Buenos Aires

We took a ship from Colonia del Sacramento and arrived in Buenos Aires in about 1 hour. When we departed, we didn't see anything of the city. But after 20 minutes of sailing, we slowly started to see the skyline of Buenos Aires.

We took an Uber taxi service to the hostel. It was a beautiful blue sky and we quickly dropped off our things and left the hostel. We started walking to get a first impression of the city. It was much bigger than Montevideo. The only annoying thing was that we could only withdraw 2000 Pesos, which is about 60 CHF, and we had to pay a 5 CHF exchange fee each time. We used our small map to explore the city and visited the historical buildings, parks, etc. And there were some really beautiful ones.

This is the congress center of Argentina. We also went to a monument which is kind of like the Time Square of Buenos Aires.

Muriel had to stand there for about 10 minutes until the flag became somewhat visible! During that time, I looked around and noticed a hotel. It was an older building, taller than the others around it. It was called the Panamericana Hotel. On the roof, there was a terrace with a glass dome, a so-called rooftop. I told Muriel, "Let's go up there now, we have an amazing view!" She just laughed and said, "Let's try it." At the entrance, a guy in a suit opened the doors (with a stern look). Of course, we were wearing shorts and carrying our backpacks. The golden lobby was filled with people in suits. We quickly walked to the elevator, but it took about 50 presses of the button until it finally arrived. We had to suppress our laughter when we entered because everyone was giving us funny looks. Once we reached the rooftop, we walked on another bridge. Suddenly, someone said in Spanish, 'hallloooo, can I help you? What are you looking for?' We stopped and I was thinking about what to say. I said, 'We want to get something to drink.' She asked us with a serious look if we were guests. Nervously, I replied, 'Yes, room number 421!' She started laughing, apologized, and said, 'Bienvenia a Panamaricana'. Thanks, haha! We had an amazing view there.

Eventually, we made our way back to the hostel. We cooked for ourselves and had a delicious meal. In the evening, we sat together and wrote down all the things we still want to do until we meet Muriel's parents in Puno, Peru on January 2nd. We realized that we don't have that many destinations planned. However, we were lucky to have a Spanish guy staying in our dorm who lives in Santiago de Chile. Besides inviting us to stay with him, he also gave us around 10 beautiful destinations in Chile & Bolivia. The next day, we met Muriel's colleague. We went for coffee and exchanged our experiences. In the afternoon, we went to a park where apparently there are lots of animals. It was extremely hot, about 40 degrees, and we didn't have any hats. We walked about 7 km through the park, following a circular route. We saw 2-3 sea otters and an iguana. That was it, and we didn't want to walk anymore. Well, maybe we had a bit of bad luck, but it was also good exercise. In total, we walked 30 km on foot during that time. It was quite impressive. But the park was beautiful.

Then we decided to stay for another night because we really wanted to see a tango show. In the evening, we met up with our colleagues from Florianopolis (a couple from Manchester, UK). It started at 7 o'clock. 1 hour of tango dance lessons. Oh dear, at the beginning it didn't go well, but then suddenly it started working. But I think I owe it to Muriel, she definitely has a better sense of rhythm than I do. After that, we had a 3-course meal (of course, a delicious piece of meat) and then we enjoyed a 1-hour show. It was an incredible experience. It was definitely worth it. We paid 65 CHF for everything, but that doesn't matter. In addition, we could drink as much as we wanted. The red wine was very delicious!

As a conclusion, those who danced the best received a winner's photo.

Now we are waiting in the hostel until our bus takes us to Cordoba in the interior of Argentina. We are both very impressed with this city. Oh yes, we are quite sure that we will meet the Manchester couple again on New Year's Eve in La Paz, and that will be a lot of fun.

See you soon,

Ernesto & Muriel

Next Stop: Cordoba