Today I woke up bright and early. I thought i’d start the day with a coffee and some breakfast. Now coffee culture in Buenos Aires is quite interesting. I’ve had a few coffees now and it seems to follow some rules. The coffee menu is extensive and despite having the same names unless its a shot of espresso no two coffees are a like. Coffee is also served with a biscuit and a small shot of mineral water. I think the mineral water is to cleanse the palet. Anyway this mornings coffee seemed to be a simple latte on the menu. Out came a latte with cream on top and a drizzle of caramel. Yeah a bit sweet but the coffee was nice underneath, then at the bottom was some white chocolate that i neglected to stir, because i didn’t know it was there! Anyway very sweet and i walked a lot today just to lose the guilt.
My first stop was the Palacio del Congresso. Its apparently modeled on the Capitol building in the US, which is why it probably may look familiar. I took a few photos and then headed off to my next stop the jardin botanico (Botanic garden). I wandered through the gardens, they were very nice and even had a mad scientists greenhouse there, plus some other interesting pieces of architecture. The gardens have their own wildlife as well. Feral cats (I assume) are everywhere and they seem to outnumber those at the Recoleta cemetery. I doubt these cats ever leave the gardens either as they would be run over in the streets, so they have a natural island of greenery they seem to live on.
Palacio del Congreso
Next door was the jardin zoologico (the zoo) and as i love animals I went inside to check it out. Animals were mostly in decent sized enclosures, but there were many aged enclosures from around a century ago. Instead of cats roaming the grounds, the zoo had something that could be best described as a mini deer-rabbit. Oh if you wandered too close to the water, rats would come swimming out to greet you also. One sat on my shoe when i wasn’t watching. My favourites were the white Bengal tiger and it was the first time I’ve seen ring tail lemurs. Don’t be surprised if my next trip overseas is to Madagascar!
Deer rabbit or Patagonian Mara
I caught a rather busy subte back to my hostel. Of course I wouldn’t be mentioning it if something didn’t happen. At one stop 3 men pushed their way onto an already full carraiage. Two stops later they pushed over towards me near the other doors. i guess you could have been naive to think they wanted to get out next stop. But really they were after my wallet. They tried pushing me a bit i caught one trying to put his hand in my pocket. I stared at him and said “Eres un tonto”, you are a fool. I don’t know any good swear words in Spanish. They got off the train next stop. Thats the first time someone has tried to pick my pockets and i’m glad i was the winner in this case.
So that leads me to todays spanish phrase of the day, “El crimen no paga”. Yes crime does not pay. Tomorrow to gain some respect from my father for whom a holiday is not a holiday without riding on as many trains as possible, i’m taking the Tren de la costa to Tigre. Apparently a bit touristy but some nice places to see on the way. Then sunday the real fun starts as i fly to Patagonia!
Adios or as the italian inspired argentineans like to say chau.
Ring-tailed Lemur