It's late and I've been laboring away all day getting everything ready
and we're off first thing tomorrow morning so I've decided to let
pictures speak 1000 words and be brief.
I arrived at the weekend so there was little to be done and our stuff
was still in Frankfurt. Amazingly, since Monday, not only has it all
arrived but it's out of customs, loaded up on our FIAT vans and we're
ready to leave for the 1100 Km drive across South America to Mendoza
tomorrow morning. Just as well really as all the team is here including
mountain guide, photographer, doctor and film crew and everyone's ready
to go.
You can eat jolly well here in Buenos Aires, they do meat, BIG meat, and
with a few beers the bill is less than £10. The best one we found is
called Desnivel, it was so good we went back the next night. Superb!
There are two things they do in Argentina better than anyone else: Polo
and Tango. The all Argentine Polo final was on the day I arrived so I
didn't get to go (tickets were apparently sold out months before anyway)
but on Sunday evening, in a little square round the corner from Desnivel
people were dancing the Tango. The sound system may have kept breaking
down but nobody seemed to mind too much. It was a really great thing to
see, nothing artificial at all, perhaps most astonishing was the mix of
people, grandpa's dancing with girls their granddaughter's age, punks
with their grannys, and everybody was really good at it.
The traffic here is a bit mad, but I've seen worse; they do seem to stop
quite reliably on red lights and things. In a taxi this afternoon we
were waiting at a red light when there was suddenly a terrific
screeching of tyres and the car next to us suddenly leapt into the air
and ended up facing the other way, a guy had just run very hard into the
back of him. Several other cars ended up also being quite seriously
damaged in the incident. My driver couldn't stop thanking his lucky
stars for the rest of the journey that his car came out of it completely
unscathed.
Looking for a road map, I chanced upon what must be the best book shop
in Buenos Aires; The Athena. Even if you didn't want to buy a book it's
worth visiting just to see it; it's an old Edwardian era theater
complete with balconies and a huge painting on the ceiling. The stage
is a restaurant, the upper circle is educational books and you pay in
the box offices. I got a good road map and the 'Adventure Guide to
Argentina'. I haven't had time yet to really look at it.
It's a great city, Buenos Aires, but I shall be glad to be on my way
tomorrow.
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