BA Baby!!!

Buenos Aires, the city of Football, Tango, Protests and Graffiti!!!

For us it was a place of comings and goings as we used it as a base to travel to Iguassu, Uruguay and Paraguay. All together we spent nearly 2 weeks there and there was plenty to do!! But first we said goodbye to the Dragoman gang…

The time had come for us to leave Amber and the crew and we were soooooooooooooooo ready for it!! Of course we were sad to be leaving the guys who we had spent the last 2 ½ months with. We would miss everyone who we had picked up and left off along the way (wee Jenny and Mike especially), our reliable tent - Daniel Craig, flapping dishes after meals to dry them, our truck jobs - backlocker and pub, cook groups and truck border crossings :o) But we were ready to get off the truck, scrap the schedule and take on the rest of Argentina, Paraguay and Uruguay on our own :o)

Football

Before they all left to head on to Carnival in Rio without us, we all headed to one of the biggest attractions in BA, for locals (Cuscenians??!!) and Gringos alike - the Boca stadium to see Boca Juniors (Maradona’s old team) play!! Al the legend managed to get us all tickets when he arrived up to BA before us and what a match it was!! We started the day off learning a few chants from a die hard fan on the bus on the way out, followed by all you can eat pizza and beer in a pub beside the stadium where there was more chants and singing and we bought our Boca jerseys, then we followed the massive crowd towards the stadium where the fun really began!! Even though the result didn’t go Boca’s way (they lost 4 -1 on the night) you wouldn’t have guessed it from the constant drumming and chanting from the Boca supporters for the whole 90 minutes!! The atmosphere was unreal - there was a band in the stand opposite us and they must have had about 2mins break in the whole match, if a supporter was shouting negative comments at the team all the fans around him would tell him to sshhh as Boca fans believe that you always have to stay positive towards all players no matter how bad the play is. The fans opposite unveiled a huge flag at the beginning of the match which covered one whole terrace of the stadium. Its the fans flag and apparently goes to every match - the Jugador 12 refers to the 12^th player on the Boca team - the fans!! Watching it move back and forth as the fans swayed underneath it was AMAZING!!

I have been at my games in my time and I have never experienced an atmosphere like it - The Boca fans live and breathe football, its running through their veins and its contagious; we were jumping up and down and egging them on when they had any half chance…It will remain in my memory for a long time to come.

Tango
We spent the last night with the Amber crew at a very cool Tango club in BA. You wouldn’t have been able to tell it was a club from the street. There was no signs just a dark doorway leading up a dark stairway into a big dance floor with some seating round the edges! To begin with we just watched the Tango, avoided alcohol as we were soooooo hu

ngover from the previous nights partying in the new hostel and had some dinner!! But after the first lesson was over we decided we should join in so myself and Tom graced the dance floor!! It was pretty basic Tango and id say we kinda got the hang of it but there were soooo many gringos on the dance floor that it was hard not to bump into people and step on toes!! I wouldn’t say we were experts but we would definitely make it to a Strictly Come Dancing Final!!! Then of course seeing Michaela’s obvious talent the hunky male dance teacher took her away from me and danced with her to demonstrate the even more difficult routine!!!! No complaints from Michaela and it was time for my early retirement ;o(

Whilst there we also managed to catch a free Tango show put on by local government to celebrate the Tango festival. The stage was massive and there must have been about 2000 people there, mostly local Argentineans but some had travelled far to see it. There was a live orchestra, singers and obviously the most important people were the professional Tango dancers. Some of the dancers and singers were definitely famous in Argentina as they arrived onto the stage with thunderous applause from the audience!! The old guy sitting beside us was hilarious…he was wearing earphones and obviously listening to the Boca match on the radio - one minute he would be shouting at the radio and the next cheering wildly at the dancers!! A true Argentinean with two equal passions - football and tango!!! The show was amazing and really showed off the best of Argentinean Tango.


Protests
Protests are a daily part of life in the centre of Buenos Aires and they reckon that there are at least 2 or 3 a day!! Many were legitimate marches about various political parties and their agendas however our guide also pointed out that often the people marching didn’t even know what they were protesting about!! Many parties would use local poor people living just outside the city to bump up numbers showing support for their policies!! They would pay for the bus journey and food for the day for these people to come into the city and march and they were more than happy for the day out!!

The Madres de Plaza de Mayo were a small group of mothers and grandmothers who protested every Thursday around a square in the centre of the city urging the government to reveal information that would help them to find their lost children and grandchildren who disappeared during the military coup. They marched around the square wearing white head scarves and holding placards of their lost ones. It was amazing to see such dedication at their age to ensure their children are not forgotten. About 100 have been found since the foundation of the organisation but who knows how many more are still out there. We read a BBC news article just before we left saying that they had won the right to bring two of the military leaders to trial in order to receive justice but more importantly to force them to reveal the information that could lead to them finding their lost children (http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-latin-america-12597738)

Graffiti
Everywhere we went around the city there was graffiti to be seen. It certainly beat some of the graffiti we see at home ‘School sucks or I woz here’ etc. and a lot more creative. Some of it was delivering some important messages and others just brightening up a derelict building in a poor neighbourhood of the city. Some of these guys had real talent as you can see from the photos below. In the past the graffiti was seen as a hindrance and an expense to the local councils to get rid of it. Nowadays there is a completely different perception of graffiti. The locals are quite proud of it and a lot of businesses hire some of these artists to create eye catching pieces to encourage customers to come inside their bars and shops.

What impressed me most about Buenos Aires is that no matter what neighbourhood of the city you visited there was always something going on, asado’s (bbqs) being held in parking lots at weekends, dancers and singers performing on the streets, markets selling anything from art, food, junk and even old music records. It was a great city to just pick an outside terrace in a nice café and people watch (you might even bump into someone you know!! Michaela met one of her students who still called her Miss Duffy!!!!). You can see so much of the European influence in this city but it certainly has developed its own character as well. A city that certainly must be visited.