Tango, Malbec & Beef – 4 days in Buenos Aires!

First impressions? Buenos Aires is beautiful.  It has a sophisticated feel, and the architecture and wide streets are a mix of Paris, Rome & Madrid with a strong Latin American vibe.

We chose the area of Recoleta, likened to London’s Knightsbridge but thankfully at only a fraction of the cost, staying in a two-bedroom apartment, (via AirbnB) for about £65 per night. It was an older building that still retained its grand marble entrance, metal pull-door elevator, and its separate staff entrance and sleeping accommodation in the apartment giving the impression of old world affluence.

We have since found from reading and speaking to various Argentinians that there is a different side to the modern City – behind the scenes, the Argentinian economy is struggling badly, inflation is rife (above 25% unofficially) and there is a well-established black market for US dollars (the official exchange rate is 8.5 Pesos for one USD whereas the black market rate is 13).

Our apartment was only 10 minutes from the famous Recoleta Cemetery where Eva Peron (previously Duarte) or “Evita” is interred, along with numerous Argentinian former presidents, military leaders and wealthy members of the Argentine upper classes. The site is enormous, covering 30 acres and packed with amazing mausoleums, many still being used today. The boys found it fascinating and decided to make it more interesting by making up all sorts of stories about the current residents, some quite macabre!

Evita’s family tomb.

Recoleta’s cemetery city!

For our first BA eating experience we succumbed to a “restaurant tout” near to the cemetery and were served by an English-speaking waiter who had spent 4 years touring as a chef with Cirque de Soleil before returning to Argentina. It was here that we learned that wine in Argentina is only served in half bottle measures and, to use our waiters own words “the main reason to visit Argentina is to drink wine and eat meat!” I’m not sure that this is totally accurate, but after 2 glasses of very decent Malbec, Adele and I decided to call it quits and return to the apartment before our legs failed us!

The next day brought torrential rain and an unsuccessful attempt to visit the famous Theatre Colon where the “last English tour has already sold out!” before the sun returned for a hop on/off bus city tour. From the top deck you can really appreciate the diversity of neighborhoods, the architecture, the brightly painted buildings, the numerous parks and overall scale of the city. A great way to get orientated in a new place.

Caminito near La Boca, pretty but also a bit dodgy.

El Ateneo Bookshop, was an old theatre.

Street Tango

Using our best Spanish to get a haircut – Ollie has no idea how close he was to a shaved head!

A side trip to Florida Street saw us being bombarded with touts selling tours and offering “cambio” or unofficial money changing. Despite recent police crackdowns this is incredibly easy – once the rate has been agreed you get led away to a room away from the street where the transaction is completed – in our case to a vacant shop with brown paper covering the windows and “guarded” by a lookout – this proved to be very intriguing for the boys who now think Dad is a black market trader! You can’t help but have mixed feelings doing this but it seems to be normal practice, and until recently the black market rate has even been published alongside the official rate in the newspapers. It’s also a way of making your money go 30-40% further so its pretty hard to resist when you are travelling on a budget!

Over-ordered again!

Boca Juniors Football ground, a national obsession, when they play River Plate the City holds it’s breath until someone scores!

San Telmo markets.

San Telmo is best described as a slightly bohemian area known for its Sunday market. Market stalls line the never-ending ‘Defensa’ street selling everything from hats to jewelry to tasty street snacks of empanada’s and sausage asados (bbq’s). It was here that we met Andrew and Amy Dishman and their 3 children, Fintan (10), Florence (8) and Leyla (5) from York who embarked on an 8 month around the world trip in October.

It was great to enjoy a beer together and share our spookily similar experiences, not only on the road, but also planning our journeys. The boys were also relieved to have some English speaking company of their own age for the first time in 3 months!

For now we leave Buenos Aires to head to an estancia (ranch) located about 250 km’s south-east in the Pampas to experience a slower, more traditional way of Argentinean life.

Ben and a friendly local trying to work his new Go-Pro!