¡Hola! Welcome to my South America photography blog.
This site is all about my 9 month trip to South America, including photography (zero editing) and hopefully a few interesting stories along the way! Follow me on Twitter or sign up to email to keep up to date!
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A trip into the Amazon
Photography blog from a 6 day trip into the Bolivian Amazon. Including piranha fishing, playing Tarzan, bugs, getting stranded and more! I hope it will inspire your own travels.
If you didn’t already know, my blog moved location and is now here: www.lwephoto.com/2012/11/04/amazon-bolivia-tour
Sneak preview below!
I hope he knows where were going.. | © lwephoto.com
A very old tree. Hundreds of years in fact | © lwephoto.com
Potosí mines, Bolivia
Child labour is still a problem | © lwephoto.com
First of all let me start with a fact I still find amazing – Potosi was formally the richest city in the world with a similar population to London. Now you will find it to be one of the poorest. In what is the highest city in the world (4090m), the looming figure of the Cerro de Potosi mountain (also known as Cerro Rico – the ‘Rich Mountain’), is a constant reminder of it’s past glories.
So the story. Spanish conquistadores are believed to have found the silver deposits in Potosi and began it’s rapid climb to wealth. An estimated eight million indigenous workers and imported African slaves died in the Potosi mines during Spain’s colonial reign, where life expectancy was only a year. The silver extracted brought huge wealth to Spain and made Potosi an incredibly rich city, until it’s eventually decline in the 1800’s. Sadly Bolivia never got to benefit as Spain did from Cerro Rico, as the supply of silver ran low – meaning mainly tin was extracted by Bolivia. It is no wonder that South American leaders such as the Bolivian president Evo Morales and the Venezuelan president Hugo Chavez are so anti-western, you can’t really blame them.
Today, hundreds of mines within Cerro Rico are still in operation, with thousands of workers. It is still Potosi’s main industry by far, and the city would fall apart without the mountain. These days the miners work in cooperatives which means the miners themselves own the mines, so they must produce to earn a living. This encourages long hours in the total darkness – sometimes up to 20 hours, as the payoff can be huge if they strike lucky. The miners say it is like playing the lottery, and even local lawyers and teachers have been known to go down in hope they win big.
Potosi isn't the most picturesque of places | © lwephoto.com
Life expectancy is not much greater than 40 years; accidents are still common and lung disease remains an often fatal aspect of the work. Whilst the tools used are predominantly outdated, as cooperative miners don’t have the funds to invest in the latest mining equipment and to think longer-term. The miners know the dangers of their work, but there are no other alternatives in Potosi. Some miners (like our tour guides – The Real Deal) have found a way out by working as tour guides for tourists who visit the mines, but this is only a minor amount. Little now remains of Potosi’s former glories, and less still of the 8 million who died in mines.
Child labour is still a problem here as you can see from picture at the top of this blog (and is subject to the film ‘Devil’s Miner’). The issue continues because it is culturally accepted and there is little law enforcement, but predominantly because children often have no other option. Children are required to work to support their families or they go simply will go hungry. The end of child labour will only come when Potosi diversifies it’s economy and improves education.
There were ridiculous amount of litter around the mine | © lwephoto.com
After reading all that you might be wondering why I still wanted to go on a tour inside Cerro Rico to see miners at work. Well, I know people who didn’t, but I thought it is important that people are educated about what the conditions are like and how people are suffering from another countries former rule. I was also a little apprehensive as I don’t like taking photographs of people who don’t want to be photographed. With all our helmets and kit in our 3 hour tour, we were probably better equiped that most of the miners who would be doing 10 to 20 hour shifts.
I went with the tour company ‘The Real Deal’ after getting numerous recommendations to use them during my stay in Sucre. They are all former miners and always showed a positive attitude about the mines. They said joking around with fellow miners was the best coping mechanism for the gloominess within the mines and so they constantly display this attitude – as shown in my photographs.
