Buenos Aires por la noche
July 28, 2005 – Thurs
Thankfully, the loud Brazilian kids and teenagers left the hostel this morning. It will finally be quiet and be more like a regular hostel. Yay!
I met many new people — from Porto Alegre (Brazil): Marcelo, Luiz, Felipe, Vicente, Fernanda, Matheus; from the states: Daniel and Damien?(I think that´s his name), and from Germany, Niko.
We all partook in Brazilian mate — so much better than Argentinian mate (no offense to you Argentines out there). I ended up having 4 mates.
For dinner, I headed out with Moran, Marcelo, and Niko to a tenedor libre (all you can eat) nearby. It was okay, enough to fill my stomach..but I wouldn´t recommend the place to people. Then headed back to the hostel to find everyone else gathered around in the common room with Damien playing the guitar and singing.
For evening festivities, a large group of us decided to experience the night life in BsAs. It was me, Luiz, Felipe, Vicente, Fernanda, Matheus, Niko, and Cathy. We walked to Puerto Madero on a very foggy night, looked at eateries, walked across the funky bridge, looked at other places but no one was satisfied. Then we decided to catch cabs to the area where Club 69 was. The taxis took us to Palermo, but it was too early for the club action.
We tried to find a bar or club to hang out at. Apparently, the clubs get started after 2am in BsAs. The first bar we went to was ´full´. We stood around for a while, trying to figure out what to do next. We eventually found a resto-bar with no one else in it, stayed there for a while and had some Iguana and Quilmes beer. It was pretty entertaining — Fernanda, Vicente, Matheus and I were showing off our tattoos. Cathy and I were learning Portuguese from Vicente.
Then we headed off to find clubs. Fernanda seemed to be in charge, asking people where clubs were, and leading the way. We arrived at an area of Palermo — a main plaza with swingsets and a jungle gym. There were a few clubs there. We tried to get into one that was playing various South American beats, but it was full. We could see inside, and it was hardly full. There was plenty of room. We watched 3 guys dancing like crazy, dancing, hopping at a distance, running into each other, trying to get girls to dance with them. We were laughing at them, but they looked like they were having a good time.
We finally moved from there and went back to Club 69. The ´being on the list´to get in stopped at 2am — from then, you had to stand in line. We stood outside of the line in front of the club, seeing if Fernanda could work her magic with the bouncer (she´s a cute girl), but no luck. We pondered what to do. It was already about 4am. Fernanda, Luiz, Matheus, and Felipe decided to take a taxi back to the hostel.
Cathy, Vicente, Niko and I got in line. It was a long line. It was cold. It was also 20 pesos to get in!!! I ended up taking a taxi back to the hostel on my own sometime near 5am. I was a bit suspicious — cabbie at 5am alone. But I have to say that I had the best taxi driver ever! We talked all the way back. It happens that he has a close friend, an Argentinian girl, who married an American guy and now lives in San Antonio. My taxi ride ended up being 8 pesos.
When I got back to the hostel, I saw the 4 that had come home early — waiting outside, half asleep. None of them had a key. They cheered and greeted me like I was their savior. And with double the luck, we also all shared the same dorm room, which I had a key for. It was a pretty funny circumstance.
I spoke to Cathy and Niko the next morning and they told me they were ripped off by their cab driver, who charged them 15 pesos..almost double what mine cost!
Tags: Buenos Aires, Travel
Marisa