Day 28 - Different Days



Thursday, August 23, 2012 - 05:00

It seems that since we got to Buenos Aires we struggle to get up before around lunch time. I suppose it isn’t such a bad thing – the weather isn’t great at this time of year, and the Argentinians tend to be a lot busier in the evenings/night. For example, last night we were in the bar until around 3am, and it was still completely packed; you certainly don’t realise quite how late it is.

Either way, when we did finally get up we had somewhat different days. Marc booked a rather expensive (£90 so I gave it a miss) ticket to see the Boca Juniors game, and was therefore gone from about 4-10pm. The reason it is so expensive is that they only sell tickets to registered club members, therefore you have to know the right people (in this case the hostel) in order to get one. Luckily he reported it was worth the money, and apparently the game was an exciting one with six goals, a penalty, an excellent free-kick, and great crowd atmosphere.

While Marc was away I went on a wander down to the San Martin area, which has a large park and also the Malvinas War memorial. I approached the memorial with caution, since there were two soldiers standing to attention right in front of it. There were also people sitting quietly paying their respects. As I got closer with my camera the soldiers gave me a rather shifty look, so I didn’t take any close-ups and instead opted for a perhaps more respectable distance shot – certainly different to the snap-happy atmosphere at war memorials in London and Washington DC.

Other than the war memorial, the main sight in the area is the Plaza de San Martin. Predictably, this was a rather standard South American plaza, with some interesting trees and open areas to sit around in. To one side of the plaza is a monument featuring San Martin himself. Apparently he was the prime leader of the independence movement in the southern part of South America, and he liberated most of what is now Argentina, Chile and Peru. As well as the square, the highest decoration awarded by the Argentinian government was named after him (The Order of the Liberator San Martin).

After seeing a rather nice sunset over the plaza, I headed back to the hostel to wait for Marc. In the evening we went out in the Palermo area with Sophie and some of her friends. She is leaving tomorrow after six months of travelling so was sad to be leaving. Tomorrow we plan to check out the city’s main cemetery where Evita is buried.

Photos of the day: the Argentinian flag flying in the Plaza de San Martin, and the Malvinas War memorial.

Comments

I guess you didn't ask those shifty soldiers to take a photo of you and the 'Falklands' war memorial!

I see you have the family footy genes

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