One of the most important features of a good hostel is a good common area. If you can sit around in a great space and meet random people it becomes a fascinating and enjoyable time. For me, the two and a half weeks in Buenos Aires flew by because of the people I’ve meet in this hostel. If it weren’t for them I think
I would have gotten a little bored, as BsAs doesn’t really offer a lot to do.
Several other guests also commented on how boring the city is, and I think it
may be due to how bad the economy is and no one can afford to go out any more.

The Danish guy, Mike, became my compadre in Buenos Aires. He’s here to write a cooking book aimed at the back packer demographic. He’d seen so many back packers making their own meals in the communal kitchen, and doing it very badly, he decided to write a book to teach people how to make simple tasty meals with only a handful of local ingredients. It’s a very cool idea. So here he was in Argentina to write 10 recipes, and an additional 5 recipes in Uruguay and
Paraguay.

As it would turn out, Buenos Aires has become the cheapest city in Argentina I’ve stayed at, only because Mike would make food everyday and never ask for any pesos. And by extension I’ve had some really good meals, the best of all a BBQ where he slow cooked the chorizo and steak for a good 2 hours before a group of us devoured it. It’s nice to come across a person that is not only obsessed with cooking, but genuinely wants people to eat his food to teach them that they too can make good food while travelling.

Another unforgettable individual is John, from Canada. I don’t think I’ve ever come across an actual schizophrenic, however I can say with complete certainty that I have now. John came over to me one morning while I was have breakfast and quickly the conversation turned to him warning me about the Illuminati conspiracy. This was said with complete honest sincerity, that they have been plotting for World War 3 this year and the only way to be saved is through Jesus. After a few hours to listening to unadulterated madness, I had to excuse myself. While it’s interesting to hear a crazy persons delusional beliefs, it starts to get a
little annoying after a while. Oh and apparently Julia Gillard is an actual
practising witch and she’ll win the next election because the Illuminati don’t
like Tony Abbott because he’ll ban abortion, and the Illuminati want less
people in the world. Yuuuup.

With Mikes love of whiskey, there have been a few nights when we’ve both shared a bottle of Jamieson or gone over to a hostel he was staying at previously to drink whiskey at their bar. It’s not exactly cheap, but the company of sitting around chatting while sipping on the Water of Life (as Mike calls it) is far too
enjoyable. The liquor Fernet is popular here, so I had my first chance to try
it when some Dutch guys bought a bottle when we had the BBQ. It’s literally the
worst tasting thing I’ve ever had, and even mixing it with Coke it’s utterly
vile. If someone ever offers you some Fernet, trust me, just say no!

The weather turned miserable after the first week. The blue sunny skies where replaced with grey clouds and rain. I really don’t mind too much as I had already had the opportunity to get out and see Buenos Aires and it gave me a good reason to be lazy for the remaining week. On several days we’d just hang out in the TV area sprawled out over the super comfy couches watching movies. I did however venture out one overcast day and made my way to the cities main park space. I was rewarded for this little expedition by the rain pouring down and saturating me. Wet and cold I arrived back at the hostel and the Irish girl on reception poured me a cup of hot mate to warm me up. The staff really are nice here, and she in particular is damn attractive.

I had only booked for 8 nights in the hostel as I was unsure whether I was going to stay here for the full two and a half weeks. After checking the weather in the beach town of Mar del Plata and finding out they were having a full week of straight rain, I naturally I decided against going there. And plus I had meet a lot of great people in the hostel, so it was a no brainer to stay in Buenos Aires. Unfortunately the hostel is popular and they had no beds on the ninth night. Both myself and Mike were cast out to find another hostel to stay at just for that one night.

We ended up going to the hostel Mike had previously stayed at. It’s half the price and pretty run down. The staff are quite cool and they even have a bar with an
Italian bartender. Amazingly they’re not doing well financially, and it’s
obvious why; they charge very little for their dorm rooms, but hire a bartender
and have a really decent breakfast, including eggs. It’s as though the owners
want a hostel to cater to cheap back packers, and yet want to set themselves
apart by having special services that no one else offers. I wouldn’t be surprised
if they weren’t around in a years time, and there is an air of depression from
the staff that are also thinking the same thing.

After a nights stay at that hostel it made me appreciate the far nicer America del Sur hostel, so I was pretty happy to get back there. After going out for a wander
around town and some lunch I came back to find Mike having an allergic
reaction to something. The poor guy looked positively terrible. An ambulance
had already been called and he was taken to a nearby hospital for some
medication and observation. When he returned he looked normal again, and of
course he then started eating all the things they told him not to eat – including chocolate – to see whether any of them caused the reaction. Thankfully none of them did. Scandinavians are crazy like that.

On the Friday the city celebrated the change of season to Spring. This gives the
Argentinians an excuse to go out and get drunk, which isn’t such a bad excuse.
We’d been invited a party by the bartender back at the other hostel, but it was
called off as he’d been out partying the previous night and was too hungover to
host a party. He was tending the bar that night at the hostel so we headed over
there and had a fairly decent night. It was whiskey, beer and learning how to
smoke Venezuelan cigars.

After over 10 months of travelling with the same shoes, I felt it was time to retire them. They were getting a little too stinky and had begun tearing. Even the
deodoriser I had bought back in Ecuador couldn’t mask the pungent scent any
longer. Catching the metro out to the shopping district of Buenos Aires I found
two streets lined with cloths shops. It was pretty cool, but their prices are
very expensive. There was a Converse shop where I picked up a new pair of shoes
and a reasonable price. I have to say it’s nice to be wearing new shoes, and I
gave a small send off to my old shoes after which I dumped them in the kitchen
rubbish area. I hope those shoes are in shoe heaven right now, for they served
me well!

The second last night before my flight to Bogota we hit up the BBQ again, this time with a couple of Brasilians. The nights menu was a giant piece of pork and a fat chuck of beef. Between the 4 of us we were only able to finish off the pork and a scant couple of slices of the beef, it was simply too much meat despite it
being awesomely slow cooked by Mike and our taste buds wanting more. After
finishing the meal the Brasilians said they were sad, which was a confusing
thing to say. As they explain it, in Brasil you say you’re sad to mean you’re
totally filled up and can’t eat anymore. Very odd expression.  

With a 6am flight to Bogota I figured it would be far easy to just stay up all night.
Otherwise I’d need to be at the airport by 4am, which meant getting up between
2-3am, something which I wasn’t entirely keen on doing. I’m not much of a
morning person.

With the aid of a bottle of Jamieson, Mike and myself sipped whiskey along with some Brasilians when it was all of a sudden 2am and my ride to the airport arrived. After saying our farewells I arrived at the airport – normally a 45min journey but at 2am it only took 15mins – and waited around until the flight to Bogota. 

Boarding the plane I wasn’t too sad to leave Argentina, as I’ll be returning in a months time for a final 3 nights before leaving for home. So see you soon Argentina!