OUR BLUDGE DAY IN BUENOS AIRES

WEATHER: HOT and 36C

HIGHLIGHT OF THE DAY: Speaking to Zeme  

BUMMER OF THE DAY: Can’t think of a single thing

WORD OF THE DAY: I LOVE BA  

Today was a bludge day.  No consulates to visit, no jobs to be done.  It is a Saturday and Kate and I briefly thought about doing one of the hostel pub crawls that was on tonight at 10pm, but we both know we will be buggered and not make it, but it was a plan.

With no alarm set again, my body clock woke me up at 6.30am and with the sunlight streaming straight into our room it was tough to get back to sleep, so I decided to shower and change and leaving a note for Kate went downstairs to spend some time on the computer.  7am in a hostel in Buenos Aires is a quite affair, so I decided to try and call Zeme from the hotel phones.  For whatever reason, I think it maybe the carrier they use, I couldn’t get through, but at least I tried and I will try again later when we head out for lunch.

I checked my blog this morning and I have had 24,999 hits on it since leaving home 10 months ago and I am chuffed that I am still getting so many people coming back to read my stuff.  When I first started the blog I would have never have thought that I would get so many people following my journey, but I am glad, as it keeps me enthused to keep it up to date, which is a good thing as I will have something pretty impressive to read once my Odyssey comes to end, whenever that will be.  I am thinking of keeping my blog going once I move to Ethiopia and write about the highs and hopefully the not too many lows on integrating myself into a new culture, a new home with a new man.  I know I won’t be writing a daily post, but I think it will be interesting for people to know about how things work in a different country and as unusual as Ethiopia.  What do you think?  So even though my travel odyssey may close, or not be as jammed pack, as I am sure we will still be travelling, I will still be able to keep in touch with the world with some African stories.  I am sure I am going to have some crackers as I try and also learn their language called Amharic, which is a little like Arabic and it is written with Cyrillic letters, so I will have a tough road ahead that is for sure.  I know I have said it several times before, but thank-you to the people who read my blog and come back and I know it has been referred a lot as well.  It is a labor of love and me and my little laptop and my trusty notebook will continue to share the world with you where we can.  BlogSpot is an awesome host.  It is very user friendly and they give you a whole bunch of stats that you can always look at, from where the traffic is coming from, where the clicks are coming from, the stats can be found on a now, this week, this month and all time basis and also which blogs have been the most read.  So the top five blog entries are: 

BIG CITY, BOYFRIEND, SEATING SAGAS AND GOODBYES

http://berniesworldodyssey.blogspot.com/2012/01/big-city-boyfriend-seating-saga-and.html

WELCOME TO THE LAND OF KEBAB YIROS AND GYROS

http://berniesworldodyssey.blogspot.com/2011/06/welcome-to-land-of-kebab-yiros-and.html

EKATERINBURG – MILITARY VERSUS ROMANOV’S

http://berniesworldodyssey.blogspot.com/2011/04/ekaterinburg-military-versus-romanovs.html

GOODBYE TO MY SPANISH CONTIKI-ERS

http://berniesworldodyssey.blogspot.com/2011/06/goodbye-to-my-spanish-contiki-ers.html

A NIGHT SPENT IN A MONGOLIAN GER

http://berniesworldodyssey.blogspot.com/2011/04/night-spent-in-mongolian-ger.html

So some surprises there for 4 of the top 5.  But interesting all the same.

Since my blog was up to date and all my pictures were loaded up, I thought I better put some work into my actual blog site, tabs, information and pictures that have been long neglected.  As I now have time and great internet speed.  So I was updating and busy loading all my Bernstar jumps, I had a look at my Photo of the Day album that was also quite far behind with photos only loaded to Madagascar, which was day 175, and I am currently up to day 306 of my trip.  So I needed to find 131 of my best pictures from each day.  The annoying thing is I have corrupted my external hard drive where all my photos had been saved, categorized into countries and then days, so I had to put in the raw mini SD cards, that has all the original photos, in their original format that haven’t been turned, cropped or touched and look for the best ones that way.  So you can imagine the time it takes to trawl through my thousands of photos to get the ‘winning’ pictures.  TIME CONSUMING.  But the longer I leave it the BIGGER the job will get, so I stuck with it and I think I now have all my days accounted for.  I am still thinking of a way to categorize them all and I think I put them into Continent albums.  That will make them nice and easy to look at, a lot more work for me as I will have to download and reload what I currently have into new albums, but I think that will be a nifty way for people to look at them.  I will save that job for tomorrow though, as it was 10.30am when Princess Kate arrived into the common room where we started to plan our day. 

I wanted to speak to Zeme today, so we headed out from the hotel to look for a cabina that would work to start with and then we were going to have a bite to eat and then attack the rest of the day.  I have worked out the Claro (phone company) doesn’t let me  call out to Ethiopia, but I have found there are cabina’s that use another phone company called Telefonica, and I can get through with them.  It does take a few tries to get through to Ethiopia, I find this all the time, no matter what country I have been in, but by the third or fourth try I normally get through.  Patience is of a virtue making these calls and just makes you think that we take something as simple as making a phone call for granted back home.  I think that is where my frustration lays; I’m not used to it.  So the good news is that Zeme's passport went in yesterday to the Brazil Consulate, Friday, and will be back in 5-6 working days.  Thank goodness it is finally in.  That will give him a week to get his visa for Venezuela when he gets his passport back from Brazil, which apparently they won’t need all that time and then he will be on a jet plane to Rio!!  So that is awesome news and has put my mind to rest.  There are only 19 days till I see him, which is 18 days till he leaves and I know it will be here before we both know it!

There was a jewelry shop that Kate’s mum had recommended so we were going to have a look at that and if we ran out of things to do, we had checked the movie times for Sherlock Holmes and we would head back to the river front if we didn’t find something better.  After finding the shop, we were lucky we didn’t have to walk too far as it was on our street, Florida, but it was closed.  I think it may have been a blessing in disguise, as they looked like they had some nice stuff through the window, and I got to keep some money in my purse for a while longer. 

