Buenos Aires to Cordoba

An hours ferry ride from Colonia brought us back into Argentina and into Buenos Aires - a massive busy sprawling city. Slightly stressful cycle convoy to our funky Art Factory hostel in the cental bohemian barrio, San Telmo. Known for its collection of bars and restaurants we were quick to head out for a delicious lunch in the area while planning our next 2 rest days - quite decadent! Important to get chores out the way, laundry and the purchase of warmer clothes (a recurring theme for this softy) which took us into the bustling Florida st (not unlike Oxford st but pedestrianised and plenty of touts)!
On return to our hostel, I had a surprise visitor from South Africa (thanks to SAA for their new direct flights to BA) which was amazing and great excuse to take some extra days off from cycle tour to explore BA and surrounding area. We sampled some delicious cuisine and discovered great wines in the restaurants and bars in the San Telmo, Recoleta, Palermo and Centro areas. Took in some spectacular views of BA at sunset from the 20something floor of the Sheraton Hotel(The most expensive G&T ever I think, but worth it for the views!)


We explored some of the surrounding areas, including a train trip to Tigre on one of the many rivers with hundreds of islands, quite elaborate rowing clubs and a further opportunity to indulge in the local cuisine and relax on riverbanks. A day trip out to San Antonia de Arecco - gaucho country and characteristic small town, and yes another opportunity to indulge in local speciality - an Asado (Argentinian BBQ).

BA is a large sprawling city, quite European in its architecture and cuisine influences, we were sorry to have missed the World Tango competition but happy to have felt the vibe from visiting different barrios (neighbourhoods), one of the highlights being the Sunday market in San Telmo with antiques, arts, crafts, food and enjoying lunch with cold cerveja and sounds of Spanish guitar.





A trip to BA would not be complete without the obligatory leather goods shopping, somewhat curbed due to the apathy of sale staff, dont they want to sell me a leather jacket!!! Handbags were easier purchases. Well worth a second visit but now time to cycle on....

I jumped on a bus for the 3.5hr trip to San Pedro (cycle group took 2 days, and the 2nd day was with massive head wind, was I glad to have missed out on that) but very happy to join the cycle group and meet with the 8 new people who have joined the tour for the next 3 weeks to Santiago.
Unfortunately the terrain and cycling for the next 4 or 5 days was somewhat taxing, flat straight roads, some rain, not much variation to the scenery, not many points of interest along the way, few towns, odd coffee stop at a gas station. Highlights were the interaactions with the local people in the small towns we camped in, with several tv and radio interviews being conducted and excited school kids hanging around enjoying the attention and admiring our swanky bikes!



A short rest day in Cordoba - an interesting and manageable city with good museums, cathedral, shopping, fantastic arts and crafts market and great restaurants ... and then we headed out to the mountains and leaving the bad weather behind......