Family Vaca Part II

So when I left you last I had just gotten engaged with the Argentine gaucho. Well not really. But that night we all got dolled up, even my dad, and headed out to a tango show. This show, according to the lonely planet, was supposed to be like the Las Vegas of the Tango shows. And they weren't kidding. I think it was evident in the first few minutes when they brought out horses onto the stage, to show the war between the European Settlers and the Indigenous people. But the show was really good, if over the top a little bit. But the dancers and band were amazing. There are really so many different kinds of tango, and none of them really resemble the type that you see on looney toones. Again, Bugz, you have lead me astray. We lucked out cause that night the leader of the band was leaving and they had huge encore performances and such for him.

The next day was Karen and my dads last day. The time really seemed to go by quickely, although we did so much that the week felt long. We spent the day on a city tour hitting up all of the major sites in one afternoon. Plaza de Mayo, which is a plaza bordered by many of the major buildings of the city and where most protests end up, Recoletta, a posh neighbourhood where Eva Perons grave is, and they have a huge market on the weekends and also La Boca, which is the bad neighbouhood where we went to see the soccer game. On the weekends they have a few streets closed off and it is now actually a major tourist attraction. This is one of the neighbourhoods where immigrants settled when they arrived. Apparently they had no money to decorate their houses so they would take the left over paint from the ships when they docked. The houses ended up being very colourful and it turned into a bit of a competition between neighbours. It has since continued and now there are a few square blocks where all of the houses are colourfully decorated and also have plaster manequins of famous Argentinians hanging off of the balconies. The streets are all lined with markets and cafes and each of teh cafes has a live band and tango show playing for their customers. It is really quite a sight but dangerous to walk even one block away from this main area, as it is still a very dangerous neighbourhood.

We did learn a little bit more about La Boca soccer team. I think our guide said their original colours were that of the Italian flag, but Argentines weren't too happy about that, so for some odd reason they changed it to pink. Again, no one was thrilled. So whoever was in charge of deciding the colours said that the next ship that pulled into the port, they would use the colours of their flag. And it happend to be a ship from Sweden, which is why they are now blue and yellow.

A little story from La Boca, the second time that I went with Joce and my mom. We are walking around looking at all of the venders and things and all of a sudden we notice a sign that says "get your picture taken with Diego Maradona". And there is a man with a camera and sure enough, a guy who looks identical to the "Hand of God" soccer playing legend. As they were walking around we snuck up and looked at some of the other fotos taken with "him". I mean, it did look A LOT like him and there were tons of pictures with the real Diego and famous people, but we couldn't tell if it was him or not, didn't want to be taken for fools by the people who knew he wasn't the real one. So the whole thing is very confusing, either this guy is an identical imposter or Diegos sniffing problems have gotten a little out of hand and this legend is being reduced to begging on the streets. I did take a stalker shot of him from the back though. Although that doesn't help anyone settle the dispute.

Sadly we had to say goodbye to dad and Karen after that, and Mom moved to her new little home for the week. It was a great visit though and overall I'd say the family vacation was a success. There was a little bit of bickering, but that's to be expected when you get too many davidsons in one room.

We headed back to Recoletta on Sunday to check out the cemetary and the markets. The cemetary is the biggest and richest one in the city. There is a saying that the rich had to live modestly to be able to afford to be buried in Recoletta. The tombs are just incredible. Some of them are absolutly massive and decorated to the nines. It is a social status of your family on, first getting into Recoletta, and second how well you decorate your tomb. Most of them have windows so you can peak inside and see whats up. A lot of them also have stairs going down to a bottom level where they store more coffins. Some were really well kept and some were just awful. We looked in one that had completely fallen into disrepair over the years and coffins were just litterally thrown on top of each other. There was even one with a hole in the top, which was very freaky. Although the cemetary was famous before, it became moreso when Eva Perons body was moved here. The whole thing is kind of ironic since she spent her political career fighting against the rich and for the "people", but then she was buried in the poshest cemetary in town. Her grave was fairly simple but just loaded with people there taking pictures. It was black marble, or granite, or some kind of stone, with the family name engraved into it- Duarte I beleive?? Also kind of ironic is that her husband, who was actually the President, is not buried in this cemetary.

Ive actually found a computer that posts pictures quickly, so Im going to stop writing and focus on that for awhile!