We immediately got a taste of the city vibe on our taxi ride from the airport to our accommodation... floodlit (huge) statues (cabello statues!!🐎) along wide tree lined avenues before the drive past multiple architectural building styles! Then a short walk to find dinner amongst the very trendy Palermo neighbourhood.... (our lovely BnB was ideally situated with a very helpful and informative host),
Day 1 (uno)
Although it was raining we were not deterred we took a South city bike tour. Buenos Aires is not that well set up for biking so made for some hair rasing moments!!!...
Anyway we explored the La Boca area which is considered the working class area and not the place to dawdle in..... but it has a very proud football heritage and also it's considered the birth place of tango.
Winding our way up one of the major avenues on rush hour was interesting....
Picture if you will us country bumpkins being led valiantly across a pedestrian crossing on the world's second widest street. Bearing in mind a pedestrian crossing in this city is little more than a target... and the particular one we were on seemed to have the equivalent of all the cars in NZ bearing down on it!
But, hey, we made it and the wet wasn't too big an issue for the tour, apart from our guide who seemed the worst affected.... don't think he would handle a poor Southland lambing day 😁
Day 2 (dos)
Lots of walking and exploring... so many grand buildings!, but seamlessly blending in are other buildings. The money which must have been available in Argentina's affluent times of late 1800's, early 1900's is mind boggling. Since then the country has undergone numerous downturns and political upheaval... still witnessed now with the exchange rate moving around drastically enough that many businesses only accept cash.
Bookstore within theatre building
The highlight of the day was Recoleta cemetery.. a walk around by ourselves initially and then managed to find a tour guide and learn lots of details, and ghost stories. This place is phenomenal, each site/plot trying to outdo each other in grandeur. Each of the 4800 sites is able to store up to 20 remains... making a "population" of up to 19000. (Technically, but number varies as they are family plots. Also if family is unable to keep up maintenance, or no descendents remain, the plot may be sold. The 'residents' moved out and they start again). There's also a resident population of cats that look after the cemetery...
Day 3 (tres)
Today we took an hour long train trip north of the city to a town called Tigre. It's a gateway to the Parana wetlands and a holiday day trip for the city folk.
Had lots of canal tours available, a handmade furniture market and the best panaderia (bakery) ever!!! The other highlight was the train trip itself with people selling lots of food, lollies, tissues etc and buskers..... moving through the carriages.
Day 4 (cuatro)
This was the San Telmo market day which was absolutely enormous!!!! Originally selling antiques from bygone era's it's morphed into a huge find anything you want sort of affair.
After wading our way through that we had a closer look at some of the plazas that abound throughout the inner city.
Day 5 (cinco)
We took a ferry ( 1 hour trip) to Colonia in Uruguay. It's a UNESCO world heritage site (um... now there's an idea for Arrowtown). The town was founded in 1680 and is a series of old buildings, a town gate entrance, cobbled streets and some new archeological diggings. Apparently in summer it is overrun with people but we struck a very quiet day; it was amazing to walk around ....lots of random old dogs wandering too. Also a few random old vehicles parked, for a touch of?
Day 6 (seis)
Our last day in Buenos Aires and a quick trip downtown for some final pics......and the only time the subway failed us; obviously due to a breakdown somewhere .... it takes a lot people a lot of places very efficiently but if something goes wrong it doesn't take long to implode!!!
Lasting memories.... the grandeur of the buildings, most streets were tree lined making it an attractive city with uneven footpaths; crazy traffic; the late night socialising, not all the restaurants would be open by 9pm with people mainly dining from then.
It's a city of cats and dogs. Some dogs seemingly homeless (but in good condition) wondering streets/sub ways/on trains...everywhere!!!! We swear we saw the same dog twice on/in different train/subways, miles apart! he must have an annual pass or just living ruff...
The Argentinians are very passionate people with regards to their territories and politics and willing to protest for their beliefs. We witnessed a number of protests which seemed to revolve around blocking traffic and making as much noise as possible (drums, fireworks, music.. you name it).
A very social people witnessed by a restaurant or bar seemingly every few metres. Speaking of food the cake shop displays are out of this world!
We enjoyed our time here, and really only saw a small part of what is obviously a diverse and wide ranging country. Sorry it took us so long to get here (all through our wild days, our mad existence, we kept our promise... etc) but it's been great!
Evita (Eva Peron) was pleased we made it....
and look.... a cabello!!!!
