BA - Food, Wine and Shopping

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Buenos Aires is everything it's cracked up to be - busy, crazy, beautiful and historic. We arrived bleary-eyed after an overnight bus from Mendoza, and were instantly struck by the sensory overload that comes with such a huge city. The drivers are a little crazy, the buildings haphazard but beautiful and the locals by and large well-dressed and beautiful.

We had booked a hostel in one of the not-so-touristy districts, mostly because all the others were full with Christmas just around the corner. We arrived and took ages to check in because of the space-cadet guy at reception. He forgot what he was writing, and then offered us beer (at 8am) and then told us they had none! But he was lovely and just as Pete was going to ask, he admitted it was his first day on the job. We slept most of the first day away and made the most of every single day in BA after that to make up for it. The highlight of our first day in BA was a wonderful meal at a historic cafe, hundreds on years old, only blocks from our hostel.

Our first full day in BA was mostly dedicated to shopping, of the Christmas variety. We both had parcels to send back home and we needed to find fabulous presents weighing less than 500g each. Avenida Florida is the main shopping mall and I was so excited to discover Clarins stockists, three giant Havaianas stores and plenty of leather goods, gorgeous clothes and shoes. None of these shops, however, sold good presents to post back home so we had to resort to the staples of t-shirts, artwork and CDs.

We spent the next few days wandering about the historic (and very touristy) districts of the city, such as Palermo and San Telmo. We also went to the Japanese Gardens (which were not really very Japanese) and went to see Recoleta Cemetery, where the rich and famous Argentitians of last century are laid to rest in elaboratly decorated mausoleums. Most people that visit the Recoleta Cemetery make a beeline for Evita Peron's grave, but there are plenty of other interesting characters buried there, mostly military and political leaders.

The food in BA was a mixed affair, with some fabulous surprises and some ho-hum stomach-fillers in-between. We had been craving variety for weeks and were thrilled to discover a Japanese restaurant only blocks from our hostel. It well and truly lived up to our expectations and we left feeling very satisfied and a little tipsy after the sake at the end of our meal. It was amusing hearing Spanish spoken with a Japanese accent! We also found a fantastic pub on one of the back streets in the Centro district which served great meat dishes, and my favourite, risotto. It was also great to have a vegetable fix, as vegies are usually difficult to come by on most Argentinian menus.

At the end of our stay we went back into the central district for a last fix of shopping before the starting the Brazilian leg of our trip. I just couldn't take enough photos of the beautiful old colonial buildings, and the many plazas around the city. A visit to BA wouldn't be complete without a visit to the obelisk commorating their independence from Spain, but it was disappointing at close range. It was dirty, unkempt and covered in political graffiti. Argies seem to have trouble distinguishing monuments and beautiful colonial buildings from everythign else. So the pics from a distance will have to suffice, I'm afraid!

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Photos

Recoleta Cemetery
A bit creepy, but so beautiful

This bit was really creepy
As I took this pic we caught the distinct smell of rotting bodies wafting up through the grates on the ground.

Big City!
On our way home for the day we had to cross a road with about 12 lanes, all going one way