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The airport argument
I´m sorry we have no Pie. ¡¿WHAT NO PIE?! ARGGGGGGGGGHere at last. But as the cliche goes getting here really was half the fun. Immediately after writing the last blog I managed to move its´ web address by accident, which took several hours to fix. Ian soon equalized however when we set of to buy the last of our kit (non essentials- sleeping bags, stove, etc), and, when we stopped of at Milton Keynes to buy the first few things locked his keys and phone in the car. "Don´t panic David" (Me) was ready with the simple suggestion that we smash a window but Ian was less keen. We went to lunch and he was able to distract my love of breaking things with my love of pizza long enough to phone around and get the number of someone who could open the car for us. It did however leave about an hour to get to the next town to buy about half our kit for a three month exped.
We set off to the airport about 2:00 in the morning (without having slept) and arriving got our last snapshot of British people before the Argentines. There was one group off on a hen party sporting particularly tasteful T-shirts and
Looking for Steak
We thought this looked like a nice small family place laughing far to loudly for such a small space (i.e. an airport), a bunch of public shoolgirls off on a world challenge expedition to Peru (Ian investigated) who had started as they meant to go on, with several bottles of vodka. There was another group off to Costa Rica who were slightly more reserved and also slightly out of it (We would draw particular attention to the fact they were going on a trekking expedition with only suitcases).
Arriving in Madrid where we split from these delightful specimines we had our first encounter with the Argentine. The plane was delayed for half an hour which a chap came out to announce to the crowd. Since the chief mechanic was obviously the same peron who came to announce delays half the crowd decided to go and inform him rather vigourously of what a bad job he was doing and for a few bemused moments Ian and I feared for his safety. Our next action was to photography the scene, which distracted the announcer who came over to (we think) tell us we weren´t allowed to photograph him (terrorist threat perhaps?). Luckily the crowd, now fully charged, interceeded on our behalf which
San Telmo
A random church there are so many in this style distracted him long enough for us to take a video. When the plane was fixed there was applause, when the pilot announced mid flight that Argentina had scored there was cheering and more applause. The news that Argentina actualy lost in the end was not fowarded, probably due to the fear that the ensuing riot would down the plane. We managed to keep ourselves entertained but improvising on the conversations around us - usualy on the theme of pie, and also by my invention of a game called Armpits of Fire (Clarification on request).
We argued our way through customs since, contray to the law in Argentina we had no place to stay, and had thus managed the rather smart trick of commiting our first crime instantly on arrival. We also had no currency, but had solved both by the time we left the airport and by coincidence ended up in a hostel a friend who was in South America last year had recommended. Once again I was wrought with internal conflict as my desire for sleep after 46 hours battled with my desire for a big steak. We went for steak. 5am UK time, and, contrary to Ians opinion,
La Boca
A colourfull house. Typical uttery worth it, even if I did end up only getting chicken. And then there was sleep. - David
Firstly one thing that David missed out is the hilarous fact that he got stopped in Heathrow customs and was rigorously searched for at least 15 minutes. I´m pretty sure he loved it though.
After a much needed nights sleep in the hostel we awoke for our first day in Buenos. After the free breakfast we decided that the the time was near due head to an English pub after 12 hours in Argentina. However after the epic walk from the hostel we managed to find a closed pub and with our normally high alcohol level withering away we cried out in silent dispair, the question also arose - where would we see the Kevball, as David calls it (Football to most people). The answer a small typically Arentinian restraunt with a very large typically Argentinian propieter, the perfect place to drum up support for the England team. We watched with growing dimay as England failed to score and then lost in typicall English fashion on penalties. This however appeased the now large crowd watching since apparently they are not
Steak at last
About three pounds worth. 20p an ounce fans of England for some reason. Swine.
After a great little Spanglish chat with some locals we headed into San Telmo a diffent Barisso (region of the city), after our new friends kissed us good by (bit familiar?). This was a really pretty little area of the city with cobbled streets and hundreds of small antiques shops that sold everything that you could ever not need to go traveling. We stopped in a small square just as a couple stopped doing a tango show we waited to see the next viewing but it never came and much dismayed we headed on through the cobbled streets scenicly littered with churches and shops.
We decided to walk on down to La Boca another Barisso, which is a very local area generaly apart from a tiny area next to the harbour. However to get to this tiny part from where we were we needed to walk through the locals area (Something the guide book expresly said not to do - the Boca is a notorously rough area). Here the difference in upkeep and building quality was incredible compared to San Telemo but it was good to see part of the real, or at
The Tango
This was good, but Dave and I are much better, we just don´t like to show off. leat the locals Buenos. One major difference noticed is the fact that there are hundreds of stray dogs that do their buisness all over the pavement so it´s like an obstical course trying to avoid it. We passed through a few neighbourhoods that felt a little unsafe but kept on to the mecca that is the Boca Juniors stadium a monster that could be seen from many sourrounding blocks. The stadium itself was quite grotty and looked a little run down to match the surrounding area. From here we walked to the colourful part of Le Boca which is very pretty and very touristy, but it´s only a very small part and takes a couple of minutes to walk around. By now we were feeling particually hungry and so decided to head back up towards the main city, and it was here that David managed to scrape away a large amount of skin from his foot on a metal grate as he was only in fipflops, this looked alot more painfull than he ever let on (Oh Ian you shouldn´t. My steel caped boots, which had caused such problems in Heathrow, being safely in our room. - David). We made the long walk up to a main resteraunt area in the city and found a place that did some amazing steaks for only a couple of pounds. Fantastic.
After dinner we headed to a tango show in one of BA´s more exclusive cafes, Cafe Tortoni. There is definally a huge coffie house culture as there a litteraly hundreds of them scattered all over the city. On the way here we were reminded of some of the dangers of the city as a young girl came up to us, asked Dave for the time, and then brashly tryed to pick pocket him unsucssefully. She then turned and fled down the street under the back of Davids hand. Little Urchin. The Tango show was good however we couldn´t undertand the spoken story line, but the language of dance is universal - something we intent to prove whenever possible. A particularlly good bit of the show that we didn´t expect is when one man started to drum on a, bongo, type drum. Then he started tap dancing tango at the same time, the drum was then dicarded in favour of small poi which he mangaged to click against the ground at an amazing speed whilst still keeping a great rythme. Really great.
Very shattered we came back to the hostel and I took on my medics role by cleaning up and dressing Daves foot which was disgusting. Then we both hit the sack still suffering from a bit of jetlag, sleep deprevation and having walked miles in one day arond a bustling city.
Both David and I have already said that we long to be out in the open air already to experiance the countrys´ diverse natural landscape. But first a flight or bus to Rio may also be in order as it´s meant to be well worth it. - Ian
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Jane Mayhew
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Hi guys, great to hear you arrived safely. We had a great weekend with the Romaines and the Bucks...non stop party all weekend even after getting up early and seeing dawn break for the second time in a week to take you to airport. Its really hot here so we are all cooking, need a nice big pool to chill out in. Take care, mum x