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Published: November 23rd 2023
La Casa Rosada
La Casa Rosada, or The Pink House, is considered one of the most emblematic buildings in Buenos Aires, and is the seat of the Argentinian government. The decision to have it painted pink is said to have been an attempt to diffuse political tensions by mixing the colours of the two opposing political parties - the Federals (red) and the Unitarians (white). It has been declared a National Historic Monument of Argentina.Once we began exploring, we were out for several hours every day. But to simply list our activities, without sharing what we learned about the city, and the country, would be too shallow an offering. Hence, this blog entry is a long one, as the intent is to provide some historical and political context, as well as information about the places visited.
We often take the hop on hop off city bus tour to get introduced to large cities, as their vastness can be intimidating, and Buenos Aires, with its population of over fifteen million certainly fits that description. The bus tours give us perspective and help us identify the places we want most to return to later. There were so many here that called to us: the horse races, the polo games, the Teatro Colon Opera house, the Pink House, tango shows, museums, and numerous beautiful parks and flower gardens.
Race schedules did not allow us to take in a horse race at the Hippodrome race track, one of the best race tracks in the country; but we did pass by the
arena several times as it was not far from where we stayed in Palermo. Nor did we see a polo game, which is the national sport of Argentina. This surprised me, as I would have thought it was soccer, given the passion Argentinians have for the game. I did not even know that Argentinians have a profound love of horses, yet it is so deeply engrained in the Argentinian character that there are even tango dances created to specifically honour this relationship.
But getting to a tango show was not to be missed, as it was tango that most vehemently called us here. There were several to choose from, but we selected El Quarandi in San Telma, the area of the city where the tango actually originated, because this show promised to convey the history of the tango. It did, with much talent and artistry from the dancers and the orchestra that accompanied them.
Sadly we did not have time to tour the Teatro Colon Opera House, although we passed by it several times. I cannot imagine how amazing the acoustics would be in this venue, as it is one of the finest opera houses in the world.
We had no desire to attend a soccer game, as we thought it could be a bit more intensity than we wanted - plus the tickets are very difficult to obtain and are extremely expensive - but we did see both of Argentina’s major soccer stadiums. One was Monumental stadium, home of the River Plate soccer team, and to large concerts passing through, such as Taylor Swift earlier this month. The other was Bombonara Stadium, home of the Boca Juniors. These two teams are arch rivals. The Boca Juniors team is the Buenes Aires team, with a fan base of 350,000 - the largest fan base in all of South America. The River Plate is the national Argentinian team, whose stadium is located in Buenos Aires. In 2018, violence broke out when River Plate fans stormed the Boca team bus in the streets. The violence was widely condemned, those involved were banned from attending soccer games for ten years, and the Argentinian finals between these two teams was subsequently rescheduled to another country. Some literature advised foreigners to hire a local guide escort to soccer games to ensure safety in case the fans get out of hand. Accordingly, we
decided against attending a game, but we did enjoy experiencing some of the Boca Junior fan‘s passion for soccer on our first excursion to La Boca, on a game day.
The only tour we took part in during our stay was a guided tour of the Recoleta Cemetary. It was an excellent idea, as we were provided a history of the city of Buenos Aires, as well as of the history of Argentina. And what a turbulent past this country has had, with decades of rule by military dictatorship, the last being the most brutal period from 1976 - 1983, which saw the disappearance of thousands of Argentinians murdered by the military junta under the rule of Jorge Videla. It was not until the election of Raoul Alfonsin in 1983 that the first democratic government was elected, and it has remained a democracy ever since. Raoul Alfonsin is accordingly referred to as the father of democracy in Argentina, and has a monumental tribute in Recoleta. Of course we visited the gravesite of Eva Peron, who had died in July 1952. We learned of the interesting story of her life, and her relationship with the Argentinian people, as well as
of a summary of the long and complicated political events that ensued after her body was taken by the Argentinian military and began a twenty year odyssey around the world. Her body was finally returned to its resting place in Recoleta Cemetery in October 1976.
We also visited two areas in the city that pay homage to the “disappeared” people of the junta era. One was at the Plaza de Maya where white scarves are painted on the ground to symbolize The March of the Mothers of Plaza de Mayo movement that began there in 1977, to honour the memory of their missing children, and to preserve the memory of what happened during this dictatorship. It is my understanding that these marches continue there today, every Thursday at 3:30, and the public is invited to participate. Unfortunately we did not learn of this until it was too late for us to participate.
The other was Parque de la Memoria, a memorial park on the Rio de Plata River, dedicated to the memory of the thousands whose bodies were flown from this location on the “death flights” and thrown from great heights into the Rio de Plata River under
Sigue La Vaca
The name of this renowned restaurant - which features a buffet of all you can eat beef, where you select whatever type of cut you want from a diagram of a cow on the wall, literally translates to « Follow the Cow ». the direction of the dictator Vigela.
We appreciated these honourable gestures of respect, acknowledging a painful past so history does not repeat itself.
We took a train ride one day to Tigre, a small resort town north of Buenos Aires that sits at the mouth of the delta and hence has numerous waterways in the area that are the site of wealthy recreational property owners. We erroneously thought we might be taking a train to see some countryside en route there, but that was pure Canadian mentality, with so few people and so much space in comparison. What we did see was houses instead of high density apartments, and several quite charming small towns that all blended together.
Of course we arranged for Stan to enjoy a meal of reportedly the best beef in the world at Sigue La Vaca restaurant - a well known Buenos Aires restaurant - whose name literally translates to mean "Follow the Cow". Hilarious. Even more hilarious was me as a vegetarian paying prime dollar for a buffet meal - the only menu option - that features all you can eat beef. I did, however, return to the extensive salad bar repeatedly.
We also made a special effort, on our last day exploring the city center, to visit the oldest coffee house in Buenos Aires, Café Tortoni. Dating back to 1858, it is older than Canada, and has hosted a plethora of famous guests including Albert Einstein, Hilary Clinton, the King of Spain, as well as numerous dignitaries, tango and opera stars. It was iconic.
On our very last morning in Buenos Aires, I took an extensive hike to Freemont park, which contains both Rosedale Park - a very large beautiful rose flower garden near our apartment which has over eighteen thousand roses, - and the neighbouring Japanese Garden, among the largest Japanese Garden in the world outside of Japan.
Buenos Aires is a city of exceptional beauty, renowned for its architecture, and numerous meticulously landscaped parks always enhanced with impressive sculptures. The majority of housing is high density condos, endless streets of colonial style balconied apartments, with large trees lining every street in the city’s extensive center. Argentina certainly has its problems, with an inflation rate of over 143% in the last year alone. But in spite of the difficulties, its people still maintain an openness and kindness
that is both humbling and inspirational.
We love you, Buenos Aires. You are a very special city, we much soul, depth, passion, artistry, and most of all, warm, beautiful people. Muchas gracias.
Thank you for your interest in our travels and philosophical musings.
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Gail
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Leaving Buenos Aires
Your love and appreciation of this city really shows in this blog. Thanks for the background history. I had no idea that so many people had met their demise under that brutal regime. The city itself looks very beautiful with its stunning architecture that you shared in your photos. Makes me want to visit there:) Thanks so much for sending this to us. We always look forward to hearing about your travel adventures.