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Published: February 6th 2009
Greatings from the 3rd country of my trip - Uruguay!
3 countries in less then 3 weeks not bad eh? Unfortunately I don't think im going to see much more of Uruguay then the town that im currently in, Colonia, as tomorrow I head back to BA for a 3rd, though probably not last, time.
I arrived back in BA on Sunday and headed back to my traditional stomping ground at the Hostel Estoril. (Have you stayed too long when the staff know your name?) I bumped into a few old faces and several new ones so had a few drinks whilst watching the football (again). I had planned to do a language school this week in BA but said few drinks meant I slept in on Monday and didnt register in time. Ah well I guess that means it will be the language of pointing for me for some time yet. To be fair I can ask for tickets, order food drinks etc, but the people in BA have a very distinct Spanish dialect/accent so I do struggle to understand them (or thats what I tell myself) Im hoping maybe at some future point on the trip I will stay somewhere long enough to learn abit more Spanish. If only to have abit more engagement with the locals rather then solely fellow travellers. The end result though was I needed a new plan of action. So this was plan b.
Palermo
On Monday I caught the metro to Palermo. This like San Telmo previously is one of the many districts that make up Bueno Aries. This district is where the well to do, and wealthy ex-pats live. It is blessed with numerous parks, and is also where the zoo, racetrack, and polo ground are located. I had a lazy day walking through the parks and generally relaxing and getting sunburnt. The parks for me weren't anything spectacular and seemed to be suffering due to the lack of rain in the summer months. I also visited Buenos Aires zoo. It was a decent if not an outstanding zoo. All the animals were in humane enclosures (if that makes any kind of sense) and they had a wide range of animals, Lions, Tigers, Elephants, Zebras, etc etc. Of more interest was the local animals such as the snakes, and other reptiles native to the South American rain forest. Given I want to go to the rain forest I felt it wise to know my potential enemies.
Boca
Boca is yet another district of BA and is described as vividly working class. What this appears to mean is that bar a few "safe" streets you shouldn´t venture too far into it. Indeed me and the blond American girl I went to Boca with, looked so much like tourists and potential victims we were warned on at least 2 occasions by locals and the police that we shouldnt be venturing too far into the Boca.
Boca is by the old port of BA and was where alot of Italian immigrants settled. It has a strong working class heritage which is depicted through street art and murals. Thus there are plenty of murals of traditional street scenes, and work scenes of men working in the port. The immigrants in Boca also took to painting their houses bright colours to bring some life to what would otherwise of been a poor area. Some streets have been kept like this and are a tourist magnet. Tourists would get bussed into these streets and then bussed out. Alongside this a strong police presence seemed designed ensure none of the modern working class residents of Boca could disturb the photo opportunities or the sale of the usual touristy nic nacs.
Of more interest to me, and probably many of you is the areas other main claim to fame - Boca Juniors. Boca Juniors is probably one of the most famous football clubs in the world, and can count as former players Diego Maradonna, Carlos Teves, Claudio Canniga, Juan Veron, and Walter Samuel amongst others. They are currently Argentinian champions and one of the best teams on the continent. Their ground is called La Bomberina and is a tight, claustrophobic ground. On match days it must be an intimidating arena. It currently holds over 50,000 but apparently like in the UK there are plans to make the grounds all seater and that will reduce it to just over 30,000. Unfortunately im not going to be able to see it on a matchday so instead we did the stadium tour, and looked round the museum. Both of which I found really interesting. On the tour we got taken onto the famous terracing, were pointed out Diego Maradonna´s box where apparently he entertains his ex-wife and new girlfriend on matchday, and got into the changing rooms. In the museum, we got to see the trophies won, and could pose by Maradonna´s statue. In the club shop you could even buy a lego replica of the ground. An all round football experience.
Puerto Madeira
The final district of the week was Puerto Madeira, which was where the old docks were. Like the Albert Dock in Liverpool, or the Quayside in Newcastle it has been extensively gentrified and yuppyfied. Indeed if I was to describe it I would say its like the Albert Dock but on a much larger scale. The cranes have been kept as a reminder to the areas roots. Alot of the regeneration work in the area was halted by the economic crisis of 2001. It meant alot of land by the river that had been earmarked for development was left abandoned and was reclaimed by nature. Showing surprising foresight this land has now been made an nature reserve. It now makes for a very pleasant afternoon walking though it and down to the river plate.
Colonia
On Tuesday evening I met up with my friends from Canada, Ryan and Katherine, who have come to live in Buenos Aires for a couple of months with their 2 1/4 old son Owen. While I love meeting new people its also great so see old friends and to spend time with people who do actually know you. Its also nice to stay at their appartment for a night or 2 and have a room to myself rather then a dorm. On Thursday the 4 of us caught the ferry across the River Plate from Buenos Aires to Uruguay, to a town called Colonia. Its a sleepy, pretty town, who´s historic town centre has been granted Unesco World Heritage Site status. Its small enough to walk around and its slower pace is a nice change from BA. It even has a beach along the riverside, unfortunately my plans to try and work on my tan were negated by the strong wind that blew sand at me constantly, and any plans to swim were ended on sight of the water which is a pleasant muddy brown. Ah well im sure there will be plenty more beaches on this trip.
Tomorrow I head back to BA and on Tuesday I plan to head down to the Argentinian Lake District. I really need to get out of BA or otherwise im never going to go anywhere else!!
Food
As I said in my last blog im more then happy to deal with any areas you think I have missed in the blog and would like to know about. The first such topic is the food. To be honest I will say firstly that I much preferred the food in South East Asia when I was travelling there. I find the food here quite heavy and stodgy. The meat is good here but its normally served on its own without any sauce. It tends to be Steak or Chicken. The Italian influence also shines through in the fact pizza, pasta, and ice cream parlours are also common. Snack wise Enchanada´s dominate - they are pastries filled with meat, chicken, or vegetables, or a combination. The local beer is called Quilmes and i am a fan of that. Its refreshing and hasnt left me with a sore head. Stella is also very popular here.
And Finally
This is a worst case scenario travelling story I have ever heard, told to me by an Austrian guy in Ignazu, which I had to share. I don´t know how true it is but that shouldn´t get in the way of a great story. Basically a German guy he knew had been travelling round Venezuela for 6 weeks with a Venezuellan guy. Now travelling makes relationships more intense and you can come close to people in matter of days so after 6 weeks you would be practically best friends. The two of them arrived at a town on the Venezuellan coast and were too early to check into the hostel, so they went down to the beach. The German guy went for a swim while the Venezuellan guy minded his stuff. The German guy came back from his swim to find the Venezuellan dude and all his stuff had gone!!!!! He had nothing, not even a t-shirt. Can you imagine the thoughts running through his head!!! Apparently he had to lend a t-shirt off some locals, and beg enough money off locals and fellow travellers to get the bus to Caracas, the capital of Venezuela. There the German embassy issued him an emergency passport and paid him one night in a hostel. He then had to get money wired to him so he could get a flight home!!!
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Richy
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Giggsy
Shouldn't really laugh at that story but its quite funny, probably something that wud happen to me! Really good read that mate, did u watch the utd game? great goal by giggs, Utd are the new 'boring arsenal' x