Pope, Maradona and Messi | Buenos Aires, South America’s Little Paris

··· Argentina Travel Notes 1 ···

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During the epidemic, everyone is confined at home, and everyone may not have the opportunity to go out and play in a short period of time. Shanshui Travel will launch more travel notes in the near future, allowing everyone to travel around the world and experience the customs and customs of various countries without leaving home.

The European series (Spain, Portugal) has been completed, the South American series (Argentina, Chile, Uruguay, Colombia, Peru, Bolivia) will be available in the near future. The African series (South Africa, Namibia) and the Nepal Hiking Series are also available, so stay tuned.

This series of South American travel notes includes my trip to three South American countries (Argentina, Chile, and Uruguay) with my parents during Christmas 2018, and my solo trip to Colombia on the way back. I hope you all like it.

Photography/text author of this series: Wang Zeyi

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Although their names all end with "美", "South America" ​​is geographically far away from "North America". There are almost no suitable direct flights to South America from Toronto, and most of them have to transfer to the United States or Mexico. After transferring in Miami, Florida, USA, I took the opportunity to visit the sunny beaches of Miami. The plane took off again and arrived in Buenos Aires nearly ten hours later.

Argentina implements electronic visas for Chinese citizens, and the application process is also very simple. South America is the continent farthest from China on the planet, but its visa policies are generally friendly to the Chinese people. Many countries have implemented visa-free or electronic visa entry policies for Chinese citizens holding U.S. visas.

My parents, who departed from Beijing in China, arrived in Buenos Aires ahead of me after a long-distance flight of more than 20 hours. The name of Buenos Aires is almost the prettiest of all the cities I know, and it always gives me a fairy tale-like imagination.

Taking a taxi from the airport to the hotel in the center of the market, the driver charged US$37. The taxi was driving on the highway, surrounded by tender green vegetation on both sides, which made me feel very happy after having just escaped from the ice and snow in Toronto. It was already noon local time when I arrived at the hotel and checked in. I quickly packed up and set off to visit the capital city of Argentina.

The Monument to General Manuel Belgrano is erected in the square in front of the Rose Palace, the presidential palace of Argentina. December is the height of summer in the Southern Hemisphere, the sky is blue and the blue and white flag of Argentina is flying in the sky.

I have to say that although Buenos Aires is far from developed by North American standards, it is still very livable compared to other Latin American capitals I have visited before - the streets are spacious and clean, and the houses The planning is neat and orderly.

The Catedral Metropolitana de Buenos Aires is located in the Plaza de Mayo. Pope Francis, the current Vatican Catholic Pope, served as the bishop of Buenos Aires before becoming the pope in 2013. The people of Sri Lanka said mass.

Guards in the church guard the tombs of General San Martín and other unknown heroes who contributed so much to Argentina’s independence.

Avenue de July 9 runs through the urban area of ​​Buenos Aires and was built to commemorate Argentina’s Independence Day, July 9, 1816. July 9th Avenue was once the widest street in the world, even rivaled by Manhattan Avenue in New York. In fact, this also reflects the unlimited prosperity of South American countries such as Brazil and Argentina. Although Brazil is still one of the BRICS countries and still has a trace of economic dignity, it is undeniable that the prosperity of the past has gone far away. Today, South American countries are in a corner and have no place or voice on the world stage. right. The root cause of this phenomenon may be inevitable economic transformation, "inferior democracy", or some other reasons, which I will not discuss in depth here.

Buenos Aires is known as the Little Paris of South America, with its streets lined with plane trees. I have never been to Paris, so I cannot use personal experience to compare. I can only make observations when I have the opportunity to visit France in the future.

The gates of Basílica Santísimo Sacramento are closed and visitors cannot enter.

The Memorial Clock Tower Torre Monumental was originally called the British Clock Tower Torre de los Ingleses, but after the Falklands Naval War between Argentina and the United Kingdom in 1982, people changed the name of the clock tower.

Moving along the 9th of July Avenue, our most important attraction in Buenos Aires is the Athenian Bookstore, rated as one of the most beautiful bookstores in the world . The appearance of the bookstore is unremarkable. We even walked around the door a few times before finding the entrance of the bookstore. There is something special once you enter. The bookstore was transformed from a theater. The original boxes were transformed into rows of bookshelves, and the stage was set up as a reading area.

