Wednesday, January 14, 2009

Back to "Civilization": Buenos Aires, Argentina

Another guest post by Marisa...

As our taxi pulled onto the autopista from Ezeiza International Airport, Gil turned to me and said, "It's been awhile since I've seen a four lane freeway."

After a few hoops thrown our way by Aerolineas Argentinas, we made it into Buenos Aires on Tuesday night and to the northwestern district of Belgrano, where we're "renting" a sixth floor studio apartment that's three blocks away from the Subte for $50/night. Buenos Aires is a shock after traveling through Patagonia... three million people, 48 districts in the Capital Federal, and a solid forty page section in Lonely Planet. I even experienced a bit of claustrophobia being caught in the noontime crush in MicroCenter this afternoon, trying to window shop while walking down the pedestrian Calle Florida.

Gil and I had a late croissant-and-dulce de leche breakfast this morning, bought our $90 bus tickets to Santiago for this Sunday, and spent the rest of the day walking through downtown Buenos Aires. We saw the Casa Rosada, the center of executive power in Argentina, famous for Evita PerĂ²n's balcony appearances (as seen in Madonna's "Evita"!), we took photos in front of the Obelisk on Avenida 9 de Julio, and we contemplated buying gloves out of capybara and otter at Casa Lopez (oh yes, they felt nice.) All in all, we're glad that we're rounding out our trip in Buenos Aires, where we can eat and shop and sleep in to our hearts' content for the next four days.

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