The End is Near
Trip Start
Nov 01, 2004
1
50
51
Trip End
??? ??, 2006
Buenos Aires,
Argentina
Friday, December 22, 2006
The food continues to be excellent. And we've been milling the steaks in the knowledge that we won't be able to afford steak for a long time once we go home. The best and funniest dinner so far was our last night out with Maria in the San Telmo area. It was a scruffy little Parrilla full of locals
Admiral Brown - founder of the Argentine Navy
. The guy at the door handing out leaflets looked like the local homeless bum but he could've just as easily been the owner. Inside the tables were so close together everyone's elbows were touching. Being the antique quarter the walls were covered in dusty paintings and rusting mirrors. The problem of air-conditioning was solved by and open garage-style door in the side wall. The waiters all drank wine in between serving tables. The TV was on showing football. At one stage the BBQ chef walked through the restaurant with half an uncooked cow on his slightly dirty shoulder. I looked over at him a few minutes later and he was smoking away as he cooked. The chef, not the cow. Needless to say the food was delicious. As it was Maria's last night we all ordered loads of wine, coffee, desserts, etc and the bill only came to 25 euros. In total.On our last few days we've shopped, visited the gorgeous Tigre Delta and done some detective work. My granddad lived here for a few years when he was young so off we went to find the college and church where he was studied to become a priest (luckily for me and my family he failed his priest exams or something to that effect and came back to Ireland). After about 25 "Ola Senor, donde es eglise de San Gabrial?" we eventually found it. After a quick prayer of thanks that he hadn't become a priest it was back into the centre of Buenos Aires for lots of last minute shopping. There's a bit of a problem in downtown Buenos Aires at the moment with panpipe buskers playing Celine Dion's greatest hits but that can be avoided by not walking down certain parts of Avenida Florida or popping into the nearest gelateria for another icecream. It's also one of those cities where you can dig up a piece of pavement and make a nice pile of rubble. I didn't get around to digging up any pavements myself but did spend a lot of time tripping over piles of rubble
Dogs waiting to be walked
. Everywhere we've gone in Argentina there's been protests of some sort. Our lack of Spanish making it difficult to discover exactly what sort. I've decided to enter into the spirit of things and hold my own protest this Wednesday afternoon in Plaza de Mayo. I'll be protesting about the widespread lack of locks in Argentine toilets. With regards to cleanliness I've no complaints but four weeks of worrying about people walking in on me whilst using the facilities has taken its toll.
After a hard days shopping and protesting there's lots of ways to chill out. I'm very partial to sitting down in a nice cafe and having a submarino: a glass of boiling hot milk into which you drop a submarine-shaped piece of dark chocolate. Or if you fancy something with a kick a jug of Clerico de Vino is perfect - a sort of white wine sangria. Over a jug of Clerico the other night in San Telmo I was wondering why there were no streets or momuments named after Columbus. Every other European punter who can over on a package holiday in the 17th Century seemed to have a city named after them. But I've just found out that his name was actually Crisobel Colon and there is lots of stuff named after him. So my next jug of Clerico will be spent wondering why they changed his name.
We've gate crashed a couple of school Christmas concerts in the last few days but it's not feeling very festive in the heat. Christmas in the southern hemisphere sucks. That's what I keep telling myself as I pack my rucksack for the last time and try not to cry.
