Buenos Aires - February 5th

Our last full day in BA was a fairly lazy day, partially influenced by sporting events, the Ireland v Wales rugby match, and the Chelsea v Man Utd soccer match, that I watched on TV.  Between them, blogging, packing and popping out to get lunch from the local shops, it was after 4 when we left the apartment.  The plan was to go to the cinema, but when we got there all the viewings were sold out, or only had crappy front row neck bending seats left, so we passed on it.  Instead we went to see some Latin American modern art at a museum and then we went for a dinner on a local street corner, and a final walk around the neighbourhood.  All in all our final day was spent much like the locals.

Because of this less than full day I’ll spend a little time doing a summary of BA, much like Dorota is doing in her blog.  While there have been comparisons with New York, the dog walkers are something I’d only seen there before, it is a bit of a pity that such a great city is being compared instead of standing on its own two legs so I’ll try to treat it fairly.  I’ll also mention some wider points about Argentina, although I’ll keep the final ones until we finish in Argentina altogether.
The first thing to say is that if this is what an economy looks like 10 years after defaulting on its international loans, I have no idea why they aren’t jumping at the chance in Athens.  While there are some signs that large capital projects are stalling, there is still work going on at the metro expansion in BA (and for where we were it was already a pretty good metro system), and in Mendoza.  I didn’t see the proposed one in Cordoba, but that city had one of the best motorway ring roads you would see anywhere.  The roads in BA were equally impressive, nice wide multi-lane avenues with not too much traffic on them, and then quiet side streets like our own, where taxis outnumber the cars.  All in all a pretty well designed town as far as transport goes.  As for the rest of the country the buses have been great, they are comfortable and despite the dodgy films, fairly peaceful places to sleep the long journeys away.  Of course part of me doesn’t want to because of all the beautiful landscapes.  I think the revelation has been the bus stations, which are like mini-airports, but without the awful security queues, and they are far safer (and the toilets far cleaner) than you would imagine.
Because we weren’t staying in a hotel it is hard to say what the standard of accommodation would be like in BA, but everything we saw there and in the places we stayed outside BA indicated that it would be fine.  While not brilliant, the hotels have generally been better than I expected, although also a little pricier than expected.  Rooms are generally smaller than you would like, the bathrooms can vary greatly in quality, and the breakfasts, where provided, are meagre, but still it’s not been too hard travelling here.
The standard of food has been outstanding though.  In BA it was amazing, although we did splash out on a couple of occasions, but why not, we may never be back there again.  But in general the food in Argentina has always been good; the main difference is not in the standard, but in the price or quantity.  We have had some great meals for very little, others have cost closer to what you would pay in London or Dublin, but they all have been tasty.  We have once or twice over-ordered, but we have learnt to order smaller dishes, or single dishes and share.  One other thing to note about the food, despite what you might think it is not all steak here.  It is possible to be a vegetarian and eat OK here, not as well as in Europe, but better than in New Zealand I would say.
I only have one bad thing to say about BA, the air conditioning.  Not the presence of it, that has been very welcome in the sticky heat of the BA summer, but the constant dripping of it down onto the streets below.  It’s very annoying as a pedestrian.  Our air con dripped into a bottle, and we tipped it down the sink every day.  I can’t understand why everyone else doesn’t have the same regard for their fellow Portenos (that’s people from BA).