The Sameliad: Adios Buenos Aires and Hola Montevideo

Only five days into our adventure and already we have severely neglected our blog. So to get it all up to date.

Buenos Aires

This was my first time in an international city and as we took the shuttle bus from the airport, tired and jetlagged, we were greeted by a sprawling tangle of slums made up of decrepit old multistory buildings to which all sorts of crazy additions and supporting structures. The streets were full of motor cyclists without helmets and crazy old trucks held together by duct tape and chicken wire. My first thoughts were I hope we are staying somewhere a bit nicer that this. Finally we made it though a bus interchange where nobody seemed to know what was going on and arrived at our chosen hostel. Here we were irritatingly told to relax guys!!! by our host. Completely out of money we quickly had to get our heads around the teller machines and just hope that we had picked a good one. Following check in, in an attempt to beat the fatigue and jetlag that threatened to overwhelm us and send us into an ill-timed sleep we hit the streets. This was a bewildering and strange experience as the streets were deserted. Seems everything closes at one on Saturdays and nobody goes into the city centre. We wandered around and got our bearings until we had to go to sleep finally we emerged for dinner around midnight. This is when we discovered what the city is really about. Finally the streets were busy and alive. All the restaurants were open, still serving and still packed .

La Casa Rosada

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The streets of Buenos Aires complete with beautiful architecture

In the days that followed we managed to pack in all the main touristy things that we wanted. The San Telmo Markets that stretched for kilometers through the old cobblestone streets. And were packed with tourists and locals alike and were a real test of will power for us prohibited as we were by our budget and the little room in our luggage. Recoleta, the wealthy area where the streets weren’t covered in litter and piss. This area was all leafy and green and home to the biggest fig tree I have ever seen. Here we wandered around and took in the sights wandered through the amazing cemetery( a city of mausoleums).

Recoletta cemetery

Palermo which was chock full of quaint pubs and bars, cafes, indie stores and big brand specialty fashion stores that made Amelia’s provincial little mind boggle.

Finally on our last day in Buenos Aires we visited La Bocca. Here the houses are all painted in vibrant colours. Whilst it was interesting it was the most touristy place I have ever been in my life and we were accosted by street venders and people with leaflets for the local restaurants. As soon as they would find out that we are Australians they would go oh Australia Kangaroo, ACDC. That was the extent of their knowledge of Australia.