We have spent the past few days exploring Buenos Aires. We are getting to know the people, streets, foods, prices, sights and sounds of Argentina. We spent part of our second day in a very famous cemetery. I thought it was odd at first that everyone was suggesting we go to a cemetery but after spending a few hours there, I understand its attraction. It is by far one of the most extravagant things I have ever seen. This cemetary contains the remains of the richest and most powerful people to ever live in the country. It is difficult to describe, but basically each grave has a huge building on top of it complete with several rooms and levels with stairs. This is the area where family can go inside and visit their loved one. Sometimes there is one person in the site but there are others that have whole families in the same grave. I have posted pictures of some of the grave sites but I do not even know if the pictures can fully express the magnitude of the extavagance. I can estimate that many of these statues, stones and shrines cost hundreds of thousands of dollars. If you are a history buff then I am sure you would recognize many of the names of the people resting here, but since I am not, I just looked at the pretty sites. The one person I did know of was Evita Peron. Madonna did the musical for her story and the song "Dont Cry For Me Argentina" is based on her speach. She was the daughter of (I believe) a very rich businessman and her mother was a prostitute. She grew up very poor and but became wealthy as an adult because the man she married became the president. When she became rich she regularly gave great amounts of money to the poor and to the unions to help out the working class. Her husband however was supported by anti-union groups. So she was very loved by millions of people in Argentina and they wanted her to run for vice-president. Her husband did not give his blessing for her to run for office because of their conflicting views and the fact that their supporters were two comepletely different groups. During this time Evita also got diagnosed with cervical cancer. So the song was a part of the speach she gave to her fans in Argentina. She is a very famous and loved woman here, her photos are found all over, and her final resting place is in this cemetery. Her grave looks similar to the rest, the only difference is that there are always fresh flowers at her site because her supporters are older but still kicking so they remember all that she did for them.
After the cemetery we walked to a history museam where there was a lot of art on display. It was nice to walk through but there were many people so it took quite a while to see all the portraits. We then walked through a famous national park where they also had Japanese gardens. Apparently there was an entrance fee but we did not understand this until after we left the park so we ended up not paying. I suppose there is a benefit to language barriers. We of course had the same bondiolas for dinner because we cannot seem to get enough of the meat here.
The next day we met quite a few new friends. This hostel we are staying at is one of the dirtiest places I have ever seen but it is also very fun and PACKED full of people. It is five levels and every room is booked up and full. There are people from all over the world and everyone is friendly. We slept in yesterday and did some errands such as research for Iguazu falls busses, and places to stay in Costa Rica. We tried to pick up Tyson's new bank card but the banks here close at 15:00 and we got there at 17:00 so it did not work out. It rained this day for the first time since we have been here. The rain drops are huge but the rain lasts only a few minutes and then its over. We went with our new friends for bondiolas tonight, they are from the states but studying in Uruguay and here on break. While I am loving Argentina and the people here, the one thing that is difficult to take is the litter and garbage all over the place. There are huge garbage bags unsealed on the side walks and staff go through the bags to seperate recycling ect with their bare hands. You have to remember that we do not flush toilet paper here because their systems cannot break it down so we throw it in the trash. So these people go through ALL of this. It is pretty hard to stomach, in addition it is very common to throw your trash on the ground here and people do not clean up after their dogs so there is also doggy doodoo everywhere. In fact Tyson stepped in a heaping pile of it yesterday in sandals and he was not pleased. The other thing is that I have never seen so many smokers in my life. I don't think the lung cancer memo has made it here yet.
Tyson made our first non food, non transport ticket purchase the other day. He bought a loose fitting hippie linen shirt. We are now officially backpacker hippies. While he was picking out the shirt and trying it on, we lost each other and I spent a year trying to find him but that's ok.
Today we went to Tigre, another city a train ride away. It was quite a nice city with many canals and most places you can only get to by boat. For example the kids here take water busses home from school. There is also a very large market that started out as a fruit trading site but now they sell very cool authentic Argentine crafts, food, furniture, clothing, decorations and more. Unfortunately we are stingey with how much stuff we can carry home otherwise there are really good deals for neat things that we could only buy here. We also had our first steak dinner here. Steaks and meat is very famous in Argentina and while they do not marinate or spice their foods, the plain taste of the meat is very delicious. We are not used to such bland tastes and carry salt in our pockets. After dinner we got caramel ice cream because caramel is more popular than chocolate here. Of course one dessert was not sufficient so we also stopped at the chocolate store and gave them some sales as well. As I am typing this I am eating cake..this is not good.
