Flying into Buenos Aires at night is an experience EVERYONE needs to have in there life, the entire city is lit up and from every window in the plane the city seems to stretch on forever the lights never end. The greater Buenos Aires area is massive. I was not supposed to arrive until the Friday before the cruise so I didn't have a hostel but booked one while I was in the airport. When I woke up Tuesday morning and ate breakfast Stephan ran past me. He was late for a flight and was in the same hostel. A few minutes later Roeland showed up. Out of all the hostels in Buenos Aires we somehow ended up in the same one, and he had been there for a week. He met Emma a girl from England and had told her about our cruise, she met Gilad from Isreal and the two of them booked themselves on to our cruise. I didn't meet Emma or Gilad though until the day of the cruise because Emma and Reoland left that morning for a road drip around Argentina and I spent the week in government offices.
Some quick research online taught me that there was a clinic in Buenos Aires near where I was staying that offered the Yellow Fever Vaccine for free to Argentinians. I head there first thing so that I could get my certificate and go to the Brazilian Consulate that afternoon. Well what I thought would be a walk in clinic and a fast visit turned into 3 hours of waiting in the streets because the line wrapped around the three blocks. About 2 hours into me waiting (still unsure if this was actually the correct building or line) a man came down the line taking everyone's identity cards, I gave him my passport assuming he worked for the government ..... Didn't see him or my passport again until after I entered the building about an hour later and they lined up five people at a time and gave everyone the same shot. This clinic ONLY gives yellow fever vaccines. I had no idea, and they never charged me so I saved almost $200. However this took so long to deal with that the consulate was closing in 2 hours by the time I got there and after waiting in line with my certificate they told me I had all the wrong information and to come back the next day. They refused to give me a transit visa and said it would be better if I applied for a tourist visa which requires a lot more paperwork and a different application. That night I went to dinner with one of the girls who was sharing a room with me in the hostel, She invited me to join group of 9 of them. It was my first true Argentinean meal with lots and lots of red wine and steak. I love Argentina. That night we also went to a few bars and clubs exploring the Buenos Aires scene and I got a matching tattoo with Lucy (friends with Roeland and Stephan from Patagonia before I met them).
This is my smiley, which being a solo traveler it's nice to always have a smile looking back at you, even when you feel all alone in a new city I always have a little friend with me.
Wednesday was spent all day in the consulate and the Internet cafe a 20 minute walk and back and forth. Bringing more and more paperwork yet each time they seemed to find something else wrong with it they also only spoke Portuguese or Spanish with me. That afternoon I met up with one of the guys from dinner the night before as he had a flight that night we went to the port to sit in the sun and enjoy the afternoon people watching.
On Thursday I spent the morning in my favorite place, the Brazilian consulate, and then met up with Vale, my friend from Puerto Varas who now lives in Buenos Aires for school. We had the most amazing day, shopping for clothing (I accidentally left almost all of my warm clothing i.e. Shorts and tanks tops in Puerto Varas, as well now needed at least one dress for the cruise evening wear) that night I decided to go to a tango show and one of the guys I had gone to dinner with the night before agreed to go with me, we had the most amazing time and the dancers even lets us get on stage afterwards and showed us some moves. That night we also snuck onto the roof of our hostel and watched the stars and Argentinean night life.
Friday I switched hostels, and met up with Roeland and Emma the following day. While on my own I explored more of Buenos Aires and even saw the craziest Rainbow.
The three of us went shopping as both of them needed clothing for the cruise, as well we decided to have one last Argentinian steak dinner to celebrate our Cruise-Eve. Dinner was amazing we ordered everything, creamy spinach, potatoes in like 4 different forms, steak, sausages, bread and more. On our way to dinner though we got caught in the most massive rain storm that I have ever seen and we ran through the stores of Buenos Aires without our shoes and Roeland without a shirt to try and keep it dry, we ended up visiting our old hostel and using the hair dryers to try and look presentable for dinner but we were so soaked from the rain that the next morning my shirt and shorts were still wet even after sitting all night on the heater. However while we ran in the rain we ran past this mural which says "Lluvia Suerte" meaning lucky rain which I though was a very very good sign.
SUNDAY WAS CRUISE DAY!
The three of us went shopping as both of them needed clothing for the cruise, as well we decided to have one last Argentinian steak dinner to celebrate our Cruise-Eve. Dinner was amazing we ordered everything, creamy spinach, potatoes in like 4 different forms, steak, sausages, bread and more. On our way to dinner though we got caught in the most massive rain storm that I have ever seen and we ran through the stores of Buenos Aires without our shoes and Roeland without a shirt to try and keep it dry, we ended up visiting our old hostel and using the hair dryers to try and look presentable for dinner but we were so soaked from the rain that the next morning my shirt and shorts were still wet even after sitting all night on the heater. However while we ran in the rain we ran past this mural which says "Lluvia Suerte" meaning lucky rain which I though was a very very good sign.SUNDAY WAS CRUISE DAY!
Post Cruise Buenos Aires:
Due to having to rearrange my flights I ended up with two days in Buenos Aires post cruise which I had not anticipated. The first was spent full of goodbyes, first to Roeland at the terminal, then I had to wait about 3 hours for Emma and Gilad to disembark the ship. The three of us attempted to walk to our hostel from the terminal however we quickly realized that it was too hot, our stuff was too heavy, and we were very out of shape post buffet life. We took a taxi dropping Emma off at the airline office and Gilad and I made a plan to meet her at the Starbucks around the corner (reliable wifi) once we had figured out our hostel. Of course we would stay at America Del Sur in Buenos Aires (the best hostel I stayed at in all of South America, for real if anyone reading this needs somewhere to stay). It's big and has tons of rooms, however when we arrived they all laughed and welcomed us back and even remembered that we'd come from Antarctica but we didn't have a reservation..... Turns out they do get full. But they let us stay and use the wifi to try and find another hostel because we both only needed one night. Gilad was headed south and then to Chile the next morning and I was flying out the next night. Just as we were giving up they had a cancellation of a PRIVATE ROOM , no bunk beds! It worked out excellently, we gathered all our dirty laundry dropped it off at the cleaners and found our way back to the Starbucks where Emma was waiting. We waited until she had to go the airport, my next goodbye.
We then went to explore the San Telmo Sunday market and had a final dinner together before I had to say goodbye to him the next morning. We also met up with Miguel from the Cruise had the most amazing and authentic night of my life. We met up at the |Obelisk, hung out at his apartment for a bit before he showed us his favorite summer spot it was past the river by a couple blocks that we found the real local BA. The entire street was live music and food trucks and bikes selling wine and beer and hundreds of people tango dancing in the streets and sidewalks. It was beautiful we sat and watched for over and hour and danced for even longer.
I spent my last day exploring La Boca and enjoying my last warm South American moments before I left this amazing continent.
