Hey all, it’s been a while, but do not fear, I have not forgot about you!
So we pick up the story all the way back on October 13th…God, it has been time, but I have managed to keep a note of the interesting things I’ve been up to! So, October 13th we went to see a world cup 2010 qualifier between Argentina and Chile (pics on Facebook) at River Plate’s stadium. As you can imagine, pretty crazy – they had totally oversold tickets, but luckily we got there early enough to get seats! So people just ended up either standing or sitting on the steps…nobody seemed to mind though – thank God there wasn’t a fire or anything though – I wouldn’t have fancied our chances. A pretty good atmosphere, with most of the singing aimed at the Chilean fans, and coming in the form of racist abuse. I have decided that the Spanish language is really not that imaginative though – everyone was a ‘puto’ (‘whore’)…the ref, the Chilean team and their fans. Come on Argentina, there must be better swear words!! Admittedly, most of the singing was being led by the woman sat next to me; an innocent looking, middle-aged lady – she could easily have been your aunt. But we concluded she was head of the Argentine firm or something; she was loving the abuse, and was bad-mouthing everyone around her who did the slightest thing to piss her off…me included – I don’t think she liked the fact we weren’t singing, mainly because we didn’t know the words! She motioned at us to join in…so we tried. The song did involve the word ‘puto’ on quite a few occasions, so we got away with it. I didn’t bother joining in with the dancing though, that was just weird…everyone just stands up and jumps up and down on the spot! What’s that all about eh?! Anyway, Argentina beat Chile 2-0, and I was happy that I finally got to see Carlos Tevez play!
We didn’t do anything on the Saturday night as Monday was a bank holiday here, so decided to go out on Sunday night instead...We went to a bar in Palermo (Buenos Aires’ most fashionable neighbourhood) called Mundo Bizarro. Our new Scottish flatmate Andy came with us, as did Lu, the girl Marek pulled at Funky 45 weeks ago. She was cool, and spoke no English, so got to practice loads of Spanish which was cool. She did explain though, that Argentine girls quite like it when guys speak no Spanish – I don’t know why, but that does explain why Andy seems to have a lot more success with the ladies than me and Matt, as his Spanish is virtually non-existent. I think it’s because they like having the upper hand. In reality, Argentine women, or at least those from Buenos Aires, are psychopaths. I’ve heard several horror stories now of obsession, possession and dramatics which has resulted in e-mail accounts being hacked into, phones being blocked, blokes not being allowed to go to Creamfields and break-ups as one wasn’t happy that that her English boyfriend’s mate was over from Blighty, and he wasn’t spending enough time with her!! They sound like a treat eh? Anyway, the bar was cool and I got drunk.
As I said, the Monday was Bank Holiday, so 4 of us 5 interns at the paper took advantage of no meeting, so me, Liv, Kate and Eric to Tierra Santa (‘Holy Land’), again, pics on Facebook…I’m lead to believe this is the world’s first religious theme park, and it was just weird. I think the pics say it all – so do have a look! I loved the way Jesus resurrected every half an hour and everyone takes a seat to watch! It’s basically a robotic Jesus statue coming out of a rock which mechanically rotates a bit to the left, then a bit to the right, then blinks. I did have to take a double take at the statue of Pope JP-II though, I thought someone embalmed granddad Jack and put him in a glass case. Really quite uncanny and the picture sparked several comments in agreement from the Croasdells’ on Facebook! We spent most of the day there, and went to Liv’s for dinner in the evening. She has a really nice place with an amazing roof terrace – looking forward to when it really heats up and we’ll get the barbeques on the go up there!
Wednesday night has become Spanish night, with me, Eric and Liv (and occasionally Kate) going for lessons with Nacho. They’re really handy, but make me realise my lack of competence in Spanish, which depresses me. Then I get frustrated and sulk…I’m very mature. Then I found out England lost to Russia in the Euro 2008 qualifiers. And I sulked some more. Then I went for food and beer and was happy.
Friday afternoon was cool. After my meeting me, Matt and Adam went to Molly Malone’s to watch the 3rd place playoff of the rugby world cup, between Argentina and France. Obviously the place was full of Argentines, so the atmosphere was superb as the Pumas wooped the French’s arses, playing really some really exciting rugby in the process. After the game, I met up with Liv, Kate and Eric, and we went off to Palermo. For the paper, Liv is currently doing a story about the Armenian community on Buenos Aires (random I know), and she was invited to the Armenian school for an event which was raising cash to send its students to Armenia so they get to know their roots (etc. etc.) Again, random I know, but it made a change having some Eastern European food, and watching some Armenian folkloric dancing - about which I did take the piss…If you’ve seen it, you’ll know why! Afterwards, Liv’s friend of a friend who’s studying out here had a house party, so we went there until the wee-small hours. The music was provided by an English person’s i-tunes, meaning there were some real cheese classics in there which I hadn’t yet heard in BA.
