I missed out on putrid coffee at the hotel and am having one here. I watched the ‘barisita’ making it. A few flicks of the freshly ground coffee and with an untamped half filled bowl he clicks it into place and out comes a great looking coffee, great golden crēma and all. It even tastes ok. Now how that worked I don’t know. Maybe I just try too hard at home.
The one hour ferry crossing came to an end without drama and safely saw us back on Argentina’s soil. The lady in the seat in front of me had a good sleep on the voyage. I’m sure she didn’t realise that the entire cabin could hear her snoring. As usual there is a bun fight to get off, quick, quick someone might get off before you.
I got off and hightailed it to the suburb of San Telmo going as fast as my feet would take me so I could get to a particular shop before 12 when most places close for siesta. Well I got there only to find that it doesnt open till 12 and then stays open through siesta. Oh. I will never get this open closed thing right.
But while I was loitering I heard music and stumbled across the Argentine Criolla (pronounced Criozia) Association celebrating something with traditional gaucho music and glorious dancing. How glorious. With an hour to kill I stood and watched the dancing, tried to decipher the speeches and admired the very dapper looking gaucho men.
It 
As I went to leave I heard a parade coming along. Of course I had to watch. It was nice to be part of a local tradition, one that was not staged or practised, nor full of tourists.
Well I go back to the store after 12. It was still closed and then I read the sign properly. Only opens Fri, Sat and Sun. Thanks a lot. It was the only store that I had seen that had decent tango statues and there was one in the window that would look superb on my sideboard. When travelling from each country I always try to buy something representative for the wall, for the house or a piece of jewellery. This trip has been scant in my findings as few places had quality souvenirs or any sort of artwork.
I walked half the way home and then grabbed a bus. My bag was getting heavy. On the way I saw another parade which prompted me to check just in case it was a holiday. You guessed right. Sunday was a holiday and today’s another one. It’s National Flag day and Commemorates the death of Manuel Belgrano who created the current flag. Well I’ll be blowed. This is the fourth day in a row that has been a day off/holiday/half day. No wonder I have seen so little.
Checked in and rested I then took off to find the Alfajore shop I had read about and crossing Avenida 9 July, the widest avenue in the world. Its name honors Argentina's Independence Day, July 9, 1816. The avenue runs roughly 1 kilometre and has up to seven lanes in each direction and is flanked on either side by parallel streets of two lanes each. Through the centre of the avenue runs one of the city's Metrobus corridors, which stretches 3 kilometres. There are two wide medians between the side streets and the main road. The whole set up is amazing and the bus through lanes are brilliant. The busses zoom through.
On my way I decide to top up my bus card. There’s not many people around and so I figure doing it on a quiet day is better than trying to figure out the kiosk on a busy day. Except it seems that terminals are on holiday too! Oh well a lovely lady took me to the ticket counter who solved my problem.
Each place I have been to is gearing up to bring the world cup home. Flags are everywhere, souvenir and junk shops are full of gear in their respective colours and some places have gone all out with displays. These are tiny macarons.
Even googles in on it. I love the wee matē bowl:
I have the address for the Alfajore shop and found the street OK but the street starts at number 700 and I’m looking for 499. I searched all over, got fed up and after an hours walk came home again.
Later on I found address for another shop so set out in search. Closed! Bah. Enough. Over it. Sorry but you folks back home wont be getting any Alfajores from the best shop in Buenos Aires. It was dinner time and I felt like Empanadas and remembered the place I had been to on the useless night walking tour so set out to find it. Seems my memory wasn’t so good and I couldn’t find the place, but nor did I find any other Empanada shop despite the long trek. Some shops are open tonight and some aren’t, there doesn’t seem to be any logic to what it and what isn’t. The streets are quite bereft of people which is a shame as it is a lovely night and it would have been nice to be wandering amongst the throngs. Oh yes but it is a holiday.
I walked and walked and then came across a mall with a food hall where I sat and had a stir fry with veges. I’m not a great stir fry fan and this certainly was’t a culinary masterpiece but it was so damn good; I realised that I had missed my veg. And an dulce de leche ice cream in the crunchiest cone to follow. Yay.
I have walked over 20k and achieved nothing. I was hoping to have used the day to do a bit of shopping so I could pack my bag before moving to my last hotel of my stay. I am in Argent Suites where I stayed when I first arrived in BA and again last week before I went to Uruguay. The hotel is so well located within easy walking distance of everything and I had left my bag with then so it made sense for me to come stay when I got back from Uruguay. They are fully booked for my last night so I will move to another hotel (I think that makes it 17 or 18 different beds) in the area of Palermo which I haven’t yet explored.
The Argent Is the place where I endured the snoring coming from the room next door and as I write this I realise that the guy might not have been snoring quite so loud but the walls in this place are like tissue paper. Overnight I listened to doors closing, toilets flushing, people passing wind, conversations (at 3:00am), pipes clanging, jugs boiling - all crystal clear as though they were in the same room. I was hoping to sleep in but gave up at 7:30 and got up and made myself coffee. Drat. Oh well. There’s still hope of a decent sleep on my last night in South America.
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