Blogs from Buenos Aires, Argentina, South America

Hello! This one is for all the naysayers out there who said we'd never make it...we're OK here in hot and humid Buenos Aires. The BA journey was pretty long, not helped by the slobbering character sleeping next to me on the plane (no, not Laura) and the 25 Argentinian youngsters returning from their degree course at the Finsbury Park School of Applied English (cash only, terms and conditions apply). I arrived without incident and successfully booked into the wonderful Garden House Hostel in the San Telmo neighborhood of the city. Great hotel - not too many people staying, so no late-night raucous mobs to disrupt my beauty sleep...sort ly tailored toward the traveling population in a good way.My only complaint is a lack of air conditioning (that we've noticed) and the lack of a private ... read more

Our third day in Buenos Aires started off with a nice breakfast before walking once again to the hop-on-hop-off bus stop near the zoo. We waited for about thirty minutes, enjoying the dog walkers who were in charge of anywhere between 5 to 15 dogs; this is such a dog friendly city - we saw them everywhere! We just had two stops until we reached our planned destination: La Recoleta neighborhood. Here is where the famous La Recoleta cemetery is located but there are additional things to see, including some more colorful buildings. This is a very upscale neighborhood as well. As we walked to the cemetery, we passed by the Basilica Nuestra Senora del Pilar, which is painted a stark white, in contrast to the adjacent multi-colored cultural building. It was surprisingly peaceful and the ... read more

Breakfast in our hotel before heading to the airport. Our flight to Buenos Aires took three hours. We check back into the Recoleta Grand Hotel, we left a suitcase here with our summer clothes at the hotel. Tonight we have our farewell dinner at a steakhouse in Puerto Madero. Puerto Madero is a waterfront renovated area. It is now the most upscale area to live in Buenos Aires. The bus dropped us off and we walked along the waterfront and over a bridge to the restauran. We enjoyed a steak dinner with salad, fries, desert and wine. It was a nice farewell to the group. Breakfast is in our hotel then we get on the bus and head to the cemetery in Recoleta. We visted the cemetery with Christopher and Laura but we went along anyway. ... read more

We checked out of our Airbnb and checked into the Grand Recoleta Hotel. We met our group at 12:30 for a walk around the neighborhood. The grocery store and the money exchange were of interest to most of our group. After our tour Mark and I went to an Italian restaurant at the Recoleta Mall. It is New Years Eve and all of the shops and restaurants will close early and will be closed tomorrow. We stopped at the store to buy bread and cold cuts so we can make lunch on our travel day on Tuesday. At four we meet with the group for an orientation. Out guide explained in detail what we should expect for the following two weeks. Our fellow travelers (24) introduced themselves. They are a well traveled group of people and ... read more

We are in Buenos Aires for the month of December. Why, because it is summer here and we like the city a lot. We rented a two bedroom two bath apartment in the Palermo Soho neighborhood. We took a taxi from the airport and met with our landlord. Mark and I could not sleep on the plane so we are dragging when we arrive. After unpacking we head out for lunch. We ordered pizza which in Buenos Aires means it has a lot of cheese. Italians settled here but the pizza is not like what you eat in Italy. After lunch we go shopping. We could not find a large store so we shop across the street at the supermercado. Supermercado is an exaggeration this is a small neighborhood market. We are disappointed to find almost ... read more