We had to start somewhere...

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Well here we are at the start of our five months in Argentina. Arrived in BA after an overnight flight from the UK, leaving behind the autumn and swapping it for warm (hot?) spring sunshine. Staying at a bed and breakfast in Palermo Hollywood for three nights. Spent the first day doing a bit of a local orientation and doing as the Portenos do - sitting outside a cafe and watching the world go by. Palermo seems very different to downtown. Here there is a mix of residential places with lots of cafes and restaurants and some very chichi shopping opportunities.
Friday night was steak night as we hit the local parilla restaurant for some top red meat and wine - not quite the outright bargain it was a couple of years ago but then maybe it was the location and the restaurant.
Saturday we decided to get ourselves the onward tickets out of town so took a walk the subte and rode the underground into town. The underground here is smart, clean, safe and privatised and each ride costs 70 centavos however far you go (about 12p in UK equivalent). Walked through from Florida station to Retiro bus station - don´t do this walk with luggage - and booked ourselves on a bus to Rosario for Monday lunchtime.
And for the first (and maybe last) time Susan suggested that she really wanted to go to a football match here. I had planted the seed a while ago but had not pressed the case. So next purchase was two tickets for River Plate v Independiente for Sunday´s game.
Caught the subte to the nearest station to Recoleta to head to the cinema to avoid the afternoon sun - and going to see George Clooney in Michael Clayton wasn´t the worst way to spend the afternoon. We didn´t go to the cemetery as we had been last time we were here.
Back at base we watched a bit of the Boca Juniors v Racing game on TV. Or rather we didn´t. Bizarrely we had coverage of the crowd with a radio type commentary. At least we got to see the Boca fans on the terraces fighting each other. Nice. Later on Saturday evening we met up with one of Susan´s ex colleagues Terry and Cesar and walked ourselves to a Mexican restaurant for dinner and a few beers.
Sunday morning dawned bright and we eventually got out to go for a walk in search of a working bank machine. Had a good leg stretch up through Las Canitas and into the Rose Gardens in the Palermo parks. Eventually found a cash machine in a shopping mall - pain in the bum that withdrawals are limited to only 320$ AR. Sure that has changed since we were here before. But how happy am I that I opened a Nationwide Account with free withdrawals!
Got picked up early for the football and headed to Estadio River Plate. Huge concrete oval. We had seats on one side quite high up near the halfway line so a great view and loads of sunshine. The build up to the game was great once both sets of fans got to that critical mass where they can really sing and be abusive to each other. Independiente´s fans had the top tier of one end and at some signal all seemed to produce inflatable fingers which they happily waved at the home fans. River Plate´s hardcore then unfurled red and white banners which went all the way from the very top row down to pitch level. Quite a sight and when I get the chance I will upload some photos. When the teams appeared they got the ticker tape reception - well OK it was masses and masses of torn up newspapers flung onto the breeze. Compared to the spectacle the game itself was a bit of an anticlimax. Independiente went ahead after about 15 minutes, they then sat back and eventually River Plate scored the equaliser in first half injury time. The second half saw few chances and one good instinctive save with his legs by the River Plate goalie. River Plate fans around us sang through to the end even when they were obviously getting very frustrated with their team´s inability to string three passes together. I think Alan Hansen and Co would have had problems making more than a couple of minutes of highlights.
After the game we got back to Palermo and went out for another steak and red wine fix- but with lots of salad!
Next stop Rosario, only a four hour bus ride away.

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