Capital Federal.

December 17, 2010

I have come back to the hostel that I stayed in on that first visit to Argentina in 2004, call me nostalgic. It is in a big late nineteenth century house on a street corner with a pointy turret near the Congress. The architecture is typical European for the period. The ground floor is a bar with mahogany colour interior and old fashion style shop windows on both street sides with double doors on the corner. The hostel reception is upstairs from a side-door on the first floor, in a well in the building's middle under the balcony walkway of the third floor with a glass skylight roof above that.

View from third floor balcony down on hostel reception.

On my first day in the city I'd to make a purchase. The camera that I use is old and has been playing up recently therefore I'm afraid it could completely stop working at any time. Furthermore it takes a special memory card which seemingly is no longer available and the card I have is full, so it was time to spend some money. As there is a whole street dedicated to photography in Buenos Aires, here was the place to do it. And after mush looking in shop windows I come to the conclusion that a new camera should be the same make as the old one I use, so as not to be spending ages looking at a boring user manual learning a new system. I just want to take pictures not read pages of technical jargon. I settle therefore for a Fijifilm S1600 which although a relatively new model works mush the same as my old S5700 so it's easy and intuitive to use. The price is reasonable at 1300 pesos with a 4GB card (£216) or 2 weeks budget.

Two weeks budget indeed. It is a measure of how mush prices have gone up lately. On my first visit the above would've lasted a month in Buenos Aires, that's how cheap it was then. I remember the evening of the day I arrived 6 years ago, a group of us from the hostel went to a Tango show which included dinner, the bill for five was 70 pesos. Now however, only one person could eat at a restaurant for that price. Consequently most travelers no longer eat out, but food in the supermarket has become expensive too. I notice it at breakfast included in the hostel price which is 44 pesos (£7.33). The bread is the cheapest sliced fluff last a week in a plastic bag that's available, no doubt to keep down overheads.

Buenos Aires is an all night city, so an annoyance with hostels here is having people return to your room creating a racket in the middle of the night. I am tire today after being woke up at five, incidentally I didn't go to bed till one so I'd a very short night's sleep. At the said time two guys came into my room like elephants. They made no attempt at being quiet. They weren't long however laying down and sleeping, then I'd to listen to them snore.

I spent the day walking the streets eager to use the new camera. It is a long time since I walked in a big city and people in this big city are just like in other big cities namely, they are unfriendly and in a hurry, often bumping into you rather than turning sideways to accommodate passing you.

And another matter is the humidity, my tee-short was wet and sticking to me. I could feel myself burn too. People crowded onto the side of the street in the shade while the other side in the sun remains empty. I think the thing which makes it worse, apart from the yellow haze of pollution, is there's no air moment, as for example as I write I look out the window and see two twenty storey apartment blocks side by side across the street from the hostel and all the other buildings around are five storeys at lease.

The banners of a war veterans protest in Plaza de Mayo.

Smiles and laughter during an interval. The carol singers in pedestrian street Florida. Yes, it's Christmas.

Recoleta cemetery where all the good and the great rest.

Iron gate to a mausoleum in Recoleta padlocked.

The orange bike city-tour arrive at Recoleta.

(ffwd to Friday afternoon) I slept well as I'd the whole room to myself last night and had the windows closed as traffic noise is another disturbances. The room is dark and has a high ceiling where the fan whirls around constantly so it's sufficiently cool. The reception area is cool too in it's well, but the roof where breakfast, no what passes for breakfast, is served in a conservatory type structure with sheeting underneath the glass for shade, has fans whirling constantly too but unless you're directly under them it's as warm as out on the street.

Today, I've just returned from a walk via Plaza de Mayo to and around the old port, which like old ports in other parts of the world has been gentrified with fashionable restaurants along the quay side and expensive apartments in the old brick warehouses. As it is out near the river there was a bit of a breeze, the Argentine flags fluttered lightly, but it blew hot air and as I walked along I felt myself burn. I stopped by a Starbucks cafe and had a latte. It was nice to sit in the cool climatize coffeeshop and look through todays photos. With a digital camera you take an awefull lot in such a short space of time and I'd to delete those that wouldn't work.

On getting back to the hostel I'd a cold shower as my clothes were sticking to me today too. And on looking in the mirror my forehead was red. On the bike it is usually covered by the helmet. The bike is above me on the balcony, I suppose on that subject I'll have to begin planning a way out of the city. It isn't going to be easy but we'll see.

The pedestrian crossing on a section of the widest street in the world, Avenida 9 de Julio.

More architectural wonders in Plaza de Mayo.

A recent addition in the old port the bridge, Una Mujer.

The good ship Presidente Sarimento sits permanently at anchor and is open as a museum.

The old port with the old warehouses on the right converted in to expensive apartments and restaurants at quay level.

La Casa Rosada, Argentina's fancy presidential palace.

The title. Argentina is a federation of provinces and the capital Buenos Aires is often called Capital Federal to distingish it from namesake province.

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