Day ten of my stretch saw the arrival of John from Colorado aboard a KTM 950 Super Enduro. John had lived in Argentina amongst other places within South America and what he must have thought of us three chasing cockroaches around as he unpacked his bag god only knows.
It was thanks to him that we finally saw sense and decided to clear off to Uruguay for the Easter break. Unfortunately upon arriving at the shipping terminal it seemed that so had everyone else as the boats were all full. So with our belongings on our shoulders BJ and I wandered the streets in search of accommodation within the city. Feeling a bit like Joseph we were at the point of no hope as darkness fell. Yet another inn had no room but they were able to offer us a stable. This particular stable was next door where a family had a couple of rooms that they occasionally let out. And what a little oasis it was. No sharing a dorm with some Swiss cheese eaters or passively smoking ganja from the Brazilian hippies here. Spot on.
Also spot on was discovering that despite seemingly walking every square foot of the city centre we ended up in San Telmo. Wow. Full of little cafés, restaurants, bars and antique shops, the cobbled streets and old shutter windowed buildings were very Parisian. With Dave occupied catching up with an old friend BJ and I were left to explore this beautiful district, watch an Argentine tango show, drink coffee, shop and take photos.
As well as this was the highlight of the trip so far...taking in a football match between River Plate and Goody Cruz. With River designated our local team to where we settled in Argentina we made our way to the stadium ticketless as we ignored the tourist package that most take and followed the crowd. After a quick roast pork roll and with kick off approaching it appeared that my estimate of a 35,000 crowd was way off the mark as it looked like we may struggle to get in. A tout eventually sold us a valid ticket after trying to knock out used tickets to last week’s match and we were in. Our £20 tickets were in a seating area with no seat but no matter as we stood amongst the locals in the exit stairs with the stadium presumably over its 80,000 capacity. It was like nothing I’ve witnessed before with the noise, colour and passion hugely impressive, rendering us speechless. In every way it bettered football in the UK and from now on it just won’t be the same for me.
River eventually lost the second v third match 2-1 but just as full time approached a Queens Park Rangers tracksuit top made its way through the spectator’s right past me!! John, (another one!) from India, living in Costa Rica and on vacation chatted with me over all things QPR and numbers were exchanged and a possible hook up in Costa Rica was arranged. I had such a great time during these four days with so many more wonderful experiences that could run into pages and pages on here but I’ll just say that in the end it actually felt difficult to leave. I fully understand why my old friend Mick is rooted in Santiago and in his position I would stay here indefinitely. Still, maybe one day...
It was thanks to him that we finally saw sense and decided to clear off to Uruguay for the Easter break. Unfortunately upon arriving at the shipping terminal it seemed that so had everyone else as the boats were all full. So with our belongings on our shoulders BJ and I wandered the streets in search of accommodation within the city. Feeling a bit like Joseph we were at the point of no hope as darkness fell. Yet another inn had no room but they were able to offer us a stable. This particular stable was next door where a family had a couple of rooms that they occasionally let out. And what a little oasis it was. No sharing a dorm with some Swiss cheese eaters or passively smoking ganja from the Brazilian hippies here. Spot on. 
Also spot on was discovering that despite seemingly walking every square foot of the city centre we ended up in San Telmo. Wow. Full of little cafés, restaurants, bars and antique shops, the cobbled streets and old shutter windowed buildings were very Parisian. With Dave occupied catching up with an old friend BJ and I were left to explore this beautiful district, watch an Argentine tango show, drink coffee, shop and take photos. 
As well as this was the highlight of the trip so far...taking in a football match between River Plate and Goody Cruz. With River designated our local team to where we settled in Argentina we made our way to the stadium ticketless as we ignored the tourist package that most take and followed the crowd. After a quick roast pork roll and with kick off approaching it appeared that my estimate of a 35,000 crowd was way off the mark as it looked like we may struggle to get in. A tout eventually sold us a valid ticket after trying to knock out used tickets to last week’s match and we were in. Our £20 tickets were in a seating area with no seat but no matter as we stood amongst the locals in the exit stairs with the stadium presumably over its 80,000 capacity. It was like nothing I’ve witnessed before with the noise, colour and passion hugely impressive, rendering us speechless. In every way it bettered football in the UK and from now on it just won’t be the same for me.
River eventually lost the second v third match 2-1 but just as full time approached a Queens Park Rangers tracksuit top made its way through the spectator’s right past me!! John, (another one!) from India, living in Costa Rica and on vacation chatted with me over all things QPR and numbers were exchanged and a possible hook up in Costa Rica was arranged. I had such a great time during these four days with so many more wonderful experiences that could run into pages and pages on here but I’ll just say that in the end it actually felt difficult to leave. I fully understand why my old friend Mick is rooted in Santiago and in his position I would stay here indefinitely. Still, maybe one day...
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