Buenos Aires Part 2!

Our full week in BA started with daily Spanish classes for Suzy and time for Mark to study and look at jobs etc. I met with a private Spanish teacher at a local cafe for 3 hours a day.  María has a Masters in Language Studies and I enjoyed the chance to practice past tense verbs and pronouns.  Language is like a key to a big beautiful house that's filled with culture and people and right now I'm still peaking through the door, watching everyone have fun on the inside.  Unfortunately, I forgot to get a photo with her.

I like this interesting ad that shows the Argentinean love affair with Fernet (like Jager) and Cola

We've also spent mornings running around Palermo or chatting with the Belgium cousins also staying at our AirBnB.  On Tuesday, we toured the famous Recoleta cementario. The free tour made the tombs come alive so to speak.  Recoleta is actually quite small since it was founded in 1820 (less people living and dying back then) and now is famous for its eternal guests which include past presidents, artists, wealthy porteños and the most famous resident of all, Evita Peron.

'Requiescat in pace' is Latin for Rest in Peace

Cemeteries are the best places to play with the B&W camera features

The top sculpture is an angel pointing heavenward to direct the women leaving the casket.

Eternal resting in Recoleta is very expensive which is weird since many tombs are in such disarray like this one.  Little caskets are sad too.

The tomb below shows the sculpture of a 19 year old woman named Rufina who collapsed suddenly in 1902.  Her devastated family buried her here but when the caretakers went in after the funeral, they found the casket had moved.  Fearing graverobbers, her family ordered it to be opened and they found scratch marks on the inside.  Apparently, she suffered from 'catelepsy' and woke up later only to die of suffocation.  I read it could be an urban legend (though supposedly people buried in caskets after this were buried with a little bell just in case) but this tomb and casket are one of the most beautiful in the cemeterery.  

Another sad story involves 26-year old Liliana who died in an avalanche in Austria on her honeymoon in 1970.  The same day, her childhood dog Sabu died in Argentina.  Her devastated father elicited this piece that shows her on her wedding day with her childhood dog and wrote a very sad poem in Italian which is written on a plaque (translated here).

The story of Evita Peron's body is seriously just crazy. Here's the quick summary (more here):  She died in 1952 and was embalmed.  Husband/President Juan Peron was kicked out by a coup in 1955.  Her body was taken to Italy in 1957 and buried in Milan under a false name (since the coup leaders didn't like the Perons).  It was exhumed and flown to Spain in 1971 where Peron and his new wife Isabel were living in exile.  It was returned to BA in 1974 and briefly was on display (when Peron was re-elected as President).  She was finally buried in Recoleta in 1976 with her sister and her husband who was wealthy (aka- that's why they had a spot in Recoleta, not because of her notoriety). Her casket is 17 feet underground and fortified like a nuclear bunker.  

Seriously, this is a tomb complete with a huge cupola and sitting area!  In the basement, there is room for up to 40 coffins.  These spaces at Recoleta are very expensive and require annual payments from the families.  If the payments stop, the coffins are moved to another cementery and the spot is re-sold.

After the cemetery, we caught an Argentinean documentary at the renowned BIFICI (international film fest) about Tita Merello, a crass and funny singer/actress whose career spanned 6 decades until her death at age 98 in 2002.  I only wish we had more time to see others like the renowned 'A Schoolgirl's Diary' from North Korea.

We also had so many delicious and lovely evenings with family friends. María and Eduardo meet up with Mark's parents Dale and Astrid every October in Fort Lauderdale, Florida. On Monday, they were so kind to pick up up and drive by some interesting parts of the city like the Polo fields and the beautiful US Embassy building.  We then enjoyed a relaxing dinner with delicious local Malbec wine at their beautiful apartment in the newer part of town. 

On Tuesday, they picked us up again to head to Sergio and Carolina's apartment. They are another couple who travel to Florida every year too. Sergio is a surgeon and an asado (BBQ) master.  We arrived to a flaming grill filled with many different kids of meats and vegetables. Their kids speak excellent English so we had a fun evening of Spanglish and delicious food.

Sergio, the 'asado-master'!

Their apartment has a wonderful BBQ spot in the backyard, complete with the big grill!

Enjoying a delicious meal with new friends!

On Wednesday, the brother of Xavier and also a friend of Mark's Breck coworker Eric, Gustavo, picked us up for dinner as well. I think you see now how amazingly kind, welcoming and generous Argentinians are! Gus is a colonel in the Army (their other brother was AF so all the brothers served long military careers). It was a wonderful evening! With his wife Lili, we enjoyed a delicious parillada (mixed grill) of chorizo (sausage), morcilla (blood sausage) and chulines (intestine).  Yes, intestine.  Mark was very kind to finish the many items off my plate that I just couldn't but nonetheless, I greatly enjoyed this very authentic dining experience!

