On Thursday afternoon we finally managed to meet up with Nancy and Pancho, who very kindly came to pick us up from the hostel. We then headed to the main square, Plaza de Mayo, to see the weekly Madres de Plaza de Mayo march. In a nutshell the mothers of some of the many people (estimated up to 30,000) who disappeared in Argentina during the military dictactorship (from 1976) began to march in the city centre in the 1970s and continue to do so every week. It was originally just to fight for justice for the disappeared, but has become a human rights organisation with further reaching aims. We were really pleased to have the opportunity to see it for ourselves.
From here, Nancy and Pancho took us to La Boca area of town, home to the famous brightly coloured building (Caminito) as well as the football stadium and lots of tango. We resisted the temptation to have our photo taken with a Maradona lookalike, but Andrew found the tango dancer a little more difficult to resist. Will post a photo soon... We then headed to Nancy & Pancho's house and enjoyed some far too delicious pastries (called facturas) and the incredibly popular local drink mate which is similar to herbal tea, only quite bitter - definitely an acquired taste! We also got to meet their lovely dog Lennon, so called because Pancho is a Beatles fanatic. I did try speaking to the dog in scouse but he didn't seem too impressed! All in all it was really good to spend time with the family, who made us feel extremely welcome. They also asked us over to join their family for a traditional asado (BBQ/grill) on Friday night, an invite we were very happy to accept.
I spent some more time wandering through some of the leafier suburbs of town on Friday morning, before meeting up with Andrew post class. Pausing only to go to the supermarket so Andrew could learn some more Spanish shopping vocab, we had a typically good and cheap lunch before going to the Museo Nacional de las Bellas Artes - aka National Art Museum. There is a pretty impressive collection there, the most famous piece being Rodin's statue 'The Kiss' and also a good selection of other international stuff (including some impressionist paintings which I always particularly like) as well as national collections.
Early evening we headed back over to Nancy & Pancho's to sample some real local cooking; again we will post some more photos next time we are in an internet place where we can upload. Andrew and Pancho overcame their language barrier whilst cooking on the huge outdoor grill - Nancy and I decided that BBQ style cooking is a universal male language in itself! We had a great time, and headed back to the hostel well and truly stuffed with food and really happy that we had been able to get to know them a little.
Saturday was our last day in Buenos Aires, and we managed to fit in some more sightseeing round the central area, revisiting some of the things we had seen only briefly. We also had another bargain lunch - eat as much as you want including lots of salads, good chinese food, a grill and various desserts amongst other things - for under 2 pounds each. We were trying to work out what you could get in central London for that price and gave up pretty quickly.
My last stop in the city was the outdoor shop - I bought a really tasteful (honestly) orange wind and waterproof jacket to see me through the next few weeks. My old one wasn't in the greatest state, and the general message about Patagonia is that it is windy and can be very wet, so really thought I should go prepared. We finally waved the big city goodbye early evening, as we boarded our overnight bus for the 17 hour journey to our first Patagonian desitnation - Puerto Madryn.
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