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Published: March 4th 2009
Buenos Aires to Iguazu Falls and back again (and then home...)
I can´t believe I'm writing the last blog of this amazing trip. In fact, by the time you are reading it, I´ll probably be back in recession-ridden Ireland, crying into a very expensive beer that I cannot afford. All good things blah, blah, blah - my arse!
So, our last two weeks have been spent in Buenos Aires, interrupted by a visit to see the legendary Iguazu Falls. B.A. is a very cool city - very European, with fabulous architecture, lots of green parks, 'beautiful people', great graffiti, yummy restaurants and of course go-all-night bars and clubs. On our first night we met up with traveller friend Darran and had a big night out in
the club to go to on a Saturday night, Pacha. HUGE it was, and all the gorgeous locals were swanning about wearing shades. Seriously, shades -
indoors, on the dance floor. I am officially old. I also felt like a total knacker in my by now very worn, six-month-old clobber. Porteños (that´s the B.A. locals) are seriously into their style. Anyway, it was a very late one, and it was damn lucky it
was raining the next day, as we were not getting out of that scratcher for anything. Except the free Asado put on by our hostel (Gecko, very cool place in Palermo) that night, where we met some cracking people!
The next couple of days we had great weather and so, with varying levels of hangover, went sightseeing. We wandered through the ever-so-cool streets of Palermo which is full of chic & trendy boutiques, eateries and bars, posh Recoleta where the rich live and employ dog walkers that roam the cities parks with about 10-15 dogs in tow (maybe I can do that when I go home!). How the dogs don't savage one another, I don't know! We visited the B.A.´s contemporary art museum, MALBA. Now, I know art is a very subjective thing, but there is just some stuff that just
cannot be taken seriously. Cara (our dearly departed golden retriever) could have done a better job - and she wasn't the brightest spark. I have posted a picture of one of the more ludicrous examples. It makes the point nicely, I think. Some of it was cool, like a series of photos the artist had taken of himself
in 'just shot' poses, which he then framed and actually shot with a handgun. They were deadly, I thought. But a lot of it, frankly, was shite! The building itself is beautiful though. On another wander through the streets, we accidentally came upon the Flor de Metal, or Tulip, a huge metal sculpture that opens and closes with dawn and dusk.
Afterwards we went to the Cementario de la Recoleta - this place is just amazing. Mid-city but it's hidden behind high walls, and inside, little 'streets' radiate out from a central point and are lined with beautiful old crypts & mausoleums that are adorned with stained-glass windows, statues, elaborate crosses and topped with angels. Argentina´s most influential (and/or richest) people & their families, are buried here including, of course, Eva Peron. There were quite a few Irish names and Celtic crosses to be found there too. I could have wandered the place for hours. But Tandra, one of the girls at our hostel, was bringing us us to this bookshop, El Ateneo on Santa Fe, that she loves. It really doesn't appear to be anything special at first, but as you mosey past the first section, the whole
Art?
Me arse...'shop' opens up and you realise that you are actually in a converted theatre. The theatre was one of B.A.´s finest and used to be the called The Grand Splendid. An appropriate name, if ever there was one. The theatre boxes are now reading rooms, the stage a coffee shop, each level where the seats used to be now house different sections of books/DVDs etc., and murals still adorn the huge domed ceiling. It's all beautifully lit. It really is the coolest bookshop Ive ever been in!