The Real Deal make their entrance | © lwephoto.com
Local coca leaf dealer | © lwephoto.com
Pedro, our guide, offers some coca leafs | © lwephoto.com
Silver extracting factory. I swear everything in there was rotating | © lwephoto.com
Friendly face | © lwephoto.com
Looking for silver | © lwephoto.com
A good use of egg boxes, to layer on the inside walls to reduce noise pollution. Genius! | © lwephoto.com
Group picture with Cerro Rico in the background | © lwephoto.com
At the beginning of the tour we were asked to buy ‘presents’ for the miners, we were suggested to buy coca leafs, squash and dynamite (dynamic is like candy here). It was also where I and other brave (or stupid) tourists tried the traditional miner drink which is 98% alcoholic. You can probably guess that this is an experience you wouldn’t want to repeat! It did seem good that the mining community was benefiting from tourism but most of the tourists went around the same mining areas, meaning that minimal miners received gifts. The miner I gave my bottle of squash to seemed happy enough though so I don’t think it is a bad idea, but in hindsight more equipment like gloves and helmets may be more useful.
However, it also meant that when we went around the refining plant, some workers simply held out their hands expecting coca leaves off everyone. This isn’t the most comfortable situation which you’re not sure if a person actually needs some or they get the same from tourists every day.
After the miner’s market the next stop was one of the refining plants, where the materials from the mines are purified somewhat into the raw elements that are actually of value for industry (mainly zinc, but also tin and copper). I say “somewhat”, because the materials are only refined to 30% purity here in Potosí; the rest of the refining is generally done overseas, closer to the places where the materials are to be used in manufacturing (e.g. in China), and where the technology is far superior to the outdatedness here in Bolivia.
Don't get lost, it might be difficult to find this again.. | © lwephoto.com
Enjoying being able to stand up straight while we can (it didn't last long) | © lwephoto.com
Our mine tour guide Pedro | © lwephoto.com
Within the claustrophobic conditions we made our way through Cerro Rico, often having to get on all fours. We saw lots of mining equipement created by the government which were now out of use, so as mining inefficiency goes, Potosi must be pretty low. Mining standards were said to be 100 years behind mordern mines, due to the lack of investment. We did get to help a miner pull minerals from the below level, but due to a lack of oxygen most people quickly ran out of breath!
Most of the time we followed the mining cart tracks, and so frequentely we had to cling on to the sidewalls as dirty young miners whizzed passed at breakneck speed. As I mentioned earlier, the miners are very keen on getting coca leaves and you always see the miners with a huge wag between their cheek and teeth. The coca leaves are said to help help energize and suppresse hunger, and so it is effective for the long draining hours in the mine. Although cocaine is developed from coca leaves, it is similar to comparing wine being developed from grapes. And on that note most of our group stuffed their mouths, grateful for any extra energy!
Our guide Pedro told us about El Tio (the devil, see pictures below). When they enter the mines, miners believe they need to worship the devil. They give El Tio offerings such as coca leaves so he in return keeps them safe from accidents and let’s them find quality minerals. Every mine in Bolivia apparentely has such a statue.
The group gathers around El Tio | © lwephoto.com
Making friends (or enemies) with El Tio | © lwephoto.com
El Tio | © lwephoto.com
A miner is happy with his juice | © lwephoto.com
Wheelbarrow traffic | © lwephoto.com
When we eventually exited Cerro Rico and caught our breath again, our guide heeded to the request to explode dynamite. Again, containing his general humour to the situation, we each in turn got to hold the lighted dynamic before Pedro ran off to place the dynamite at a safe distance. When it came, the explosion was extremely loud and you could feel the shock wave flow through you! Again, this is a silly thing to attract tourists – but it sure does work.
Don't touch | © lwephoto.com
Preparing the dynamite | © lwephoto.com
Don't try this at home | © lwephoto.com
Set and run! | © lwephoto.com
BANG! Not kidding, the shock wave nearly knocked me off my feet | © lwephoto.com
Potosí is a fascinting city which never fails to stir up a debate on it’s history, current situation and what it should do to prosper in the near future. Also due to it’s status as the highest city in the world I wouldn’t recommend anything too strenuous. Well, apart from the eye-opening mine tour of course.
Cochabamba, Bolivia
Christo de la Concordia | © lwephoto.com
Cochabamba is a city which most travelers miss out on their way through Bolivia, but for me this was one of it’s main attractions. The tourist infrastructure is minimal and there are no typical travelers hostels that you find in other big Bolivian cities. I didn’t know too much about Cochabamba before my visit, but I’m sure glad I went now. Also after my lessons in Sucre, it was time to speak some Spanish!
