We had a chilled (literally) morning in El Calafate before catching a flight to Buenos Aries. Both Deryn and I lost our pocket knives as we stupidly had them in our hand luggage. 3 hours later and we were in a BA and wearing too many clothes.
We arrived at our boutique hotel (Hostel Boutique – go figure) in the Palermo area. We had a lovely meal in the foody area around Armenia Square. We headed away early the next day to get to the Teatro Colon for a 4 hour guided walking tour. We grabbed a subway card from the hotel and ventured onto the subway system. It was very easy.
The walking tour was brilliant – mostly around the Recoleta and Retiro districts. The guide was incredibly knowledgeable and we got a really good overview of the history of BA. Basically the city didn’t exist before 1880, after which they tried to build a city that copied the best ideas from cities all over the world. Paris was a particular favourite. Even a lot of the trees are from all over Argentina. We also got a very good understanding of the mindset of the Argentines – the guide talked for a while about the Falklands (or Islas Malinas as the locals call them). It bought about the end of the Dirty War military junta in which 30,000 people disappeared or were killed. Our guide also talked about the two terrorist attacks in 1992 and 1994 on Jewish targets which killed a lot of people. No one has claimed responsibility for the attacks – the person conducting the most recent enquiry into the attacks surprisingly killed himself a day before he was going to announce his findings.
The next day we went to hire some bikes only to find the shop had run out of bikes 10 minutes after it opened. Never mind, back into the subway. We headed to the La Boca area – a more grungy area well known for its street art and the world famous Boca Junior football team. We got the subway to the end of the H line (Constitucion)and then walked the 3km into the area. It was certainly a lot poorer than where we had been to date – the locals were also shorter and darker! It was great though and the Estadio Alberto J Armando was amazing. It would be special on a match day. It got a bit touristy in the heart of the area but apart from that it was well worth the visit.
We then headed back underground to go for a walk around the famous Cementerio de la Recoleta, where all rich and famous have their crypts. The size and splendour of some contrasted with the dilapidation of others. Again, well worth a visit.
Enjoying reading about the experiences wise nomads. Keep them coming. Roll on May 3.