BA - Recoleta and La Boca

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Hola!

Gonna try and make things snappier this time so I don´t bore u all...its almost the end of my time here and i´ll be really sad to leave, have made so many good friends and had such an amazing time!

On Monday I went to Recoleta to visit Evita´s grave in the famous cemetery, it really was an impressive place with the most enormous ornate tombstones i´ve ever seen!We all picked our favourite and got photos taken with them - slightly morbid, but seemed like a good idea at the time!We then wondered around the area - Buenos Aires´most upper class district, a bit like Newton Mearns/le 6eme 😉 - enjoying lunch in the hilariously named Pizza Bum (I laughed at this far too long!) and taking photos of a big monument shaped like a tulip. We enjoyed a quiet evening in Palermo´s Plaza Serrano, before heading home for an early night.

Yesterday was officially my first day of slumming it on my trip - Thiago, Rubens, Carla and I headed off to La Boca - BA´s poorest area where the famous stadium is found. It was such a contrast to Recoleta - the brightly coloured tin buildings of the La Caminito are beautiful in their own way, but it was really touristy and sad to see the extreme poverty these people are living in. The boys had told us about a "country club" in the grounds of La Boca Juniors football stadium we could use, so we headed off there, eager to spend a relaxing day by the side of a pool. It wasn´t quite what we´d expected tho....basically a big communal pool in the shadow of the stadium, where when we tried to enter, we were informed that we would have to go to the team doctor for a medical examination first!I couldnt believe it!After being subjected to a full body examination to check for lice, crabs, fungal infections etc, by a doctor who spoke no english and simply pointed to the bodyparts i was to show him next, we were finally allowed to enter the pool!Despite the bizarre rules enforced (no water, no sunscreen=a burnt, parched gail!) it was a fun day, and nice to finally be able to sunbathe and go for a swim - really feels like i´m on holiday now!

The boys then dragged us for dinner in the most disgusting place I have ever seen - owned by a small, sweaty but lovely argentinian man named Victor (who had a crush on me!) - where they were convinced i would refuse to eat. So, to prove them wrong I dined on choripan (sausage sandwich) and beer, sitting at a makeshift table on the side of the pavement, in a chair tied together with string and a backdrop of BA´s rubbish people (families who scavange through garbage to find things to sell) - so now I have most definitely earned the right to be called "not posh"!

Today I´m undecided on whether to visit Eva Peron´s house Casa Roseada or go to the Plaza Hotel to use their rooftop swimming pool, which comes minus medical check and with free towels!Hmmm, i think i deserve a posh day today....!

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Comments

[Natalie]

Hola chicita !!! Thanks for the photos and stories !! I'm soooooooo happy you've met such great people and you've been having a blast. It's so amazing that you can go thousands of miles away and make friends. Laughed so much at your clubbing photos and the story of you gettinn checked for lice and scabs before swimming! Keep up the adventures! Lots of love Natalie xxx

[Collette]

Sooooo Jealous!!!!!!!!
Heya! Sounds like ure havin a ball! The weather looks great! Meanwhile i'm stuck in very stormy Scotland writing essays! But ure blog defo cheared me up! I'll be checking in to ure blog regularly to see what adventures uve been on! Hope the rest of ure trip is just as much fun as Buenos Aires! Safe travelling and i'll spk 2 u soon! xxx