Everyone’s still asleep and I finally have access to the laptop and some quiet time. Just me, Monica (the cleaning lady at Nicolas’ apartment) and the fruit bowl in the kitchen with the wifi.
As you may know, last night Chile played Ecuador in Santiago. So Juca (short for Juan Carlos) set up his projector in the living room and invited fifteen to twenty friends over to watch the match. Work ends early when the football’s on in Chile. We arrived home after a few hours of photo-hunting in a neighborhood called Bario Brazil and Juca greeted us at the top of the staircase. Behind him he had transformed the living-room into a cinema with a small table in the front sporting a massive bowl full of fresh hot-dog buns, a pot full of wieners, a bowl full of mashed avo, a bowl of chopped tomato and onion and a big tub of mayo. They call the combo the Super Pancho Italiano. The avo here is so cheap and abundant that it finds its way into everything. It’s the Italian hot dog because when you add a fat wad of mayo in the middle, it looks just like the Italian flag.
Spectators started arriving seconds after our arrival and in no time there was a beer in everyone’s left hand, a Super Pancho Italiano in every right and the game was up on the wall. The football here is a religion to some and an excuse to catch up with friends to others. Garth, Michelle, James and I took the back seats as the scene in the living-room was almost more entertaining than the game itself (to me). Juca had set up his laptop on a small table next to the couch. He’d set up the skype for a friend of his in some country where she couldn’t see the game live so she was watching the game on the wall through her webcam and shouting insults at the screen through the machine.
We’ve been in Santiago for exactly one week today. The idea was to get here fast so that we could find and buy a car and embark on this adventure with our own four wheels. The public transport in Argentina and Chile is great but there’s nothing like the freedom of spontaneity.
On the 21st September the four of us arrived in Buenos Aires. We organized an apartment for ten days. It was cheaper than a week in a hostel and gave us the opportunity to pretend that we lived in the city. The apartment was very basic but it provided everything we needed: bedrooms, a bathroom and a kitchen.
Buenos Aires was mad. I’m not sure what I expected but it definitely took me by surprise. When we came in from the airport on a sunny Sunday afternoon, there were loads of people scattered around big patches of green grass alongside the highway. There are no fences between the patches of grass and the highways yet families have picnics facing the endless stream of cars while their kids play ball meters from the traffic. They all have their little fold-up chairs and their máte and a great view of the traffic. Apparently this happens on sunny weekend days. It’s the Argentines’ chance at a lawn in the sunshine.
The city-scape is a mish-mash of neutral colours. Browns and greys with the odd colourful curtain popping through a sky-scraper’s window. A lot of the buildings look like they might need a log or five to keep gravity and time from getting the better of them.
In the center of the city angry graffiti and defaced statues shout from all direction. It’s clearly evident in the posters, graffiti and vandalism that the Argentines are passionate about their politics. I’m not very clued up on politics at all but it’s obvious that the man on the street is unhappy about something. A lot of buildings and statues are surrounded by fences and grills to stop vandals from getting in.
There is a lot of poverty on the streets where we’re staying in San Telmo. Every evening we’d see young and healthy and sane looking people rummaging through the trash separating cardboard and paper from glass and plastics. A taxi driver said that it was an initiative that had started many years ago in an attempt to inspire people to recycle but instead of doing the separation themselves they leave it to the “junkies” to make a few cents off their efforts.
The flip-side of the city is quaint cobble-stoned barios with old bars and cafes that seem to have stood the test of time. Quirky old bars with mismatched clusters of old photographs and paintings on the walls. The square in San Telma comes to life on Sundays. Unfortunately our Sunday was rainy so half the frills were missing but we got to see a beautiful old antique market with people selling everything from old green and blue glass soda bottles to miniature war figurines to old jewelry and toys. The stalls were beautiful but the characters sitting behind them were priceless.
We also headed to the other side of the city to Palermo where one might think you’re around the corner from the Champs Elysées in Paris. Beautiful green parks and clean streets adorned with funky shops, galleries and cafes. There’s a big zoo which we decided not to check out but from the tourist bus James managed to spot the giraffe.
Argentina prides itself as the origin of Tango. So we decided to attempt a tango class. We found this massive hall under some theater which housed various dance classes daily. Such great atmosphere. Three teachers who split the hall into beginner, intermediate and advanced. The music went on throughout the class as the petite and feisty Tango teacher and her greased-back partner taught us the first basic steps. The hall had a bar at the end and little plastic tables and chairs scattered around the edges. So you could do your hour’s worth of Tango and grab a beer and a seat and watch the next Samba class with a couple dozen synchronized bums bouncing from left to right in front of your table.
On the whole we squeezed what we could out of this massive city in the time we had. Then it was time for some fresh air. We headed in the general direction of Santiago in Chile where we’re looking to buy a second had van to travel with. So our next stop in the center of Argentina, 12 hours on a bus later, was Mendoza, the wine district of Argentina.
We decided on a little place just outside the city called Maipu where we’d spotted “rural cabañas”. We checked in for four nights or rest and recovery in a dry, warm town with ice-capped mountains that form the backdrop to dusty vineyards.
There’s so much to tell and so little time to sit in front of the computer. I’ll fill you in (in a little less detail) on Mendoza, Puente del Inca and Santiago but for now, we’re packed and ready to hit the start of a whole new adventure. We’ve bought an old Ford Van between the four of us. The paperwork is finally done and dusted and the bronchitis and sinusitis are slowly clearing up. Today we hit the big wide open road as we slowly make our way to Peru over the next two weeks.