It’s that time of year: autumn is turning quickly to winter, and even the strongest neoprene isn’t going to make surfing in Mar De Plata anything short of absolutely freezing. If you’re looking to surf through the urban jungle in Buenos Aires, you’re in luck: the longboard culture in BA is thriving! With riderscoming from all over the city and provinces to to get together to goof around with their boards and meet other riders, there are all sorts of events happening just about every week where you can get started. Here are few places to get you started:
Parque de Las Mujeres, Puerto Madero
Every Saturday and Sunday, this massive green space in the upscale gentrified neighborhood of Puerto Madero becomes home to the most advanced skaters and their boards. Runners and cyclist keep their distance — These guys (and a few girls!) know what their doing, practicing some pretty incredible maneuvers and working out some tricks, too. The length of longboards makes them better for down-hill than tricks, but these guys can make anything look like a breeze.
El Rosedal, Bosque de Palermo
A weekly favorite for everyone (<em>and we mean everyone</em>), the Rosedal attracts everyone from slow walkers, families learning how to bike, grown women learning how to roller-skate, and a fair amount of people with skate and longboards. Since there isn’t exactly any rules about who goes where, always be on the lookout for children who will probably just veer into your path, and keep in mind that most people at the Rosedal don’t know how to brake or turn effectively. Bonus points if you can avoid hitting anyone!
“Pateadas” or Organized Skates
Join a few cycling or long boarding groups on Facebook and you’ll see that even with winter coming, things are thriving! In organized “bicicleteadas” or “pateadas” massive groups of people come together to take over the streets in one massive blob, so everyone is safer and traffic is forced to stop as self-nominated volunteers hold glowsticks and manage traffic control. Going with these groups gets you excited to fly down a busy street — think 9 de Julio near Obilesco, Cordoba, and Scalabrini Ortiz– that you would never want to take on alone for fear of getting run down. While there seem to be a lot of foreigners, most are from other Spanish speaking countries, so being brave for a few minutes of conversation will pay off!
MercadoLibre might be your starting point, and a visit to one of these places can be your ticket to weekend fun!
No related posts.