We were starting to get hungry as we had skipped breakfast when Kate piped up about eating at TGI Fridays which we saw on our last taxi ride along the river front a few days ago.  What a great idea, I was starting to think about their potato skins and the large Kahlua milk shake things you can get from there as well.  Yeah let’s have TGI Fridays for lunch.  So we hailed a taxi, which I have to say is never an issue getting one in this city, and paid the very worth it 5AUD to get us to the waterfront.  It has been so hot the last few days with temperatures around the 35C.  It is a dry heat, but it’s still bloody hot and there isn’t a cloud in the sky to even give you a small reprieve, so we are also getting some colour as we do all our walking.  I had the cinema address written down in my notebook so we got dropped down there again not knowing what number TGI Fridays was, but we knew we saw it along here somewhere, how far can it be?  It was a little like Newfarm where they have converted wharf sheds into shops, restaurants and a Catholic University.  So we walked and walked and walked and after 25 minutes walking we decided it was a little further than first thought and with a time to keep of a 2.30pm for the movie, we turned around and went to one of the 50 restaurants we passed in the hunt for TGI Fridays. The restaurant we picked was a pasta pizza set up that had river views, so we had a leisurely lunch in the shade as we watched people walk the boardwalk and a single rower rowing back and forth up and down the river.  The beauty of this restaurant was it had free Wi-Fi, a great waiter who spoke enough English and kept on bringing out stacks of ice for our drinks and it was right next door to the cinema.

It is a pretty cool movie theater and to ask for tickets in Spanish for Sherlock Holmes was Sherlock Holmes, not too hard this time.  We decided not to buy the popcorn package this time as I was not sure after a chicken Caesar salad for lunch with some calamari rings that I could eat a monster bag again, so I went for the mini monster (which wasn’t that much smaller) and a bigger drink and we had 5 minutes to spare till the start of the movie.  It’s all in the timing people, all in the timing.  The movie was great, but I still think that Tower Heist was better.  I am lucky as Kate and the guys have seen 2 other movies on the trip so far in Salta and Santiago and apparently they were both busts!!!

So back to the hotel and back to some more internet.  I kept plodding on with my Photo of the Day pictures and the updating of my blog till 8pm when we decided we better get something to eat but couldn’t be bothered going to a proper restaurant, so we walked 5 minutes out the front of the hotel and had Macca’s.  I know, I know again, but it is quick and simple and it was good and we were back again within 40 minutes.  A quick one sometimes is a good one.  That also included a stop at the Pharmacy to get some new shampoo and conditioner.  I have been using the same brand since July and I think my poor hair needs a change as it just has a mind of its own after it has been washed and feels like straw.  So I lashed out and bought Pantene, its only 2.50AUD a bottle here, so I doubly lashed out and bought a bottle of conditioner as well.  I haven’t even had a conditioner bottle in my toiletry bag since leaving home, so this will be a little luxury that I hope that my hair will enjoy! 

I was then up until midnight still pulling off photos from my thousands in preparation of loading them all in the morning pre-empting that my internal alarm clock would be getting me up and not letting me have a sleep in no matter how late you go to bed……  

Another glorious day in Buenos Aires 

OUR CITY TOUR OF BUENOS AIRES

WEATHER: Hot and 33C

HIGHLIGHT OF THE DAY: Seeing some more of Buenos Aires

BUMMER OF THE DAY: Trying to get credit on my UK sim card

WORD OF THE DAY: Its hot, hot hot today......  

We had to be ready by 9am this morning in reception for our pickup for the half day city tour.  We were feeling great that we were getting out and about more and looking forward to seeing all the colorful buildings at La Boca. 

Our first stop was Floralis Genérica is a sculpture made of steel and aluminum located in Plaza de las Naciones Unidas.  It was a gift to the city by the Argentine architect Eduardo Catalano. Catalano once said that the flower "is a synthesis of all the flowers and is both a hope that is reborn every day to open."  It was created in 2002. The sculpture moves closing its petals in the evening and opening them in the morning.  The sculpture is located in the center of a park of four acres of wooded boundaries, surrounded by paths that get closer and provide different perspectives of the monument, and placed above a reflecting pool, which apart from fulfilling its aesthetic function, protects it. It represents a large flower made of stainless steel with aluminum skeleton and reinforced concrete, which looks at the sky, extending to it its six petals. It weighs eighteen tons and is 23 meters high.  One of the characteristics of the flower is an electrical system that automatically opens and closes the petals depending on the time of the day. At night the flower closes, emanating a red glow from inside, and reopens ("...is reborn...") the following morning. This mechanism also closes the flower if strong winds blow.  It opens every morning at 8 and closes at sunset, on a schedule that changes according to season. When its petals were inaugurated, they didn't close due to technical problems which were solved two months later.  There are four special nights in which the petals are open: May 25, September 21, December 24 and December 31.  It was pretty cool but apparently the opening and closing function is broken again it stay permanently open at the current minute. 

We got a drive through the Recoleta, which is a downtown residential neighborhood in the city.  It is an area of great historical and architectural interest, due, particularly to the Recoleta Cemetery located there. It is also an important tourist destination and cultural center of the city.  It is also considered one of the more affluent neighborhoods, and the cost per square meter/foot of real estate is one of the highest in the city. 

From here we drove through Palermo.  It is located in the northeast of the city with a total area of 17.4 km²; Palermo is the largest neighborhood in Buenos Aires. As of 1991 it had a population of 256,927 inhabitants. The "Bosques de Palermo" (Palermo Woods) as is popularly known, on the north-east side of Palermo was inspired by the "Bois de Boulogne" in Paris and the Prater (or Vienna Meadow) in Vienna. It is the largest green area in the city of Buenos Aires.

We travelled along Avenida del Libertador, which is one of the principal thoroughfares in Buenos Aires and it points north, extending 25 km from the Retiro District of Buenos Aires to the northern suburb of San Fernando.  It is one of the longest streets in the world.  We then arrived at The Plaza de Mayo which is the main square in downtown Buenos Aires, Argentina. Since being the scene of the 25 May 1810 revolution that led to independence, the plaza has been a hub of political life in Argentina.  Several of the city's major landmarks are located around the Plaza: the Cabildo (the city council during the colonial era), the Casa Rosada(home of the executive branch of the federal government), the Metropolitan Cathedral of Buenos Aires, the May Pyramid, the Equestrian monument to General Manuel Belgrano, the current city hall or municipalidad, and the headquarters of the Nación Bank. The Buenos Aires financial district (microcentro), affectionately known as la City (sic) also lies besides the Plaza.  We got 20 minutes here to have a quick walk around and the most famous building being the pink Casa Rosada when Eva Peron did her famous waves from one of the balconies facing into the square.

