Buenos Aires
Trip Start
Jul 21, 2008
1
13
Trip End
Aug 26, 2008
Buenos Aires, Capital Federal District, Argentina
Wednesday, August 20, 2008
Breakfast the next morning was something to behold. The chef cooked our breakfast right there in front of us. Best breakfasts wed had for 5 weeks, would definitely recommend the Rochester Classic for the breakfasts alone. Set off after a good feed for some oif the walking tours in the book that Helen Gibson bought us. Made a slight detour to buy our tickets for Uraguay. Spent most of the rest of Thursday walking and taking in the sights of the microcentre.
Decided to live it up for tea and went to Puerto Madero. The food was some of the best we d ever ever had! Ash´s steak had to be about 8cm thick and cooked to perfection. On the waterfront we sat watching the city lights reflecting on the water eating good food and drinking fine wine.
Friday saw us in Uraguay visiting Colonia, just an hour away from Buenos Aires by hovercraft. The small town is like the land that time forgot and consequently is a Unesco heritage site. Its just little ramshackled buildings and cobbled streets that look out at the sea over whitewashed balconys. It boasts a few tiny museums with about 3 exhibits between them. However it wasnt the museums that we loved it was the peace and tranquility after the hustle and bustle of Buenos Aires. We had an early boat there so we really did have the streets to ourselves till after lunch and we just wandered and watched. It was gorgeous and Ash even managed to find a decomissioned RNLI boat - what are the chances!! Had a gorgeous lunch at the Radisson, again only ones there, on a balcony overlooking the sea and their infinity pool.
Saturday was a bit action packed had planned to spend the day meandering around the shops and sights but plans changed quickly. We had booked for a football game on Sunday but due to it being the biggest game of the season our tour agent couldnt get tickets so we were told at the last minute we were off to a game in Banfield at 12.30.
The football was like nothing wed ever been to before. A 33,000 capacity crowd watched Banfield beat River
2-1. But quite honestly the football, apart from a masterclass in diving, was a complete side show to what went on the stadium!!
Banfield in green took over about 3 quarters of the stadium and River in red were behind one goal. We were in the middle and have since been asked by people in the hotel who are from Argentina what security team did we use at the game.
It was like being in the film Zulu, that is the only way to describe it. The 2 ends of supporters literally roared at each other shook their arms about like wild things and each tem had a 20 strong bass drum ensemble to boot. What was amazing and different was they were as one, their singing there arms waving all as unison. Even more impressive is that they all bounced together it was like watching 33,000 tiggers together.
The intimidation of each other is so great that at the end of the game the home team has to wait for 45minutes, or however long it takes, for the away team to leave the stadium and a mile radius. This was of course all assisted by sully decked out riot police, dogs and horses. The atmosphere was electric, so fascinating were the fans that when the second goal was scored we missed it as the fans were really too busy trading chants and songs that I´m not sure they even ntoiced and the volume didnt change at all. It was all a different league from St James!!
That evening we went to a Tango show. They picked us up from the hotel and took us to the traditional restaurant/theatre. We were a bit worried that the whole thing would be more dressed up than we could handle after 5 weeks of travelling but a couple from Manchester at the football assured us that there was every manner of dress from casual to extremely over the top and they werent wrong.
After dinner we were treated to an hour and a halfs show that told the story of tango from its beginnings. There was much crooning from a few singers but the dancers and instrumentalists were amazing. Tango is a fascinating dance to watch and along with the wine we had a fantastic night.
Sunday is traditionally an antiques day in Buenos Aires so we took ourselves off to San Telmo to mooch around the anitque stalls on the streets and in the markets. They are busy and they vary in quality and price from tat to real high class goods. The atmosphere is brilliant for a Sunday morning, easy going with live tango on the streets. We moved on from there after lunch to La Boca where a more colourful scene of tango exsists. The building and corrogated sheds are technicoloured to match. A real interesting contrast to the money of San Telmo.
We had a brilliant time in Buenos Aires and will definitley be returning to here and Argentina, so much more to see and do!!
