It’s our last full day in Buenos Aires and ironically this will be the day Christi and I finally do the city tour. Before we do that, however, there are more chores to complete, including organizing accommodation for some of our upcoming destinations (Rio de Janeiro will be disgustingly expensive), batteries for the UV probe (I haven’t mentioned the probe in a while, but we’re still using it to nuke our drinking water – and we’re still healthy!) and retrieving Christi’s passport from the Brazilian consulate (it’s a disappointingly utilitarian, inelegant visa).
Paula is our guide on this whistle stop tour of the capital. She belts out facts and figures in both Spanish and English without pause. We check off the barrios with frightening speed: Retiro, Palermo, and Recoleta, before finally stopping for 20 minutes at…Plaza de Mayo (we can’t seem to escape this place). Back on the bus we head south towards San Telmo and La Boca, the oldest barrios in Buenos Aires. Prior to the 1870s, Buenos Aires’ elite citizens lived in these neighborhoods, but then came the cholera epidemic and those that could leave (i.e. the rich) moved to Recoleta and Palermo. La Boca is now the poor end of town full of shantytowns. It’s a popular neighborhood to visit among tourists, however, but Paula urges us not to wander too far away as danger awaits the careless traveler. Our first stop is the famous Boca Juniors soccer stadium, La Bombonera. It’s the heartbeat of the city, home team of Diego Maradona, and the most popular team in Argentina. Sadly, there’s no time for stadium tour, so we content ourselves with photographing the street life and wondering whether or not we are in a safe part of the barrio!
It’s only two minutes by bus to the downtown area of La Boca, but is considered far too dangerous to walk. All the fun is centered on Caminito St. Apparently the eclectic painting of the corrugated metal sidings on people’s houses harks back to the 1880s. After sprucing up the ships and barges that carried Argentine beef around the world, it was the practice of the stevedores to use the rest on their houses – and the practice continues today. I spot a playground full of kids playing football and wonder whether Maradona ever played there as a child. I also finally get the chance to watch and photograph some rather hot tango dancers.
At the end of the tour Christi once again calls her mother who sounds much better today, although it remains unclear whether she requires an operation. We end our stay in this captivating city at Café Tortini. It’s stylish, elegant venue and the food (turkey pie plus hot apple pie and ice cream) is right out of mum’s kitchen. It’s de-licious, as Christi would say.
Blog post by Roderick Phillips, author of Weary Heart – a gut-wrenching, heart wrenching, laugh-wrenching story.
Speak Your Mind