So my final day in BA started with trying repack my rucksack after seven weeks with a stinking hangover and four hours of sleep. After five attempts and sweating profusely I managed to get it all in my rucksack and closed! (Yes of course I’m travelling with far two many things, but Julian (my brother) I have used my hair dryer everyday so far so I think it was necessary!) I dropped my things to a friends house and met a group on a street corner for the pre game get together in Palermo. There was beer and hotdogs, and about eighty tourists, some locals also. I wasn’t quite ready to get back on the beers so opted for agua! I was there with Nico, who worked at my language school and organised events and activities for the students. If more then five students attend a game he would be able to go free, but as I was the only one who went to this game he had to pay…and I might add it wasn’t cheap….but it was the “Superclásico’!!!

So a little bit about the “Superclásico”. In BA there are seven teams in the premier division, and when any of these teams play against one another the match is called a “Clasico”…a derby. But when Boca Juniors play River Plate the two biggest rivals in the city then it’s the “Superclásico”. Last year for the first time in 110 years River has been relegated to the second division, so there was no Superclásico….hence this match was HIGHLY anticipated, their first meeting after 17 months! The game was at the River Stadium El Monumental, the biggest stadium in Argentina capacity 77 thousand. In general all the tourist organised tickets are with the home crowd, so for yesterday I was a very loyal River fan. I’d had a taxi on Saturday night, and another one on the way to the pick up point, and when I’d told both drivers I was going, they’d asked who I was supporting, I’d told them River, and luckily they were both River fans! One of them…all though jokingly said he would have charged me double if I’d said Boca. All though a Catholic country football is the true religion, especially in BA!

We were taken to the game in four mini buses, each bus had a guide and we were told to make sure we stayed in sight of ours walking through the crowd to and from the game or we would get lost and left behind. As we approached the stadium we could all ready hear the singing and jeering and a group of Boca fans were standing on the outside of the stadium up at the top level shouting at us (River supporters) as we walked in below, and all the River fans were shouting, jeering and gesturing back at them. The game was due to start at 3.30, we were in the stadium by 2. It was probably about forty percent full at that point. When we got in we originally sat with the group we’d come with, but as it want designated seating you could move. Apologies in advance of slightly xenophobic comment…we were sat infront of eight American students…after one minute we had to move, partly as my tolerance on a hangover for loud Americans was pretty low….but also Nico wanted to sit away from the group so we’d be more surrounded by real fans and be in the thick of the singing etc. So we moved up five rows and over twenty seats…

Before the main game the junior teams were playing, but to be honest I didn’t really watch that as I was swept away with the colour, noise, songs as the stadium filled up. We were between the halfway line and a goal, but were nearer the Boca supporters “popular” were the proper hardcore fans stand. And within the popular section at each opposite area, there was a central clearing that remained empty until literally just before the game started. Then each teams “Barra Brava” and drum band entered and the place went nuts! Boca’s called “La Doce”…the twelfth man, and River’s “Los Borrachos del Tablón” the drunkards of the terrace. I’ve not been to much football back home, but I’ve heard UK football songs and chants, they are nothing compared to these teams. The songs here are really musical, and all though I didn’t really understand the lyrics or the words I had a go at joining in a bit! A right try hard tourist…

So the game… In the first minute we scored, it happened so first I completely missed it! The crowd went bananas of course and Goool was plastered all over the screen. The rest of the first half wasn’t too exciting, and neither was the first twenty minutes of the second. All though all the singing and chanting kept me enthralled none the less. Then we scored again, and this time I was paying attention and leapt around screaming with everyone else. Then at about seventy minutes Boca scored taking it to 2-1. And then disaster on the final minute they scored again! 2-2!

All though it was a draw the whole stadium of River fans were silent in defeat, and the relatively small number of Boca fans in comparison went crazy in victory. I have to admit that their fans seemed that bit more passionate and wild, and their band was better. They started tearing off the plastic seats and throwing them down on the River fans below, and they didn’t leave the stadium for about half an hour..when the police politely started to shuffle them out. None of the River fans were allowed to leave for another forty minutes whilst they cleared the Boca fans from the area. From what had been a insanely noisy stadium of seventy five thousand, it was now about sixty thousand…and nearly silent!