Our next stop was at La Boca which is another neighborhood, or barrio of Buenos Aires.   It retains a strong European flavor, with many of its early settlers being from the Italian city of Genoa. In fact the name has a strong assonance with the Genoese neighborhood of Boccadasse, and some people believe that the Buenos Aires barrio was indeed named after it. The conventional explanation is that the neighborhood sits at the mouth ("boca" in Spanish) of the Riachuelo.  In 1882, after a lengthy general strike, La Boca seceded from Argentina, and the rebels raised the Genoese flag, which was immediately torn down personally by then President Julio Argentino Roca. 

The first stop in la Boca was at La Bombonera Stadium.  People on the tour got a chance to go inside if they wanted at an additional cost for 15 minutes, but we decided we didn’t love football that much and just walked around some of the shops they had outside the gates that were obviously geared for their teams colours.  It is known among sports fans that La Bombonera is the home of Boca Juniors, one of the world's best known football clubs. Club Atlético Boca Juniors is an Argentine sports club based in La Boca.  Although many activities are hosted by the club, Boca Juniors is mostly known for its professional football team, which currently plays in the Argentine Primera División. Boca Juniors is the current champion of football in Argentina, and is historically considered one of the greatest football clubs in the world.  Boca Juniors is the most successful football team in Argentina and one of the most in the world, having won 51 official titles at the national and international level. Internationally, the team has won eighteen international titles, a record shared with A.C. Milan.

We then travelled 4 blocks, still in the La Boca neighborhood to see all the colorful houses and Pedestrian Street, and the most famous, the Caminito, where tango artists perform and tango-related memorabilia is sold.  It was quite busy here, with a lot of tourist’s busses coming and going, but we got 30 minutes to walk around and get some great photos with all the colours of the buildings it was like a photographer’s paradise.  So of the buildings are a little worse for wear and the area reminded me of a travelling show long forgotten or the streets of New Orleans.   There were markets, and tango dancers all vying for a photo opportunity, restaurants and shops all selling ‘tango’ related merchandise and lots and lots of local artesian selling all sorts of paintings, from oil, paint, 3D to framed and chalk.  It was a lively area but I am not sure I would want to be down here after dark.  As one of Buenos Aires's 48 barrios, La Boca is located in the city's south-east near its old port. In La Boca many of the residents are of mixed European descent. Mainly Italian, Spanish, German, French, Arab and Basque.

Back on the bus again, and we then travelled down Avenida 9 de Julio.  It is a wide avenue in the city and its name honors Argentina's Independence Day, July 9, 1816.  The avenue runs roughly 1 km to the west of the Río de la Plata Waterfront, from the Retiro district in the north to Constitución station in the south. The avenue has up to seven lanes in each direction and is flanked on either side by parallel streets of two lanes each.  The avenue's unusual width is because it spans an entire city block, the distance between two streets in the checkerboard pattern used in Buenos Aires. The distance between adjacent streets is roughly 110 m, greater than the equivalent distance in Manhattan, New York, USA.  The avenue was first planned in 1888, with the name of Ayohuma; but the road was long opposed by affected landlords and residents, so work did not start until 1935. The initial phase was inaugurated on 9 July 1937 and the main stretch of the avenue was completed in the 1960s. The southern connections were completed after 1980, when the downtown portion of the toll way system was completed. Clearing the right-of-way for these intersections required massive condemnations in the Constitución area.

Crossing the avenue at street level often requires a few minutes, as all intersections have traffic lights. Under normal walking speed, it takes pedestrians normally two to three green lights to cross it. Some urban planners have submitted projects to move the central part of the avenue underground to alleviate the perceived "chasm" between the two sides of the avenue.  Kate and I are going to see if we can make it over in one cross, which means we will have to run and also jaywalk across some of the lights.  Stay tuned and we will let you know if we can do it or not!  It is a damn bus road that is for sure.

It is on Avenida 9 de Julio that you can see and find The Obelisk of Buenos Aires.  It is a national historic monument and icon of the city.  Located in the Plaza de la República, in the intersection of avenues Corrientes and 9 de Julio, it was built to commemorate the fourth centenary of the first foundation of the city.  Construction began on March 20, 1936 and was inaugurated on May 23 of the same year. It was designed by architect Alberto Prebisch (one of the main architects of the Argentine modernism who also designed the Teatro Gran Rex, in Corrientes and Suipacha) at the request of the mayor Mariano de Vedia y Mitre. For its construction, which cost 200,000 pesos, 680 m³ of concrete and 1360 m² of Olaen white stone from Córdoba were used.  The obelisk was built by the German company Siemens Bauunion - Grün & Bilfinger, which completed its work in a record time of 31 days, with 157 workers. The rapid hardening Incor cement was used and was built in sections of 2 meters to facilitate the dumping of concrete.  Its height is 67.5 m, and 63 m of these are up to the initiation of the apex, which is 3.5 m by 3.5 m. The tip is blunt, measuring 40 cm and ends in a lightning rod that cannot be seen because of the height, whose cables run through the interior of the obelisk.  It has only one entrance (in its west side) and on its top there are four windows, that can only be reached by a straight staircase of 206 steps with 7 breaks every 8–6 m.

So this pretty much concluded the city tour at 1.30pm.  We got dropped off at the Obelisk, as we had to may hay to the Paraguay Consulate before they closed at 3pm.  With another 20 minute walk under our cap, we made it to the consulate and only after a 20 minute wait we had our passports and our Paraguay visa tucked safely in our bags.  That is the last visa I need to pre-get, besides my US visa waiver when I head to the States in May and I believe we need a visa for Venezuela, but this can be done on the border as we enter.  Goodbye Consulates.  I WILL not miss dealing with you.  Oh my next dealings will be with the Ethiopian Consulate in Melbourne in July, but they seemed quite helpful and I am hoping things will be pretty straight forward there, but knowing consulates this may not always be the case but I do have a god vibe about them.

