Day 7 & 8: Superclásico

As promised, I am gonna write about Superclásico (exxciteddddd!) which is the local derby match between River Plate and Boca Juniors! To make it easy to understand, imagine Manchester United v Manchester City with a greater intensity. Plus, ticket to this match is near to impossible to get especially if the match play at la Bombonera/ and mahal. 

Argentina is a football nation. Like really really really one! And this match is super massive, the whole city stop breathing at  this moment. Either you are schoolboy, janitor, professional, bartender or nobody, you need to have local football team to support. A must. Most of the time Argentines inherited it from their family but you need to be bold to suddenly change your color. Macam-macam story aku dapat; gaduh dengan atuk dia sebab tukar support Boca Juniors dari San Lorenzo (team Pope Francis!), main teka dari list sokaba sebab abang dia insist kena ada team nak support etc. Interesting. 

Back to Superclásico, if you are tourist and your football knowledge is so-so by default team kau dekat BA ialah Boca Juniors, CABJ (wrote about this team banyak on my FB/ gonna skip). Supporter diorang assume 80% of BA population support team ni, diorang reside kat la Boca- fans lain tak suka diorang sebab:

1) Kecoh, suka buat bising. Angkuh dan liar la tu 

2) Arrogant, adat lah bila banyak menang championships 

I just like la Boca sebab dapat tukar peso at the best rate, 1 USD=11.5 ARS whereby biasanya dalam 8.5-9 normal rate. Mana nak dapat weh! Read on blue dollar market. Nak beli souvenir pun kat sini la senang dan boleh bargain #TravelTips

River Plate, CARP pun formed in la Boca (thus the rivalry)- named after rio de plata or sungai plata in English- until they were moved to Estadio Monumental Antonio Vespucio Liberti or simply known as El Monumental. Team besar, pride pun besar so tak boleh nak share venue. Boca Juniors ni kerek sikit, dulu diorang ejek River gallinas- ayam. After transformation nickname diorang lebih hip- Los Millonarios, the millionaires sebab one time diorang beli players broke transfer record at that time. Macam Real Madrid biasa buat. Sekarang, JDT tiru.

Famous players used to play for Boca Juniors-of course-Maradona, Veron, Riquelme, Tevez, Cambiasso. While for River, Ortega, Pablo Aimar (tak ingat/ malas Google). No Messi. He's from Rosario, moved to Barcelona sebelum akil baliqh and graduated from La Masia. 

Enough of introduction. So.. During my trip these two teams scheduled to meet thrice within 12 days. 1 league game (at Bombonera) and 2 for Copa Libertadores  (home/ away). Luckily I managed to get a ticket for the match at El Monumental on 7th May (baru touchdown dari Calafate terus rush). Oh by the way, stadium ni adalah venue di mana Argentina lifted the World Cup for the first time in 1978, next 8 years its Maradona turns.

Arrangement untuk tengok game ni very the last minute; confirmed just 2 days before the match! Thanks to the Internet and effective communication by agent (before they get my money!) Walking to the stadium with the fans sambil sorak and nyanyi pun dah excited. Security screening even before you get into the stadium, few layers- still flare terlepas gak-sebab ni semua (balloons, colored papers etc) arranged by football mafia kat sana, lupa dah apa diorang panggil.

Before the match, the whole stadium exploded in excitement. By the way, only home fans are allowed to go to the stadium in Argentina. They sing, chant, insult Boca players semua lah. Aku yang tak paham sangat pun boleh follow. 

Vamos vamos River Plate!

During the match: to be honest I just wanted to see goals-tak kisah la from which side pun- ended up the match finished with 1-0 to River with one of their player red carded. Penalty kick. Record the moment tapi tak boleh upload sini. Sobs. Game memang intense. Hard tackle at every opportunities. Lain dari EPL. Very skillful. 

After the match: balik hotel dah midnight tapi sempat makan meggi kari letup dengan telur. Nyums

Ok la that's it. Nak tengok Guardians of the Galaxy. Eh. Thanks for reading! 

Day 5 & 6: Calafate- Perito Moreno Glaciers

Flying from Iguazu-BA-Calafate.

