In the morning we wandered into the heart of San Telmo to check out the huge flea market in Plaza Dorrego. The whole area comes to life on Sundays and it is a window into the local culture of B.A.
Side streets were closed to traffic and were filled with street performers, open-air shows and tango singers & dancers. The plaza itself was full of a number of stalls selling old antiques and collectables - some ritzy and some rusty.
In the afternoon we headed down again to La Boca's Caminito area where we relaxed for a few hours amongst the tango shows, drummer parades and the flamboyant atmosphere. A talented young child prodigy (perhaps?) dazzled the crowds by showing off his piano prowess on an electric keyboard, a range of classical and popular music was part of his impressive playing repetoire.
Headed into the Downtown area to sort out my return flights from Rio. I then spent the rest of the day exploring the city centre on foot, walking from the elegant (and thankfully shady) Plaza San Martin to the heart of the financial district and its towering skyscrapers.
With the weather becoming unbearably hot I decided to hail a taxi down to the north-east suburb of Nunez to visit another home of football - this time it was the stadium of River Plate. There were no tours today but I did manage to catch a glimpse of many players leaving the ground after training.
Once back in the centre of B.A I continued my exploration, heading down to the Plaza de Mayo. In the heart of the square stands the Piramide de Mayo, a small obelisk built to mark the city's first anniversary of independence from Spain. Other major landmarks around Plaza de Mayo include the government building Casa de Gobierno and the historic relic of the Catedral Metropolitana.
The rest of our group arrived in the early evening after their 6-day drive up the Atlantic coast and later on we all went out to our local Irish pub to celebrate both Jeff's birthday and Australia Day. That is until our ever-reliable tour leader disgraced himself and the rest of us by (ahem) "offending" the sensitive bar staff to the extent that we were swiftly moved on to another drinking spot in San Telmo.
I headed Downtown again to finally get my flight home rearranged for an extra week in Rio. Then it was a wander down possibly the city's longest pedestrianised shopping street Avenida Florida, on a par with London's Oxford Street for the top designer stores, record shops (yes they have their own Tower Records) and so much more.
Lunch in a not-so-local fast food chain before heading across to Nunez on the underground and then again to River Plate's stadium, "La Monumental", where I managed this time to tag along with a group for a guided tour, it was free although not in English. The tour basically took in much the same sights as Boca Juniors despite the lack of a club museum, but it was certainly worth the hour & a half; I can now testify to having visited the homes of Argentina's two biggest footballing giants (and the most fierce rivalry of course).
In the evening myself, Kyrie & Chuck went out to a Thai restaurant to satisfy those ever-growing curry cravings; afterwards we joined the rest of the group in Recoleta in the well-renowed establishment of Hooters.
The last full day in Buenos Aires, so it must be time to indulge myself in a bit of SKYDIVING!
In the morning though I wandered down to Puerto Madero, a renovated waterfront area stretching south towards San Telmo. The project is an upscale recycling of formerly abandoned brick warehouses into modern restaurants, offices and loft apartments; the area is still growing and not surprisingly it is becoming one of the trenidest places to visit in the city.
Onto the skydive - it took place about 100km south of B.A near the small town of Lobos. The planes were small light aircraft capable of carrying only a handful of instructors and fools like me; they also had no seats which made for an uncomfortable flight - the only option was to sit on the floor facing the rear of the plane.
After a 4 hour wait inside a converted aircraft hangar waiting for the others (mainly local youngsters) to complete their jumps, I was kitted up and I finally boarded the plane with my instructor, whom I was to be strapped to for the big jump. It was 6.30pm by the time the plane reached its altitude of 9,000ft; the door was opened and an unwelcoming cold rush of air enveloped my body as we moved into position; there was no turning back now. Before I had the chance to think what the hell I was actually doing - and whether my travel insurance might just cover accidental death of the policy holder - the plane turned sharply to the right and that was that; the momentum toppled me (or was I pushed?) and we were plummeting to earth at around 120mph.
The freefall lasted for up to 25-30 seconds but it felt like forever and it was the scariest moment of my life; I felt helpless having no control (flailing arms and legs) and could only keep my eyes firmly shut and just pray for this horrific nightmare to end as quickly as possible. Finally to my immense relief the parachute deployed, leaving us to drift slowly down to earth in 5-10 minutes - I landed in a graceful heap on the ground.
All the while our jump had been filmed and photographed by a cameraman who jumped with us and within an hour of landing I was given a video and the completed roll of film of the momentous occasion.
No sooner had I returned to the hostel it was time to go out again, this time for a group outing to a traditional tango show in San Telmo that had been well recommended.
There was plenty of variety with different bands, singers and dancers; most of the acts were pretty good on the whole; one old bald guy really put a lot of passion and vigour into his singing and impressive peformance. The only major let-down was that we only got to see one tango dance all night while other performers rotated their shows.
Still, a good night, with food being included and an enriching experience of local porteno culture.
Alas, our fabulous time in the Tango Capital of the World had come to an end, but I took home with me some wonderful memories and I will definitely aim to return in the future.
Uruguay
A drive day today as we left Buenos Aires and headed north up the coast into Uruguay to the port of Colonia.
Colonia is an agreeable, slow-paced town with a 17th Century Portuguese contraband port and fortress in its historical Barrio Historico which is is UNESCO World Cultural Heritage Site. It sits on the east bank of the Rio de la Plata, directly opposite B.A 50km away by ferry (so typically it took us 10 hours going the overland route.)
Our base for the next 2 days was at a campsite in a shady eucalyptus grove near the beach and a bus ride from town.
Today was a day for exploring Colonia's Barrio Historical area, also known as "la colonia Portuguesa", the Portuguese colony dating from the 17th Century when the town was founded in 1680 by the govenor of Rio de Janeiro.
The highlights included the 1745 Puerta de Campo entrance to the old city - a restored drawbridge and the Bastion de San Miguel with its thick fortified walls. Also the ruins of the 17th Century Convento de San Francisco, within which stands a 19th Century lighthouse (faro). From the top are great views of the old city and the area's narrow cobbled streets are a visual delight.
Near the campsite are the ruins of a 10,000 seat bull ring, closed since 1912 after Uruguay outlawed bullfighting. It is quite an eery sight from the inside like the ruins of a small-scale Colosseum.
Later on we had dinner on the beach before strong winds and a thunderstorm set in.
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