Since I made the call back home a few days ago to the girls it sucked all my credit out of my UK sim account.  As Paul and Liz are still currently travelling on the truck, I have lost my ‘credit line’ of getting money onto my account.  So I messaged Em and Paps in the UK and also Dave in Ireland to see if they could pop some credit onto my card for me, which I got replies back from both of them that the system wouldn’t let them do it.  Oh for God’s sake.  Thanks for trying guys, and I still have Paps on the case for me but how hard can it be to get some bloody credit onto a mobile phone?  So I am credit less at the moment and not liking the feeling of not being able to send text messages.  I checked at a few phone shops here on the way back and there are only certain shops that sell the pre-paid sims here and with only another week in Argentina I need to weight up if it is worth the bother.  Damn UK sim card.

The afternoon was spent blogging and I am happy to say I am now UP TO DATE!  The Wi-Fi at the hostel is amazing, considering they have 20 computers that always seem to be busy and a damn lot of people all on the Wi-Fi, they must have some sized account is all I can say.  I was able to load today’s photos, punch out a few messages, emails and generally just have a play around on the internet which is a luxury when you are travelling as most sites are not this good.  I still rekon the internet access I had in Vic Falls and Cape Town have been the best and fastest on my whole trip.  This is the way of the world now. 

So another day down and we have some cruisy days ahead, with a little shopping, a visit to the San Telmo markets on Sunday and the group arriving Monday afternoon, we are now in chill mode as we have seen just about all the sites that BA has to offer.  Barr the museums of course, but we really aren’t museum goers, so this isn’t on our hit list.  I am thinking of getting my haircut as I am getting a little bushy and maybe my eyebrows waxed, but otherwise we were talking about seeing another movie and just chillaxing. 

Its buenos nachos from me and buenos nachos from Kate in Buenos Aires.

AUSTRALIA DAY IN BUENOS AIRES

WEATHER: Hot and 33C

HIGHLIGHT OF THE DAY: Getting my Brazil visa in my hot little hands

BUMMER OF THE DAY: Yep…still got nothing…..

WORD OF THE DAY:  Eddie Murphy is back!

HAPPY AUSTRALIA DAY TO ALL MY AUSSIE MATES BACK HOME.

Arvo, barney, bizo, bloke, blue, corker, crook, dunny, fair dinkum, fair go, grog, half your luck, lair, loo, mate, middy, mug, pissed, pissed off, plonk, rack off, ripper, schooner, shout, sport, ta, tucker, wowser, yobbo. 

Kate and I had all intentions of looking for an Aussie bar in BA and sinking a few drinks in honor of our beautiful country.  But after looking around the internet and asking the chick at the Australian Consulate if there was a place where Aussies hung out, it was a big zippo on both fronts.  So feeling a little disparaged there was a sign at reception this morning saying any Aussies who want to celebrate to come on down to Fusion (bar downstairs of the hostel), but no time.  So that was encouraging and we planned on making a visit sometime in the afternoon.   You fellow Aussies need to appreciate the lifestyle and opportunities we have back home.  We have enough jobs for people; we have equality, a good life and plenty of food and water (now), well for majority of the population.  I’m not saying we don’t have our issues but weighing it all up we really are a lucky country.  Make the most of it, there are people all over this world that would give a small fortune, loved ones and goodness knows what else to have the opportunities we have.  Had a bad day at work?  Be thankful you have a job.  Got a bill in the mail?  Be glad you have money to pay for it.  Got a small cold?  Be thankful you have access to a doctor and drugs.  Worried about your weight?  Be thankful you have had enough food to eat.  Got relationship problems – suck it up, that happens worldwide, no matter where or what country you are in.  Toughen up people….  Things could always be a lot worse!  Australia is an amazing place to live – so never forget that.

HAPPY AUSTRALIA DAY xx

We only had two consulates to visit today.  The Brazil for a pickup and the Paraguay for a drop off.  I couldn’t collect my passport from the Brazil Consulate before 12 noon, so we decided to not set the alarm for this morning and just ‘wake’ up whenever and plan our morning from there.  Just to be on the safe side I did set my alarm for 12 noon, in case by some freak of nature we slept though, I didn’t want to miss picking up my passport.  Well we didn’t have to fear, I woke at 9am and since we had time on our side and Kate was still snoozing I had a long shower, washed my hair and shaved my legs.  Man I feel half human again.  I do need to pluck my eyebrows and I rekon I am just about good as new! 

We skipped breakfast and headed to the common room to do some internetting and also book 2 tours that we wanted to do while we are here.  One was the 3 hour city tour which we have booked for tomorrow and the other one was a day trip to Uruguay on Wednesday.  We figured we can’t come all this way and miss out on touching Uruguay, so we have booked a full day tour.  It is a fast speed ferry that takes an hour to get there, we get a city tour and lunch included and then we are on the 5pm ferry back to Buenos Aires.  We are lucky we have the time to do it, as some of the guys on the truck were keen to also do it, but they only have 3 full days here, so to use one of them up out of BA is a tossup for them on what they will do.  But we are happy we have locked it in as apparently it is a popular tour and it fills up quite quickly!  So with the next few days sorted out, we hit the streets to drop off our laundry by instructions given by the reception girls, which we followed to a tee and found the laundry with no problems.  So after walking around BA with our dirty laundry and dropping it off for collection tonight at 7pm, we found another pedestrian shopping street that had more restaurants than Florida.  So we walked through and since we had skipped breakfast we had a midday lunch at Macca’s.  I know, I know, but we wanted something quick and it was the first thing we saw.  So with some food in our stomachs we headed back to the Brazil Consulate for what we hope was the last time. 

It is nice going back to somewhere you have been, you know where you are going and what to do.  So after the security check and scan again I was told to stand at window number 5 again for collection.  There were 6 people in front of me, but after 15 minutes the 3 people before me were also colleting passports, so she went and got them all at the same time.  I now have my BRAZIL visa!  Yay, but my worry doesn’t stop there as I am still waiting on hearing back from Zeme and the status of his visa, as he has an appointment tomorrow to lodge his.  But we are one step closer with mine.  RELEIF CITY.

