So first I'm going to start with the old general travel patter... then I'm going to talk about my experience watching Boca Jrs... this way, those not footbally inclined can turn off and stop reading before I get into the grit of the football... So I'm still in BA... I'm trudging along:) ... I've not been that touristy yet, only the football which is a bit of a tourist staple in BA... Tomorrow I'll take a morning bike tour around the city to see all it has to offer in the saftey of a guided group and with the added benifit of exercise, which I need... my belly is growing! ... Not that the city is incredibly dangerous in any sense... I think all the bad stories and then getting my bag nicked have gotten to me a bit... worn me down... and it didn't help that I arrived on a night bus where they wake you at 3am for passport control... I'm a grumpy little sod if I don't get a good nights sleep... on the plus side, the adult cinema isn't 24 hours as I'd been told.... simply noon till 11pm you get the background noise... so its not that bad because I won't usually be in my room at those times... but yes, on top of having my bag stolen, some scabby traveler (and cards on the table, some travelers are true scum... although the crime I will complain about isn't the most haneous!)... anyway, some scabby traveler has stolen my iPod and mp3 play chargers... so I'm not entirely contented in this city... ... After speaking to people who study here it seems that the problem is really locational... the downtown area is just no good, not so fun... but I've made up my mind, I was going to stay in the city until the River Plate game on the 8th but now I've decided to book up a bus and will travel to Sao Paulo tomorrow... a nice 36 hour bus journey but it will get me to near Rio and then, if Sao Paulo isn't all its cracked up to be, I will go to a beach/rural place called Paraty between Sao Paulo and Rio which I've heard a lot of good things about... ... anyway, because I have decided to leave it gave me the energy I need to try and make the most of the city while I am here:)
... Last night I met up with Courtney and Julie who I met in Santiago... they are from the US but study in BA... I met them and we went to something called La Bomba... its a thing thats hip with the kids, where losts of people on a stage play drums and stuff and create this infective beat which draws you in to dance... its really infectious and you can't help but smile or dance (although it seemed that some people there decided they needed some chemical aid to have fun!) ... I danced and sweated away my frustrations at this city... it was really cool... a new lease of life and all that... it was a great night:)
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| The drummers joined by a trumpet fella! |
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... and heres a bit of an example of the beat they dished out to us... this was a relativley boring bit where they built up to a dance-frenzy creschendo... but if I tried to film that it wouldn't make a very good film! ... it was a bit weird when we left the drum show which ended very early by Argentine standards (10pm... people usually don't consider going out 'till midnight... an example of this nocturnal life is the fact that when I woke up this morning to do a bike tour of the city (8am), I saw many people just turning in for the night!)... so outside the drum theater (that closes describes the converted industrial shed thing!) there were more people drumming... they got people dancing in the street... then suddenly they started drumming and walking... on to a couple of buses... it was like an adult, drunken, drummed pied piper type thing... leading these wayward drunken man-children off to some cave somewhere... or maybe just to another club or bar...
... Then today, as I furthered the operation 'mood-recovery' I took a bicycle tour aroud the city... it was like the tour I took around Santiago with Antonio but with one key difference... I paid for this one! ... the girl who guided me showed me that the city really is beautiful and also incredibly rich in some areas... with various polo stadiums and grand parks and an incredible array of professional dog walkers for all those busy rich people, it is amazing that there is also the poverty stricken side of the city as well... but I'm not going to get all communist on you... its just life...
... The bike ride was lovely and it was also nice to stretch my legs and do some exerices... it is becoming unavoidable that I'm developing a roll of fat around the belly area... I need to exercise more... I know I'm not fat my any stretch of the imagination.... but lets face it, every journey starts with a single step!
