Buenos Aires!

Buenos Aires, a great metropole that feels European but with a Latin American twist. Our Airbnb studio apartment is in the exclusive barrio ‘Retiro’ close to Plaza San Martin, a perfect location for us to explore the city.

We visited many of the city highlights during our short stay. We started with the Cementerio la Recoleta. An impressive cemetery where 4800 mausoleums can be found of old Argentinian politicians, presidents and famous writers. Only the wealthy and powerful elite can be buried here in the ‘city of the death’ to keep their status. The grave of Eva Duerte-Perron (Evita) was of course the main attraction here. A bit of a mysterious place…
On our way to the beautiful green parks of Palermo we saw the giant metal flower sculpture ‘Floralis Generica’, genius art! The flower closes like a real flower from dusk until dawn.

The day after we went to Puerto Madero, Buenos Aires waterfront or also called ‘failed port’. This is a very nice modern, industrial area with a nice boulevard. The Puente de la Mujer makes us think of Rotterdam. From here we walked all the way to La Boca, with its most famous street ‘la caminita’ because of the bright painted houses. It’s a bit of a tourist magnet…but this area is worth visiting. Lots of small pedestrian streets with street artists, tango dancers and souvenir shops, made us feel like we were in an open air museum.

The other 2 days we walked through Retiro and the Center. Plaza de Mayo – this is the political centre of BA. This Plaza is ground zero for political protests, mostly peaceful, in front of the Casa Rosada, the presidential palace. Madonna sang ‘Don’t cry for me Argentina’ from the balconies of the Casa Rosada for her movie Evita. Many Argentines weren’t happy that Madonna was representing their beloved heroine. Also from the Casa Rosada’s balconies Maradona showed the 1986 World Cup to thousands of soccer fans on the Plaza. On a short walk from Plaza de Mayo we arrive at Palacio del Congreso – beautiful building modelled on the Capitol of Washington DC. The square here is full of pigeons and families.
During our stay in BA, president Obama is also there to talk about strengthening political and economic ties between US and Argentina. We see US flags on the Plaza de Mayo, lots of security and police, streets in the city centre are closed. The timing of his visit is a bit unfortunate apparently as the Argentinians celebrate a day of remembrance for truth and justice. This resulted into lots of protests on the Plaza del Congreso and Plaza del Mayo, ‘Fuera Obama!’ (Out with Obama) and NO to la impunidad (referring back to the politicians who were involved in the Dirty War – end 70s/early 80s) is their message.

Our observations:

• This city has 2 faces; you see dirty and neglected buildings everywhere but then some areas look very rich and wealthy. This is also reflected by the cars you see on the streets, some are brand new and others are dating from years before we were even born…
• Traffic to get into BA is really busy, so busy that the toll houses even stop operating/charging you during rush hours…
• Porteños, this is how the local people in BA are called, are very helpful and friendly. The city is really multicultural, there is a mixture of different nationalities, backgrounds and ethnicities.
• Traffic lights: as a pedestrian you can better ignore them, just watch the cars, when they stop coming you can walk. However, BA is a great and a safe city for walking. We were lucky with the weather, which of course helps a lot.
• This city has a lot of dogs! The concept of professional dog walkers, called ‘paseoperros’, is interesting…you see 1 person walking 6 or more dogs at the same time!
• The porteños like US dollars….Cambio, cambio, cambio….this is what you hear a lot on the streets…it’s Buenos Aires ‘mercado azul’ (blue market). We read that they offer better rates than at the bank for US dollars in exchange for Argentinian pesos, that’s why it’s done a lot. We decided not to take the risk…
• Food
  • The concept of breakfast in Argentina (probably whole SA) is nothing more than coffee/tea with a fresh juice and couple of medialunes (mini-croissants). Sometimes ‘Alfajores’ are served, this is a traditional Spanish sweet cookie type sandwich filled with dulce de leche (sort of caramel that is dripped on everything from cake to ice cream), tastes good!
  • Empanadas are served for lunch or as a snack. These are stuffed bread or pastry with a filling of cheese, meat or vegetables.
  • Most porteños have dinner no earlier than 9pm, even later on weekends. Meat is the main part for dinner served in parrillas, traditional Argentinan steak houses.

After 5 days we flew from BA to Rio Gallegos, which was quite a shit hole. There we took a bus to the South of Chile to Punta Arenas where we are now. Tomorrow our camper adventure through Patagonia will start….

We almost forgot the feeling of travelling, going back to the basics again. We love it! The only thing to worry about is what/when/where to eat, drink and sleep…Seeing so much beauty, learning the culture, meeting all kind of people… what a life! And we’re just getting started…

Mix of old and new architecture

Lots of cars from before we were even born

At the iconic Obelisco, Plaza de la Republica

Av 9 de Julio

Paseoperros in Palermo parks

Rosedal in Palermo

Authentic street musician

Cementerio de la Recoleta

Cementerio de la Recoleta

Evita’s grave

Street art (Martin Ron)

Floralis Generica

Birds in the Palermo parks

Puerto Madero

Puente de la Mujer

Skyline view

La Caminita in Boca

La Caminita in Boca

Colored houses in Boca

Empanadas and Quilmes, the local cerveza

Colored houses in Boca

Sunny day in Boca

Street view

Plaza de Mayo

Presidential Palace Casa Rosada

Empty street

Plaza del Congreso

Protests in Plaza del Congreso

Protests in Plaza del Congreso

Protests in Plaza del Congreso

Our first Argentinan Steak in a traditional parrilla