Buenos Aires 6

Plaza Mayo has a permanent tent demonstration about the Falklands War, but mainly because the soldiers that died were never recognised by the democratic government, therefore the families do not get any war pensions.

We started to call the Falklands the Voldemort Islands, and although we didn't start any conversation about it, we soon learned that the majority of intelligent people realise that the only people who are really concerned about the Islands, are the government who use it as a foil when they want to deflect the countries problems away from themselves, or the military who have to have a reason to be.

One person told us they the Junta sent 17 year olds boys down to fight, with inadequate weapons, but more awfully they sent boys from the hot north of the country to fight is sub zero temperatures.  They were expendable.

Onto a different subject.  The Argentinian are obsessed with shopping, and we wandered back through what looked like Oxford Street, but three times the size.  Rod of course went glazed after 30 seconds, and I wasn't that interested, so we wandered through and out the other end.

They have large cafes over here, where you go in, queue up for your empanadas or whatever and find a seat. They very much look like american diners.

After a long rent we went back into San Telmo, down to the market and Dorego Square where we found another old cafe and watched tango in the square.

More street sculptures

Tonight we found a special restaurant, doesn't look much from the outside, but we later found out it was famous for its steak and meat.  I had an enormous steak, and finished every mouthful... wonderful.

Buenos Aires 5

Today we stayed around the Plaza Mayo, the main square in BA.  As we were walking around a guy started talking to us and we had met George.   For a small cost he would give us a guided tour of the square and its history, and we took him up on it for some reason.  Interesting guy, he had been shipped off the the US when he was 18 with his brother during the Junta.

The generals had walked into the university and arrested hundreds of students... they were never seen again. Later the families found out that they had all been shot, dumped in barrels, filled with concrete and dumped into the sea.  they have never been recovered, and the government, if they know have never revealed the area.  His father saw it coming and shipped them out.  He lived and married in the US, and only came back when his parents were ill needed looking after.  He was very interesting, and we talked about history, politics and the economy, too much to talk about hear, but we learned alot.

Every Thursday the mothers of the murdered students (Madres of the Lost) hold a singing demonstration in Plaza Mayo in front of the Parliamentary Building (Pink Palace where the president works and where Eva Peron gave her addresses).  In the hope of the memory never fading.  It was heart wrenching, they don't have hope, they know they're children are dead.

The Cathedral

George took us into the oldest newspaper in Buenos Aires, a beautiful old building with stunning wood panelling.

After we left him walked down Avenida Mayo.

They have statues every where, great fun.

I couldn't get over the wide streets, one we went up have six lanes on either side.

But the one thing you do learn quickly here, is that drivers have no regard for pedestrians, wherever you area.  Green lights and zebra costings mean nothing, they still keep coming.  You have to be so careful when crossing the road, you take your life in your hands.

We wandered into San Telmo again tonight to a small parilla and had supper and a beer in our little pub near the hotel.

One thing I am getting angry about is the poverty here, especially when it is also apparent that there is phenomenal wealth, there should be no need for it.  But it has become apparent that the corruption at every level in society is endemic, and that the wealthy and politician bleed the country dry.  We saw people going through the bins tonight, and every night, looking for things they can sell on.  Whole families doing it.

Buenos Aires 4

It's our first proper day in BA and we decided to walk down to barrio called La Boca.  It's a poor area of the city, got a bad reputation, and not the sort of place you walk around after dark.  It has an area by the water called Carminita and is often seen in travel books, with its brightly coloured houses.  The barrio is also famous for its La Boca football stadium.  Of course over there, they are obsessed with football and it is seen everywhere, and everyone talks about it.

We walked all the way there and all the way back.  It took us about four hours, but we got to see a lot of that side of the city. Some amazing sights, some less so.We had lunch of empanadas in a small cafe, talked rugby with the chef.

As we walked back to San Telmo we reached Plaza Dorego with its tango dancers, and the famous old cafe Dorego, where we stopped for coffee.

We walked into San Telmo in the evening and found it mainly closed, but spotted a small pasta place that was heaving.  And we know why, the pasta was superb.  Feet hurting, we hobbled back home and fell into bed.

Buenos Aires 2

We are back in BA after a great time in Iguazu.

Today we started on our last leg of our journey, left the Jasy Hotel and the airport. Iguazu is a small airport, with only a few planes going in and out everyday. But somehow they managed to turn what should have been a stress less flight into chaos. It was so nice when we finally got on the plane, and 1 hour 50 we were landing at BA. Our taxi driver was waiting and did fine example of driving calmly through the traffic.

Unfortunately when we arrived at Defensa, the street of our hotel, there was a street market going on,  so we had to haul our suitcases down the cobbled street. Luckily it wasn't too far.

We are staying in the Kenton Palace hotel, which isn’t a palace by the way. It is smallish new hotel in San Telmo. We have a great room, plenty of space, good air conditioning, as it is about 80 degrees today.

We dumped our luggage and went for a walk down through the market, which seems to go on for about a mile. We saw lots of interesting things but decided not to buy anything until we had been in BA for a while and got to know it better.

San Telmo is the oldist barrio in the city and is like staying in Camden or Islington. Lots of bars, small shops and just a bit tatty around the edges. But it is a great place to stay, I didn’t realise when I booked it, just how central it is to everything.

It became our local

Patagonia, a very good beer

We walked out at night to an area at the back of us and were surprised at how lively it was for a Sunday night.  We had a cafe meal and wandered around for a bit.  Quite surprised just how expensive the restaurants are.

Iguazu - Brazilian Side

Today we caught the bus to Brasil. We had to go through four sets of borders, luckily we just needed our passports and no visas. But it was worth it.

The Brazilians have got their act together and well organised . I was so glad that we got to see the falls from both sides, as it was quite different. In Argentina you could get very close to the falls and really feel their power and glory. From Brasil you got to see the whole range and all the falls. It was spectacular from both sides. What a great experience. I hope the pictures do it some justice.

What can you say!  absolutely lovely.