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South America » Argentina » Buenos Aires » Buenos Aires
October 17th 2007
Published: October 16th 2007
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Buenos Aires Buenos Aires Buenos Aires

Home of the Tango
A story in 3 parts.






Turn Left at the Winged Angel
Welcome to Buenos Aires, the capital of Argentina and a very European city. A place where there are enough cafes and restaurants to feed the entire continent. A place where Pepsi is more popular than Coke. A city where a journey on the metro costs 11p and while you are there you are visited at your seat by a variety of entrepreneurial vendors selling phone chargers, blank CDs and hair brushes. This is a city whose main thorough fair is the widest road in the world, at a colossal eighteen lanes, but yet due to its spacious design feels far from imposing. This is a city made up of many charming suburbs all with their own individual characteristics, meaning you can wander for days without getting bored. This is a place where no one eats dinner until 10.30pm, even on a Monday. BA is also the home of the Tango and of self-proclaimed Tobias the Grand, formally of Willesden, north west London.

We spent a lovely 4 days exploring the city accompanied by Daddy Isaacson, who was out visiting for a 2 week holiday. We mainly walked and ate, taking full advantage of the incredible food on offer here. We caught up with Toby and explored the city's neighbourhoods and famous sights such as the 9th of July obelisk, Plaza de Mayo and the Casa Rosada (literally the pink house that hides the president). We thoroughly enjoyed every minute of it. This is one of the best cities we have visited during our trip, and definitely our favourite in South America.

When we checked in at our bed and breakfast, as part of the low down we were given on the city we were told we simply had to check our Recoleta Cemetery, resting place of Eva Peron. We both though this a little weird. We knew Eva is held in high regards in these parts, but we would never put a cemetery at the top of a list of tourist attractions. How wrong we were. This place is a cemetery unlike any other. This isn´t your normal coffins in the ground with tomb stones cemetery. Here coffins are kept in elaborate marble houses, decorated with gold and bronze and guarded
The obelisk and the widest street in the worldThe obelisk and the widest street in the worldThe obelisk and the widest street in the world

My photo of the graffi of the above looked better than the real thing!
by statues of angles. This wasn´t a cemetery, this was an elaborate mini city for Buenos Aires' dead aristocracy. This makes it even more significant that Eva, speaker for the shirtless class, Peron is buried here. It is her modest grave that is the main attraction. So much so that the guide books give you directions to it. Left at the entrance, down the main tree lined avenue (I told you this is like a city) and left at the winged angel. All very well, but have you any idea how many winged angels there are in a place like this?


Follow The Dragon
For great lager, follow the bear. For enormous Welsh teas, follow the dragon.

We took some time out of BA to get a taster of Patagonia. First stop was Puerto Madyrn, on Peninsular Valdes, a haven for marine life. The ocean around this peninsular is a protected breeding ground for the enormous southern right whale , elephant seals, sea lions and penguins. There are so many of these chaps here that all we needed to do was hire a car, drive around the peninsular and stop at various beaches and view points. Here the beasts that are elephant seals can be seen slumped on the sand and the whales spotted playing in the water as close as 100m off shore. However, the best way to see the southern rights is up close and personal, and for that we needed to get on a whale watching boat. This was quite something. As the boat stopped off shore these huge mammals came right up to us to see what was going on, circling and swimming under the boat. These fellas are born about 3m long but can grown up to 15m in length and must way a ton. We were sure they could have tipped the boat if they felt the urge. Luckily they didn´t. Instead they treated us to a show of breaching, spurting of water from their blow holes and holding their tails high in the air. It was all the whale frolicking that you could hope for.

Back in the 19th Century life in Wales wasn´t going well. The English were closing down their mines and suppressing their culture, banning the teaching of their language in schools. In the search for a better life many thousands Welsh men and women took to their ships looking for
We followed the dragon...We followed the dragon...We followed the dragon...

...and ended up in Wales
a better life. Many went to the US, Canada and Australia but a some made it all the way to Argentina, where they set up one of the only Welsh colonies. It was at a time when the Argentinian government were encouraging the population of their country outside of the capital. Obviously missing home, these new settlers chose an especially wet and windy part of Patagonia to call their own. The result was a number of small towns now populated with Jones', Evans' and Humpfrey's, where the Welsh language was taught in school as well as spoken. The use of the language has started to fade somewhat, but the Welsh flag can still be seen flying high. As a tourist, the thing to do round these parts is to call in for a nice cup of tea and one of the local tea rooms. Blessed with a wealth of choice we chose to follow the dragon signs around town that lead us to an almost stately home serving cuppas to likeminded visitors. It was here in the grand dining room of this house we were fed a feast of cakes, scones and sandwiches while listening to the sounds of a Welsh choir. Something we had never envisaged doing in Argentina.