Cochabamaba is the forth largest city in Bolivia, and is located in a valley – giving it spring-like temperatures year round. This has given it the nickname ‘City of Eternal Spring’ (which reminds me of the similarly spring-like city of Medellín in Colombia). The city is overlooked by the fabulous El Cristo de la Concordia, a huge statue of Jesus Christ. This is actually bigger than the more famous cristo in Rio de Janeiro.
I arrived in a rather outdated hostel (you can tell Cochabamba doesn’t cater for tourists) to meet some friends I first met in Sucre. When they left a few days later, I met up with a German girl I met in Potosi who was doing a years placement here. She got me mingling with more of the locals, particularly on a night out in an American-like house party with a swimming pool and huge £1 cocktails. However, everyone looked about 16 so I felt a little out of place! Everyone also seemed to want their picture taken with me, maybe it’s the beard!
When the weekend past I did what every visitor does and went up El Cristo de la Concordia for sunset for some great views of the city. The next day I also discovered the huge market La Cancha, which was probably the best and cheapest I had come across so far in South America.
Christo in bloom | © lwephoto.com
One of the many views from Christo de la Concordia | © lwephoto.com
Cochabamba at night | © lwephoto.com
I also discovered that I am still in love with salteñas. I went to the same place every morning, and if I didn’t she asked my friend where I was! But I also re-discovered a relatively new love for papa rellenas. These are fried potatoes with a combination of meat, egg and veg stuffed inside (hence the straight translation ‘stuffed potatoes’).
This was also the time that the problems with the TIPNIS protests came to fruition. The 40 day TIPNIS march from Trinidad to La Paz is a protest against plans to build a highway through an indigenous rainforest. This was especially on the national agenda after police broke up the protests using forceful tactics (read more about TIPNIS here).
My favourite street snack the 'papa rellena' or 'stuffed potato' | © lwephoto.com
A regular street food haunt for dinner, and not bad at 7 to 10 Bolivianos (or 60-90p) | © lwephoto.com
TIPNIS protest | © lwephoto.com
Bolivians love a good protest | © lwephoto.com
Ice cream man | © lwephoto.com
Local man casually doing his kung-fu exercises | © lwephoto.com
Then, as often happens on Bolivia, illness struck. I was bed-ridden alone for 5 miserable days, where my only ventures outside were within two minutes walking distance (I couldn’t be too far from a toilet!). My friends had left previously so I was stuck on my own. My daily meal consisted of yogurt and occasionally a slice of pizza if I could bear it. No idea how much weight I lost in those 5 days. On a more positive note, I got a personal best in Texas Hold’em poker on my phone.
As soon as I got better I decided to leave, even though I hadn’t really explored the city much. The illness had dampened my affection for the city, and considering I was on my own I quickly wanted to move on. However, more Sucre friends decided to arrive, disrupting my plans, and I am now glad they did.
My opinion of Cochabamba changed a lot with my American friend Becca and Israeli friend Gal. What followed was four nights out in a row including some of the most fun times on my trip, and meeting some interesting characters along the way. The main one who comes to mind is Johnny, who Gal met through couchsurfing. Johnny was a small round Bolivian man who was constantly up for a good time (too much sometimes) and he took us to some cool local bars. He also was too generous with his wallet and ended up buying you drinks all the time! Feels a bit odd when drinks are so cheap for us westerners.
Blending in | © lwephoto.com
The excitable Bolivian Johnny | © lwephoto.com
The classic drinking game 'ring of fire' | © lwephoto.com
Evidence of my water intake and pizza boxes when ill, and the cubre libre to aid my recovery | © lwephoto.com
Dice is a favourite game for the locals | © lwephoto.com
This is just incredible. Combining the worlds of Panasonic and Toshiba into a set of speakers. A trip highlight! | © lwephoto.com
One of my more random evenings of my trip happened after another long trip to the markets. We stumbled across a circus, and immediately noticed the huge slide (as any normal person would). Big slides and big cameras don’t really go together and I had to sacrifice my skin to protect my camera (and have lovely burn marks to show for it). We then came across the circus show ‘King Fu Panda’, and how could we resist! So we went off to buy some rum and beers and a few more papa rellenas before we headed inside.
What followed was two hours of hilarious and sometimes weird action (although the alcohol probably helped). First off the panda was out, fighting with a tiger. I think they were going for the ‘it’s so bad it’s good’ angle. Thankfully the show got much better (and we drank more..), as more circus acts entered the fray. This included superman, gymnasts, balancing acts, dancing, wheels of death, singing and comedians amongst other things. I have added a video of some rather extreme indoor motorbikng at the bottom of this blog post. One of the funniest and most random nights for a while. This sort of thing, which you just stumble upon without having any prior plans, is what travelling is all about.
