Map of World - Click a place Brad's been

November 2014 - Introduction to Argentina Sport Fanatics

November 2014 - Back in Buenos Aires for their summer.  Getting back to typical foods here and trying to shed my safe work practices from Canada by watching the locals and their ways of doing things.  My moto back on the road and legal again in Argentina.  Plus, I attended two major sporting events, Polo and Futbol, Watch out for those Fanatics!


RECOMMEND: November in Buenos Aires is really nice, 25 deg C and mostly sunny.

After 6 months sitting, the bike started as easy as this, CHECK IT OUT.

Oh yeah



New Aduana (bike permit) - Arrived from Canada Nov 3. Nov 5 grabbed my bike from Nati's parent's house to get it to Uruguay in order to get a new permit for another 8 months.  Thanks to Nati and her parents for taking care of my little buddy.

Early morning, 6ish am walking to get the bike and head to Uruguay.

WTF??


 Long day to the border and back (750km) for my first time back in the saddle.  This time the Arg guys at Fray told me I should leave the country the day before my permit expires.  Whatever...  To avoid any other bullshit I simply road to Paysandu which is always kick ass and easy.  BTW, my issues with Fray Bentos are solely with Argentina.  The Uruguay side is always great and they speak english.

Long line of trucks = at the border



Great Gas station in URU, with Wifi

Happy Brad

and back again

Ahhh



Oh no.  Something burning down

Well, better to have this when it's not rush hour

Ready for BA fun



















RECOMMENDATION: Skip Fray Bentos Border altogether and go to Paysandu.

Life back in BA; Foods and Fun section - Beginning to realise I'm back in Argentina.  Food is tasty here and the driving force for a lot of social interaction at half the price of Canada.   


After 25 hours from Canada, lunch with Sole who picked
me up from the Airport.  Thanks!

First Day = Las Cabras

Whitey needing a tan

View from the pool

The old Americana from
Club de la Milanese

Ready to get in shape
JET - One of the more famous club

Panceta (Bacon), Me, Sole

Me, Mariel, Kat
No Joke - the scene on the streets
Sunday morning around 7 am
Check out the prices $1 USD = 12 pesos

More art at Martin Cocina








































































Martin (of Martin Cocina) sharpening a knife I borrowed from Julian

Professional job on an antique blade



First coffee in 5 years or more

Offerings of Martin Cocina, yum!

Locro typical stew of North Argentina

At Peugeot Resto / bar, very nice fillet

Best sushi I had in BA - Tenkuu

6 litres of water or two kinders??


Asado with the boys in San Fernando
Ricky Martin, Primero, Julian

Little after dinner business

WTF?

Julian back on a bike after a major
accident one year ago.  
   

Chef Jorge - my good friend Sole's dad who is always cooking for us (I mean all of Sole's friends) made two great dishes one night at his apartment - One dish was a spicy prawn concoction and the other an octopus stew.

Gancia y lemon juice, new drink!

Spicy Prawns for an appetizer and Octopus for the main

Hot pots => grab a shopping cart

Jorge and the team of Sole

Thanks Jorge!  Delicious.





























Safety is a big priority in Canada, but may be a little less in Argentina.  Check it out.

Holding cables in the middle of the street while chatting

Priority to elderly people.  At first
I thought she was rude to bud in, jaja
Then she pointed to the sign in blue.

Regulation high chair and strapping

These are public use stairs to the bathrooms and kitchen
at Tenkuu Sushi



Holy shit!  That's a high ladder.

No idea where to start the
Safety Audit


Polo with Kelsea.  Funny story; A couple years back I searched out a talent rep so I could stay close to the Calgary acting talent out there.  Well, I signed up with Kelsea Forzani Mannix at Details Talent who husband is also a major Polo player around the world and it just so happens they live 50km out of Buenos Aires for 3 months of the year so Freddie can play with the top Argentina players.  Go team Alegria which he also owns!  Thanks for the invite Kelsea!  Doesn't get much better than a 12-11 win in over time.

BTW - MY FIRST GAME EVER AND LOVED IT!

QUICK FYI - Polo has 4 players on each side and 14 horses per player used over the 8 chukkers of 7 minutes.  The field is 300 x 160 yards and slightly larger than 9 football fields in area.

Let's go to some Polo

Parents can leave their kids here
Not bad.

Action

A little stress as the game goes in to over time!



Surprisingly quite a few hang around to enjoy after the game

When you win!











































And finally, a very authentic and truly out of this world experience.  River Plate vs Boca Juniors, which is the biggest rival in Argentina futbol!  It's so intense it's actually illegal to wear the visiting teams jersey in any stadium in Buenos Aires.  Probably the best way to avoid murders...

Sabri and I made our way to the game 1 hour before the start, which was actually a bit late.  We had to pass through 3 security gates and a war zone before we made it in to the stadium for another full on adventure.   Absolutely crazy!  So intense from the hour before the game up to the start.  What a night and the game was really great.  Such a difference to see live futbol.  You can really feel the physicality you can't feel on TV.  Thank you so much Sabri!!!

War zone feel beginning with many blocks before we enter the stadium

I didn't even know where to stand


Finally through the street security, 3 damn check points!  If they don't get your water or what ever at the first gate they'll get it at the 2nd or 3rd.

Passed the 3 security gates



People were actually getting injured by these falling banners.  Watch the video to see why.

The cheap seats behind the barb


RECOMMEND - Don't film the other team's direct free penalty kick 1 minute in to the game as someone may try to kill you!

Muchas gracias Sabri!


Victory!!!  River 1 - Boca 0





This was only a Semi Final win.  However, it was to represent
Argentina in the South America Cup and against Boca!

This guy was shouting in to his phone

Futbol Hooligans??

Taking the stairs out.  WATCH purely for experience of a crowd that has the potential to explode!

Ready for riots



Other stuff
Chopping at the bit to quickly clean the plane
Tight parking
  
WTF!?

Happy Fernet and Coke



Rising star