One F in Foley: Travel Memories Part One - A trip to Argentina

There’s no denying that our world is in a precarious state right now, and, without getting too cynical about it, there’s no telling how much worse it’s going to get.

And yet, when times get like this, I cast my mind back to a few years when I embarked on a great number of travel adventures around the world. North and South America, Southern Africa, India, Japan, and several countries across western and central Europe.

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It’d remind you of all the beauty in the world.

Boca Juniors
Maybe it’s an occupational hazard, as a History teacher, I’m often found trying to encourage my students to learn about this subject - not just through textbooks - but through things they love. For me, it was always football, music, pop-culture and food. Simple stuff, but core elements to my sense of well-being.

Argentina and Brazil are icons when it comes to football. It still conjures up images of Diego Maradona or, more recently, Lionel Messi dazzling defences in that famous light blue and white striped jersey. The same goes for the Samba-style passing and moving that the boys in yellow and green of Brazil could do.

When I went to these countries, one of the first things I wanted to do was get a look at the Boca Juniors stadium - Estadio Boca - located in the rundown suburbs of Buenos Aires. It was a pity there was no game on the day I was there, but I learned a lot about community and spirit from my visit to that part of the city.

Although the people didn’t have much in terms of wealth or material gain, and as tourists, we were always advised to never go to these areas alone, up stepped Viktor.

My taxi driver from the airport, who drove a cab without headrests, smoked like a train, and, with limited English, showed me the sights that meant so much to him.

Now I’m sure there was an element of him looking to cash in by offering to ‘chauffeur’ a gullible tourist like me, but the way I saw it was different. Yes, he was undoubtedly going to up my fare a little, but I thought, ‘Here! He’s bringing me to places which an official tour company would probably charge more for.’

The fact that he was going to end up bringing me to the front door of my hotel made the deal even sweeter. Our spin-up towards Boca showed me how much football meant to the people of the surrounding community. For many, it was the most important thing going for them in their lives. It was a love they had deep down.

Argentine Culture
It wasn’t just football stadia either. Viktor showed me the balcony where Eva Perón - better known as Evita - stood and was cheered by huge crowds for her role in impacting the political life of women and those in need. A moment made famous by Madonna’s rendition of ‘Don’t Cry for Me Argentina’ in the 1996 musical film.

There was time for other aspects of culture too. One night, I attended a very grand restaurant and performance theatre. It looked more like the interior of a cathedral than merely a place to eat. We were told that, after our meal, dancers were going to perform a traditional Argentine Tango.

We were even brought backstage and given a short demonstration with the offer to try out some moves ourselves. I won’t lie, I did get hit with a bemused sense of giddy awkwardness here. Especially when I paired up with a cute German girl, who was also a part of the travel group, and as we nestled up and held hands, I recall we did share a joke along the lines of “well, this is a nice way to meet.”

Now I’ve ever been an avid follower of Strictly Come Dancing, but I must admit, I was somewhat mesmerised by the talent of the dancing couple. It had a touch of ballroom, but there was more going on. An accompanying orchestra played along, and the show became like a story that you’d see in an opera.

Again, not your usual thing that I’d spend an evening watching, but with a glass of red wine in hand (to be honest, there were a few of those throughout the evening), and, all in all, it was a night that was something new, something different, and something very beautiful in its own right.

Moving On
Argentina was only a short part of the trip - just two nights with a sprinkling of jetlag thrown in - but it was a great way to start the South American adventure. In those few short days, I had come to see the beauty of Argentina’s art and culture as well as its sense of community in the more remote parts.

It led me down a rabbit hole of exploring why, even though the primary language was Spanish, the country still had more of an Italian feel. Think about, even names like Messi and Maradonna both sound a bit more Italiano. Then I learned that ‘Argento’ indeed was Italy’s name for the place, meaning ‘Land of Silver.’

There was no time to waste, though, as once the dancing was done, it was off to Uruguay.