Buenos Aires

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Well, so much has been written about Buenos Aires already, so I'm going to just hop over it. After spending about two weeks in total here, I've come to like the city quite a lot, but I also think it's way too familiar and not really special if you've experienced some European cities. Sure, there's unique barrio's and different things going on, but seeing just Buenos Aires is definately not enough a reason to come to Argentina.
Nonetheless, it is one fine place.
I started my journey around Argentina here on the 25th of February, and I spent five days in the city before setting out into the wild. I'm very glad I did this, because the first days in Buenos Aires mainly left me disoriented by its size,noise and fumes. After three days, I had my aha-Erlebnis, and ever since, me and Buenos Aires get along quite well. The moment things fell into place was an evening in late summer, when a light rain fell down on the wonderful San Telmo neighbourhood, and everything was coloured gold by the sunset. Just before, i had discovered the indoor market between calle Defensa and Bolivar, and had wandered around inside, taking in the magnificent architecture, well ordened fruit stalls, shabby antique shops and meaty butcher stores. It is a very pretty spot.
Apart from San Telmo, i've really come to like the non-central streets of Palermo (the main ones are just a big money spending hipster heaven), and most of Montserrat, the place where my excellent hostel Sabatico was to be found. All these places have a very homely, cosy feeling, with good-looking tree-lined streets and sweet restaurants. Of course, Buenos Aires has far more monumental places on offer as well. Most of those are a bit lost in haphazard semimodern urban planning, which has as an advantage that it can be very refreshing to venture into them (gives one some peace). There's many a fine church close to Microcentro, and the -albeit very touristy- cemetary of Recoleta is something to see, with its streets full of mausoleums and private temples (me and Justine spotted a boney leg in one coffin that didn't stand time that well).
As always, just more or less walking around randomly for some days gives you the best feeling of a town. And Buenos Aires is big enough to keep sending new sights your way: from the lethal Avenida 9 de Julio over the quiet riverside nature reserve and the parks of palermo to the cobblestone streets of the older barrios, you encounter a city with many different faces.

Some places i've come to like:
-Sabatico Hostel: everything a hostel should be, and more. very loveable people, a superb terrace, small dorms (and the place does not double as a discoteque, so you can actually sleep) and well chosen activities.
-Restaurants! Buenos Aires has a reputation for being a culinary heaven, but as a vegeterian, my options were not so overwhelming. Still:
*Tio Angel (Mexico 1599): a very nice basic pizza-pasta-and-more place and the first restaurant i ever went to in Buenos Aires. Sometimes you get free desserts or appetizers, and the old man running this restaurants is a most pleasant chap.
*Pedro Telmo (outside the indoor market of San Telmo): restaurants don't come more local than this one. There's good empanadas and faina, a cute 80-something waitress (calling me corazon right away) and a lot of grey porteños discussing life over bottles of wine.
*Güerrin (on avenida Corrientes): very cheap pieces of pizza and faina, which you eat standing up at a bar between heaps of locals.
*A Mexican Place of which i do not remember the name (Gorriti, close to the corner with Thames): very friendly staff, very tasty guacamole and pico de gallo, which you can have with a salty lime beer. And it's spicy (Argentines distrust everything that's not salt).
*Another Unknown Mexican Place (on Thames): very nice huevos rancheros and quesadillas and a superb atmosphere.
-Museums
*Malba: a fine modern arts museum, cheaper on wednesdays
*Museo de Bellas Artes: is free and has some very good renaissance and late 19th century works
*Museo Ferroviario (or something along those lines): free as well, a cute collection of railroad relics, showing yet again that things that were not mass produced were so much prettier, more comfortable and durable. Makes one think again about the cattle class that transport generally seems to be nowadays.

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