Buenos Aires - Take 2

Day 4 - Evita

The weather wasn't shaping up to great on Saturday morning so we headed back to Palermo in search of the Eva Peron museum. I feel a bit sorry for Juan Peron, who despite being the one who was actually the president and outlining Eva by some two decades doesn't seem to have a museum in his honour and only has one small room dedicated to him in his wife's expansive memorial.

The museum was quite interesting (if not a little one sided) with plenty of audiovisual displays and an extensive collection of artifacts the belonged to Eva and the various social organisations she helped to instigate.


A selection of Evita's dresses

On the way home we went and checked out a couple of other hostels closer to the Spanish school, but they weren't as nice as where we are so we decided to stay put.

When we returned to the hostel the backpack had mysteriously appeared, despite Qantas having told me only a few hours earlier that they still didn't where on the planet it was. But nearly four days late is better than not at all in my mind, I didn't fancy trying to replace all the lightweight camping equipment that we've spent years collecting.

Day 5 - The neverending market and passionate hugs from strangers

Sunday morning we headed for San Telmo market. Spread for what seems like kilometers along a cobbled street vendors sell everything from trash and treasure style items through to fine jewellery, clothing, tacky crap, empanadas, antiques, etc. Needless to say Erin found a number of must have items, and I note that she will soon be in possession of more rings than digits.


Market stretching as far as the eye can see


Street artists perform throughout the length of the street, including mimes, tango dancers, singers and small bands.

Upon returning to the hostel we made a hasty decision to head to the football. It's possible to pay 60USD and be escorted there and back, but seen as we're supposed to be shoestringing we headed downstairs and hopped on a collectivo. On the bus we encountered Tim and Tim from the hostel who were heading the same direction. When all the other football fans flooded of the bus we followed suit and could see La Bombonera (The Chocolate Box) across the way.


Arriving at La Bombonera

La Bombonera is known as one of the most intimidating stadiums in the world due the enthusiasm of the home fans (fans of Boca Juniors) and the atmosphere created by the steep sided stadium. We had planned to get seats in the stand, but Tim (American Tim) who had been to a couple of games in the past said that he had always wanted to get in amongst the fans in 'populares norte', so that's where we headed (we'd prepared for the worst when we left the hostel, so we we're only carrying the bare minimum in possessions).


The view from amongst the crowd

We found our way to the ticket booth and got tickets (30 pesos, about 1/6th of the cost of going through an agency) and promptly got lost amongst the road blocks and diversions leading into the stadium. Finally we joined the right queue and followed everyone else through three ticket checks, two physical searches and a breathalyser test before finally making it into the stand.

From our position in the stadium we watched the Boca fans setting up around us, with long flags going every which direction. About 15 minutes before the game started the bass drum signaled the start of the singing and everyone broke into song accompanied by various brass and percussion instruments. When the game itself started the most important fans (determined somehow I guess) took up there positions on top of the surge barriers, from where they coordinated the singing, clapping and general rowdiness, as well as blocking the view of the stadium for the 10 rows behind them and generally not even looking at the field.

We'd expected that the singing might be reserved for when something special happened, like a goal or someone taking a dive. But we were wrong, the only time the singing stopped was when everyone took a well earned break at half time. Every five or ten minutes the song would change, but they all seemed to have the same theme, many references to living for the team, and having the team close to their chest, how they are the 12th member of the team etc. Apparently if someone takes a dive they chant that they hope it's a compound fracture...


The stand down the left hand side is vertical, the special fans can be seen obscuring everyone's view in the foreground.

Halfway through the first half Boca scored their second goal, at which point I got one of the most passionate embraces of my life from the Boca fan standing in front of me. By the time Boca were four nil up towards the end of the match the fans were in fine form, with the whole stand moving under their feet and with everyone swaying so badly that if Erin hadn't a concrete post to steady herself she might have ended up on the pitch.


The best photo possible at this point in time

After the final whistle blew we along with all the other Boca fans in Populares Norte were detained until the Gimnasia (opposing team) fans could leave the stadium and be escorted onto buses to be whisked away from La Boca as quickly as possible. I gather this precaution is even more relevant when the opposing team hasn't been subject to a four nil drubbing.

When we were finally released from the stand and spat out of the stadium in the tide of exiting fans we headed back into San Telmo for a bite to eat. At 11ish we ordered our meal (I had a tasty and very reasonably priced Rabbit dish) and finished up a bit after midnight, at which point people were still taking seats in the restaurant. BA stays lively well into the night.

Day 6 - Estamos estudiantes

Monday morning we walked 20 minutes across town (and across the 18 lane wide Avenida 9 de Julio) to school. As our Spanish skills differ Erin and I have different teachers, and while Erin learned pleasantries and how to count I tried desperately to remember how to conjugate verbs I haven't used in more than 5 years.


Avenida 9 de Julio

For lunch we ate at the little vegetarian restaurant down the street, Erin was delighted with the possibility of being able to order anything off the menu without fear of a huge slab of meat appearing in front of her. Apparently Argentineans consume on average 70kg of beef per person per year.

In the evening I walked across town to Supermerado Singapur and Supermercado Shanghai in the hope of finding some interesting ingredients for dinner, only to find that they don't stock anything more interesting than the supermarket around the corner from the hotel. We managed to cobble dinner together all the same.

The hostel kindly hosts Tango lessons on the deck once a week. In attendance apart from Erin and I were a German couple (who happened to do a bit of ballroom dancing in Germany) and an Austrian girl who was by herself who paired up with one of the instructors. Needless to say, out of the three couples we were by far the worst. And Erin keeps kindly pointing out the man must lead in Tango, but I was having enough trouble not tripping over my own feet without worrying about which direction Erin's were going. The German bloke kept things light (unintentionally of course) by asking the instructor why in one of the basic steps the woman must cross her legs... "it would be more efficient if she simply kept moving in the same direction"(!!). Even the Austrian girl rolled her eyes, I just wonder what his wife was thinking.

Day 7 - Pasado Imperfecto

I can only assume they were thinking of me when they named that verb tense. This morning we continued with our studies, Erin was introduced to her first few verb conjugations and I was refreshed on a couple of tenses that sadly for English speakers trying to learn Spanish, don't exist in our language.

Quite clearly we spent a considerable part of the rest of today blogging!

Chau...