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Published: December 8th 2013
Just had such a great week here in South America. My Dad and my sister Claire came over to visit me for a week and although time was quite short we managed to show them around many of the tourist bookmarked sites and even managed a short hop across the river to Uruguay.
PALERMO:
Arriving on Saturday morning, after a much needed nap following the long journey over, we all went out for lunch in Palermo, with Leandro's family. His aunty and uncle were visiting from the States, as well as an aunty that lives in La Plata, so along with my Dad and my sister, there was a good few of us. So, first day in Buenos Aires en groupe, what do you do for lunch? You go for asado of course. We went to a really nice restaurant and dined on the terrace - I have to say the first day my family were here was the hottest day I had experienced so far. My family were impressed with the asado, and my Dad was much relieved that here in Argentina the meat is always 'bien cocido' or well cooked, and in fact came out on a
little grill so was still cooking as we ate. It's not like in France were the meat is practically still walking, so happy days! After our meal and a coffee and ice-cream in a local heladeria, we drove around Palermo a little more, seeing all the sites and then stopped of at the Japanese Gardens, which were well worth the visit.
ESTANCIA DON SILVANO:
On Sunday we got up early and headed to the city centre to catch a coach to the outskirts of the city, where we visited an 'estancia' or a ranch. We had such a ball of a day and my Dad and sister really enjoyed the day. As we had paid for a days excursion, everything was all included in the price. We were greeted with empanadas and vino tinto and were allowed to roam the ranch for a couple of hours before lunch. It was such a beautiful place with horses galore and lots of things to do and see. We were going to ride some horses but as there was a big demand for that we took a carriage ride instead. Again it was a really hot day, so when the gaucho
riding the carriage took us for a spin through a machine that was spouting out water to feed the crops, we were taken but surprise but also delighted! Lunch consisted of more asado, in a huge dining hall. While we ate and drank the endless supply of wine that was provided to us, we were entertained with tango dancers and gauchos demonstrating there 'boleadora' skills, quite a sight to see. Christian Bieber also performed - Argentina's answer to Justin Bieber. He sang a song for each country that was represented by people on our tour. When he got to Ireland, he was sad to inform us that as it was the first time since he had worked on the ranch (a year) that there were people from Ireland present, he didn't know a song. I could see what was coming next.... so by the time he got round to asking us to come on stage to sing a song I was straight up. Dad and Claire soon followed and we treated the crowd to a rendition of Molly Malone. I think people were impressed with our fun spirit - some nationalities were not good sports at all and refused to
get out of their seats. Throughout the course of the meal we were also pulled up to dance and all sorts. It was really really good fun and we all had a ball. Before we left to go back to the city, the gauchos put on a show for us and demonstrated their skills on the horses. It was pretty impressive, and the horses were so beautiful. When we got back to town we walked as far as the Obelisco and Casa Rosada and then took the Subte to Caballito to have a coffee there and wait for a remis home.
BUENOS AIRES & RECOLETA:
Monday we took a spin into Buenos Aires to explore the city a bit more The weather was pretty heavy again - I think for Dad and Claire having come from winter in Dublin it was a bit hard to adjust to, but I guess it is nice to get a bit of summer in the middle of your winter. We had lunch in a pizzeria in the city centre, and from there we walked quite a distance out to Recoleta. It was a really nice way to experience the hustle and bustle
of the city, albeit it was hot so we made our way through a litre or two of water along the way. We stopped off in some shops along the way too - mainly to benefit from the air conditioning, but myself and Claire also spotted a couple of things we liked. And we also made a pitstop in El Ateneo, the bookshop that was created in a theatre, a must-see on any tourist lists of things to do in Buenos Aires. In Recoleta we headed to the cemetery to have a look around, my family found it pretty impressive. We spotted a few Irish names in there too - in fact one of the least impressive graves was an Irishmans as he was buried in the ground like we do at home instead of in a big tomb masoleum like the rest of the people there. We tried to find Eva Peron's grave but without any luck. It was such a hot day too that it was like a furnace in the graveyard surrounded by all of the stone tombs so we didn't hang around too much. Luckily that night there was a big storm, so the air cooled
down with the wind and the rain, much to our delight. The electricity went that night for a few minutes too, something which happens quite often here. It's something that I remember used to happen in Dublin when I was a kid the odd time, but not something that happens anymore. I think it is related to the demand on electricity here being too much for the supply.
SAN TELMO & PUERTO MADERO:
On Tuesday we went out to explore the San Telmo area of the city. It is really nice with a lovely cobblestoned plaza and lots of shops selling antiques and collectable items. There were also tango dancers set up in the middle of the plaza dancing and putting on a show - really nice for the people sitting outside the restaurants having their lunch. We ate in a lovely Italian pizzeria, which was very well rated by different guidebooks etc. It was fairly cheap and the pizza was more like the pizza we have at home, made the real Italian way with not too much cheese, so we were all happy out after that. From San Telmo we made our way to nearby Puerto Madero,
which was basically like taking a walk along the Quays towards the IFSC in Dublin, except that there was sun! I think myself, Dad and Claire were all taken aback at how similar it is, the Samuel Beckett bridge that we have at home is also erected here in Puerto Madero but it goes by the name of El Puente de la Mujer. There are also many offices here and many people walking around were in suits and out on coffee breaks etc. There are many different restaurants and bars and cafes in this area, and we sat outside to have a drink and soak up the atmosphere. Luckily the weather was much cooler on Tuesday after the storm, but there was still some sun so it was pleasant. We took the Subte back into town to pick up a couple of things in the shops and then we headed home to relax, at the stage we were all pretty exhausted, especially my family after their long journey just a couple of days previously. That's the one downside about travelling around a city as big as Buenos Aires, it is exhausting getting in and out of town. While Dad and
Claire were here we took remises to the subway and the Subte into town from there but there is still a lot of walking around involved. Needless to say we took the day off on Wednesday and myself and Claire just sunned ourselves out in the gardens of the apartment - Claire has gone home black, as has Dad, the two of them have more of a tan in a week than I have in almost 6 weeks!
