The Big BA
Trip Start
Aug 16, 2007
1
38
52
Trip End
Jul 16, 2008
Buenos Aires,
Argentina
Thursday, April 3, 2008
Day 1
Arrived late so didn't do all that much. Checked in to out Hostel which was really good and centrally located then went out and had a big dirty McDonalds.
Day 2
Waited for Paul and Nikki to arrive from Mendoza and had just had a wander round the main shops on Florida street which was near our hotel. First thoughts were that it was very busy and just seemed OK, despite me investing in a new shirt. We noticed the massive Havaiana flip flop shops knocking around so spent a lot of time in them as well as the football shirt shops that seem to be on every street corner
9
. The city doesn't seem as poor as expected, despite the normal level of beggers etc that you find in most big city's and it has a very Barcelona/Paris feel to it, i.e. very european. When Paul and Nikki arrived we got unpacked and showered and went for some Parrilla (in other words a meat fest) in Puerto Madero to a restaurant that was recommended by our hostel. The restaurant can only be described as a vegetarians nightmare. Starting with the cow handles on the doors and ending with the monster meat cooking fest in the centrre of the room. For a little less than a tenner per head you get a full bottle of wine each, access to a quality salad bar and all the meat you can fit in your fat stomachs. Beef, black pudding, lamb, chicken, ribs, pork etc etc. We subsequently went to bed very full, again.
Day 3
This was spent getting over our meat diet. We did more Havaiana shopping and watched the United game but just chilled out really.
Day 4
As Vikki is too lazy to write the blog herself I can't go into detail about what she did as we did our own thing today. Her and Nicki went briefly to Palermo and then to another area and went round some markets etc (I think)
10
. Me and Paul went to watch River Plate Vs Arsenal. The standard of footy was pretty average, I'd say championship standard, but it was the crowd that was the most interesting part. We arranged through the hostel to get picked up and taken to the game for about 25 quid, including ticket, which we thought was OK as we didn't want to go on our own. We arrived at the ground early and met some dude who sorted our tickets out and took us into the ground. There was a section of fans who were seemedf to be the main hooligans in the stand next to ours. They were kind of sat central in the stand and were making the most noise. Then 5 minutes before kick off, a hoard of about 200 fans came steaming into the stand and just started kicking the shit out of the exisitng fans. Everyone in the stand pretty much ran off (you can see in one of the pictures). Then all the other fans in the whole ground start chanting at these nutcases as if they didn't appreciate what they had just done very much. IT was pretty crazy for about 5 minutes after but then calmed down. I was gonna try and film it but bottled it becuase it was getting quite hostile. The game as I said was pretty average, River won 1-0 and we had to leave 10 minutes early due to the prospect of more shennanigans with the fans after the game. I also had the worst hot dog ever.This was a sunday by the way and we went out to meet some friends of Paul and Nicki's. Little did we know that Sunday is the worst possible night to go out in BA so there was bugger all to do and thus the night was pretty average
11
. The only thing we didn't do was have a good night out while we were here which was kind of disappointing for me considering it's a big dance music city.Day 5
Booked bus tickets for Iguazu Falls and went to visit a cemetary whcih was pretty cool (again, check the pics). It's where Evita is buried and some other famous Argetinians. That was about it for the day though due to hangovers galore.
Day 6
Went on a tour of La Boca and the Boca juniors stadium. La Boca was ace, with really colourful buildings and tango dancers in the streets. We did try to walk home though and was advised by some security personal not to walk into a certain area because it was too dangerous so we got the bus. Also visited San Telmo but I think that should be done at weekends when the market is on coz there was nothing there. At the night me and Vik did a Tango evening. It was well good. We had a 45 minutes lesson (nailed it, as you'd expect), follwed by a Tango show and a 3 course dinner with wine etc. We had a really good night, probably one of the best of the trip and I highly recommend it if you come to BA.
12
Day 7
Went to Monserrat which was poo! So left there and went to the trendy part of town, namely Palermo. This was something else that's a must see. Swanky resaurants and bars galore, built stylishly into old buildings, but the best bit was the clothes shopping. ON weekends and bank holidays (which this was), all the citys budding young designers set up shop in the local square and sell there clothes for next to nothing (tenner for a jumper). We pretty much spent about 5 hours walking round the shops and getting Vik some new clobber. We then had a meal and a couple of mojitos and headed back. It was all good!
Day 8
Went to see Puerto Madero again and sat around the waterfront for a bit, then packed and got on a night bus to Iguazu.
What a great city BA is. Thouroughly enjoyed it, both of us. Rio has got a lot to live up to.
