We arrive in Buenos Aires to hot and humid weather, and are now in Colonia Del Sacremento in Uruguay. We stayed for 3 nights in what is possibly the noisiest room in the world – although it was a large room for a hostel. The very disturbing mural of a trio of clown musicians in a darkened alley wasn´t going to help me sleep either – it covered the entire bed facing wall. The hostel is called the Garden House Art Factory.
The balcony off our room overlooked a narrow street, lined with rundown 4 and 5 storey buildings, called Calle Piedras. Not the kind of place you would usually linger at night – unless you needed to catch a bus!
Every bus in the city seems to go down this narrow street, constantly, 24 hours a day, every 10 minutes. These aren´t the London eco-friendly type buses either, no these are of the juggernaut, diesel belching, piston hissing variety. They have only two speeds – too fast and dead stop. The doors slam open before the buses stop, so passengers have to be quick.
The first night I don´t sleep well, giant steam driven robots do battle with giant killer clowns. I wake in the morning and for a moment believe that the clowns have won the battle, until I hear the express train roar of the 112 to Palermo, closely followed by the screech of taxi brakes.
After that I wear earplugs and that seems to keep the robots and clowns at bay.
Plaza de Mayo, Buenos Aires