So from here we tracked the same way we went yesterday to the Paraguay Consulate and got there just before 2pm.  After seeing so many people in there yesterday it was a shock to only see a handful of people in the line that had 100 yesterday and our line was longer today, damn it.  There was an American couple in front of us getting their visa which they needed before 9pm, as they were catching a bus tonight!  Talk about cutting it fine when the consulate closes in an hour, but our Paraguay man was all over it and said no problems we will rush it through for you with all smiles.  He really is a gem.  He remembered us and welcomed us back, took all our documents and we had a small scary moment when he asked for my airline ticket to show me leaving South America, which I don’t have, to which he replied no problems we will just say you are traveling with Kate on the 30^th April and that will solve that.  He said I am here to help you visit our country.  Oh how I wish all consulates in the world took on that attitude!  This guy needs to be cloned.  He told us our passports would be ready at 10am tomorrow.  Holy schmokes I like the way things work here in Buenos Aires!

So with our morning walking exercise completed we decided to pay for a cab back to Florida and then walk to the cinema’s we had seen in the morning which were closer than the ones we had Goggled.  We wanted to see Tower Heist or Sherlock Holmes.  Once we got to the ticket window we found out that they were subtitled, but in English and they were Spanish speaking, which Kate and I agreed would have been too much work reading it all, so we stuck with our original plan and caught a taxi to Peurto Maderno and watched the movie in English with Spanish subtitles.  It was just like walking into a movie theater back home except for the price.  We got a drinks and popcorn package with our tickets that cost us all up 100 pesos (23AUD) for the 2 of us and food.  I tell you we are ripped off back home that is for sure.  And the popcorn was the proper salty stuff that makes your lips all wrinkly and makes you thirsty as hell after eating a massive box. Nom nom nom nom…..We ended up watching Tower Heist and it was a great movie with Ben Stiller and Eddie Murphy and totally worth seeing if you get the chance. 

We only had an hour to rest back at the hotel before we had to head back out at 7pm to collect our washing.  I got 24 pieces done for 32 pesos (7.50AUD) and it is worth every penny.  That is one thing about my time in South America I have only had to hand wash like twice, some underwear, the rest of the time there has been laundry facilities available and it is all cheap.  The bonus of not hand washing is your clothes last longer and the clothes I have need to hang on for another 3 months when I get to the States and be able to buy some new non-backpacking clothes and slowly ease myself back in to western society if only for a few months before heading back to Africa.  

We had plans of venturing out again for some dinner, but time got away with some of us having a nana nap (Kate) and me trying to catch up on my blogs that 9.30pm rocked around, and we couldn’t be bothered so we changed into our PJ’s and called it a night.  It may sound sad, but we actually feel like we are on a holiday here.  We don’t have to run around like headless chooks to try and see everything in 2 days, what we are seeing over 10 days the guys only have 3 days to do it.  I rekon it can be stressful sometimes as there are things you want to see that you may not have time for and then you have to decide on which one you want to see more.  That is the one downside to cruising being in port for only one day, there could be 3 things you want to do but only have time for one.  Luckily we aren’t on a cruise.  I did see some Princess passengers yesterday and I saw a Costa Representative today at La Boca.  Wonder how their forward bookings are looking after one of their ships sank off the coast of Italy a few weeks ago and I believe people died.  In this day and age that is really strange.  I should look it up and see what actually happened.

As you can guess we didn’t make the Aussie celebrations downstairs after all, but that is okay.  We know we live in the lucky country and after travelling the world we really do have a good life in Australia.  I got sent 2 photos from Shelly on her new IPhone that she received from Santa, which I am so glad she has now joined the gadget world.  But one photo was of the boys and crazy cay kids pulling funny faces in their Aussie Day garb and the other was of the ladies with their sexy Aussie sunglasses at the races somewhere.  Geez I miss those times the most, and know that I was thinking of you all today. 

HAPPY AUSTRALIA DAY FROM BUENOS AIRES xx

ONE CONSULATE, TWO CONSULATE, THREE CONSULATE - DONE

WEATHER: Hot and 33C

HIGHLIGHT OF THE DAY: Getting my Brazil visa in with no problems

BUMMER OF THE DAY: Can’t think of one – today was a good day

WORD OF THE DAY:  Consulates

Today is consulate day.  We have 3 that we want to visit and hope that they are open.  Brazil, Paraguay and the Australian Consulates.  Besides the Brazil Consulate we haven’t checked their operating hours, which was a little silly as Consulates walk to the beat of their own drums and they have some weird hours for visa processing.

I had an appointment for the Brazil Consulate at 10.15am, but when I booked it in online, I didn’t get a ticket number, so to be on the safe side I made another appointment for the next available time slot 30 minutes later and got a ticket number for that one as my backup.  I triple checked all the documentation that I would need as I know how anal they are and I was ready to get my blasted Brazil visa.  Kate had looked at her Google maps and it was only a 25 minute walk from the hotel, so after breakfast we started out at 9.15am to give us plenty of time to get there and just soak in the city of Buenos Aires.  Once we arrived at the consulate located on the 5^th floor, our bags were checked and we had to walk through a security scanner to get to the reception area where I was instructed to wait at window number 5 for the tourist visas.  It seems at this point useless having a ticket number and an appointment.  There were 4 people in front of me, but due to them not having all the require paperwork they were sent away to get it done, so I moved pretty quickly up the line, and I was nervous!  It’s crazy I’m nervous about getting a damn visa, but it is pretty important and 5 weeks of my trip hinges on getting let into Brazil.  So my turn came and as she barked what she needed, I pulled it all out and the last thing she needed was an address and phone number in BA.  I was lucky I had the map that was given to us at the hostel that had all that information on it and I was able to give that to her for her to input into the computer!  I was given a piece of paper that had an address of a bank that I had to directly deposit the 162 pesos (38 AUD) into and my passport would be ready for collection from 12 noon TOMORROW!!!!  Are you kidding me?  My whole trip I have been worried about getting this sucker.  I tried in Sydney before leaving, and they take 20 working days and costs 120AUD, I tried in Ireland, Paris and Nairobi but they only issue visas for their own nationals and London I ran out of time as they take 5 working days.  Buenos Aires takes 24 HOURS!!!  I can’t believe my luck!!!  The bank was easier enough to find and only a short walk from the consulate, so I had lodged and paid for my Brazil visa in the span of 25 minutes!  AWESOME.

