seat, that almost reclined fully were just the beginning. Throughout the trip we were served a hot dinner, drinks including wine, and a breakfast the following morning. 
To top it off, the bus attendant was a marvel of balance, style and humour as he confidently strode up and down the aisle with trays stacked high with food and drink as the bus lurched along towards Puerto Iguazu. The only drawback to the journey, were the torrential downpours at the start of the trip that turned our sixteen hour trip into nearly twenty hours. The luxurious conditions though, made this far more tolerable.