Macam dah nak basi. Just to finish what I have started.. So after Iguazu my next destination was El Calafate, southern part of Argentina. Bawah sikit, Ushuaia the town yang ada access to Antarctica. Ok tak payah ke situ kalau time limited, just enjoy Perito Moreno Glacier @Calafate one of their national park. 

Half of the day gone for travel je but masih sempat wandering around the small town and enjoying the sunset. Went to travel agent office to add hiking on glacier for the next day <left my USD cash at BA, so need to pay with credit card with $10 additional charge>

Temperature wise memang macam winter la. One day so bright and cold, the other day gloomy and cold. 

Well, in short I like the glacier experience. Dapat witness glacier rupture! Tak pernah pergi iCity yang orang complaint overcharge etc, mana mungkin sama pengalaman di actual place kan. In fact diorang ada buka glacier museum and nearby building or kat bawah tu ada glacier bar where guest kena pakai jacket (provided) and can enjoy wine etc

Next update: Superclásico! 

Calafate. I like the town. Small and calm

Wajah kebanggaan negara. Damn cold. And windy. Boat ride

Patutnya ni dalam pukul 12-1pm. Terik kan? 

One for the album. 

Balcony viewing. Block belakang tu la yang jatuh, tak sempat rekod- kagum sangat time tengok

Jarak rujukan

Hilang

Last week le wife almost lost her precious iPhone; tertinggal kat kedai yong tau foo. Luckily we got it back.The kedai owner kept it for us. 

Jarang dapat peluang camni, boleh jadi immunity for future incident, in case I did something wrong lah. But... Now I can relate with the moment I lost my GoPro; tinggal atas seat bus/ shuttle at National Iguazu Park, Brazil side. Ye la, tak sempat beat jet leg, penat activity- tidur atas bas, sampai station nak turun je tau. Nasib baik sedar kat car park, lepas tu tour guide 'tolong'. Dalam kepala dah risau gambar hilang, apelah careless samdol, ingat tempat kau ke nak tinggal-tinggal barang. To cut it short, yeap staff park tu tolong simpan dah, dia pass je without many question #HumanityRestored

My point is, benda nak jadi. There is no such thing as kebetulan in our life. By the way cerita atas ni, wife pun tak tahu lagi (or baru tahu Lah!) hehe :P 

Thanks for reading anyway

Day 3 & 4: Puerto Iguazu

It took about almost 2 hours flying from Buenos Aires to Iguazu. For this I need to bangun awal, had basic breakfast (no cereal) because it's too early for hotel to prepare. Pick up time was at 7am to airport. I don't bother to think I'm in Argentina during online check in so I took aisle seating as usual. Then I only realized lepas pakcik Jepun keep snapping his camera tepi tingkap, enjoying the view. Lesson learnt, the next 3 consecutives domestic flight duduk tepi tingkap je; hasilnya tak mengecewakan. Arigato gozaimas sensei!

Upon arrival at Puerto Iguazu I was picked up by travel agent with a van can fit about 16 people max; masalahnya only 2 of us! Memang like a boss. The whole trip kat Iguazu memang like a boss, macam private tour padahal dalam package shared service. Syukur! 

Aeropuerto

Sampai hotel terus unpack, panaskan nasi yang dah masak dari BA lagi, makan dengan lauk ayam kicap (canned food) & sambal hitam. Solat then terus siap untuk first excursion, Iguazu Falls visit at Brazil side. Wohooo. Then I met Rene Sosa the tour guide, very nice person and immediately became my FB friends. Immigration control in Argentina and Brazil tak macam Miri-Brunei; tak kena isi form dah tak payah bayar toll whatsoever. Side Brazil lagi kelakar, kena parking, turun jalan gi office check ID/ passport. Being le boss, semua Rene yang buat, duduk goyang kaki dalam kereta. Ada juga nampak kereta tak stop pun kat check point, blah gitu je- must be local.