Next was the Paraguay Consulate.  This has also been a problem with Quito, Santiago and La Paz not wanting to play ball.  Their consulate was only a 30 minute walk from the Brazil Consulate, so we powered over to them and when we got into the consulate on the ground floor there were 2 counters, one had a only 3 people waiting and the other I rekon there must have been over 150 people all standing in a line.  I said to Kate we would be crazy to wait for hours to lodge her passport and then have to come back tomorrow to do the same thing again for mine after I had collected it from Brazil.  She agreed but on the way out, I stopped at the smaller line that now only had one person, so we waited and asked the gentleman behind the bars if that, indicating the massive line, was the line for tourists visa’s and he said no he does them in perfect English with a hint of an American accent.  I have to say he was the friendliest consulate person I have ever dealt with EVER.  He gave us the forms, told us everything we needed and that if we had them in by 3pm (when the close) we would have them back at 10am the next morning!  AWESOME!!  We also got extra forms for Deb, Sharon and Mick for when they get here on Monday to streamline their process for them.  I nearly skipped out of the Paraguay Consulate, I just cannot believe how dang helpful he was.  Really it was mind blowing!  So we will go back tomorrow when I have my passport back and then get that puppy all done and dusted.  Tick.  What next?

The next stop was the Australian Consulate.  This was the last place beside Rio where I could get my Divorce application signed by some-one who was authorized.  In hindsight I probably should have made an appointment.  The Australian Consul was too far away to walk, so we caught a taxi 15 minutes away and as we pulled up at the side of the consulate it had a massive padlock on the gates, not thinking that today was the 25^th January here (26^th back home-meaning Australia Day ) and maybe they were closed for the public holiday.  So we held the cab and I found another entry and they were very much open, phew, so we let the taxi go and entered into the reception area.  I explained I needed a document witnessed and he told us to wait and he made some calls.  10 minutes later, we had to leave our bags in a locker, go through a security scanner and head outside and walk up to this majestic art deco building where the actual consulate was located.  Here there was another reception and I showed her the documents and as it is an affidavit she had to get some-one else to witness them and we were buzzed through to a large waiting room that just screamed Australia.  There were books lining all 4 walls all on Oz, a coffee table with Oz magazines and pictures of Oz on the walls.  It was a classy room though, so we took a seat and waited another 10 minutes till a woman came out, introduced herself and apologized for keeping us waiting!  How nice….  As it is an affidavit I had to make an affirmation, we couldn’t do an oath as there wasn’t a Bible, which I had to repeat after her, we signed the document, repeated what I had actually signed, and the official stamp was put in the document and I finally had that blasted thing now signed and ready to post to Drew for him to submit to the courts.  Another step closer to making it all official.    

So we had an awesome morning at the three consulates getting everything done that we wanted to achieve and all before lunch time!  Thanks to Kate for coming along for the ride.  As we were in this part of town, we were to pass the La Recoleta Cemetery on the way back, so we decided to catch the taxi there and get some sightseeing done in the afternoon.

  

The La Recoleta Cemetery is an amazing place.  I am not sure if it is macabre to say that graveyards are interesting to walk around, but you haven’t seen a cemetery until you have seen the La Recoleta.  It is located as the name suggests in the Recoleta neighborhood.  It contains the graves of notable people, including Eva Perón, Raúl Alfonsín, and several presidents of Argentina.  The monks of the Order of the Recoletos arrived in this area, then the outskirts of Buenos Aires, in the early eighteenth century. The cemetery is built around their convent and a church, Our Lady of Pilar, built in 1732. The order was disbanded in 1822, and the garden of the convent was converted into the first public cemetery in Buenos Aires. Inaugurated on 17 November of the same year under the name ofCementerio del Norte (Northern Cemetery), those responsible for its creation were the then-Governor Martin Rodríguez, who would be eventually buried in the cemetery, and government minister Bernardino Rivadavia. The 1822 layout was done by architect and civil engineer Próspero Catelin, who also designed the current facade of the Buenos Aires Metropolitan Cathedral. The cemetery was last remodeled in 1881, while Torcuato de Alvear was mayor of the city, by the Italian architect Juan Antonio Buschiazzo.

Set in 5.5 hectares (14 acres), the property contains 4691 vaults, all above ground, of which 94 have been declared National Historical Monuments by the Argentine government and are protected by the state.  The entrance to the cemetery is through neo-classical gates with tall Doric columns.  The cemetery contains many elaborate marble mausoleums, decorated with statues, in a wide variety of architectural styles such as Art Deco, Art Nouveau, Baroque, and Neo-Gothic, and most materials used between 1880 and 1930 in the construction of tombs were imported from Paris and Milan.  The entire cemetery is laid out in sections like city blocks, with wide tree-lined main walkways branching into sidewalks filled with mausoleums.  While many of the mausoleums are in fine shape and well-maintained, others have fallen into disrepair.  Several can be found with broken glass and littered with rubbish.

It is free to enter the cemetery and we purchased a map for 8 pesos, which goes towards the upkeep of the graves.  The main draw card for everyone that enters is Eva Peron’s grave, but we decided to see the rest of the cemetery first and it was an architectural wonder.  To think how much money was spent on the memorials, burials, and mausoleums would be mind boggling.  Certainly only the wealthy, rick and famous were the only ones that could afford to be buried here that is for sure.  Some of them were the size of small bedrooms and very elaborate.  75% of the mausoleums were upkept, but there were a few that hadn’t had anything done to them and they really were in bad repair.  I wonder if all the family has died out and there is no-one who cares now about it.  It could be a cost thing, I am sure it would cost a pretty penny these days to keep them all shiney and new.  We walked around for just over an hour and we got some great photos.  I think the most surprising thing was looking into the crypts and seeing the coffins there.  Some of them had children, which isn’t too shocking but there was a few that had multiple baby coffins, like 3-6 of them.  Unfortunately dying is something that happens to everyone, it is just a matter of how much time in this world do we actually get.  You just never know what is around the corner.  What an amazing place.

We were famished by this point, so it was a taxi back to Florida Street, which is where our hostel is also located and we walked the longest pedestrian shopping street of all of Buenos Aires, 14 blocks, to find somewhere to eat.  We found this great restaurant/café that had an English menu with a lot of options, was super busy and reasonably priced.  I got a Cesar salad which can sometimes be a little hit and miss, but this one was amazing even though I had to pick out all the olives and it hit the spot after such a busy but productive day.  You just feel good when you have done and accomplished things, whether on holidays or back home and we were feeling great.

