Buenos Aires: Sun 23

BA al la Shank Power! 

The food and Malbec wines have been so good that we figured it was time to again ramp up our walking and at least try to earn our dinners! So we have spent the past three or four days walking seemingly endless kilometres across this massive city. Some of the walking has been very good and some less so. 

BA is a city of varying landscapes with significant dichotomies between areas as is present in most large cities, particularly in the ‘New World’. We both agree that it’s an interesting city, but that it wouldn’t make our favourite 15 large city list. There is certainly history if one looks for it, but as with the Americas the buildings resemble a cross between late colonial crumble and ultra modern new towers with a bit of everything in between. I’ll try to illustrate what I mean as I post some photos. 

Yup, the Egyptians didn’t actually get here! They would have liked the wine though had they made it.

Yesterday we walked across the city to visit the colourful Boca area. We decided to break out of the mould and take a small 5 person English language walking tour of the area. We had been repeatedly told that Boca was too dangerous for tourists to walk through, and to stay only on the main roads. Well, it seems that this isn’t the case during the day, but I can see how this place wouldn’t be the best place to stray in the late evening. During the day, however, it’s pretty mainstream with bus loads of tour groups coming and going. Quite a neat place! 

This gentleman was an influential painter in the early part of the 20th century and helped to shape the community which was largely built by immigrants from Italy and other European countries who were looking for a new start after wars of the late 18thC and early 19thC. He painted the harbour and all the boat traffic that passed by.

His friends donated their own art work to help to shape this area which holds the original harbour for the settlement of BA. Highly polluted now, the government is making efforts to clean up this water body. It will be a long expensive process and I’m curious if they will be able to adequately fund a decent clean up. However, efforts are underway which is positive. 

The harbour front walkway stones have been painted by the local school children. There is a lot of yellow and blue, the colours of Boca. 

Caminito Street in the heart of El Caminito, La Boca area.



As I said, some of the art donated.

It’s everwhere.

Some of the murals are very important to the people of BA. This one is a tribute to the Mothers of The Plaza De Mayo who have been looking for their children since the bloody and ruthless dictatorship in the 1970-80’s period when over 30,000 people simply disappeared. 

Many of the women were pregnant at the time of their disappearance and the mothers of the missing have focussed on finding the offspring or their grandchildren, and are now referred to as The Grandmothers Of The Plaza de Mayo. I remember having watched their story on the evening news and CBS’s 60 Minutes.We were told that over 1,000 people/children have been found. The mothers/grandmothers still march and protest in the central Plaza de Mayo every Thursday and we found a tribute stone to them in the Plaza during our rambles today. The white scarf being their symbol of recognition. Powerful stuff.

While in Boca we visited the famous La Bombonera Stadium where the Boca Juniors play football and have been producing star players for generations including Maradona who scored the famous Hand Of God goal in the World Cup that propelled Argentina to win. I remember watching that hand ball goal! also Messi plaited here and a host of others. We tried very hard to secure tickets, but it’s extremely difficult. There is a 7 year waiting list to be accepted to the club so that you can watch the games. The Argentines are completely fanatical about their futbal!! It would have been fun to watch, but we were able to listen to the chants at lunch while the spectators began to warm up early for the game starting late last night. Loads of fun! Caitlin went to a game when she was here and brought me back a team scarf that I treasure. The fun of the games is not the actual game, it’s the fans watching, singing, the flares and the fireworks. A completely crazy time. 

The local kids play where ever. It’s a very poor part of the city. Lots of spirit here though. 

We walked across Boca and back into the main part of the city and down to the new waterfront area of Puerto Madero. If you like modern city scapes then you’ll love this area! 

On both sides of the inlet. Massive buildings. We later went back down for dinner last night. Sushi. A nice evening.

A foot bridge.

Huge glasses of wine!🍷

Today we caught the metro out to the somewhat fashionable area of Palermo. We figured this way we’d maximize our walking time and besides, it’s always good to learn how the local transit works. We try to travel on the local buses as well, though oddly we haven’t done that here...yet. Guess to busy walking! 

The real reason we headed out to Palermo was to enjoy the city parks on a Saturday. We had the opportunity to see how the locals spend their day and as many were power walking, running and cycling we seemed to fit right in.

Lots of bird life here.

Some nic3 flowers as well. 

Actually we came upon a beautiful rose garden and what a treat! No deer and it’s spring here where as at home ours are pretty well finished.

Big deal here is the photographers taking formal pictures of the high school graduating young ladies. The roast gardens were full of this activity.

We then caught a train back into the city centre. We zigged left instead of right and ended up on the rails above town which was infinitely better than the underground as we could see the city as we transited. Big city! We got off at the end and found quite the busy circus in front of the station.

Back to the waterfront area for a long walk around the Reserva Ecological a large buffer area between the city and the ocean. Lots of bird life here, but too many people as well which I think kept the birds a bit away from the trails. 

Sadly the foreshore area is pretty polluted and it made us so very aware of the need to fight to keep our own waters clean of pollution, and frankly the political challenges to its future beauty. Our area of the planet is very beautiful and comparatively pristine. Sometimes travel to areas of the planet where poor decisions have resulted in quiet a mess can open our eyes to just what can happen when our guard is let down. Worth fighting for! 

Tonight we are returning to our favourite little restaurant. Time to call home now, shower and then take ourselves out...more wine and good food!!