... I think the Argentinian people don't mix with me well as well... there is something in their nature which antagonises me... or maybe its the other way round? ... the guide showed me their cenataph for the Falklands war (wikipedia it if you don't know what it is... it happened before I was born so I'm not an authority on it... (but I know alot about the 1950 world cup final so I guess when I was born is no excuse... guess I just want to distance myself from it)) ... well anyway, during my guide's description of the war came the lovley sentence, "We started to hate the English, not the British, the English." ... Awkward... So then later in the tour I asked if they still hate the English, she said only when we play at football at rugby... phew... I felt relieved and started to make jokes with her and all was well again... then later again she started saying about how her country didn't get on with Chile and Brazil... I said how it is usual for border countries to hate each other, Wales and Scotland hate England... to which she retorted, the eternal line, "Everyone hates the English. Sorry but its true." ... humpf! ... seems a bit of a sweeping statement really... ... ... before I traveled I thought I was a bit of a 'self-loathing Englishman' but in truth I'm a proud Englishman... I like our traditions, I like our history of pioneering modern culture and I like it when we had a good contribution to a war (e.g. WW2)... I like my country even though I hate some of it... so it actually got to me a bit when she said everyone hates England and the English... ... I have to take her opinion of us with a pinch of salt though as she described Chile as being a people who are too serious and never laugh (they seemed to be constantly laughing in my experience:)... and she said they don't even look latin (so?)... But I didn't dwell on it too much... it was just interesting... I think as much as we've done some terrible things, Argentina might just never be inclined to like us or her neighbours for whatever reason (just a theory)... we cycled, it was sunny, we saw some beautiful places... there was even another one of those ghost-town type cemetaries like the one I visited with Antonio in Santiago... it wasn't so cool though as it was just a place for vulgar shows of wealth... but Eva Peron was buried there and what the girl told me about her makes me think I need to research her history more (and that doesn't mean listen to a certain Madonna song)... The cemetary wasn't as cool as that in Chile because it was just rich people... you didn't have common people in there... you didn't have a common man like Victor Jara in the Argentine cemetary (sorry I forgot the name... look it up if you want to know it:) ... below are pictures from the bike tour:) (you'll notice I'm uploading more and more pictures... I guess it serves me well if my memory cards get nicked again!)...
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| Nice day for an Argy bike ride:) |
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| A role garden... Nan would love it:) |
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| Monument to Eva Peron (Evita)... looks a bit like shes bowling! |
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| Evita's grave/mosuleom |
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| Another grave ghost town |
... Now to the important stuff, FOOTBALL:))) ... So I took in the most famous football destination in South America last night... La Bombanera, the choolate box... Boca Jrs... from the ferrel but apparently beautiful neighbourhood of La Boca in Buenos Aires... its quite a famous team and the stadium is a great place to watch sport... a steep sided stadium squeezed in between the houses of La Boca... On side just a wall of excutive boxes where Diego Maradonna famously watches his team... the team has been struggeling and they were playing Estudientes, the team top of the league and led by the former Man Utd and Chelsea player Veron... it was a toughy... my 100% winning record in the continent was in doubt ... the game had a great atmosphere although it wasn't up to the standard set by Penarol... Boca went 1-0 down but then were all over Estudientes like a rash... the winner went in in the last minute... I some how managed to catch the moment the goal went in... the video is a bit shaky but see the second video below this... it was mental! ... the crowd was pretty good natured, I never felt out of place and it seemed like those around me tolerated my attempts at the traditional South American hand waving and chanting along to their songs with noises instead of words (I sounded a bit like a deaf person chanting)... it was cool but there was alot of faff getting in... there is often trouble in Argentianian games and as recently as a couple of weeks ago a few people died in a game for one of BA's other clubs Velez Sarsfield (Don't worry Mum and Dad... I'm not watching another game in Argentina:) ... but it was super safe because the authorities were extra paranoid... If put town photos below and a couple of videos... as I mentioned, the second video is the goal celebration, the first is just after the team had walked out... a lovely little song (although I'm sure the words arn't all that lovely!)...
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| Welcome to the cholate box |
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| I think all football should be played at night... it just adds something |
Welcome to the Bombanera.....
Did someone score?
... So I should leave now... this post was written over two sessions as is a bit massive... I'll be gone for a bit traveling but I arrive in Sao Paulo on Friday (if I'm lucky I'll get to catch up with Martin who I met, along with David the Irishman, all that time ago in Vietman:)...
Keep well folks... I hope you have your Matt-vent calanders out counting down the days for my return...
Love you all,
Matt the proud Englishman:)
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