We did a spot of shopping on the way back to the hostel.  I ended up buying a new day bag and not a moment too soon as I discovered a hole in the bottom of the current one I bought for 8 bucks in Cuzco and my other purchase was a new watch.  I have decided to buy a good watch and one that can be worn in the shower, as this is what gets me each time I buy cheap ones, so I stuck with what I know and got a Swatch.  It is a cool looking one that fits right in with all my bangles.  A great purchase.  Kate and I separated after this, she wanted to do some more shoe shopping and I wanted to place a call to Zeme.  So I found a cabina on Florida Street, but some Spanish lady was telling me something, so after 3 attempts I gave up and tried another one 5 blocks away.  It was a different phone company but I still couldn’t get through and this is when I noticed I was a bag short, I had left my watch in the last cabina.  So I high tailed it back 15 minutes back and there was a lady in my booth, but when I looked in my 120AUD watch was still sitting on the floor in its bag!  Phew……………………….  That was a close call. 

So I went back to the hostel for a well-deserved rest.  I got blogging and internetting and Kate had a bit of a nana nap before coming down to the common room and jumping online.  We can’t explain after a late lunch why we were hungry at 7.30pm, and as were a little haggard after today we just did the lazy thing and headed back to the same restaurant we had lunch at and ate dinner there as well.  It was funny one of the staff recognized us and said welcome back and she had told us the food was good and she was right.

So my Brazil visa is in, my divorce papers are signed and we are ready for the Paraguay Consulate tomorrow.

We are enjoying Buenos Aires and are looking forward to the next 8 days here.

ADIOS FELLOW TUCANS FOR A WEEK

WEATHER: Cold and windy 5C

HIGHLIGHT OF THE DAY: Catching a plane feels like we’re getting back to society

BUMMER OF THE DAY: It was freezing outside

WORD OF THE DAY:  You got the key?  I got the secret…..

DISTANCE TRAVELLED: 3450KM by air

Departure day for us!  We are leaving the icebox a day earlier than the group and heading for the warmer weather up north and we are excited!!!  A lot of the group had left before Kate and I had gotten out of bed, another bonus we got to have a sleep in.  I lasted till 9am and I am happy to report that I didn’t have to make any toilets stops last night and to just give you a little too much information I passes a small fart this morning, which hopefully means the last 2 pills I consumed before bed last night helped in the final recovery.  48 hours of diarrhea ain't fun and I am glad it cleared up before the flight. 

As I packed last night I had some spare time in the morning, so after breakfast I jumped onto the internet and I re-submitted my divorce application for the second time.  The problem has been finding some-one authorized to be able to witness my affidavit, but I am going to make a concerted effort and make a visit to the Australian Consulate in Buenos Aires and get the damn thing signed and back to Australia so Drew can lodge it all and get the final steps done to make it all official.  So with the application re-lodged it was time to head to the airport.  We were lucky enough that Gray and Mark dropped us at the airport in Rosita, so thanks guys it is really appreciated and as we waved them off as they drove away it felt a little strange, but I guess eventually we will be saying goodbye permanently in April, but we won’t talk about that just now.

The airport is located on a point right next to one of the channels and when we got off the truck we could barely walk straight the wind was that strong.  How the hell can a plane take off in that wind is beyond me, and I am not going to question it as long as we get away on time then how they do it I don’t really care?  We got to the airport at 11.45am, which seems early for a domestic flight at 1.33pm but after checking in, which there was no queue and my bag only weighted 16.3KG, paying the departure tax of 5.50AUD for a domestic flight (go figure) a spot of duty free shopping where I bought some new travel perfumes as the one I bought in Madagascar in September was nearing the end of the bottle and a drink at the café to access some free Wi-Fi it was time to head upstairs and clear the security check points.  For a domestic flight they certainly have enough security with a guy checking your passport and boarding pass, to enter into a smaller room where there is another guy checking your passport and boarding pass again to then have all your bags scanned to get into the lounge.  There were a lot of people around already sitting and a big queue behind us; it must be a busy flight.  I got napped at the scanning process and they asked me to take everything out of my backpack.  Not sure why as I was given the all clear and waved through, so not sure what sparked their attention as Kate got straight through.

Well the free Wi-Fi extended in the departure lounge, so we sat with all the other people until I was sure that I heard my name called over the PA, but with a whole bunch of other names and in Spanish.  I said this to Kate and she said she didn’t hear it, but there were people walking up to the gate and heading to the plane, so I said to Kate we should go and check, let’s go, and as we got to the counter they were recalling us and this time Kate heard her name!  All the people in the departure lounge were on a flight leaving 10 minutes after us!!!  OMG can you imagine telling the Tucan group we missed our flight.  Lucky we weren’t the only ones so we weren’t the last ones on the flight, but when we got to the plane everyone was all strapped in ready to go. Opps sorry.  That was close!  Kate and I were both given an aisle seat and after they had closed the doors there were a few spare rows around us so I moved to a window seat and Kate took the aisle for the 3.5 hour flight to BA.  We were flying Areolineas Argentina’s which had a 3 x 3 seating configuration.  When I flew this leg last time I flew with Austral and their planes are a lot older than this plane and I think the main difference was that the last flights were in and out of the domestic terminal where this flight was into the international airport.  Maybe that is why the flight was more expensive, but my last ticket I booked 10 months out this one was 4 weeks, so that also could have had a big impact as well.  I feel like I am half human again sitting on a plane, back into civilization for a short moment in time and off the truck.  It might sound weird, but to mix with ‘normal’ people who aren’t living out of a backpack and that call a big yellow truck home is a small change to what we are used to from the last 3 months.

So this was my 40^th flight of the Odyssey and it feels weird to be travelling so light.  My check-in backpack was 16.5kg; I have a smaller backpack and a smaller handbag.  Everything on a normal travel day is twice the size and twice the weight.  I think back to when I left Brisbane and I had an additional sidebag as well makes me laugh on how much stuff I had, but I just didn’t know what I would and wouldn’t need straight away. 

