Buenos Aires!! (Again!!)

Posted by Dave and Zephie

We spent so much time in Buenos Aires and saw so much that its hard to fit it all into a few paragraphs!! During our second weekend in Buenos Aires, we went to see the famous cemetery in Recoleta, which is home to the mausoleums of Argentina's, famous, rich and great. Among those included in this number is Evita, whose mausoleum was the only one with any flowers or colour on it. We had not quite expected it to be the way it was, having envisioned a graveyard with particularly elaborate graves. However, it was more like a city of the dead - as Zephie noted - with narrow streets between what looked like miniature temples, some with barred doors held shut by old padlocks. You could see inside many, which had coffins stacked up in some cases. It was quite a creepy place and a bit of a maze. It was also home to a number of stray cats who seemed to be quite at home there.

Outside the walled cemetary there was a park nearby which had a market selling artesan's products and works, such as clothing, bags, jewellery and all sorts. We sat for a bit in the park and eventually, on a stage area, some people started setting up speakers put music on. This soon gave way to what we guessed must have been standup comedy of sorts, but as it was all in very rapid Spanish (and did'nt look very good anyway as no one seemed to be laughing!!) we left.

On the Monday of our second week in Buenos Aires, we decided to go the Bomba Tiempo, an event which many other people we spoke to said was not to be missed. They were right. In our usual fashion we found the venue the hard way, although the difficulties were not our fault. After following the map from the hostel to the Konex cultural centre, we ended up in front of what appeared to be a bank, despite the fact that it had the same address as the venue. After asking someone in a nearby shop, we were pointed in the right direction and were soon on the right street. At number 1,500. The venue was at about 3,500 ... After walking 15 minutes and reaching about 1,600 we calculated that it might take us hours to get there so we got a taxi.

The event was spectacular - held in an open air venue with grafitti and street art all over the walls, we arrived to see the largest drum circle we had ever seen. This soon disbanded and the real show began with the band taking to the stage. It was a great party and a great way to meet some portenos (residents of Buenos Aires), who were even more keen to chat and have a laugh over beer (see the picture of Zephie with the MASSIVE beers!!) and amazing music.

We also bumped into a couple of Geordies who we met in our first hostel in Rio de Janeiro. They seemed in good spirits despite having had what seemed to be a shocking time. They turned lobster red with sunburn in Rio, got a bus and ended up in one of Rio's notorious favelas (slums), got bed bug bites which became infected and led to one guy's feet swelling up and going black and blue, had a doctor try to put him on an IV drip, lost his wallet in a taxi and finally - to add insult to injury - an old woman tried to pick his pocket on the way to the event. He is 6 ft 4 at least!!! We have done ok I think!!

After it all finished, we were stuck for things to do and considered going to a club with some (slightly dodgy) portenos we had befriended, but after losing them in the crowd opted to see what the Geordies were up to... Although we soon decided that with their track record it might not be best to stick with them!! Anyway, we walked to the nearest Subte station, realised it was closed and got a taxi back to our favourite plaza for a bit before heading to bed.


Pictures to come - we are in a place with a dodgy internet connection!