Buenos Aires or Brrr, Brrr, Cooooooooo-ooooooold!

The plane lands at Buenos Aires and everybody claps.  This happens throughout Central America too (but strangely not Brazil - it must be a Spanish thing).  I actually find it very disconcerting when it's been a trouble-free landing.  It makes me think that my life has been in great danger and that I haven't been paying attention.

The first jolt to the senses on arriving in Buenos Aires from hot Cuba and Panama is that it's cold.  Maybe up to 14 degrees in the daytime and only around 9 or 10 at night.  Not having a jacket, I basically had to resort to wearing a shirt over a t-shirt.  Not that this makes a lot of difference, as a brutal roof-top bus-ride was to prove a couple of days later.

The second impact that the city makes on you is its sheer vastness.  Some 15 million-plus people live here in 48 districts but it was also a city built on a grand scale.  Wide avenues run through the city - in fact, one of them, is the widest in the world - and there is a 280 acre park on one end of the city.  The whole city was,federalised about 15 years ago, so it's technically a state in itself.  Needless to say, walking anywhere here takes time but it is a great city to walk around.

Our first couple of nights are spent in San Telmo, an arty but run-down suburb.  It's apparently the home of tango in Buenos Aires (although, strangely, I seem to be hearing the Smiths wherever I go) but even better, around the corner from our hotel, there's a brew pub outlet...

My kind of chocolate wheel

At last an IPA!  And then a Stout...suddenly I'm not feeling the cold.

Of course, there's also the smell of meat being grilled everywhere.  An impromptu steak sandwich, which actually comprised 3 steaks between 2 pieces of bread took some eating!

Everything said about the steaks is true.  The meat, and the food in general, is just delicious!  And washing it down with a Malbec just seems very civilized.

We took the opportunity to watch Argentina play their last group game at one of the big-screen areas in the city.  The first thing to note was how polite Argentinian fans were.  The opposing team's anthem was applauded by a few people.  Good play was clapped rather than accompanied by raucous cheering.  In fact, it all seemed rather like a day at the cricket in England.  That said, the place did erupt when a goal was scored and, with Argentina's penchant for letting Nigeria equalise, goals were needed.

Weight of expectation not shown

There was almost a sense of expectation rather than trepidation when Messi placed the ball for a free-kick and, sure enough, he calmly slotted into the corner beyond the reach of the diving keeper with the ensuing, elongated, "Goooo-aaaaaalllll!" Cometh the hour, cometh the man, indeed!

Interestingly, having listened to the Spanish commentary, I realise that Messi, is probably the only player whose name I pronounce correctly.  There may be a PhD in the importance of having a an easy name to say and being famous...


As mentioned, we took a rooftop bus tour, which was a great way to see the city, and to get frost-bite.

We were given giant headphones, which mainly served as ear-muffs but did mean you had to endure a deafening piece of tango (I assume) which was on about a 2 minute loop non-stop for the 3 hours, only interrupted by fragmented English commentary on the sights, which in turn was interrupted by Spanish advertisements and instructions not to smoke.  I've also come to the conclusion that in every piece of music there's a part that sounds like Moon River...but that could be just because I heard this segueway 84 times...

It is a great city, although my travelling companion, Dr. Paul, informs me that Argentinians have the highest rate of psychological consultation in the world.  I'm sure this is connected to all that clapping when planes land.

Too much to possibly be able to describe