El colectivo a La Boca

La Boca is a mythical barrio (suburb) in B. Aires, and of course the home of Boca Juniors football club, which is a legend on its own right. You can hear incredible stories about La Boca from several people. Good and bad ones. I had planned to visit La Boca a couple of times during last week, but for several reasons I didn't make it. Today was perfect. Sunny but not hot. After having a little chat with Adrian, the Hostel manager, I took colectivo No.53 and after 20' I arrived at REPUBLICA de LA BOCA.

lots of tourists in the bus

....but also local people

Republica de la Boca is an unofficial establishment that the locals have created in order to preserve their traditions and cultural legacy, initiated from Italian immigrants from Genoa mainly, sometime towards the end of 19th century. I am not gonna write about the history of the place although is very interesting. There are endless sources on the internet if you feel like reading more, but to be honest I can't be bothered replicating what others have written. Instead, I will try to give you my personal feeling about the place, mainly through some pictures I took, while wandering around.

welcome to REPUBLICA DE LA BOCA

Rules are different here. Even police presence is very limited. Besides the touristic area, which is just a few blocks around the La Boca stadium, things can get really unforgiving for strangers. The word "stranger" includes everyone outside the barrio, including Argentinians. Adrian, an otherwise very friendly and smiling person, got very serious when I told him that I wanted to walk to La Boca from the hostel. "But it looks really close to San Telmo, maybe 30' walk", I said. "You should better take the bus" he replied, "and stay within the touristic area . Don't go there carrying your backpack and your nice camera. You might be lucky 'cause you look like a local, but maybe not. Even if you go without carrying anything and someone talks to you on the street and they realize you are a stranger, you might get yourself into trouble just a few meters ahead" As insisting as I could be, I said "Could you possibly then, take us there? There are other people from the hostel who want to go to La Boca and would love walking there. You will be our guide"
His response, unexpectedly ended the conversation along with my efforts to change his mind.
"Sorry people, but I can only run for myself"

The touristic area of La Boca is very popular, but also so boring, loud and "touristic". Luxurious buses here and there with groups of tourists from all over the world, guided tours, street musicians, artists and Tango dancers willing to take a picture with you for a few pesos.

The touristic area of La Boca....

truly....unexciting !

Not what I was expecting really.....so I started walking around, looking for some original La Boca spirit.
Writing stops here. Will let you take a look at some pictures of the area and hopefully get an idea of the atmosphere of this magnificent barrio of Buenos Aires. Nothing happened to me, maybe I was lucky, as Adrian said.

very colorful place indeed

a half-open door, a nice dog and an alley....

.....got me into this fantastic back-yard

you guessed right... it's Diego

he is all over the place....a true living legend

nearly empty streets

Tomorrow morning at 5am, I am flying to Ushuaia. Zoom out on the map to see where that place is :)

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LA BOMBA DE TIEMPO

What a party that was !!!!!.......these guys were really awesome last night
....true "la bomba"

Very simple setup - A large backyard was enough

we couldn't imagine what was coming

Avenida de Sarmiento 3131

more than 15 drums on stage

playing non-stop for 2h

and the party kept going.....on the street of course

The battle of Puerto Madero

Puerto Madero is one of the recent Buenos Aires hotspots and definitely the most crowded touchpoint of the city with Rio de la Plata (a.k.a. River Plate). Some people consider Rio de la Plata being a river while others being part of the Atlantic Ocean. At its widest point has an opening of over 200km, so I wouldn't call it a river; but then again if the locals call it a river, then a river it is. :)

Protected Ecological park in Puerto Madero from Google Earth

Puerto Madero used to be a storage area for the Buenos Aires docks, but during the last 10 years or so, has been transformed to a very posh, spacious area full of hotels, restaurants, cafes and boutiques.

View of the city from the Ecological Park of Puerto Madero

Weather is getting really great lately. Temperature is high during the day but after 6pm it's a real pleasure to walk around in the city. Last night I went for a nice walk at Puerto Madero with Sissy & Martijn (hope didn't misspell your name mate!). 

Sissy comes from Greece and Martijn from Holland; both living in Amsterdam and were just about to fly back home, after having spent two weeks in Argentina. They wanted to have stayed more. See more things. You always want to stay more in this place. Some day they will come back to continue their adventure. Have a safe flight back guys, it was a pleasure meeting you.

Puerto Madero at night. Really beautiful

Old cranes. With the proper painting & lighting
have been transformed into pieces of industrial art

...and all of a sudden a huge 700g boneless "butterfly" stake landed just before my eyes. I was shocked. Couldn't believe it ! 

She had such a viscous look. I understood straight away that the battle was going to be a tough one. I did not hesitate, although I knew from the beginning that would be an unfair fight. She was way too big and strong for me. I looked around, seeking for backing but both Sissy and Martijn were struggling already with their own combats. Not "butterflies", but still quite a fighters.