We also took a cycling trip through the south of the city. This was a great way to see everything and Simon wasn't too put off by our guide either - he could have happily cycled after her all day, I think! We started in San Telmo, which is the cities oldest barrio (neighbourhood), full of narrow, cobbled streets and lovely old buildings. The rich of B.A. used to live here but were forced north (establishing Recoleta) due to a yellow fever epidemic, and immigrants then moved into the old buildings turning them into tenements. It's now full of antique shops and a Sunday market. Then it was off to La Boca,
B.A.´s most notorious barrio (touristy as bejaysus by day - but get the hell out at night!). It's the birthplace of tango and is probably most famous for its football team, Boca Juniors - their stadium “La Bombonera” (box of sweets - for its shape) and of course, their extraordinarily passionate fans - more on that later! What makes it a big draw for tourists are the colorful houses - their corrugated iron walls painted in vibrant blues, yellows and reds. This is a tradition that began when they could only afford to paint their houses in whatever colour was left over after painting a ship at the local port, and has continued to this day. Tango shows are put on in the street and at local open-air restaurants. The dance was originally designed to play out the 'relationship' between prostitute and customer and was of course banned by B.A. high society until European high society gave it the thumbs up! When the dancers are good, it is sexy as hell! We headed on out along the Rio de la Plata to B.A.´s ecological reserve (the river is so wide it looks like the sea except its brown - and
polluted) where locals can be seen exercising like mad. B.A. is extremely body-conscious and apparently has the highest per capita rate of anorexia and plastic surgery. You do see lots of disproportionately large boobs and
extremely thin women here... We cycled back into town via Puerto Madero, the cities newest, and very exclusive, neighbourhood, where the old warehouses have been converted, the yacht club is located and expensive new highrise apartments dominate the skyline. Imagine a way posher IFSC. We ended the tour in Plaza de Mayo, where you find Casa Rosada, which houses the offices of La Presidenta, and the balcony from which Eva Peron used to make her famous speeches to the masses.
And from which Madonna sang for the movie Evita, but most Argentinians were
not happy that a woman of her ilk was playing their heroine, and never even went to see the movie!
We left B.A. for a couple of days to visit Iguazu Falls. Unfortunately for us, the weather was pretty shite so we didn't see the cataratas (waterfalls) at their finest with blue sky backdrops and rainbows created by the sun and spray. It was really very overcast and we got monsooned
on a couple of times. Still and all, the falls were pretty impressive. We went to both the Argentinian & Brazilian side of the falls - some people told us that the Brazilian side wasn't worth going to see, but for me, it was the icing on the cake. The Argy side has different walkways that take you right to the top of the falls, and down to the bottom of some of them where you can take a boat ride right under the second largest and get completely soaked - that was great fun! Note to anyone else going there - wear your swimsuit on the boat or bring a change of clothes! We walked around with wet pants for the rest of the day - nice! The ultimate sight on the Argy side is Garganta del Diablo or the Devil´s Throat, where you are at the top of the biggest fall of all, and it is just incomprehensible how much water is roaring downwards all around you. In the early 1900´s they used to take tourists out on rowboats right to the edge, until finally one day a rower couldn't battle the current any longer and, with seven
German tourists on board, took a plunge over the edge. That´s not something you are going to survive. So, they don't do that any more! What the Brazilian side had that the Argy side didn't was the panoramic view of the falls almost all at once - they are so huge that you can't really appreciate this from the Argy side as you are too close to get an accurate idea of their full scale. Go across the valley and wow, is it impressive! You only need to spend about two hours on the Brazilian side, but it was definitely worth it. Plus we got a Brazilian stamp in our passport for the effort!
In the national parks there are also raccoon-like animals called coatis, that have become habituated to humans and their food, so not only do they mill around the restaurant areas where (despite the many signs saying not to feed or touch the animals) they get fed, but they will also get quite aggressive and steal food right out of your hand, if you are stupid enough to be carrying it around with you. We saw one go for some Oreos that were hanging in a
plastic bag off a child's pram (some people are incredibly stupid) - the parents were actually taking
pictures while their youngest child bawled and tried to retrieve the biscuits, and their slightly older second child petted the bloody thing! Now, these things may look super-cute but they have ferocious teeth & claws and can carry the rabies virus among other diseases. We saw another grown woman being chased by a really big coati, who tried to climb up her leg while she screamed bloody murder, until she finally threw her food into the bushes, and the smart coati got his lunch! That was actually quite funny! Maybe not so much for her...
