Day of the Dead

Tuesday 25th

You can´t spend time in BA and not visit the dead. The cemetery at Recoleta just blew me away. It´s where the jet set went to be planted and it´s almost a mini-city contained inside it´s own walls with an expensive game of up one upmanship in terms of ornate splendor. They´re pretty well packed in mind you - you don´t want to wind up with the wrong neighbour here for all eternity. Guess that´s why they keep the riff raff out - it´s more your presidents, generals and influential aristocracy including Eva Peron.

Wednesday 26th

Bought a ticket to the South today - at least I think I did. The whole conversation was in Spanish (obviously) and I got a piece of paper with a seat number on it in return for a wad of crumpled notes, so I´m going somewhere. You can´t go direct to Ushuaia from BA, so you need to go via Rio Gallegos; a 36 hour journey, with a further 12 to Tierro del Fuego. Wasn´t expecting to destroy my backside until I got on the bike, but at least there is food and drink on this one. I was offered an earlier bus with no food - for 1 and a 1/2 days?? Sounds like a scene from the film "Alive" to me. No I went for the food option.

Spent the afternoon in Palermo, another upmarket district just outside the microcentre complete with stunning parks and a Japanese garden with the most overfed Coy Carp I´ve ever seen. Picture a wounded German U boat trying to surface.