Bussed it to BA

Recoleta cemetery
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We got to BA after about 18 hours on a comfy bus upon which we met a nice young Glaswegian boy called Ryan.

We found our hostel which was lovely with the best hostel breakfast so far. Then we met Ryan and had a bit of a wander round the city. After some lunch we chilled out and then went back out in search of warm jackets as we planned to go to Patagonia but didn´t want to carry our really heavy ski stuff.

Sunday dawned cool and sunny, so we headed out to San Telmo where there´s an antique market

Dogwalker, Buenos Aires
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After about an hour of searching we found two warm jackets for a tenner each. Result. The district we shopped in was really interesting if you´re a bit geeky like me. There were loads of specialist shops, not unusual in Argentina we´ve discovered but get this - one shop just sold plastic flowers. Another sold only really bad plasticky dwarf and fairy statues (NOT garden gnomes, just weird statues). Even weirder was the fact that there was people considering buying these things and discussing the relative merits of one hideous creation over another. I don´t speak Spanish, but I think the conversation went like this:

Evitas tomb
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Man: I like the cheeky little dwarf in the blue hat, reminds me of Dopey

Woman: Yes darling but the blue clashes with our trellis effect wallpaper, what about the reclining pink trousered dwarf, he could recline gracefully near my Madonna statue, it´d look like he was supplicating himself before the Blessed Virgin.

Man: Hmm

Sorry, I just made all that up. They were probably buying a statue for someone they didn´t like very much.

Recoleta Cemetery
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The very best shop though, sold only second hand remote controls. Oh yes, wall to wall dodgy controls. And loads of men looking at them longingly. Clearly Argentine men have gender inequality-based remote control discussions with their wives too.

We met Ryan for dinner near our respective lodgings, had some meals which they assured us was vegetarian. Cathal´s ravioli of course had chopped up bits of ham in it. He removed them cheerfully. I think we were particularly cheerful cause they gave us free appertifs and digestif drinks and we had a bottle of wine too. Since we had the taste for it then, we adjorned to a local cafe/bar and had a couple of chopps (draft beers) and then we called it a night.

Recoleta Cemetery
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The next day we went to the cemetary where Eva Peron is buried. We meant to go to the Eva Peron museum too but Cathal got distracted by the huge shiny cinema so we ended up seeing Pirates of the Caribbean and having a massive pizza. Wouldn´t want to overdo the learning experiences now.

So, the following daw we did go to the Eva Peron museum and it was interesting, situated in a gorgeous old house. We then went out to dinner with Aziz, whom we met in Foz de Igazu which was a very pleasant evening.

Very old car phone, in old Ford on the street, San Telmo
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Off again the next morning shopping. Someone made off with my cardie and it´s pretty cold here so we had to buy stuff for the exteme cold we´re going to face in Patagonia. For the princely sum of 53 pounds we bought 1 pair boots, 1 fleece shirt, 1 longsleeved top and leggings to wear under clothes for me, 2 pairs gloves, 2 scarves, 1 hat and 1 balaclava (mmm, Irish girl with balaclava...). We were very chuffed with ourselves.

In the evening we met Ryan again and went out for dinner and a few beers. We came back to the hostel intending to go out to a club, but Cathal didn´t have the stamina so we ended up at a local cafe with some girls from the hostel and we had a few more beers.

Stall at San Telmo
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The next day was a bit of a washout. Mainly because we were so hungover. Cathal, threw up seven times. So less said the better.

Sunday dawned cool and sunny, so we headed out to San Telmo where there´s an antique market. It was gorgeous, beats Portobello Road in London hands down. There were live Tango shows on the street and it was very nice to wander round for a few hours. Check out the photos, coming soon....

We head to Puerto Madryn tonight on a 20 hour bus journey.