A superb brunch at Coco Cafe in Palermo. The tarta espinacas con brie was particularly delicious and we are enjoying the strong black coffee here. Again the waiter was jovial and patient with our attempts at Spanish. It seems the locals don't mind if you are not fluent as long as you give it a go.
We had enjoyed staying at a friend's apartment but with an early start for the ferry to Montevideo we relocated to a hostel nearer the terminal to make things easier. The hostel is located in an old building and appeared everything we needed. We soon had three differing opinions on how to get a taxi and two opinions (different from official advice) on how long we should leave for check in. All of which suggested we should be relaxed about the whole thing. Latin time!
We spent the afternoon checking out Puerto Madero the swanky, rejuvenated docklands area which is the place to be seen. Even by rejuvenated dockland area standards I have never seen so many chic restaurants in one strip.
The highlight was visiting the Museo Frigata ARA Presidente Sarmiento. An old tall ships built in Birkenhead in the late 1800's and commisioned for the purpose of acting as a training vessel to enable recruits to be trained, educated and tour the world at the same time showing the world Argentina was a growing and prospering nation. Quite possibly the best two pesos I'll ever spend. The chance to tour any boat is always something I'll jump at but to see the craftmanship ( craftpersonship?) in detailing the wood and brass finishing was fascinating. Cheesy tourist photo at the helm was taken unashamedly. Imagining the voyage which took the young crew to Southampton in the 1800's and Auckland in 1902 conjers up the romance of a navy life mixed with the realities of how tough a life sailing across the oceans would have been.
Definitely one of the top picks of things to do in Buenos Aires.
San Telmo was the chosen area for a big Parilla steak dinner at El Desnivel. The steaks truly are superb and you won't go hungry that's for sure! Another cheesy tourist photo in front of the silver fern flag hanging up, apparently the All Blacks ate here when they played Los Pumas. Maybe the All Blacks tour manager bought the Lonely Planet for the trip too.
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