Stop and stare

People stop and stare, they don't bother me

People stop and stare

The previous night out at the gay bar where I had my encounter with the drag queen had been a late one. We had left around 2:30am. Pablo had given me a lift back to the hotel so I didn’t have to worry about saying I was going to catch a taxi. I had a bit of a late morning and missed breakfast. Once I was up and showered I had a wander out and found a little coffee shop where I could get some caffeine to kick start the day. I made my way back down to the Casa Rosada and found the entrance to the museum. The place was quiet with only a handful of other visitors wandering around. It covered the history of the presidents of Argentina. Everything was in Spanish but I did my best to read the information, picking out the words I knew and making a guess at the ones in between.

As I walked around looking at the exhibits I noticed a couple of guards in full military uniform. They were some distance away and I tried to sneak a couple of photos. As I got a bit closer I saw that one of them looked quite hot. I was that busy checking him out that I didn’t spot the roped off exhibit and I walked straight into the cordon, knocking down one of the poles with a loud bang that echoed around the cavernous hall of the museum. A couple of people turned to look at me. I blushed, picked up the pole and hurried into one of the small side rooms. I waited a while until my cheeks didn’t feel like they were burning, made my way back in to the main hall and out of the museum.

From there I walked over to Puerto Madero, one of the fastest growing parts of the city. There were a lot of tall, modern buildings and it reminded me a little of Canary Wharf. The sun reflected off the buildings and it had warmed up enough for me to take off the thin jacket I had on over my t-shirt. The locals who were walking by seemed to be in their winter coats, scarves and hats. I had tourist written all over me. I stopped off for a late lunch at a café and ordered in Spanish without any mishaps. My food arrived and it was exactly what I had ordered.

As the afternoon turned into evening I headed back to the hotel. I filled in my journal. I couldn’t believe that I had been travelling for three months already. In those three months I had already visited 19 cities and stayed with 20 gays. My OCD side liked that a quarter of the way through my year long trip I had stayed with a quarter of my 80 gays.

The next morning I had a late breakfast and then made my way to Florida where the open top tourist bus started its tour. I had often seen the London version but had never done it. I figured now I was a tourist I could do the tourist things. I opted for the 24 hour ticket rather than the 48 hour ticket figuring that would be plenty long enough. The sun was shining so I made my way upstairs having boarded the bus and been given a pair of headphones for the commentary. The bus took us through the major places in BA and I would recommend it to any first time visitor as a good way of getting to see a lot of the city. It was a hop-on, hop-off service but I was quite comfortable for a while, taking in the views from the top deck. Even without hopping on or off the route took over three hours to complete and it was late afternoon by the time I arrived back at Florida. I had made a note of a couple of places where I hadn’t hopped off that I wanted to visit. On the way back to the hotel I called in at a supermarket to get myself something for dinner and a couple of beers.

They don't bother me

The next morning I checked my list of places that I wanted to go and visit over breakfast. I got the map out and worked out the best route to take. I decided I would head to the Botanical Gardens first and that I should be ok to take the subway. I set off and found the subway station. The subway was fine, quick, easy to use and not too scary. There were people busking and some random young guy trying to sell pencils by putting them in everyone’s laps. Apart from the pencil guy it was like being on the tube in London. They even had bored looking commuters. I declined on the pencil front. Having got to the station I needed I made my way out on to the street and headed for the gardens. The gardens themselves were nice. A lot smaller than the one in Rio but still a nice spot to spend an hour or so. I spent a while there before going for lunch and then carrying on my personal walking tour.

After lunch I needed a bit of Evita so I made my way along Avenida Del Libertador taking in the statue to her before making my way towards the area of the Recoleta Cemetery. On the way there I decided to check I was headed in the right direction, not confident of my map reading skills. I spotted a policeman so approached him. I started the question in Spanish “¿dónde está el Cemen…” at which point I had to stop to sneeze. He looked a little surprised, understandably as it sound like I had just asked him “Where is the semen?”. After the sneeze was over I started the sentence again. ““¿dónde está el Cementario de Recoleta?”. He looked relieved and pointed me in the right direction.

I found the cemetery and made my way in. It was like nothing I had seen before, almost like a scaled down village with “streets” leading off from the main path Some you could see in to. Most were ornate, a few were looking a little neglected but it was clear to see that some were very well maintained. The place was eerily silent despite a steady stream of people walking around. I made my way to the Duarte family tomb where Evita was buried. I spent a while wandering around, exploring the narrow paths between the tombs before heading back to the hotel. I showered and changed and got ready for a Friday night out in Buenos Aires. I just hoped that there would be no drag queens to get me up on stage tonight.

“People stop and stare, they don't bother me” 

Lyrics from On the street where you live from the musical My Fair Lady