bike tour of southern buenos aires

Went on a bike tour this morning with Ricardo in Buenos Aires. Was a bit apprehensive at the idea because of the nutty traffic, but turns out the nutty traffic respects bicycles very well.

I was lucky because I was the only one who signed up so it was a personal tour and Ricardo spoke spanish and occasionally I would ask for translation. Of course I didn't understand all of what he said, so take what I think he said with a grain of salt.

I had this idea that this was the italian south american country, which might sorta be true in current terms, but the history is mor spanish, french and english. Most if not all the architecture is similar to Spanish or French as they hired the same architects. There are tons of statues in the public squares and on top of buildings. The main statue is called the obelisk and looks like the Washington Monument. The president's building is pink. Coloured because the two original parties were white and red so it's a mix. He also said the paint was made from the blood of cows and bulls. Not sure if I believe that.

We went to a poor area called La Boca, which also has a touristy part which I imagine looks a bit like New Orleans, with very colourful buildings, marching music and lots of art on sale. In the back streets there was a lot of poverty as this is the poor neighbourhood of Buenos Aires. In one building, which kinda looked like a bank *with classical architecture* , I could see that there were families camping inside there. Ricardo figured there might be 30 families in there. I asked why they are poor. He suggested lots of reason... desire to work, native backgrounds, drugs, alcoholics. He said the drug of choice was called. Rats. I forget what it is called. Anyway maybe it's called Poca and its a mix of marijuana and cocaine. He said it causes death after three months if you get hooked.

Under the city are lots of tunnels. Build originally to defend against the spanish, but later used to smuggle slaves and later to smuggle alcohol in the city.

We also went through a big park/ecological reserve in the south. Was luck as an iguana crossed our trail. This was the first time I encountered a wild iguana. He was shy.