Waiting for Christmas.

December 23, 2010

I don't know why, but on waking up in the early hours of Monday, I'd terrible back pain and no matter which side I lay on, the sharp stabbing pain was such that I couldn't get back to sleep. So the day was good for nothing. I had though to update the journal and sitting upright before the computer seemed the only way I's comfortable. Furthermore, I'd awful stomach cramp on Monday which I think is due to dehydration as it's hard to keep pace with the amount of fluid lost through sweating, such is the humidity here.

The temperature in Buenos Aires is approaching the forties. The sweat pours off people as they go about their day. It's like that at nine. By the afternoon it's too warm to be out.

This man makes a living from collecting dogs from people with the means to pay a person to take the dog during the day while at work. A kind of dog nanny they walk the dogs around all day and keep them content.

Time is flying by as I nurse a sore back and stomach cramp. It is now very likely I'll have the advantage of the Christmas shutdown and empty streets for the ride out of Buenos Aires. I asked Christian, the hostel owner's son, which way would be best. He recommended South on Ruta 2 to La Plata. He made it sound not too bad, but then he is looking at it from a car drivers perspective. Tomorrow I hope to be out anyway on the bike on a reconnaissance to familiarize myself with the first part of the route.

Scrub that idea, the morning has come and I cannot see myself riding even unloaded in the heavy traffic down on the street. Instead, I've looked up an ACA shop (automovil club argentino) which produce excellent maps, so this morning I'll walk to the address provided on Avenida Liberdor.

Pedestrians mostly stand in in the shadow of buildings while waiting for the walk sign to cross the street. Meanwhile, while thousands rush here there and everywhere, people with neither job nor home, families in some cases sit miserably on the pavement, their pride and dignity gone as they beg.

I reach the beginning of Avenida Liberdor at a place called Retiro, but presently I'm only passing No 208 and the ACA shop is at 1850. So it's a very long walk, like a long passage of history from the time of the Roman Empire till the year following the Gold Rush in California. The number progression is slower as much of the way there isn't any buildings only parks. Eventually I reach tall glass houses again and see the number 1724 on one, so we're already in the 18th century. Not long now.

There's a bit of a queue in the shop when I get there but I don't care as I've got all day. Finally it's my turn and I ask the lady behind the counter for a map of the province of Buenos Aires. She asks me my surname so as to type it in on the computer for the receipt and I verbal it letter by letter. She pronounces it, can-nee, which is normal, as all the letters are sounded in Spanish.

This sign is definitely for people that don't have a life. Plaza Bartolome Mitre on Facebook.

A bust of the inventor of a reading and writing system for the visually impaired, Luis Braille, in Plaza Francia along Avenida Liberdor.

I typed the previous four paragraphs during a power blackout, in which I was careful to remember not to press save and lose the lot. The ceiling fans which whirl full time 24 hours a day were for once silence so it became warm and sticky. The guy on reception illuminating things by a head-torch started to give out drinks, which were starting to warm up, to all his quests sat in the dark. It was a reminder that Summer in Buenos Aires must have been direr before electric driven fans, air conditioning and what was done without cold drinks.

The Argentine congress one block away from the hostel on Bartolome Mitre (calle).

Cycle-lane in Buenos Aires. Be careful though of left turning traffic in street junctions.

In the morning, the traffic roars down in the street and I still don't feel brave enough to take the bike out on that reconnaissance ride. Instead, today it's another walk. I saw yesterday, a cycle-lane, all along Avenida Liberdor and continuing South along the port. It would be interesting to see how far South it goes. That is why tomorrow, Christmas eve, I will be out and cycle along it to see.

I walk towards the port passing by the South-side of Plaza de Mayo where the war veterans are permanently camped seemingly in protest at not being paid what's due them or whatever. Their blue and white Argentine flag banners have there battalion names on them and don't forget.

I pass down by the presidential palace to where there's a chaos of passing trucks and cars on wide roads. One road is Paso Colon, a second is the beginning of the autopista South to La Plata, and in the middle of both lined on either side by 1920s public buildings is a narrow street with the continuation of that cycle-lane, I saw yesterday, South.

Murral of English language newspaper, Buenos Aires Herald.

It was on this street I see a wall mural which I photograph. It's a globe with the Buenos Aires Herald on top, the city's English language newspaper, founded by, according to a website I done some research on, Irish missionaries. They came to administer to the religious needs of Irish immigrants in the 19th century and builded not only churches but also English language schools.

The high houses towards the marshy water front.

The outward walk finished out by the waters edge of the Rio de la Plata. Between which and the gleaming glass high houses all over the old port is a green marshy area of reeds and pampa grass of an ecological reserve. It is a good place to escape the city and there there were people doing just that, running, cycling or walking like me. I saw lots of birds too. Seemingly not so scared of the close proximity of people.

My back pain and stomach cramp is thankfully now a memory. I've since been eating well everyday in a Tenedor Libre which is an all you can eat buffet restaurant and it's inexpensive at 30 pesos (£5), but a drink is extra. And the rest of the time I've been sure to drink enough.

Christmas eve update

Reconnaissances ride done. I had assumed Christmas eve would've been a normal Friday on the roads, so very busy. But no the Christmas holidays have already begun and this morning I rode in Buenos Aires which had Sunday traffic. That cycle-lane South came to an end at a roundabout and slip road up to the elevated overhead Autopista, but more on that later.

I cycled onward along a street I recognize from the 64 bus to La Boca. At a junction, the cycle-lane began again leading down a side street, lasting a few block until it ending a second time, though after a few blocks more it came out in the open on the cobble stone embankment of the river. Not thy River Plata, no the river in the name La Boca, the mouth, where the river flows into the big river. There is the sulphurous smell in the air which reminds me of thermal hot springs but here its because the river is full of sewage.

I follow the embankment along expecting to reach the colourful facades and touristy Camineto street of La Boca. On the way I see many old rusty rotten ships by the quayside, one was so far gone it's hull had broken in the middle under it's own weight and it pointed up in the water like a broken twig.

The touristy part of La Boca today approached by bike looked like a splash of colour in an otherwise gray docklands. I saw the Autopista flyover and beyond the support columns, the street is third world poverty, scruffy houses without doors or windows and washing lines in the street. An area where you don't go.

I retrace the way back to where the cycle-lane stopped at the Autopista roundabout and slip road. I suppose there is a non Autopista way out of the city in this direction but the Autopista is just too easy. On the Autopista's amble wide shoulder I cycle the 2km to the next exit where I turn round and return to the city. Tomorrow, I won't be turning round. It will be farewell Buenos Aires.

Today's ride: 31 km (19 miles)
Total: 7,137 km (4,432 miles)

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