Buenos Aires- Episode One

We spent two weeks in Buenos Aires. Was it really two weeks? What happened there? Bits and pieces, most of the highlights are on the blog already. It was good to get into a city for a while- get amongst the noise and the people and the thick grey air. The best part, for a pair of (most of the time) herbivores such as us, was the chance to have someone else cook- proper food, not cheese pizza (a new staple). We ate a few vegie or vegie-sympathetic houses, ranging from floppy all-you-can-eat bain marie galleries, to wholesome Krishna food (cheap and tasty worldwide), to exquisite sit on the floor African, to Chinese mock meat spice extravaganzas. In a country as obsessed with beef as Argentina, the city provides blessed culinary relief; food for the belly.

An Australian with British citizenship eating African food in an Argentinian restaurant.

Many days we'd just find ourselves wandering around the streets, exploring the endless grid of concrete. Plans would be drawn up sometimes, but usually scrapped once we got a few blocks from the hostel because our path crossed something else more interesting.

The police cars are not threatening.

It was nice have a double bed for sleep, encased in a private room, free from the sporadic and always disturbing sounds of leaving, arriving, packing and snoring. Eventually the ever-present background noise of the city got to me. Noise is absolutely inescapable in a tightly packed city like BA. It was everywhere, always. Sometimes loud, sometimes soft, often kicking you in the eardrums with a pair of steel-capped boots. The streets are narrow, with tiny sidewalks and busses constantly spewing blue gas and black sound. Walking along these streets feels like climbing through an industrial revolutionesque smoke machine- all sound and grinding gears.

At the moment this photo was taken, every single vehicle pictured was blasting its horn.

So we left- but just for a little while. There's still plenty of things to see and to do (and to have done to us). Just a little while to recharge in some fresh air and undiluted sunshine on a beach in Uruguay- a holiday.