Rio to Home via Buenos Airies

Monday 5 August 2007
After a couple more days in Rio relaxing and I'd begun exploring the city on foot again, I had started to get some pain in my right leg which I took to be a latent injury from the week before.

On Wednesday morning I took a 3 hour plane to Buenos Airies, Argentina. This was a lot easier than the 40 hour bus alternative. As I threw my heavy backpack onto the check-in conveyoer belt I felt and heard my back click. After that I had to walk very tentativley around the airport with my hand luggage on a trolley.

The three hour flight was comfortable and from Buenos Airies airport I took a taxi to my cheap and cheerful backpackers hostel near the city centre. I had allowed myself the luxury of a room for myself. After a quick wash and coffee I took the metro sytem to the business district to try and change some remaining travellers cheques at the American Express office. I was most annoyed to be told that their exchange counter had closed at 3pm, just 30 minutes earlier .

I then walked a couple of blocks to the British Airways office. I wanted confirmation that Friday's flight back to London was unchanged, as it was 9 months since I'd booked this flight. It turned out the office was no longer open to the public but a website connection was provided on a desk. As I withdrew the keybord, the retractable shelf crashed onto the floor. As I picked up the keyboard off the floor I was expecting security to rush in through the frosted glass doors. But no such priviledge of meeting a human being. So I then tried to follow English website instructions to locate my flight details. Within a minute or two I was in the unvirtutous cycle of entering ticket numbers and being told the details were incorrect and to try again.

After several attempts I tried the ringing the free-phone call centre on the phone provided. Again this didn't work. I didn't know whether I was getting an outside line or not, but the phone never answered. I went back to the computer and eventally I managed to ascertain that the flight time was unchanged.

I then had to walk around the city centre and try about 8 ATMs before I could get any cash out on the more expensive Visa card. I was feeling most frustrated with international travel and finance by now.

To cheer myself up and fulfill my reason for travelling I signed up for a tango show later in the evening . I was picked up from the hostel about 9pm and taken by minibus to a large restsaurant with stage where I had a three couse meal with a bottle Argentnian champagne and was entertained by very professional 2-3 hour tango music and dancing. My leg prevented me from joining in.

Early next morning, Thursday, I was met at the hostel by Camilla, an old friend of Owen's who lives and works in BA. With a combination of taxis and walking we visited some of the older districts in BA such as La Boca (famous for La Boca Juniors football club) and Recolleta where we had splendid lunch. It was a real pleasure to meet Camilla who could tell me so much about Buenos Airies and I most enjoyed having a really good conversation in English for the first time for two weeks.

Later on Thursday I met up with my friend, Norbert, and his family, for dinner. Norbert is German but lives in Quito, Ecuador, with his family where they run a Spanish school. I met Norbert on the Salar Uyuni trip in Bolivia and we had agreed to meet up some weeks before. After meeting at the Oblelisk in the city centre we went to a restauarant, L' Estancia, where I had the best Argentinian steak of the trip washed down by a couple bottles of good Argentinian red wine and more good conversation. It was a splendid way to spend the last night of the trip.

Next morning, tired but not hungover, I took a taxi to the airport and after two hours for checking in eventually caught the plane back to London via San Paulo. The flight, which took 15 hours, was comfortable and uneventful. I slept a good deal of the time.

I was delighted to be met by Jackie at the airport who took me home and Owen was there to let me in. I was pleased to see he'd kept the house tidy and clean while I'd been away. I was glad to be home and after calling mum to say I was home safe, if not sound, I went to bed for a few more hours' sleep.

Since then I've been catching up with family and friends. I've been to the doctor's for more tests, I've got my motor bike back on the road and I've started looking around for a new car.