During our visit to these parts we were also able to call in at a small museum celebrating the colonisation of the area. Contrary to most stories of colonisation, the local people were very fond of their visitors. Unlike the Spanish or English, the Welsh decided it was best not to slaughter all the locals they encountered. Instead they befriended the local Indians and even learnt from them, which is a much more effective way of getting on with your neighbours. This museum also had displays of items that had been shipped over from Europe with the first settlers. Amongst the usuals like tea, a frying pan and a washing wrangler there was a good old fashioned organ. We know how important a good singsong is to the Welsh!


and Walk like a Penguin
Get your crampon, get your crampon. An essential item when walking on any glacier.

Final stop was El Calefate home to part of the Southern Patagonian Ice Field, but in particular the Perito Moreno Glacier. This is an extremely important glacier as it is one of the few that is not retreating. In fact its mass has stayed constant over the last century. Marissa and I decided it was best to get up close to it and do a days trekking over the ice. David thought we were mad, so decided to view the big ice cube from afar. For the first time while writing this blog I really am at a loss of how to describe what we saw. I could try and go into detail about the deep blue cracks and folds in the ice, or the caves or the bumps that look like the icing on a Christmas cake, but M took some excellent photos to save me the trouble.

Our other day here was spent on a boat touring the rest of Lago Argentina and looking at some smaller glaciers. This was a far less strenuous activity and one that David was happy to join us for. We were also joined by a Mr Chris Greening, who happened to be in the area. The sun was shining and we saw a lot of ice glistening in it. These glaciers are retreating quite fast so not only did we get to witness large chunks crumbling off and crashing into the water, but we also had huge icebergs floating past. It was really quite special and an excellent end to a wonderful trip.


Coda
And that as they say is it. After eleven months round the world, taking in three continents and thirteen countries, we fly home this afternoon. We have thoroughly enjoyed creating this blog as not only a journal of our time away, but as a way of keeping in touch with everyone back home. Thank you all for reading and for your comments and messages. As for the trip itself, we really could not have asked for more. We have seen knew places, caught up with friends from afar and really enjoyed an immense amount of each others company. As for whether or not we have "found ourselves" I can share with you one last thing. Something we both discovered that will stand us in good stead for the rest of our lives .... Lefty loosy, righty tighty.

Thanks Shaaron, we owe you one.



Spanish Word of the Week: Paraguas: Meaning Umbrella, but taken literally it means "for water". A useful item for our first few days in BA, as it tipped down with the sort of rain we hadn´t seen since Sydney.

This Week Likes:


This Weeks Dislikes:
* Argentinian driving. These guys make the Italians look like a load of pensioners. Here there are no rules. No giving way on roundabouts, no giving way at crossroads in fact just no giving way at all, for anyone. Anywhere. It was an extremely stressful experience and we were only driving in a small town. If I ever decide to hire a car in Buenos Aires, somebody stop me.
* Our second day in Puerto Madryn was blighted by some high winds. The result being that we were unable to do a boat trip to see dolphins and I was unable to dive with a load of sea lions. The weather has really been hampering my diving career. 😞
* The guides on our ice trek that seemed to want to hurry us through the day. At one point I was asked if I was tired, when I replied no, the response was "Well walk faster then". Grrr, I´m not here for a power walk, I´m here to look at this big ice cube!




Spanish Word of the Week part 2: Aguafiesta. Not a water party as you might think, but in fact a spoil-sport. Toby, thanks for the input!



Additional photos below
Photos: 23, Displayed: 23


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The whale was as big as a mountain!The whale was as big as a mountain!
The whale was as big as a mountain!

OK. Not quite. But it was as big as our boat!
A "Street" in Recoleta CemetaryA "Street" in Recoleta Cemetary
A "Street" in Recoleta Cemetary

They may look like small houses made of stone but believe it or not these grand structures are the tombstones of the Argentinian rich and famous
Ice HoleIce Hole
Ice Hole

The dark stone absorbs more heat than the white ice causing the ice to melt and the hole to form
Chris on a RockChris on a Rock
Chris on a Rock

After following him around South Amercia and a brief encounter in Peru we finally get to see him in El Calafate (of all places)


16th October 2007

It's the end of the world as we know it
Well it's been an emotional journey ... I've seen things I never thought I'd see and experienced places I thought I'd never experience ... and I didn't even leave my office cubicle. Thanks for the memories ;o) ... and good luck working through your thousands of photos!
16th October 2007

friendly colonization?
I am argentinian...landed here by chance. I dont know where you took the story of the colonisation being friendly with the indians in latam....the argentine government performed a massacre there in the 19 century to replace them with italians, welsh, germans, swiss (my family) whoever. Sad story.
16th October 2007

damn dudes!
what a trip! i'm going to miss a little ray of southern hemisphere sunshine to brighten up a day with the mutants. you guys must be on cloud 14. uri knows a good place for argy steak so we should catch up for a meat feast at some point. welcome home!!
17th October 2007

Response: friendly colonization?
Mr Kapps. We are fully aware of how barbaric the Argentinians were to the local Indians. The point made here was that the Welsh took a different, more friendly approach.

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