So, everyone on his own. I had to plan my strategy very carefully. Take it slowly at the beginning and try to hypnotize the beast. That way she would think I would be an easy target. And so the battle begun. I took the first shot and hit her with my knife straight  in the heart. The whole place got full of her blood. That's it, I thought; and I kept cutting her again and again....and again. My strategy was abandoned; I was feeling like a wild animal .....yeah, I'll make it. There is no way she'll escape.... I am so hungry!!!!

Wow, this Malbec wine from Mendoza is so good. Helps in talking nonsense. Already had half a bottle of it....hick! Will take care of the rest, but can't see the keyboard very well any more !!

Buenas noches amigos....hick !

Travelling around in Argentina

Didn't do much today.....it's been so hot !! So I stayed at the hostel, trying to do some planning of the trip.

Mafalda was born in Buenos Aires by Quino in 1964

First I realized how huge a country Argentina really is. The 8th largest in the world they say, nearly the size of India. The most budget friendly way to travel is by bus. Trains do exist but the network is not that developed, usually are more expensive, slower and with no predictable schedule.

Afternoon nap...:)

But buses are really comfortable, with a lot of space and you can easily sleep while you travel. The question is for how long can you do that? From Buenos Aires, Ushuaia, the southmost town of the country and the whole world, is nearly 3.000km away. In European terms, this means a distance similar to getting from Berlin to Athens. By bus. Not sure if I could stay in a bus for over 40 hours, no matter how comfortable it is. Perhaps I should invest in an air ticket.

Architectural mix that just blends together

Metro is great. It's got character for sure

Lionel Messi, the new Maradona

Street party in Buenos Aires. As simple as that

Equally beautiful at night. Even more I would argue

Music is everywhere, anytime, anyplace !

Tomorrow, my Spanish lessons begin. 4 hours every day for a full week. Let's see to what extend Alzheimer disease has hit me :))

Day 1 - San Telmo

Flight was really tiring, but not much I could do about it. At least I had Ignacio next to me during the flight and gave me some really helpful tips about Buenos Aires and the rest of Argentina. Thanks mate !!...I am definitely gonna watch a home game of Boca Juniors; but next week, today they are playing away vs. Velez.
... and then that Bostonian guy next door was snoring like a horse all night long :))

Baires has a great atmosphere. It is evident from the first moments. And mostly safe. Finding accommodation was no real issue either at this time of the year. It's end of summer over here, meaning that temperatures top 30 degrees C during the day and evenings are very pleasant.

Av. Defensa - San Telmo

San Telmo Catholic Church

Time for a good coffee

Beautiful Buildings....

....from the colonial era

San Telmo is one of the liveliest and more exciting areas in BA. And every Sunday there is an Antiques' open market on Av. Defensa that is really amazing. You can find nearly everything, from really old silversmith, porcelain and gramophones to cameras, hand made shoes and knives.

First Spanish words: DO NOT TOUCH

3D-TV is not new as we think :)

Everywhere there are places where you  can have a coffee and a snack or a meal at very reasonable prices but with no compromises in quality. Local currency is Argentinian Peso and currently exchange rate goes at 1:5.5 to Euro which is quite favorable for European travelers. Ignacio said that Argentina used to be much cheaper a few years ago. I guess it could still be considered as an affordable destination....don't know for how much longer, so you'd better start putting it high in your travelling agenda.

Lot's of people around, from all over the world. Germany, France, S. Africa, Italy, Holland, US.....you name it. You never walk alone in this place.
My Spanish needs improvement though.....have to get from 0 to 1 soon :)))

Av. de Mayo 1370

First post of the journey, last one from Athens

Couldn't imagine it would be so difficult to start writing. Have already deleted the first sentence a dozen of times at least. Ok, so here we go, just a few hours before departing from Athens airport to Mardrid and from there to Buenos Aires, where the real journey begins. Local time is almost 5 pm but the blog should already be switched to BA time.

This whole thing, started as a joke. And it still is to a large extend. Not even a month ago. I am going backpacking to South America I said. Argentina, Chile and a little bit of Uruguay. That's it. A real break. To places I've never been before. To sceneries that I am not familiar with. To a language I don't speak. To people I want to meet. A backpack, my camera and off we go.... a full month's break all alone. Maybe more, who knows? Scary? No, not at all. Exciting? YES!

My packpack (thanks Alex) is sitting on the floor. Still empty. Ha, I should better get moving. Then I need to arrange my accommodation. Last minute arrangements?  Oh, yes...included in the package !

(just realized how much dependent we are on batteries and chargers....sorry Kindle, you have to be left behind. I am gonna miss you for sure.)

Next post will be from Buenos Aires. On Sunday most likely

cheers