7-Jan-2004 - We got up, ate breakfast and walked down to the ferry terminal. On the way we got snacks and sodas to offload some of our remaining Uruguayan pesos. We went through both customs and got on the ferry at 9 AM. The ferry ride was quite pleasant and there were very few people so we had a lot of space. Hyun is due to arrive at the airport at 12:30 PM and we said that we would meet him at the airport, so Pradip and I spent a bit of time planning our linkup with him and studying the Buenos Aires subte (subway.)

It would figure that my first sighting in Buenos Aires would be the Microsoft building

We arrived in Buenos Aires and checked into the Hotel Alcazar, which was a very pleasant place. We set out to get to the airport, but we were late and by the time that we got there, Hyun was not there. We spent some time dilly-dallying in the airport, got some food and I got money out of an ATM and got a bus back into town.

Once back in town, we took the scenic route back to the hotel. We stopped to check email, and walked through downtown Buenos Aires. Passing the Casa Rosada (the equivalent of the White House), we took note of a protest going on. We also notice that every monument seemed to be defaced by graffiti, some of which was witty, and some not so witty. And sadly, some of the current economic conditions became apparent. Argentina is currently suffering under a recession equivalent of the Great Depression. We would occasionally pass by people digging through garbage or living in the park.

Buenos Aires

A witty defaced monument

We made our way back to the hotel and coming into the room, noticed that Hyun was there before. Actually on sighting his backpack, I exclaimed "Someone else's stuff is here!" We went next door to check our email and got a message from him, saying just to go on and we would meet at night. So we identified a place to eat that night and we set off. It would turn out that the place closed and the front of the restaurant was sealed off with bricks with a "For Sale" sign on it. So, we ended up going just down the street to a quasi-buffet place called "Gran Victoria." It was weird because it was an all you can eat Chinese style buffet, but you could also order barbecue and pasta. I ended up ordering chorizo and asado. Asado is strips of beef grilled without any sauce or marinade, which made me skeptical because I like strong sauces. However it was actually quite good; I ate quite a bit of it. After dinner, we took a taxi back to the hotel and met up with Hyun. We hung out and then crashed.

8-Jan-2004 - We got up lazily and got moving rather late, the others dropped off some laundry, and Hyun went to an optometrist to get prescription sunglasses. In the meantime, Pradip and I got lunch, and Hyun soon joined us. We then went to the bus terminal to investigate night buses to Cordoba. At this point, we have not yet decided whether we were going to leave the next day, the next night, or the night after that. Another factor was that Hyun has insomnia problems, and that might reduce the value of an overnight bus.

After we got the bus times, we decided to check out the San Telmo and La Boca barrios (neighborhoods.) Both were working class neighborhoods populated by immigrants around the turn of the century and are still working class. San Telmo was a pretty interesting neighborhood and had flea markets, antique shops and bars. At one flea market, Hyun bought some old Iraqi currency with Saddam on it. I considered getting some but I figured that I could get the same stuff off of eBay. La Boca, however, was largely a dump reminding me of lower Washington street back in Boston. Eventually we made it down to where all of the artists are and it was a bit more brighter (literally.)

San Telmo

La Boca

Yummy Korean food with Argentina beef

It then came time to discuss dinner arrangements. Hyun was pushing for Korean barbecue and I was pushing for getting dinner and a Tango show at the same time. Eventually we realized that because it was only 8 PM, my idea was not feasable and we ended up taking a taxi over to the neighborhood where all of the Koreans lived and going to a barbecue. We settled on a restaurant called Seul (clearly a variant on Seoul) that definitely catered to Koreans and chowed down on kalbi. After that, we took a taxi to a Tango bar in San Telmo called La Cumparsita and drank wine and watched the show. After that, we went back to the hotel.

La Cumparsita

9-Jan-2004 - We got up, went to an Internet café and went up to the bus terminal to purchase bus tickets for the following night. On the way we stopped at a parrilla to get lunch and a pharmacy to see if we could get Hyun's sleeping medication. After that we took a taxi downtown to the Casa Rosada. This taxi ride was somewhat exciting, for our driver had lax regard for lane usage and made cat calls to women crossing the street.

When we arrived at the Casa Rosada, we noticed yet another protest. We also found out that we had another hour to go before the next tour, so we passed the time in the museum and hanging out outside. The tour itself was pretty interesting but not very much out of the ordinary.

A great big flag	Protests, outside the Casa Rosada	A courtyard, in the Casa Rosada

After the tour, we headed up to Palermo, one of Buenos Aires' more upscale barrios and walked around for a few hours. We headed through Palermo Viejo (Old Palermo) and back around through a park. We ended up eating dinner at a restaurant that we passed called the Café Hermann and endured a smug waiter. In any case, I had the ñoquis (known to the rest of the world as gnoccis) and they were great. After that, we headed back.

Palermo

10-Jan-2004 - Got up, packed up and checked out of the hotel. We left our packs at the hotel for the day with the intention that we would pick them up in the evening before we catch the overnight bus. We checked our email and then got breakfast at a nearby café, the Oriente café.

One huge weird tree

Our plan for the day was to run some errands, head up to Ricoletta, an upscale neighborhood where Evita is buried, take a train to Tigre (a nearby village in the Paraná delta), and ship out. We went up to Retiro where the train and bus stations are and Pradip went to the American Express office to cash a travelers check while Hyun and I tried to find where the trains to Tigre left from. Once that was done, we got a taxi to Ricoletta.

Ricoletta is an upscale neighborhood home to the rich of Buenos Aires. Our first stop was the cemetery, which is very exclusive and the resting place of some of the countries elite. However, walking into the cemetery was a very bizarre experience, for the graves were very elaborate affairs that made it less a cemetery and more of a necropolis worthy of the Egyptians. Walking through the cemetery, we would see graves of Argentina's former presidents, generals and other important figures. We spent an hour or two strolling around, found Evita's grave, and pondered the whole surrealness of the place. Then, we went to an Italian restaurant for lunch, and went to the Museo de Bellas Artes, the local fine arts museum.

The Necropol... er Cemetary

We decided that we wanted to be quick, so we rushed through. The exhibits that we saw was the typical mix of nice paintings, so-so paintings, and pretentious modern art exhibits. For the most part I find modern art to be very pretentious and vapid; while it often has pretensions of deep and meaningful insights, these insights are often are just not useful and meaningless outside the context of the work. However, one piece did catch my eye, but more in a "WTF?" kind of way. It was a rod pyramid with black and white rubber babies being inflated and deflated by blow dryers and tubes. According to the caption, it was supposed to be a commentary on overpopulation in rich and poor countries. I could have very easily made an equally elaborate explanation of it being an anti-abortion message. Nor did it exhibit any form of irony that made me consider the issue in a different way.

Dude like a statue; they have 'em here	Bizarre pretious art

In other words, that piece fitted my theory exactly.

After the museum, we browsed through the marketplace nearby and then went to the train station at Retiro to board a commuter train to Tigre. We chose to go to Tigre because it is a pretty town right in the Paraná delta. After standing on the train for an hour (yes, the train was packed on a Saturday), we pretty much just walked around for an hour and a half before heading back to Buenos Aires. Once back in town, we got our luggage, settled our debts over a dinner of pizza and empanadas at the Oriente, and went to the bus terminal to get our bus to Cordoba.

Tigre