Football, Tango and BIG Juicy Steaks

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December 6th 2007

Published: December 16th 2007

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M and J

Tango Night

Part of the show at Cafe Homero

Buenos Aires!! Back into a big city and lookin forward to it. We had heard nothing but good things about B.A (no, not British Airways...) so we had high hopes and it didn´t dissapoint.

So; the overnight bus from Puerto Iguazu... yep, it was late getting in after spending about three hours in a traffic jam coming into the city, but it wasn´t so bad coz the buses in Argentina are like flying. Big comfy seats, meals/drinks served (no beer unfortunately...) and movies playing so we just sat back and relaxed.

Our hostel was in Palermo, one of the older and posher parts of the city just out of the centre. It was an old colonial house, which hadn´t much changed since it had been a house, and was one of the coolest places we´ve stayed. A very relaxed vibe, different types of people staying there, really good staff playing really good music and in a good location to boot.

So lunch first and we decided to go find a French place in another part of Palermo (Palermo has other divisions such as “Hollywood” and “Soho”) true to form though the place was closed... so we ended up

The cliched crooner..

He was very demonstrative in his singing! Lots of heartfelt chest thumping and leg tapping

somewhere else. On the way there though I had noticed heaps of really good street art (bombing/grafitti art), and on the walk home we stumbled across Post. A really cool bar/cafe covered in art. They weren´t actually open but after looking in the window and seeing the inside I accosted the guy and asked if I could get some photos. It turns out this place is at the forefront of the street art/stenciling movement in Argentina and is the show space for up and coming street artists. Very cool. Marika indulged me (just) for half an hour while I took photos of the stenciling in the bar, the terrace and the toilets (no, not the toilets literally). Some very cool stuff indeed. I dragged Marika back there the next night and after a couple of beers, had a conversation with one of the old geezers working there and got the run down on how the place had developed and what they´d been up to over the last few years. Very cool shows and murals all over the city with some international names popping up (such as the French stencil master Blek le Rat). Anyway, it was all conveniently packaged into

Costume change!

More tango at the show

a nice coffee table book with heaps of photos of the best bits from the shows and the bar; and a bargain for 50pesos (about 10GBP/$25NZ or there abouts)!! I had to have it.

Our first full day and we decided not to do anything to touristy aside from going to Avenue Florida. This is the main pedestrianised shopping road through the heart of central B.A and is a major thoroughfare for shoppers and business people alike. Very busy place. Didn´t find to much to buy though. We weren´t really into all the leather that was for sale, which of course is the by-product of the really good beef the Argentinians produce. We did find some really good Havaiana shops though... we had to indulge even though we would be going to Brazil again shortly (the birth place of the Havaiana).

That night, after the bar, we went out for the obligatory Tango Show. This is the thing to do in B.A and we chose a place (Cafe Homero) that was listed as a smaller more authentic venue and show for what we thought was $5US so long as you consumed something. Turned out to be more along

More Tango

the lines of $15US each... but that shock didn´t come until the end... so, the show. It was pretty cool; a very old cafe (very Parisian feeling) and only a few tables full. The dancing was one couple with different costumes for the different versions of the tango, and there was a geezer who sang in between. Now this guy was pretty into his performance. He had a great voice (I guess, it was all in Spanish of course) and punctuated it with lots of chest thumping and arm waving. It was kind of fun to try and guess what he might have been singing about based on the hand movements, and the tone and volume of his voice... we came up with some pretty funny things... ("I have a pain, it is right here, no, no, right HERE! It is very bad, Ahhh, I knew you wouldn´t understand, maybe that guy up there will..." and so on). Anyway, back to the important stuff. The dancing was really good. The static photos just don´t show the fluidity of the movement and the speed they move at. Very cool.

The next day and we decided it was time to see

Some of the tombs at Recoleta Cemtery

Where all the rich and famous are laid to rest

some sights so we did the Lonely Planet suggested walking tour starting in the Cemetery. Weird place to start? Not when you see the cemetery. This place really is a proper Necropolis... impressive. The sarcophagi are huge, whole generations of Argentinas rich and famous stacked up in them. I was surprised by how many of the coffins were effectively on display; with glass doors showing the contents of the tombs. I guess the plan is that family can come and visit and tend to the structures and coffins on special dates. Not very private though, this place is a major tourist attraction and there were a lot of people. Evita is buried here. We ignored the map selling tour guide at the entrance and decided to look for the crowd... good plan except that the crowd was everywhere; but we eventually found the spot and got a photo or two. Next stop on the tour was the movie theatre/mall over the road... after that was the Universities School of Engineering building which is a massive and imposing gothic building. Then around the corner to Buenos Aires Design; another mall dedicated to interior design which was cooler than it sounded. Saw