For me as an experience it was still legendary, I’ll probably never get to go to a game like that again in my life. It was expensive…£150, but I don’t regret it and it was a great thing to do on my final day in BA. Two hours later I boarded this bus for Iguazu falls.

Am I now a proper football fan…probably not, unfortunately my Ex killed any desire to watch sport in general…but I think I could now make a few exceptions! Must admit watching football in twenty three degrees conditions is more appealing then freezing my tits off watching Cardiff city!!

Again sorry for so much video and footage…

Well I’m leaving Buenos Aires tomorrow, and after seven weeks of distinctly average and below par weather Spring has decided to make an appearance! So on Thursday I had booked a bike tour around the parks area to make use of the sun. However when I turned up for the tour unfortunately the guide was not there as he’d had an accident. I had the option of rebooking another day, or just to take the bike on my own. As I only had a few more days here, I opted to take the bike on my own, which she then said she wouldn’t even charge me for the inconvenience! Bit of a result!

Buenos Aires is a great city to see by bike, as it’s pretty flat. Over the last couple of years bikes are on the increase, helped with some bike lanes on certain roads. I was a little nervous initially but after two minutes I was completely confident, and whilst I used the cycle paths where possible I was also happy on the main avenues or six lanes of cars! It was such a perfect day for the bike and I explored the park areas of Palermo, Belgrano and Chinatown (one street here). The main reason I wanted to go to Chinatown was to buy “tiger balm”, as the Mosquitos are now out in full force!

My only regret is that I’ve not hired a bike earlier to see more of the city, and when I get to some other cities I will be sure to take advantage of bikes when available!

When I decided to come travelling, and in particular once I’d decided on South and Central America I had planned to dye my hair back to its natural colour….which I don’t think I’ve been since I was fifteen! So back in February I asked my hairdresser to go ahead and turn me back to brunette. She advised me that I would hate it, and she was correct! I lasted thirty-six hours before returning begging for the bleach bottle. Some people said the brown was nice and suited me, but most said I just suit blonde more…and so here I am blonde with hair maintenance issues!

I am aware that I stand out here for being pretty blonde, but I also stand out as I have relatively short hair, all the girls here have very very long hair! At the end of the day I am a tourist, it’s pretty obvious from the way I dress and everything. Yes there’s a little bit if unwanted attention, but I think that’s the case for most women here, and after a while it’s pretty easy to ignore.

The main reason to go brunette was to avoid the issues of roots, back home I’m at the hair dresser every six weeks. After I’d been here about a month it was time for me to find a hairdresser to get my highlights redone and I figured I’ve got a better chance of finding a decent hairdresser in a massive city like this. So after choosing a place having asked for some feedback, advice, researched on the Internet for hours…..I needed to make an appointment. This wasn’t something I felt my Spanish was up to, so between my Italian housemate who speaks a little English and good Spanish, his Argentinian English teacher and his Argentinian classmate the appointment was made all though it took ten minutes as they were transferred to a number of people. I felt pretty good things were in hand at this point.

I turned up the hairdresser for my appointment and the place was crazy! Busy was an underestimate, I later learnt eighty people work there. I was given a long piece of paper with my name on it and a list of treatments cuts on one side and somethings scribbled down and ushered down to a different floor. The place had five floors all together, a section for colour, cuts, just washing and styling and I don’t really know what else! Long story short, I saw eight different members of staff for different things from hanging my coat, to be led up to my hairdresser, etc etc. The end result was pretty ok, all though I think back home when I have highlights I have about one hundred sections, and here was about fifty so not quite as fine work, but the colour was good and not green at least! And then the bill……I knew it wasn’t going to be cheap but I had expected it to be at least a bit less equivalently to what I pay at home. It was more, not lots, but enough for me to think I may just have to suck it up and start deal with roots for the next ten months!

On the plus side I did have a very good and cheap pedicure today!!!

Below photos, me brunette for a day, and blonde the next, my colour here, and what I’ll probably look like in six months!