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After almost 24 hours of travel, Danny and I arrived safely in Buenos Aires and took a cab from the airport to Giramondo Hostel & Bar in the San Telmo neighborhood of the city. We definitely thought the cab driver was ripping us off when he said the ride would cost 70 pesos, but we were doing our math wrong. The exchange now is about 3 to 1, and it turned out to only be about 20 bucks, not $210. No problem, until a motorcycle ran into the side of the cab when we stopped in front of the hostel. The traffic in Argentina is muy loco, and we´ve now seen several accidents, and many more near collisions. Apparently the street lines are mere suggestions.
But we stayed with a group of Danes in the hostel and a woman from Seattle who had been in Bs As for a week, and were able to tell us good places nearby to eat and shop etc. They sent us to Don Julio, a very old steak house in the city where we ate amazing empanadas (little bread rolls full of cheese and onions), pasta, potatoes, wine, and quite possibly the best
steak I´ve ever tasted. Dinner didn´t end until midnight. The next night we found a small jazz club in the SoHo district and heard some good live music. During the days we wandered the city by foot and tried to navigate the crowded Subte (subway) that took us to Casa Rosada, to the ecological reserve near the river, and the museums that are scattered throughout the city. We spent a lot of time in both the MALBA, the Museo de Arte Latinoamericano de Buenos Aires, and to the Museum of Fine Art, which we will later visit with our program. We also spent part of a day wandering the dozens of music stores in search of a classic guitar for Danny... blocks and blocks of instrument shops.
I think my favorite part of our time in Bs As was exploring Recoleta Cemetary, which has graves of some of the most important people of the city, including Eva Peron. Entire families lay together in large tombs and family names are found etched into the marble or stone. Many of the tombs have fancy domes and statues and obviously lots of work and money went into creating these ancient final resting
Another statue...
and yes, that is a pigeon on his headplaces.
An amazing city to say the least. Some great food and very kind people we met in the hostel who drew directions on our map every morning for the next excursion. We hopped on a bus on the 23rd and took a 4 hr ride to Rosario, where we now have just finished our first week of classes and our new life with our Rosarino host families. Will post more photos of Rosario soon. Love to you all. Hope you´re enjoying your summer as much as we´re enjoying the winter here!
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Katie C.
non-member comment
Jealous
Great to hear about your first days in Buenos Aries. Sounds amazing and I love the pictures. It really looks European. And the stuff with the traffic really brought back memories from my time in Costa Rica. Cuidado! Que tenga un buen viaje. Ciao!