View from a rather big slide, with locals gathered at the bottom to watch | © lwephoto.com
Zombie swing | © lwephoto.com
Yes that's right.. the Kung Fu panda show! | © lwephoto.com
The star of the show | © lwephoto.com
Gymnast | © lwephoto.com
Clowns, err, clowning around | © lwephoto.com
Hypnotic | © lwephoto.com
Who, me? | © lwephoto.com
We also attended some of the cultural sites of Cochabamba such as the Palacio Portales and the Museum of Natural History. Palacio Portales was especially interesting as every room was based on the art and culture of different European countries. The house of Simon Iturri Patino, a Bolivian tin-made millionaire, everything in his house was imported from the country each room was based on. It almost felt like I was back home! Although I’m not sure how one of the poorest countries in the world had gained a millionaire, especially with the Spanish taking a lot of the natural resources previously. But that’s another story..
Palacio Portales, residence of a Tin-made Bolivian millionaire. Every room is based on a different European country | © lwephoto.com
Art in Palacio Portales. Looks like a festival performer in Sucre (if it had a human head anyway) | © lwephoto.com
Cityscape art | © lwephoto.com
Next blog I am off to find my way to the Amazon. The video below is from the circus!
Studying Spanish in Sucre, Bolivia
In the festival spirit | © lwephoto.com
Entonces yo estaba en Sucre por dos meses donde aprendí español.
So I arrived in Sucre ready to settle down for a while after going from place to place for nearly four months. I came from Buenos Aires, travelling 36 hours to Santa Cruz by bus and then another 15 hours to Sucre the next day. I actually preferred the 36 to the 15 hour bus due to it being less bumpy and sweaty, and I managed to finish a whole book (about South America, which I recommend – link). This was actually my second time in Sucre, although my first was only a fleeting visit (the main highlight was my friend throwing up a lot).
Sucre is the most beautiful city in Bolivia and was fittingly named a Unesco World Heritage site in 1991. It’s whitewashed buildings have given it the nickname of ‘la ciudad blanca’ or ‘the white city’ and it is also said to be the most tranquila city in Bolivia. The city is easily walkable, creating a pleasant environment which really comes to life during the night, where its many students take to the streets. While La Paz is now the seat of government and treasury, Sucre is still Bolivia’s constitutional capital and where independence was proclaimed. Sucre was previously the sole capital for Bolivia and the change has caused some problems.
So I was here for seven weeks in total, and I could of easily stayed longer. So read on for festivals, awards, great people, possibly the best hostel in South America, Spanish lessons, chocolate coated girls, day of the dog, bar fights, steak, bars, football, Tarabaco Market and more!
Great viewpoint of Sucre from the Mirador | © lwephoto.com
Plaza 25 de Mayo | © lwephoto.com
Aprendiendo Español
My reason for coming back to Sucre was to study Spanish and so I was determined to learn. I discovered from others that travelling is such a richer experience if you can engage with locals, and you can then get to know their culture and country much better. It is also, of course, a great skill to have in general life and the workplace. Learning a language can also be very rewarding (and sometimes frustrating!). Although I could get by with my Spanish before arrived in Sucre, I couldn’t have a proper conversation and both my grammar and vocabulary were poor.
Another bonus was having a routine again after so much time on the road. It helped that I met many other people also studying Spanish in my hostel, where we tended to study in the week and then exploring the nightlife at the weekend (more on that later).
My Bolivian teacher Carla was of Spanish descent, which is locally known as a Mestizo. She absolutely hated the Bolivian President Evo Morales and regularly ranted about his policies, which was a little unsettling sometimes but she was good fun really. It was because he has taken away political influence away from Sucre and redistributed wealth in Bolivia to indigenous people. Politics here seem a lot more interesting than the constant bickering back in the UK (great Bolivia political blog here).
After initially struggling, mainly with pronunciations and later congregations, I eventually clicked and started to finally understand Spanish a lot more. Although I still need and want more lessons, I can now speak to an intermediate standard. Bueno!
