Buenos Aires, The City of Tango

Buenos Aires has been a rollercoaster since we arrived in the middle of the night on Thursday. Our driver, Carlos, was waiting for us, and he was a very nice gentleman. We checked into the Palermo Suites and found a nice sized studio apt......

.....complete with a full on bidet.

Our first day here, we walked around on our own with our map, guidebook, and recommendations from various people.  Some places that were recommended to us were no longer in business, but we did find a great place for lunch at Serrano and Honduras Streets called Calero.  We ate some fantastic empanadas outside and had Coronas.  They didn't serve the Corona with lime, instead they poured it in a mug. 

We found a random place to take this photo below, and we're not sure if it's a school for harlots or not...but we took advantage of the photo opp anyway.

We only saw two stop signs in the city, neither of which anyone paid any attention to.  Running red lights aren't really that big of a deal, and the lines on the road are merely suggestions for the fearless drivers here.  For neighborhood intersections in America, there would be at least a 2 way stop, but here, there are no signs at all.  At traffic lights, instead of the light going directly green from red, there's some yellow in between.  When you're sitting at a red stop light, the red will stay on, then the yellow will come on for a second, and then they'll both go off and the green will come on.  They definitely get a head start when they see that yellow light illuminate.

We heard that the giant flower sculpture in the United Nations Square closes at dusk like a typical flower would, so we found ourselves in that part of town when the sun was going down. 

We walked around it a few times in our best attempt to avoid the mosquito swarms, but they got us anyway.  We waited and waited for the flower to start to close, but it didn't show any signs of movement even after it was completely dark.  Once we saw a man in the grass near us with his pants down and hands where they shouldn't be in public, we decided that was going to be the end of our day.  Oh, and if you’re into dreadlock mullets, we saw two of those in the city.  Lauren gets the credit for getting the best photo.

The next morning we had a private tour arranged with a young man named Matias.  He was recommended to us by one of Lauren’s colleagues.  He met us at our hotel promptly at 10:30a on the beautiful sunny St. Patrick's Day Saturday and we set out to explore the many facets of the city.  We started with the Spanish statue at a busy intersection in the city.

We walked a bit more to the rose garden that has roses blooming 365 days a year and is closed every Monday for maintenance and care.  I took these pictures for you, mom.

Outside the rose garden was a beautiful park.  People can rent rollerblades, paddle boats, and bikes.  It’s a very active city.

Matias told us about the history of Argentina, and that it’s just less than 200 years old.  They were originally a Spanish colony (hence the Spanish language) but then the British got involved.  Argentina revolted on May 25, 1810 and gained its independence on July 9, 1816.  May 25 and July 9 are national holidays in Argentina, but May 25 is celebrated more.  July 9 has the widest avenue in the world named after it though, and it’s in Buenos Aires of course.  We drove on it a few times, and it’s 16 lanes wide with a few medians.  It takes 2.5 minutes to cross on foot taking the various traffic lights into consideration.

Buenos Aires has an obelisk like Washington, DC does, and it’s in the center of the widest Avenue: Avenida 9 de Julio.   (See what I mean about the red and yellow lights on before the traffic goes?)

We went to see the Cementerio de la Recoleta where Evita is buried.  It’s not a typical cemetery, it’s gated and the grave sites are more like tombs.  It’s creepy to think that it’s beautiful, but it is.  It's like a maze you could get lost in.

Those buried in that cemetery are wealthy.  They began by burying only Christians, but once they buried a girl who had taken her own life they decided to open it up to other religions. 

We then made our way over to the political hub of the city.  Argentina had a white house like we do today.

That’s no longer used as presidential quarters, but the pink house (Casa de Rosada) across the square is where the president works today. 

The new presidential office is pink because there were two political parties – one represented by red, and the other by white.  In order to be politically correct, they mixed the two colors and painted the house pink.  The square that separates the two structures is the most political square in the city with a monument to May 25, 1810.

This square is where protests happen (I had flashbacks to Occupy DC in McPherson Square).  There was a train wreck where 59 workers were killed a few weeks ago, and the city is outraged.  The graffiti on the monument is a result of that.

Alongside the square is the national cathedral which looks more like our supreme court than it does a cathedral.  The general that led Chile, Peru, and Argentina to freedom, Jose de San Martin, is buried inside.

We had lunch at a hole in the wall place that was used for a taping of Bizarre Foods with Andrew Zimmern on the Travel Channel.  It was in a not so incredible part of town, but the food was delicious! 

We had filet mingon and spinach ravioli.  Lauren and I both decided that we’re taking a meat hiatus when we get home.  We had steak nearly every meal!

After lunch we continued to walk on the back streets that no tourist should see, and where not even the locals should be, but we ended up at La Boca.

It opens up to a tourist haven in an eclectic part of the city that’s known for its art and futbol stadium. 

That's me up there!

La Boca means ‘the mouth’ and La Boca is the oldest part of the city on the river.  From there, we went to the newest part of the city that’s less than 20 years old.  There’s a bridge that looks like a woman’s leg doing the tango. 

We sat and enjoyed a beverage together before taking a cab back to our hotel and bidding Matias farewell on the St. Patrick’s Day evening. 

We realized that St. Patrick’s Day isn’t a big deal at all in the city.  There were maybe 4 places that we saw advertising St. Patty’s Day festivities.  We got back to the room and made dinner reservations at Don Julio’s in the Palermo Soho neighborhood.  We got on the waiting list, but Lauren worked her charm and got us seated the moment we arrived.  Luckily we arrived when we did because there was a line out into the street shortly after.  Dinner was incredible!  It was the last steak we’ve had.

We had a fun night of bar hopping after that.

Our last day in BA was spent shopping, and then we went to a tango show.

We've just arrived to Manaus, Amazonas, Brazil and I'm about to shower in our closet.  Literally, it's tiny.  Anywho, hopefully I'll update again before Thursday, but if not just know that I'm enjoying hanging with the monkeys and fishing for piranhas.