Buenos Aires

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Buenos Aires

Sunday 1st November-Wednesday 4th November

We arrived in rainy Buenos Aires Sunday morning, after an overnight bus from Cordoba. First time we´d seen rain in a long time and we welcomed it after having temperatures of up to 40 degrees in Cordoba. We also had one of the best nights sleep on the bus as well because of the air-con, the last few nights we hadn´t slept because of the heat.
We got out of the bus station and asked the taxi driver to take us to one of the hostels Rick had found online. The taxi driver was rude and when Rick paid with 20 pesos, the driver quickly changed the money in his hand and claimed Rick only gave him 12… we´d read about the dodgy taxi drivers! In the end we refused to give anymore money and just left. So we´re standing on the street with our rucksacks in the rain and we can´t get into the hostel! We keep buzzing with no answer until finally someone comes out. Once up the stairs we notice the prices on the wall are about 4 times more expensive then what was advertised online so we decided to leave. None of the other hostels Rick had researched were in this area so we decided to walk around for a bit. We spoke to a couple of chaps to see if they recommended anywhere. They pointed us in the direction of a couple of hostels a few blocks away. The streets were deserted and everything was closed, it was after 9am and considering we´re in the capital of Argentina we were surprised.
We checked out a couple of hostels and decided on ´Downtown Mate´ which worked out at a bargain of 100 pesos per night for both of us in a private double room (16 GBP) and was only 1 block away from the Obelisk.

Once we freshened up we headed straight to San Telmo where a famous antiques market is held every Sunday. San Telmo is a beautiful area in itself with cobbled streets, old buildings and couples dancing tango in the street. We spent all morning there, strolling round the various stalls and had lunch in a traditional parilla restaurant. Rick picked himself up a bargain of a Indian Jones style leather trilby so was pleased. In the afternoon we took photos of the Obelisk and the pink presidential palace (Casa Rosada).

On Monday we planned to explore all the main sights of Buenos Aires which started off at the Opera house. It is apparently the best in the world and we read online they do tours in the morning so we rushed to get ready. Once there however we discovered that it was boarded up and being restored so that was out of the window…
Not to be put off by this we headed to our next stop, the Casa Rosada museum. Now, being that the palace has been the centre point of BA´s history (the balcony of Evita, the ´disappearances´ of the 60´s during the dictatorship etc), we thought this would be interesting. The museum is behind the palace and when we got there all the gates surrounding the palace were closed. We spoke to the guard asking how we get into the museum, only to find that they´ve changed the opening hours and it only opens on weekends now…great! Just our luck…
Instead we looked round the other attractions in the area including the cathedral which is home to the tomb of Jose San Martin. We got a taxi to Congress which is a building based on Washington DC Congress, couldn´t go in so we just took some more photos!
We knew we wanted to catch a tango show in the evening and had been advised to pre-book tickets as shows often get fully booked. After researching online we had decided on Complejo Tango which is a show telling the history of tango through dance.
It took us a while to get there only to find it was closed! Nevermind we thought, least we know where it is now…
Having a look at our map we had pretty much covered all the attractions in half the time we thought we would (mainly due to the fact most of them were closed) so we decided to get a taxi to the Che Guevara museum.
The museum was away from everything else and when we got dropped off we realized we were in a district that isn´t in the top tourist attraction guides. We had the road name the museum was on and walked up it about 5 times and couldn´t find it. Once we were convinced it wasn´t here we walked around the area, asking shop owners, policeman etc where it was. No one had heard of it. We couldn´t believe it! We finally stumbled across an internet café so had a look online for the exact address. It claims it is on the road we had previously looked at but now we had the number so went back to check it out a 6th time!
The address took us to a shop with gismos and gadgets galore in the window. We stood outside wondering whether this was it when we saw a small picture of Che Guevara in the window. Hmmm…we thought, is this it?
Inside we found an old couple, Lizzy asked if this was the Che Guevara museum and the old man raised his arms to welcome us. Yes yes he said…you are looking for Che Guevara are you? Yes we reply…to that the old man, nicknamed ´Toto´ begins telling us how he and his wife had started a museum years ago but due to the 2001 depression had to close it down through lack of funds. So now, the museum consists of Toto, a very interesting man, sharing stories/photos of Che. We talked with him (or should I say, were talked at) for well over an hour…it was fascinating and inspiring. Toto believes that a bit of Che lives in everyone and we need to keep his memory alive. Toto himself has lead an interesting life…I would recommend going if you´re ever in Buenos Aires, not only for Che but for Toto himself. It would take too long to share everything on here, you would have to experience it for yourself.
When we said goodbye to Toto, we headed back to the hostel to get ready for our night of tango!
The show itself was brilliant…the dancing amazing! After having both attempted a tango lesson in Cordoba, we could appreciate just how difficult it was.
After the show we got a taxi to a nightlife area, Palermo, where we had a few more drinks but with it being a Monday night it wasn´t very busy unfortunately.

On Tuesday we decided to check out Caminito, La Boca…which is home to the typical colourful houses people relate to Buenos Aires, and La Bombonera, home of Boca Juniors football club. La Boca itself is quite a rough area and you´re advised not to go walking about the non-tourist areas during either the day or night. During the taxi ride we could understand why going through some of neighbourhoods! Once there it was very busy with tourists…and there were plenty of places to get ripped off, for example, there was a Diego Maradonna look alike there who offers to have his picture taking with you. We were sprung upon as soon as we got there so weren´t quite prepared for it but stupidly agreed to have our picture taken with him. As soon as it was taken (with our camera) another chap approached us and asked for 20 pesos. In Argentina standards this is enough to get a slap up meal in a nice restaurant but we paid anyway to avoid any scene! Caminito is a lovely place and I´m glad we went but you have to be prepared to be stopped every two steps with someone trying to get you in their shop/restaurant etc. As we were both nursing hangovers we weren´t quite in the mood for all the hassle!

On Wednesday we spent the day at the Rocoleta Cemetary, which is made up entirely of mausoleums of past presidents and political figures, and Eva Peron (Evita). In the afternoon we lunched by the docks where there are a few swanky restaurants. Afterwards we strolled down Avenue Florida, a pedistrianised street where all the shops are and picked up a few souvenirs. There were loads of bands playing in the street.
We got the bus back in the evening, another overnight bus and even though we paid for a normal bus, we ended up getting the fully reclining seats serving dinner/wine for free! Bonus…

Even though we wanted to check out Buenos Aires, if you´ve only got 1 place to visit in Argentina, we would recommend Cordoba any day.

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Photos

Tango
On the streets of San Telmo

The Che Guevara Museum
How didn´t we spot it sooner??

Colourful houses
La Boca

Comments

[Jane]

I love reading your blogs, they are really interesting and the photos are brilliant... well done you two xxxxxxx

[John Trask]

question about busses
I have heard that the overnight and long haul busses are very luxurious--or can be if you pay--any comments. My wife , 2 children (7 and 10 ) are moving to BA for 6 months in Jan. Any correspondence or advice from anyone would be appreciated. John Trask, Beaufort, SC