Monday, March 3, 2008

What´s New Buenos Aires




Getting here was a bit of an adventure. Of course I flew from Orlando to Los Angeles to Santiago and then Buenos Aires to get lots of miles. The good thing was that I was on two of the newly configured LAN flights, with fully reclining business class seats.

My hotel is in the Recoleta section of town, a very active and vibrant area. My hotel is really an apartment building and I have a great room.

I met my guide, Ruben, in the afternoon and off we went to lots of out of the way places.

We started at my favorite train station, the one in the film Evita. But to my surprise, there were three train stations in that section of Buenos Aires. Then we took a subway to BA´s fourth train station.

We passed the building where Eva Peron had her foundation, where she took millions for herself.

We then went to the older San Telmo section of town, where many immigrants were housed in very small rooms, some of which are still standing and have been converted to retail space.

Next stop was the newly opened gay Axel Hotel where we stopped for a drink.

Dinner, of course, was a fantastic Argentine steak and a half bottle of wine. A truly long day, having walked over five miles.

The next day I slept in till 10am.

I went shopping in the morning, walking over 5 miles to my destination. I took the subway back into town to meet my guide for lunch, another amazing steak. The subway was free, there was some sort of strike. Its a bargain anyway at about 25 cents.

After lunch we went to the leather district - leather coats that is. Now Eric will not be able to complain that all he got was a t-shirt. He now has a fine leather coat, from the same store I got mine two years ago.

We had to take a bus back, since the subways were on strike. We stopped at a big mall, which was previously an old produce and meat market.

I went to a pharmacy to buy my medicine, which is much cheaper than at home. This time the price difference was not that great after taking into account my coinsurance. But my guide suggested a generic pharamcy and I got my medicine for $4 a month instead of $43.

Tonight I´ll probably go for Italian food - there´s a huge Italian population in Buenos Aires.

Tomorrow I might go to Uraguay, if I get up in time for the boat.

Sorry there are no pictures yet, I need to learn how to upload them.

Adios for now.

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