Beautiful Buenos Aires

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We arrived in Buenos Aires from Igazzu and after a couple of hours walk and getting lost due to a map being wrong, we eventually found suitable accommodation that had vacancies and was in a good location. We could finally get down to planning our time in Buenos Aires.

We booked a few trips through the travel agency at the Youth Hostel International, a Tango Show, a Football Match (Racing v's River a Buenos Aires Derby), and polo match (a chance to hobnob with Buenos Aires high society). After which it was time to hit the shops, it took Sue no time at all to start doing what seemed like some serious damage to our budget until we relized how little we were actually spending and with tax free shoping we got quite a large proportion of what we spent back when we left the country. We decided that as we are staying in a 5 star hotel for Christmas (thanks Sam) we had better get some smarter clothes as our current gear probably wouldn't be looked upon favourably.

After this it was time to head back to the hotel to don our new gear for a Tango show which included a 3 course meal. The show was about the history of the theatre where the show was set since its opening in 1904, however the whole show was in spanish and I didn't understand a word of it. A story was unfolding as dancers kept coming on stage and perfoming some pretty impressive dance moves where the legs of each dancer just kept blurring and blending into one another. After the show we headed to a little jazz club round the corner where we sat for another bottle of wine or two before we headed off to the hotel.

The next day it was time to mingle with the high society at the polo match a league match and a semi final (the equivent of the Fa cup semi final in football). We were taken to a restaurant still feeling the after effects of the night before where we given a champagne welcome drink and the national dish Steak with more wine and then more champagne for desert.

We arrived at the match with the first league match all ready started our guide who didn't speak very good English sat us down in our seats and then disapeared for the remainder of the game. Not knowing any of the rules of polo we found it hard to understand as it seemed like a load of men on horse riding round hitting a ball about with the refs blow a whistle every now and again for what seemed like no reason at all. After a while I heard an English voice behind us and decided to ask him for a quick explaination of what was happening. The basic rules of polo are, when a player strikes the ball an invisible line is made between the ball and the player who hit it, no other rider is allowed to ride across this line or a penalty (foul whatever you want to call it) is given. Also every time a goal (if that is what you call it) is scored you change ends, there are 6 periods in a game each lasting 15 minutes which are called chukers (Not sure if the spelling is correct). Each riders have several horses which they seem to fly change (bit of hockey terminalogy there) at will. Just before the end of the game the heavens opened and the game was abandoned, our guide suddenly reappeared and we were escorted to the champagne tent where we sat for an hour waiting for the rain to stop. About 2 small bottles later we were told that the games had been cancelled for the rest of the day and were given a partial refund of our ticket so we headed off back to the hotel for a siesta (or to sleep the bubbley off).

We woke up about 9pm and got ready and headed off for dinner at 11pm (still can't get used to this eating so late) we went to a Buenos Aires 'Super Club' called Opera Bay where it cost 70 peso (14 quid) to get in which included a 3 cousre meal and a bottle of wine, again we were served the national dish 'steak' and about 1am we headed into the club a pretty impressive club with water fountains and 5 rooms of music ranging from house, hip hop cheesey, more hip hop. We had a few more drinks and decided to leave, much to our suprise we found it was 5am and when you looked around the club everyone looked in such a good state even the club looked clean. If that was in England there would have been people falling in the fountains staggering around being sick on the dance floor bottles and glasses everywhere but not here. When we got outside the club there was still a massive que waiting to get in.

Waking up at 1pm the next day and starting to feel the strains of a 24 hour city we headed off to watch Racing v's River, we were given seats in the Family/Tourist section. The crowd was already in the ground an hour before kick off taking it in turns at singing song at each other, I noticed that in each corner of the stadium, firemen were pulling out hoses and moving them along the side of what would be the kop, I asked our guide what they were doing and apprentley when it get hot during the match the firemen switch on the hoses and spray the crowd to cool them down. Judging by the crowd control measures taken, a moat round the pitch, 12 foot high fences topped with barbed wire and nearly as many armed police as fans, I think that the hoses may also be used to control the crowd. Argentinian football does seem to be attack attack attack and not that much defending, saying that the game ended at a score of 1-1. After about another 1/2 hour of chanting and singing after the match everyone went home reasonably happy I think. The River fans (away fans) made so much noise they never shut up from an hour before, all throughout the game and 1/2 an hour after, and unlike football matches in England the home fans are kept in the ground for 1/2 an hour while the away fans are sent home.

The next day, our last full day in Buenos Aires we decided we should do some of the sights this involved a tour round Museo de los Presidentes, which covers the volitile history of Argentinas Presidential reigns, we couldn't go round the actual house as it was closed for re-organisation, but it gave us a good feel for failures and acheivements of their presidents and the love the country has for Evita. We also wanted to visit the museum of Evita but unfortunately it was closed, so after this we headed for La Boca. La Boca is the old port district and the houses here were originally painted with the left over paint from the ship yard leaving the street multi coloured. It is now kept as a tradition that the houses are painted in bright colours. La Boca has a large population of Italian descent and has a lot of pavement cafes with painters and Tango dancers in the street. In parts in it very touristy but has a lively feel, it must have been a very bustling port brimming with life in its hay day.

We had a tour round the Boca staduim which I feel should be renamed the Diego Maradona museum as he features quite a lot, with walls covered with paintings and photos and even T-shirts with the handball goal he scored against us. After I complained to the staff about this they apologised and admitted it wasn't a goal but refused to hand over the world cup to me and iradicate their win from all records. The stadium is pretty compact and steep with most of the capacity being in a standing area, at the bottom of this area you are virtually stood on the touch line. You can can imagine a good atmosphere on game days, but still way behind the likes of top stadiums in the UK.

After a bit of lunch it was off to Cemetery of Recoleta where anybody who is anybody in Argentina is layed to rest. The cemetery in described a city within a city as it has it's own Plaza and the streets are laid out in blocks with the tombs rising on each side giving impression that you are actually walking down an avenue. Some of the tombs have fallen into disrepair but other are very impressive with large marble statues and grand entrance doors (you can't go in tho and not that I wanted to). We seached out Evita's grave (which is the one everyone goes to see) where people still visit and leave flowers daily, with several bunches laid on the steps and tied to the doors. The cemetery has also become the home of several hundred stray cats that can be seen sun bathing on the tombs or prowling the tops of the streets.

We left the hotel early the next day leaving ourselves plenty of time to claim our tax back from the shopping trip before flying to Santiago where we booked our New Years Eve accomadtion and booked tickets to go back to Mendoza in Argentina.

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Photos

Jazz Bar
After show drinks at the Jazz Bar

At the Racing Stadium #2
Crimpling debts, massive finacial constraints with the end result a below average team for the league they're in, resulting in a partially empty stadium. This all sounds familiar doesn't it!!

The Pink House
The Casa Rosada painted pink as a sign of unity when the two main political parties merged (one party was red the other white), not because of Argentina's liberal views of the gay community.

A Typical Boca Street
Multi coloured houses and Tango in the street

Comments

[ronna]

don't cry for me argentina
i know bad joke - anyway 5am nights out - sounds like old times to me - hehehe. hope your having a blast. take care. r.

[afc_campeao]

I'm a British Arsenal fan, but I'm also really interested in Argentine culture and I love the football there too. Racing Club de Avellaneda are my favourite team over there. Great journal entry, I really enjoyed reading it. This comment also made me laugh as it's true, heh. "If that was in England there would have been people falling in the fountains staggering around being sick on the dance floor bottles and glasses everywhere but not here."