Being, like, well old in Costa del Plata
Trip Start
Sep 04, 2008
1
23
33
Trip End
Jan 11, 2009
Mar del Plata,
Central Argentina,
Argentina
Friday, November 21, 2008
Gripe over - I did actually meet up with Gareth, a guy I met in Bariloche. He had to get back to BA to pick up a replacement passport for the one he had stolen. He too went to "Mardel" as a break from BA. Thank God he was there, I think he saved me from a pretty miserable couple of days.
We met at his hostel near Grande Playa to watch the Argentina v Scotland match. He had already be-friended a couple of other English guys, Chris & Graham, and then another terribly English type arrived on the sofa too, "Binx" (I don´t know what his real name is. If I also tell you he went to Bristol uni and plays rugby you get the general impression.) All-round damn good chaps. I think this was the first time I had hung out with an English-only crowd. The hostel telly had colour issues, was totally green - we decided to find a bar to watch the game in.
Mardel has a famed drinking area around Calle Alem, over 40 bars the hostel flier boasts. Maybe because it wasn´t peak season, maybe because Argentina doesn´t seem to go out until 10pm, whatever the reason - Alem was closed. After Googling "Irish pub mar del plata" we found a bar the next block up. Didn´t look open but after pressing our faces to the window we saw it did have four locals in it. So the five of us joined them to watch what remained of what was, frankly, a dull game. Scotland weren´t going to win, a 0-1 score to Argentina was respectable enough, but it would have been more fun to see some more goals, even if it was in Scotland´s net. This was Maradona´s first game as manager of the Argentinian team, you´d think they´d liven it up a bit. Och well. We then went on for a steak dinner, some drinks in a bar. The chaps went on to a club, but as they don´t really get going until 2am, I was already in bed by then.
Met Binx for lunch on Thursday and did some non-beach stuff; the museo del mar with it´s amazing shell collection, shelves and shelves of them! And then the contemporary art museo housed in a massive Swiss looking building. Binx went for a swim in the sea (bbrrrrr) whilst I read my book (Salman Rushdie´s Midnight´s Children) and drank more coffee. We then parted ways, a went back to the hotel, before meeting again for dinner. Back at the hotel I had a roomie! James is fresh out of uni, teaching English in Buenos Aires before he travels for a year or so. I invited him out for dinner too and he found us a great restaurant. We had a late steak supper... again.
James came to Mardel for the tennis, the Davis Cup is on this weekend at the resort. Checking out on Friday revealed that the town was fully booked and heaving for the Cup. Maybe you got a glimpse of the place on the TV? James is a lovely guy, hopefully meet up with him again in BA, but - boy! - did he make me feel old. He asked why I had come away to South America and I told him that after ten years working I thought it was time for a break. "You´ve been working for ten years?! What, are you, like, over 30?" scoffed James. Yes, I told him, I have already seen my 30th birthday. "So is this like a mid-life crisis or something?" *Sigh*
And then I got the bus to Buenos Aires.