Travel record

Instead of posting it on Instagram I prefer to put it here

Day 1 and 2 Buenos Aires

Day 1 (KUL-DXB-EZE)

Hola. It's good to know someone is waiting for you when you arrived at strange place for the first time; in this case Buenos Aires. So my tour agent rep, Venesa (takde Hudson der) dah tunggu lepas claim baggage. 

Terus straight ke hotel, it was almost 8pm at that time. During the drive dia explain bit about the whole program (driver orang lain la). Side stories sikit like they just finished election to select candidate untuk new President, come October. How important USD to them that only recently they are allowed by government to change peso for USD, max 300 peso like that. Buying house is preferred in USD mainly due to inflation. Dia advise jangan show off iPhone (mine 4S) sebab BA tak jual/ mahal gila; bila dia bawa keluar phone dia, sekali iPhone 6 kau! Menarik la and it ease my nervousness a bit. By the time sampai hotel, lega and excited to begin my adventure. In the room, take pictures and update loved ones back at home. Thanks to the superb Internet connection; TM/ maxis take note.

Because Obama is so mainstream

Day 2

Alhamdulillah my sleep was ok for the first night in BA, not on the next two consecutives day tho (maybe more about this later). Bangun and breakfast, tips- kalau nak pergi jauh dalam travel ni (fuh ayat..), biasakan makan cereal, InsyaAllah you will survive. About 8am, city tour begins (shared services). Just enjoy the pictures ya, basically we covered San Telmo, Boca, Recoleta and Palermo (where my hotel is located).

Bunga kebangsaan Argentina (kot). Jadi symbol kat park, it will blossom during the day and kuncup during the night BUT because it was broken it remains like that all the time <jokes tour guide>

Ada 2 version pasal warna bangunan ni but I like where it was colored by mixture of lime and cow blood. Satu lagi, president at that time minat putih and merah, hence jadi pink #boooring

St Martin dengan perjuangan keamanannya symbolized by the fire/ flare. Kalau padam maknanya ada huru-hara ataupun ada staff yang nak hilang kerja la tu

This is just a telco shop but nice kan

Tun M mortalized. No wonder he likes Argentina a lot 

Just to let you know, Marijuana is legal here. That noon diorang berkumpul reramai kat  main plaza ni and get stoned! Tak tahu la celebrate special day ke protest on something. I was like whaaaat

Colorful la Boca

Main entrance to La Bombonera. I wrote about the team on my FB page so gonna skip this

Even before I came here dah search about halal steak and finally found one! So boleh claim la makan daging Argentina yo. Nama Kedai ni dah tukar few times for the last 3-4 years I think, formerly known as Baraka. 

The Not so Secret Life of Nor Fairolzukry

I have to admit this is one of most the drastic decision in my life. Takde la random decision sangat, been thinking about it almost like 8 months camtu. Circumstances changed. And we have to adapt.

Ok to cut the chase, I am going to explore Argentina. Alone. KUL-DXB-EZE. Total travelling time could be closed to 30 hours. Alone. There is concern, of course. Before I answer why Argentina it is fair to justify first, why I am going alone. My other half- wait for it- is pregnant (Alhamdulillah). This is such a HUGE news to us, to the family. Beyond the decision to go to Argentina. Initially mestilah dah plan pergi berdua and I am not that evil (London hari tu was exceptional la kan). Part of me berat la nak go just like that but after series of discussion I believe this is the right decision. I am definitely going to share the experience and probably come again for the adventure. InsyaAllah. 

So.. Why Argentina? Jawapan senang, tak pernah pergi. Sebelum ni was fortunate to experience Europe, United States, Australia, bit of Middle East etc ok lah I am partially guilty tak banyak pergi ASEAN countries. Bila orang cerita Ho Chin Minh, Bali, Bangkok, Cambodia noob gila. Hopefully that can wait. Another thing, ter inspire tengok movie Walter Mitty; sangat adventurous dan penuh dengan element self-enrichment.

And also "Beautiful things don't seek attention".

Alright times up. Need to prepare and board to the plane. Kinda feel macam wakil tunggal negara nak main sport or something. Doakan my trip dipermudahkan, Selamat pergi and pulang. Miss my little family already. Bismillah.