Typically, as we headed back to Buenos Aires the sun started to split the rocks in Iguazu, but we had a date with the Boca Juniors, so there was no hanging around! We tried to get tickets ourselves down at the stadium for 30 pesos, as a few other travellers we´d met had been able to do, instead of paying hiked up tourist prices. No joy at all. We then tried the touts, who had sold tickets to another guy we met for a different Boca game
for only P60. They were selling them for this game for a whopping P150 (it even says P30 on the jaysus ticket)! I tried bargaining & checking a few different touts but its clearly all fixed and they were having none of it. Our hostel was putting on a trip that included transport to and from the game, a guide (who herds you in and out of the stadium) and a bit of grub. The game is in the evening, and we had heard a) Boca is well dodgy at night and b) its pretty hard to get a taxi after a game. So mugging is highly likely. You are warned not to wear jewellery, bring only the money you need to get home (hidden in your bra or somewhere) and leave the camera at home. We are staying right at the other end of the city i.e. expensive taxi if we did manage to get one, so we decided feck it, we´ll probably never be here again - lets just do the touristy thing and paid P230 for the guided tour - its only about €50 after all. It also meant I could bring the camera!
The Bocas
game was definately the highlight of B.A. for both of us (never thought you´d hear me raving about futbol, did you!). It was
amazing! The atmosphere is like nothing Ive experienced before. The Boca fans are famous for their passion - they sing & whistle & chant & clap & jump up and down so much that sometimes the whole terrace shakes, and they do this
the entire way through the game - seriously, they go non-stop. They let loose a plethora of Spanish curse words a) at their opponents - in this case Huaracan, another B.A. team, and b) when one of their own fucks up. Everyone is a 'puta'! They whistle in unison every time the opposition missed a goal (it's a derogatory thing) and again at the away fans as they were exiting the stadium after the game. Mucho intimidation! I'd love to know the words to their songs - all I could understand was 'Boca, te amo' and 'Hijos de Putas' - 'Boca, I love you' & 'Sons of Bitches' respectively! It would also be great to know as many curse words in Spanish as I do in English! We were on the terrace that is
opposite the famous Doce terrace (The Twelve). The Doce is where
the most hardcore - and roughest - of the Boca fans go. Our guides said 'They are a sort of mafia' and that even the lads selling flags outside had to pay them off, but she then quickly told us not to worry! They have a band of drummers and trumpeters that gets them going & keeps them going all the way through the match, they hang over the edge of the terrace, take their shirts off for swinging around in the air - its like looking at a teeming mass of yellow & blue dancing ants on the opposite side of the stadium. As for our side, it was pretty hectic as well! It was so loud, we never heard a peep from the away fans. We were on the second level, and the Huaracan fans were above us, so we had to make sure we were sheltered under the cover of their stand. This is because away fans will spit and pee on the home fans below. We were advised to wear a hat & runners, not flip-flops, for the same reason! Nice!
The first half
itself was pretty non-eventful as far as the game went, though it looked like Huaracan had the edge. Obviously both teams got a kick up the arse at half time, because each side came out on fire for the second half. That was actually brilliant for us, as it meant that Boca were scoring up our end of the stadium (we were pretty much right behind the net), and the place went fucking
mental each time they scored! The final score was Boca 3 - Huaracan 1, and the singing, chanting, clapping and whistling continued for a good half an hour after the game was over (we had to let the away fans out first before we were let leave the terrace). It was so much fun,
and my camera didnt get knicked either!
So, we´ve been spending the last few days in B.A. eating as much Argentinian steak & drinking as much Argentinian wine as we possibly can, doing a wee bit of shopping, and generally wandering the streets (but avoiding the dog poo) soaking up as much of the B.A. atmosphere as possible, before we head on home for good...I dont want to leave! I could
keep travellng forever! I´m even going to miss the crazy lady sitting at the PC next to me in this internet cafe who is loudly singing tunelessly along to some random crap and gently rocking in her chair. I might get that in Dublin, mind...
The End
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