South America Part 18 - More BA

After finishing writing the blog - I decided to have a 7pm siesta because we were wanting to go out to the local discoteque with Pedro and Jaiver (Palaceio). Meanwhile Ant was checking out the clothes shop downstairs which is co-runed by Jaiver. He picked up a manbag and a t-shirt (to add to his doomsday stockpile of t-shirts).

Post siesta - we all watched Moulin Rouge on "The Film Zone" channel (Simpre Maas!). Pedro had cheered when in the Tango de Roxanne scene - the fiery Argetine guy said "from the brothels of Buenos Aires"... After that - we ordered home delivery pizza (from downstairs) and got it delivered - 2 meters to our doorstep.

The Palacio was a three story nightclub (only the bottom floor was open on a Sunday night) and was pretty chockers (for a Sunday night). We all got free drinks... After that (3:30am) - we went down to the local petrol station (it was the only thing open with food and drinks) and picked up some supplies.

The following day - everyone was feeling sorry for themselves and woke up sort of early (10amish). At breakfast - we were both treated to Argentinaian breakfast television... We watched a show called Informales which made Sunrise look like the 7:30 Report - there were people dressed up like clowns and hookers and there were wacky "Hey Hey" soundeffects everywhere. There were a couple of "hard hitting" interviews - one with a 200 year old latino singer Alcedas who (according to Pedro) has only three hits. He looked like a very ugly version of Julio Ingleas with a bad wig - and he performed one of his "hits" - Violeta and every formed a congo line including the prostitute and the clown. Another hard-hitting interview was with Pimpenlia (no joke) - a brother and sister combo who had a new CD out to promote. These guys only looked like 50 years old.

Of course - Ant and I were flaffing about and didn't leave the apartment until midday. We went downtown and attempted to go on a Colon Theatre tour - which had been cancelled for Monday. We then jumped back onto the subway and headed for the BA Zoo. When reading LP on the way - it said it was closed... Of course in true LP fashion - it was open on Monday.

The BA Zoo was pretty interesting as it had a wide selection of animals from South America (something you don't get at home much) - also there were the usual collection of big cats, Australian wildlife (a few docile kangaroos), reptiles, aquarium and rainforest section. The BA Zoo on the whole was pretty impressive - not a depressing old school zoo but most of the animals seemed to be content with their surroundings... Most areas were themed (eg: Asian section, Australian section, African section) and it was interesting as nothing was in English and we were trying to decipher what all the names of the animals were in Spanish.

One exhibit was a bit of a worry - instead of some sort of endangered rodent in an exhibit - there was a stray cat instead.

After spending a couple of hours there - we wandered off in the direction of the local shopping mall. We took a short cut thru the BA Botanical Gardens - which instead of being overrun by dogs (like everywhere in Sth America) - this garden was overrun by stray cats... We dubbed it the "Garden du Gatos" or something.

After reaching the local (twisty shaped mall) - we were a bit dissappointed so we headed back to Florida (sleazy shopping) - and Ant bought another CD. I was trying to find a cool (tacky) BA touristy T-shirt and we had spent 40 mins trying to track down this shop. Once we did - I asked the man how much it was - he said back in English "Eighty Pesos" (I thought) - which equated to Australian T-shirt prices for a tacky touristy shirt. I stormed out in a fit of rage - but then on second thoughts - he probably said "eighteen" (which seemed to be the going rate for tacky shirts in the area).

Getting tired with Florida - we decided to make tracks back to Abasto (the mega mall from a couple of days ago which Paedro joined us). Since it was our last night in BA - I was under strict instructions to buy some Dulce de Leeche (condensed milk carmel flavoured) for an Argentine friend of a friend (back in Australia). We went to the "hyper mercado" neaby Abasto - and took 15 minutes wandering around the massive lanes to find it. Once we did - either the stuff was packed in "squishable" containers which would surely explode in our checked in luggage... or the stuff was in glass which would surely explode in our luggage. So we opted for the 1kg tin of the stuff... Ant bought two of them (one for our friend and one for us) - but I bit"hed at him saying - "you are carrying it!".

Back at Abasto - I bought some more cheap CDs (which if you have ever been to the cheap Parallel imported "Dirt Cheap CDs" store in Sydney - I think Argentina is the source for most of their cheap stuff). Ant bought another bloody t-shirt (to add to his Emelda Marcos collection). We opted for food court for tea (since it was about 9:30pm and everything was going to shut soon) - and got some $5 AUD steak and salad...

We caught the subway back home. A few comments about the subway - it is pretty much a miracle if you don't get pestered for money on every train. Also the Argentines have fairly unique ways of asking for money (eg: little girls handing out (returnable) Jesus cards, people handing out calendars, suicidal polka bands who prefer to risk life by crossing the electrified train tracks and risk getting hit by trains rather than walking up the stairs and changing platforms, etc). Ant pointed out that some of the "wooden" trains are more dangerous than the metal ones (they tend to "splinter" when they crash causing horrific pain and death for those inside - "Final Destination" style). Pedro claimed that BA gets the "hand me down" trains from China.

Back at the hostel - and Ant was giving internet tips to Pedro on how he can promote his hostel (till 1:30am in the mornin').

We had to get up early the next day to catch our flight to Santiago (Chile). We said our goodbyes to Pedro and Javier and thanked them with a bottle of tinto vino. Our taxi ride to the airport was a little scary when the taxi driver kept doing the Crucifix thing on his chest several times. At the airport - I almost managed to rundown my collection of Argentine pesos (only about $0.05 left) by buying overpriced coffee (with added cow lard) and underpriced Bounty Bars - made in Ballarat Australia.