EL TIGRE, SAN ISIDRO & LA BOCA/CAMINITO:
On Thursday we took a spin out to El Tigre with Leandro's uncle - he was very good and taxied us around the place when he could. El Tigre is a lovely area outside the city of Buenos Aires, and for me was very reminiscent of Henley-on-Thames in England. It is on a river and there are many boats going up and down - people use taxi boats and bus boats to get around. There was a big rowing club on the side of the river and the clubhouse building was very English style. At times I found it hard to register that we were in South America, in Argentina, it was just
so very English for me! There are lovely bars and restaurants on the riverside in El Tigre as well as many market-like stalls selling all kinds of crafts, mainly things made out of wood, as well as sheep skins and cow skins and the usual mate cups and straws. Dad bought a few things here to bring home to Dublin, as the prices were very good and the things on sale were very pretty. After a leisurely lunch in El Tigre we headed back towards the city, stopping off for a coffee in San Isidro on the way. This is such a nice area, and you can tell that this is one of the areas of the city where the wealthier people live. There is a really nice church in the centre which we went in to, and there is also a railway station in the middle of it which is very ornate and where we had our coffee. Fro San Isidro, we went back into the city centre and drove to the area of La Boca and Caminito. As a foreigner this is one of the quintessentially Argentinian images we have in our head of Buenos Aires. Leandro always
told me we could only go there when we had a lift with his uncle as the area around is quite dangerous, and I could really understand that when we rocked up here the other day. The couple of squares with the painted houses and the homemade crafts and paintings on sale are absolutely beautiful, but there is a very unsafe feeling once you are outside of these couple of blocks and so we didn't hang around too long here. I can't quite put my finger on why it feels so unsafe, but it is by a dock and there area around is quite dirty and there are quite a lot of shall we say undesirables hanging around on benches drinking etc. Still I think it is somewhere where we were all glad we had made the effort to go to and see, it really would be a shame to go to Buenos Aires and not experience La Boca and its beautiful multi-coloured houses.
URUGUAY - COLONIA DEL SACRAMENTO:
On Friday we took a ferry across the Rio de la Plata, the widest river in the world. In just over an hour we were in Colonia del Sacramento,
Uruguay. I have to say I was immediately impressed with what met us there. Colonia is such a beautiful place with a gorgeous little old town. There is a real Mediterranean feel to it, and I think we all fell in love with it's charms immediately. As Uruguay is an hour ahead of Argentina, we arrived at about half 2 in the afternoon and we had until 9 at night to come back, so after lunch we sauntered round and enjoyed the stunning views and took it all in. The houses are really beautiful and as the old town there is also a pretty little marina. The people seemed to be very much like Argentinians, although I have to say myself and Claire seemed to get a bit more attention here, although for that said again, I definitely noticed more people beeping or staring at us when we were two girls together as opposed to me walking around with Leandro on my own. Uruguay has it's own currency, they deal in pesos too but it's worth roughly twice the Argentine peso. Things were much more expensive here than in Argentina. I am not sure if this is because Colonia very
much thrives on tourism with the ferries coming in, or if it is in fact an accurate representation of their economy, but everything really did cost a lot more here. A small bottle of water cost 31 pesos whereas you can get a litre bottle in Buenos Aires for 10 pesos or a small bottle in a bar would only be about 20 pesos. I think all of us really enjoyed the day in Uruguay, and as Dad and Claire had come so far to get to B.A, it seemed more than worth the effort to make the short hop across and get the extra stamp on our passports. It was definitely worth a visit and I would be tempted to go back at some point.
Saturday we just went out for lunch together in nearby Lugano before my family had to go to the airport to make their flight. They are in Atlanta, Georgia at the moment, which I hope they will enjoy, I know how much my Dad loves the States. They had a 12 hour gap between flights so were planning on getting into town to explore the place before flying overnight back home to Dublin
to my Mum who we missed so much while they were here!! After having family here I have to say I miss them so much now, but I had such a fantastic week with them. I have uploaded just some of the pictures from the week - we literally took hundreds. I will upload the remainder to Facebook over the coming days so people can check them out properly on there.
I hope this finds everyone well. I know this one was a bit wordy, but we really did fit so much into the week! Thanks again to Dad and Claire for making the marathon journey down to see me.
Lots of love to all at home xxx
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Dolores Lumsden
non-member comment
Hannah that s a fantastic blog on Dad and Claire s trip down to see you and Leandro .I will treasure the memories you have given me of beautiful Argentina and revisit the photos again and again .Talk soon Mum Xx