The best apartment deal in BA ? I think so!

As I was trip planning for Buenos Aires, it became apparent that hotels, as in many cities, were not cheap. There are good and bad hotels, and as we were going for 15 nights, I didn't want some place that we'd regret, then end up stuck there for two weeks!

I've stayed in a lot of vacation rentals around the world and started to look at what rentals were available in BA. I'm an avid reader of Trip Advisor, and that was my first place to start looking. There's a lot of apartment rental agencies in BA. However, a lot of them are agencies that carry the same apartments at different rates and manage them in place of the owners. I've always preferred to find places that are actually managed by the owner--you cut out the middle man, and you tend to get better service.

I found a place online that had over twenty reviews from Trip Advisor visitors, and most of them rated it 5 stars. I bookmarked it and kept looking for the next 3 or 4 weeks. Ideally, I wanted a place with a gym and a pool, but they were all so much more expensive than the first apartment I found.

As is always the case, when you're on a budget, you always see places that are slightly over your budget. However, I was sticking strictly to the budget--I knew exactly what I wanted and exactly how much I wanted to pay. Eventually, over a few weeks, I narrowed it down to 3 places. The pros and cons being below:

Apt. 1. It's just off Ave Cordoba and by Godoy Cruz on the 6th floor in a building serviced by two elevators; has a living room, bedroom, bathroom, kitchen, balcony and is more or less in the heart of Palermo Soho, which is where I want to be. Unfortunately, there is no gym and no pool. However, the price is a HUGE positive attribute.

Apt. 2. This apartment checks nearly all the boxes--it even has a roof top pool and a gym. However, it is in Palermo Hollywood. It is also $450 more than the 1st one.

Apt. 3. This, again, checks nearly all the boxes, but is also in Palermo Hollywood. It is a bit bigger than the others, but it is on the far north-east side of the district, thus further away from the Soho area.

I eventually decided on apartment 1, and for what we paid, it has to be THE best deal in Buenos Aires. As you may or may not know, apartment companies in Buenos Aires almost always want your deposit by credit card or PayPal and the balance in US$ or Pesos Cash. They also usually want a 50% breakages deposit in cash. This would have meant carrying the best part of 2000 US$ cash around with us to BA. It also meant we would be handing over $700 cash as a deposit and hoping we got it back!

I e-mailed the landlord (Carlos) asking what payment he accepted. He was more than happy to accept PayPal for the booking deposit and the balance! I paid him the full amount via PayPal straight away. He also did NOT require any type of security deposit! He was very polite and timely in his replies and said he was a very trusting guy and hoped we were the same.

We arrived at EZE, and by the time we cleared immigration and customs, had our money exchanged, and booked the Remis taxi, we didn't arrive at the apartment until 3 hours after we had landed. We rang the buzzer for the apartment, and Carlos was still waiting for us in the apartment, so he came down to meet us. He took half an hour to show us all around the apartment, tell us everything we needed to know about its workings and the area, plus had a tourist map waiting for us and talked us through where to go and where to avoid. He told us the best places to find the supermarkets, laundry, internet cafes, etc. He also made sure we opened up our laptops and were able to connect to the internet while he was there. There were fresh towels laid out for us, clean kitchenware, and the place was spotless. It has two very quiet remote controlled air conditioning units in the apartment--one in the bedroom and one in the living room. It also has very fast WiFi, lots of closet space, both blinds and shutters for the windows, European/US power adapters, once a week maid service, landline phone, tv, dvd player, and many other small amenities.

Where was this place? How much did we pay?

Well, the details of the apartment are below. We are staying for a total of 15 nights, and we paid $650 US for our whole stay! That’s $43 a night! I cannot recommend the place enough. It's in a great location, and I would book it again in a heartbeat. Yes, it would have been nice to have access to a pool, but there is plenty to do in Buenos Aires, so it hasn't been the end of the world at all.

Urban Mexican apartment

    

Carlos’s details are below. I am not related to the owner--I am simply very pleased by the find and wanted to provide a fair, unbiased opinion of a good thing.

Carlos Padin carlos-padin@hotmail.com

You can view all his properties here:

All of Carlos's properties.

Harry’s solo show in Buenos Aires

Last night Harry Waters did a solo gig in Buenos Aires with his band and several local musicians. Jon Joyce and Dave K had messaged me earlier in the week to say they would see them there and that Dave would be performing.

