Lying low in La Plata
Trip Start
Jan 16, 2008
1
23
37
Trip End
Jan 01, 2009
Ciudad de la Plata,
Argentina
Friday, May 2, 2008
I know it's been a while since I sent one of these, and thanks to you all of you that reminded me of that too!
So we're in Buenos Aires at the moment and have been here for just over a week. The 43 hour trip over 3 buses from El Calafate was tough but it was worth when we arrived in the outskirts of the city to a place called La Plata, and met by the friendly face of Federico who we'd met in Mexico and Utila all those months ago. It was also worth it for another reason and that being the fact that there was a package waiting for me there that had been sent from home, filled with King Crips, proper tea bags and chocolate. Needless to say we savaged most of them in a few minutes...so a big thank you to Ma McCawley for them
Getting stuck into the care package
!Once settled into Fedé´s apartment we had a look around the city, and found out very quickly that it´s one of the best laid out citys we´ve seen. The place itself was only founded in 1882 and is quite unique in that the whole city was designed by an architect and uses the same plan as Washington for it´s layout. The city´s streets are all numbered instead of named so it´s very easy to find your way around once you have an address. It´s gets interesting when you realise that not only are the streets going vertically and horizontally, but they also have diagonals cutting through them too. So it can get a little dis-orientating when at some junctions there can be 8 possible routes to take. Another clever feature is that after every 6 blocks in any direction there is a plaza or a square, so there are plenty of places to sit and watch the world go by! The city of La Plata is the capital of the District of Buenos Aires, and as such is large and more geared toward the working community than the tourist one. So that´s the cultural lesson out of the way now!!
One of the major bonuses of knowing a local is the the contacts they have, and in Federico´s case, he has a few friends that own very nice restaurants that are way of the beaten track. The places we went to were both unnamed from the outside so there was no way we´d have found them, and they´re certainly not in the Lonely Planet
Federico stokes up the asado
! Both of them however, left us completely stuffed. Certainly the best feeds we had in a good few weeks. Although the town itself isn´t a touristy one, it still manages to have it´s own Irish bar, "Wilkenny", so we introduced Fedé to the world of Guinness in return! One of the many highlights of our stay here was the "asado" or roast that Fedé and his business partner Gabriel held in the garden of their office. For those of you that have witnessed an asado first hand, you will know what I´m talking about when I say that they are one of the biggest collections of meat ever. It´s all cooked in a barrell shaped oven and needless to say, tastes amazing. All this meat comes with lots of bread, chorizo and plenty of red wine! I don´t know how Fedé and Gabriel went back to work that evening because I was only fit for a siesta!
The other big highlight of our stay here was getting to see a Copa Libertadores (South American Champoins League) game between local team Estudiantes and Ecuadorian team Liga. Estudiantes were 2-0 down from the 1st leg so obviosuly needed to score to qualify for the semi finals. The home team also has one Juan Sebastian Veron in the team, which some of you will remember from his Manchester United days. He´s a local boy so is treated as a legend here. He also played very very well, however, despite a 2-1 win, they were knocked out by a 5-4 aggregate score. The atmosphere was incredible in the stadium through out the whole game, with smoke bombs, fireworks and constant singing, even at the end when it was clear that the team would not progress. A great night of entertainment, if a little bit disappointing at the end.
My last personal highlight was getting to appear on local radio station, Radio Estacion Sur 91.7fm
One of the smaller peices!
. Again, this was down to Federico´s contacts and he arranged for me to have a few words on the afternoon slot where they talk about current affairs in the area and through out the Latin American world. As I´d never done anything like this before I was a bit nervous I have to say, but having to do it in Spanish was a little bit more nerve wrecking. I thought I was just going to be talking about Ireland and my trip so far, so I was a little suprised when I had to begin my chat with my views on the current political events in Bolivia....certainly a baptism of fire! It went ok though....I think(!!!) and eventually got to talk about Ireland and traveling etc. So it was a very worthwhile experience overall.The few days in La Plata were definitely packed and we got a lot in, especially in the food department. This was to turn out to be a major blessing as we were about to find out in the other city that doesn´t sleep...Buenos Aires which I will update you all with soon.
Until then, all the best,
Jim,
Ps: A Federico: Muchismas gracias por todo y espermos que podemos hacer lo igual para ti en Irlanda un dia pronto!
Comments
About time..
you posted an update! Love the Barry's tea photo - mam'll get a real kick out of that one. Fede really looked after you. I hope he's going to make a trip to Ireland for some McCawley hospitality.