Buenos Aires

Hey everyone! Gerrod here to tell you about our time in Buenos Aires. Our last stop in South America before heading home for the holidays!

Getting to Buenos Aires

Before we start talking about Buenos Aires, I should probably mention the mess we went through to get there.

The three of us, Lauren; Josh; and I, decided to grab a taxi with one of the people we met in the hostel during our stay in Iguazu. This way we could split the $550 peso fare four different ways. We all showed up extra early to the airport and found that almost all of the flights were delayed or cancelled.

We probably should have expected something like this since the airport was so small, but here we were again waiting on flights. Settling into the nearby airport cafe, we ended up waiting for about six hours for a new flight to Buenos Aires. In this time several things happened: I had some sort of allergic reaction that almost made my eyes swell shut; we incorrectly ordered food at the cafe (the cafe required you to order food, and then take the receipt to the kitchen so that they could then make your food. Of course we were not told to take the receipt to the kitchen so we waited a very long time for food that was never going to come); and we sat on the ground while sweating profusely in the heat outside of security, since they can only let you through once your plane is ready to board.

We finally boarded and were off to Buenos Aires, arriving a lot later in the evening than we initially expected.

Finding a Way to the Hostel

Lauren and I tried to get a ride to our accommodation with Ubers and Cabify, but had no luck...even after trying for almost 30 minutes. Eventually we gave up and got an overpriced, but metered taxi to our hostel. Our hostel, Back in BA, was in a region of the city called Palermo. It was very apparent that this was a party hostel from the moment we checked in. The people working there were already trying to get us to go on their pub crawl. We already had plans to meet up with Josh and his friend, so we politely declined.

Finding Josh and Dinner

Josh and his friend Belén came to meet us at the hostel, and we headed out to grab some food and drinks. We walked around the main circle plaza in Palermo called Plazoleta Julio Cortazar to find some food. We ended up at a place called Kentucky Pizzería, which had fairly good food for cheap.

The four of us then headed to a Kiosco, a kind of small convenience shop, to grab some drinks to drink back at our hostel. One of the hostel workers tried to convince us to go on the pub crawl again, and yet again declined. After we finished our drinks we decided to call it a night.

Maté and Friends

The next day we walked to Belén’s apartment after getting some directions from Josh. Before we left we decided to have some free hostel breakfast. They had cereal, fruit, coffee and eggs set out. We thought they were serving hard boiled eggs based on the look of the platter, but Lauren found out the hard way that they were actually raw and meant to be cooked first…

Buenos Aires translated to English means “good air”, and when we walked through the city, the air was indeed surprisingly fresh.

When we arrived at the apartment we had maté and some facturas, which we have elaborated on in earlier posts, but as a refresher; maté is hot water with yerba maté usually passed around a circle, and facturas are basically pastries. We also got to meet Belén’s boyfriend, Gonzalo.

Exploring the City

After sometime we decided to go explore the city. Belén took us through the subway to Casa Rosada and Plaza de Mayo. Casa Rosada or Pink House is where the president of Argentina resides, and Plaza de Mayo is right in front of the Casa Rosada and is the main plaza of the city. The plaza has been the site of many demonstrations throughout its history.

We then headed over to a building called Cabildo which is now a museum of history, but has existed in some form since the beginning of the city of Buenos Aires.

Next we walked further into the city towards Obelisco de Buenos Aires or the Obelisk of Buenos Aires. Nearby there are some hedges in the shape of a ‘B’ and an ‘A’ that we lined up for to get some pictures in front of.

After that we went to Teatro Colon to see about a tour, but turned away after seeing the crowd, deciding that a weekday might be less busy.

We stopped by a Havanna Cafe for a small meal and coffee before finding our way back to Belén’s apartment. Once we got back to the apartment we had some tereré, which is similar to maté but uses cold water. Lauren and I enjoyed tereré several times in Paraguay, but in Argentina they use juice instead of cold water.

Homemade Asado

After chilling in the apartment for a while, we found a cab using the app Cabify to take us to China’s place - China is another friend of Josh. Once there we met her parents who would be making us Asado, basically a bunch of different grilled meats in the Argentinian fashion.

We enjoyed lots of meat, drink, and great conversation. As the night went on we met another friend of Josh named Nadus, and some more of China’s family.

After all was said and done we got another cab home some time after 3am. Josh decided to stay with us in our room since we actually had an extra bed and he did not want to bother Belén so late at night.

Caminito

Since we did not get home until very late last night or early this morning depending on your perspective, we did not get Josh to Belén’s to shower until noon. Once we were all ready we headed out to eat at a food court in a mall nearby. After that we went to a Starbucks to use the wifi and get our caffeine fix.

