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Published: April 11th 2006
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Arriving back in B.A. I headed back to the same hostel I had stayed at previously and met a few of the people I met earlier. The rest of the afternoon was spent up on the hostel's terrace drinking beers and getting involved in a traditional BBQ (in half a 44 gallon drum)! Everything went down a treat... and before too long it's 6 in the morning and your playing beer-pong with some american guy.
Don´t you hate it when you set your alarm, but just turn it off and go back to sleep and end up being late for something?? Well I did that... I was suppose to be ready at 10am for a bicycle tour of B.A. Got a phone call to the dorm room at 10am while still fast asleep asking where I was... Faarrrk!!!! Managed to get my shit together in about 2 minutes and I was out of there for a bicycle tour of B.A.! Luckily I was the only one on the tour, so I actually late for anything afterall. Inbetween dodging the crazy traffic and almost getting run over while trying to cross Ave. de 9 Julio (the widest avenue in the world...
about 14 lanes and more than 100 metres wide), I managed to see a few of the neighbour hoods around B.A. like San Telmo (home of the Tango), La Boca (with the multicoloured houses and the infamous Boca Juniors Stadium), Puerto Madero (a converted dock area) and the Ecological Park on the bank of the Rio de la Plata.
After all that excitement it was off to see Jamiroquai! I went with a bunch of Aussie guys from the hostel and a few others. As the gates opened at 6pm we thought it would be smart to get there early and drink a few beers to get into the mood... So we arrive at about 6.30 and to our complete horror we discovered it was a alcohol-free venue!!! NOOOOOOO!!!!! and no-passouts naturally. So we really hooked into the pepsi's and red bulls for the next three hours! 😉 Before too long Jamiroquai had hit the stage and the place was rocking! It was a pretty crazy atmosphere! 25,000 people getting the old clapping their hands above the heads thing happening and the jumping up and down when a song cranks... but inbetween those bit of crazy ness, not much
dancing was happening... so I did Australia proud by dancing like a loony and annoying everyone around me! The crowd also loved pulling out a football chant whenever they could aswell! Everyone in the place was singing 'Ole, Ole, Ole....' and all of that kind of thing whenever they could and Jamiroquai was loving it! After the concert all 25,000 people spewed out onto the roads... seeing a few cars trying to make their way through the people was a laugh!
My last few days in B.A. naturally involved more beers and partying. One afternoon was spent drinking beers down at Puerto Madero, which sortof reminds me of Southbank and the Yarra in Melbourne. Later that day we went to Cafe Tortoni (established 1858) to see a Tango show. This was definately one of the highlights of Buenos Aires! A small band that had a pianist, double bassist and accordian player backed one of the most expressive and amazing singers i've ever seen... and during the songs a couple would come out and do there Tango thing! The night continued with more beers and bar hopping up in San Telmo with Sam. I think we managed to get home
at about 7am after finding a all night place that sold enponatas - the south american equivalent of a meat pie and the staple diet of any backpacker in South America!
On the day before I left B.A. it was a public holiday - 30 years since the beginning of 'The Dirty War' - basically the day that a military regime overthrough Evita and the begnining of period of kidnapping, toture and murder of anyone that was in any way thought to be against the regime - over 30,000 people went missing during this period. So there was huge rememberance parade throughout the main streets in B.A. I´m not sure how many people parade, but it was probably up towards 100,000... with every kind of local social and polical group represented. Some youth groups openly vandalized shops and street front with political graffiti and their stencial art... it was amazing to see... although I was slightly shitting my pants when one group of about 100 youths with balaclavas and t-shirts wrapped around their head, all carrying big ass wooden clubs came down the street. Not sure who they were, but no one, including the police, seems too worried.
BBQ action!
Argentinian style BBQ on the hostel´s terrace Next day... outta Buenos Aires!
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