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Arrived in BA after a 21 hour bus journey and booked into the New Milhouse Hostel on Avenida de Mayo which is just off the Avenida 9 de Julio,which has 22 lanes of traffic...crazy trying to get across with a rucksack on your back!!! Just chilled out that day and decided how we were going to spend our week in Buenes Aires.
Day one we went on a walking tour of La Boca neighbourhood home of the famous Boca Juniors football team and Maradona. Its recommended that you do this with a guide as its not the nicest of neighbourhoods to take a wrong turn in. Boca used to be a very prosperous area because of the the port but because of all the foreign boats coming in this brought a different range of illnesses and eventually yellow fever spread and the rich people moved from here to the plush area of Recoleta. Tango also originated here apparently,the visiting sailors would meet up with the local ladies of the night hence why tango dancers dress so provocatively these days! We also did a tour of the Boca Juniors stadium and saw all the shrines they have for Maradona who still has his own bench in the stadium for when he comes to home games. The football season unfortunately wasnt on while we were there...even though after the stories we heard of what the fans are like to visiting teams i dont know if we wanted to be there for a game!!
The next day we went to an estancia (a workng gaucho ranch) about an hour outside of BA.. We went with 2 lovely Englsh girls,Emma and Lisa who we met in Iguazu and ended up sharing a room with for a week in Buenes Aires. It was a great day where we got to ride the horses and we ate in a huge hall where they of course served up the most unbelievable parrilla which is basically everything that you can get from a cow...the filllet,the stomach,the heart, the intestines,need i saw more! Course i stuck to the cow parts i knew and they were perfectly fine! After dinner they put on a typical Argentinian show where they did the tango of course and the local folklore dances that arent as well known as the tango but are said to be around longer and more traditional than the tango. Had a great day overall and went back to BA full of red wine and more memories!
We went to another neighbourhood San Telmo for the market that they hold there every Sunday...it was more an antigues market that anything but fascinating to walk around and see all the silver and the old gramophones...would have loved one but too big for the backpack im afraid! Saw the making of a movie here aswell set in the 20's which was cool! After here we went and saw the Casa Rosada where Evita made her famous speech to her people and we also saw the great Obelisk in the centre of Avenida 9 de Julio. That night we went to the opeara in Teatro Avenida and saw a version of "Il Ritorno D'Ulisse in Patria"...an Italian opera with Spanish subtitles which was a challenging evening for the concentration! Amazing experience though!
We then went to the plush neighbourhood called Recoleta to visit the famous Recoleta cemetry. The people believe here that their houses in death should be just as nice as when they are living...which makes for an interesting walk around the tombs and looking at the elite of Argentina spend thousands on the graves. Quite sad also to see the tombs that no longer have people looking after them and they have been broken into by grave robbers! Recoleta Cemetery also has the grave of Evita or Eva Duarte in her family tomb,people still go there in their throngs to lay flowers at her grave even now. Was quite eerie to walk around but interesting to see and learn about the high society. Got to see Father Fahys grave coming in the gate too so he looked after us!!
One last thing that is a must for anyone going to BA is La Cabrera Restaurant located in the neighbourhood of Palermo Viejo. The nicest place i have been to ever i think! Where else leaves you waiting outside for your table with a non stop flow of champagne and warm slices of chorizo! And that was just the beginning...as you can see from the photos we had the biggest steaks and the nicest Malbec to compliment it. Argentinian steak and gorgeous red wine was the perfect way to end our week in BA!
Buenes Aires Done!!
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