|
Some 5km southeast of the city centre lies the port area of Puerto Ingeniero White . Here you'll find the truly original Museo del Puerto , on Calle Guillermo Torres (Sat & Sun: summer 4-8pm; winter 3-7pm; weekday mornings are officially reserved for school visits, but you may be able to see the museum by asking permission from the friendly staff; free; tel 0291/456-4157). Housed in the Great Southern Railway's old customs building, a brightly painted corrugated-iron construction, the museum has for its theme the everyday life of the port and its inhabitants. The collection is composed of a wonderfully eclectic mix of objects, all donated by locals and displayed with verve and humour by the museum's enthusiastic staff. The themed rooms include one dedicated to the sea where the lights suddenly dim for an impromptu simulation of a storm, complete with lightning and wind effects; and a reconstruction of a traditional barber's, complete with a sensor which triggers a recording of Carlos Gardel, Argentina's most famous tango singer. There are also beautiful old coloured photographs of immigrants to the town and an idiosyncratic collection of objects such as the Chilean poet Pablo Neruda's hat, acquired by one of Ingeniero White's inhabitants in exchange for his own hat. The museum also records the oral histories of the area's older inhabitants, publishing fragments in its inventive newspaper and booklets; and every Sunday the kitchens here become a centre of the community when it is transformed into a confiteria, where you can try out the cakes made from recipes passed on by local residents, mostly Italian in origin. The museum is active in maintaining the tradition of the Procession of San Silverio , patron saint of the fishermen, which takes place on the third Sunday in November. During this typically Italian affair, a statue of the saint is carried out to sea in one of the port's traditional fishing boats before returning to celebrate a mass outside the Museo del Puerto. The surrounding area is liveliest at weekends, particularly Sundays, when locals end a stroll in one of the neighbouring cantinas , or in the museum's confiteria. During the week it can seem a bit of a desolate place, though its wooden and corrugated-iron constructions and cobbled streets give it the air of a faded La Boca, and thus a certain charm. Just to the north of the museum, along Guillermo Torres, you can see a well-preserved steam engine, taken out of service only in 1973. To the right, Puente La Nina straddles a vast expanse of now somewhat underused railway lines leading to the port terminal. On the other side of the tracks lies the poorer neighbourhood of Boulevard , separated from White not only by the bridge but by fierce rivalry between supporters of their respective football teams, Huracan and Comercial. To visit the port itself, walk to the southern end of Guillermo Torres and then left past the sign for Terminal de Bahia. To your left you may see a line of lorries waiting to unload their cargo; a seemingly simple task dramatically executed as huge trucks drive onto a kind of enormous stationary fork-lift truck and are then raised at a seemingly impossibly steep angle whilst the doors are opened and sunflower seed or grain is tipped out. To get to Puerto Ingeniero White and the museum take bus #500 from Avenida Colon in the centre of Bahia Blanca and get off on the corner of Mascarello and Belgrano, which lies two blocks west of Guillermo Torres.
Your Tip for Puerto Ingeniero White
Help other backpackers! Write your own guides and backpacking tips to Puerto Ingeniero White - they will appear instantly on this page - Please only write a tip/guide to Puerto Ingeniero White - visit the main Puerto Ingeniero White forum to ask a question!
Please do not post links to your site here (they won't work) - please use the Puerto Ingeniero White webguide section below! Thanks.
|
