Dos de Enero 2009, The Fourth Day of the Trip

So this was the fourth day of our trip, and our plan was to head to a neighborhood called La Boca, which is famous for a number or reasons, primarily the fact that is where the football (soccer) team Boca Juniors is from. This is the team Maradona played for. La Boca is also a bit sketchier than other parts of the city, or at least of the parts that tourists (travelers) should actually go to (it probably gets pretty sketchy in neighborhoods off the beat and path). Anyhow, after a visit to La Boca it was off to the Recoleta neighborhood to visit the famous cemetery there.


There are random perros all throughout the city, and country for that matter (probably the continent as well!). There is also a lot of poo on the sidewalks; Mark stepped in one like the 2nd day of our trip...never happened again though! Anyhow, this guy was in rough shape and we felt really bad, but there is nothing you can do.

First Argentine public bus experience...was a very pleasant ride on a very pleasant day. La Boca bound!

This is the start of the "Caminito", which is a very colorful, touristy area in La Boca. Originally the area was a bunch of bars and brothels for the sailors that came to the small harbor just to the left of the above building in the photo. It has since been turned into a network of small streets and buildings that have souvenir shops, outdoor cafes and restaurants, street vendors, and tango performers.

Shopping in Caminito. I think all we bought was a magnet.

Yep, you guessed it...more Caminito...

This is one of the entrances to the Boca Juniors football field. Unfortunately it was the off season, but we were able to wander around in the stands a bit, as you can see below.

Meg and the Boca Juniors football field.

Mark (and Meg) and the Boca Juniors football field.

Just the Boca Juniors football field. Lots of these photos...oh well, deal with it. Can't imagine watching a game here!

If you are at a Boca Juniors football game (or just taking a tour of the facilities) and you are a male, this is where you would do a number two. Can't imagine doing a number two here!

Another random perro. This one we wanted to take with us...

Random tienda (store) front; these folks are real hyped on the Boca Juniors football team!

Detail of the above photo...Maradona, numero diez. He is currently the head coach of the Argentina national team.

This photo shows two bridges, that look very similar. The closer bridge is the original La Boca bridge, which is real cool when viewed up close (pretty cool from far away as well). The other bridge is a sort of replica (kinda) of the original bridge. The original bridge does not function as a bridge anymore.

After the Caminito and football business, we were hungry, so we were off to locate this restaurant called El Obrero. Well, we found it, and we were really glad we did. The food was absolutely amazing, and the vibe was the same. If you go to La Boca, you must go to El Obrero.

The Recoleta cemetery is mahoosive. This photo shows just a couple of the graves, but there are thousands, and it would take days to go through the whole thing.

Eva Peron, or Evita (the woman Madonna played in the movie Evita) is buried here. Don't know the whole story about why she is so famous, but her grave is definitely a tourist attraction; so we had to put up the token Evita grave photo.

So the Dakar Rally was in Argentina (and Chile) while we were there, and it seemed as if it was following us around the country, or at least it was everywhere we looked. Rally is cool and all, but that wasn't the reason we were in Argentina, and we certainly weren't about to go out of our way to check it out. There will likely be Dakar references throughout the rest of the posts; it sorta became a theme of the trip. On our way back to our B&B, we came across a street closure where all the participants were parading, the day before the official start of the rally. Here is a photo of some cycle dudes.

This video shows some of the four-wheeler dudes doing their rally parade thing.

Drums and Dancing, Argentina Style

So we are back from the trip now (today is January 22 and not January 14, which is the date this post was first attempted), so posts should be coming much more frequently than they did while we were away, thanks to a fairly stable and fairly reliable internet connection...

The video below is from New Year's Day night as we walked the streets of Palermo Viejo in search of a suitable location for a feed. We heard it from blocks away, and it just so happened to be going down in the direction we were walking. Completely random...

Vacacion de Argentina - El Dia de Tres

Day Three...January 1, 2009...can't believe 2009 is here already! Any holiday in Argentina is mellow...they already have siesta during the day, which I'm sure most people are familiar with. But when it comes to holidays, it is a ghost town. We were a bit hungover and got off to a late start on this day, but ventured out and about anyway. It was our third day in BA, so a mosey was mandatory.

Example of the ghost town...on most days this street is completely filled with cars and people, lots of hustle and bustle. But not on New Year's Day. This street was right near our B&B and is a main vein in the city.

We hopped on the Subte to go see some sights...this sign says January 1st.

Subte stop...can't remember which one. Real nice subte system though.

We ended up at Plaza de Mayo, a plaza we wanted to check out. It is known for these ladies that go there every Thursday to protest the disappearance of a bunch of kids back in the 80's or something. Don't know the details of all that, but this is some government building near the Plaza. There were a bunch of buildings with similar architecture in this area. Makes sense that is where the protests would go down...

This is the Banco de la Nacion Argentina...probably the main branch, or at least it appears that way. It was closed on New Year's Day.

We wanted to see the protest, and luckily they only protest on Thursdays...New Year's Day was on a Thursday, what luck! We were so out of it that we forgot it was Thursday and wondered what was going on as we arrived at the plaza...then realized it was the protest. Don't know what the banner says, but probably protesty.

Another building at the plaza...think this one was a hotel or something.

Here we are, Plaza de Mayo, New Year's Day...hangover and all.

We didn't party at this trash can for New Year's, but someone did. This was in Puerto Madero, which in our opinion sucks. Very (very) touristy (we've decided we are travelers, not tourists...there is a difference) and bad restaurants, etc, etc, etc... Was the only place to get a bite to eat though so we ended up at a crap cafe. It was also chilly out this day.

