Good Old Chocolate Box

Well, first week in Argentina and everything (touch wood!) is going rather well. Went out with a varied bunch of English, German and American travellers on Tuesday night and weekend was pretty good too.

Started to miss England a bit, so headed down to local bar on Saturday and, in my finest Spanish, pointed at the TV and said 'Es posible futbol engles'? Well, that went well for 20 mins before some Argentinians wanted to watch ´los pumas´play england. I said they could but at half time a combination of no knowledge of rugby, no knowledge of spanish and fear of defeat led me to leave.

I did manage to catch the Chelsea match later on before we all headed out for a meal. We went to a traditional Argentine steak house i had the biggest steak i have ever seen in my life - with loads of wine it only worked out about 9 quid each. After that we got a taxi but the Americans/Kiwis thought the guy was ripping us off, eventually the taxi driver got really angry and through us out. Ended up in a really cool bar in the fashionable area of Buenos Aires before hitting a club. At 6am we were wandering the streets of B.A trying to find our way home - when in Argentina does as the Angentinians do!

Sunday involved mainly sleeping. After having recovered from the night before i headed to the hallowed turf of the Bombonera to experience some genuine South American football. The area around the stadium has been done up and everyone is really relaxed, it was more like Covent Garden than a hostile football match. Well, it was more like Covent garden until i got into the stadium - i was in the standing area behing the goal and underneath the Quilmes fans. Within a minute we had been covered in crap, spit and possibly piss (there are no toilets so apparently the away fans piss in balloons and throw them down) thrown from above. The match was pretty good, but the main attraction is the atmosphere. Unfortunately, i spent most of the second half looking away from the pitch, trying to spot the stuff the Quilmes fans were throwing. Towards the end they were throwing metal crowbars and glass bottles etc. - saw three people with bleeding heads and being directly in the firing line, decided to go and watch from the area near the exit. Was an experience to say the least, anyone for River Plate next weekend?