Well, I finally made it:-)
First 2 days after my arrival it was so hot and humid I couldn't go outside to do any exploring around. The 3rd day it rained heavily so another day inside. The 4th day I was ready to go and explore the city. Like every other tourist I had to ask around. Some maps in the travel books are really good, but the maps given at the tourist information kiosks are upside down marked so if you don't know this you might end up on a different part of town.
To my surprise , my B&B is only 1 street from the Plaza de Mayo (Casa Rosada - The Argentinean Government building) and I have access to all the metro (subte) and bus stations. I'm also very close to Calle Florida, the biggest pedestrian mall in Buenos Aires. The calle Florida crosses Calle Lavalle which is full of Restaurants and if I continue on Calle Florida I end up in the Parco San Martin which is next to the Retiro Train Station and also home to the Terminal de Omnibus.
Tueasday the 29th of March I spent almost 2 hrs in the park, taking photos and people watching. This Park is so big that is almost has it's own barrios.....j/k. It sure has a doggie park inside the park. A lady walked by with her dog on a leash and the dog started barking at the dogs inside the doggie park, the doggie park dogs barked back, so I said: "Perro concerto simphonico"....the lady started laughing. and agreed....si,si, si..
It is best to go out by night when the temperature is much cooler, this is the reason this people have late dinners and late shows, so they can stay a bit more comfortable.
As the night comes and the trash is deposited on the street corners, the gypsies come alive, open all the trash bags and take out all the bottles and everything they consider, "good to be resold". The families (wife and children) sleep or eat on a piece a cardboard right on the street, while the males scavange the trash. Many homeless people also. I seen one guy sleeping for days in the same spot. Some people put leftover sandwich pieces in a plastic bag next to this guy, I assume so he can eat when he awakes.
Buses and motocycles are very fast, they honk their horn constantly so the "paetonals" (pedestrians) can hear them coming and won't try to cross the streets while the motorized vehicles are in great speed.
Prices do vary, some food items are very affordable, some are more expensive. Because of the intense heat I do drink a lot, here at the B&B the refrigerator is full of bottles filled with water so we can have very cold water all day and night to drink. In the morning I have 1 glass orange juice, 2 cups a coffee and 2 small crossants, that keeps me going until 6-7 at night when I feel hungry, but it happened, that actually I wasn't hungry, all I needed was lots of liquid, in my case very cold water.
Well, this are my very first impressions and I will update as I go.
Ciao!
