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Buenos AiresAug 30, 2008
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| Oh, what a place - it doesn´t feel like South America - but its a pretty cool city. Its basically like a European City - so much style, but at a fraction of the cost. Apparently it was one of the richest cities in the world until the crash of Peso in 2001 and they are just clawing their way back. I think the fallen grandeur kind of adds to the general mystique. So as i mentioned in the email we´ve already done some of the classic touristy things: the futbol and tango. The futbol was amazing. We booked in to go with a tour because the main stadium is not really in a safe area and their is always a risk with the crowds going a bit nuts. The tour involved about 20 tourists with a few security guards. It was an amazingly cold and had been raining all day but that didn´t stop the crowds from streaming in. We found out later that it was actually a final. We were sitting in the bleacher areas (undercover)and initially it seemed pretty normal - the bleachers filled quickly with everyone sitting down, but then it started to get a little crazy because people just kept coming until finally people started shouting to stand up so that more people could fit in. We got to the point where there were so many people crushed in that when the crowd got excited and moved side to side you basically got lifted off your feet and moved just by torso. And let me tell you the crowd got pretty excited! We got some video of it much not sure i can upload it. Anyway it turned out to be a great game with our team Boca tying for 2 all with a goal on the last kick before the timer went - the crowd erupted as this meant Boca won the whole competition. Ben had a fantastic time and was very excited to win a Boca Jersey (which he had been looking at buying earlier in the day but had decided it was too expensive) in a give away by our tour company. You couldn´t wipe the smile off his face and he´s still wearing the jersey days later. We also checked out the tango world cup which was being held here at the moment. Its a truly atheletic style of dancing with some amazing moves - our beginners lesson was not quite so impressive with the moves but was pretty fun. We however decided it might not be for us as you are supposed to look really angry while you´´re dancing and thats a bit hard when you´re having so much fun! We had the most amazing dinner of our lives last night - we found this place that made fresh pasta and it was the most divine thing we have ever tasted. Ben had fresh papadelli that was about an inch wide and i had sorrentinos that are like giant ravioli stuffed with ham and ricotta. I think we probably ruined for italian food forever (it was better than the pasta we had in Italy!) We´ve also been to Buena´s number one tourist attraction - a cemetery for the rich and famous - its a huge cement walled place with security guards in the middle of the richest suburb in Buenos Aires - they have massive marble mausoleums with Statues and all manner of carvings that´s way over the top - we eventually found Evitas tomb and thought it was a bit lacking considering the hype. Overall we wouldn´t rate it so highly as a tourist attraction. Yet again the english tour had been cancelled (as seems to happen to us constantly) and perhaps we would have been more impressed had we been given a bit more insight into the place. |
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