In between the spotty rain showers on Monday (nothing like the torrential downpour of a week ago, thank goodness), we took our 15 peso umbrella (purchased from a strolling vendor on Ave. Florida downtown, where we were caught...again...when the drops started to fall) and walked over to the Hipodromo about a mile from our apartment.Ladies and gentlemen...the Hipodromo is no Emerald Downs.
Monday's event, the Handicap La Maltrecha, was clearly not a major horse race, judging by the size of the crowd, which made it easier for us to stroll around this magnificent piece of architecture. We'll post more photos on our Flickr page when we get a chance...totally worth a look, because the building and grounds are stunning. So stunning that they are on the country's historical register and a national monument. Which apparently means (so we've read) that we weren't allowed to take photos (the place is private property, too, which plays into it). So we didn't take a lot, and tried to be discreet.
The racetrack is huge, which is a bit of a disadvantage when you really want to just lay eyes on some gorgeous horseflesh. We placed one bet each on the 6th race, J on number 8 (Bob Ricardo) to win (he came in third) and C on number 16 (Shadow Magic) to win (no comment). Minimum bet was 1 peso. We bet 2 pesos each, which meant we went home a whopping $1.16 poorer. I'm not sure we can handle that kind of financial devastation ;-)Speaking of financial devastation, we took a brief walkabout in the massive casino underneath the Hipodromo. Acres of slot and video poker machines. Makes some Vegas casinos look puny. We didn't play, mostly because we couldn't figure out where to buy the cards to stick in the machines, thanks to our limited Spanish skills. Probably just as well.
2 comments:
Perhaps you should consider counseling for you gambling addiction? t&j
Gambling addiction? What gambling addiction? Okay, we found a nice three-month out-patient counseling program here in Buenos Aires. See you all in the summer!
Post a Comment