It was the pride parade here today so it is nuts outside. There are gizzilions of people walking around with loud music, fireworks and more. It may even be bigger than the Vancouver events that we all enjoy. Tyson just finished winning some ping pong matches in the name of Canada but we are old and tired so its bed time. Tomorrow we plan to spend the day with our new friends to go to some markets and art shows. We also may check out a soccer game because they are apparently quite the thing here. Tango shows are also famous here and "not to be missed" so we might have to splurge a bit there because they are in the pricier realm of life.
"If we are not happy and joyous in this season for what season shall we wait"
After the cemetery we walked to a history museam where there was a lot of art on display. It was nice to walk through but there were many people so it took quite a while to see all the portraits. We then walked through a famous national park where they also had Japanese gardens. Apparently there was an entrance fee but we did not understand this until after we left the park so we ended up not paying. I suppose there is a benefit to language barriers. We of course had the same bondiolas for dinner because we cannot seem to get enough of the meat here.
The next day we met quite a few new friends. This hostel we are staying at is one of the dirtiest places I have ever seen but it is also very fun and PACKED full of people. It is five levels and every room is booked up and full. There are people from all over the world and everyone is friendly. We slept in yesterday and did some errands such as research for Iguazu falls busses, and places to stay in Costa Rica. We tried to pick up Tyson's new bank card but the banks here close at 15:00 and we got there at 17:00 so it did not work out. It rained this day for the first time since we have been here. The rain drops are huge but the rain lasts only a few minutes and then its over. We went with our new friends for bondiolas tonight, they are from the states but studying in Uruguay and here on break. While I am loving Argentina and the people here, the one thing that is difficult to take is the litter and garbage all over the place. There are huge garbage bags unsealed on the side walks and staff go through the bags to seperate recycling ect with their bare hands. You have to remember that we do not flush toilet paper here because their systems cannot break it down so we throw it in the trash. So these people go through ALL of this. It is pretty hard to stomach, in addition it is very common to throw your trash on the ground here and people do not clean up after their dogs so there is also doggy doodoo everywhere. In fact Tyson stepped in a heaping pile of it yesterday in sandals and he was not pleased. The other thing is that I have never seen so many smokers in my life. I don't think the lung cancer memo has made it here yet.
Tyson made our first non food, non transport ticket purchase the other day. He bought a loose fitting hippie linen shirt. We are now officially backpacker hippies. While he was picking out the shirt and trying it on, we lost each other and I spent a year trying to find him but that's ok.
Today we went to Tigre, another city a train ride away. It was quite a nice city with many canals and most places you can only get to by boat. For example the kids here take water busses home from school. There is also a very large market that started out as a fruit trading site but now they sell very cool authentic Argentine crafts, food, furniture, clothing, decorations and more. Unfortunately we are stingey with how much stuff we can carry home otherwise there are really good deals for neat things that we could only buy here. We also had our first steak dinner here. Steaks and meat is very famous in Argentina and while they do not marinate or spice their foods, the plain taste of the meat is very delicious. We are not used to such bland tastes and carry salt in our pockets. After dinner we got caramel ice cream because caramel is more popular than chocolate here. Of course one dessert was not sufficient so we also stopped at the chocolate store and gave them some sales as well. As I am typing this I am eating cake..this is not good.
It was the pride parade here today so it is nuts outside. There are gizzilions of people walking around with loud music, fireworks and more. It may even be bigger than the Vancouver events that we all enjoy. Tyson just finished winning some ping pong matches in the name of Canada but we are old and tired so its bed time. Tomorrow we plan to spend the day with our new friends to go to some markets and art shows. We also may check out a soccer game because they are apparently quite the thing here. Tango shows are also famous here and "not to be missed" so we might have to splurge a bit there because they are in the pricier realm of life.
"If we are not happy and joyous in this season for what season shall we wait"
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