Argentina
February
4, 2013 - On the day King Richard III's bones were verified
by comparing skeletal DNA to a 17th generation relative, we
returned from the port with our vehicles, defeated. All this because the
power, which apparently went off three days ago, had yet to be
repaired at the warehouse where our container stood waiting for
us. Since our customs broker arrived five minutes before the
agreed upon time, we thought everything was going smoothly, but
no.
South America still stumbles around in the Dark Ages at times.
For the past ten days or so, we've lived at the apartment on Caseros in San Telmo. It's comfortable and you easily fall into the routine of South American life. Restaurants by and large don't open till eight thirty and people still arrive in droves till well after ten. Barbeques reign in a country where Vegetarianism is smiled upon as some weird psychological disorder.
Reams of old and tattered little cafes line the streets of San Telmo, all occupied by the locals enjoying their morning coffee, newspapers and cigarettes. The city still has not lost its disorderly comfort which reflects its soul. Tourists are not too common yet in San Telmo as it was not a safe neighborhood up until recently. It feels a bit like Paris twenty or so years ago, streets littered with dog crap included.
Although there are no great sites in Buenos Aires, the city is overall very pleasant. There are curio items to visit, such as the El Ateneo bookstore. Its circular interior and domed roof are spectacular.
Street art is plentiful too.
One of the more spectacular things I saw in Buenos Aires is La Recoleta Cemetery. People take their family graves seriously here and a lot of them are the size of small houses. Most of them have steps leading to huge cellars, ready to receive more dead relatives.
On our second visit to the warehouse, we were luckier. The power was on and with unusual swiftness, our two bikes and the VW Van were processed through customs.
A sealed container is always a happy sight, at least on departure.
Now we have a few days to relax and poke around the city before we all fly in different directions prior to meeting in Kuala Lumpur in early March.
We took a quick side trip to the city of Tigre, a town an hour outside of Buenos Aires.
It's quaint and the main attraction seems to be boat ride taking you past all the places of past grandeur.
It's a major tourist destination for locals too. Tigre was our last outing before boarding a plane to colder places on this planet, at least for a while. On March 10th I leave for Kuala Lumpur where the bike will arrive on the 13th. In the mean time, I'll be in Vancouver for a few weeks with an outing to Nevada for a photo shoot.