So morning after the Inca Trail and it was my birthday, after a soft and comfy bed to sleep in Neil arranged for breakfast in bed...lush! Then we chilled out and had another Jacuzzi bath, chatted to family on Skype, a first time for the Lithgos...was loving the facial expesssions and gestures Katherine!! We then went out so I could find a massage place and get a manicure and pedicure. After walking about 20 yards a women called out “Massage lady?” and off I went after haggling the price, I paid 40 soles for a 1 hour massage, manicure and pedicure.....bargain at £10! The massage was great and exactly what the body ordered, followed by a great pedicure and manicure. Neil came to collect me and I only had 30 minutes to get ready before heading our for drinks and dinner with our new friends from The Inca Trail. We met Ruth, Leomora, Gary, Alex and Anne at an Irish bar called Rosie O'Grady's which seemd to have good prices and happy hour, followed by dinner at the Indian Resturant (Maikhana) where Yuko joined us and everyone loving the spicy food and hot chapatti's and then we went off to find another bar. You have to understand that in Cuzco there is plenty of competition to get people through their doors and so you get swamped. As it was my birthday everyone seemed to get me to go in their bar, in the end we went in somewhere where I could get everyone a round of drinks free. We had some drinks.....people were starting to get drunk at this point and I think the pictures show that (hey Anne and Ruth!).
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| I'm not drunk... |
At the bar a Peruivan “Rock” band were playing, they were ok but we decided that we needed to head to a place were we could “shake our thing” as we left they played Bon Jovi “Living on a Prayer” which reminds me and Neil of the wedding...Air Guitar! So after rocking to that we left. I again got swamped by people to get into a club, we went to Mythology and small club and danced tge night away with free drinks from the bay and free pouring rum into our mouths...loved it!!! The pics say the rest and there is more but that story may be for some when we get back.
The next few days we chilled, watched TV, had Jacuzzi's and stayed in bed.
Our flights to Argentina were spread out over 26 hours but we got to travel through Bolivia again. Again, we nearly missed our flight. We didn't understand why the woman behind the desk was flapping as we had 45 minutes before our flight left but she rushed us through security and all that in quite a panic. I suppose some people just want to follow the rules... First stop was La Paz where we went down to the Witches market and bought some bits and pieces, presents for Australia, a couple of wedding rings etc. After a short debate we ended up in The Star of India for lunch. We were both still feeling a little dodgy so didn't manage to eat much past the starter but at 3 quid a head, we weren't complaining. Our next flight was about 8 pm so we headed back to the airport as we were getting sick of all these late turn ups for flights. We got into Santa Cruz at about 9:45 and just got a taxi straight to our hotel – the one we had confirmed booking for...so imagine how we laughed when we finally found the address and there was a big sign outside saying that the building was condemned or something but it was definitely not open. The taxi driver recommended one across the road but we went in and it was $45 per night. We decided to walk to the Plaza with our bags and it was sticky hot so gave up after 10 m, got back in the cab and asked him to take us to Hotel Italia, where we stayed last time. The night clerk tried to sort us out with a room but after we filled in all the forms and carried our bags up the four flights of stairs we discovered it only had one single bed in it. We trudged off up the road again and found Hotel Milan who managed to give us a proper room with cable TV and air con. It was 190 Bs a night (about 19 quid) but we didn't care by this point. We dumped our bags, went out to a cashpoint to get the rest of the $s we needed for the apartment in BA then hit the sack. Next morning we got a cab nice and early again and got to the airport fine but we couldn't get two seats together – I assume we couldn't because the woman behind the desk didn't do it but she didn't ask us either – the flight was about 2 hours and I think we both slept through most of it so it didn't matter.
We arrived in BA and got a cab to our rented apartment in Palermo, though we were around 2 hours late the guy was there to hand over the keys and show us about the place i.e. balcony, roof top pool and sauna. We quickly dumped our things and went out to do a shop, after walking for a while we stumbled across a supermarket where we bought a lot of booze and some food, after having trouble with paying on card (you need ID) we went back, cooked for the first time in 3 months and settled down with some Malbec wine, rum and beer.
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| Chillin' at the rooftop pool... |
Not going to lie, apart from arranging our Tango lesson, dinner and show and the things we wanted to see in BA all we did was chill out, drink and enjoy being in a apartment and it's facilties. It rained all day the following day so we chilled out some more. Finally when eventually sunny we headed out onto the Metro into Centro for a spot of sightseeing.
We got to the station and when the train came, I stopped to let some girl go in front. She stopped to let me on and I just thought it was a little bit strange. When we got on, she was standing very close in front of me and I thought, 'She's trying to pick my pocket'. I had my bag in front of me, facing towards me and I was holding it at the top so I knew that was OK but I kept checking my pocket as well which had my phone in it. She got off the next stop and I told B what I thought. I hadn't wanted to make a fuss about it as I had recently read a story by some American bloke who lived in Paris and had 2 American tourists on the Metro loudly protest that he was a dirty foreign pick-pocket etc. I didn't want to be one of those ignorant tourists who assume all foreigners are thieves, so I kept my mouth shut. A few stops later, the train was still busy and a well dressed man leant over the carriage waving what looked like my passport in front of me. I took it, more than a little bemused, and realised that it was my passport, complete with all the various entry and exit forms we had and my vaccination booklet. Everything except the passport cover, in fact. I quickly checked my bag and everything else was there, B's passport, the camera and various other bits and bobs. So somehow, this girl had lifted my passport, in it's cover, taken it out, dropped it on the floor and escaped with a, slightly grubby, passport holder that had cost me about £1.75. Although it wasn't much, I was still pretty p'ed off that she had done this, especially since I knew she was trying to do it. Anyway, we continued out onto the street, me clutching my bag tightly to my chest. A few minutes after we walked down the road, I saw a woman have her necklace snatched off her throat. We generally weren't getting a good impression of Buenos Aires here I must admit. Some rather unsavory descriptions of the Argentinians were escaping our lips all the way to the Pink Palace. Bindya was upset that she couldn't go inside to stand on the balcony and sing, 'Don't Cry For Me Argentina'. She took some photos and I hovered close, keeping an eye out for would-be camera snatchers. We passed some sort of protest camp, all I could make out from the banners was something to do with war veterans and another thing mentioning the Falkland Islands (or Islas Malvinas) again. They really need to get over this one...
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| It's dangerous out there... |
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| The Pink Palace |
We did a little more sightseeing going down Av Florida (shopping central), Avenue de Mayo, the obelisk and other city sights before sitting down for a drink and then heading off to the Recoleta Cemertry which is a must when visiting BA. The cemetery is set in an expensive area of BA and is beautiful with the many eleborate mausoleums including where Evita is buried....it is not as grand as you may think as she is buried in with her sister's family in a small out of the area of the place.
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| Tango pose! |
Then we got to dance, but not only with each other but everyone. We finished on leaning a Tango pose which involved Neil extending his leg low and me wrapping my leg over he leg and around his hip. This was difficult considering our height difference and the old women on the side watching were laughing....but it was great fun. After the lesson we went to the resturant/theatre for dinner and a bottle of posh Malbec followed by the Tango show...
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| Tango face! Feel the passion... |
It was great and the video will show you better then I can explain. I think Neil liked it too, especially the women's high kicks and high split dresses......
Birthday
Argentina - BA
http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=244696&id=547011402&l=f613eb9fc9
It was great and the video will show you better then I can explain. I think Neil liked it too, especially the women's high kicks and high split dresses......