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South America » Argentina » Buenos Aires » Buenos Aires
February 3rd 2009
Published: August 3rd 2012
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My journey started in Dublin Airport with a short flight to Heathrow. My onward flight departed from the much criticised Terminal 5 which is actually a very impressive airport terminal. Typical whinging from the Brits, the same facility in Ireland would be marveled at. After a stopover in Sao Paulo, I landed in Buenos Aries and got to the Millhouse Hostel where I met up with Donagh, Fresh and Sean. It took a bit of adjusting to hostel life living in busy shared dorms and having people around 24/7. I was enthusiastic to see the cultural sites and visited Recoleta cemetery and went on a walking tour of Microcentro. Recoleta is a grandiose graveyard where Evita Peron and many other distinguished Argentines are buried. The detail and grandeur of some of the tombs was very impressive but for a man of my humble needs and wants they are over the top. It seems to be a real status symbol here to have a good tomb here, not that I see the point. Oh look at how splendid my tomb is but I'm surrounded by all these paupers with their mere gravestones...... for eternity. Ohhh No!!!! Microcentro is the CBD.

BA overall didn't impress me and for me it was the most overrated city in South America. Although the casa rosada and other areas like Palermo are nice, architecturally and aesthetically it is not that impressive. Palermo is ok at nighttime and there are some nice restaurants and clubs but its nightlife is nothing compared to London and other big European cities. If you don’t like steaks there aren’t many other options for eating, besides some pasta dishes. Because it was the first South American city I visited I might have compared it to other European cities, to which it definitely comes second. I noticed that the longer I travelled the more I liked places. We met Dave Egan and his three travelling buddies here Una, Niamh and Andrea.



On the way home one night Donagh and Paul went to find a Burger King and I went home (they were more like fucking Adam and Paul next time I saw them). The next morning I woke up and called into the lad’s room but Donagh hadn’t come back. I was talking to Sean and we decided not to worry till later on so I went about my business for the day. I was walking down the 18 lane boulevard (called 9 de Julio, most South American cities have streets named after dates) in the centre of BA going to the shops and I see Paul smacking Donagh full force in the face trying to wake him up. Nosh is comatosed in a chair on the side of the road and even though Paul and I were smacking him in the face there was no waking him. Smelling like a hobo, we decide to carry him to the hostel. His legs are like jelly. We have one arm each and he starts to come around. How did you get here? Are we going to the hostel? He’s asking me as we drag him in the door. He has no idea where he is or how he got there. We drop him off in bed. Funny shit.



Another day we went on a tour of the Boca Juniors football stadium in the poor La Boca neighbourhood. Boca are probably the most famous South American football team with previous luminaries including Diego Maradona and Carlito Tevez. Juan Roman Riquelme currently plays for them. The stadium is called the Bombonera or Chocolate Box, and the team got its a blue and yellow colours from a flag on a Swedish boat arriving in the nearby port. The dressing rooms reminded of the Villa dressing rooms in Ozier Park. They say they haven't ungraded them to keep its good luck. Bollix... spend a few pesos. The hatred for rivals Riverplate is so strong that Coca Cola changed its colours for the advertisement in the ground to Blue and Yellow. One of the stands is vertical and this is where El Diego has his box. Unfortunately, it was the close season so we didn't get to see any games.

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