Don't steal from me Argentina

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Day 60-61

After a 24 hour bus journey from Jujuy we arrive in Buenos Aires. Bus journey is like many others except for the not so nice addition of food trays that smell very strongly of cheese, and Si and I have to hold our breaths every time we are served something to eat or drink...

We quickly work out the metro system and as I stand in the carriage, in what must be 30 degree heat, I let my guard down... all the people around me seem well dressed and respectable. I glance down at my front back pack and notice that the pocket is open, ‘strange’, I think... and then it slowly dawns on me that the ‘respectable’ man standing in front of me is trying to steal my stuff. I zip up the bag and then he moves away... to stand in front of Simon and to try and repeat the same trick! Simon is slightly more awake than me and clocks what the man is trying to do, and we get off the metro at our stop with all our belongings intact. A few of you have commented that the baddies must be calling ahead and telling their mates we are arriving in town –it certainly seems that way!

Anyway we check into our lovely B&B (my first ‘luxury’ stop out of the 2 Simon has promised, to keep me happy). We chill out and then explore the local area of Palermo... which is full of posh shops, restaurants and bars.

Day 62

After eating what can only be described as an amazing breakfast (fruit salad, cereal, cake to keep Si happy, lovely coffee etc) we head into the centre of town to collect our ‘Boca Juniors’ tickets. We pass a tree with a professional dog walker’s lead, which has 11 pedigree dogs attached and is something of a sight – one dog is happily eating a tissue and I am reminded of my family dog Louis... After finding the office closed, with a ‘back in 20mins’ sign we have a lovely lunch and then return to the office to find the ‘back in 20 mins’ sign again... So we decide to follow the walking tour in the Lonely Planet – the highlight of which is the Recoleta cemetery, where Evita and other famous people are buried. A man tries to persuade us that the small entrance leading into a deserted part of the cemetery is the ‘right’ entrance, but smelling a rat we head to where we can see the crowds of people... dodgy situation once again cleverly side-stepped. Once inside the cemetery the only thing we have to worry about is the very rough looking cats with various fighting scars – they are seriously scary and we nervously pass a group of 10 who all look at us (probably thinking we look like easy targets)...After walking our legs off we head back to the B&B, where we have a snack tea and sup some beers in the beautiful terrace garden.

Day 63

We head to San Telmo to explore and pick up our bike tour of the city. San Telmo is a lovely, slightly bohemian area and we have an hour to wander round – we see some tango and work out which square Andy and Leah spent a lot of time in BA getting drunk in. The bike tour starts and our tiny female guides set off at a pace across the cobbled streets of San Telmo, blindly leading the group of 10 tourists across main roads, an intersection (where I think we are going to die) and flying past unsuspecting pedestrians. Highlights are the Boca stadium, the camineto in Boca (a multi-coloured street – originally painted in different colours because the residents didn’t have the money to buy paint and so used left-over’s) and the nature reserve (where we get to see our first glimpse of rio plata, which to our surprise is like a huge brown sea). We persuade an Ozzie and Dutch guy to have a beer (it doesn’t take much persuading), before heading back to our B&B. We head out in Palermo for a lovely meal and some cocktails...

Day 64

Sort out the ferry and bus tickets and then it is time to go and see Boca! We assemble outside Mcdonalds with about 30 other gringos, before a bright yellow bus picks us up to take us to an ‘authentic’ Boca bar. On the way our guides Paula and Nacho try in vain to teach the gringos some Boca chants – the only bit of which I can remember is, ‘Boca, mi bueno amigo, dada, da, da, dada contigo’ After 30minutes, they give up... We arrive at the ‘authentic’ bar and battle with 40 other gringos to get a bottle of the beers they are giving out... between Si and two guys we meet (Geoff and Matt) we manage to do alright beer wise, although we only get 1 slice of pizza each. Si is made to feel ancient when trying to engage Geoff and Matt in football talk, they don’t remember Italia 90 (being only 1 or 2 at the time)!! The guys get caught up in the moment (and beer) and purchase fake sweaty polyester Boca shirts and I visit the trainspotting style toilets before we head out again to the stadium.

We are ushered down a street lined with police (and containing no other fans) and we are in the stadium. We find our standing places (which are great and right behind one of the goals) and watch the reserve teams play a warm up match before watching la doce (the true Boca fans are called la doce because they are the 12th member of the team) file in to their stands opposite ours, making an almighty noise. The first half is pretty dull, and Olimpio score just before half-time. After a good talking to in the changing rooms, Boca come out blazing after half time and the crowd really get going , la doce and our stand singing their hearts out... then Olimpio score again... and still the fans sing on louder (at this point in a match in England, everyone would be filing out) right until the final whistle. Just as we are marvelling at the unwavering support of the fans, the team leave the pitch and are absolutely pelted with various objects! Final score Olimpio 2, Boca Juniors 0. Good experience – but I think Si was a bit surprised that the standard of the football wasn’t better. Si - Boca are now fourth from bottom and in trouble, even Maradona's box was empty (normally you can see him watching enthusiastically) which has been the case since he fell out with Riquelme during the world cup.

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