Closed door dining is also really popular in BA. Chefs welcome you in to their home for an intimate dining experience. We thought this would be fun but compromised on the cheap vegetarian option in San Telmo. Turns out one of the chefs is from Colorado and has lived here for 5 years. Her partner from Costa Rica and her dished up delicious Costa Rican inspired dishes like mushroom soup and potato tacos. We finished with fruit and homemade chocolate and enjoyed conversations with people from the US, Israel, Australia and even two locals who come every week because they love it.  Funnily enough, as we walked away, Mark decided he was still hungry and so we found a local brewery and chicken wings.  

The next day we spent walking around San Telmo and Centro to see the Casa Rosada by night.

 We also swung by the magnificent Teatro Colon, which we would tour the following day. It is considered one of the world's great theaters.

A fire juggler in front of Teatro Colon who told us that he works as a baker during the day.

We also had another great evening with Maria, Eduardo, Sergio and Carolina and ended up drinking vino and talking until almost 3 in the morning!  As we walked home, the clubs were just getting busy but alas, my party all night days are over.  This truly is a city that never sleeps!  

On Saturday, we visited two local markets.  They are huge here and I really wonder if the venders actually sell anything.  Many of the items were very artistic, hand-made and creative but alas, I couldn't buy it all.

After seeing SOO much street art (and graffiti), I finally saw someone in the act!  Looks like he was covering old tags with a cool colorful design.

While Mark dined, I visited the Evita Museum because it's hard not to be captivated by the history Evita, her husband and Argentina in the mid-1900's.  The museum is in a beautiful old mansion that the Eva Duarte de Peron Social Aid Foundation purchased in 1948 and it served as a home for poor and transitioning women until 1955 when the coup expropriated the Foundation's assets.  Her life, work and death were detailed in pictures, video and artifacts. I may have to actually see that Madonna movie when we're back now!

Wedding photos and a very interesting quote.

"I am the wife of the President of the Argentine people, but presidencies expire and in the end history does not remember a simple marriage bond, but rather an unselfish heart and an upright conscience." (1947).  She was absolutely correct.   

Evita also opened an Escuela de Enfermeras (nursing school)

The main hall where the sheltered women joined together

The mansion is once again 'home to Evita'

President Roca wasn't likeed by the indigenous population so they successfull petitioned to have Evita grace the new 100 peso bills!  The old still work of course but its interesting to have two different ones.

We also met up with Christy, our wine guru friend from Mendoza and Santa Cruz.  It's been a lot of fun to meet up with other travelers along the way.  I especially applaud solo women travelers and we've met many (Fio, Ravina, Fio, etc).  While I've traveled on my own in Europe and Asia, South America could be a little riskier at times and I felt those concerns as I walked cautiously back a few blocks alone in a shady shopping area at night to meet back up with Mark after saying good-bye to Christy.  I'm grateful for my travel buddy but still love that so many women travelers don't let the lack of a travel buddy get in the way of seeing the world!

Mark's Minutes: Boca Juniors Game!

"La Mitad Más Uno (Half Plus One)”, a popular motto of the Boca Juniors football club means that more than half of Argentinian soccer fans will always root for Boca, instead of other local teams. It is a proud slogan and Suzy and I decided to see their skill first-hand. 

Luckily we had mentioned to our friend Xavier in Mendoza that we were planning to see a Boca game. He himself is a fanatico (fan) of Boca Juniors and promised to get us in touch with his son, who could get us tickets. Boca game tickets sell out at the beginning of the season and most tickets come in form of season passes that are passed down from generation to generation within the family. To our excitement, while we were in Uruguay, we got news that we could get tickets for the Copa Libertadores game just a few days away. Even better Xavier let us know that he would attend the game with us. So we rushed back from Uruguay via boat and checked into our standard six-bed dormitory. Maybe the excitement for the game made Suzy seasick. We will never know, but exciting it certainly was.

After hunting down discounted jerseys from last year, we met Xavier, his son Martin, and their friend Victoria in front of Hotel Republica and drove in Xavier's Argentinian Air Force pickup truck to the game which is located in the La Boca barrio.  I can't lie; driving around in an official government vehicle in a foreign country is more fun than sitting in a cab. We made it to the match with plenty of time to watch the stadium slowly fill up. 

The ultra fans had arrived well before us and were already chanting their battle hymns and swinging their banners.

