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Published: December 9th 2008
La Puerto Madero
Waiting for the rest of the bike tour to show up with their rentals. Notice Mark´s shirt, this is called un musculada, men don´t wear tshirts here.We had a long weekend, three days, to explore a bit more with bikes. Friday night we walked around, watching los porteños dance the tango in the streets. I can´t remember the name of the street, but it was pretty fun to watching thousands of people dancing the tango on a hot summer night. A very intimidating dance to beginners, but perhaps someday we will learn. I don´t think women are allowed to tango in chacos though...high heels are necessary.
Saturday we met up with a group from school for a city tours, with our own olive green Surly bikes, of course. We biked around the port and the Ecological Reserve, making some adjustments to bike fittings as needed. Very nice, very hot.
Sunday, more biking for us. We braved the streets of Buenos Aires on our bikes to get to a polo match on the other side of town. We heard this was a big game, semi-finals. Fecha 6. It was only $35 pesos to get in. We were most worried about how to safely lock up our bikes. One very helpful person at the ticket counter got us tickets into the security-patrolled parking lot. So while all
of the BMW, Mercedes-Benz drivers were parking their vehicles before the game, we pulled up on two bicycles and locked them to a tree. The security guys were almost as snobby as the polo match crowds, but they manage to crack a smile as we pulled away. The game was not so exciting. We didn´t really know what was happening, who was scoring, etc. But we did know where the hot dog vendor was, and I don´t think that is socially acceptable behavior for a polo game.
After this weekend, I think we are mostly just excited to get out on the rest of the trip. Biking is not pleasant at all. Buses cough up huge, black clouds of smoke as you wait behind them and cars cut you off all of the time. There are some trails, but getting to them is tough without the aforementioned headaches. It´s not bad for a city of 15 million, but we´re looking forward to more relaxed riding.
Our plan for beginning the bike part of the trip: We are buying train tickets to Chascomus (SE of BA) to take our bikes out of here. Then we bike to the Atlantic
A photo with the ball in it!
It was hard to keep track of the ball...so tiny. This is max zoom on the camera too. Can´t you just see all of the fancy-schmancy elite of Beunos Aires with their binoculars, not eating hot dogs (super panchos)? Coast of beaches, just north of Mar del Plata. Then we head south towards Mar del Plata, but skip around the outskirts. We were told that a huge population of Buenos Aires goes to Mar del Plata for the holidays (the last two weeks of December).This whole area is full of lovely beaches, so we will likely take our time. From there, we plan to go to Bahia Blanca, then follow the Rio Negro to Bariloche. Bariloche and that area sounds perfect, as does the whole drainage for the Rio Negro.
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Jordan Divis
non-member comment
Glad to see you two made it down there safe and are having a good time. I like the route you've chosen. You'll be see some sun before getting into the windy and glaciated alpine forests of Bariloche. By the way, I forget to warn you about the cats in the cemetery. They like to eat the fat people that are financially fortunate enough to be laid to rest there.