We had heard so many good things from so many people about Buenos Aires, that our expectations were pretty high coming into town. Over the past eight days, we have done our best to experience the sights, sounds and tastes of Argentinean life – and it didn´t disappoint.
Home base for our first few days was Hostel Ostinatto, located in the San Telmo neighborhood of Buenos Aires. Ostinatto was sort of a boutique hostel, if there ever were such a thing, with five very white floors and an open-air interior so that you could see all the way from the lobby to the roof. It was friendly, cheap and clean enough, but the whole hostel culture is still pretty strange to us and we weren´t totally heartbroken when we moved out after three nights.
Day two was a little less ambitious. We headed north of the city center to explore the Palermo neighborhood, and to scout out a few potential hotels for later in the week. All the guidebooks rave about how nice the area is, so we were caught a little off-guard after getting off the metro when warned by a nice gentlemen to immediately head south and to watch our belongings. We took the local´s expert advice and walked directly to what we thought would be a safe spot, the botanical gardens. In a general sense, it was pretty safe, except for herds of cats roaming the lawns and hissing at us from the trees. After promptly exiting the cat sanctuary, we finally found our way to the nicer part of the neighborhood, looked through a few shops, ate a nice lunch and reserved our hotel for the remainder of our stay.
In case you haven´t heard, Tango is pretty popular in Buenos Aires. So that night, we checked a major item off the tourist list and went to a show at one of the oldest and most popular venues, Cafe Tortoni. Although not exactly what we were expecting (not a single rose in mouth throughout the entire performance), and a bit touristy, it was definitely worth seeing.
We spent the last five nights at Hotel Costa Rica, in the Palermo Soho neighborhood. Apparently whoever named the neighborhood didn´t get the memo, because it isn´t south of Houston or any other street beginning in “Ho.” Oh well, a quiet neighborhood filled with good restaurants was a nice change from the grittier San Telmo and we enjoyed our stay.
With most of the main tourist activities under our belt, we spent the next few days laying low, and trying to soak in the pace of the city. On Sunday, we made our way back to San Telmo to check out the famous antiques fair, market place, and impromptu tango performances. We also visited a hole in the wall meat-ery consistingof a bar top, maybe four seats, and an immense grill filled with every kind of meat and sausage imaginable. Jim had eyed the place earlier in the week and was more than ready to give it a try. Jim’s delicious choripan sandwich – sausage and bread – marked the official beginning of some of the most gastronomically memorable days of his life.
For dinner that night, we decided to try one of the best known steakhouses in BA, La Cabrera. In proper Argentinean form, we arrived at the restaurant just after 10pm. Even though it was a Sunday night, the place was packed. Our forty-five minute wait could have been worse as we passed the time by sipping champagne and eating sausage or-devours. Don´t worry – Haley´s sausage didn´t go to waste. Jim happily obliged. Once seated, Haley ordered a chicken dish and Jim the house specialty ”Ojo de Bife.” We also attempted to order a sideof french fries, but the waiter chuckled and informed us that we had already ordered more food than we could possibly eat. He couldn´t have been more correct. Jim´s steak, a massive slab of rib-eye, was impressive just to look at (Haley may think otherwise), and the taste was second to none. Our entrees were also accompanied by about 15 different mini side dishes ranging from olives to mashed potatoes to apple sauce. Impossibly stuffed, we opted out of dessert, but our check was accompanied with chocolates and two glasses of champagne – a very nice touch (disclaimer: all restaurants charge for these types of extras such as bread, butter, and in this case champagne as a “cubierto”, so it wasn´t exactly a free perk). It was a slow walk back to the hotel.
The Buenos Aires meat extravaganza continued the following day on a day trip an hour outside of the city to a town called Tigre. In Tigre, a favorite weekend destination for the city folk, we leisurely strolled along the riverfront, enjoyed the sunshine, but opted out of the boat tours that lead you through the city´s canal system. Jim´s lunch selection was a huge steak sandwich that probably could have been eaten as a steak alone. Back in BA that evening, we returned to another hole in the wall meat-ery where Jim enjoyed one of the largest and tastiest chicken sandwiches on record.
Here are a few random observations we made throughout the week:
- The citizens of BA are terrible sidewalk walkers. There is no method to the madness – some on the left, some on the right, most right down the middle, stopping in the middle of the sidewalk to window shop, cutting you off – it´s maddening.
- The garbage men must be highly paid and not hourly, because they literally run from trash pile to trash pile. Or, maybe they´re just training for their weekend soccer matches.
- Mullets, scruffy beards and converse shoes are very much in style amongst the male population.
- City buses are out of control. They go way to fast on streets that are much to narrow, and they emit an obscene amount of diesel fumes and noise.
- There are cafes everywhere – in the malls, McDonald´s, grocery stores, train stations, subway platforms. Ironically, we saw only one Starbucks.
- Conversations are very intense amongst the locals. They seem to be very engaged with whomever they are talking to – like there couldn´t be anything more important in the world than the conversation they were having right then and there.
Wednesday concludes our tour of the Americas and BA has been one of our most enjoyable destinations thus far. Though just a short two hour flight from Santiago, the cities feel like they are worlds apart – and BA seems to be winning in just about every category. BA is a fun city, with lots to do and also a great place to just kick back and relax. Next on our list, after an exciting twelve-hour flight, we have a few days in Madrid. Then we cross the Iron Curtain for a few days of borscht and vodka in Russia.
Posted by haleyandjim 
