Buenos Aires, Argentina

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February 17th 2010

Published: February 21st 2010

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Raya CAN

Buenos Aires

The city of tango.

Hello BA! We arrived at 6am on the 9th following a 21 hour bus ride, border crossing included. We were really lucky to have made it through the border within 1 hour, however, without the expected delays we arrived in Buenos Aires way ahead of schedule. Since we could not check into our hotel until noon, we ended up sleeping for a few hours in the bus station (dirty chairs, loud speakers, human traffic and all) then hung out in the hotel lounge area until we could settle into our room.

We stayed our first 3 nights at ´Hotel Ritz´ which was conveniently situated on the corner of Avenida de Mayo - the central Avenue of the city which connects Plaza de Mayo (the main downtown area) with Congressional Plaza - and 9 de Julio Avenue which is considered the world´s widest avenue at 120 meter (400 feet) wide and 2,600 meter (8,500 feet) long. We had a huge, beautiful room on the top floor with private bathroom, cable TV, air conditioning and 3 private balconies - we really lucked out. The room cost us AR.140/2ppl/night (approx. $36.50 USD) so wasn´t too bad, especially for what we got. Braeden is

Buenos Aires

The Presidential Palace. ¨Casa Rosada¨

a Hostelling International member so we received a bit of a discount - it is nice to find hotels that are HIs as they usually have the vibe of a good hostel but are a little more luxurious. The hotel had a great lounge area with 3 computers, pool table, big TV and cheap beers (compared to the restaurant prices) so we spent most of our nights hanging out there playing UNO or reading.

Unfortunately, we had only booked our room for 3 nights and when we wanted to keep the room longer, they were completely booked up for the weekend. We decided to try ´Tango City Inn´ hostel (also an HI) and reserved and confirmed a room for 2 nights but when we arrived on the Saturday for the 2pm check in, they informed us they had dropped our reservation. The guy working the desk was very rude and unwilling to adhere to HI policies of having to find us a similar room elsewhere for the same cost so, following a heated discussion, we ended up having to spend one night in an over-priced dorm room but got our money back for the 2nd night. This was especially

Buenos Aires

La Recoleta Cemetery.

frustrating because, as an HI member your reservation is supposed to be secured, that´s one main reason people buy a membership. A complaint has been filed with HI.

Following the mix-up with the previous hostel, we decided to treat ourselves and stay in a nice hotel on the 13th. We checked into ´Hotel Milan´ for one night at AR.240 (approx. $62.50 USD) and, while it was a clean and relatively nice hotel, it wasn´t any better than several of the hostels we have been staying in for less than half the price. We had 2 tiny beds in a crowded room and a toilet that you had to sit sideways on because the seat was almost touching the wall. So much for splurging - next time we stick with budget hostels. So it was back to the ´Hotel Ritz´ where we stayed for another 3 nights in a nice - but significantly smaller - room than our first stay there. Still, a great place to stay 😊

Buenos Aires is a really beautiful city and we had no problem filling our days. One of the first things we had to do was get our Paraguay Visas which ended

Buenos Aires

´Nuestra Señora del Pilar´ church in Recoleta.

up only taking one processing day. Now we don´t have to worry about anything as we will be able to enter the country and ultimately catch our flight from Asuncion to Caracas, Venezuela on March 27th. If for some reason they denied us entry, we would have had to swallow $500 USD worth of plane tickets each - we´re very glad it worked out!

The city is absolutely huge but we managed to walk most places and take the metro (´Subte´) whenever necessary for only AR. 1.10/ticket (approx. $0.30). Some of the best areas we visited include Recoleta, Palermo, Puerto Madero, San Telmo and La Boca. Recoleta is an upscale dining and shopping area and is also where the famous ´La Recoleta Cemetery´ and the ´Nuestra Señora del Pilar´ church are located. Palermo is an area filled with boutique shops, new fashion designers and trendy restaurants. Puerto Madero is the waterfront area where popular restaurants, a ship museum and the famous ´Puente de la Mujer´ bridge by Santiago Calatrava can be found. San Telmo is known for its large antiques market and La Boca is home to both the colourful ¨Caminito¨ and the Boca Juniors´ soccer stadium where Diego

Buenos Aires

La Recoleta Cemetery.

Maradona once played (¨futbol¨ is huge here and this guy was apparently an important player back in his day - can´t say I know any more than that). “Caminito” is a street without sidewalks where all the houses are made of metal sheets painted in different, vibrant colours and contain many windows and balconies. Arts and crafts vendors, small cafes, as well as painters and tango dancers can be found along this one block long street.

