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Published: April 14th 2008
Hello there people,
Well, had a busy last coupleof weeks.
In Buenos Aires, went to Recoleta Cemetary where Eva Peron, amongst many others are buried. This place is the Rolls Royce of graveyards. The graves are more like small chapels, with the coffins visible(through the glass doors) on shelves inside. The place is one of BAs most popular tourist attractions, with herds of tour groups stomping about the place. If ever there was a strong argument for cremation, this is it!...I don´t think I´d like a load of tourists taking photos of my coffin when I'm gone....
There was a queue too to see Eva Perons grave, which when you get there, is pretty mundane to say the least, but nonetheless people are keen to take photos of it, two crumbly old americans nearly started a fight(in a graveyard!), because one got in the others way while he was taking a photo of it!
Then I went to a Boca Juniors game which was quite amazing. It was the most intense football(soccer) game i´ve ever been to. Before kickoff the whole crowd were chanting in unison as if their life depended on it. you could say that Old Trafford is a morgue compared the Boca Stadium(but then again, many would say that Old Trafford is a morgue anyway!)
For any of you that haven´t been to argentina, the best thing is tea tradition. They have this crazy tea called Hierba Mate, which you drink out of a pumpkin, with a metal straw....tastes bloody good though!
Also went to see the "Mothers of the Disappeared" march that happens in the city centre every thursday at 3 oclock, all these old women, complete with their trademark white head scarves(the kinda one you might see your granny wearing), marching around Plazo de Mayo. Its something that looks a little amusing at first, seeing all these old women in scarves and sunglasses, but there´s obviously marching for a reason(i.e. there sons were butchered in the Argentinian Dirty War)
Then I headed south to Puerto Madryn in search or killer whales, seals and penguins(and armadillos too....they are everywhere there). It is a big nature reserve. I met three other irish people and we went on a whale watching tour to a beach were killer whales are known to swim up onto the beach and snatch some baby seals who might be sunbathing. We did see the killer whales(Orca), but unfortunately they werent hungry, so there was no seal-eating action to be had. Interestingly though, Orca whales are not whales at all, and are actually a type of dolphin!
The next day we went to a penguin colony were over 150,000 pairs of penguins come to breed every year. The unbeleivable thing is that every year, the same pair(husband and wife), manage to come back to the exact same house(consisting of a burrowed hole in the ground) as the previous year, don´t ask me how they actually manage to remember where it is!
We also went to a town founded by welsh settlers called....wait for it!....Gaiman. What a great name for a town!....you walk around it and there are welsh flags everywhere and loads of welsh teahouses....I doubt many people actually spoke welsh though.
No I´m in the mountain resort town of Bariloche, which famous for skiiing and chocolate, great combination!...Gonna stay here for a couple of days and do a trekking tour up to some glacier I think.
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Simon
non-member comment
Sounds great
Paul Yo're obviously having a great time. No surprise that it was Americans starting a war - and the Welsh starting tea houses! You may have heard of 5 British women killed in a traffic accident in Ecuador this weekend - so keep safe! God Bless Simon PS Don't walk on the grass - drink it! (Hierba = grass)