Tag Archives: buenos aires

It’s Hard not to Love Buenos Aires…

  
As we sit at the airport on our way to Ushuaia, Argentina, to commence our Antartic adventure, I reflect on the place that is Buenos Aires… 

Having spent time here twice now, I will look forward to returning when homeward bound. Whilst it may not be the most well-kept place, it is no less appealing. There’s such a laconic, laissez faire attitude to it and yet it functions delightfully well.  

Except for not quite getting the hang of ordering a cup of tea! You know when you’re gagging for one and you order ‘té con leche’ (confidently, thinking you’ve got it sorted) and you get a cup of hot milk and a tea bag… I’m still gagging (literally) at the thought of it!

 

But given that’s been our biggest hiccup so far, except for our “luggages” missing for the first two days, we cannot really complain. 

It is such a great place to wander aimlessly, admittedly in a particular direction as it’s pretty big, as you never know what you will find. For example, last visit we discovered one of the worlds most impressive bookshops – El Ateneo Grand Splendid – and made a point of popping in again. 

 
There’s lots of greenery around too so taking time out to contemplate your navel is doable as often as you like.  

 

As with any city, the locals are in a hurry to get somewhere, constantly.  We wondered whether they ever take the time out to appreciate what they have? Or is it that as they may not know any different, no reflection takes place… hard to tell. 

We, as one, are a big fan. Thank you Buenos Aires. 

What a grand old place is Buenos Aires…

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Buenos Aires; we had gone full circle. After leaving here 5 weeks earlier, we had made it back in one piece with many more adventure stories to share.

After finding our way to our last B&B, Palermo Viejo in the district of the same name, we got ourselves settled and showered, and headed out to dinner. We were famished after our Iguazu Falls very full play day!

Not sure where to go, we wandered aimlessly for a while, even tried on an outfit or two until the hunger pangs kicked in, and then we got down to finding food business. Found this great little restaurant off the main drag, not far from where we were staying, which had a courtyard out the back, mood lighting, a great menu, and a waiter that spoke fabulous English. Just what the doctor ordered. To top it all off, it was classic Argentinian ice-cream for dessert on the way back… perfecto!

Given how hot it was, eg 35 oC one day and 36 oC the next, we structured our sight-seeing accordingly. Which translates to mainly moving from shopping centre to shopping centre, checking out the main bits on the way.

Day one was in Recoleta mainly. El Ateneo – the most amazing bookshop based in an old theatre, gorgeous. Lots of great shopping at Patio Bullrich, which we had been starved of up until this point. Just a great area to spend time in really. We could have all done serious damage to the credit card… well we did do a little, but nothing to savage!

Day two was spent in the city centre; the Obelisk, the Plaza del Mayo, the Presidential abode etc, but then it got too hot again. So another shopping centre was sought. Only lunch this time, no shopping. Had another good look around, and then went in search of ice-cream to top it off. Once done, we piled into a cab to head back to our pad. Nearly didn´t make it though as the taxi-driver almost took on a bus with the nose of the car, but no harm done and we made it back safe and sound.

After a little R&R, and a preliminary packing of the bags, it was time to wander the local streets in search of whatever really; oh and dinner. Our return flight heading to Melbourne was at 2:30am, meaning we were leaving the B&B at approx midnight, so plenty of time to loiter with intent!

Except… we got caught in a full-on storm, wind and heavy rain lasting approx 30 mins, and serious enough to make all of us really wet. Fortunately it wasn’t cold, other than when the breeze blew, so we decided to push on regardless. We did know though that we were not after a dining place with full-blown air-conditioning blasting away. That would have been too much like torture!

Given how early we were by Argentinian standards (ie restaurants open for dinner at 9pm), we found a delightful place not far from our pad that were serving “snacks”. Now I have to tell you, we’re talking full on hamburgers and sandwiches which were enormous, but nothing overly fancy schmancy. We were by this stage, more than happy with that arrangement.

So we scoffed our snacks, used the time to reflect on the highlights and the not so experiences of the previous 5-6 weeks, moved on to the ice-cream shop for our one last chance at dessert (my, the Argentinians do a fabulous ice-cream) and headed back to finalise flight preparation! You know, showers, comfortable clothes, last decent cup of tea…

Before we knew it, the taxi was out front and we were piling into it. Said all our goodbyes, congratulating ourselves on yet another successful adventure and then we were whisked off into the midnight sky, on route to the airport.

What a trip…
What an adventure…
What to do next?
Antartica is on the radar. Alaska would be good too. Back to South America, like Brazil and Chile, would also be wonderful… so many choices!

Buenos Aires, in the heat…

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Blimey! To step out of that plane, after 24 hours of flying into 36oC heat was enough to make you want to turn around there and then and go back from whenst you came.
But we managed to survive it OK, but only just. Fortunately the taxi man who collected us had decent air-con so that eased the pain a little.

Odd how you arrive the same day as you leave isn´t it?

He delivered us to a fabulous boutique hotel. The Gurda Hotel.
We were in the Polo room. It was late afternoon and we were stuffed. Finally catching up with the Hornes was great though. They had come in on a different flight (having been upgraded to Business Class with pod beds!!) and arrived a number of hours earlier, much brighter than us.

But a cup of tea and a chat soon got us on the road to recovery, and we went off in search of dinner. Given restaurants open at 8:30pm, there was no rush. So we checked out these interesting miniture Christmas Tree sculptures, come art pieces, in one of the parks opposite our hotel.

We moved on and decided on a restaurant called Herbabeum. Whilst we were not sure what we were getting ourselves into, the place looked really interesting so we gave it a shot anyway. Vegetarian it was, as potentially indicated by the name. My mushroom vegie burger wasn´t bad but Daughter had troubled coming at the veggie cheese salad, which was predominately green leaves and blobs of cheesy sludge! The classic Limonade was to die for though. A humourous experience nonetheless.

We were well and truly ready to lie down once we returned. Sleep was most certainly beckoning us…zzzzzzz

Up bright and early for a chockablock day of sight-seeing, before heading off to our next destination, Lima Peru. After a fabulous breakfast, we hit the streets. We made our way to La Boca, the home of Diego Maradona. After understanding the god-like status of Diego, a tour etc, we were treated to a rendition of typical match day at La Boca. A most entertaining couple of minutes, but not so sure I´d want to be there for the real thing…

Just around the corner, we ventured into La Caminita, where we explored the very colourful streets of the tango-inspired decor, and the dance itself of course. A well deserved drink could not come quick enough!

Getting back to the hotel proved a little testing as we hadn´t realised just how far we had drifted away from our hotel, only to find that getting there was a long, slow, hot, process. Whilst we made it, we were definitely suffering. But no rest for the wicked as they say! A quick gallon of cold water and then back into a cab for the drive back to the airport… Lima, here we come.