Buenos Aires and on, then back again

Arrived bleary eyed at Buenos Aires bus station after an overnight bus journey from Puerto Madryn. The bus station is very bustly and busy and there are things like "Subways" that I have not seen for a while. The recommended hostel is in the district of Palermo, it is full, so I go down the street and find another. I´m back in the big city with all it´s incipent advantages (food ! drink!) and disadvantages (noise, crowds, murderous vehicles). My first night at the hostel, and I seem to be the only who even attempts sleep, cos even at 0730am only two others have returned to the 6 bed room. And this is the way of it in Buenos Aires, genuinely, the city that never sleeps !! Partly because, I think, it is hot and humid 24 hours a day and unless you drink it is difficult to sleep, and often you don´t even want to....

Palermo is bit too European (i.e. smug and wealthy) for my tastes, so after 2 nights I move to the more run down but seemingly friendlier "San Telmo" district of town and find a cheap but mangey hostel in the center. For a week I roam about town, covering huge distances on foot. I watch many live Tango shows on the street, is there a more intense dance than this ? I´ve not seen it.... There are street decorations and buskers aplenty. I went  to a show called "La bomba de tiempo", fantastic percussion-only band in a "rave setting" - an adandoned industrial works of some sort and they play as the sun goes down behind them. BUT, as I always find, the city is impersonal, it is hard to make connections and I don´t make a success of my time in BA. Not really helped by my lack of Spanish in a mainly Spanish speaking hostel.

So after 6 days I buy a ferry ticket to Uruguay, not sure whether I´m going to come back to BA or not.

Uruguay is very sleepy by comparison! I travelled on the "Cacciola" ferry from Tigre (borough of BA) to Carmelo, a light twin hulled boat that whizzes through the shallow marshy channels of the River Plate. I then took a bus to the old colonial town of Colonia. I find a nice rustic hostel and walk about town. It´s predictably touristy, but in a sleepy way, it reminds me of Orford (or Southwold) in Suffolk. A day to look around is enough, so I head to Montevideo on the bus.

I enjoyed my day and half in Montevideo, I think it´s get´s a bad press ! From the town centre (a peninsular) you can see the sea in 3 directions (unlike BA which for some strange reason completely turns it´s back on the sea) which makes it breezy and cooler for walking around. The neighbourhoods are obviously poorer and a bit grubbier than BA, but it has good beaches within walking distance (unlike BA). A day here is enough though. Xmas is coming ! (it´s the 20th Dec). I decide to spend the whole Xmas period on the beach at Punta del Diablo (4 hrs North up the coast) and not travel anywhere. To buy my bus ticket I have to queue for an hour, things are getting crazy holiday busy already.

Punta del Diablo was a sleepy fishing village until a few short years ago. Now it is a rapidly developing beach resort, 120 houses built on the sand dunes this year alone, a rate resembling a Spanish resort in the 1970´s (I should think). I opt for a hostel out of the town, it´s brand new, very smart and anxious to please, Hostel de la Vieuda. Within 10 minutes I have a very narrow shave with a sunbathing snake on the garden decking. I surprised it and vice versa, we both jumped !! it then curled up and struck out, and fortunately, missed ! I told the hostel owner and she arranged for a neighbour to come over, he, rather unfortunately, killed it with a piece of wood. This was rather a shame as it was a beautiful thing, the subtle colours and the texture of it. However, I looked it up on google later http://bit.ly/gd3LSN (correct I think as it had a matte black rattle) it´s turns out to be very poisonous !! one of my lives used up I think! It made me think twice about walking through long grass the whole next week. And so the 6 days of Xmas passed pleasantly enough, every day swimming in the surf and lounging about in the hot sunshine, just like the UK at Xmas !! Uruguayans celebrate Xmas eve not Xmas day, so the hostel organised a big Parilla (BBQ) for late late Xmas eve, the punch was super strong, I drank too much and predictably passed out (without making into town for the disco).

I was going to go straight to the Brazil border only 30km away. But I made the odd decision to return all the way to Buenos Aires and spend another week there, including New Years day. On the way back to BA Chaos !! in the holiday craziness the Montevideo bus station had half burnt down. Very long queues everywhere to temporary tents in the car park. I was lucky to come away with a ticket at all, let alone to the right place ! It cost a bit (I had to get what I could) but I got back to BA that night, by ferry, arriving back at 2am (and finding it even hotter than when I left...).

Sunset @ Colonia