In Buenos Aires

Buenos Aires is a very beautiful city and an extremely large one at that. We are lucky because there is an excellent transport system that can take you pretty much anywhere you want to go. Buses are cheap and subways are even cheaper, and if you cannot get to where you want to go by either of these systems then a taxi will suffice. Taxis are also cheap but we have often noticed that they are taking us the long way around to get an extra buck out of us. The city has supermarkets, laundries, internet cafes, restaurants, etc… on every block so unless you need to go downtown to Florida street to find something specific, our local neighborhood more than does the job for us. You don't need a car here like it is a necessity back home in Josie. Every suburb has a plaza or 2 which is like a grassy park. People go there during the week on their lunch breaks to relax and maybe catch a siesta. This is why many shops close between 12 -2 pm...strange and sometimes very irritating for us! The weekends at the Plaza's are even busier when everybody wants to get out of their tiny apartments or walk the dogs. Most plaza’s have a statue of some or other historian or famous person from long ago so it is very cool to take pictures with these statues because they are landmarks for where you are. Another thing this city is famous for is their late night partying. There are hundreds of pubs and clubs to choose from and believe me they are way better than back home. One club that stands out is called Opera Bay and from the outside it literally looks like the Sydney opera house. It is huge inside, 3 dance floors each playing hip hop, house and trance but very expensive. If you are backpacking through Argentina I wouldn’t recommend this place. Just the entrance fee is enough for you to have a good time at any other local bar 40 pesos (R100).

Buenos Aires has a very unique culture and an article we read in one of the local newspapers here speaks of Buenos Aires as the leading cultural city of Argentina. They love to Tango!! It is known as the Tango capital of the world and people from all over the world near and far come here to learn tango. Tanguista is a term known for a local tango dancer and often they get together and dance on the streets for extra money. This can be seen mostly in San Telmo which is like the Melville of BA.

The meat here is apparently some of the best meat in the world. I would more than agree with ‘Some Of’. The rest of the world obviously has not discovered the meat in Africa. We were recommended to a restaurant that supposedly serves the best meat in South America. The steak was not all that bad just that we were expecting much more because of how everybody was raving about the meat. It is tasty but nothing like the steak we get back home. There is also no boerevors and oh my gosh what we would do for boerevors as well as Bovril and peanut butter. Can you believe it, no Bovril, marmite or peanut butter! A shocker I tell you and homes luxuries taken for granted. The closest we get to boerevors here is Chorizo and it is salty, oily and very fatty. In fact we don’t eat it anymore, well we have only eaten it twice but that is enough.

Buenos Aires also has its own dialect called Castellano. It is pretty much Spanish except that there are many idioms, lafargo (local slang) and words used that are not in the official Spanish language. It is also the only city in the world that speaks this ‘dialect’, not even other cities in Argentina have Castellano. Some examples would be Boliche (nightclub), Boludo / Pendejo (Idiot), Che (hey), Mango (one peso), Masa, (a cool thing), Piola (cool / clever), Pucho (cigarette), Carajo (asshole), Macanudo (great / fabulous), Piba / Pibe (young guy or girl) or Fiaca (laziness). Some local phrases of lafargo would be ‘Ponete las pillas (get on with it! Literally - put the batteries in), Diez puntos (Ok, fine! Literally - 10 points), Me mataste (I don’t know! Literally - you’ve killed me) and Soy Gardel con guitarra electrica (I am styling! Literally - I am Gardel with an electric guitar).

There are 2 main streets downtown called Florida street and Lavalle street which intercepts Florida. They are reserved for pedestrians and is full of shops, restaurants, movie houses and a casino, it is awesome there and we have had a lot of fun missioning these streets,it is definitely a must visit if you are a tourist. We only experienced that feeling that we were actually in another country once we visited this street. Another area we visited was San Telmo. San Telmo is like the Melville of back home and it is where you can find all the music, arts and crafts. On a Sunday there is an open market that is about a block big and is filled with antiques and old stuff. I was actually thinking to myself when I was going to find a vinyl store then I came to San Telmo and I found 3. Vinyl’s go for about R30 but they are all oldies as in Elvis Presley and others that are still printed in black and white. San Telmo is a very cool place. The main street here is blocked off to cars and is filled with singers, Tango dancers, posers, artists and people trying to sell their hand made goods. It is very cultural and we also experienced the best Empanadas in town. Empanadas are like pies except that they are filled with meat and no sauce. I still wouldn’t say they are better than Home of the Chicken pie back home. Panchos are what they call hotdogs! Anyway view the pictures of San Telmo and everything else I have talked about and drop us a comment or message.

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