Long Hike through the north-eastern part of Bs.As.

Last Saturday I decided to explore the ‘La Boca‘ district and, if there was some time left, as well the little harbor Puerto Madero with its shopping area and its cafés. So I took the subte C to Constitución, terminus of that line at around 11am. I hoped to enjoy the Plaza Constitución but that was not the case. It was more likely a battlefield ‘cos they were rebuilding it. Therefore there were no trees, no paths, no green, but a lot of holes and hills.

 I looked around to see what’s close to visit. But there wasn’t very much - just a church. I went to the southwest heading for the Parque Lezama at the end of the district San Telmo. But to get there I had to undercross a freeway. This area was not one of the best! Grey, lonely and forlorn. After a while I got to a shop that sells fresh self-made noodles.

Arriving at the Parque Lezama I saw the first loros. I decided to head for the only building in this park to see what it is. It was the Museo Histórico Nacional. The entrance is free so I went in. At every corner there was security. I came to the first room. I asked the security guard if it was possible to take pictures and he answered it in the affirmative, but only without flash. I wanted to take a picture of a reconstruction of the bedroom of San Martín. He turned up the light that I could take a better picture. He looked over my shoulder and pointed out the sign of the exhibit to me. I told him that I got it in the picture I showed it to him. He was surprised about the quality of my digicam. When I went on he followed me and asked me for the camera model. We talked quite a lot about the camera, what I’m doing in Buenos Aires and about the exhibits. It didn’t take me much time to see everything ‘cos it was a small museum.

After that I enjoyed the awesome weather in the park watching the loros how they were stealing the bred crumbs out of the pigeon’s beaks. There were also some little poor girls roaming around.

After getting some sun and taking some nice pics headed for the stadium bowl of La Boca entering this district for the first time. I could see the soccer stadium only from outside. It is the home of one of the world’s most famous soccer teams: Club Atlético Boca Juniors (CABJ) with its traditional colors blue and yellow. Right at the stadium there were the Museo de Quique and some fan stores, as well in the Boca colors. From now on the traditional La Boca district started with its colorful houses.

And then, finally, I got to the famous Caminito Street and the place where all the fancy souvenir shops and restaurants with their Tango shows are. Now it’s all about Tango and a competition of the most colorful house. I had some beef with some Tango music and show at the La Barrica.

After this bite I wanted to sniff some harbor air. The water was more than dirty. There was some tar or oil swimming in it. No wonder that the turtle I spotted was saving itself on some floating garbage. I wanted to follow the harbor to get to Puerto Madero but a police officer told me not to due to the bad milieu following. Therefore I had to make my way through the whole district.

Half through San Telmo there were some places that were beyond good and evil. Car wrecks at the roadside, holes that almost cave in, and there were two buses passing me: one with some guys hanging out the windows and shouting loudly, and another that looked like coming just out of a Brazilian slum or Bagdad. It was completely empty except for the weird looking bus driver. The bus had some holes in the windows and the bodywork (like from flying stones or bullets) and inside everything was dirty and ragged. Some windows and seats were missing. At one crossroad there were two guys cleaning the windows of the cars waiting at red light to earn some money. I didn’t see, what they did (wrong) but suddenly they ran towards me and passing me followed by two other guys (one with a wooden cudgel) leaving their car. When those two wanted to return to their car the other two guys came back with big stones throwing them at the other two. They were chasing each other for a few minutes while the traffic at this lane had to wait. It was some nice action… and me almost in the focus of it . At the end the bad guys went off. Nobody was hurt. 

Fortunately I made it to Puerto Madero. There you could find a lot of people with red T-shirts and yellow writing on it. There were just coming from the 10K (10km-run). All the cafés were full of guests enjoying some snack and refreshment at sundown. I went all through Puerto Madero and then back to home. At the end I walked more than ten kilometers in about seven hours. It was a nice and adventurous day! But my feet needed some big vacations now!

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On Monday, I went for the first time to the free Salsa class in Belgrano. The teacher is a small and funny guy from Central America, I guess. There were a lot of old ladies (around 60/70 years) but it was a very amusing group. I was introduced to everybody and they all learned my name really fast. I become integrated into this group immediately. There were only Argentinians. We learned all the different basic steps and a little choreo before he taught us two nice and complex figures. I had the chance to talk a lot of Spanish. The course was a lot of fun!

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btw: when people want to use the ATM and they have to wait until it’s their turn, they do so outside by lining up in front of the bank.

Loros & new concert tickets

Yesterday I came back from university when I saw a hustle and bustle of green-yellow loros in front of my apartments building at Plaza Lavalle. There were about ten of them flying around - from one palm tree to another. I hope next time I’ll have my good camera with me to take a good shot of them. These loros are called cotorras argentinas [lat: Myiopsitta Monachus]. They are making quite a noise.

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Today, at the Ticketek at Centro Cultural Recoleta, Tina and I bought tickets for the ‘Pepsi Music 09‘ concert, one of the most important concerts in the year. We got tickets for one of the two national concert days. There are 15 national bands playing that day: Calle 13, Catupecu Machu, Vincentico, Misterio, Los Autenticos Decadentes, Los Tipitos, Gogol Bordello, Cultura Profética, The Ting Tings, Maximo Park, Karamelo Santo, Dante, Dr. Krápula, Zoe, Mamá Pulpa. At one of the international concert days ‘Die Toten Hosen’ are playing. They are quite famous here. The concerts will be in the Club Ciudad de Buenos Aires. It holds 30,000 spectators.

We enjoyed a bit the very nice weather in front of the Hard Rock Café with a nice view overlooking the Plaza Francia and the Plaza Intendente Torcuato de Alvear. There we saw a couple of cotorras argentinas flying over our heads.  

I wanted to buy a ticket for Jason Mraz concert as well but all the cheap tickets are already sold out. There are only the most expensive tickets left which cost three times more. Therefore just one concert. It is better for the wallet anyway.

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Next weekend I need to go to Colonia (Uruguay) to extend my tourist visa for another 90 days. There are two different boats. The faster boat needs 75 minutes to cross the Rio de la Plata. I hope there will be good weather to enjoy the day trip! I’ll finally have the chance to eat some good fish. In Bs.As. they only have filete de merluza (hake fillet) in supermarkets and restaurants. My professor recommended chivito uruguayo, a special Uruguayan meat dish, to me. We’ll see!

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btw: paper napkins in restaurants and bars are usually hard like baking parchment; therefore absolutely useless