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Buenos Aires
You know when you´ve been tangoed. We arrived in Buenos Aires just after midnight and headed for a hostal in the San Telmo area, recommended to us by four South African lads we met in Ushuaia. What was ideal for them did not turn out to be ideal for us. We failed to pick up on some subtle clues as we checked in. The hostal was above a bar and all the residents were having a jamming session with bongo drums in the hostal courtyard at 1am in the morning, all a bit worse for wear. We hit the sack and I laid there until 5am chewing my pillow trying to supress the urge to do some bongo insertions. Next morning we checked out and moved to an establishment more suited to us in our advanced years. The plan for the week was to be real tourists, do the sights and overdose on steaks and red wine. Our first 'must do´was to attend a football match. South Americans are passionate about football and as luck would have it one of the top teams in Argentina 'River Plate´was playing in the Americas cup the same evening that we made our enquiries. We signed up for a tour which
meant that a guide, transport and tickets were all thrown in. We were picked up by a minibus with three other tourists and our guide Gabriel, a young lawyer who spoke good English and did football tours in his spare time to see matches for free. His favourite team was San Lorenzo and they were playing River Plate at their 60,000 seater stadium so he was dead chuffed but wary as we were sat in the River Plate end. We were in the stadium more than an hour before kick off but then so was everybody else, the atmosphere was incredible and steadily built up to a frenzy towards kick off. The rival fans sang and taunted each other extendng our Spanish vocabulary beyond the content of our phrase book. By kick off it was mental, fireworks, ticker tape and decibels at full volume. The favourites and home team River Plate were 2-1 down after the previous weeks first leg, but with home advantage and with 50,000 hysterical fans behind them should still come out tops. Sure enough after 15 mins they were 1-0 up, 2 up with half an hour to play and as an added bonus by this
River Plate Stadium
Gooooooooaaaaaaaaaaal! time San Lorenzo had two players sent off, Gabriel looked suicidal. Unbelievably San Lorenzo pulled a goal back with only nine men, even more unbelievably they got an equaliser. The Lorenzo fans were going wild, jumping up and down and their section of the stadium was rocking on the foundations. By contrast River Plate fans were somewhat unhappy and poor Gabriel sat staring motionless trying to stifel his emotions and looking like he had the worst case of constipation on record. At the final whistle San Lorenzo had won on aggregate 4-3 with nine men having been 2-0 down, we could not have scripted it, a great night. Next up shopping. There is a time and a place for everything and tango dancing in street markets is not one of them. There I was in the market with June helping her make crucial decisions on the colour match of 'somethingorother´that has to go with the 'thingymajig´that she bought yesterday which didn´t quite go with the 'whatsitsname´that she bought the day before. The last thing I needed was some snake hipped sex siren dressed in fish net stockings, high heels and a skirt split up to her neck thrusting her privates
San Telmo Street Market
Tango and shopping doesn´t mix. at me. With my primary focus on the colour of the 'somethingorother´, I turned and was met by the sight of the afore mentioned seniorita, legs akimbo and predatory stare. All rather unnecessary I thought but it did serve as a useful reminder to pop our cards in the letter box on the way home.
To soak up a bit more of the city we enrolled on a bike tour. Setting off from one of the main plazas and heading north to the Palermo district. Dodging the traffic and pedestrians, bumping up and down kerbs we meandered around the posh part of town and gazed at how the other half lived as they sipped espressos at lakeside restaurants. A sharp contrast to the area where we were staying when we were usually greeted by bands of street kids sifting through the rubbish to find recyclable materials that they could exchange for cash. Our tour ended with a visit to Recoleta and the famous cemetery which is a mini city in itsself . Only the wealthiest families can afford tombs here and each one tries to out do its neighbour with ornate statues and all kinds of wierd and wonderful architecture.
Buenos Aires
Òn yer bike´. The most famous inhabitant was Evita where the crowds flocked to pile flowers high outside her family vault. All very bizzare and chilling, nice to get back on the bikes and warm up a bit. As this was our last port of call we thought a bit of beautification was in order. We both booked in at the local hairdressers to cut and colour greying scalps, remove unsightly hair including a moustache and that was only me. I now look a little less like an anoerexic Russian shot-putter, all I need now to finish the transformation is one of those new fangled 'sheep dog bras'. I´ll let you make your own minds up to whether or not the process has worked for Nik. He is however, contemplating buying a tin of deodorant before he gets home. As Nik previously mentioned the inhabitants of Buenos Aires are mad about tango. After meeting Griselda, a lovely lady and friend of a friend, she suggested we go to cafe Tortoni which put on a traditional show that had been running for the past 150 years. I think the four members of the band must have been present on their opening night. Although a
Recoleta Cemetery
Dead centre of town. little ancient they certainly knew what they were doing. To sing the tango they were accompanied by a bit of a drama queen but she could belt out the tunes. Then every third track the dancers would come out, in my opinion the stars of the show, each time in different costumes. Every sinew of their bodies seemed to ooze passion. Purposeful swift moves , meaningful glances and flying fishnets and all Nik could say was ...... nice beaver.
Buenos Aires has give us time to reflect on the past year and as people always ask what was the best bit we have compiled our B.U.M. awards (Best & Unusual Moments) of the trip.
Nik and June´s BUM awards 2008
Best country - Costa Rica
Best city - Cartagena, Colombia
Friendliest people - Colombia
Most stunning landscape - Caraterra Austral, Chile
Best beaches - Pacific coast, Mexico
Best wildlife experience - Galapagos
Best historical site - Machu Picchu, Peru
Best hike - Tetons national park, USA
Most unusual culinary experience - Roast guinea pig, Peru
Scariest moment - Driving the Quilatoa Loop in Ecuador (June)
Stand - up, San Fransisco (Nik)
Most bizarre moment - Evacuation from
erupting volcano, Ecuador
Greatest sense of achievement - Still talking after 353 days
We have deliberately missed out all our people and party moments as over the course of the last year as well as the fantastic places we have been able to visit we have had an equally terrific time catching up with family, old friends and meeting new people. Thank you to everyone involved for adding to our perfect year. This brings to an end our last blog as well as our trip and this time next week we will be slaving away over a hot patient / pupil.
Adios amigos.
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