We arrived into Buenos Aires on a flight from Ushuaia, after an Antarctic cruise. It was Christmas Eve, and most shops and restaurants were closed. However, we managed to buy a few goodies to eat and drink, before checking into our hotel. Then we celebrated Christmas, sitting on our balcony with a good wine, enjoying the city lights and ambience of beautiful Buenos Aires.
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| Our local eatery with our hotel on the left, taken on quiet Christmas Day, San Telmo, Buenos Aires |
Our hotel, the Lemon Suites, is located in San Telmo, the ‘old town’ of Buenos Aires city. It’s modern and clean accommodation, and in a small, smartly refurbished building that even has a swimming pool.
From there, we could see people rushing everywhere, clutching parcels and food and heading home for Christmas Eve. It was all very busy.
However, the next day, Christmas Day, was very quiet. We walked around San Telmo and it wasn't until late afternoon that families emerged with their kids and their new toys – the same as at home really – but in much hotter weather.
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| Lezama Park on Christmas Day 2017, San Telmo, Buenos Aires |
On our walk, we found Lezama Park, apparently the site of the first settlement in Buenos Aires in 1536, but now a very beautiful place to sit and enjoy the shade.
We also found our 'local' shops. We had a great pizza bar up on the corner and a mini-market on the other corner, and both seemed to always be open, so we never ran out of food or wine.
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| Marg outside our local mini-market in San Telmo, Buenos Aires |
The people working in those places were all very friendly. We were there so often, that they waved to us whenever we went past. It made us almost feel like locals!
Another great find in San Telmo was Plaza Dorrego, a small
park surrounded by cafés whose tables spilled out onto the Plaza. At around 6 pm most nights, as if by magic, the Plaza would come alive with music.
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| Tango in the park at Plaza Dorrego, San Telmo |
Then the cafés would fill up, and couples would
appear in smart costumes to dance to the tango – the national dance and music of
Argentina.
Tango originated in Buenos Aires and
Montevideo (Uruguay). It is deemed by
the United Nations, to be a part of the world’s intangible cultural heritage and so has UNESCO status.
A few nights later, we went to a professional tango show that included dinner, a show, and a lesson (if one so desired). We
didn't do the lesson but had a huge steak meal and a bottle of Argentinian red wine - yum!
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| Beautiful old tango hall for our Tango night in Buenos Aires |
The show was held in an historic tango hall, and consisted of six dancers, a singer, and a band with an amazing violin player. The programme alternated between the dancing, singing and band music. We loved the dancers who were very agile and slick with some incredible moves. It was great fun, and very Argentinean.
San Telmo proved a great neighbourhood to stay in, as we could walk everywhere. So over several days, we explored the streets that makes up San Telmo and Buenos Aires.
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| The fabulous 100-year-old market in San Telmo, Buenos Aires |
We saw a plethora of antique shops, many little green spaces, different mini-marts, cute cafés, and a fabulous 100-year-old mercado (market).
This was our third time in Buenos Aires city, but the first time that we had stayed for more than a few days.
When we first arrived, Buenos Aires seemed like a distressed old girl, much like our first impressions of Paris two decades ago. But, as in Paris, there is a certain hard-to-put-your-finger-on vibrancy that hooks you in.
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| Some examples of architecture, San Telmo, Buenos Aires |
And, like Paris twenty years ago, she is full of interesting but crumbling buildings, wide boulevards, narrow and grubby side-streets and lanes, graffiti, broken pavements, and lots and lots of doggie doo. But get to know the area and its character, and some of the people who live and work there, and the nasty stuff is forgotten.
Our first trip here was almost four months ago, when we picked up a hired motorhome (see the rest of this blog series about Patagonia, Chile and Argentina for our motorhome stories).
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| Marg and the historic Fragata Sarmiento (1897), Puerto Madero, Buenos Aires |
At that time, we visited other neighbourhoods in Buenos Aires such as Centro, Palermo, Retiro, La Boca and others. On this trip, we re-visited the area of Puerto Madero.
It is a revamped dockside area of converted red-brick buildings and high-rise structures that are used for shops and restaurants, all overlooking the water. It's very vibrant and we liked it on our first visit, but this time we had more time to enjoy it.
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| Monserrat: Top from left: City Legislature bldg and Metropolitan Cathedral Bottom from left: Cabildo bldg and Marg outside Rey Castro Cuban café (see Fidel top left of photo) |
We also loved Monserrat which reeks of history and amazing architecture. It includes the Plaza de Mayo, the historic main square in Buenos Aires. The Plaza is surrounded by several significant historic buildings.
We re-visited Microcentro, the central downtown area that runs alongside the Plaza de Mayo and Monserrat, which is full of grand and ornate business houses and banks; and also visited Recoleta, an upscale residential neighbourhood.
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| Typical street scene in Monserrat, Buenos Aires |
Overall, we had a great time in Buenos Aires. It’s a fabulous and diverse city and we loved our time there. Also, it was good to relax at the end of an eventful cruise to Antarctica, flying and busing around Paraguay and Brazil, and driving a motorhome around Patagonia etc.
Before visiting Argentina, we had received several
New Zealand Government warnings advising us of civil unrest there, particularly in Buenos Aires, and to be careful
because of the volatile economic situation, and high incidences of crime.
The economy and currency here are volatile. We were told by locals that we could use the unofficial ‘blue market’ of currency exchange, but didn't. And thankfully, we were not affected by any crime.
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| Casa Rosada, Government House Buenos Aires, the scene of many protests |
But the only sign we saw of civil unrest was a small protest in Buenos Aires, where people gathered with their placards in Plaza de Mayo outside Casa Rosada, the house of the national government. They were noisy but peaceful; much as when we march to our government building in New Zealand.
Argentinians are warm people, and they have a huge focus on family. Children and pregnant women are always put to the front of a queue, and we even saw shops that were closed on Sundays, naming the closure as ‘children time’.
But we were intrigued at the frequent use of maté, a caffeine-rich drink made from crushed and dried yerba leaves. Everyone carries a maté cup in their hand, and a hot water thermos under their arm to top up their maté cup.
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| Ornate mate cups |
Historically, you drank your maté from a gourd using a bamboo straw. Now-days, making the cups and metal or silver straws, is an art form.
Drinking maté here, is a national pastime, and preparing it is akin to a Japanese tea ceremony, using cultural protocols and processes. We tried maté and found it bitter but refreshing.
All up, we’ve spent about two months in Argentina, including Buenos Aires and it’s been fantastic, but now it’s time to move on. Tomorrow, we head off to catch a ferry to take us to Montevideo in Uruguay for our next adventure.
The above blog is part of our 4-month tour of South
America. The first blog on this tour is called "Buenos Aires here we come".