Tue 1302 At Cafe Belgrano on Defensa near Santo Domingo church; been here before some come in partly for old times' sake and partly because it's air-conditioned. :-) Not super cheap but not too bad.
Got up 10ish but didn't leave flat til about 1230. Packed etc, left bag there. It's pretty damn hot out. Topped up power bank and phone as best I could while loitering in room this morning, tho phone is at 89% now so not great.
Getting small coffee and two meat empanadas; bit worried I'm putting on weight (belt feels a bit tight) but fuck it, if I'm not drinking today (and it is damn tempting in this heat already, never mind later) that's a good start. Not had an empanada here this trip and I think 40 each is moderately cheap. Perhaps (depending on who you believe) empanadas better for me than croissants...
Vague plan for today is mainly to wander, I may head over to the docks/waterway business park type area but we'll see how it goes. Been here before, am coming back, I don't have anything I desperately need to do. Plan is just to "be here" and potter around.
1318 Empanadas pretty good. Not sure what plans are today re food. Sent my complaint in to Edelweiss this morning, see what they say, nothing to lose and feels good to have it out of the way.
Brought camera out with me today, have snapped a few random street scenes just for hell of it.
1357 Getting second coffee. Mildly extravagant but never mind.
1450 Let's go.
1902 Sue me. I'm at Indoor bar getting pizza and a pint of Quilmes. Was really thirsty, just practically inhaled 1.5 litre bottle of water bought from shop. Nearly ordered a diet coke here but didn't. Not exactly the end of the world.
Will write more later, not a bad afternoon really. Pretty busy here at IB. Got my semi-usual table outside.
2051 At terminal. Got to flat about 2010 due to delay calling for bill and getting change. Used host's bog, I feel drenched with fucking sweat. Goodbye perhaps a bit hasty but meh. Not gonna write more now lest phone be swiped, will do more on bus. Not *too* hot now but do still feel sweaty. Hoping aircon on bus will freshen me up.
2124 On bus. Usual worries I'd miss it or it would be late and I'd think I'd missed it, but all OK. Had to dredge passport out of hidden belt (didn't try just using copy) and also was allowed to take my bag on but then it didn't fit under seat (v little space) so had to pop back out with it, but got it sorted. Battery 28% but have power bank, will top up once we're off.
So after coffee at Cafe Belgrano I wandered water-wards and ended up passing the museum of humour (think been before but would have gone in again, tho it's shut Tuesdays), taxi driver monument (wonder if seen this before, but if I had I'd forgotten and still think it's kind of cool) before ending up standing at one point along a wall separating road from green marshy reserve area. Little roadside stands every 30m or so but didn't patronise one, just stood by wall alternating between looking at traffic and marsh. Bit of shade and breeze, warm but quite nice. Got lost in thought, had a cool if pointless idea for a little project once I'm back home, generally pretty decent time.
Might have been there couple of hours or more! Then walked back vaguely round towards Chile and those bars; did an extra circuit feeling v thirsty trying to find cheap cold water, I knew there was an Express store in the vicinity which sells 1.5 litres of cold Ser con gas for ARS30, and I *eventually* found it - it's at corner Peru and Venezuela for future reference. As noted above inhaled that, went for pizza and pint at Indoor Bar. That was fine, finished pizza about 1930 but lingered over remains of beer and that plus not allowing for time taken to get and pay bill (had to wait for change, was 220 and tipped 40) made me a bit behind schedule and perhaps rushed more than otherwise would and that maybe made me feel/be more sweaty.
2130 We're off, on time, as was writing that. Beer was not a good, if not a terrible idea - I felt not drunk but I think a bit weird as a result, it's silly but almost like it made me a bit more sweaty. I had vaguely toyed with going to buy a second 1.5 litre bottle cold water for bus before going to flat and on to Subte to Retiro but didn't have time, tho to be fair I had kind of decided not to as did have bit in bag (just not v much) and if I had decided to do this I wouldn't have nursed dregs of beer for 20 mins. Another time I'll probably be stronger re not having beer. Half wish had bought that water but also didn't want to be lugging an extra 1.5kg over to Retiro. Tis OK.
Air con not super fierce (yet) but not too bad, I hope I'll feel better soon and if not I can have a shower tomorrow when I get to new airbnb. Looks like it's a stiffish but tolerable walk from bus terminal and I probably will walk it, partly to save cash, partly exercise and partly because I get a bit edgy in cabs abroad, tho pretty sure they're fine here.
Kept humming "Let Go" by Frou Frou to myself by marsh this afternoon so let's get "Details" album on.
Wed 1047 Slept not too badly though woke up feeling bit dry as usual and as I kept drowsing on I never got offered a drink this morning. Dinner on bus not long after we left OK, some hot vaguely chickeny pie thing, square cold pizza-y thing, cold tortilla espanola and a sticky cake and some sugary Sprite (I turned down red wine) and a small cup instant coffee. Listened to couple of mostly new-to-me HMHB albums (McIntyre and Creative Hub) and fell asleep to Seahorses's DIY (which also listened to on flight as my dad had said he's suddenly heard it on his ipod and it was good).
Bit reluctant to arrive and leave cocoon of bus but tis OK. Charged batt to 90-odd before sleeping, down to 44% now but OK. I think I've knackered the short yellow USB cable by squashing the phone, power bank and cable in my trouser pocket one of the first days/nights in BA to charge phone while being out and about, and it now makes unreliable contact - but just about good enough to charge with if not "disturbed" too much.
airbnb permitting I think plan today is to shower, have a brief walk and see very casually if I can spot any interesting tour agencies that might be able to offer me a trek of some kind, eat and have a quiet night in. Maybe do tiny bit of admin re Brazil side trip but mostly just read or surf web or whatever.
Did a bit of bird-watching at that marsh yesterday, took some photos, there was what might have been a heron. Realised when walking away after my n hours' loitering (no one disturbed me, incidentally) the entrance to the reserve was just up the road so I could probably have gone in and walked round. May do this next time I'm in BA. OTOH I rather enjoyed just standing there in the shade at the side of the road staring meditatively into space so not a big loss that I didn't go in.
Quite a lot of bottles/cans floating on marsh. Found myself wondering if a slow-moving (so as not to disturb anything) automatic cleaning machine could be invented. Or maybe a simple human remote controlled one - I could imagine it being just fun and challenging enough to drive one it would be easy to get a volunteer. But it would be coolest to have an automated one which would just keep cleaning slowly and steadily 24/7; I suspect that would be enough to keep the area completely clean even with the odd scrote throwing new stuff in every now and then.
There are USB sockets on the small screens mounted in front of seat but I am assuming my power bank will give a faster charge. Screens don't work super well, didn't intend to watch any films anyway but they kept freezing for minutes at a time during the patronising videos shown about eg human trafficking and wearing seatbelt shortly after we pulled out.
Went for quite badly needed slash few mins ago, bus toilet seemed OK. Not sure if you're allowed to take a dump or not but luckily not that desperate to do so.
1122 Stewardess type woman just gave me a snack boxy thing and said she couldn't serve me earlier because I was sleeping, which was nice of her I guess - will take it away, not hungry now.
1324 Been at new airbnb maybe half hour. Walked over here. Had shower. Seems OK, see how it goes. Anyway, let's send this.
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