#19 buenos aires, argentina

Buenos Aires is a city that loves ass (the female kind), meat and dogs. Is there a connection there? I'm still trying to work that out...
We arrived here about a week ago, after another marathon 20-hour journey travelling from Barcelona > Madrid, then Madrid > Buenos Aires (after which, Iberia Airlines informed me that, oops, they left my bag way back in Barcelona). After spending a few nights in dingy backpacker hostels (me: in dirty clothes), we're now happily ensconced in our plush studio apartment in the barrio of San Telmo. It's so nice to have our own space and to be able to cook for ourselves again (see pics of our place above). Having a good night's sleep so that we can be fresh for Spanish class is a concept that 18-year-old backpackers don't really understand.
San Telmo is a bit like the dirty end of Surry Hills, or the posh end of Redfern. Parts of it are a bit grungy but it's inhabited by a mix of people: old families who have lived there for yonks, immigrant families, young couples like us - or like the couple who live in the apartment opposite us, playing gay anthems on the stereo night and day. The area is famous for its antique markets which cover an area of about two square kilometres, and it gets packed with shoppers, 10-piece ensembles playing tango music and street performers who sing and dance the tango.
Our Spanish school is really good - but doing four hours of Spanish lessons a day is proving to be a bit of a strain for our travel-softened minds!
The people here are all really lovely - haven't seen as much plastic surgery as I was expecting (apparently it's the world's second-biggest market for plastic surgery, after Brazil - I was really looking forward to spotting the Latina version of the "Cat Woman"), but after some careful inspection of local porteños, I think all the plastic surgery money must go into butt implants. Dr Pete should set up shop here!
It's pretty cold here as it's almost mid-winter (definitely colder than Sydney), and the city has been swept by a freak fog which meant that planes couldn't land for a few days.
Kris is still in search of the elusive perfect steak, which BA is so famous for. So far we've only eaten at cheap places, and he says that the steaks tasted, well, cheap. And unfortunately they don't seem to understand the concept of vegetarianism. Ordered my first empanada the other day, explained that I didn't eat meat, so she suggested I have the cheese one, and it came out filled with a slice of cheese... and ten slices of ham. Just as well I am the most lax pescatarian in the world.
I finally did drag Kris to a tango lesson, and he was pretty good compared to the other guys (mainly octogenarians and club-footed tourists). I secretly think he enjoyed it more than me: he really wanted to perfect the three (very basic) steps we learnt, and insisted on getting a photo of us tangoing together at the end of it all. I have unleashed a beast.
Buenos Aires also goes down as the first place on our travels where the "dangers and annoyances" section of the Lonely Planet has been useful. While it recommends visiting one of the main tourist areas, La Boca, where a lot of the Italian immigrants established themselves a century ago, it warns against straying from the main tourist streets - "even in the daytime". It seemed like excessive caution as most other ares of Buenos Aires we've visited has been fine, but we got the chance to see for ourselves as Kris was keen to see a football game (ie soccer) at the Boca Stadium. The final of the Copa Libertadores (apparently the South American equivalent of the Champions League in Europe) was recently held here. Argentina's Boca Juniors were playing in their home stadium against Colombia's Cúcuta Deportivo. Kris was really keen to see a football game while we were in South America, so at the last minute (ie 8pm when the game started at 9.45pm) he jumped on the net and found a guy selling two tickets to the game that night. He agreed to meet the guy at 9pm at a bar near the entrance to the stadium, so we jumped in a cab... and hit a wall of traffic. (We should've heeded the warning signs in the cab when a fight broke out in the street between two groups of fans and we heard what sounded like gunshots.) Needless to say we arrived about 25 minutes late to the stadium and there was no sign of the guy and we couldn't get in contact with him. So there we were, standing outside the stadium, hearing the crowd going wild inside while we were standing dolefully outside wondering what to do. Boca Juniors is the same team that Maradona used to play for, so the Argentinians were going pretty crazy for their team. Eventually this weedy dude (and his chubby sidekick) who looked about nineteen years old sidled up to us and offered us two tickets to buy for 80 pesos (US$27). It seemed to good to be true, but we really wanted to see the game so Kris agreed to give him the money and stay with him while I went inside with one ticket to make sure it worked. As I started walking towards the stadium, leaving Kris and this other guy behind, the guy pulled the money out of Kris' hand and started running away. So Kris followed him and I turned around and ran after them too. So the three of us ran along this really crowded street in La Boca for about 80m, with Kris only a couple of metres behind the guy the whole way. Although I was yelling at the top of my lungs (admitted in English, saying "Stop him! Help!"), no one even looked our way. Strangely enough, the guy suddenly stopped running, turned around, apologised, shook Kris' hand and gave us back our money. So strange! We felt quite vulnerable after that (even though there were police on every corner), and decided to jump in a cab and head home. And as a parting kiss to the whole experience, as we were driving through the dark streets to the safety of our home, I turned my head and looked towards a park where I could see the silhouette of about six guys kicking the sh*t out of somebody on the ground. Err... definitely time to go!

Highlights:
* The local beer: Quilmes
* Dulce de leche!
* Cheap, cheap, cheap!

Interesting fact:
* The word for "pregnant" in Spanish is embarazada. ¿Por que?