LeaKy LarRy: February 2006

Stevo and I had a bunch of Skymile credit saved up so we decided to take a little trip down to Argentina. Stevo had been there previously on a 6 week trek through South America a couple of years back and really enjoyed it. Since he had already been I decided to go a week earlier and see some of the sites he had already visited. It was to be my first time traveling abroad by my lonesome. In the past I always felt that it would be so boring, but it was actually pretty fun and I didn't mind it at all.

I arrived in Buenos aires via Atlanta on Feb 24th of 2006. My first impression of the city was that it was dirtier than I had anticipated. I envisioned it being more modern and more European. While there are some very nice parts to the city, it is hard to imagine that just 5 years earlier, before the economy crashed, it was the 3rd most expensive city in the world. Upon arrival in the city I found an internet cafe and started searching for a hostel. None of the hostels in Lonely Planet book where vacant so I just walked around until I found one. I ended up staying at the Clan Hostel near the Plaza de Mayo. It was one of the dirtier establishments I had ever seen and it definitely worth the meager 7 dollar a night fee. I ended up getting sick because of all the smoke in the hostel. The illness lasted the whole 2 weeks I was in Argentina and put a damper on my vacation.

The next day I took a walking tour of the city. The Casa Rosa (pink house)--their equivalent to the white house-- was pretty beat. Pretty sure their president is not working out of that place.... I really enjoyed the Recoleta Cemetary. It is my favorite place in Buenos Aires by a long shot. It is kinda creepy, but very cool...

From Buenos I flew to Iguazu for 2 nights. You actually can do the trip in a day, but I thought I would need more time. Iguazu ranks as one of the coolest places I have ever been. Probably second behind Machu Pichu. It was really amazing and the pictures don't quite do it justice. The weather was perfect.

I came back to Buenos Aires to meet Stevo. We had arranged to meet at our hotel at a certain time. He was was about 6 hours late when he finally arrived. Apparently his plane had made an emergency landing in Colombia. All the passengers were told they would have to stay the night. Stevo went crazy because the only reason he was coming down was to see U2 in concert that night. He caused a huge fuss and so they let him board another plane. We made it to the concert. It was pretty cool, and I thought I was going to die during the first couple of songs being on the field, but let's admit it, concerts are beat.

The next night we went to a River Plate game. Besides Boca Juniors, River Plate is the most popular soccer team in Buenos Aires. We got the best seats in the house for about $15. It was a lot of fun to see the drunk fans chant the whole game. The fans there are way crazier than any fans in the states. The opposing team fans were seated in a fenced of area with security guards surrounding the perimeter. After the game the opposing fans were let out 10 minutes before anyone else was allowed to leave.

Next we left to Mar Del Plata. We met a pimp named Larry on the plane was an American who owned a private beach in the city. We spent some time on his beach, but other than that Mar Del Plata wasn't the greatest place... the weather was bad so we spend a lot of time in the casino
playing the Argentine version of blackjack where the dealer only gets one card until the very end. Almost impossible to win considering Argentines are the worst blackjack players in the world (they loooove splitting 10's). We also spent a fine evening at Sobre Monte and some and nice Peter Centera in the taxi....

Bariloche was our final stop in Argentina. The weather was bad again and I was really sick so it wasn't that memorable. It was beautiful though and reminded me of Switzerland. We took a tour on the lake (rained the whole time). The next day went to the famous Llao Llao hotel and ate lunch as well as a round of golf...

Pics of the trip.

Bariloche