The challenging team was Club Deportivo Palestino de Chile. The team originates from Palestinian immigrants who founded one of Chile's most prestigious social and athletic clubs in Santiago. Today Santiago has the largest Palestinian community outside of the Middle East. And in the first half of the game they proved to be a tough opponent to the local team. We could see the local Boca fans bite their nails over some bad passing and miss-communication among the players. Boca had already qualified for the next round of the Copa Libertadores, but the Chilean team needed to win to advance. Subsequently they had the better chances in the first half but no goals.

In the second half Boca showed more strength and created a lot more chances, which eventually resulted in two goals, one that was during the last moments of extra time. Due to the hard-fought win the home crowd left the stadium even more ecstatic than they had arrived. The visiting fans buried their heads in disbelief that their team had just gotten eliminated from the tournament. All throughout the game, Suzy and I danced and jumped along to the chants of the fans. We figured that learning to sing the songs for the next game would make for a fun way to learn Spanish... the insults and cuss words at least.

On the way home we each grabbed Argentinian style chorizo sausages on a bun, drove home, and shared a refreshment with the other hostel travelers to celebrate Boca's victory.

How to get Boca tickets: At the hostel (Puerto Limon Hostel) tickets were being sold for 1000 Pesos. Organized tours through Landing Pad BA run you US$ 135. Be careful: we heard that false tickets are being sold around the stadium.

Road trip! Exploring the Uruguayan coast

The beautiful sand dunes and coastline of Cabo Polonio

With a quick visit to the Alamo rental agency at the main bus station, we were off to explore the Uruguayan coastline.  Neither of us have driven a car in over 3 months but thankfully, it's not easy to forget how and Montevideo was almost easier to drive in than Denver even.  While it would be impossible to see all 660 km of Uruguayan coast in just 2 days, we did make it up to La Paloma before the sun started to set.  

And we are off!

We had to catch a little ferry across the river leading in the ocean! And it was free!

Loved rolling in to town to see this beautiful lighthouse at sunset!

All these beach towns are supposedly hopping with international beachgoers during the summer (Jan and February) but turn into sleepy towns the rest of the year. La Paloma was no exception and we were almost lucky to find a few hotels and restaurants open.  

The next day we continued up to the turn-off for Cabo Polonio which was the real gem and highly recommended by Fio.  It is a natural coastline, flanked but big sand dunes, and a protected nature area.  We arrived to the turn-off, paid our 'shuttle' fee and soon were bouncing over the sand dunes toward the coast in a big dune-buggy. 

We rode along the beach for a while too and arrived at the small shacks that make up this rustic beach town.  I instantly wished we would have reached this place to stay the night prior as the laid-back vibe seemed very relaxing.  Apparently, it also gets quite busy during the summer but there were only a few hostels and shops open this time of year, even though the weather was perfect (though I think the locals would say it was cold!).  But at least we had a whole day to explore.  We walked about an hour up the coastline to walk along the big sand dunes.  

There were lots of jumping photos!

Thankfully the sun came out and the sand dunes were a perfect spot to relax, eat our sandwiches and take lots of fun photos. 

Loved the seashell colors!

We made our way back to town in the late afternoon to go up the new lighthouse to see the beautiful views.  The lighthouse was built after a few ships wrecked off the rocky coast.   

Tons of sea lions were swimming and chilling on the end of those rocks

Beautiful view over town and both sides of the peninsula

Then we bounced our way back to the park entrance at sunset.  We met an English girl and gave her a ride to a town along the main highway to help her out.  But unfortunately, we arrived in Punta del Este later that night and realized she had left her phone in our car.  Thankfully, we were able to send it with a bus the next day to her in Punta del Diablo and she received it by the afternoon.  With our good deed done, we explored Punta del Este, the ritzy and internationally known beach town about 2 hours east of Montevideo.  

We returned to Montevideo in just enough time to get our big backpacks, return the car and hop the bus to Colonia del Sacramento.  This historic town was founded by the Portugese in 1680 and faces Buenos Aires across the incredibly wide Rio de la Plata.  It was once a city of strategic importance in resisting the Spanish but now the old town is a UNESCO historic site.  We had a few hours before our ferry to walk around but it was quite windy and cloudy so wasn't as photogenic as maybe it could have been.  

The old gate from the 1600's

 

The ferry to Buenos Aires was just over an hour and absolutely miserable.  It was hot, stuffy and super bouncy (probably due to the high winds) and I got sea sick :(  I had made tentative plans with Christy to go back for a day trip next week but don't think I want to get near another ferry anytime soon!  In BA, we shared a cab with some Brazilians we knew from Montevideo and arrived at the hostel in time to rest from our long day!