Woke up with motivation today, got a whole day to make up for being lazy...
the irish lad was already up, his football team was playing, and he wasn't about to miss it, i saw the start, but not wanting to fall into the same lux as yesterday i went and got some coffee, its been getting easy to do this, i changed things up today, dos cafe con leche, to go...still not sure how to say "to go"...
Once te coffee's were put to rest it was time to try to catch the buenos aires bus, this is a big touristy thing, its a hop on hop off style of tour, it has 12 stops, and to ride from start to finish it takes 2.5 hours. With the congress very close to the hostel i decided to catch the bus there, i waited on one side of the street and watched the bus drive by, stop, at a red light, and continue on to the other side, where it stopped, with me running across the de mayo park to watch it drive away as it was only stopped again at a red light....for crying out loud, its a hop on hop off bus, why are people not getting off. and here i thought i was a lazy person.
screw it, in the process of waiting i happened to be shat on by a pigeon, as this happened, a nice couple in no other terms accosted me. they were tourists as well, but were much more concerned than I that i had bird crap all down the back of me...now this doesn't bother me, mostly because, its not touching me, its not in my hair or on my skin, and its not in a place where it could get all over me....in there concern they managed to attempt to rip my jacket off to wipe it off, the gentleman was pouring water on me and trying to towel me off on my shorts, and in the process grabbing my pockets, all the while i'm thinking jesus they are attempting to rob me and doing a damn good job at being persistent about it. as i worked my way out of their dabbing and pulling i checked my pockets, camera is still there, money is still there, ok, these might actually be honest people whom are just trying to help, as i am now away from their doting i tell them thank you while backing away and begin to walk the other way...nice people, maybe just a little to helpful to this gringo.
so now that i've missed the bus twice, well not really missed, just wasn't able to catch it, i decided to hell with it, i know what i'd like to see and florida street is one of them....florida street is a pedistrian walkway that ends at a park, i walked it from beginning to end, of course seeing the damn buenos aires bus two more times, once a the pink palace (no not the velvet touch), and another at the end of florida street, of course i tried to catch it at the pink palace, but the red light just wouldn't hold, again no one got off the damn thing.
once through florida street without buying anything i began to make my way to recoletta (sp), this is the famous cemetary with a park on the other side with an open market with stalls selling all kinds of junk, and some food.
making my way into the cemetary was actually a challenge, of course not as hard as actually getting out of it, now that i think about it, thats probably the way it was designed, that you weren't really meant to leave. Inside the masoleums were massive, ornate, and put st. louis 1 and 2 to shame. Not that having a pirate and maria laveoux isn't something to be bragging about, but these were just huge, and of course the main highlight of the cemetary is Evita, yep, the movie with madonna was based on a real person, and she does have a masoleum, actually its a family crypt, and standing outside it is this little old lady, i don't think she is family, just her biggest fan ever, and this women was creating a queue for people to see the tomb, and directing them in their picture taking, even taking the picture for those that were there alone. it was quite the site, as no one really wanted to argue with this little old lady...the keeper of evita i guess.
after the cemetary, which took a while to get through, and almost as long to get out of, i'm not kidding , this place was insanely huge, and the structures inside are so massive you loose any sense of direction moving down the narrow walkways from one to the next, and the tombs getting bigger each step of the way.
Now that I've made my way outside it was time to see what the park had to offer, i wandered the stalls up and down to see if i could find anything that i really needed, which of course the answer was a big fat resounding NO. So i decided to look for something for other people which i wasn't able to find, so i decided that it was getting late, i should begin making my way back, as the weather called for rain, i was wearing a rain jacket (good thing considering the bombing pigeons), fate was tempted but did not answer and it stayed dry all the way back.
now that i was back and for certain i had visted the outdoor "fair" that had been recommended i was content that i had made up for the lazy day previously and could go to bed satisfied. that was not to be, i ran into jose when i got back and he asked me if i went to lacoleta (sp), my answer was "huh?", damn, i missed it, in fact i didn't have the slightest idea of where it was. as he wasn't doing anything i invited him along, i also pitched him on the fact that he's a smart kid and should look at using his talent for languages and knowledge of the city for good...it seems he does have aspirations, that kid is gonna go far...hopefully he uses his talents for good...
once down in lacolita we walked around the old cobblestone streets, the buildings had the appearence of being much older than the ones on avenue de mayo, or it could be that they aren't kept up as much, we passed one, it was the same building where half looked brand new and the other half looked like it was ready to fall over.
we walked around a bit, saw the drums and tango dancing, man those chica's can move there hips, walked through most of the stalls that were selling, yep you guessed it, junk, and were packing up. It ws getting dark, so the long walk home was begun. i told jose i'd buy him dinner for walking with me down there and he took me to this great place just a few blocks from the hostel. He had this i think it was a breaded veal chop with ham marinara and cheese with fries, and i had a t-bone steak, huge steak, and fries. the cost of my steak was 28 peso's, 6US dollars, and the steak was cooked to perfection, a nice medium, man i could get all my steaks to come out like the ones i've had here thats all i would eat, they practically melt in your mouth.
on the walk back home, reminding you that we were only about two blocks away, we saw a man getting out of a taxi in front of his hotel get robbed by a moto grab job. as we turned the corner we heard the commotion, watched and saw a man jump out of the taxi as a motorbike pulled up, i'll be godamned, stupid, of course the man should have gotten out of the other side of the taxi closer to the door of the hotel, but we all live and learn.
now that i'm back its time to relax, get some sleep, figure out when i'm getting out, if i am, although something tells me it will be one more day in ba, as i need to have laundry done again...yep, thats the excuse that is winning the race at this point.
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