We chat on the way to try and ward off the nerves, it takes around 2 hours to reach our destination, close to the small town of Chascomus. Once there, our driver cum skydive master, Estaban, shows us an explanatory video with the postures we need to adopt. It's a beautiful day outside and we admire the many small planes around the makeshift airfield.
We get harnessed up and decide we are going to go first - the waiting would be too much to bear! We have paid AR900 for a tandem jump which includes a video. Wendy is going to jump with Esteban and I meet my tandem partner, Sebastian. He sticks the camera in my face, asks a few questions and then says "ok talk"... What to say? :)
The tiny plane is ready for us, and we squeeze in - there is literally only space for the pilot on his seat, and the four of us, Wendy and I sitting between the legs of our tandem partners on the floor. We take off and watch the flat pampas get smaller and smaller, and a large lake and the small town of Chascomus come into sight. Eventually we can see the Rio del Plata river, and even the sea, and even Uruguay! Wendy is looking pretty nervous so I try to crack some jokes to lighten the mood but it doesn't help much!
Sebastian is filming the area and occasionally us, and we wind our way higher and higher, 4000ft, 6000ft... We watch the altimeter as we ascend. Soon we have to sit on the laps of our partners. Eventually we are at 1000ft, and Sebastian warns me the door is opening. Suddenly the wind is rushing in and it's time to go! Wendy and Esteban are first, and disappear in a instant! Then Sebastian and I move to the door, and I have to dangle my feet out, eventually my entire body is hanging out of the plane, in the "banana" position, while he prepares to jump. I'm looking down into nothingness and wondering what the heck we were thinking... And when we jump its the craziest feeling in the world! Free falling for almost 60 second, Sebastian shouts "welcome to my office!" I like his office. My eyes are open and looking around, the view is incredible. He taps my shoulder and I open my arms, it feels like flying!
Next the parachute is deployed and suddenly we are not dropping so fast anymore! He spirals the chute and we spin around and around, one way and then another, dropping quite fast, it's scary and dizzying and fun. Soon the ground is near, and I lift my legs to land, expecting to have to run, but we land almost stationery and then the chute pulls us back, but the ground team are there to catch us. It feels great to be back on land. My heart is pounding like crazy and I'm laughing. I say thanks to Sebastian for keeping me safe and then watch as Wendy lands as well. She is a bit freaked but totally exhilarated.
We head back to the little cafe and order a large Heineken to celebrate in front of the warm fire. The staff bring us our videos and we watch them while waiting for Nina and Joerg. They have done a really professional job, with both photos and videos, and a funky soundtrack. We laugh at the way our cheeks are flapping in the wind and the looks on our faces as we jump.
Esteban takes us back to Buenos Aires in the minivan and we meet Van at the Starbucks. He has been exploring BA, trying to visit some museums, which disappointingly were all closed...he ended up checking out Puerto Madero, and the huge frigate which is moored there.
It's now about 3:00 and we are starving, so we grab a bite at a pub on 9 de Julio, nachos and a huge beef schnitzel. The waiter is really friendly, from Galapagos, and he chats to us and gives good advice as to how to use the bus system. We decide to try it to go to Recoleta cemetary. We hop on the bus, they only take coins so we start putting coins in before realizing we don't have quite enough. A kind guy behind us helps out by paying the difference, he won't even take the notes we offer him to cover it.
We arrive in Recoleta, the most posh suburb of BA, and walk around a while before finding the entrance to the cemetary. As we walk in, a friendly lady who speaks good English explains more about the place, and sells us a map for AR10, explaining a good route to follow. The entrance is free, and there are many people walking around and taking photos. We are here to see Evitas mausoleum, but are amazed by the place in general. It is huge, with thousands of mausoleums, it feels a bit like a mini city of the dead... Many of the mausoleums are enormous, decorated with marble and huge statues of angels and the like. They have stairs down into crypts, and some have visible coffins. We follow the route and find Evita Peron's grave with the Duarte family - it is down a side street, and is not particularly impressive, no larger or more prominent than the others. There are many tourists gathered around, and we have to queue to take photos. It is quite weird to be posing in front of a grave and we are not sure if it is appropriate to smile or not! We then have a quick walk around the rest of the place. Even more huge and impressive mausoleums, a beautiful one modeled like a small church.
We leave and hop into a taxi to get to Retiro for our second free walking tour with BA Freetour. We meet the guide, Vicky, at the San Martin plaza, besides the horse statue. She explains that her tour is more cultural, while the morning tour we did with Maggie is more historical and political. She has been to South Africa, with Maggie, her best friend :). There are about 12 other tourists joining us, and we head off around the area.
She starts by showing us two of the "palaces" - more like mansions, close to the square. They are huge and beautifully architected in French and European style, apparently there was no shortage of money in the early 29th century. She tells us a story of the son of the owner of this mansion, who was a huge party animal, but his mother eventually told him he needs to marry someone of the same class, so he saw the mansion opposite the square, and walked across, knocked on the door, and married their daughter...
We walk through the park and admire the view of the port (puerto nueva, the new port) and a clock tower which was a gift from the British. They like to call it Mini-Big Ben, but don't tell the Portenos - it actually looks nothing like Big Ben! The sun is setting and there is a beautiful light around the area. It is not even particularly cold.