Kami and I arrived at the venue around 7 P.M. intending to get a drink at the bar and chat with friends. The tickets slated the start for 8:30, but when we arrived at the venue, we found the doors wouldn't open till 8 P.M., and there was no bar! We found a coffee place around the corner and sat and had a cup of tea each. 10 minutes after we sat down, Kami spotted Georg and Martin out of the window across the street. They were going to join us, but they hadn't eaten and were looking for place they could get a meal before the gig.

We headed back to the venue around 7:30 and met up with Marcelo and his wife. 5 minutes later Elzira arrived followed by Georg and Martin. They opened the doors around 7:50 and we went to find our seats, which were 3rd row on the isle just in front of Harry. Kami and I headed downstairs to the dressing rooms and had a drink in catering and a chat with Harry and Marky before heading back up stairs to see Jon, Pat, G.E. and Kip who were in the foyer. 

A friend of ours, Dave from the crew, was in the foyer. He’s the guy that does the air drumming with Graham--he’s also the person that holds the flag on the left podium of the stage, walks pink onstage at the beginning of the show, and pushes him off the top of the wall before The Trial! he was there with another friend of mine, Michael. They had front row centre seats, but wanted to see the show from the balcony, so they offered us their tickets. Cheers Dave--really appreciated that!

At around 8:45 a local support band came onstage who would later join Harry and his band for a few numbers. Harry and his band went onstage around 9:15 and played for a good couple of hours non-stop. It's pretty much a jazz set that Harry does, and even though I'm not the biggest fan of jazz music, the quality of the musicians was amazing--not only Harry's playing, but also the guy on the double bass (he calls his bass Rachel!) skill and passion were unbelievable. He was so into the music as he played. Later on in the set, Harry was joined by Dave (Kilminster) and the two of them plus the bass player and drummer from Harry's band jammed for about 15 minutes. A lot of people in the audience were fans who were attending The Wall shows and obviously knew of Harry and Dave. Dave kept playing a few licks and riffs to Comfy Numb and Another Brick in with the other melodies he was playing. The crowd obviously recognized these clips and cheered as he kept playing them.

One thing I haven't mentioned is how humid it was inside the venue. Being from the UK, we very rarely get humidity and I was hoping the venue would be air conditioned, but it wasn't. It must be so hard to play when it's so humid--something Dave mentioned later on when we were talking to him after the show. If you've never seen Dave play outside of Roger's shows, then it is a MUST see. As good as he is playing the music he does for Roger, he is hundreds of times better playing his own music and other guitar work. If you get chance, then go along and see him play sometime when he’s touring on his own! He also has an excellent album out called Scarlet. You can buy the newly released “directors cut” of the album on iTunes and various other sites, and I highly recommend picking a copy up.

    

After Dave left the stage, Harry was joined at first by Kip Lennon, who sang vocals on a track with the band, and then Harry was joined by Marky Lennon, who did vocals on another track. Both these guys have fantastic voices, and again, it's worth checking out some of their vocals on material they write and sing for their group, Venice. Robbie was also due to sing on a track, however, due to a communication problem this didn't happen.

Kami and I made our way back down to the dressing rooms after the show and hung out with Dave for half an hour. The promoter of the show had arranged for the guys to do a signing session upstairs in the foyer. We walked up with Dave and Harry and most of the other members of the band were there already. The audience were outside and were being let in a few at a time to get things signed and have pictures taken. Kami and I saw Robbie for the first time tonight, too, and he was so pleased to see us both. His wife, Victoria, whom Kami and I are friends with, is coming out for the last few shows here, and Kami and I are so looking forward to seeing you, Victoria, and seeing the shows together again!

Robbie and Georg                                     Kami and the double bass player

Few pictures that Marcelo took from last night:

As everyone started to drift away, we said our goodbyes and Georg, Martin, Marcelo, his wife, Elzira, Kami and I headed to find a bar for a drink before heading off home. We walked for 15 minutes to the Irish bar, but that was closed. Another bar next to it was closing up, too, and just as we were about to grab a taxi back, we saw the lighted doorway of a bar with a guy stood outside the door. As we headed over to the bar, he opened the door for us, all happy and excited and ushered us in. The second we walked in, I looked  to my left and there was a huge, long sofa with about 8 or 9 “good looking” girls all sat on it. As soon as they saw us they all sat up straight, smiled, and made themselves look pretty. I looked at the bar, and there were 3 or 4 guys sat there each with some “good looking” girls next to them. I knew EXACTLY what sort of bar we had walked into and turned around and said, "It's not for us, everyone come on lets go, we can't stay here!" Marcelo and George looked at me confused. Everyone followed me back out, and outside on the street Marcelo and Georg said the bar was fine and started to head back in. Elzira also chimed in "Why not have a drink there?" "Ok...” I said and followed them in. It was only when we all went in the second time and we were stood at the bar that Marcelo and Georg looked around and then realised why I said it wasn't the kind of bar we wanted! George wanted a beer, and I suggested he asked how much they were before he bought one. $10 for a beer replied the barman. After a few "um's" and "ahh’s" the others agreed it was best if we left, and we once again we headed out of the door! Its a shame you didn't come for that drink with us, Dave (Kilminster)! See the sort of fun you miss out on?