Buenos Aires is filled with beautiful old buildings which have been quite well preserved. Many - as in the waterfront areas of Puerto Madero - have been turned into condos, restaurants and commercial buildings. One beautiful building we were able to see was ¨Casa Rosada¨ - the Presidential Palace. It is a huge pink building in the Plaza de Mayo and where the current Argentine president works but does not live (she lives in the suburbs in a mansion in Los Olivos, north of the city, with her husband, the former president.) Casa Rosada is probably the most photographed building in Buenos Aires because of the balcony where Eva Perón made several appearances to address the adoring crowds of Argentine workers.

While

Buenos Aires

La Recoleta Cemetery.

in Recoleta, we spent part of an afternoon walking through the cemetery which is absolutely beautiful - it has even been compared to the Pére Lachaise of Paris. There are 4700 cripts within the cemetery spanning an area of 50,000 square meters. ´La Recoleta Cemetery´ includes graves of some of the most influential and important Argentinians, including several presidents, scientists, and persons of wealth; the most famous of course being Eva (¨Evita¨) Peron. There are also an estimated 84 cats living in the cemetery.

We visited 3 very different museums while in the city. The first was the ´Museo Nacional Ferroviario´ which houses a variety of fascinating antiques such as old telephones, appliances, train parts, different modes of transportation (buggies, bicycles, etc.), photos, fire fighter equipment, and so much more. We were really lucky to have stumbled upon it as it is situated in an old factory building somewhat off the beaten track and not mentioned in either of the guide books we own.

The second museum we visited was ´Museo Evita´ which is dedicated to the life and memory of Eva Peron. The museum is housed in a mansion which was built during the 1st decade of

Buenos Aires

La Recoleta Cemetery.

the 20th century and declared a National Historical Monument in 1999. The museum was opened on July 26, 2002 - 50 years to the the day of Evita´s death - and is filled with pictures, personal belongings and displays outlining her political (and very public) life.

The last museum we visited was the ´Fundacion Memoria del Holocausto´ which is the Holocaust Museum dedicated to the memory of those who died in the genocide of Jews in Europe during the Second World War. The museum is very educational and it was interesting to discover that Argentina was one of the first countries in the world to segregate Jews by stamping the Star of David on their identification papers. Starting in the 1920s, this occurred even before the Nazis ascended to power in Germany. The museum is filled with several pictures, artifacts and documentations including the false passport used by high-ranking Nazi Adolf Eichmann in 1950 to escape to Argentina, which was accidentally discovered in an old court record in Buenos Aires.

Valentine´s Day was spent with lots of love - that is the love of almost 50,000 insane fans for the game of soccer. Despite neither of us caring

Buenos Aires

La Recoleta Cemetery.

for the game, we decided to take everybody´s advice and experience a ¨futbol match¨ in person. The game we attended was at the stadium in La Boca with the Boca Juniors vs the Atleticos. We made the mistake of going on the ¨Futbol Experience¨ which was somewhat of a guided tour with unnecessary stops at over-priced places in La Boca and ¨cheap seats¨ that we paid AR.240 each. Our ticket stubs stated they were really only worth AR.30 (huge rip-off) - we knew we should have just done it on our own. Oh well, we were in the standing room only section and made sure to stay underneath the covered area as we were situated below the visitors section who have been known to throw (according to our guide) ¨any substance the human body can produce¨ down onto their rival fans. We witnessed a lot of spit flying down at those walking past through the entire game - gross! Neither team scored but I must say it was a lot more interesting and fun than I expected. The Boca fans are so energetic, waving flags and singing and chanting along with a band literally the entire game. It is incredible

Buenos Aires

Evita´s grave site.

how many people have taken the time to learn numerous songs/chants about a soccer team and the love of the game. I really wished Boca would have scored cause I can only imagine just how crazy everyone would have been. Unfortunately, we did not take a camera but did manage to get a few short video clips on an Ipod - guess it´s better than nothing 😊

I love BA - there´s no doubting that. There are a couple things that could be dealt with though: (1) the dog feces; and (2) the garbage mess. It is absolutely mind-blowing to me that they have not come up with (or enforced) a bylaw addressing the issue of people just letting their dogs go to the bathroom wherever they want, including stopping at busy corners, holding up traffic and leaving it for everyone to step in. No one seems surprised or bothered by it other than tourists which is something neither of us can comprehend - I mean the shit is literally everywhere! As for the garbage mess, BA is a relatively clean city. Unfortunately though, there are garbage pickers who rip into the garbages, spreading the mess all over the

Buenos Aires

Museo Evita.

sidewalks and streets, leaving it for the poor sanitation workers to clean up. While I can empathize with those who need to make a living by picking and selling other people´s disposed items, I also feel sorry for the extra work that has to be done by people with an already crappy job. It makes for a very smelly eyesore!

So that was BA - what a great city! I am really going to miss it and wish we had more time. We never did end up experiencing the night life though like the locals as most clubs don´t even start getting busy until 2am, keeping people partying until often noon the next day. Can´t say I would be interested, even if my body could handle it 😊

Next we are off to Uruguay for a quick stop in Colonia and Montevideo.

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