Things have certainly livened up a bit in the last few days. After spending most of this trip’s evenings just minding my own business, and reading books on my Kindle, Buenos Aires is proving to be a very different scene and I’ve now been out on the lash for five consecutive nights. Good practice for when I get home!
Last night five of us went to a fairly famous steakhouse called Siga La Vaca (‘follow the cow’), in one of the posh parts of town, by the docks. For about £20 each it was ‘all you can eat’, not just on the salad bar but also on the grill – and what a grill it was. All washed down with copious quantities of lovely Mendoza wine. Various bars and clubs afterwards, and I didn’t get in until 6am this morning.
Having seen Boca Juniors the other night, I would have loved to have seen River Plate too, even if it meant attending a second division match, but the fixture list didn’t smile on my schedule. I settled for a daytime visit to their stadium and a purchase of suitably stylish clothing from the club shop, to complement the equally stylish Boca Juniors T-shirt I’ve already got.
Another interesting little outing – and apologies for the persistent football theme – was to visit a place I noticed by chance on Google Maps, namely, the Sunderland Club in north-west Buenos Aires. This is a local sporting, social and tango-dancing club, which competes locally at football and basketball, among other things. It was founded in 1921 by a group of local youngsters: they approached a rich English expat called Mr Pitt, and he agreed to fund the club if he could be allowed to name it. The kids said yes and thus the Sunderland Club was born. I haven’t been able to find any details about this Mr Pitt but it seems plain where his loyalties lay! I wonder if he was an ancestor of Richie Pitt, an FA Cup winner with Sunderland in 1973?
Anyway I wandered over to this club and introduced myself without too much fanfare. I was wearing a Sunderland training top just to emphasise the point. My Spanish isn’t great, and they didn’t speak any English at all, but it was all very friendly. I got to take photos all around the building, and also I had a lovely plate of chicken and chips. The club is very well-known locally - I was shown photos of visiting dignitaries such as the late Raul Alfonsin, president of Argentina between 1983 and 1989, and also Willem Dafoe, off of films, who popped in for some tango dancing not too long ago.
One more happy football-related note is that I finally met a fellow Mackem on my travels! An Australian chap, but born in Sherburn and a lifelong fan of the red and whites. We watched SAFC 1 Dirty Scousers 0 on ESPN and very pleasing it was too.
I’ve still got plenty to do in Buenos Aires and more updates will follow. I promise they won’t involve Sunderland or football in any way.
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| The defence ministry headquarters. |
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| I didn't wear my Boca top for this particular walk. |
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| An unfortunate name for a university. |
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| Home from home! |
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| A thousand hurrahs for the legend that is Hoolio, but I hadn't imagined that Nicolas Medina ever actually got a squad number. Claudio Marangoni would have been a better bet. |
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| Guys, the colours, the colours... |
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Buenos Aires at sunset from the far edge of the Reserva Ecologica.
This was a hundred times prettier in real life than the picture indicates. I need a better camera. |
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| As above |
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| Down by the docks |