We walk down the stairs to the monument to the Falklands war, and all those who died. Vicky explains that the Falklands, or Malvinas as they call them, are very close to the hearts of Argentians, and they are quite upset that Britain conquered them. While the dictatorship government was in place, they decided to try and do something to create more positivity for Argentinians, and so sent their army to recapture Malvinas. But they were so poorly trained and underprepared they got slaughtered, many even died of hunger and exposure. There are two army guards standing at the monument, and we are just in time fore the closing: 5 more soldiers arrive, take down the flag, close the monument and then march off.
We also march off, following Vicky to the next palace, and then to the Israel memorial, which commemorates a bomb blast on the site of the Israeli embassy which killed many. Buenos Aires has the third largest population of Jews in the world. Vicky also explains to us, somewhat randomly, about how the Argentine government "cheated" the Big Mac index. She said most burger meals in McDonalds will cost around AR50, but the Government convinced McDonalds to charge only AR26 for a Big Mac meal, so that it would appear as if it is a more affordable place to live.
We reach plaza Catalunya where there is a fountain, a gift from Spain, modeled on a similar fountain in Barcelona which, if you drink from it, ensures you will return. We sip from the fountain after being assured that the water is safe to drink. The building next to the plaza is weird, the walls have been painted with 3D windows which look pretty real from afar. We see the next mansion, which is the French embassy, which almost got destroyed when they were widening Ave 9 de Julio, and then we walk down the most expensive street in BA, Ave Alvear. Vicky explains why BA is one of the global hotspots for plastic surgery - apparently all private health insurances include a free plastic surgery every 2 years, so many Portenos make good use of this offer! The insurance also covers psychologists, so she says it is so common for everyone to see therapists - "if you don't have a psychologist, there must be something wrong with you!"
We walk, trying to spot some of the "lions" Vicky describes as having to much plastic surgery. We pass three more mansions. The first one is flying the flag of the Vatican, the wealthy owner left the mansion to the church in her will and it is now the Vatican embassy. The next mansion is now an upmarket hotel. Next door is a mansion which looks like the Adams family house and is inhabited by an old Scottish couple, the McGuires. Moving on we reach the most exclusive hotel in BA - hotel Alvear. Only half of the building actually belongs to the hotel - they ran out of money at one point and had to sell half privately to keep going. The cars parked outside aren't that fancy - Vicky explains that Portenos do not like to show their wealth, therefore you will not see fancy limousines and Jaguars in the streets of BA.
We finally get back to the Recoleta cemetary, we have come full circle and it is now pretty dark. We admire the biggest tree in BA, it's huge branches supported by steel, and head towards the church next to the cemetary, beautifully lit up in white lights.
The cemetary is now closed, and Vicky's last story is about what happened to Evitas body, it's a pretty grisly story. When she died, her body was supposed to be looked after, but it was in the care of low life's who did terrible things like raping the body. Then it was given to the man who embalmed her, but he also turned out to be a freak, who used to watch tv and eat dinner with her body. So they sent it to Europe to be buried secretly in Milan, in a grave under a different name, so no one could find it. But Evita's followers were outraged, and kidnapped the president of the time, demanding the the return of the body. When it was not returned, they actually killed the president! Eventually the body was given back to Peron, who was now living in Spain with his third wife. She wanted nothing to do with it, so had it sent back to Evita's family - the Duartes, who had previously wanted nothing to do with her (she was a bastard child) but now, in light of her fame, accepted her body and had it buried in their tomb.
We now need some dinner and grab a taxi to Puerto Madero, the smart port area. The taxi driver has a new fancy GPS and he insists on using it... He asks where we want to go and we say Puerto Madero. He says "where?", "a restaurant", "which restaurant?". We don't know... He shows us a list of restaurants in his GPS but none ring a bell. So we try to give him a street address, but none of the corners we give him are in his stupid GPS. Eventually one works, and we reach the area, and ask him to stop, but no no - he has to go to the exact point in his GPS. What a moron.
We walk around the port area, it is no longer used as it was built too small! It is now converted into a posh suburb, reminiscent of London's canary wharf. There are some restaurants around but we struggle to choose. Everything looks very smart and expensive, and we feel really underdressed. Eventually we settle on a steakhouse which looks like a fancy spur, with cow hides for tablecloths. I try the fernet con cola, a local drink which is mixed with coke, quite strong and a bit bitter. Wendy and Van order beers. We eat a huge "bife de chorizo" steak with chips, Patagonian lamb with veg, and a chicken Caesar salad. We still haven't learnt our lesson about portion sizes in BA - one meal very often is enough for two, and we struggle even to finish the meat dishes, never mind the disappointing salad. The steak and lamb are delicious, but we are completely exhausted after a hectic day of adrenaline and walking non stop. We get the bill and get a bit of a shock, we knew the dishes would be expensive, but we didn't realize they were going to charge us for the sides as well. As an example in Rands, we ended up paying R260 for the lamb, and then another R160 just for the veg side. A bit ridiculous... Plus they still add a service charge, as all restaurants in BA do. We grab the first taxi we can find and head back for an amazing sleep.
Location:Buenos Aires and Chascomus
No comments:
Post a Comment