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| La Boca on the day tour |
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| In the Emirates lounge in Johannesburg |
I am traveling again. This time I am in Argentina and will be going to Brazil after a week in Argentina. As normal, I flew with Emirates, which means an 8 hour flight if I flew SAA from Johannesburg to Buenos Aires became a much, much longer trip (about 24 hours long!) The flights, believe it or not, cost more or less the same, but the service on Emirates, and might I say, the servicing of the planes by Emirates, is just so much better than SAA. So, I would rather spends hours on Emirates then fly SAA.
I am staying in Espacia Suites hotel in BA. This is a nice hotel with a good continental breakfast. Nice fresh cut fruit and a variety of breads, honey, cheese, ham, and Delche de Lechi (for those who do not speak Spanish - me included - this means "Sweet milk", or as we know it, caramel!) The area I am in is not really in a major tourist area. As I found out later, the hotel is in walking distance of the office were I was working for the week. Not being in a tourist area can be quite a bit of fun, as the local eateries do not really speak much English, and my Spanish is pretty much limited to being able to order a beer. But with smiles and good will on both sides, one can get by! At least I can get a beer! I can also order meat, so what more do you need - beer and meat - the perfect meal.
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| BA looks a lot like Paris. |
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| Messi - the star of Argentina |
So, I planned my trip to arrive on Saturday, after the very long flights on Emirates, so that I could spend Sunday resting and getting ready for the work part of the trip. My flight from Dubai to BA, with a stop over in Rio was quite empty, so I was fairly rested when I got here. After a good nights sleep, and after I had woken up, I decided to have a look at the tour options and found an afternoon city tour. I booked this with Viator (
www.viator.com). They seem to be pretty good. I have also booked a few things through them for the Brazil part of the trip. So I booked an afternoon tour.
Shortly after booking my tour, I had a phone call telling me that I needed to get to a hotel in a tourist area. I had to take a taxis to get to a pick up point. As I mentioned, my hotel is a bit our of the tourist areas. So this was also "fun". Again, not much in the way of English by the taxis drivers, but I had written the names down of the point I needed to be. So, I got to the pick up point for the tour and, much more importantly, I made it back to my hotel after the tour!
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| Getting ready for the big match |
I did a half day city tour of BA. The tour guide was great and very informative. We had other pick ups in the up-market area around the old docks area. This was also very interesting. The most expensive hotel in BA in now in this area and in a converted warehouse. After getting everyone on board, the tour started. Firstly, through the old district where the Tango was started. The shady history of the dance was explained and how the Pope, decided it was not a sin to dance the dance the tango. The Tango is no longer a dance performed with the main aim of getting men to visit the houses of ill repute and is now regarded, and rightly so, as an amazing art form (all thanks to the pope!). On Sundays, there is a massive street market in the streets of the old city. The streets are closed for many blocks and apparently you can buy just about anything at these markets. Would probably be an interesting place to spend a few hours if you are in BA on a Sunday.
The next stop was the poor working class region of La Boca. This was, and still is, pretty much a slum area for the very poor. It is also the home to one of Argentina's best football teams, Boca juniors, and on this day, they had a home game in the evening. Things were starting to liven up around the stadium. There is a beautiful area, showing how the old tenement houses were built. According to the stories, the houses were built from leftover material, and any colour paint which could be found was used to paint the houses. The end result, a very colourful area. This being match day, the bars were also full and very lively. A great vibe at the area.I will need to continue with the trip in the next post!
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| Inside a museum to the tenement buildings |
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