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Published: December 19th 2010
So having been blown about the Torres de Paine National Park, we continued south by south-east for a couple of very long, dreary drive days, which involved more wind, roadside camping, and you guessed it, cheese and ham rolls!! We also appeared to cross the border between Chile and Argentina and back again at least 3 times, not ideal but we got there in the end - as if a big yellow truck full of gringos was going to cause any trouble?! Eventually we rolled up to Ushuaia, commonly recognised as the most Southerly town north of Antarctica (although that honour actually belongs to Chile's Puerto Williams, across the river and down just a little!!!!)
Whilst there we did a boat trip down the Beagle Channel, checking out sea lions and pengiuns and the generally lovely scenery, whilst trying not to get blown off deck or conversely frozen to the deck!! Apart from that, we didn't do too much in Ushuaia, although an all you can eat buffet did feature highly, and the regions speciality "Cordero Patagonico" which is a whole lamb (or several of them), basically stuck to a crucifix and cooked leaning up over an open fire -
it is absolutely delicious!!
After a few days, we headed up the East coast to Puerto Natales (read here more long drive days, wind, cold and ham & cheese). We thought covering 1200kms in a couple of days might get us out of the wind, and although it was a little warmer, the wind was still with us. Not ideal when camping on sand, but hey ho, the beers at the campsite were the cheapest we had encountered to date, and at 6 pesos a litre (US$1.50), we were happy to "suffer".
Everyone was keen to crack on to Buenos Aires, and it only took us another 2 days on the road to get there. Strangely enough the last "bush camp" (ie camp wherever you can park) was the best. We managed to pull in behind a petrol station, and this one had grass - such luxury for our last night outside, and we also had the pleasure of fully functioning facilities of the servo.
So we finally made it to Buenos Aires, and found ourselves right in the heart of the action - or so it appeared when we arrived. Just a block from the 9th
July Ave and a short walk to pretty much anywhere, we were all pretty happy with the choice of hostel. As we discovered over the next few nights, our neighbours were also into a lot of action, most of which it would appear had to be paid for...
For our first night we headed to a steak restaurant that had come highly recommended for the ubiquitous slab of meat and glass of red. On our return to the hostel we were faced with the question of one more at the bar, or straight to bed. The hostel was hosting a party and it seemed the right thing to do so sure enough we all joined in. Needless to say the dancing was electric, and this was helped by the more than generous "free pour" drinks. The night pushed on and this might have had something to do with the slow start the next day, but at least we* had been lifted by England picking up an easy win in the second test in Adelaide.
After strolling through some of Buenos Aires more affluent neighbourhoods, we stumbled across the famous La Recoleta mausoleum, where some of Argentina's most affluent
and influential citizens have their final resting place. These monuments to the deceased really were unlike anything we'd seen before - an outrageous amount of marble, ornate masonry and cash has gone into the making of this site, and it felt more like walking through a museum than a graveyard. Outside of Argentina, the most famous resident is probably Evita (Eva Peron), so we took the obligitory stroll past her family mausoleum. That evening we joined a tango class at the hostel, where our grace, athleticism and rhythm were universally admired....
A highlight of our time in Buenos Aires and indeed our tour, was the chance to watch the second leg of the final of the Copa de Sud Americana which is effectively the equivalent of the Europa Cup. The local side were Independiente and they were already 2-0 down after the first leg held against Goias (Brazil) a week earlier. All of the guide books recommend seeing a football match in South America so we were never going to turn down the chance to see a cup final. Our tour was organised through the hostel, and although we paid well over the face value of the ticket, we
were soon to realise why, A group of 20 gringo's walking blindly through thousands of locals trying to get into a stadium would have been easy pickings.
