Palermo and a SIM card - Day 2

Apartment roof top view

It was a very hot night and that as well as the body time zone and the actual time zone being a bit messed up meant sleeping at odd times during the night.

We took a long time to get going in the morning.  There was a security issue with the sliding door to sort out and then planning our venture into Palermo.  It was after midday by the time we left our apartment to explore.

Bev had identified where a couple of Movistar stores (the local mobile operator) were so we could buy a SIM card for our phones.  Initially we took off in the wrong direction but as luck had it we found this very nice little café to have a

Scupture

coffee.  While we were there a young woman came in who used some English and she then sat opposite us to have it.  She was from the US and had been in Buenos Aires since 2005 teaching English as a second language.  She came after graduating for adventure, to teach English and to learn another language with the intention of going home.  So far she said she had not managed it with the economic situation in the US as it was now and, I think, also the political issues.  She lived in the San Telmo area but had lived in the Palermo (where we are staying).  She said this was a very nice area with lots of the best restaurants and other street life happening.

The coffee we had was a flat white and it was surprisingly good.  The woman said that flat whites were an antipodean import which the young people had taken to.  She was a little scathing about the food in BA, she said it consisted of meat, pasta and pizza but that in the northern areas it was much more varied with lots of vegetables.

A street in Palermo Soho

After a few wrong turns we found the Movistar store.  The receptionist who spoke a little English
took our requirements and then told us to sit and that someone would call us over to set us up.  Eventually we got called. The young man had very little English and we communicated via google translate. It took us a while but we got there.  The prepaid plan was quite cheap with data being extraodinarily cheap.  Minutes were more expensive.  However the plan was only for a week so will have to top up later which I think is easy.  Just need to load money into an account.

Cycling obsession

Street Art

It was late afternoon before we finished getting the SIMs or Chip as they are known here.  Mobile phones are everywhere here like NZ and the rest of the world.  Most phones are Android as opposed to Apple which are apparently quite rare.  Movistar for instance did not sell iPhones.  We had a bit of fun loading money into our account but we got there in the end which was good.  One of the things that should happen is that local providers should use the smarts of software to ensure that the mobile app does it in the persons preferred language.  It would make life much easier for visitors to New Zealand for instance if the could buy their SIM and minutes in their language of choice.

We were getting a little hungry and called into a restaurant for a bite to eat.  I wanted salad and Bev decided on Quesadillas.  The meals were not long in coming but when they did come we both wished we had only ordered one as they were huge.  Needless to say we did not eat it all but it was tasty although the lettuce leaves were a bit sad and wilted.

The gargantuan meal!

Bev wanted to find the garage where we were going to meet for our bike ride the next day.  Bev wanted to go one way where as I wanted to go the other,   Fortunately I prevailed and we did end up where we wanted to.

On the way Bev spied a rather nice wine shop and we called in to see what wines were there.  They were all Argentinian wines with most being from Mendoza and Valle de Uco.  There were some extraordinarily priced wines there.  Most of the wine is red and of course Malbec although there are some other grape varieties used.  I asked one of the retail assistants which were good boutique wineries which he happily pointed out.  These I have happily noted in  anticipation of visiting some of them when we are in Mendoza.

On the way back to our apartment we decided after all our walking that a drink was in order.  We  called into Sullivans Irish Pub (Argentinian style) where I had a local beer and Bev a Sauvignon Blanc.  The Sauvignon Blanc was actually quite nice and it turned it out it came from the Patagonian region.  We had a couple of glasses of that before we wandered back to the apartment a couple of hours later having devoured a few peanuts that were supplied with the drinks.

We seemed to do a lot of walking.  The footpaths are interesting in that it seems that it is an area the apartment or business owner looks after.  In some parts the concrete is in terrible disrepair and in others it is quite posh.  While walking if you are not taking notice you could bend an ankle quite easily.  The roads are in reasonable repair.  There is little consistency with the paving of the footpaths.

The other noticeable thing is the cycleways around the city.  We will be taking to them when we do our cycle tour on Tuesday.

So far we have found the Argentinians generally helpful. English language skills vary from very basic to fluent, I do like the sound of the language but I still think the French language sounds the best.

So far the weather has been kind to us.  With rain predicted for the whole week prior to us arriving we have only experienced it in the evening.  However it is very warm and humid with it being exceptionally so when we arrived on Sunday.