We touched down in Buenos Aires at 4.50pm.  Ahhhhhh it already looks warmer out there.  Bring on the sunshine!!  Buenos Aires is the capital and largest city of Argentina, and the second-largest metropolitan area in South America, after São Paulo.  The city of Buenos Aires was first established as Ciudad de Nuestra Señora Santa María del Buen Ayre (literally "City of Our Lady Saint Mary of the Fair Winds") after Our Lady of Bonaria(Patroness Saint of Sardinia) on 2 February 1536 by a Spanish expedition led by Pedro de Mendoza . The settlement founded by Mendoza was located in what is today the San Telmodistrict of Buenos Aires, south of the city center.

More attacks by the indigenous peoples forced the settlers away, and in 1541 the site was abandoned. A second (and permanent) settlement was established in 1580 by Juan de Garay, who arrived by sailing down the Paraná River from Asunción (now the capital of Paraguay). He dubbed the settlement "Santísima Trinidad" and its port became "Puerto de Santa María de los Buenos Aires."

From its earliest days, Buenos Aires depended primarily on trade. During most of the 17th and 18th centuries, Spanish ships were menaced by pirates, so they developed a complex system where ships with military protection were dispatched to Central America, cross the land, from there to Lima, Peru and from it to the inner cities of the viceroyalty. Because of this, products took a very long time to arrive in Buenos Aires, and the taxes generated by the transport made them prohibitive. This scheme frustrated the traders of Buenos Aires, and a thriving contraband industry developed. This also instilled a deep resentment in porteños towards the Spanish authorities.  Sensing these feelings, Charles III of Spain progressively eased the trade restrictions and finally declared Buenos Aires an open port in the late 18th century.

In the 19th century the city was blockaded twice by naval forces: by the French from 1838 to 1840, and later by a joint Anglo-French expedition from 1845 to 1848. Both blockades failed to force the city into submission, and the foreign powers eventually desisted from their demands.  During most of the 19th century, the political status of the city remained a sensitive subject. It was already capital of Buenos Aires Province, and between 1853 and 1860 it was the capital of the seceded State of Buenos Aires. The issue was fought out more than once on the battlefield, until the matter was finally settled in 1880 when the city was federalized and became the seat of government, with its Mayor appointed by the President. The Casa Rosada became the seat of the President.

In addition to the wealth generated by the Buenos Aires Customs and the fertile pampas, railroad development in the second half of the 19th century increased the economic power of Buenos Aires as raw materials flowed into its factories. A leading destination for immigrants from Europe, particularly Italy and Spain, from 1880 to 1930 Buenos Aires became a multicultural city that ranked itself with the major European capitals. The Colón Theater became one of the world's top opera venues, and the city became the regional capital of radio, television, cinema, and theatre. The city's main avenues were built during those years, and the dawn of the 20th century saw the construction of South America's then-tallest buildings and the first underground system. A second construction boom from 1945 to 1980 reshaped downtown and much of the city.

Tango music's birthplace is in Argentina. Its sensual dance moves were not seen as respectable until adopted by the Parisian high society in the 1920s, and then all over the world. In Buenos Aires, tango-dancing schools (known as academias) were usually men-only establishments.  On 30 September 2009, UNESCO's Intergovernmental Committee of Intangible Heritage declared tango part of the world's cultural heritage, making Argentina eligible to receive financial assistance in safeguarding this cultural treasure for future generations.

Buenos Aires architecture is characterized by its eclectic nature, with elements resembling Barcelona, Paris and Madrid. There is a mix, due to immigration, of Colonial, Art Deco, Art Nouveau, Neo-Gothic and French Bourbon styles. Italian and French influences increased after the declaration of independence at the beginning of the 19th century, though the academic style persisted until the first decades of the 20th century.  Attempts at renovation took place during the second half of the 19th century and the beginning of the 20th, when European influences penetrated into the country. 

What a lot of information to condense so as not to bore you all.  We had a free transferred that was offered as part of our hotel rate, but it was scheduled departures, so by the time we got our bags and found the meeting point we only had an hour to wait, which wasn’t too bad, so we went to the closest eatery, which happened to be Macca’s and decided to have any early dinner while we waited.  So we went back to the meeting point at 6.30pm and we had to wait another 20 minutes as we waited for the driver to get there and then we were walked to the van, loaded on and started our journey to the hotel.  It was just Kate and I in the 15 seater van and we were travelling at like 60KM an hour on a major road.  We had caravans, semi-trailers and shit boxes passing us on the motorway.  It was all explained when the driver pulled into the first petrol station to fill up, which I hate when they do this when they have clients in the van, and he had the nerve to jab to us in Spanish that we had to give him pesos so he could put in fuel.  Ummm I don’t think so pal.  He was getting quite irky with us, with him not speaking English and us not speaking Spanish, but I was getting the drift he needed money to fill up.  I said we weren’t going to pay as the transfer was included and I pulled out our confirmation to which he huffed, he drove us in a circle to get out of the way of the pumps, asked us again for money which we said no and I was prepared to ring his office for them to ask what was happening when he drove back to a pump, spoke to the pump guy, who checked with someone and then 10AUD of fuel was out in the van and we were back on the road.  All very strange, as he didn’t give the pump guy money, so there is an account, the guy has done him a favor or they know him, I’m not sure all I knew was weren’t going to give him a dime.  So an hour later we got dropped off and pointed in the right direction to our hotel which is located in a pedestrian shopping mall and even though it went against the grain we still tipped him for his efforts.  We probably shouldn’t have, but all is fair in love and transfers. 

The hostel is in an amazing location.  We have booked a twin room for our 6 nights and when the group arrive we go into dorms which is okay.  We were vetted on the ground floor where our booking was checked and the balance was given to me, paying by credit card incurred a 10% fee, no thanks and then we caught the lift to common room floor that was set up with a reception where we got the keys for the room, maps, local information and they have Wi-Fi on this level only, a bank of 20 computers, 2 international phones, a large flat screen TV, plenty of couches and picnic type tables for people to sit.  It really is a funky hostel with their own activities planned each day and on a massive board and a weekly activities sheet with what’s on.  Super cool.

So by the time we finally got to our room it was a little after 8.30pm, so we just unpacked what we needed and settled in for the night.  We have a big day tomorrow with a visit to the Brazil, Paraguay and Australian Consulates on the agenda and also some shopping and getting some laundry done.  Wish me luck with my Brazil visa, cross everything you have and let’s see what tomorrow brings!