So the following Saturday was the World Cup Final. We missed the fun and festivities of the semis as we were at the Arg Chile football qualifier. It’s a shame they weren’t repeated, but it was good watching the match with a load of English ex-pats in an Irish bar in Palermo. We went to La Puerta Roja (a bar a block and a half away) that night to drown our sorrows. $6 (£1) for a Cuba Libre was most agreeable.
Sunday we went back to Palermo just to chill in the sun, have something to eat and generally people watch. People in Palermo are much more beautiful than San Telmo where I live, essentially because it’s a richer neighbourhood, a bit further away from the city centre. The amount of people that go around with dressings on their nose from plastic surgery is quite considerable and noticeable!
Monday saw me back on the tube, and back into Palermo for the 3rd day in a row…this time on business. In the last edition, there was a shopping tour of Palermo, which basically listed some of the boutiques in Palermo and what kind of clothes you could expect to find there. Me and Eric went to 40 of the 60 boutiques in the article, providing them with a copy of the paper. That was great fun…not! And it was pretty tiring, we covered a lot of ground!! Each shop that passed, the less enthusiastic, and our spiel got shorter and shorter. The idea is that they will advertise in the paper. Thank God that’s not up to me to sort out! Me and Eric congratulated our efforts with a beer later on in the evening at Bar Seddon.
So Thursday 25th was the Inaugural Argentimes night at a bar-resto right in the centre of Buenos Aires. Basically, the new investors want to see a community built around the paper, so all of our readers, contributors etc. can come along and meet and mingle and show the papers investors that we’re great! So that’s every Thursday for the foreseeable future. Beforehand though, I went with (photography) Kate, to an exhibition (a photography one as it goes). It was the best press photos from 2007. There were some really amazing pictures on show…a lot of them, as you can imagine, quite moving. Here is a selection of my favourites. Obviously they looked a lot better in “real life”. One Two Three
On Friday I got my haircut, this time, not by some woman old enough to be my gran. I’m actually quite happy with it. I kept on making him cutting it shorter and shorter, even though he was quite hesitant to do so. He wouldn’t touch the mullet though – but it’s ok, I’m growing quite fond of it…When in Rome and all that! I then went to the federal police museum of Buenos Aires as I’m doing a review for it in the next edition. Particular highlight – the murder section. Loads of pictures taken by police at murder crime scenes on display. Lots of corpses with guts hanging out…nice. Got to play football on Friday night though which was cool. Some teachers from an English school (friends of friends) for Argentines organises a kick around with some of their students. I think that’s going to turn into a regular Friday thing. Not only that, I signed up to a gym as well! It’s about a 10 minute walk from mine (2 mins from the office though). It’s a bit rough and ready, but for $70 (£12) a month, with swimming and classes included, I can’t complain.
Sunday 27th was election day in Argentina, which saw 20 hours’ prohibition from midnight. Voting is compulsory out here, and I guess people cannot be trusted to vote if they are all hungover…fair enough. Needless to say though, Saturday night was rather quiet. On Sunday night, we headed to the Intercontinental Hotel around the corner where the winning candidate was based, expecting to see some activity. But there was hardly anything. So me, Liv and Kate went back to Eric’s to drink wine. I mean, come on! In a country where they protest/gather/demonstrate/celebrate about anything, I was so shocked that the place was dead on the night of the general election. We asked around as to why it was so dead, everyone replied “because it’s Sunday”…love it!
A pretty quiet week followed. The 2nd Argentimes community event thingy was a bit disappointing in that hardly anyone showed up. But it was fine…we just got a bit moolashed, and ended up in La puerta Roja (again) drinking $6 Cuba Libre (again) with Kristie, Maria (her housemate) and Lucy (her friend over from England).
On Friday after the meeting, me and Matt jetted off to the north to Iguazú to see the waterfalls. Ok, so flying – not the cheapest option, but a lot more appealing than 17 hour coach journey each way. The falls were absolutely amazing. I hope the pictures do them justice. I’m sorry the pictures are quite boring and samey, but if you were there, I can guarantee you’d be a bit snap happy too. We spent all of Saturday at the falls, and all of Saturday night taking advantage of the free Caiprini’s at the hostel. On Sunday, we thought we’d take advantage of being so close to the borders, so popped over to Paraguay via Brazil to get our passport stamp. This effectively renews my tourist visa, allowing me to be in Argentina for another 90 days. Had I not have done the visa run, my original visa would have expired on Dec 10th, obviously really annoying as I was going to be leaving the country on Dec 22nd anyway for Christmas. Which by the way, a load of us are planning to spend at a beach hut in Uruguay. But more about that nearer the time.
So that brings us up-to-date chums. Sorry it’s taken a while, and sorry you’ve wasted a fair few minutes of your life reading this. But it’s ok, I don’t mind if you stop reading. This is acting as a journal for me as well so everyone’s a winner.
Anyway, until next time, Ciao! X
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