Buenos Aires

We are behind again! Sorry.

We arrived in Buenos Aires almost a month ago now so I am sure there will be some random details and observations which we will forget to include in this blog, but better late than never.

All up, we spent about two and half weeks in Buenos Aires in our first visit and then another couple of days post-Uruguay, pre-Colombia (where we are now).

If we are perfectly honest, whilst we really liked Buenos Aires, we didn't love it as much as many of the people that we have met and received recommendations from. It is a great city but to a certain extent felt almost too European. It is hard to put our finger on exactly what we thought it was missing but there was something which did not quite click with us. It is however possible that we had simply built it up so much in our minds that it was always on a hiding to nothing.

On arrival, our first impressions of our hostel were quite good. It was very centrally located - near the famous Obelisco - so everything was in easy walking distance. However, our positive impressions pretty quickly wore thin when we realised that the "kitchen" on our floor consisted of nothing more than a sink and a sign telling us to clean up after cooking. There was also no hot water and the staff were possibly the most useless and rude we have come across to date. We stayed for a couple of days though, meeting up with one of our friends that we had met in Bariloche, before relocating en masse to the Milhouse - a bit manic but otherwise much better hostel.

Our first few days were spent wandering around the central city and Recoleta, including a visit to the famous Recoleta cemetery - final resting place to many famous Argentinians such as Eva Duarte-Peron (i.e. Evita) - however, we declined the opportunity to pose happily in front of her tomb, unlike the hordes of other tourists. The cemetery itself is reminiscent of Pere Lachaise in Paris or the Coptic cemetery in Cairo, hundreds and hundreds of family crypts made of ornately carved marble, almost too impressive given it is a graveyard. The Recoleta artisan market was probably one of the better markets we have seen in South America however, as always, the knowledge that any purchases must be carried for the duration of the trip prevented us buying anything.

After a couple of days in the centre, we decided to head out to one of Buenos Aires northern suburbs, Tigre with Linda (our friend from Bariloche) and Jack (a random Australian picked up along the way). Situated on the waters edge near the Delta del Parana, it is an idyllic spot and very popular with locals on the weekend - although the Mercado de Frutos sucked and was severely lacking in frutos. Notwithstanding, we had a great day wandering in the sun and relaxing over a few drinks.

Next stop in BA proper was Palermo. Noticably more affluent than the centre of BA (and certainly more affluent than the working class suburbs to the south), Palermo is full of cafes, restaurants and boutiques catering to the increasing Argentinian upper class. Disappointingly, the price tags at the cafes, restaurants and boutiques largely reflected their wealthy clientele. All the same, the tree lined streets, many of which are still cobbled and numerous parks meant it was a very pleasant place to wander and window shop. We returned later in our stay for the Saturday designers market, primarily full of womens fashion, Crystal successfully updated her travel wardrobe with a new dress.

The highlight of Palermo however was definitely La Cabrera. A well known Argentinian steak restaurant, La Cabrera certainly lived up to its reputation. Delicious fillet steak prepared in thyme and smoked provolone cheese with peppers ... mmm mmm mmm!

After a day of doing absolutely nothing recovering from a big night drinking session at the Milhouse bar (which turns into a night club after 11) with Linda, Dave and a few others - followed up by a visit to one of BA's many nightclubs in Palermo with my friend Yoav (who we met in Pucon), we decided to check out San Telmo.

Formerly home to BA's elite, San Telmo became a slum towards the end of the 1800s as the wealthy inhabitants moved to the north of the city to avoid successive yellow fever epidemics. It has rehabilitated a lot however and whilst it remains run down, a tad dirty and in some parts a little dodgy, its posh past has left a legacy of fantastic European style architecture and it has a great grungy feel with a lot of little bars and cafes. El Hipopotame was definitely our favourite and although the food which we bought in Plaza Dorrego was pretty rubbish, the street tango during lunch added a pretty unique element to the whole experience. All in all, San Telmo was definitely our favourite barrio. We later expanded on our tango experience by attending a tango show with a free tango lesson included! Whilst it is fair to say that we are a long way from making a living as tango dancers, it was a great laugh and the quality of dancing in the show was spectacular (although the tango ladies looks were severely below par).

The last of the barrios we visited properly was La Boca, a working class suburb in southern Buenos Aires commonly singled out for its multi coloured buildings and violent crime. Fortunately for us, we saw plenty of the former and none of the latter. I say properly visited because we had been there earlier in our time in BA, however for a football match rather than sightseeing. We had been told that watching a football match in Argentina was an absolute must and watching Boca Juniors play at the Bombonera lived up to all expectations. Adoring fans chanting, waving their arms, jumping so much that the entire stand moved, flares being thrown onto the pitch, a red card ... unfortunately, everything but a goal but brilliant none the less.