Buenos Aires
Hello all!
We are checking in again with a bit of a delay since we are somewhere almost at the end of the world in Patagonia. We are having an amazing time exploring Patagonia…. But first things first. We owe you some pictures from our visit to Argentina´s capital, Buenos Aires.
Here we are getting ready to land in Buenos Aires coming down from the Iguazu Falls.
The fan experience was a bit disappointing when we went to the Maracana Stadium in Rio, because it was not even half full. So we decided to head out to another game to see what the South American football fever is really all about. They have two clubs in BA; Boca Juniors and River Plate. Luckily River Plate was having a game against Racing this weekend and the atmosphere in the stadium was really good.
The weird thing at the end of the game was that nobody from the River fans left the stadium. First I thought there is going to be an overtime (the score was 1:1). But after a while I figured out what was going on.
Unfortunately they have lots of problems with fan violence in Argentina’s football leagues. Therefore the fans of the visiting team get a police escort out of the stadium before anybody from the home team supporters can leave.
Buenos Aires has very nice park areas. Here we strolled through the Botanic Garden.
Another colorful tree near Plaza San Martin
Santiago Calatrava designed a rotating bridge in the Puerto Madero area. Obviously I as a bridge engineer had to go and check it out. The whole bridge can be rotated by 90 degrees when a large ship wants to pass through. Unfortunately this does not happen too often and we could not witness it.
Jaya told me that Rob likes those old cranes so I post a nice example from the Puerto Madero area.
The Obelisk near the city centre. It is commemorating the 400th anniversary of the city´s founding.
Plaza de Mayo
The Rose Garden
Unfortunately we did not come at the best time to experience the roses in full blossom, but we still managed to find a few nice ones.
It was a great warm fall day and we enjoyed the temperatures
We stayed in the Palermo neighborhood. There are many nice shops, restaurants and bars. From there we explored all the different neighborhoods like the art district San Telmo, the fancy Recoleta district and on our last day we went with Lorena and her family to the colorful Boca neighborhood. Thanks Mauricio for putting us in contact with Lorena.
The support for the Boca Juniors is omni-present in all the streets there. A bit of football history in case you might have forgotten: Diego Armando Maradona became a big star with the Boca Juniors before he played for many years in Barcelona and Napoli. He is one of the greatest players that ever touched a football. (Even God helped him in 1986 when the Hand of God scored the goal against Germany in the World Cup final. :-))
Buenos Aires is also called the city of tango. This Saturday there were quite a few tango shows on the streets of Boca to entertain the tourists.
I even got invited to try a few moves.
Thanks again Lorena for showing us around in your city. You are always welcome for a visit in Switzerland.
I am having trouble updating the maps here with the slow internet connections. But you get the idea of our route.
Current location = Chile Chico and trying to head north on the Carretera Austral to Bariloche.
Best online maps are found under this link: http://maps.live.com/default.aspx?v=2&cp=-18.39623~-61.523438&style=r&lvl=3&tilt=-90&dir=0&alt=-1000&cid=2CF1823075161E3B!106&encType=1 or check the simple Google map below.
