Anyone got a spare artery?

I wrote a witty and concise entry for this blog this morning, but under pressure to get off the internet so one of the other guests could use it I managed to delete it. So, if this entry is shoddy, you'll know it's because the muse has left me. Then again it might have improved over the course of the day.

A couple of quick asides -

1. We did not book a private room on the bus to Buenos Aires, we had a private room booked when we got here. And very lovely it is too, I can heartily recommend the Portal del Sur hotel-hostel if you are ever visiting Buenos Aires.
2. In my previous post I meant to say "the water in the toilet going the wrong way round", as it does in the southern hemisphere.

So... we packed up our rucksacks and headed to the bus station in Foz do Iguacu, some of our belongings still distinctly damp, and bought ourselves a couple of $40 tickets to Buenos Aires. Little did we know that this got us onto the luxury bus. If you ever head this way I would recommend these buses - huge business class size fully reclining seats, 3 free movies, dinner with a glass of champagne, after dinner brandy and breakfast! The only drawback was that breakfast consisted of incredibly sweet biscuits and coffee that tasted of tar tempered with liquorice (Jo discreetly flushed ours down the sink). I also managed to almost lose my passport in the loo, luckily Jo found it and returned it to me safe and sound. Anyway, we arrived in BA at 7am and hopped in a taxi to our hotel, which turns out to be a very tastefully converted old colonial house (marble staircase, beautiful art deco ironwork etc), and our room which is up in the attic & positively luxurious compared to our last couple of hostels, where we promptly fell asleep for 3 hours.

Our exploration of Buenos Aires so far has been slightly limited thanks to the very wintery weather - horizontal driving rain, a bit like November in Amsterdam or Liverpool - but, of course I have managed to eat vast amounts. Argentina, being known for its steak & thanks to a very healthy exchange rate between the peso & the US dollar, is a very cheap place to eat. Last night Jo & I took advantage of a 39 peso set meal for two offer (approximately US$15) that provided us with water, wine, empanadas (sort of cornish pasty thing), bread, salad, 2 steaks, 2 hunks of chicken, black pudding, chorizo, sweetbread (strangely a bit like liver), tripe (ugh...and chewy), chips & dessert. We didn't manage dessert. And everything is seasoned with salt, heavily. So, if any of you do have any spare arteries I think I may need one. Today we went for something vegetarian instead (and a couple of bottles of wine that I picked up from the local supermarket). Another alternative are the local 'Aphrodisiac Restaurants' where they serve suggestively named meals in an atmosphere of red lighting, soft music, erotic sculpture and live recitals of saucy poetry - I am not making this up, I found it in a guide book (admittedly the same guide book that lists swingers clubs!?!?) - I can't imagine anything less appetising. In fact it's making me a little queasy now...

Hopefully over the next couple of days the weather will improve and we'll get out a bit more. I particularly want to visit the Evita Museum, which sounds immenely camp, and the cemetery at Recoleta. Jo is taking some Spanish lessons, so with luck I can let her do all the hard stuff on the talking front. Oh, and some tango of course.

Going to skeddadle now and let someone else use the internet. love to one and all.

S