Buenos Aries, March 9, 2009

---

Buenos Aires, Monday March 9, 2009

After showering, we had a while to wait for our bags. We went for a walk to find camera batteries, and following directions from the Concierge we ended up at Florida, a pedestrian avenue with many small stallholders set up in the middle selling jewellery, art, scarves as well as artisans making wire artworks among other things.

We kept walking, just browsing, and hawkers were constantly vying for our business for their restaurants. We came along to Ave De Mayo and in front of us was a long line of political demonstrators with many banners describing what their allegiances were, it was noisy with many drums and loudspeakers from trucks, very vibrant but peaceful. The police were there, but only to guide the whole procession along.

We could not get any service for our mobile phones since arrival, and although a Telco shop was nearby, it was closed so it meant coming back again. Emails were sent to Telstra and Nokia, and Paul contacted Telstra to find out why our international roaming was not activated but they were their usual hopeless and poorly informed selves. We were both very tired by now, and went again along Florida for a light dinner. We found a Burger King to have a traditional Argentinean burger only found in Argentina, well that’s our excuse anyway!

We were so tired, its not often we are so zonked on the forward journey. Even flying to Los Angeles, which is a similar length flight, had not affected us this way before.






Tuesday March 10, 2009

Paul had breakfast early in the Club lounge and went to try sort out mobile connections. Alas to no avail, it seems that although Telstra does roaming, Argentina does not subscribe to the type of network that they have as yet. We planned to meet back in our room, but it seems that when the Captain on the Qantas flight gave us the local time on arrival, he gave the wrong time by 1 hour, so consequently we were 1 hour behind. Paul walked into the lobby only to see our guide, Fabian, already waiting with Jeffrey.

Fabian started by taking us to the other side of Florida, on to the North of Buenos Aries, where our first stop was Retiro Park. Named in honour of the first Mayor of the city who had a weekend residence there, it was the site of 2 major battles in the 1800’s against the British. At the end of the park is the Torre Monumental, a gift from the United Kingdom to celebrate Argentina’s independence. Also nearby was a memorial for the fallen Argentineans in the Falklands War.

On the west side of the park there was an exhibition of painted bears from all over the world. If you have been to Germany you would immediately recognise them as we saw them in Berlin in 2007. The Australian Bear was painted by Ken Done and was recognizable from his usual style. The exhibition is to promote worldwide peace. Jeffrey was even interviewed on TV about his thoughts and opinions of the exhibition.

In the early1900’s there was a yellow fever outbreak in Buenos Aries, and the town divided in two. Many wealthy and influential families moved to Recoleta, and the area has many magnificent residences. Now they are used for government, embassies and military offices. The architecture is stunning, and having Fabian with us made the walk so interesting, always pointing out fascinating details about what we were seeing.

We came to the Vatican Embassy, which was a gift from a wealthy family, and next to it was the Park Hyatt hotel. Walking along these avenues you can still imagine how it would have been in years past. Servants would outnumber the occupants of these houses, and in one building, a family of 6 lived and had 126 servants!

The streets were lined with galleries, antique shops, recognizable watchmakers and stylish tailors. There was a noticeable effort by future architects to have the buildings in the style of the older buildings.

Fabian took us to Cementerio De La Recoleta, a famous site of mausoleums of presidents, dignitaries and many of the well to do families of Buenos Aries society. The most famous resident being Eva Peron with many wreaths left in front her mausoleum, however hers was by no means the grandest or most interesting. The cemetery changed from a public to private at the Yellow Fever outbreak as the wealthy did not want to go back to where the poor were living. Crypts must be maintained by the families that own them, but the pathways between them are maintained by the city council. Some are in bad decay as families move or lose touch, which is sad. There are many people wishing to purchase these ones, and there is a long waiting list for sales.

