Advertisement
Published: February 8th 2012
Ola from Buenos Aires!
Firstly, we are both in very good health and having an amazing time. The flight was fine and we (mainly Jess) managed to sleep most of the journey, arriving in a very warm Argentina on Thursday morning. Marcos (who we are staying with) was kind enough to meet us at the airport and he had planned a day of sight-seeing for us to kick start our time here.
As you can see from the location we have selected, we are staying in a suburb of BA called Vincente Lopez, which is very nice and green (complete with private security guards and its own swimming pool). Currently, Marcos, his wife Luisina and his 2 year old son Lucas are staying with Luisina's mother whilst work is being done on their house, so as you can imagine there are plenty of people around the house and it's lots of fun as Lucas is adorable and a bundle of energy.
2/2/12 Day 1: After dropping our bags off at the house, having some breakfast and meeting the family, Marcos was kind enough to take a day off work to show us around his hometown. After being
told by Roger that Josh loved football, Marcos took us straight to an area of town called
'La Boca.' Which is famous for its brightly coloured buildings along the river, created in the 1950s by the neighbourhoods famous artist Benito Quinquela Martin. We walked down cobbled streets, lined with arts and crafts stalls, street performers and tango dancers. It's also famous for the football stadium of Boca Juniors,
La Bombonera.
We then headed downtown to visit the
Casa Rosada or the Pink House (the Argentine equivilant of the White House) and the
Meteropolitan Cathedral.
3/2/12 Day 2: 29°C Our first day alone in BA as Marcos returned to work. We caught the train into downtown, the station is only 4 blocks from the house and takes around 20mins. It is very cheap costing the equivilant of roughly 15p! We then created our own walking tour of the main sights:
-
The British Tower - A gift from Britain to mark 100 years of Argentine independence
-
The Obelisco - A large white needle situated in the centre of the widest boulevard in the world which consists of 16 lanes of traffic (watching how they drive
left us very happy we didn't decide to hire a car!)
-
Congresso Nacional - The national congress building
-
Puerto Madero - newly developed docks, now home to restaurants, bars and offices.
In the late evening we went out for dinner with Marcos and Luisina in the very fashionable area of
Palermo Soho. It was vibrant, busy and chic, full of locals eating in and around a large square and we sampled some local cuisine on a roof terrace, surrounded by fairy lit trees. Before we knew it, it was 2am and we were shattered after all the walking. On the way back to the car we stopped at a bustling ice cream parlour and Marcos treated us to a 1/4 litre of ice cream to share, with 4 different choices of flavour - it was incredible. Even though we were heading home, the area was getting busier and Marcos explained to us that for many locals the evening was just getting started!
4/2/12: Day 3 - 37°C hot hot hot Marcos's parents live on a beautiful 300 acre farm located 1 hour NW outside of BA. It is customary for their family to
meet there on most weekends and we were lucky enough to be invited along too. We met, Marcos's parents, Sister, Brother in Law and their two boys who are 5 and 8.
Within 5minutes of arriving Marcos was behind the BBQ with more meat than we have ever seen - Roger you better be taking notes! We took a dip in the pool and before long lunch was ready and we tucked into possibly the best steaks we have ever had, along with pork, chicken and an array of sausages. To accompany the meat we had sliced tomatoes in olive oil fresh from the farm and a potato and egg salad. We really enjoyed ourselves sitting outside under a big tree, exchanging questions of culture and life in different countires.
In the evening, we headed into the local town to buy some 'Toms' shoes (as we know them in England), which are a type of shoe made from fabric on a thick foam base and are very popular back at home. Josh was sick to find out that he had paid 35pounds for these shoes in England, whereas here, they are traditional farming footwear as they are very
comfortable and durable - and here they cost only 3.50pounds! Naturally, we brought 2 pairs each and treated Marcos to a new pair.
5/2/12 Day 4:
We planned to visit
Tigre today but we woke up to rain and clouds so spent the morning planning the rest of the week. The evening then brightened up so at 4pm we headed to an area downtown called
San Telmo, an area of the city with beautiful cobbled streets and on sunday a vast antiques and crafts market.
We wondered into an artist's studio where we met Christina, a local artist who spoke English superbly. We chatted to her for over half an hour as she explained her work to us and her philosophy of life, leaving us with the lasting phrase '
This is life' referring to living the moment and seizing opportunities. She was a lovely lady and she gave us her email address and some lovely gifts.
In the central square of San Telmo we sat and watched a mesmerizing public performance of local tango. These were not professionals, just locals who loved to dance. We found a streetside restaurant to have dinner whilst a small
procession of Brazilians playing samba music on drums passed by.
6/2/12 Day 5: As the weather had improved back up to the low 30°Cs! The two of us decided to travel to
Tigre by catching the train for 40mins in the opposite direction from downtown. Tigre is a small port town North of BA and has the delta of the Parana River running through it. Originally, a remote system of rivers with inaccessible islands, the delta is now crowded with weekend homes and restaurants. We walked to the Puerto de Frutos, a large market selling fruit, plants, spices and furniture made from the delta plants. We then caught a catamaran ride around the delta, which lasted an hour and a half, resulting in us getting sufficiently pink, despite factor 30! We finished the day with a walk down the river and returned home.
7/2/12 Day 6: 41°C!!! Today was very hot, even Marcos is feeling the heat and assured us that the weather we have experiencing is not usual for the height of summer (we're not sure if we're lucky or cursed). We took the train into downtown again and a short walk from the station
is the:
-
Law school - where Luisina studied
-
Flor de Metal - A large metal flower (see picture) which was a gift from architect Eduardo Catalano
-
The Recoleta cemetary - where Evita is buried along with many other important hisorical figures of Argentina. Really beautiful and grand tombs, we almost got lost as it is huge and like a maze!
- Basilica de nustra senora del pilar - the second oldest church in BA - a beautifully restored 18th century building, in high demand for fashionable weddings
We then returned in rush hour, which was an experience in itself. Considering the +40°C heat plus more people than the train can carry = a very sweaty and unpleasent journey home. The day ended with a huge thunder storm, which we have been longing for to bring the temperatures down.
8/2/12 Day 7: 27°C Due to the storm last night it is mainly cloudy today and temperatures have returned to a much more tolerable level. We are having a lazy day, writing this blog and researching further things to do and when to leave. Later we will venture into Vincente Lopez and
buy some ingredients, as we are cooking for the family this evening (they have requested that Jess also makes some scones, no pressure!).
Speaking to Marcos, fellow travellers and looking at logistics, we have decided not to go to Uruguay (as it seems there is not a huge amount to do there) and take advantage of Marcos's generous offer of accommodation and use it as a base to visit other provences of Argentina - this weekend we are hopefully visiting the festival town of Gualeguaychu (have a go at pronouncing that, we keep getting laughed at when we do - it should sound something like whall-e-a-choo) and maybe the second largest city in Argentina, Cordoba to the east.
We are very lucky to have such a fantastic host family, they are doing more for us than we ever expected and are truely lovely people. We will miss them greatly when we come to leave!
We will keep you updated very soon! Missing you all, lots of love, Jess and Josh x
Advertisement
Tot: 0.14s; Tpl: 0.013s; cc: 14; qc: 53; dbt: 0.0538s; 1; m:domysql w:travelblog (10.17.0.13); sld: 1;
; mem: 1.2mb
Alice May
non-member comment
Fro...
What fro?!? Everything looks and sounds amazing, I'm very very jealous! Just heading out to Roar this eve with Duckie, Nat and Wall! Wish you were here! xxxxxxxxxx