Beautiful Buenos Aires

There are so many things to like about Buenos Aires. I knew right away that this was my kind of town. Good public transportation, relatively clean in most areas, great weather, nightlife, daytime markets/fairs, a strong dollar and an attractive spanish heritage with a considerable italian influence i.e. the women here are amazingly beautiful! My hostel is quite different than the last one in Rio. The vibe isn´t as cool but it has way more amenities, such as posh rooftop bar! Another thing I love about this place are all of the parks and squares where you can relax and let time stop for a bit. No wonder everyone here eats dinner at 11pm and parties until 4am! Speaking of which a funny thing that happened earlier this week was I woke up from a long nap. I saw the sun shining in and the Italian couple sharing my room told me it was Saturday morning. I went on believing this for the next 45 minutes or so. It was cool gaining 12 hours right before I joined a group from the hostel on the way to a tango club in the trendy neighboorhood of Palermo. We paid a nominal entry fee of 16 pesos (about $4-5 usd) and they gave us a short tango lesson before a professional show was put on. My dance partner was very patient, thankfully, as I had a bad experience back in Rio where the woman thought it was a joke and wanted her money back...anyway

I think its understandable that when you and a lot of your hostel mates are kind of on the same backpacking circuit that its possible to run into eachother in other cities. I ran into a recently engaged Irish couple in La Boca and also a German MC at a club in Palermo. These were all people I met originally in Rio about 2 weeks ago. Something a bit more strange and a larger testement to it being a small world afterall: When I first arrived at my hostel I recognized a guy who had stayed at the same hostel as me in BARCELONA..a year and a half ago!!! He didn´t remember me and he was a little freaked out....I think he might have OCD too which didn´t make it any better for him....too bad.

I still need to eat some good Argentine steak....thankfully I have 6 more nights to go. I leave for Uruguay on thursday morning and will return to BA for 4 nights more before flying to the Brasilian border at Foz de Iguaçu. One annoyance about BA is that due to the fianancial crises there is a...get this...Coin shortage?? Its hard to make change for the bus and Ive already had some arguments with counter people to give me coins instead of bills. Whatever.

If you desire to travel to Latin America and maybe are a bit wary of crime, cleanliness etc... I would recommend BA. Its a great city and people are really nice (but there is no beach).