After lunch at the BA Design Centre, Fabian took us to the Law University, where many students were rounded up by the Military during the years of Argentinas Dictatorship, and were never seen again. Just past the university is a stainless steel and aluminum sculpture of a flower, the Floralis Generica, Argentina’s national flower. It weighs 18 tons and has 6 enormous metallic petals made from recycled aircraft parts, which open at dawn and close at dusk each day.

Next we walked past the site of the Government house were Eva Peron lived and died. After her death it was burnt to the ground during the revolution, and in its place now stands a monument and statue of her. We continued walking past many small boutiques and shops that seems to be the norm here. Shopping Malls are not so popular in Buenos Aires. Shops selling shirts, ties and leather goods are popular. People are generally well dressed even younger ones in the grunge style. At 4pm we were tired and a little jet lagged, so we said goodbye to Fabian and made our way back to the hotel to relax and have a snooze.

At 10pm we took a taxi to Recoleta, to a restaurant recommended to us, called La Characita. Even at 10.30 it was just getting busy. The steak we ordered was huge and we shared it, with a very good Argentinean Malbec. It was one of the best steaks we have ever had. The service was good, attentive but not obtrusive. At midnight I said Happy Birthday to Jeffrey and we raised our glasses. Even at 12.30am people were still coming in to eat, but we just took a taxi back to the hotel for a well earned sleep.

Wednesday, March 11 2009

Happy Birthday Jeffrey!

After breakfast we caught a cab to La Boca, a suburb of Buenos Aires near the docks. Many Italian Immigrants arrived here around 100 years ago to work as meat packers, and to brighten up their drab houses, they were painted with many bright colours. It is a popular tourist destination, and stallholders were just setting up as we arrived for the markets. We could see that what was on offer was no different to what was sold in Florida Ave, but the sellers were just more aggressive.

Hawkers were touting for their café’s business, and Tango dancers were doing a brisk trade with photo shots with dumb tourists. Each of the tacky tourist shops sold the same souvenirs, and were highly priced. After walking around the two streets that is the safe section of La Boca we were approached by a reasonably close matching Maradona look alike for a photo. It was overcast and raining by this stage, and we just wanted to get out of this awful, tacky, touristy dump. We headed back to Galleria Pacifico for lunch in the city.

Galleria Pacifico is a mall of designer labels and with a food court downstairs on Florida mall. It was very busy and not typical of food courts as we know at home. I ordered Paella and Jeff ordered a baguette. Today we were feeling quite lazy and headed back to the hotel to relax and chill, and work on the blog.

We spent a bit of time deciding where to go for Jeffrey’s Birthday dinner, part of the problem was reading reviews on websites which can make you more confused than when you started! We eventually decided on an Italian Restaurant called Piegari, which the Concierge also recommended. Catching a cab in the rain proved difficult, but persistence paid off, and we went to have a drink at a funky bar at Recoleta beforehand. As we were attempting to catch a taxi, we stood outside a McDonalds, and yet again on our travels witnessed something bizarre at this chain. A brawl had just started inside with 2 men punching and kicking another man on the ground. Jeff and I stood in the pouring rain looking on as the security guard inside did nothing. After several minutes watching the situation unfold, a cab arrived, and we left in amazement at what we had just seen.

We arrived at Piegari to find it was very busy, and we were told it would be a 15 minute wait for a table. While we waited in the small bar area and enjoyed a glass of Champagne we watched the other patrons with interest. While we were waiting, two large American men arrived, one holding hands with a dwarf woman. Lots of people looked at her, and we felt sorry for her. Her male companion the proceeded to reach across the bar and take a bottle of Champagne and help himself to it. Everyone at the bar was stunned, and he soon realised and put the bottle back. Quite amazing how stupid and ignorant some people can be!

---

Photos

Demonstration
Peaceful political demonstration Av Corrientes

On Guard
Soldier on Guard Falklands Memorial

Statue of Eva
The site of old Government House

Maradonna
Get your picture taken with Maradonna