First time in Buenos Aires.

After the screw up in Santiago I arrived in Buenos Aires after dark. The flight over the Andes mountains was amazing, and I knew I had to go up there again, but the first thing on the agenda was to get in to the city and find somewhere to stay. Buenos Aires is a large city, and I knew it could be dangerous to walk around with all my stuff after dark. I got a bus to the center that included a shuttle to the hotel when we got to the city. They had a list of hostels, and I just picked one by random. I could always find a new one the next day if it was not good.

I got to the Milhouse Hostel, close to the main street. It was big, and as part of an old apartment building, the dormrooms had gigantic wooden doors, at least three meters tall. I paid and felt satisfied and tired. But in this hostel there was no time for rest. An hour later they cleared the eating tables and made a dancefloor in front of the bar. The party went on till 2 AM, and then it continued in the club across the street. I met some cool Irish lads, and later on a half Italian, half English girl who could teach me some Italian. A couple From Brazil fired up some Portugese also, since we were all so interested in language. The Italian teacher was really good at repeating my Danish, supervised by a Danish girl called Maria. The only language I did not get to practice was Spanish.

The next day I got to see more of the city. Buenos Aires is divided into a few very distinct barrios (neighborhoods). One of the most famous, and by far most dangerous barrios is called "La Boca". I did not want to get lost there carrying any valuables, so to be able to bring my camera I went on a guided tour arranged by the hostel. We took some local buses out there, walked around a little, and heard some stories about Boca. La Boca got it's name from the "river" (It is really just a finger of the ocean that sticks inland like a small river.) that runs theough the barrio. Just before we entered this district an old lady told us that we had to turn around and go back. That it was not safe to be there. She was only the first of about five random people on the street that was yelling at our guide for taking us to such a dangerous place. Back in the old days when sailboats with sailors from all over the world came ashore here, a very special cultural scene bloomed in La Boca. One of the funny things in Boca were the buildings, which ended up having many different colors. This happened because people were poor, and could not afford to buy paint for their houses. They would sneak down to the docks at night and steel the buckets that were not empty from the day's paint job on the ships. They would not look at the color the next day, but take whatever they could find. Across the water from where we stopped there used to be a lot of factories. Now it is only two left, and those are to blame for the extremely contaminated water. It is cheaper for them to bribe some government officials and pay some small fines than it it so get rid of the toxic waste properly. The water is almost black, and nothing lives there. One time our guide went there with guests from the hostel they saw a dead dog floating in the water. Next time she guided that tour she wanted to tell the group that last time she was there they saw a dead dog in the water. She talked and pointed. Everyone started looking, and when she did too, they realized that it was a human head floating in the water. The water here is known for being the place where all corpses are dumped. And after heavy rainfall bodies start to float up and be washed ashore.

At the other side of the factories there is a huge slum, but there was no way that our guide would ever go there. We had to stay on the streets where she knew people, and as a guide that went there often she knew a lot of people.
The people in Argentina, and especially in La Boca, are very proud of their social services. Education is free, all through university, and every citizen is paying 10% of their salary to the education program. There are a lot of free day time and evening activities for kids, and this they are particularly proud of.

There is one thing however, that the Argentinians are a lot more proud of than anything. Fútbol. They love football more than any other nation, and La Boca is not an exeption. They have their own team, Boca Juniors, which has raised stars like Maradona and Tevéz. Maradona is maybe not the most popular name in Boca anymore, but the team is good, and the crowd watching probably the crazyest in the world. Out of the 35 000 seats in the stadium, there are 15 000 members that are entitled to buy two tickets each. That leaves only five thousand tickets, which all go to the away fans. The face value of the tickets are 30 Pesos, but it is impossible to buy one for less than 250. This is because of Los Doce. Los Doce are the hooligans, the crazy fans that run everything around the club as if it was a business. You can buy a ticket for 30 Pesos, but if you don't pay Los Doce their 200, they will not protect you, which in their lenguage means that they will beat you up. And also, 98% of tickets you buy on the street are fake. The seats you are able to get are behind one of the goals, just below the away fans. If you are not there several hours early you will not be able to get a seat under the roof, but even if you do you are not safe from all the stuff that comes from above. They throw everything they have; rocks, bottels, paper rolls, they pee on you, s*** is cups and throw it down. It is crazy. We went through the museum and got to walk on one of the stands, but I would love to experience a game ther. On the oposite side of where I was, they built a stand straight up, since there was no room to build backwards. In the middle of that stand there is a box with a yellow bench. Maradona bought that bench, but unlike before he became the coach of the national team, he never comes to the games anymore. The bench is always empty. No one in Argentina is happy with having Maradona as a coach.

The tango was invented in La Boca, and it started as a dance beteeen the sailors and the prostitutes. It is a mix of many cultures, but the Spanish salsa is evident. And maybe some Italian arrogance? The dance died out in the 1940's and 1950's, but after Tango was used in a couple Hollywood movies, and gained popularity, La Boca claimed it to be theirs, and tango classes, schools and shows popped up all over the place. When we walked the three "safe" tourist streets in La Boca on our own, we could see tango shows in the resraueants all over the place. These streets were a little too touristy for me, the plastic figures on the balconies, and the Maradona immitator who wanted people to take pictures with him kind of ruined the whole experience, and I was happy to sit down at a nice barbeque place and have some food.

When you order meat in Argentina you get a plate with meat. If you want salad, vegetables or anything else, you have to order that separate. But the meat is good. And big. I was actually more satesfied with the beef I cooked myself, because the steak I got in restaurants was cooked way too much. And they used bad spices.

The hostel, Milhouse, is in two different buildings about five minutes apart. Everything was going on in the other one this evening, but it was all the same people. I stayed in the oldest one, and I liked that one better.
My last day in Buenos Aires for this time, I decided to see as much as possible, so I started walking the city with a couple Irish guys, and then after seeing the presidential palace, some cool neighborhoods and an Irish bar, I headed out on my own to cover more ground. One of my main destinations was the graveyard. It is an old and massive graveyard with large monuments for the dead. Right at the entrance was Perón's mausoleum, and while walking down the alleyways between the masseve monuments, I got the feeling there were more important people and families dead than alive in Buenos Aires.

Walking back to the hostel I bought a Spanish book about wine, a few peices of fruit, and got time to digest my feelings for BA. I liked it, but was not at all amazed, yet.