Lomo y futbol
Trip Start
Nov 01, 2004
1
44
51
Trip End
??? ??, 2006
Buenos Aires,
Argentina
Monday, November 28, 2005
Our hostel is a bit odd. It seems to be run by about eight very inefficient teenage girls. But thereīs cake and great coffee for breakfast every morning so I canīt complain. Once we dropped our heavy bags and had the first shower of the day (BA is a three shower a day kind of place) we headed into the Plaza de Mayo.
These people love to protest. Walking along the three blocks into the Plaza we saw four different protests
BA Protest
. The Presidentīs office, the pink building from which everyone makes speeches, is permanently surrounded by an ugly, black barrier to keep the protesters back. In the center of the Plaza de Mayo we saw the Mothers of the Disappeared. These woman have been protesting here about the disappearance of their children during the dirty wars every Thursday for almost 30 years. And they show no signs of stopping. The day we were there they were launching a new radio station dedicated to their cause.So far weīre getting by with our pocito de castellano. Saying īsiīto every question and smiling is working out ok.
****
Maria eventually got here in one piece so the real sightseeing began. First stop the San Telmo bars. Itīs so nice to be drinking cold beer on the street outside bars in November. Determined to make the most of it we probably drank too much beer. The taxi driver on the way home was very nice and just laughed as we shouted the names of Argentine footballers at him.
The highlight of Buenos Aires has to be the football match between River Plate and Gimnasia
Fans go nuts
. I was a bit apprehensive as we approached the stadium. The gunshots were ringing through the air. I was starting to wish Iīd left the camera back at the hostel when we discovered a shooting range beside the stadium. Phew! From the moment the match started both sets of fans went mad and spent the entire 90 minutes singing at each other. And proper singing too. None of that foul language chanting that Brian likes to do when Manchester United are doing well. Although Iīm not sure what the Spanish for shit, tits and wanker is. Iīll assume it was all good natured. It was roasting hot - BA is in the middle of a heatwave. Everyone has been turning their air con up to full blast with subsequent power shortages hitting the city. So hoses blasted water at the fans to keep them cool. Their flags got soggy but they kept on singing. Their team lost 3-1 but youīd never have guessed from the sound of them.After a few near misses we eventually met up with Harry Quinn who also happens to be in town. Having a Spanish speaker with us for a night was great. Fellow Northies Oli and The Chief were with him. The Chief has been travelling around South America for the last 6 months. He seems to have visited every sight associated with Che Guevara. He is a rising star in Sinn Fein. I didnīt ask too many questions. (So what did you think of Columbia, Chief?)
