2 March 2006 - Buenos Aires ...first impressions

Lynne says...

We started out as we mean to go on - a two hour bus journey from the airport with the locals for grand total of 30p. My first impressions of the Argentine people are good - all the men at the bus stop stood back and let me on the bus first - I can´t remember the last time that happened in London.

At first glance Buenos Aires could easily be a capital city in Europe. Broad tree-lined avenues, fashionable porteños (port city dwellers) chatting into mobile phones or sipping coffee in cool cafes, men in snappy suits carrying briefcases and expensive looking department stores. The big difference though, is the price - everything is incredibly cheap. This is a large, sprawling city and I felt strangely disappointed but perhaps it´s because I´ve just left one large city and arrived in another one. I´m sure Buenos Aires has a lot to offer and we have two weeks to find out what makes this city so special.