South America Part 17 - Sightseeing in BA

After the previous non-latino time of 5am - we got up at the leisurely latino hour of 11 o'clock. We can get real used to this latino lifestyle.

We left the Big Friendly B&B and headed out of a day of sightseeing around BA on foot to the Presidential Palace. It was a great big "pink" coloured palace (Casa Rosada) where Eva Perón (aka Evita) used to give her speeches to the masses. A lot of the area had been "fenced" off (probably post 9-11) - but the fences didn't look very substantial.

Even though we had left at midday and the fact that it wasn't a Sunday (it was Saturday) - BA felt very sleepy. We also noticed that BA didn't just remind us of Paris - but also of New York with the long flat grid like structure with heaps of apartment buildings and parks.

From the Casa Rosada - we headed in the direction of downtown (where the boco celebrations were a couple of nights ago - ie: the obelisk). We crossed a massive 16 lane road on the way (although we didn't understand why the city needed streets so big when there was about a car per lane stopped at the traffic lights?¡!).

We wandered around until we hit the Congress Building (looked very American in architecture) where we found heaps of graffiti all over the place - especially the "F?¿¡ Bush" slogan everywhere. The graffitti here in BA puts the stuff in Australia to shame - it is either incredibly colourful (with heaps of paintings which span across whole building walls) and a lot of political stuff and stencilling.

Near the Congress Building - we walked thru a park where it had a "dog only" section. It had looked like the rabies was spreading in the dog pen - and a middle aged Argentine man was bearing the brunt of the dogs' attack.

After much walking - we hit the Recoleta - a huge cemetery the size of a city square block. It was filled to the brim of catholic/latin style crypts where most coffins were still visible. Buried deep amongst the labyrinth of gravesites lies Evita's final resting site (after being embalmed and buried in Milan). Her crypt is very modest compared to the rest of the completely over-the-top grave sites with Jesus statues and marble coffins. The elite and aristocracies are (according to LP) still pi$$ed off that she was buried here. The Recoleta was magnificent whilst being very ghoulish.

Right next door to the Recoleta was the "Style Mall" where we browsed around the swanky mall looking at Argentina's version of Ikea. The "Style Mall" got very unstylish when we hit the Hard Rock Cafe - so we made a quick dash out of there.

We headed to a nearby rich-b"tch mall - where everything was even pricier than the mall we went to on our first night in BA (the Galleria). It was 3pm and we needed some lunch - so Ant got a great steak sandwich and I went to Ave Ceasar (first mistake) and ordered a Pollo Napolitina Combo deal (second mistake). After I handed over my paseos to the woman at the cash register - I stood around waiting and didn't see anyone in the kitchen whatsoever. 5 minutes later - some guy appeared in the kitchen and began (slowly) to prepare someone's meal. I then saw him chuck my pollo (chicken) into the deepfryer where it sat for about five minutes. He then put on the saw (3 minutes later) and chucked it into the microwave for 2 minutes...where it sat for another five minutes. They should have named it thermo-nuclear pollo.

We made tracks (after eating some Freddo icecream) to the nearby Gallery of Fine Arts where we were pleasantly surprised by the sizable amount of famous european and american artists (including Monet, Picasso and Pollock to name a few). Also there was a few collections of Argentinean art which weren't too bad either. The gallery also had a small collection of photographs which were trying to emulate several different paintings in the gallery. The best thing about the gallery was - it was free...

Ant (being a trainspotter) had to see the BA central station. It was very french looking but the ceilings looked like they were undergoing some restoration work.

Because I needed to do some more shopping... we made tracks down to Ave Florida - a touristy tacky pedestrian walkway which wouldn't look too out of place at Surfers Paradise. I had tracked down a local record shop and bought a few CDs (new release legit CDs costs about AUD$14 each)...

After walking about 58 kms in the one day - we decided to be slack and catch the subway back home. Only AUD$0.30 a ticket - we couldn't complain.

Back at the B&B - Pedro suggested that we go out and have lots of meat at a nearby restaurant. So we took his advice and made our way there. Upon arrival - there was a line going out the door for tables - but we decided to stay put because it was recommended and if it was this busy - it must be good. And indeed it was. For about AUD$40 for the two of us - we had entrees (empanadas - pastie style meat things), two big steaks for mains (and I mean three times the size of steaks back in Australia), dessert for Ant (couldn't go past chocolate moussé) and not one but two bottles of tinto vino (red wine for you non-spanish speaking lot). I just hope we don't get too fat after this holiday.

The next day - we had another relaxed latino style breakfast (11am) and didn't bother to leave the B&B until midday.

We wandered past the "antique" district of San Telmo (where we are staying) to the nearby Boca stadium. It definitely felt like the wrong side of the tracks and we decided to perhaps pop our digital camera away in the bag and keep it there.

Ant and I got a couple of "Boca" (aka Soccer aka Football aka the World Game) souvenirs including a Boca wrist band and a sticker of Jesus wearing the local soccer colours.

We both checked out the very colourful (and touristy) La Boca. All the casas (houses) have brightly painted corrugated metal roofs and walls. If you ever need a tango fix - then La Boca is definitely your place - with just about every cafe having regular tango shows to appease tourists.

Right next door to La Boca are the completely feral "waters" (and I use the term waters very lightly) of the Raichuelo. I don't think we had seen a slimeier cess pit of stanky mess before. The "river" was of a very dark blackish colour and there was heaps of bubbles rising to the surface - probably made by the "creature of the black lagoon" or something. It also gave off the most revolting smell - a mix of gaseoline and dog food. LP suggests that maybe the locals should mine the river for mercury, lead and heavy metals which might be profitable. Perhaps - they should bottle the water and label it "Mountain Dew".

On our way back from La Boca - we were just happily minding our own business when suddenly a huge explosion rocked the street. What we thought was sporadic gunfire and bomb explosions was actually soccer fans letting loose with firecrackers. Apparently - firecrackers are poorly regulated and very big and dangerous in Argentina...even more so than Canberra (a very hard to believe fact). We decided to make fast tracks out of there. On the topic of explosions and BA - Ant came up with two movie references where BA is destroyed by aliens. One is Starship Troopers - where BA is blown up by giant ants (I tried searching IMDB for a memorable quote but all I could find was this one - Johnny Rico: I'm from Buenos Aires, and I say kill 'em all! ). Also - Ant claims that BA was blown up by the aliens in Independence Day... Not the Paris of the South!

We wandered some more thru the Sunday markets around San Telmo where most shops either have a Ché or Diago Maradona fixation. BA must be the market capital of the world - just about every park or unbusy street seems to have a market going on - no matter what day of the week it is.

We had lunch at a local cafe slash bar slash restaurant and had some cheapo pasta (it is cheaper to eat at a cafe than it is to eat at the food court). We washed it down with some more ice cream...

And now - that is an up-to-the-minute account of our holiday so far. We are about to have a siesta before we hit (with Pedro and Javier) the local discothèque (the "Palacio" to be correct). Adios for now.