Mar del Plata
Kara says:
Hola. Not a whole lot of fresh news but going to put up some pictures from the other week. Only a couple of weeks left in BA now (as Dad said last week - sure, the year's practically over!) so making sure we've seen all the must sees and taking time to rest before the big trip. Karl is celebrating having survived our last tango class last night - he thinks he's free now but i'll just be dragging him to more milongas. Went to a great milonga the other night, with a live orchestra (Piazzolla played by 4 bandoneons, fiddles, cello and bass - heaven!) and even had a bit of a dance. well. we made it onto the dance floor. and survived - mainly because Karl used me as a kind of human shield while he fought his way around the floor. But it was fun and we will be back for more.
BA's come back to life after a couple of day's mourning during the week. An ex-president and kicker outer of nasty dictators died so Thursday there was a huge funeral and the city closed down. The same day someone turned off summer so it was cold and grey and a little wet and very mournful in general. But it sounded like a football game as the cortege went by with the crowds shouting "Alfonsin! Alfonsin!". I guess he was maybe the equivalent of DeValera, but the dictatorship is still so recent here and obviously still very fresh.
So onto Mar del Plata. Interesting spot, about 5 hours down the coast (
on superbus of big wide soft leather reclining seats, endless coffee, staff sneaking up on you with snacks and even films!) and apparently BA basically moves down there for the summer. Not so much "where will we go for holidays" but "when will we go to Mardel". We waited for everyone to come back to BA before venturing down there so now there are only silver haired retirees heading off to the beach for the day with deckchair and thermos.
Imagine a random English coastal resort, complete with pier, add mountains of deckchairs and private beach space like the mediterranean, a sprinkling
of Italianesque poseurs (struttin
g with sunglasses tucked into speedoes for example), old guys playing a game like boules but with flat stone discs, ugly highrises along the beach and then a little French village behind them on a hill and, of course, everyone drinking mate and you have Mar del Plata. It's a really odd mixture.
There's even a little tourist train (that picture's specially for you, Paul).
And this is a watertower. It just stores water. It replaced a big metal tank. It was built in 1939. Why does it look like that? I have no idea but, sure, why not.
And then Karl "Gringo" O'Neill started to get that longing look in his eyes, gazing at the enormous waves and just had to show the locals how it's done. This photo was taken just after he came out of the tube after a series of amazing cutbacks.
And finally a well-earned beer enjoyed in style.
And that was Mar del Plata and all the gossip from here. More updates to follow...
Hola. Not a whole lot of fresh news but going to put up some pictures from the other week. Only a couple of weeks left in BA now (as Dad said last week - sure, the year's practically over!) so making sure we've seen all the must sees and taking time to rest before the big trip. Karl is celebrating having survived our last tango class last night - he thinks he's free now but i'll just be dragging him to more milongas. Went to a great milonga the other night, with a live orchestra (Piazzolla played by 4 bandoneons, fiddles, cello and bass - heaven!) and even had a bit of a dance. well. we made it onto the dance floor. and survived - mainly because Karl used me as a kind of human shield while he fought his way around the floor. But it was fun and we will be back for more.
BA's come back to life after a couple of day's mourning during the week. An ex-president and kicker outer of nasty dictators died so Thursday there was a huge funeral and the city closed down. The same day someone turned off summer so it was cold and grey and a little wet and very mournful in general. But it sounded like a football game as the cortege went by with the crowds shouting "Alfonsin! Alfonsin!". I guess he was maybe the equivalent of DeValera, but the dictatorship is still so recent here and obviously still very fresh.
So onto Mar del Plata. Interesting spot, about 5 hours down the coast (
on superbus of big wide soft leather reclining seats, endless coffee, staff sneaking up on you with snacks and even films!) and apparently BA basically moves down there for the summer. Not so much "where will we go for holidays" but "when will we go to Mardel". We waited for everyone to come back to BA before venturing down there so now there are only silver haired retirees heading off to the beach for the day with deckchair and thermos.Imagine a random English coastal resort, complete with pier, add mountains of deckchairs and private beach space like the mediterranean, a sprinkling
of Italianesque poseurs (struttin
g with sunglasses tucked into speedoes for example), old guys playing a game like boules but with flat stone discs, ugly highrises along the beach and then a little French village behind them on a hill and, of course, everyone drinking mate and you have Mar del Plata. It's a really odd mixture.
There's even a little tourist train (that picture's specially for you, Paul).
And this is a watertower. It just stores water. It replaced a big metal tank. It was built in 1939. Why does it look like that? I have no idea but, sure, why not.
And then Karl "Gringo" O'Neill started to get that longing look in his eyes, gazing at the enormous waves and just had to show the locals how it's done. This photo was taken just after he came out of the tube after a series of amazing cutbacks.
And finally a well-earned beer enjoyed in style.
And that was Mar del Plata and all the gossip from here. More updates to follow...
Re: the train photo. Those are my arms, honest! Not some dude standing behind me.
ReplyDeleteAlso, Kara is still alive, really. Look carefully at the base of the water tower.
ReplyDelete