This morning we get up and head to Ricoleta. Ricoleta is a suburb which is quick
fancy. The main attraction of the area
is, and I can’t believe I am saying this is the main attraction, the cemetery. This cemetery is where generations of
Argentina’s elite rest in luxury. It was
quite interesting wandering through the cemetery looking at the extent of
family tombs with lofty statues and detailed marble facades. It was like a little town. If you were an Argentinean and knew all or
most of the names of the rich and famous over the generations it would be a
very interesting experience. The main
‘attraction’ at this cemetery was Evita Peron’s tomb. Since her death in the 1950’s she has been
moved from pillar to post, even secretly moved at some points, from Europe to
South America. She has now been given
her own tomb where she now lies.
Enough of cemetery talk, we leave and have some empanadas,
again! We want to make the most of being
in Argentina and having these fantastic ‘pies’.
Also as you would have read in yesterdays blog I need to put on an extra
kg or two as I am fading away! We then
caught the bus back to our hostel and asked the hostel manager what bus to
catch to another suburb called La Boca.
La Boca situated along the old port.
We head back down to the bus stop with our bus number in mind, but it
doesn’t come for ages! Eventually it arrives and we climb aboard. As we are driving to La Boca we pass some
very dodgy looking characters and buildings.
Apparently La Boca is a very dodgy neighbourhood and we were told not to
walk here but to take the bus. There is
about 3 or 4 streets which are tourist friendly and people are advised to stick
to these streets and only these streets! We were not going to take any chances
and we stuck to the tourist streets, which is obviously the main attraction of
the area. The main street is called
Caminito, a short pedestrian walk lined with corrugated metal buildings. There was a good vibe in the area with tango
music and dancing in cafes. We decided
to have a coffee and a bite to each and watch a tango show. At the end of the show the two tango dancers
asked Ann and I if we wanted a photo. I
jumped at the chance, Ann wasn’t as keen but joined the party. The photos were pretty funny as they were
quite intense as Ann had her ‘personal space’ interfered with, as she put it,
as the male dancing got right in her face for a photo. The female dancer then put her leg around me
and jumped up so I had to hold her, I bet Ann thought that was pretty funny
too! After our tango show and coffee we
caught the bus back through the bad neighbourhood back to the hostel. Another side note of this suburb is that it
is home to the world famous Boca Juniors club.
This club has some incredibly passionate fans and performs pretty well
as the club can buy some top players as it seems they have endless amounts of
money (not surprising considering the ticket prices!).
When back at the hostel we wait until 9.30pm for
Nico to arrive. He was taking us out for
dinner and having another steak, and afterwards he was taking us to a Milonga. A Milonga is a dance hall where locals come
along and strut their stuff. Dinner was
very nice, but not as nice as Don Ernesto’s a couple of nights earlier. We also have a bottle of red wine, of
course! Then we walk a couple of blocks
to the Milonga. When we arrive there is
a ten piece band playing tango music while the dance floor is full of people
doing their thing. The band was very
good, and on the dance floor you could spot the tourist from a mile away, they
were nowhere near as good as the locals.
Tourists can turn up early (early in Buenos Aires is 9.30pm) and take a
lesson for an hour and a half and then join the locals when they turn up. After watching this I was quite keen to get
in on the local culture and have a lesson.
I think Ann was quite shocked when I mentioned this to her. While at this Milonga we had a couple of
beers, listened to the music and just watched everyone dancing. They were all pretty good but one couple
stood out from the rest. Apparently they
were the instructors but they were very impressive to watch. We stayed here for a couple of hours and then
called it a night.
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