Once we finally felt up to the day we got an Uber to take us to Caminito. Caminito is a small street filled with shops and small restaurants and cafes. It is most known for the live tango dancers and music, so after shopping around we stopped at a restaurant called Club Zárate to eat and watch some dancers.

Uber Fail

When it was getting close to dark and the shops were closing up we decided to order an Uber home. Unfortunately Uber in Buenos Aires is still having issues with the local taxis, so they cancel A LOT. After walking around and ordering Uber after Uber for almost an hour we finally got one to take us back to Belén’s, so we could nap before going out.

Night Out

After our short naps, we got ready to go out in Palermo. We walked there and stopped at many ATMs until finally one of them worked. We learned through our time in Argentina that many of the ATMs do not care for foreign debit cards.

We met up with some more people at a bar near Plazoleta Julio Cortazar. This is also when we met one of Josh’s other friends, Lisa. The group decided to go to a club nearby that we got some discount tickets for, but once we were in Gonzalo said we were with some girl who must have been having a party so we all got in free. The drink ordering process was strangely bottle necked as we had to all order from one register and then show our ticket to a bartender to then get it made. We also learned about an energy drink brand called Speed that we initially thought was just drugs and alcohol when reading on the menu Speed + Vodka. Speed is code for ecstasy for those of you who do not know that. We danced to some Reggaeton for many hours before deciding to walk home in the rain.

Teatro Colon

The next day, we met up with Josh and finally got to Teatro Colon. We tried to get the 1pm tour, but due to availability we ended up joining the 3pm tour instead. The tickets cost us 700 pesos each.

To kill some time we decided to walk to Puerto Madero. The shopping center that we walked through on the way was filled with beggars constantly saying “cambio” or “change”. We finally landed ourselves at a Starbucks in the port area and had some coffee and snacks.

We realized we may have killed too much time and had to power walked back to the theater. We got there just as the tour was starting, but we made it.

During the tour we learned a lot about the architecture of the building and how much thought goes into each section. You could also really see how much influence and admiration of Europe was in the Argentinian culture. This theater is considered one of the top 5 in the world for Operas and acoustics. I highly recommend this tour if you ever find yourself in Argentina.

Cementerio de la Recoleta

Following our tour through the theater, we walked over to Cementerio de la Recoleta. This was a very beautiful cemetery that had a very famous grave: Eva Perón. We had to find this grave and we did thanks to a marker Maps.ME. She was a very famous activist in Argentina, so there were many tributes near the grave.

While we were in the area, we also stopped by Basílica Nuestra Señora del Pilar. We walked through a small museum inside the church that had some art and history exhibits about the church. This cost us 35 pesos per person.

Not far from these lovely sites were some restaurants and breweries, so we decided to stop in one for a snack and drinks. We figured a shared appetizer and drinks would be enough to hold us over until we figured out what the dinner plan was for the night.

Last Night

For our last night in Argentina we ended up going to China’s friend’s house for a homemade meal and drinks. Lucky for us it was in Palermo, so we walked there from our hostel and bought some Fernet and coke on the way to share with the party.

While we were at the house everyone there chipped in to make some pastel de papa, a traditional Argentinian dish made of meat, potatoes, and cheese. While we ate and drank, we watched a Argentina’s Dancing with the Stars equivalent show called Bailando por un Sueño. Josh’s friend was apparently one of the competitors and while we watched that night she won her chance to compete in the finals!

We walked home later that night around 2am which felt a little sketchy, but we got home with no problems.

Farewells and a Stop in Paseo El Rosedal

On our final day in Buenos Aires, Lauren and I got ourselves checked out of the hostel and made a few attempts at Uber before finally getting one to Belén’s apartment. While we were there, we said goodbye to China and headed to Paseo El Rosedal with Josh and Nadus.

Paseo El Rosedal is beautiful public park with tons of roses. All of the roses were in bloom and were so beautiful. Lauren, Josh, Nadus, and I spent time taking lots of Rose garden photos in the park.

After our long photo shoot and walk in the park, we went to a restaurant nearby called Rock & Ribs Smokehouse. Our meal, drink, coffee, and dessert was only 400 pesos per person!

Our luggage was stored in Belén’s apartment, so after lunch we grabbed a cab to meet Gonzalo to get the keys to the apartment. Lauren and I said farewell to Gonzalo, and after grabbing our things from the apartment we said our farewells to Nadus and Josh.

Headed Home for Holidays

We were able to secure an Uber for around 25 USD to EZE airport. Luckily we left early since the traffic in the city around 5pm was super slow. We arrived at the airport almost 3 hours before our flight, but due to customs and security having two separate long lines to leave the country, it took us the entire 3 hours just to get to the gate.

Once we got on the plane, someone had lost their passport on the plane. We had to wait until it was found before the plane took off, which set us back by about 15 to 20 minutes. After we finally took off, we were well on our way home for the holidays!