Wednesday, December 7, 2011

Buenos Aires, the first time

After another all night bus we arrived groggy in Argentina´s capital and biggest city, Buenos Aires, home to some 13 million people.  We were some two hours in rush hour traffic getting into town - ah, what good things civilization and progress have brought!  We didn´t have a place lined up to stay so decided to try out a website that one of Elise´s friends had told us to use a web site called http://www.airbnb.com/.  Its a site that lists apartments or rooms for rent by private owners.  I guess its pretty new and we were a little skeptical.  We booked with this one user who had a room for rent and after visiting Eva Peron´s grave and having a beer in the downtown we headed over to Palermo Hollywood to see our digs.  When we arrived I thought at first we were going to stay in a garage.  The owner answered the door, spoke perfect english and showed us into his ´chorizo´ house.  It was gorgeous.  There was no hallway as each room joined another but the house was only one room wide.  He showed us to the spare ´room´ which was really a solid bachelor apartment with table and chairs, queen size bed, sound system, full bathroom, access to a kitchen and an awesome collection of National Geographic magazines ranging from 1980 to 1993 and another group from 2000 to 2003.  I found a picture of one of my Board members in a 1983 article on the world´s polar regions.  Not only was the room itself amazing but our hosts were equally so.  They made us feel right at home, have provided us with invaluable travel destinations and tips and have helped us out whenever asked without being nosy or annoying.  They´ve even invited us to their place in Patagonia in a couple months, some 20 km from the Chilean border right at the bottom of the Andes. 

When we arrived in the country a national election had just taken place re-electing Cristina Kirchner (who is not from BA, but the Patagonian province of Santa Cruz) for a second term.  Our host pointed out some of the hypocrisies he saw such as the promise of minimal wage increased prior to the election to be replaced by subsidy cuts to power and gas afterwards.  There´s also a limit on how much American cash a person can have, a result of inflation, despite the government´s assurances that there is no inflation.  Officially it stands at around 8% but common knowledge pegs it at more like 20%.  We´ve noticed that our 2010 guide´s prices are consistently about 30% too low, sometimes more.  The unofficial exchange rate for the Canadian dollar, the one that most Argentines use, puts the dollar at 4.6 pesos however the official rate, the one the government uses, pegs it at about 4.2.   Whatever, we were there to drink wine experience this great city.

We didn´t really concern ourselves with seeing ´everything´ because we already had a full agenda and decided to enjoy the great neighbourhood and the many cafes, restaurants and bars it offered.  We wound up with a local Irish bar where we´d meet if we split up for a while.  Buenos Aires is definitely the heart of Argentina, whether the rest of the country likes it or not.  Every important organization, international and national alike, have their offices in BA.  First thing we saw Bolivia´s soccer team come to town to play what on paper is a much superior Argentine team in a world cup qualifyer.  We went with our dutch friend Thijs and his student buddies (we´d met Thijs in Sucre studying spanish).  The game ended in a 1-1 tie.  We´ve never heard the word ´puta´ so much in our lives.  Look it up, I´m embarassed to write it.  The atmosphere in the cheap seats was electric, lots of shirtless dudes yelling.  But, unlike home, they weren´t drunk.  No alcohol was served at the games.  This is because of a fear of what can happen when angry fans get drunk and unruly.  There have been deaths in the past.  I thought of the small section of Bolivian supporters and agreed with the decision, especially when Bolivia scored first.  That night we ate so much meat that I have a new definition of ´meat sweats´.

Next day we went to the track to lay some bets on some horses at the Hippodromo - again, no booze was sold (who doesn´t have a beer at the track?) and we lost more than we won.  Number 7 kept letting me down!  That night to a techno music festival known as ´Creamfields´, the biggest of its kind in the continent  with some 50,000 people around.  We again went with Thijs and his friends.  I think the 8 of us were the only ones not on any kind of hard drugs.  It was everywhere - we saw people snorting lines off credit cards on the way there.  We drank instead but the place ran out of beer at around midnight so we just, well, listened to the music.  I´m not a huge fan of this kind of thing but the opportunity to see 50,000 Argentines partying made up for it.  And, in the end, I really had a good time and got to see some of the world´s best DJs, including David Getta from France.  We made it home at 5am.  BA looked like Toronto would at 11pm.  People go out LATE here.  Dinner isn´t usually until 10pm or so.  I don´t like this schedule at all.

We spent the next couple days wondering around, together and on our own, waiting for Elise´s bank card to show up.  I saw the city´s enormous water treatment facilities and also got told to erase some pictures of the port, naval, army and police headquarters from an overzealous young cop.  ¨Delete, delete, delete¨.  Jerk.  He shook my hand later though.  We didn´t learn any Tango (we´ve both got left feet) but we saw some.  I don´t know what all the fuss is about.  Give me the Charleston any day.  We then decided to spend some of the wait in the city of Mendoza.  

Enfin à Buenos Aires! J'avais quelques appréhensions face à la grande ville parce que quelques voyageurs avaient réussie à me foutre la trouille face aux voleurs de caméra et pick'pocket. Bref, je n'était pas si excitée mais nous allions y retrouver notre ami Thijs, voir une partie de soccer et aller danser pour une nuit. C'est là que notre bonne étoile à mis sur notre chemin un des plus intéressant caractère jusqu'à maintenant. Grâce aux bonnes recommandations de mon amie Maude(www.airbnb.com), nous avons déniché une chambre chez ce bonhomme d'une 60aine d'années, parfaitement bilingue, spécialiste de la Patagonie et habitant Palermo Hollywood, un quartier In de la ville. J'y ai vraiment retrouvé des airs de Montréal avec les cafés, les terrasses, les fruiteries et les boulangers des alentours. Nous avons beaucoup marché dans la ville tout en se sentant en parfaite sécurité.J'ai vu la tombe d'Evita, mangé mon premier asado(BBQ argentin) et magasiné dans les rues piétonnières de San Telmo. Nous sommes même allés parier aux courses de chevaux. Bref, notre séjour fut extraordinaire!

Before Creamfields in our apartment./Creamfields, à l'attaque David Guetta!

These horses came first and second.  Good race.  We didn´t bet on either./Bonne course mais pas de chance pour nous.

Typical downtown intersection./Dans le centre de la ville.

The domestic airport is right in the heart of town./Un parc près de l'aéroport qui est enfin aussi près du centre.

1 comment:

  1. I also fell in love with Argentina. It is a dream country because it mixes cosmopolitan city life with rural lifestyle of incredible landscapes. When I travelled there, all I wanted to do was to rent apartments in buenos aires and start exploring the place. The Recoleta Cemetery was what I liked the most: it is open every day of the week and there is no entrance fee!

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