After recouperating from our trek and a night out on the town in Cusco (at Patty O'Flannery's - the highest Irish Pub on the planet), we were off to the airport for our flight to Lima. As we had a six hour layover before our flight to Buenos Aires, we decided to take a cab into town instead of hanging out in the airport again. After a quick check of our trusty "Footprints South America" guidebook, we choose Plaza Kennedy in the Miraflores neighborhood as our destination. It turned out well as we zoomed past the graffittied barrios that surround the airport, then down an express avenue following the Pacific coast at the bottom of a large cliff (which looked strangely a lot like the PCH in LA) to a nice, middle class area with streets lined with shops, restaurants and bars. We strolled the avenues for a while, looking in bookstores and checking out menus until picking a nice, Parisian looking sidewalk cafe for dinner and drinks. After, we found an eclectic cafe for a cup of coffee and talked with a German student studying Mairne Biology in Lima, then it was back to the airport for our overnight flight.
Luckily we both slept almost the whole way to BsAs, however, the first two hours in the Buenos Aires airport were spent going through customs (easy) and finding a place to stay (hard). Almost everything was booked up but we finally found a room in the San Talmos area of the city. After a long cab ride, we checked in and headed out to check out the city. The city streets are lined with Eurpoean looking facades and full of sidewalk cafes and shopping streets. Being Saturday, I did some research and found a bar that showed American college football. We stolled through the downtown area lined with old European looking government buildings, then found Ave. Florida, a pedestrian shopping street (think of a narrow version of the 3rd St. Promenade, a bit older and more run down, but that continues for 20 blocks!). We pasted most of the main 'plazas' of the city, then headed North to find my football bar - after a little searching, we found it - Remember El Alamo - and guess what, it was founded by an ex University of Michigan professor who hooks up several large screens to the Internet to get ESPN GamePlan.com and watch football! Several screens in the front of the nice, wood panneled saloon were dedicated to soccer for the locals, but the gringos congregated in back for good ol' American football. The Michigan - Indiana game wasn't on TV so we watched OSU, then the first half of the USC game (there were other USC fans and some Texas grads there too). I hope I have this luck at our next stop for the Michigan - Ohio State game!
Next, we strolled Santa Fe avenue for another 20 plus blocks with nicer shops lining the entire avenue. I can't beleive how many stores there are in this city - it really seems there are more here, at least in one place, then I've ever seen in LA, New York or Chicago - it's really unbelievable and I don't know how they all stay in business (plus prices for the nice stuff aren't that much cheaper than in the US!).On day two in Argentina we slept in, then walked through some neighborhood Sunday markets with loads of street vendors, performers and lots of people dressed in costume (like a mix of Mardi Gras and Halloween) for a reason we really never figured out. We checked out the area by the river where a series of basins have been built to allow ship traffic to pass, then back to our 'hood for a rest and a change of clothes, then out to diner for a big Argentinian ¨Parilla¨dinner tonight!
Will write more soon.
-Dan
No comments:
Post a Comment