After another 5 minutes, we found a bar that we felt at ease in and sat and had a couple of beers before Kami and I took a taxi back to our apartment. I haven't heard from Georg or Martin since--the last I heard, they were going to celebrate Martin's last night in Buenos Aires by going back out to the first bar just to see what the $10 beers taste like!

Martin and Georg smiling after seeing the 1st bar!

   

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Buenos Aires show 3……

This was the first time we had seen the stadium show from close up, we were 16th row dead centre tonight. It was great to see all the crowd behind us and where our seats had been the night before!

I took a quick look at the merchandise stand and noticed the T shirts were only $25 each! these are the official ones that are $50 upwards normally, i guess due to the wages and economy here in BA they cant get away with the higher prices and selling some T shirts cheaper is better than selling none at all!

First thing i noticed about the wall was how big it really was, it was HUGE! as small as it had looked from the rear of the stadium the past two shows it certainly wasn't and it was clearly  nearly twice the length of the 2010/2011 arena shows. As we sat in our seats it totally filled our field of vision, kind of like an Imax theatre screen, even when you moved your head from side to side the wall was all you could see.

View facing forward                                    View behind us.

 

A lot of people seem to be worried about the size of these shows, however, when your seats are towards the front the only thing you notice is what's in front of you, there could be 2000 or 200,000 people behind you, you just don't know, thus the size of the venue and crowd really doesn't affect this show if you're in the front block.

Seeing the projected images and the video on the end of the walls from this close really does blow your mind! as anyone that has met me or seen me at shows will know, i really do like seeing the show from as close as possible but i really would suggest that anyone seeing the show only once see’s the stadium show from at least half way back to get a real feel and view of the complete thing. I don't regret for one second seeing the first two shows from the very rear of the stadium, but  being in that first 10 to 20 rows is my place of choice without a doubt.

“Strung out behind us the banners and flags” from our Brazilian friend with myself and Marcelo from Uruguay        

     

It was great to see Berto from Brazil again, we hadn't met up since London and we spotted him at the show with his sister and went along to say hi.

   

The show tonight was faultless, the video and audio was in perfect synch, the band were very tight and Roger was as happy as ever to be onstage. There was however one problem! The Gestapo style venue security! We had talked to a friend from Uruguay the day before and he was telling us how the Argentine authority and the venue people no longer allowed the huge shows like what you see on YouTube by AC/DC and a lot of other metal bands. The reason is because all the people on the floor are standing and jumping up and down at the same time and believe it or not local residents are finding cracks developing in their properties!!! the security now don't allow you to stand up at all for the shows! the second your on your feet you find one of the “men in black” either coming over and telling you to sit or shining a green ser in your face to get your attention! kami had a chat to the one near us and he told us that Rogers security had told them that the crowd could only stand up during Another Brick and when Roger says the line  “Can you stand up” during Comfy Numb, we both knew this was absolute rubbish as the band and Roger enjoy the shows so much more and feel the energy from the crowd a lot more when they are all standing. I had a chat to Rogers security guy Simon last night whom I've known for over 10 years, he said they are aware of the problem and is going to try rectify it for future shows however the language barrier appears to be a slight problem and the venue’s security like to think that THEY have control.

The final nights show here in BA will be all standing on the floor as its general admission, i wonder if we are all gonna be told we cant jump up and down and have to remain still! As a note too the last two nights here in BA are going to be professionally filmed!

Huge long wall                                                           If at first you don't succeed, call an airstrike!

 

For the past 2 shows Roger seems to be missing the first few words on Nobody Home,not sure if this was a mic problem or what, will see what happens at tonight's show.

   

Thank you                                                            THANK YOU!!

