Buenos, Buenos Aires

After a shower and some email catch-up I head to the bank, to hopefully score more than the 300 pesos (AUD$ 125) allowance I have been already set by their fine institutions. But two ATMs and a phone call to Westpac in Australia confirm that there are no ways around this. To make matters worse, I am already in debt to a friend whose account has no fees at all, facing a AUD$ 20 international online transfer charge.

I trudge home, raising my spirits a little with a fresh ham, cheese and tomato pastry from a bakery across the road from my hostel, and consider that perhaps Western Union or Paypal will work with me. But I have no luck there either, and will have to just bite the bullet and take the horrendous charges with each transaction – which will have to occur every two days if I am going to eat at all.

In true “stuff it all” Australian fashion, I end up going out for an expensive meal (ie. more than AUD $20) that night with some new friends, before heading to a kinky bordello bar Mundo Bizarro that shows vintage Betty Page bondage tapes. Afterwards, we head to a club Roxy that, despite the high cover charge, is filled with way too many just-over-18s. Needless to say, this doesn’t really amuse me, and after losing the rest of the group, I head back in a taxi with Norwegian Christian.

However, arriving back at the hostel, we run into some of the others, and decided that another drink, with some better company, is much needed before retiring. We stumble across a local bar, the only whiteys there, and are instantly entertained by the many guitars at each table that are playing tango tunes. Impromptu couples get up to dance, and, with all age groups being accounted for, this is definitely the Argentina I came here for.