Puerto Madero has a bunch of dikes, with bridges that cross the dikes. On each side of the dikes are aforementioned crap restaurants and what-not. There was a really cool bridge that we crossed...it is the white thing in the background.

Example of crap restaurant. Asia de Cuba...Asian food, from Cuba, in Argentina. Sounds great!

After our crap experience in Puerto Madero we decided to head for home. We were staying in Palermo Viejo, which is easily the best neighborhood in the city. Tons of shopping, restaurants, bars, etc... This store had a pillow with a stressed out pug on it...figured the Fullers would dig this photo (and probably the pillow tambien!).

So it is January 14th and we just got around to posting January 1st...doesn't seem we'll get it all posted before the trip is over. We'll keep it flowing though...

Ciao!

Vacacion de Argentina - El Dia de Dos

So it has almost been a week since the last post - that is due largely to internet connections that are mal, or the connections don't extend to our room. It is also due to the fact that we are on vacation and posting to the blog is not the top priority. That being said, we have managed to post a segundo tiempo. We are in Mendoza currently, relaxing at our B&B (La Escondida) awaiting an upcoming 16 hour bus ride...yes, 16 hours. Holy sh*t is right. We are headed to Bariloche, which is going to be amazing...Bariloche is la zona de lagos (lake zone). Can't wait! The following is what went down on New Year's Eve, the second day of our trip...

Came across a shop that sold basically nothing but roller skates...they also sold some skateboards and various items of the sort with wheels. This was their sign...thought it was neat.

Prior to having lunch at likely the best lunch spot of the trip, we went and bought tickets for the Super Cama! Super Cama is a bus where you get beds basically...more about that later. La Neuva Gata Alegria was suggested by Mr. Ewman Bowmananian, and am very glad for his suggestion. The best Empanada I will likely ever have! The Quilmes is real nice tambien. Thanks Ewan!

Same restaurant, same day, except a photo containing the both of us.

On the walk back from La Nueva Gata Alegria, we came across a plaza/parque that had all these wild cats roaming around. The park was basically infested with wild cats...crazy. Hilary would like this park as she is a fan of the feline...

What would a trip abroad be without some anti-Bush sentiment?

So it is New Year's Eve, and we didn't know where to go. Most places were 500 pesos a person for set menu dinners...that's about $150 US per person...a bit outrageous. We somehow lucked out and found this place La Payana, which turned out to be the luckiest thing ever! This place was only 160 pesos a person for set menu, which is about $45 US...we had all the wine and champagne we could manage and an 8 course meal! A couple of Meg's work associates were in town as well, Sarah and Melissa, and they met us for a wonderful array of courses and drinks for our New Year's celebration. At midnight, the employees came and kissed everyone! That's all that can be said at the moment, but it was a New Year's that will stand out in our minds forever.

Sarah on the left, Melissa on the right...was nice to celebrate with friends in a far far away place.

Mark on the left, Meg on the right.

Just before midnight, the champagne flowed...and flowed, and flowed, and flowed...

Cheers big ears!

Down the hose big nose!

Feliz ano 2009!!! Argentine style...

This was the 8th course, the second dessert course. Look how mahoosive that plate of comida is!

After dinner, around 1:30 am, we headed to a bar in our neighborhood to meet some of Melissa's friends. We drank quite a bit, and ended up home pretty early in the morning. That's a normal night in Argentina, let alone New Year's Eve...

Evidence of aforementioned drank quite a bit...

Mark bought fireworks from a tienda earlier in the day. They were real loud, and scared people. Meghan really likes fireworks.

At some point during the night (these are generally sequential, but don't really know when this one was shot) we saw this billboard for our new favorite beer...Quilmes Chopp! We found out that Chopp is a Brazilian-style light beer, with some hints of fruit.

Argentine Vacation - Day 1

So we made it! We are here in Argentina and will post as often as we can. The internet connection isn't the best so you will have to bear with us a bit (took four separate attempts to get this post posted), but posts will come, and will generally consist of the best contents from each day...wow, that will be a mission as this vacation is something like 19 days! Anyhow, this is the first day, the day we arrived. We were feeling very tired and jet lagged, and mosied around town trying to stay up so we could get a good night's sleep. From door to door it was about 20 hours, for both of us.

Yep, that is the Argentine flag. It welcomed us to this fine city. What a lovely flag it is...

Argentine PJs...this is on the ride from the aeropuerto to the ciudad.

So of course they play Football in Argentina, pretty much the deporte nacional [sic]. Anyhow, don't think they call it Indoor Football, instead it is called Cover Futbol. Thought it was interesting...

Went and bought some water and cerveza and came across these diapers. Didn't buy them, but couldn't resist the temptation to shoot a photo...hope it tickles your fancy...

On our lazy walk of the city on the first day we came across one of the widest (and biggest) trees we had ever seen. Here is a photo of Meg...

Same tree (back left) except a self portrait that includes Mark!

We needed to eat, so we headed to this restaurant in Recoleta called TeaTriz...we got there about 9:00 pm and there was nobody in the restaurant! The locals generally eat at 10 or 10:30 pm, so we went to this Cafe and had a beer before going back for din din. This is Mark at the Cafe...happy as a clam! He also very much enjoys Quilmes Chopp (more on that later).

Here is Meg at same Cafe as Mark above...she very much enjoys Quilmes Chopp tambien!

The restaurant was on this street...what a lovely name for a calle.

That is all for now unfortunately, but much more to come later...and we reckon you'll enjoy what's to come a bit more as well. Ciao.