Studying in my favourite local cafe | © lwephoto.com
My Spanish school 'Spanish4You' | © lwephoto.com
A rather fun hostel
So the hostel. I decided to book into the Gringos Rincon hostel as it looked okay online and was cheap (35 Bolivianos per night, which is just over £3!). As I entered I was greeted by the German owner Mike who proceeded to show me around (the place was only 11 days old!).
Mike set up the hostel in Sucre after meeting and then eventually marrying a Bolivian girl he met here. So after travelling to the likes of Russia together they decided to move back to Sucre when she became pregnant. Mike managed to get hold of a fantastic building for the hostel and his constant enthusiasm (like his favourite term ‘it rocks!!’ or his love of ‘The Hoff’), has made Gringo Rincon extremely popular in a short space of term. Word-of-mouth has meant that Mike had to start turning people down due to over-capacity!
Initially, when I signed up for my Spanish lessons, I expected to either do a homestay or rent a flat. However, although I kept mentioning moving out, some great travellers kept moving in and so it proved impossible to leave! Every guest seemed to stay for at least a week, some several weeks, and many took up Spanish lessons. It was a change from normally meeting people who I termed (sadly) ‘4 day friends’, as you only briefly got to know people due to constant travelling, into ’10 day+ friends!’. This created a great atmosphere were a lot of time was spent learning Spanish together on the sunny terrace, or cooking in the small but sociable kitchen. Of course there were a few beers (from our local beer haunt – Señorita Cervesa, see photo below) and a few nights out. After a couple of weeks I started to go to more local bars on a outskirts of Sucre, but since it is a small city we always ended up at the main basement nightclub of Metos (and I don’t regret it one bit!). This was usually followed by an under-cooked street burger and then a walk back that took anywhere from 30 minutes to 1 hour.
After being in the hostel for several weeks, Mike joked on greeting new guests that I was ‘the pillar’ of the hostel, and that it would fall down without me. Little did I know that he would soon make an announcement to the whole hostel backing up this joke! So I now have a pillar in Bolivia named after me – something to tell the grandkids! You can see the photos below.
Hopefully you can see the appeal of staying for so long now!
30 Boliviano Vodka + Hip flask = A ridiculously cheap night | © lwephoto.com
Camera face | © lwephoto.com
Nope. I'm not sure why either | © lwephoto.com
There is always one with a guitar. Sadly it's not me as my musical talent is nada | © lwephoto.com
Time to be social | © lwephoto.com
A busy night at the Rincon | © lwephoto.com
Birthday celebrations | © lwephoto.com
Our favourite stop for beer, Señorita Cervesa | © lwephoto.com
Mike and the long-termers | © lwephoto.com
Me giving my speech after having the pillar named after me! | © lwephoto.com
Time for (another) festival
There seemed to be a festival almost every week, which created some great opportunities for photography. The festival celebrating the Virgin Mary (Virgen de Guadalupe) was my favourite so far, with a whole weekend of endless parades, dancing, music, fireworks, street food and alcohol. So scroll down to view all the photos!
Not sure if this is driveable.. | © lwephoto.com
Festival mode | © lwephoto.com
Let's dance | © lwephoto.com
Seemingly never ending food stalls | © lwephoto.com
Not so happy festival goers | © lwephoto.com
Festive greetings | © lwephoto.com
Making friends | © lwephoto.com
Looks a little awkward | © lwephoto.com
Praying in front of the Virgin Mary (Virgen de Guadalupe) | © lwephoto.com
More happy customers.. | © lwephoto.com
The fiesta gets started | © lwephoto.com
Bokeh | © lwephoto.com
Settling down
Since I was here for a good period of time I came across a few interesting things. This includes making a few local Bolivian friends, the ‘day of the dog‘ festivals, concerts, the Bolivian president Evo Morales arrival, eating a bit too much street/market food and a bar fight! I had some regular haunts for food. My standard food routine was as follows.. baguette sandwich with fresh avocado and tomatoes from the market for breakfast, two Salteñas (chicken, beef or spinach baked empanadas) for lunch, and for dinner I either cooked in the hostel (pasta, stews, steak, barbecues) or had steak out because it was so cheap (£3!). I can live with that.