There are many customers in the bookstore, and tourists taking photos with their cameras even disturb people who are concentrating on reading to a certain extent. I originally wanted to take a book from the Athenian bookstore as a souvenir, but unfortunately all the books were in Spanish, so I had to give up.

After our visit to the Athenian Bookstore, we took a taxi to the Boca District, a slum area in Buenos Aires. Along the way, the taxi driver explained to me the scenic spots we passed by in Spanish mixed with not very good English. He mentioned Maradona's name several times and gave me a thumbs up proudly. Caminito Caminito Street is our first stop in Boca District and is also a representative of Boca District style.

The afternoon on Camido Street is noisy, with Boca Juniors jerseys for sale everywhere.

If you talk about Argentina, besides football, many people may think of tango first. In the Boca District, tango is everywhere, whether in paintings or on the stages of street taverns.

Tango performers danced on stage, entertaining patrons dining nearby.

It is said that tango was once a secret dance between lovers, so men had to wear daggers when dancing. Nowadays, although dancers no longer wear daggers, they must have a serious expression and look around to avoid being discovered.

Historically, many poor European immigrants settled in the Boca District. They built their houses with iron sheets from ships and used the leftover paint to add bright colors to the houses, thus creating the colorful Boca District architecture.

There are many statues in Camido Street, most of which are images of Maradona, Messi or other football players. The filling in the statue seems to be very flimsy, and the brightly colored but poor-quality paint on the outer layer perfectly illustrates what is meant by "shoddy work." The biggest characteristic of statues is their ugliness. For example, this should be a statue of Maradona. Is it likely that the genuine Maradona would be so angry that he would explode or burst into laughter?

The statues here are not the ugliest, only uglier. As long as you have an eye for ugliness, there are uglier statues everywhere.

There are three legendary figures that make Argentines proud, the Pope, Maradona and Messi, and perhaps the "Disney King" Tevez who once played for Shanghai Shenhua. According to my observations and communication with taxi drivers, Maradona and the Pope ranked tied for first place. In the eyes of the people, Maradona is an absolute national idol, while Messi is slightly behind. This may be because Messi plays overseas all year round, while Maradona grew up among the poor in the Boca District. Of course, Maradona also played in Europe for most of his career, but the Hercules Cup he won for the Argentine people in the shadow of the Falklands War still has full weight in the hearts of Argentines. If Messi is a "football idol" in the eyes of Argentines, Maradona may be closer to a "national hero."

Dogs in fancy clothes.

The Candy Box Stadium, the home of Boca Juniors, is located next to Camido Street. Although it was past the time to visit, we still walked over to take a closer look. The Candy Box Stadium is far less majestic than Camp Nou, and even far inferior to the Workers' Stadium in Beijing. It is indeed the starting point for many football superstars to go to the world. The generational football king Maradona once made his career debut at Boca Juniors, and there are also huge portraits of the football king around the Candy Box Stadium.

After our tour of the Boca District, we returned to the center of Buenos Aires, where the obelisk towered into the sky under the setting sun. With Christmas just around the corner and most restaurants closing early, finding dinner was the main concern during our three nights in Buenos Aires.

Our first meal in Buenos Aires was “Argentinian Meat Mountain” and the name on the menu was Little Argentina. A plate full of barbecue includes not only steaks, chicken legs, but also sausages and animal livers. I never eat weird parts of animals, and the excess fat on the barbecue puts me off after just two bites. As a result, we left most of the full table of dishes, so we had to pack them up and take them away to make plans later.

After the meal, we were so greasy that we took a walk along July 9th Avenue. Unexpectedly, as soon as I went out, I met a few homeless people leaning on the side of the road, so I gave them the leftover food I had packed away. They probably hadn't had such a sumptuous dinner for a long time, and they started feasting before we left.

At the Rose Palace at night, locals play with their children in the square.

Buenos Aires is our base camp for touring northern Argentina. Whether it’s the Uruguayan town of Colonia or the Iguazu Falls, we all start from Buenos Aires. We spent three nights here. If we travel in Europe, we spend most of our time in cities, but in South America it's just the opposite. Due to their similar Spanish colonial history, most cities in South America give me a sense of déjà vu. After visiting a few, I rarely feel that novelty anymore. I myself am not a fan of "in-depth cultural travel" and prefer the wilderness to the city. So in fact, there are many beautiful places in Buenos Aires, and I can only appreciate the above few.