Jill and Roy's Travel Log: Argentina - 14.02.2013

Argentina

10.02.2014

After 3 lovely nights in Puerto Madryn, it’s another bus day, the 1,340 Km up to Buenos Aires. As we couldn’t get Premier class seats we had to settle for ‘Cama’ – 80% reclining but still very comfortable.

How do you expect a long coach journey to start – yes – of course - a game of Bingo. All passengers were presented with a Bingo card, the prize - a bottle of Argentine wine. We felt we were at a severe disadvantage as we could only count up to 10 in Spanish, but after pleading with our master of ceremonies, he agreed to call in both Spanish and English. We swear the English numbers didn’t match the Spanish! We were a long way behind the Argentine winner – revenge for the Malvinas!

Then came dinner, after knocking back the various meats, cheese and then the dessert, the waiter turned up 15 minutes later with the hot main course – somehow lasagne doesn’t taste the same after a custard pudding!

Buenos Aires is a vibrant and busy city, with some quite stunning buildings.

We had a guided tour around their beautiful Opera House.

The Argentines are hugely carnivorous, the main dish in most restaurants is the Parrilla, a metal cradle piled high with barbequed meats of every description, a dish for two would quite easily feed a normal family of six. As a healthy vegetable addition, these Parrillas are normally accompanied with a huge dish of french fries.

Most dishes are extremely over generous, we now realise that it’s best to share a single main course between us, to avoid us being charged for excess baggage on the way home.

Their other obsession is the Tango. You can sit in a Plaza, having a drink while the tango is performed in front of you for just a few pesos in tips.

We attended a Tango show in the basement of their famous coffee bar – Café Tortoni.

This is the way they performed:-

This is the way it should be done:-

14.02.2014

After 3 nights in Buenos Aires, we are on our way to Gualeguaychu, we were really struggling get someone to sell us bus tickets – we then found out that Gualeguaychu is pronounced ‘Wally-Y-Tur’ - crazy.

We have made this trip to see the Argentine equivalent of the Rio Carnival. Expecting to see a somewhat rough and ready display, we were totally taken back by the size and quality of it all. Staring at 10.30am and finishing at 3.00am, it was quite mind-blowing. If this is Gualegualychu, what will Rio be like?