Did someone mention a bar fight? Well when with two Bolivian friends and an Iraqi friend living in Sucre, I went to the opening night of a new rock bar. Sounds fairly innocent right? Later on I found myself putting my arm through a window and in a bar fight. To be honest the arm was predominantly my fault, instead of shutting a toilet door, instead I managed to put my arm through it (slightly tipsy at this point). I blame dodgy Bolivian glass. I then tried unsuccessfully to clean up before the bouncer walked in. Thinking I would be thrown out, or at least be made to pay for the damage, instead the bouncer got me a bandage and a beer on the house – ideal! Although being thrown out probably wouldn’t have been a bad thing as a bar fight then broke out and whilst trying to split it up, I only managed to get punched a lot. The police later arrived so we had to hide in the basement for the next 4 hours, which wasn’t so ideal. So I now have my South American scar!
Dogs jumping through fire hoops. Makes sense | © lwephoto.com
In the Mirador Markets | © lwephoto.com
Protests stopping buses. A common occurance | © lwephoto.com
Decent location for the concert. The song mentioned at the end of this blog post was played, of course! | © lwephoto.com
Incredible local fish market on the outskirts of Sucre, with my Bolivian friend | © lwephoto.com
The girls are lined up | © lwephoto.com
Pre-Evo Morales entertainment. Including getting a member of the crowd to paint a semi-naked girl with chocolate to promote a chocolate company. The wonders of advertising! | © lwephoto.com
Spot the gringos | © lwephoto.com
The beginnings of a Bolivian rock concert | © lwephoto.com
Team photo before watching the football | © lwephoto.com
Universitario's star man Boris grabs a goal | © lwephoto.com
Alpaca goods keep you warm | © lwephoto.com
Outdoor games, and lots of them. Well lots of table football, what more do you need! | © lwephoto.com
Tarabaco Market
During my first visit to Sucre me and my then travel buddy Tom went to the Tarabaco Market. Can’t say I was too impressed to be honest (not really the shopping type!). I preferred the food market in Sucre – yum.
Ready to sell | © lwephoto.com
Tranquila | © lwephoto.com
And as a final bonus, the below song brings back some great memories from Sucre for me. It was played all the time in Sucre (especially the nightclub Metos!). What a tune though, it kicks in at around 1.25 so stick around.
I love Sucre, and the people I met there.
Buenos Aires, Argentina
The Metropolitan Cathedral | © lwephoto.com
Well Buenos Aires is always one of the most desirable cities in the world to visit and it didn’t disappoint. It is a very elegant European-like city with both beautiful neighbourhoods and equally downtrodden ones. There is something for everyone here as it has some of the best steak, tango, culture, shopping, nightlife and maybe the most passionate football in the world. Portenos, as the multinational people of Buenos Aires are known, value their European heritage highly – creating a rich cultural identity. To me the city seemed huge. But maybe that’s because there is no dominating centre area, everything on the tourist list is spread across the city.
Because it was my travel friend Tom’s birthday we decided to check into the infamous Milhouse hostel, which is more like a gringo party hotel which attempts to keep everyone within its walls. I couldn’t deny though that the buffet breakfast was absolutely amazing and the parties were pretty fun. Tom’s birthday consisted of drinking in Milhouse Hippo (the older Milhouse hostel) and then going to a rather bizarre show club until 7am. There were semi naked men and women doing a variety of dances on stage which kept us amused (just the women for me obviously – not sure about my friend Tom though haha). We stayed for two nights in Milhouse before moving to the Avenue Hostel just over the road, which was half the price and still had a decent breakfast! The hostel was full of Brazilians who throughout my travels always seem to be the friendliest of people.
Obelisk of Buenos Aires or just a great way to regain your bearings! | © lwephoto.com
Hustle and bustle in the centre, including a jazz band playing to the crowd | © lwephoto.com
Bridging the colours | © lwephoto.com
Lucky there is a bridge to cross this one.. | © lwephoto.com
Night scene in Buenos Aires | © lwephoto.com
Decent steak
So when you think of Argentina you think of steak, si? So I think it deserves it’s own paragraph. Me and Tom for our whole trip had been very budget conscious with our food (bread and patte is a standard lunch), but here we simply had to splash out. The first place we went was just down the road from our hostel, basically the first steak place we saw. We asked for just steak, the waitress seemed confused by our request for no sides – real men don’t need sides! However the best steak place we found was El Devisnal in San Telmo. We went with others we met in Cusco (and later went to the football with – see below) and it was the best steak I have ever had. I was so good I had to go back again for a steak baguette sandwich a few days later! Steak with chips, cheese and not forgetting the incredible chimmy churri sauce, yum!