   

The crowd did stand during Run Like Hell, i cant even imagine sitting down and listening to this track! The projections during this continue to blow me away, especially the 3D effect when the bricks come out at you, they've changed this quite a bit. For one its a lot faster, they come in and out faster than they did and the second thing is they've changed the texture of the bricks as they come out at you which makes it look even more 3D than it did!

 

When Kami and i saw Kipp and Marky the day before they both commented on how cool the projected wall falling at each end of the wall was, this was something i mentioned in an earlier review and it still astounds me just how good this looks.

Projected wall falling

 

Was great to see the band close up again for Outside The Wall, its always nice to see Jon,Pat and the guys wave at us when they see us and its always nice to let them see just how much we have enjoyed the show and how much we appreciate it.

Full album of pics below:

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Day 6 Buenos Aires

We took our time heading out today, leaving the apartment at 11 A.M. The landlord here told us that the best day to go to the area of San Telmo was on Sunday. They have all the streets closed to traffic and set up a huge market where anything and everything you can think of can be found!

   

We took the number 93 bus again and managed to get a seat for a change. Most of the buses here are not air conditioned, and it's one of the most humid cities I've ever been in. We sat on the seat and moved as little as possible so as not to break out in a sweat! This was the furthest we had been on the bus, and it took a good 25 minutes to get there. The driver gestured to us to get off and turn right up one of the side streets.

We hit the street market almost instantly, and within 20 seconds of walking past 4 of 5 stalls, we saw my friend Shane who does the pyros for the tour coming towards us. We had a quick chat and carried on walking. 20 seconds later we hear, “Hey guys,” and look up in front of us to see Kipp. We chatted, and Kipp started to tell us how even they were a bit apprehensive about how the video feed on the sides of the wall would work, but the crew had really got the audio and video synch down now, and apart from the odd movement that Roger would alter mid-show, everyone was happy with it. We left him to shop and carried on wandering around the market stalls.

Stalls as far as the eye could see.

We hadn't eaten breakfast this morning, so we stopped at a restaurant with tables outside and ordered a bottle of wine and some food. I still cant get used to this laid back attitude when you order food or drink here. Our bottle of wine took 20 minutes to arrive. It was then followed 5 minutes later by a basket of break. Our food arrived another 10-20 minutes later. We had both ordered steak. Unfortunately mine was a little too fatty, but Kami’s was perfect! While sat at the table we had a chat with Chris Khansy who walked by and saw us. It was kinda funny--he’s the show's production manager, and whilst he knows that the footage on the end of the walls is from Athens, he wasn't aware that the footage during Run Like Hell was shot in NY against a green screen! he wished me happy 100th show for today, and we said we would see each other later on. I'm sure we will!

The people sat next to Kami and I at the restaurant had been to Chile, Uruguay, and were now in BA on vacation. The guy was from BA but now lived in LA, and his friend was from Spain, but lived in Hong Kong. They had no idea Roger was playing here, and we proceeded to tell them about the shows. He was well aware of Pink Floyd and The Wall and they both agreed they were going to have to go to the next day's show! 10 minutes later after we finished our dinner, Kami and I were about to get up to leave, and another guy sitting behind us turned and said “Sorry to ask, but I have to know what this concert is that were you talking about!” he was an Australian guy, and after telling him where and when the shows were, he also agreed he should get tickets for the next night's show!

 

We took another wander around the streets after lunch. There was one main street that was full of not only market stalls but also food stalls and street performers.

And it wasn't windy!                          People as far as the eye could see      Roger even makes the market stalls!

   

Tango display in the street:

As Kami and I were browsing one of the stalls, I heard the words “Hey guys, welcome home.” I looked up and Marky Lennon had spotted us. It had been over 7 months since we had all seen each other, and we felt the same--everything just feels right to be back on the road and seeing the shows. He was happy, as he’d picked up some nice vintage sunglasses for less than half price and had decided to stay at the market even though the rest of the guys had left earlier. We said we’d see him at Harry's show tonight and carried on browsing the stalls.

Creepy dolls head for sale                 Roger magazines and posters at the newsstand

   

In a crowd of thousands of people we had already bumped into at least 4 four people we knew, and then we turned around and saw Georg and Martin from Austria! By that time it was getting near 4 P.M., so we headed back to the street where the 93 bus had dropped us off and waited no longer than 5 minutes for the bus to arrive. 30 minutes later we were back at the apartment, and it was time to shower and get ready for Harry's solo show later on tonight.