La Bombanera

Blog entry #3487395, stardate 2345, written by one of the newest Boca Juniors fans in the world! A major highlight of the (short) trip so far - an excursion into the slightly less touristy neighbourhood of "la Boca" (the mouth), to watch the biggest team in Argentina play against last seasons champs (Velez Sarsfeld, also from BsAs). A great trip with some friends, some new friends and a couple of great local guides. Not nearly as scary as I though it would be - the atmospere, spirit, never ending drumming and superb songs made it a spectacular experience and have convinced me that Boca is my new team! Combine all that with a great game with Boca coming from behind to win 3-2, including a world record for the longest headed goal (38m!!!) made it it even better. What a sunday! Some pics are uploaded and have some video that hopefulyl will capture some of the noise and festival atmosphere.

I also discovered that "la Bombanera", as imposing as it sounds, actually means "the chocolate box"... Hmmm!!

Otherwise, was a great weekend meeting up with Steve and Gem - seeing familiar faces in such a foreign place. Friday night was something else for the scrapbook - a steak at the La Cabrera restaurant. A little fancier than what I have become accustomed to so far, but a great place, and when you punish a 800g, perfectly cooked chunk of beef, who can complain! We were there for 3 hours and literally just ate our one course meal. I love this country!!

In fact even me, of all people, thought that some vegetables were required (steaks are served completely on their own!), so I ordered the only option on the menu, some mashed pumpkin, only for the waiter to return 10 minutes later saying they had none left! If thats not karma, then I give up.

The rest of the weekend was good too. Buenos Aires is an amazing city - as good or even better than most cities I have visited in Europe. Spent some time on the weekend in the "fashionable" neighbourhoods enjoying some cold beers, great food and surprisingly sophisticated surroundings (I was the only one walking around in flip flops!!). Each neighbourhood has its own feel and style. I also met with Luz and Luiz (thanks Francesco!) who showed me some of their local neighbourhood. We visited a local Mercado to sample the local thriving second hand scene and an obvious coffee in a local bar. Great to see a city from a local´s perspective. Also enjoyed some more time with Steve and Gem - gathering tips for my trips to Brazil and Peru. Going by their stories, it sounds like I will have a great adventure..

Ironically, I was discussing just that on my first night in Mendoza (wine capital of west Argentina). After arriving to the experience the snow capped Andes appearing from the plane window in splendid evening light, getting on the right bus to town but getting off a 1 hour walk from the hostel, I enjoyed a dinner with some new friends. One of the topics was that everyone I have met so far has a story of things going wrong, missing flights, having no beds, etc. that I explained it was only a matter of time for this to happen to me...

And it did, more will follow in the next installment :-)

Hasta lleugo!!

(p.s. did I mention how great the wine is here? £3 at a restaurant for a bottle of the local malbec, certainly cant go wrong here for a good time!)