La Boca, Bomba y Blokes

Buenos noches from sunny Buenos Aires.  Today is 'flag day', a national holiday which we celebrated with a trip to 'La Boca' (literally 'the mouth - see photo!), the area of BA all tourists are advised to avoid at night; in the evening; early in the morning on a day ending in 'Y', and if travelling alone.  Clutching our bags tightly to our sides (with emergecy pesos and AmEx hidden in my bra) we ventured into the vibrantly decorated former port. When the Italian sailors arrived here, they used their left-over ship paints to decorate the buildings, and the bright colours remain today. 

 

The cobbled streets were lined with artists flogging their wares, tango dancers, general souvenirs and a lady selling an array of canine fashions.  The porteños LOVE their dogs (you can't go anywhere here without tripping over a dog, or side-stepping piles of crap.  It's particularly amusing watching the roller bladers complete the 'dog-shit slalom' on a Saturday), and, irrespective of how ridiculous and unhapy their dogs look, they love dressing their animals up even more.

On Monday evening Mari-Fleur, Lana and I went to watch the phenomenal 'Bomba de Tiempo' at Konex in Once.  They are an amazing drumming and vocals group, and I was blown away by how good they were.  I was so impressed that Emma and I attempted to visit them at a clandestine venue yesterday.  Sadly BA taxi drivers do not have even a 1/100th of the local knowledge of London cabbies, so after 25 minutes driving around identical, deserted streets, we gave up and went for 1/2 kilo of totally fabulous gelato instead. 

With a new found appreciation of the burka, I have taken to wearing a hoodie with hood up whenever I'm out and about, as without the flash of blonde hair, I'm just an average face in a grey sweater, and the harrassment from Argentine men plummets. 

However, here are some people who took time out of their day to shout compliments/obscenities at me: 

• A window cleaner;
• Four bin men (on four separate occassions);
• A tramp (whilst touching himself);
• A waiter in a bar, who grabbed me on the way to the toilet and showed me several pornographic photos on his phone before offering me tequila (at 3pm) and asking for a kiss (both of which I politely declined);
• A passing taxi driver (who slowed down so much that the lights changed before he got through, resulting in a cacophony of horn-tooting behind him, and even more people shouting at me);
• A man having a p**s against a wall.

The big question at the moment is 'when do I leave Buenos Aires?'.  I'm totally in love with my life here so far, but I did come to travel, rather than eat out in new places and go out drinking with new friends (basically just London with more Spanish, more sun, more dogs and less hoummus). 

The second question is: 'to fly, or to take a 24 hour bus...?'

Updates shortly!

Missing UK friends a lot, hope all is ok with everyone.  And I hope that there have been no more instances of projectile vomit-ing in public (you know who you are!).

xx