Cyclovia, the South American tradition where cyclists take over the road every Sunday

One of the things I love most about South America is the Sunday Cyclovia.

Most major cities close a significant part of their road network to motorised traffic, opening up tens of kilometres, in some cases over 100 kilometres of prime city centre infrastructure to cyclists, skaters, runners and walkers. When I say major cities I am talking about Buenos Aires and Sao Paulo both with populations of over 10 million and I'm talking about major highways, dual carriageways, flyovers and other major arterial routes.  Sao Paulo takes in Avenue Paulista one of it's most iconic stretches of road through the CBD which buzzes with thousands of workers and shoppers during the week

Quito Cyclopaseo, La Mariscal

This is of course possible because most retail and offices are closed for the sabbath meaning the disruption is somewhat reduced.  Many of these cities already have significant cycleways in place in the first place, dedicated lanes separated from the traffic making cycling a genuine safe way of commuting that cyclists in many major cities could only dream of rather than a white line gently suggesting traffic give room to cyclists.

Quito cyclists make use of the roadway as well as dedicated lanes

Bogota, Colombia is credited with the inspiration for the Ciclovia, closing streets in the city since 1976. As one of the worlds most bike friendly cities it also has around 350k of dedicated purpose built bike lanes. It is estimated that 2 million people (about 30% of Bogota's population) use the weekly Ciclovia where 120k of city streets are dedicated to cyclists.

The Cyclopaseo in Quito coincided with our first day in the city and it was a great experience to walk from the La Mariscal area up to the historical old city via Parque El Ejido following the Cyclopaseo all the way.  The path here runs north south joining the new business district with the old town and is used by tens of thousands of people adding to the festive atmosphere as it winds it's way along the path.

Cyclopaseo  near Parquet El Ejido

Quito Parquet El Ejido

Many towns and cities in South America are still built around streets where individual trades are based, the mechanics street jewellery street are a couple of examples.  I was amused to see a collection of cycle shops in one area all doing a roaring trade with services and puncture repairs.

On road repairs

Seeing so many people out enjoying their city on two wheels is something to behold. Seeing serious cyclists mixing with BMX riders, families on a mix of racing, touring and kids bikes along with runners and roller skaters has been one of my favourite sights in South America and though Quito, pictured in this post is the only one I've seen in full flow the glimpses I've seen across the continent leave me in awe of their ability to make events like this happen every week.

Quito centro historico

 Incredible, forward thinking use of the city spaces with an impact on people's health and well being that must be enormous.

Buenos Aires part 1

Day 1 Buenos Aires

Flight from Spokane to Buenos Aires was uneventful, though a reminder that you always get what you pay for.  I might have thought that a I got a bargain with paying $400 less than flying through the States but clearly Air Canada have their eyes fixed on service levels of the lowest budget airlines, ok if you are flying shorthaul but lowest quality plane, seats, food, entertainment and service aren't a bundle of laughs on a 14 hour flight. I was glad I wasn't in the mood for an argument when the steward tried telling me I didn't know the difference between a Bloody Mary a Virgin Mary and a Ceaser. May just be different in Canada so I let him be right.

Arriving in BA we had the usual issue of not being able to immediately obtain small denominations for tipping the porters, using them and tipping clearly expected. Glad we always have a supply of US$ as back up.

Taxi got completely lost. Surprise? Good job it was paid as a standard rate upfront. The driver was good humoured enough to deserve a tip despite the added time, just a bit of an unguided tour for us.

Made it to Seb's apartment in the suburb of Palermo glad of a clean up after 29 hours on the go.

Had a wander to check out the nearest metro station ready for the morning and had a good walk around Parque 3 de Febrero.Clearly the place to work out on a Wednesday night, walkers, runners, cyclists and roller bladers all doing circuits if the lake and an array of talent, ability and fitness on show! The roller bladers with tracks set up to practice (show off?) their skills reminded me of Central Park, NYC.

A good intro to the vibe of the city.

Day 2 - 17th April

A reasonable start with a bit of apprehension for a trip to the Italian consulate to sort out some paperwork.  Can't help but think that Enzo would have seen the funny side of us spending our first morning not only negotiating a three way language barrier but doing it with government officialdom!  Surprisingly this turned out to be time consuming but uneventful. We thing trying to explain the process properly appeared too much like hard work so the option of just signing what we needed was taken. Works for me.

Finally it was time to do some sightseeing so it was time to negotiate Florida, a busy, tourist mecca street where shady money changers mix with tourist touts looking to lure you in to a tango and dinner show. An aborted attempt here to get a local SIM so I'll have to rely on WIFI for a while, which hasn't seemed to be as obviously abundant as I'd expected. I'm sure I'll track it down.
Having made it back to Plaza del Mayo where a tribute to the fallen soldiers of the South Atlantic conflict is backed by banners supporting the cause of veterans.

In the east, the stunning Casa Rosada (Pink House) which is home to the presidents offices and known through the musical and film Evita as being home to Juan and Eva Peron. With a stroke of luck the president had made Easter a five day weekend and cleared off on Wednesday so the normally weekend and public holiday tours were on. Result.

If you get the chance, the tour is recommended, I am a sucker for high ceilings and marble staircases though some of the rooms are now decorated in more modern style and look set up for conferences which isn't surprising as they are used as presidential offices, you even get to go through her actual office and the more eagle eyed amongst us spotted children's pictures on the wall.

The even more unexpected highlight was to see Eva's personal rooms and to stand on the balcony she preached from. A quick blast of Don't cry for me Argentina (yes Madonna filmed it here) was hard to resist. The view over Plaza de Mayo is superb.

After concluding the tour a trip to the interesting suburb of San Telmo seemed evidence that the city was winding down for Easter and was very quiet. We'll head back another day.

Buenos Aires day 3 18/04/2014

A lazy start to the day, empanadas for a snack before heading towards Recoleta Cemetary, probably Buenos Aires most famous site and most popular tourist destination.

It is hard to describe this huge necropolis with nearly 5,000 tombs of the wealth and well to do.  Not content with simple headstones, the military and political leaders which make up a large proportion of those buried here have build vast edifices of stone and marble, towering above you, angels, statues and ornate carvings top these enormous tombs, often fronted and flanked with stone pillars. Hours could be spent wandering through here, though of course one grave is the reason most of the throngs of tourists come here. Only 32 when she died, Maria Eva Duarte de Peron is laid to rest in one of the more modest family crypts and visited by thousands of Argentinians wanting to pay respects to a political leader who, however you look at it changed a nation, most foreign visitorors are following the trail of Evita.

After discovering the Museo de belas artes was close for the holiday we sat in the park listening to live music, hanging out with the locals as it was clearly the thing to do. The less alcohol centric culture was clear when the vendor with a chilly bin full of cervesa wasn't mobbed on sight.

All helped by the second empanada fix of the day (do you feel a theme developing)

Buenos Aires has an easy going feel to it, thepeople seem relaxed and have been very friendly, showing great patience as we continue butchering their language. I do enjoy the feel of a place where families are out together at night, where peopleshare an ice cream or a coffee at 10 pm as much as a beer.