The best sandwich I have ever had | © lwephoto.com
Argentinians like football
Apart from eating steak and dancing tango, the other main thing to do in Buenos Aires is to watch a football game. I would of loved to watch a Boca Juniors or a Argentina game but they got knocked out of Copa America too early, so we had to settle for Brazil v Paraguay. Not too bad a compromise. We got the tickets at face value (70 pesos, so under £20) from our friend Adrian who we met in Cusco, which was lucky as the Milhouse hostel were selling them for 500 pesos! After confusion collecting the tickets (Argentineans don’t know how to queue!) we eventually arrived at the stadium in La Plata.
The game itself wasn’t a classic, with Brazil dominating and Paraguay sitting back. The game finished 0-0 after extra time and so it went to penalties. Then Brazil preceded to miss every penalty! I thought these Brazilians were meant to be good! So Paraguay won the penalty shoot out to progress to the semi-finals and there players and fans went a little crazy with there victory! But it was also nice to see some of the rising stars of the game (if you know your football) like Neymar and Ganso before they probably become superstars.
"Grow up guys.." The referee isn't amused. | © lwephoto.com
The 'next Pele' Neymar takes a corner | © lwephoto.com
Alexandre Pato hits the post | © lwephoto.com
The trouble begins, as it seems to happen in every game in South America | © lwephoto.com
Brazil missed their first penalty, and then preceded to miss the rest! | © lwephoto.com
Instant delight | © lwephoto.com
Paraguay celebrate winning the shoot out | © lwephoto.com
An unexpected race
On one of the first days in Buenos Aires we bumbled across a cycling road race. Since Tom is an avid fan and I could get my panning shots out, we happily stuck around for a few hours. This isn’t much of a story here but I took some of my favourite photographs, got to love the motion-blur!
And they're off.. | © lwephoto.com
Powering through a turn | © lwephoto.com
Leader in focus. One of my favourite photographs so far | © lwephoto.com
Slip streaming | © lwephoto.com
Not just any old cemetery
La Recoleta Cemetery lays to most of Argentina’s forefathers and outstanding public celebrities as well as politicians. The most notable are Eva Perón (who’s grave was the main attraction), Raúl Alfonsín, and several presidents of Argentina. The mausoleums which hold the deceased, are packed closely together so there is little room for tourists in between them. Expansion of the cemetery is impossible as it is in the middle of the urban Recoleta neighbourhood. It was by far the most interesting cemetery I have ever been to.
Blossom | © lwephoto.com
They are rather big monuments to the deceased | © lwephoto.com
The never seemingly ending cemetery | © lwephoto.com
One of the many beautifully crafted statues | © lwephoto.com
Another elegant statue | © lwephoto.com
A rather colourful spot
La Boca is the oldest, most colorful, and most authentic neighborhood (or ‘barrio’) in Buenos Aires. The neighborhood was settled and built by Italian immigrants that worked in the warehouses and meat-packing plants in the area and thus retains a strong European flavour. Most tourists flock to the famous main street of Caminito (as other parts are considered dangerous for some reason – it is only when football games are on!) with it’s colourful houses as displayed. However, I had a bit of a wander elsewhere and visited the La Bombonera stadium which is the home to the Boca Juniors football team. Boca are probably the most well known team from South America alongside Pele’s former team Santos. Wish I got to see a game there but it was off-season! Next time!
Obviously no one agree as to which would be the best colour.. | © lwephoto.com
Colourful houses in the famous Caminito Street | © lwephoto.com
You can't buy anything which is just one colour | © lwephoto.com
Close up of the contrasting colours | © lwephoto.com
I just missed the tango dancers here | © lwephoto.com
La Bombonera stadium, home to the famous Boca Juniors football team | © lwephoto.com
So this is where I departed from my friend Tom who had been with me for nine weeks since Lima in Peru. It was nice to see a familiar face, along with having some great nights out, painful but rewarding treks and lots of good banter. Chao Tom! Tom left me in Buenos Aires to make his way to Rio de Janiero, whilst I jumped on a 36 hours (yep 36 hour, no typo!) bus to Santa Cruz, Bolivia. My decision behind this was that I wanted to settle in one place for a while to learn more Spanish and my budget was running a little low! So next blog up.. two months in Sucre!
lwephoto | South America Photography 