{"id":2723,"date":"2017-08-20T16:28:13","date_gmt":"2017-08-20T19:28:13","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.eayrs.com\/blog\/?p=2723"},"modified":"2017-08-25T22:27:22","modified_gmt":"2017-08-26T01:27:22","slug":"trip-through-northern-argentina-and-paraguay-day-3","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.eayrs.com\/blog\/archives\/2723","title":{"rendered":"Trip through Northern Argentina and Paraguay \u2013 Day 3"},"content":{"rendered":"

20 August 2017 \u2013 Buenos Aires \u2013 a hot, sunny winter’s day as the journey proper starts<\/em><\/p>\n

I have been staying at the Castelar Hotel in Buenos Aires several times a year since 1998 and have always felt really comfortable here. But perhaps it\u2019s time for me to evaluate my options.<\/p>\n

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 Castelar  Hotel, Buenos Aires, my transit hotel in BA for nearly 20 years<\/p><\/div>\n

First of all, I couldn\u2019t get to the front door of the hotel this weekend because of a huge open air \u2018event\u2019 (an asasdo (barbecue) contest in which grillmen from across the nation cook their stuff in the main drag \u2013 go figure). This is fine, enjoyable even and maybe a cheap munch that could turn into lunch?) but not when you are baggage laden and have to struggle a block and a half after a long and exhausting journey.<\/p>\n

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I mean, how clear can you get?<\/p><\/div>\n

Then my reservation didn\u2019t seem to have reached the hotel, which was full like Bethlehem on the birth of JC only without a manger option, and I was being politely turned out into the street on a long holiday weekend at about 21.30; it wasn\u2019t until I produced a dated, letter-headed  email of confirmation from the hotel that they managed to find a room. Just like that. There were no rooms, remember, I was being turned away, and suddenly there’s a  room. I mean, if they had a room all the time you\u2019d think they\u2019d want to keep a customer of 20 years\u2019 standing reasonably happy. Then in the morning no hot water in the shower, and the weather was not conducive to a cold one. Down to breakfast and that was delayed for whatever reason. Etc.,etc.,  and end of rant.<\/p>\n

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Silver, my expedition companion, too far away for this trip but will be sadly missed.<\/p><\/div>\n

But hey, I\u2019m starting another trip and these are minor issues. Met Marya today to pick up the gear I\u2019d brought up from Patagonia \u2013 it\u2019s very different doing these trips in hired cars, but the cost in time and money of getting Silver the Jeep up from Patagonia just wasn\u2019t viable so I’d brought up essential camping gear, etc. when I left last year. Good to see Marya again \u2013 seems a long time since we first met in Barcelona in 1976, lots of water under that bridge.<\/p>\n

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The Immigrant Communities section of a huge gastronomic event in central Buenos Aires. Not for vegans and vegetarians.<\/p><\/div>\n

There was a big \u2018event\u2019 in Avda. 9 de julio today, stretching from the Obelisk to Avda. de mayo, with countless stands \u2013 this was the \u2018event\u2019 that made me walk with all my bags \u2013 lots of food, lots of people, above all, lots of meat, but all a bit commercial for my tastes. I ended up eating pizza in one of my favourite places in the area \u2013 the famous, traditional  33 Billares<\/em>.<\/p>\n

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All you need to know about the 33 Billares<\/p><\/div>\n

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Pizza and cold draught beer of the pilsner kind, but good.<\/p><\/div>\n

I opted for pizza and draught beer \u2013 a glass this size is charmingly called a tanque<\/em> (Eng. tank), presumably in some strange etymological way related to the word \u2018tankard\u2019. Anyway, both beer and pizza were good and welcome \u2013 it has been a hot day, surprisingly hot for the middle of winter.<\/p>\n

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Part of the lower billiards hall at 33 Billares<\/p><\/div>\n

After lunch I watched the old men play billiards for a while \u2013 and noted there was one really old snooker table, covered up today but the wooden frame gave away its age.<\/p>\n

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The depressions at front left and half way along the right hand frame reveal that this is a [full-size] snooker table, something of a rarity in Buenos Aires<\/p><\/div>After lunch back to my hotel to pick up my bags, and a taxi to the Retiro coach  station where I boarded a bus for Posadas, in the Province of Misiones. I arrive there tomorrow morning, at sparrow fart, but I doubt I\u2019ll blog from there as I am picking up a rental car and driving down to Mercedes, in the Province of Corrientes. But let\u2019s see \u2013 life would be boring if everything always went to plan.<\/p>\n

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I’ll drive from Posadas to Mercedes, and the following day drive on to Colonia Carlos Pelligrini, on the west of the Parque Iber\u00e1.<\/p><\/div>\n

Note: All photos today from the iPhone – I am a little scared to expose expensive glass in the streets of Buenos Aires – but hopefully I’ll soon be blogging some interesting wildlife in higher resolution.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

20 August 2017 \u2013 Buenos Aires \u2013 a hot, sunny winter’s day as the journey proper starts I have been staying at the Castelar Hotel in Buenos Aires several times a year since 1998 and have always felt really comfortable here. … Continue reading →<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"ngg_post_thumbnail":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[16,37,1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-2723","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-travel-2","category-trip-ne-argentina-and-paraguay","category-uncategorized"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.eayrs.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2723","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.eayrs.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.eayrs.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.eayrs.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.eayrs.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2723"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/www.eayrs.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2723\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2736,"href":"https:\/\/www.eayrs.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2723\/revisions\/2736"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.eayrs.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2723"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.eayrs.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2723"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.eayrs.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2723"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}