I had high hopes for Buenos Aires and was not disappointed in the least.
The airport is a long way out and the traffic was heavy with road works and an accident and I didn’t get to the hotel much later than I’d expected so didn’t make it in time for the tour I’d booked of Recoleta Cemetery. It was always going to be touch and go whether I made it or not and given it was only $20 I wasn’t too concerned.
I had initially wanted to stay in El Centro (down town) but had read that it has dodgy elements after dark so opted for the suburb of Palermo Soho which is a bit further out but a nicer area.
Given that it was late afternoon by the time I settled in, I just went for a walk around the area.
BA is gorgeous; tree lined streets, incredible architecture with a very French feel and wide avenues in the centre of the city. Slightly insane drivers but nowhere near as bad as Rio. It’s just a lovely city and I didn’t feel unsafe at any point. Sure there’s areas I wouldn’t go and I didn’t walk around with my camera out, I’d take my photo and put it away. But it had a very different feel to Rio.
The hotel is an old house that only has 7 rooms – there are many such places in Buenos Aires. They have very reasonable breakfast hours 8am – 10am and while that’s very nice, it makes for a later start to the day. With this later start I Uber-ed into El Centro (downtown area) to start the day at the main square – Plaza de Mayo with the Casa Rosada (red house were Eva Peron waved from one of the balconies) and the Metropolitan Cathedral. I also visited Farmacia de la Estrella – an old chemist with murals from 1835 on the ceiling, Basilica y Convento de San Francisco de Asis – Church and convent of St Francis which was originally opened in 1754, Galeria Guemes for the fabulous views which also had a rickety elevator and a 2 story spiral staircase which reminded me that I loathe spiral staircases.
I was having lunch a restaurant with a tent like outdoor eating area at the end of the “mall” with my back a few metres away from one of the main streets Avenida de Mayo when there a suddenly sirens blaring down the street but it’s not just one or two sirens, it’s dozens of them. And everything and everyone is stopping and when the chanting starts I’m starting to wonder if I should be grabbing my stuff and getting the hell out of there. And of course I have no idea what’s happening because whatever they are chanting is in Spanish. I ask one of the waiters and he says it’s ‘el Presidente’ and I’m like the president of Argentina is in the street behind me. The chanting turns to singing and this goes on for about half an hour and is resembling a bit of a rock concert and I’m thinking there is no way Albo would get this kind of reception. The vast majority of these people seem to really like this guy. So it turns out I’ve been closer to the President of Argentina than I have to the Prime Minister of Australia.
After the excitement I went in search of what is supposed to be the most beautiful shopping centre in the world with murals on the ceiling. I was left feeling a bit let down especially given that I had to walk down crack alley to get there and back. By crack alley I’m talking a rather dodgy side street where I did happen to see someone doing something that I can only guess was crack and I was beginning to wonder if Google Maps had led me astray but the next street opens into a very bougie shopping street and this fancy pants shopping centre. It was all a bit meh for me so hot footed out of there and made my way to Teatro Colon (Colon Theatre) but alas I missed the tour by a few minutes so treated myself to afternoon tea and the theatre cafe – tea and a very delicious lemon tart.
Had specifically pre-booked an early tango show with dinner included that started about 6.30pm (most of them start dinner around 9.30pm). The pickup was at 6.30pm and it takes about half an hour to get there, then you sit for ages waiting to for them to take the order and the food was really average and the show finally starts at around 9.30ish. There are 3 couples of dancers, a woman that sings (at first I thought she was a drag queen…..then realised she wasn’t….oops), also a guy that sings and a guy that does the folk style songs and guitar. Oh and there’s a band.
Lots of different tango styles, multiple costume changes, lots of swinging girls around and a finale of Don’t Cry for Me Argentina which I hadn’t heard done in Spanish before. These Argentinians are very patriotic, I’ve even noticed that there are flags in the churches.
Day 2 was the La Boca and San Telmo area. The La Boca area is down by the port and I’d heard it can be a bit dodgy particularly at night and I can see why. The few main streets are fine during the day when there are tourists there but some of the streets I passed in the uber were places I wouldn’t think about being in daylight, let alone at night.
Caminito means little walkway or little path in Spanish and is a few streets and alleyways that are a museum of the traditional area which inspired the tango music. The houses are painted very vibrant colours and look great but a lot of junky tourist shops and restaurants with people hassling you to eat there. After a quick look around I moved on to the San Telmo area; one of the oldest areas in Buenos Aires with lots of old buildings and antique shops.
I finally found the El Ateneo book shop which is listed as one of the most beautiful book shops in the world being an old movie theatre. And yes, it is beautiful. I asked one of the guys if they have books in English and he said ‘yes’ and I just stood there and he said ‘what do you want to know’ and I said ‘where are they’ and he pointed behind me to where there was a big sign on the wall that said Books in English…..face palm! I just stood there and shook my head and felt like a total moron.
Went to the ballet to see Onegin at Teatro Colon. It’s an old fashioned style semi circular auditorium with box seats and is one of the ten best opera houses acoustically in the world. Each box seats 6 people and there are 3 chairs at the front and if you get there late you get stuck in the back. I made sure to get there really early and the usher took me to box 18 and unlocked the door and led me through….it was all a little posh. My cohabitants in the front row were an American woman who lives in BA as she is married to an Argentinian and her son, so it was nice to chat with someone. I really wanted to see an opera but had to content myself with a ballet. It was lovely but there was no drama to it and I started nodding off in the last act. The dancing was great and the music was lovely, I think I needed a bit more gusto.
Day 3 was a tour to Estancia El Ombu de Areco an estancia being a ranch in the area of San Antonio de Areco. There were about 12 of us on the trip, two American couples, a couple from the UK and the rest Spanish. The drive through parts of Buenos Aires that I wouldn’t have otherwise seen was great and we stopped at the very small township of San Antonio de Areco for a short wander round, then it was 6kms of not wonderful dirt road to the estancia. We went straight on a short horse ride through some fields that were quite boggy in parts and then came back to the best empanada I’ve ever had. It was fried rather than baked and it was juicy and freaking awesome and we had oily juicy-ness running down our hands, it was great. I wanted to go for seconds but we were about to have an asado (bbq) and didn’t want to spoil my appetite but really regret it now.
The Argentines don’t waste any of the meat, so appetisers are intestines and most of you are aware that I am the first person to admit that when it comes to food I am very fussy and not in the least bit adventurous, so this was a major challenge for me that I managed to avoid by only taking a piece of sausage…..I’m not sure what it was but I’m telling myself it was sausage. They then brought out chicken and lamb and beef and I think even pork made a showing and it was nice but I was still hankering for that bloody empanada. This was followed by a lovely desert that I can’t remember what it was. After lunch they did some folk dancing and tried to get everyone to participate….can’t take photos and dance at the same time!! And then the horse whispering, which was amazing and then a snoozy drive home.
Part of me wished I hadn’t pre-booked it or wished I had realised earlier that I could have cancelled it to be able to spend the extra time in BA but I’m also glad that I did it as it was a nice relaxing day and I got to chat with other travellers and see things I wouldn’t have otherwise. No regrets….except for that damned empanada.
Forgot to mention that on the estancia tour the UK girl was apparently a bit of a celebrity…..Becky Hill. The name was vaguely familiar but she opened for Katy Perry on her USA tour so she obviously has some chops.
Next stop Ushuaia.