I found a new love, Buenos Aires. A happenin’ city with a plethora of things to keep you yearning for more. I left satisfied but could’ve spent at least another week there. Now I know why the two British girls we met in the beginning of our trip got “stuck” in BA…you literally cannot leave. And it’s not solely because you fell in love with the historical sights, bumpin plazas, vast array of eateries and cuisine, hottest fashion and inexpensive shopping, cheap cab fare, beautiful Argentineans, trendy bars/clubs, quaint outdoor cafes, obsessed fans at futbol games or intimate tango in the streets, it’s simply because the earliest you'll start your evening is 10:30 pm with dinner and drinks followed by a bar or club till the wee hours of the morning. The kicker? The 10 am checkout. You just can’t make it. So they’ve got you by the, ah hem, balls.
To start our journey we were welcomed by Cata’s family to stay at her mom’s apartment in Santiago for a night with her brother, Raul and sister, Nacha. We visited a city park, San Cristobal, where the locals ride bikes and perhaps attend an outdoor Sunday mass. You can see the whole city from the top and a city with 5.2 million people is impressive at dusk. Afterwards we met Franco for Pad Thai in a trendy neighborhood called Providencia. A nice prelude to our well needed cityscape themed weekend.
On Wednesday our flight was delayed but we could care less as the excitement of the trip voided any negative feelings we might have otherwise incurred. We arrived at Hostel Estoril in the city’s center about 10 pm and checked into our double, private room with a shared bathroom (roughly $40US/night). The staff was great, giving us tips and making sure no stragglers entered the hostel from the street. The room was clean and the AC worked which is more than most hostels can live up to. The most attractive part of the hostel for this semi-young duo, was the 24/7 rooftop bar that captivated the young and the restless. We ventured out to barrio San Telmo, an artsy part of town where we hear the tango manifests in the streets. It was rainy and late so we ducked into the Resto Bar where we grabbed a bite and listened to a live salsa/jazz band which gratified our needs for the evening.
Thursday morning we ventured into an upscale neighborhood called Recoleta. We grabbed a dark roast coffee at La Biela, a café in a prime locale where the outdoor terrace sits beneath an enormous 19th-century gum tree opposite the church of Nuestra Señora del Pinar and the adjoining Recoleta Cemetery. The cemetery includes graves of some of the most influential and important Argentinians. Internationally, Eva Perón (Evita) is the best-known person buried in this cemetery. The cemetery contains many elaborate marble mausoleums, decorated with statues, in a wide variety of architectural styles and it was haunting to see empty slots awaiting the next family member. Recoleta was recommended to us by several folks who had the opportunity to spend time in BA. It consisted of posh stores, i.e. Cartier and Louis Vuitton and beautiful French-style villas and apartments. A really nice neighborhood for window shopping and people watching.
Next we took a quick walk through Puerto Madero, maybe we missed something but we strolled up and down a strip of touristy, overpriced restaurants which lined a rather brown river, some large corporate office buildings and brand name hotels. We skipped dining in this area and headed back toward our hostel grabbing a bite at the worst food choice of the weekend, La Piacere, where the menu and service were subpar. We made it back to our room and decided to head upstairs to the outdoor patio for a prenap beer (naps are essential to surviving BA). We were lucky enough to catch a massive protest happening on the Avenida de Mayo, a main street located below our hostel. We are still unsure why the protest occurred since we had heard several explanations but the excitement was alluring for the moment.
After our nap we craved sushi. We found a place in barrio Las Canitas, called Moshi Moshi. Our guide book gave it great reviews but we are sushi snobs and found it slightly underwhelming but the sake cocktails made up for the absence of Maguro. Next we headed to the modish square of bars in Las Canitas for a cocktail prior to hitting the club scene. We landed at La Iguana bar where we met a friendly bartender named Sol, who gave us some nightlife advice and even managed to make a proper dirty martini (although the olives had pits but we cant win em' all). So finally 1:00 am rolls around and we head to Club 69 (a.k.a Club Niceto). We hear the parties don’t start till 3 am but there was a line forming when we arrived so we felt better about our “early” appearance. We heard this place was a transvestite night on Thursdays with a drag show and we were more than pleased with the entertainment. Our pictures will tell you the rest. 5 a.m. showed up in a flash and besides the five dudes accosting me (which we hear is typical), overall we had ourselves a fabulous evening.
As you might imagine, Friday’s 10 am checkout came hastily. We dragged ourselves out of bed and crawled over to Café Tortoni, a famous French café (they opened the Avenida de Mayo location in 1880) for coffee and toast. Needing more substantial hangover food we stopped at La Continental for ridiculously great pizza and a spinach empanada.
Our next accommodation was located in the chic neighborhood of Palermo Soho. We found this boutique hotel, 5411 Soho, on line and it was decently priced for its prime location and mid-sized room with a garden patio. We unfortunately couldn’t check in till 2 pm so we left our bags and headed out for a stroll. We immediately fell in love with the area. Tons of cafes, bars, designer shops, street bizarres, restaurants and people watching. We seeked out Sarkis for our prenap meal. An authentic middle-eastern restaurant where we had a scrumptiously satisfying falafel, hummus, warm pita and lamb at an excellent value. Afterwards we crashed for three hours and headed out for our favorite meal of the weekend, La Cabrera (yes, we ate a lot of food on this trip but coming from a small town in Patagonia we really had no choice in the matter). If you get the chance to visit BA, go here. We arrived about 10:10 pm and we’re seated at 11:30. We were prepared as we read about the queue and to ease the pain they hand out champagne and samples of meat while you wait. We split a Caprese salad, bottle of Malbec, beef de Chorizo and polished it off with chocolate truffle ice cream. Yum is an understatement. After a day of shopping and eating we called it a night.
Sadly our last day sneaked up on us and although we had shopped some on the previous days, I procrastinated buying anything until I was sure I nailed my purchases. So Saturday was spent haggling in the streets and buying gifts for our loved ones. We had a must-do recommendation from Franco to have lunch at a hole-in-the-wall Italian restaurant called Guido’s bar. It was truly a dive but the food was out of this world. You get the plate of the day where they bring you food and you eat what’s served. The first round was composed of antipasto, second, four small hot plates (i.e. eggplant parm) and the finale, two pastas, one red and one white, creamy, curry sauce. Red wine and a trio of desserts accompanied the meal. Amazing. (FYI: The majority of immigrants to Argentina, since the 19th century, came from Europe, mostly from Italy and Spain. The total population of Argentina rose from 4 million in 1895 to 7.9 million in 1914, and to 15.8 million in 1947; during this time the country was settled by 1.5 million Spaniards and 1.4 million Italians.) So you can imagine the Italian food is nothing to make light of.
Shopping can be exhausting so we headed back for a quick nap and decided on Mexican for dinner. Xalapa. It was OK, nothing to write home about, we had a nice table outside and a couple of frozen margs. Then we headed to an outdoor bar in the plaza to close the night.
Sunday we packed up, checked out, grabbed one last coffee at La Francis and headed to the airport where we experienced the largest duty-free shop we’d ever seen. We landed in Santiago about 6 pm and were able to spend the night at a friend’s apartment where we were greeted with a beer and a home cooked meal. A great ending to our phenomenal BA jaunt. On Monday we headed back to our little town and here we are! We have about a month till our next trip north to explore Peru and Bolivia and then on our way home!! Time flies....
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