Recoleta Cemetery

some really cool outdoor furniture that stacked up into a tower when not needed. Didn´t think it would fit in my pack though. Once Marika had dragged me out of the mall, we found the flower next. This is a massive metal sculpture of a flower that behaves like a flower (except it doesn´t wilt and die like a real flower) and opens when the sun rises and closes when it sets. Again, pretty impressive. That pretty much brought us to the end of the walking tour so we headed back to the hostel to get ready for the FOOTBALL!!
The final of the Suda Americana was in B.A and featured one of B.A´s smaller clubs; Arsenal (yeah weird eh, they have a team called Arsenal who are rubbish as well...) up against one of Mexico´s middle clubs; America (yeah again weird, why name a football team after a continent?). The Suda America is like Central/South Americas UEFA Cup so is a pretty big deal. The final is run a lot like the UEFA Cup games were there is a home and away stage; except that UEFA don´t do this for their final whereas these guys do. The first leg

One of Evita´s plaques

had been an away for Arsenal and they had managed to pull off something special. They won. Apparently no other team has managed to do this to the Mexicans before. So Arsenal (or, Arse, as a lot of hats had on the back) went into the home leg with a one goal head start. So we got picked up from the hostel and met up with a bunch of other tourists and headed for the stadium. Now being the final we expected massive things, but on the way we were warned that in S.A you stick to your own team. So unlike Europe where pretty much any game worth seeing is sold out, the stadium was only about half full at best. But they made a lot of noise. The away team section had about 30 people in it... a bit of an average turn out I thought. Anyway, the game kicked off and it was looking good for the home team... for about 10mins. Then America scored. The game was played at a ripping pace and had all you would expect from Latin American football. Dives, hollywoods, dummies were spat, words were exchanged, the ref let a lot go

The gigantic flower sculpture in BA

It opens at dawn and closes at sunset like a real flower

and then booked someone, there were plenty of close calls for Arsenal with two off the woodwork. And then they went 2-0 down and things were looking really bad. Things heated up and got a bit testy, and then of course there was a session of Latin American "handbags-at-ten-paces" when pretty much both benches ended up on the pitch pointing fingers, slapping each other and pulling each others shirts and ponytails etc. And the ref sends somebody off, luckily from the opposition. Fuuuunny shit. Getting towards the end of the game and it´s looking like the Arse might get robbed in thier own back yard. The fans though had never stopped backing their team with singing, chanting and fireworks throughout the game, they never gave up on them. And then the fairytale comes true; they score. The stadium went absolutely bonkers, and again all that you would expect; fireworks, flares, screams, hugs, half the bench invades the ptich, grown men are in tears etc etc. Pretty full on, would have been incredible had the stadium been full. And the last five minutes tick past and the final whistle goes and the scene replays itself except that the entire bench is

Professional dog walkers

We counted 10 dogs here

on the pitch, one guy is in his undies (see photo), they are all crying. Now I was a bit confused. Why was Arsenal celebrating? The score in the first leg was 3-2 to Arsenal and the score here was 2-1 to America. So isn´t that 4-4? Where is the extra time? Where is the penalty shoot out...? We got ripped off by the rubbish away goal rule! Coz Arsenal had scored 3 away goals to America´s 2 they win the cup. Game over, lets go home.

Our last full day and we went for a walk and just hung out in the park spotting dog walkers with up to 15 pooches in tow, in the shops spotting clothes and shoes and around the city generally spotting people. And then the steak house, or should I say STEAK HOUSE. This place was listed in the Lonely Planet as "if you only go to one steak house in Argentina, make it this one" so we were expecting big things again. Actually, we knew it was popular because we tried to go there on the first night and the wait was 50mins. So with booking securely made we fronted up and

Break time

ordered our steaks. We ordered the same thing, the rump, with Marika ordering the half size. It didn´t look like the meat came with anything so we ordered a "side" salad. The "side" salad was massive, and the steaks arrived with about ten condiments and sides each. We had a lot of food (see photo). The meat was impressive though. Bloody, tender, and taaasty. Marika struggled a bit in the middle when she got the meat sweats and felt a bit dizzy, she managed to carry on for a bit but then the meat beat her and she gave up. I though, finished mine and then mopped up hers for her as well. Meeeeeaatt... Mmmmmmmmmm... Meeeeaatt. It was pretty good.

Good way to finish up in Argentina though. We caught the plane to Rio the next day.

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