Buenos Aires – La Boca and the Boca Juniors

It is always amazing how quickly man recovers from the strain of a long flight and more than thirty sleepless hours.

In any case, everything seems to be in the best of order in the morning. The smells of fresh coffee floating in from outside are so seductive that the stomach turns into a loud growl.

The Chillhouse

The Chillhouse is great. It has several floors, on the roof you can relax from your exertions. The breakfast room is spread over the whole ground floor. Some people sit at tiny metal tables, whose unequal length of legs (or is it the floor?) causes considerable fluctuations, others sit on benches or a bar that runs along the wall.

You can listen to the most different languages, Spanish of course, but also English, French, German. The usual mixture. But the breakfast is great: freshly baked bread with homemade jam, butter, scrambled eggs, freshly squeezed orange juice and coffee, whatever your heart (or stomach) desires.

As it soon becomes clear, Buenos Airesis at first glance impressive, at second challenging, at third a declaration of love. You can't give more affection to a place than to say that you might live here.

The city, officially only 202 square kilometers in size, represents the core of one of the largest metropolitan regions in South America, Gran Buenos Aires, with a population of about 13 million.

It extends about 68 kilometers from northwest to southeast and about 33 kilometers from the coast to southwest. It is often referred to as Argentina's "hydrocephalus" because it is home to almost all of the country's major institutions, and because about a third of all Argentineans live in the city and especially in the surrounding area. It is an important cultural center and was named 2005 by UNESCO with the title City of Design [Wikipedia]

Antoine explains on the map what not to miss in Buenos Aires.

I will hardly cross the whole city on foot, but today I will start with the famous center with Avenida 9 de Julio, Plaza de Mayo, then the two districts San Telmo and La Boca and - if my legs allow - the Puerto Madero.

But, to get there, there is no way around using the metro, which, as you know, is a special challenge for me (see Bangkok).

After all my travels around the wold, I have come to the conclusion that every city is trying to invent its own ticketing system for its metro, with the aim of presenting each customer with an intellectual challenge (but perhaps that only applies to me).

If one pays with coins in one place, it is with chips in the other place and tickets in the third place. Now here is a new version, one with a loaded card, similar to a credit card, on which two rides are loaded. Afterwards it can be recharged. Not bad ...

And indeed, my intellectual capacity is quite sufficient for this alternative.

The center of the city with the widest street in the world, the Avenida 9 de Juliois the starting point of today's undertaking. The obelisk dominates the square, a huge monument with a historical background, commemorating the city's 400th anniversary.

High buildings line the streets, hectic rushes through. It is surprisingly quiet compared to Delhi; hardly ever a horn or one of the other typically Indian rapes of the auditory canals. In terms of architectural style, it could also be Madrid or Barcelona, ​​the origins of the architecture are evident. The best thing to do is let yourself drift, very slowly, as usual, feeling the pull, the rhythm of the city.

The Plaza de Mayo leads directly to the Casa Rosada, a building in pink that I want to have a closer look at. Having the idea of a museum or something similar, I resolutely step through the entrance, where a heavily armed soldier with a grim face stops me. It's not a somewhat kitschy museum but the presidential palace. Oops...

Incidentally, the Plaza de Mayo is the place where every Thursday the Mothers of the Plaza de Mayo assemble and march counter-clockwise around the central monument. By doing so, they want to remember the missing children of the dirty war in the Seventies, the photos of their missing loved ones pinned to their chest.

San Telmo is famous for its idyllic alleys, the numerous bars and restaurants, the small shops and museums and the shady squares where you can stretch out your tired legs and enjoy a coffee.

It is teeming with tourists, you can hear a lot of American English, whole groups of stout older Trumps, in their tow rather terribly dressed older women, follow their guide while the burning sun turns their faces red under their hats. It won't be the last time I run into them.

La Boca is a different matter. It's the poorest and roughest neighborhood in town. There are certain alleys you shouldn't walk through at night. Not that Buenos Aires is particularly dangerous, but you shouldn't challenge it either. But this applies to all big cities of this size, be it Mumbai or Moscow or Paris or whatever …

But of course La Boca is home to the 'Boca Juniors, one of the hottest football clubs in the world. Well-known footballers have earned their stripes here, so it is ultimately a Mecca for football aficionados.

The first team is among the most successful football teams in Argentina and has been playing in the Primera División since the establishment of the modern Argentine league system. Home games are played in the Estádio Alberto J. Armando or in the popular La Bombonera. Boca's biggest rival is River Plate. The matches between the two clubs are called Superclásicos and put the whole country in a state of emergency.

I'm a fan of Argentinian football, but what excites me even more is the special charm of the neighbourhood. The Murals of La Boca are world-famous, and you can't help but stand in front of the colorfully painted walls in spite of the heat while marvelling at the skill of the amateur artists.

Puerto Madero

By the way, it is hot, very hot, and I am glad about the constant gentle breeze caressing my sweaty face. On the map, the extensions of the Rio de la Plata are shown as blue zones, the way water normally looks like.

However, the brown soup can only be described as water with difficulty. Apparently the Argentinean side of the river is completely polluted (the Uruguayan side is said to be better; you can still have a bath there).

This is pretty shameful, because the Puerto Maderoa mile-long, beautifully laid out complex of the original harbour area, would have deserved a more beautiful scenery.

A frigate, a former training ship, is tied up at the quay, probably for all eternity, as it turns out. It was deployed in the 19th Century and was in service until the 30 years of the last century.

Now tourists swarm in its interior, children play in the seemingly endless corridors.

What particularly fascinates me is the steering wheel. Anyone who has at least seen the 'Pirates of the Caribean' can imagine that. Not on this ship: here three (!) Steering wheels are installed one behind the other. Reason: in severe storms, a single steering wheel was not enough, in extreme cases all three steering wheels were required, which had to be operated by up to 6 men. Wow ...

A different Buenos Aires

My walking step becomes slower, I begin to pay tribute to the long distances in the blazing heat. And so I end up in a small restaurant, drink a glass of Vino Tinto, eat an Empanada and feel just great.

This impression fades on the way back to the hotel. In contrast to the ostentatious skyscrapers, which give a completely different impression of the city, the lower classes of the population are in great need. See below …

Mileage: zero

Matching Song: Talking Heads - Air

And here the journey continues ...