Buenos Aires - Days 1-2

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The start of an adventure of a lifetime, the first phase was getting to Buenos Aires, then we planned four nights in Buenos Aires itself. I honestly did not know what to expect from this city - I knew of it, but did not know what to plan on for four days, but as I was planning the trip, I started to identify what to see and do and started to get excited.

Phase 1 - Travel to Buenos Aires

The travel from Dubai (actually, Abu Dhabi) to Buenos Aires was its own adventure with some planning involved. It was a 25-hour flight, plus the 1.5 hours taxi ride to Abu Dhabi. I had never flown on Etihad before, but I was happy and the airport was beautiful! The 8-hour flight to Madrid was relatively easy and I got a couple hours sleep, but mostly watched movies. Then we had a four hour layover in Madrid. And we needed that whole time! Landing, we were trying to find the terminal to Air Europa, our connecting flight. Good lord. I think we talked to four different people with four different answers. L had an easier time of it with his German passport so it was clear where to go. I, on the other hand, freaked out a bit. In 2024, US citizens must apply for an e-visa for travel in Europe. I was eventually told I need to go through passport control, but thankfully, it was super easy and the customs officer was nice - he just smiled and stamped my passport. Then we had to transfer to Terminal 1, check-in, go through security, go through immigration, and then it was time to wait. The lounge was ok, busy, and we were among the last to board. I was in the middle seat, but somehow managed to sleep for about 5 hours of the 12-hour flight. We boarded at midnight and they immediately served the meal and I declined, not knowing it was the ONLY meal! Not even a snack after - I got a small cup of water about 3 hours before landing.... Not a fan of Air Europa.

Phase 2 - Buenos Aires

We landed about 9am Sunday morning and got thru customs fairly easily and got our baggage quickly. We got a taxi for the 40-minute drive to our hotel in Palermo area. We stayed at the Casa Joseph, which I partially booked due to its proximity to the metro. Of course, it was under construction that week (if you know me at all, this is pretty typical - always construction when I stay somewhere). It was beautiful weather the whole time, thankfully, so we walked about 15k-20k steps per day, which was quite nice.

Our hotel staff was super friendly and we dropped our bags off since it was early. We had a bit of trouble finding somewhere to eat - we were both starving at this point. We wound up at a little cafe and got some pastries. It held me for a bit I guess. Then we walked to Parque el Rosedal, which was beautiful, especially with the blue skies against the reddish sand paths and gardens. Such a lovely start to walk around this peaceful area on a weekend when so many people were out enjoying the day. We stopped at an outdoor bar area and got a couple of cold beers while people watching. It was both funny and sad to see so many people riding their bikes and rollerblades..... and falling! No one was hurt bad, but it was fun. We walked back to the hotel, and the staff had moved our bags to our room for us while we were gone (so nice!) and we pretty much immediately passed out for a few hours.

That night, I had made plans to go to the El Querandi Tango Show since I knew we would be mostly useless the first day and wanted to have something accomplished. Maybe I should have saved it for another night as we were both exhausted, but I think it turned out well. I had booked dinner before the show, which sat at 8pm. So, we got an uber and headed over, arrived just after 8pm. We were seated at long tables and were between two older couples. The ones who were there before us started out being super friendly and we had a good conversation, but then they started to get to be a bit more..... obnoxious, at least he did (he asked a couple of times during to leave). They were taking a 32-day cruise (!!!) from BA up to Los Angeles. The other couple were much more low key, taking a 15-day cruise, were not 'elite', and seemed to enjoy the show. The show itself was fine. It basically went through the history of the tango and how it evolved over time, which I felt was quite interesting. It was well done, but the stage was a bit weird and it just seemed a bit like a tourist trap. I guess, I just expected to be blown away and I wasn't; it was nice though. The musicians were fantastic, especially the violinist.

The next morning, we had breakfast nearby before heading to catch the hop-on-hop-off bus, which I booked since the metro was not working. It was about 15 minute walk from our hotel to the bus stop, which we found, but wound up waiting about an hour for the pick up. And the bus that arrived did not have A/C or wifi, so we were never formally checked in. We drove through the city and our first stop was outside the Teatro Colon which was again, nice, but nothing that blew me away. Walking down Avenida 9 de Julio was quite nice though. I mean the walking through the city itself was actually very pleasant.

We then went to Palacio Barolo where we were able to snag some last-minute tickets. This building is a historical landmark and was inspired by Dante's Divine Comedy. I was looking forward to it; L had no clue - he just let me plan everything! 😊 We were in a group of about 17 people with an adorable guide; all guides have this costume including the bowler hats. First, we were told to rub the head of the eagle statue in the main hall for luck. Then we took the old elevators up to floor 4. Here we looked down on the main hall below, hell, while we were in purgatory. This is still a functional building with many offices, which we were not allowed to see. So, our next stop was up to floor 7. From here, we climbed up 6 floors on circular stairs. From there was a circular observatory floor with balconies that overlooked the city in all directions - amazing views. Now we are in Paradise. An additional 2 floors further up along a narrow staircase was the former light house with 360 views. Our guide gave us a bit more of the history and inspiration for the building. Then we went back down to the lower floors where we got a wider view of the building from a large balcony and were able to explore a room dedicated to the building construction and nostalgic items from that time period. The building is quite beautiful, the tour is well organized and the views from above are incredible..... However, it is expensive and if you don't do it, you would not be missing anything.

Next we walked further down this street to get a quick lunch of medialunas (little sweet croissants) with ham, which was like only one of two items available on a vast menu. After this, we boarded a very crowded HOHO bus, the same one with no A/C. Two people waiting behind us were denied entry because they could not sit in the heat downstairs. We continued through the next few stops, through the vibrant La Boca neighborhood to our next destination: Caminito. It was very busy here. La Boca is a working class neighborhood that was founded by immigrants because of the availability of cheap land. It is right on a busy waterfront area, so the residents used leftover paints for their homes and so you have a beautiful mix of colors everywhere. Caminito is the most famous street here with many little shops, restaurants, murals, gardens, and just a lively feel. It was impressive. However, as we had come over here, we had noted the whole area was just lovely, so we quickly made our way through the busy street and tried to capture the beauty along some of the side streets. We also stopped at the lovely fire station on the water and near the bridge. Just gorgeous. However, during the day it is popular with tourists, but you do not want to be here at night (apparently).

We walked to the La Bombonera stadium we had passed earlier. L told me the Boca Juniors that played here were very famous; I figured based on their name, it was like a kids league, but nope - very famous. Huge stadium right in the middle of this crowded, colorful neighborhood. The games here must be just incredible.

We were able to board the HOHO bus after waiting 30 minutes. Initially we had planned to continue on the whole line, but it seemed to be a very slow operation, so we got dropped near the planetarium and walked back to hour hotel. Along the way, L stopped by this restaurant, La Carniceria, he had noted earlier. It was just before 7 and the friendly guy told us to come back right at 7 and he could seat us at the first-come-first-serve bar, but the tables were reserved. So, we did, and after sitting at the bar for 5 minutes, he said there was a cancellation and we got a nice table. O. M. G. This was by far the best meal of our entire trip. It was fantastic. We had a lovely bottle of red wine, smoked provolone (with pears, honey, chimichurri, and salsa) and chicharron for appetizers, and smoked beef for the main course. Everything was delicous, but we both loved the provolone and beef the best. Just absolutely perfect with amazing service.

We waddled back to the hotel and passed out....

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Comments

[D MJ Binkley]

Argentina
We spent a couple of days in Argentina on our way to Antarctica. You've wet our appetite to get back there. Hopefully, soon.