It turns out the extra that we paid for the tickets went a long way to "greasing the wheels" of the locals. Once we were dropped off by our bus in one of the less salubrious parts of BA, we instantly stood out like snowmen in the desert. One of the guides that had been "arranged" was clearly well connected, we are not sure why, but most of the locals who passed him wanted a photo with him. He could have been a former player, or simply someone not to get on the wrong side of. His first trick was to "open" a gate that allowed us all to pass through the back of a housing estate without too much trouble. This meant that we side-stepped at least 20,000 locals "queueing" to get in. We were met at the back of the estate by one of the larger gentlemen of BA and he opened another gate, allowing us to pass to the front of the mass of fans in red. After a
little bit of negotiating we got to the front of the police cordon. No simple hello from a friendly copper, these guys were fully prepared for battle. A few of us managed to get through, but then there was a shove from behind and the police drew their batons and began weilding. No one got hit, but it was more than enough to calm the crowd and allow the rest of the group to pass.
Once in the ground we found ourselves in one of the standing only stands behind the goals. The atmosphere was quite extraordinary and we have never experienced anything like it (not even at the Lakeside for the world darts). No time to draw breath, as the fans around us were singing and chanting incessantly. If we did get a chance to take in the air, we would just get a lung full of flare or firework, for even though they were supposedly banned from the ground, it turns out that the officials were handing them out to anyone within reach.
The game started very well for the local side, and they soon took the lead. This was when our stand erupted. We are
sure that concrete is not meant to bounce, but this stuff did. I'm sure it had something to do with 10,000 people flooding forward to get as close to the barbed wire fence protecting the pitch. The fans all moved in one fluid motion, and there was no point in resisting it, you just had to go with the flow. Sadly the away side went up the other end and scored about a minute later, and we have never heard 45,000 people go silent so quickly. This wasn't a problem as Independiente went on to score another couple of goals that half to make it all square. It remained that way for the second half so we were going into extra time with slighty shorter finger nails. Not a lot happened in extra time, but if we were tired from standing for 2 hours, I hate to think how the players felt. All thoughts of tired feet were quickly forgotten as we went to penalties. We were lucky that the penalties were taken from the end where we were standing, so we had a great view of it all. Independiente scored all 5 of theirs, much to the delirious delight
of the locals and to this day we are not sure if this had anything to do with the fans throwing bangers at the feet of the opposition goalkeeper...
Goias missed one of theirs and as a result the local side won the match. It was at this point that the crowd exploded again. Both hysterical and passionate, the fans were going for another surge down the stand, and sure enough we went with it. There was no doubt that the right team had won, and even though the quality of the football perhaps wasn't the best, the atmosphere in the ground was electrifying. The fans started to climb the fences, literally getting tangled in the barbed-wire, and even more flares went off. All of the streamers that had been thrown from the stands were now burning nicely but no one seemed to care, even the Bomberos and Policia standing next to them. All everyone wanted was to celebrate. We made a rather quiet exit from the ground before the fires burnt out, and finally managed to make our way back to the bus, by which point every car in the area was honking its horn, and all of
the locals were ready to party well through the night, which they duly did.
The next evening we had a slight change in entertainment, and attended Tango Porteño (citizens of Buenos Aires are called "Porteño"). The dancers were unbelievable, with moves that seemed to belong in an Olympic gymnastics routine at some stages. It was a great night, and we're sure that with just a little practice they will be as good as we are after our hostel lesson...
On the Saturday we went to the suburb of Palermo as we'd managed to get our grubby little travellers fingers on a pair of tickets to the Argentine Open Polo Championship final. A beautiful day, we took along a bottle of champagne, which we drank sitting on the grass and relaxing before heading to our seats. With eager anticipation we watched the pre-match entertainment of tangoing horses, native riders and gaucho's displaying amazing horsemanship.
The riders took to the field, and at that stage the rain began - and it was heavy!! After a grand total of 3min 17sec, the match was called off, and thousands of saturated people had to slowly make their way from the stands
and back home! We returned the next day however, and were able to watch some fantastic polo, and after several lead changes Ellerstina finally beat La Dolfina 14-13.
And it was on that note that we headed to the bus terminal once again to catch a night bus and say a fond farewell to Buenos Aires, our favourite city in our travels to date!
* Editors note - not ALL of us were lifted by this unfortunate turn of events!
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Annie
non-member comment
ha ha
Cheeks home from home!