Location: ABH Hostel, Buenos Aires, Argentina.
I'm delighted to be in Argentina! Ever since my first tv memories which were the 1986 World cup (I was 4!) Maradonna and the hand of god goal I have been captivated by this huge Spanish speaking country which stretches as far north as Bolivia and almost as far south as the Antarctic. In my teenage years I would have been aware of the economic crises which Argentina went through where games show prizes were jobs! And of course more recently the meteoric rise of the Pumas (Argentina’s rugby team) who so decisively sent us packing from the 2007 rugby world cup before going on themselves to finish 3rd. Indeed Argentina is known just as much for its beautiful woman as it is football, and for the Tango just as much as a balcony loving singer asking her country not to cry for her! My first impressions of Buenos Aires do not disappoint either as it is essentially New York – but in Spanish!
Getting here involved what should have been an 18hr bus ride but which became a 24hr one due to national protests, a couple of road accidents, and 2 long police check points, one of which was interesting for myself! A brief back story is required here – On Thursday I went to Paraguay but only for a couple of hours. Getting there only involved walking across a bridge from Foz do Iguassu in Brazil, a bridge described by the Lonely planet guide as a place “just as likely to be mugged in broad daylight as in the late hours of the night” so I thought this might be a fun way to spend a Thurs afternoon. It’s not that I have a death wish mind or go looking for trouble but I have come to realise that the Lonely Planet guide for all its good is probably the biggest scare mongering book I’ve ever come across! Never the less I put the passport in the pocket, $10, and nothing else and went for a stroll. As expected there was no mugging, after all what were they going to take – my Dunnes stores sandals?! But my passport did take a savage beating from border officials on both sides of the border! Stamped out of Brazil, stamped into Paraguay, and on the return stamped out of Paraguay and stamped into Brazil! Two full pages of stamps in my passport for just a four hour excursion. While in Paraguay I ate some lunch and walked around the “thieves” market, thought I might even spot my own camera which was stolen last Friday in Rio – no such luck however. The markets were full of cameras on display but the retailers were happy to talk dollars but not English. It wasn’t hard to spot the only real language in operation here however and that was the language of “fake goods”, besides I couldn’t buy anything anyway – I had no money remember! My re-entry into Brazil was actually funny as I was “sent” in the immigration office to a girl who was supposedly able to speak English. Turns out she was only learning English and wanted to practice and I was a happy smiling Irish guinue pig – she was stunning! Picture the passport office in Dublin airport with a tanned Roseanna Davidson (when shes not fighting with Ryanair) behind it instead of a grumpy old lad from Offaly! That’s the kind of sight that greeted me, broken English in a Latin American accent…. Is there anything sexier?! The actual immigration office looked for all the world like the toll booths on the M50 motorway – it was a busy road bridge after all with hundreds of cars, trucks and busses passing through every day. Not many pedestrians (probably thanks to the Lonely Planet Guide!) so it wasn’t exactly equipped for people on foot. Never the less the actual procedure was the same, fill up the paper work, have it processed in the computer and have the passport stamped. In my case there was a delay in having the info processed in the computer so I was offered coffee!!! Where else would you get immigration service like that!!! Coffee instead of an interrogation – you gotta love it.
Ok so it’s a not so brief back story – but now you are brought up to speed! Remember the 2 pages of stamps in my passport? Well when we stopped at a road side security check point about an hour into the bus trip on the Argentinian side the security officer (who was complete opposite of the beauty I had encountered at the Brazilian border) gazed intently at and for some time at my passport before muttering something in Spanish, the guy behind me on the bus translated for me and explained that he wanted to search my bags – turns out that Paraguay is a primary drugs route to Argentina and anyone who has been through there, especially for only just a few hours like this stupid gringo, raises suspicion! I stood up to go walk off the bus and get my back pack for searching when the guy behind me explained to me that no he only wanted to search the bag I had with me on the bus and so he did like he was Homer Simpson looking for candy down the back of a couch! Of course he found nothing and I think he actually looked disappointed! In all honesty would I really have had the 20kgs of cocaine in my back pack sitting on the bus?? Of course not – I had put in the rucksack of the stupid English twat who was sitting in front of me when he wasn’t looking!!! I joke of course. I'm a poor backpacker – can’t afford drugs!!!
Lastly I need to report on a bar I went to last night. It was called “The Kilkenny” so how could I resist! Beautiful looking place, well designed and wouldn’t at all look out of place on Shop St in Galway, but that where the “Irishness” ends. No Guinness on tap was a bad start until the barman explained that even if he did it would be at least $20 – no thank you. The bar is completely Argentinian owned but there was one Irish guy working there, Nial Flanigan from Co. Armagh. He has been here for about 2 years and loves the place but by his own admission he is living off funds made in the US as its impossible to live off the wages made here in Argentina. In fairness to the chap he knew exactly what he was here for judging by the number of local “Chicititas” that were lining up to “embrace” him as they came through the door. The sligh Irish wink he sent in my direction after certain ones needed no explanation! The kid was making hay while the sun shined and who could blame him! He did however give me the low down on the bar, the locals hate having gringos working there, the wages are terrible and any Irish that come working there only last about 2 days when they see how bad the wages actually are, none of that bothered the Armagh boy however as he was there on “international Relations” purposes only! The place having no relevance to where it is called after did disappoint me however and it got even worse when Nial told me about a recent All Star tour when some of the Kilkenny players came to drink in the bar, after spending almost A$20,000 pesos during the days drinking Niall himself approached the Argentinian owners, explained who the guys were and asked if he could send them over a few plates of chips on the house….. the owners response “f**K them, I don’t care who they are”!!! Once again Irish bars abroad need to be regulated…. Or at least taxed! Now there’s an idea… if every Irish bar abroad was taxed annually Ireland would be out of its economic slump in 2 years!!!
Anyway off to find a spot to watch the rugby and then the football, watching the Champions league final in Messi’s home town should be interesting, especially as a Utd supporter! Until tomorrow….