Advertisement
Published: November 2nd 2006
Our 3rd day in BsAs, we decided to go at a little more leisurely pace. Our first stop was La Boca - the old port city, founded by the Italians, we were told. We were a little dubious about visiting at first, as the neighborhood was supposed to be super touristy and a bit sketchy, albeit very colorful and picturesque. It turned out to be one of our favorite spots in the city though. Brightly colored buildings were everywhere - lots of artists reside here - and the atmosphere was fun and festive. People were really tangoing in the streets which is great to watch - it’s a very complicated dance, but the Argentines have it down, for sure. We strolled around popping in and out of little shops that sold everything from paintings, to cow hides, to the hollowed out gourds that people drink “mate” out of. That’s the national bitter tea drink… have not tried it yet. Sounds kind of gross. La Boca is also the home of the Boca Juniors - which is the best soccer team in Argentina. They have a huge following, and there was soccer garb everywhere for sale. We were there a day before a big soccer match, and saw throngs of people in line for tickets outside the stadium.
After La Boca, we cabbed over to Puerto Madero, which is the new port, and has been revitalized, with a waterfront area housing tons of restaurants and shops. Apparently it is now the site of the most expensive real estate in the city (condos and businesses), which was kind of a surprise to us, as we had been to several other neighborhoods that we had liked much, much better. We ate lunch and had forgotten our Spanish-English dictionary, so couldn’t decipher the menu very well. We ended up with some sort of fried ground chicken burger - not exactly what we were shooting for, but it was good.
After lunch we walked over to the park with a Japanese garden and tooled around there for a while, before walking back to our neighborhood. As we passed through the botanical gardens, we noticed the park is home to hundreds of cats. They are everywhere - kind of like squirrels! It was funny to see all these wild cats just hanging around together. We picked a few that we’re going to bring home with us because they were so cute. Just kidding.
Once we got back to Palermo, we stopped at a gelato place that had been recommended - Perrisco, I think. Argentina is famous for their homemade ice cream, and it definitely lived up to its expectation. The big flavor here is dulce de leche, which we of course sampled, and it is heaven. Puts Ben & Jerry’s to shame for sure!
We ended our afternoon at our favorite place - Serrano Plaza, for a cold Quilmes (that’s the Argentine beer) and some people watching.
That evening we had a glass of wine at our hotel, the Bobo, which has a great outdoor patio. The hotel is really modern and super nice, with such helpful staff. Most speak English, so that’s good for us as we are lacking in the bilingual department. The priciest wines by the glass run about $4 a piece, so we are definitely taking advantage of that, and discovering some incredible wines. Malbecs have become a new favorite… very light, but with a taste like a Cabernet.
Our dinner at Bar Uriarte was really good - it’s amazing how many cool restaurants are in Palermo! It was our best deal yet, wine, appetizer, entrees for under $50. Afterwards we went to a couple of different bars that were recommended. One in an old Mansion that reminded us of the Columns in New Orleans, and another funky little place in our neighborhood that reminded us of East Atlanta. A very full night, but it was fun to get to see a bunch of different areas around Palermo.
I wanted to close with a few random observations we’ve made about BsAs and the people here:
Men’s fashion: if you want to ultra hip, you must have a bedraggled looking mullet, and wear your sweater tied around your shoulders.
Argentine Men are very tall.
Picking up after your dog is, I think, a North American thing. The sidewalks are full of land mines!
It’s a Coca Cola Light country.
Converse high tops are only shoe to wear… for men and women.
Nobody wears sunglasses.
Large groups of men like to go out to dinner together.
____________
Ok. Well off to bed. Hopefully we can publish more picutres on the next entry...off to Iguazu in the morning.
Advertisement
Tot: 0.132s; Tpl: 0.013s; cc: 6; qc: 43; dbt: 0.0354s; 1; m:domysql w:travelblog (10.17.0.13); sld: 1;
; mem: 1.1mb
Tha Boosh
non-member comment
Argentine Men
Welll, that is very interesting how the men over there wear sweaters around their neck....maybe I will start that trend here in the good ol' U.S. of A....Why don't people wear sunglasses?