Buenos Aires

Buenos Aires - We meet again...

After two weeks in the great outdoors of Patagonia it was a stark contrast to arrive in the buzzing ciudad of Buenos Aires...but what a place! The two of us weren't too clued up on the city, but were advised by fellow travelers to stay in San Telmo, a vibrant suburb, close to everything and full of local culture. we checked into the America del Sur hostel in Cachabuco street, which is a great option if you're looking for a place with great service, a bit of personality and somewhat decent value for money...

Breakfast time at America Del Sur, San Telmo

We jumped straight into a free walking tour the next day which covered the downtown area, which comprises most of BA's big historical sites.

Beautiful day for a walking tour!

Buenos Aires is a peculiar latin american capital city because unlike the other big colonial cities in South America, there are nearly no signs of Spanish colonial influence...

That's about as much Spanish Colonialism as you're going to see!

Turns out at the time when Spain colonized South and Central America, there was a myth so to say that there was a lot of silver in Argentina, they were so sure of this that they even named the main river in Buenos Aires, Rio de la Plata...River of Silver...but they found no silver...and the importance of Buenos Aires and Argentina to the Spanish crown dwindled, so much so that the city became a port filled with smugglers and buccaneers forced to fend for themselves...so it wasn't the place to be at back then, and by then i'm talking 16/17th century...

The House of Government, Casa Rosada, it's pink because back in the day they mixed cow blood into
the paint to help it withstand the humid conditions...Someone call PETA...

That all changed after the second industrial revolution. Argentina might not have had silver but it did have great soil and land for agriculture!

(Ironically it actually does have quite a lot of silver, 2 of the world's top 10 biggest silver mines are in Argentina, one in the north near Jujuy and the other in the south in Santa Cruz...#just saying)

With the advent of big industrial factories and urbanization in Europe, it drew people off the farms and created a big demand for large scale food production. This together with rapid technolocial advances spurred the beginning of commercial agriculture, or at least the pretext of the sort we are accustomed to today and placed Argentina back on the map!

Congress...Impressive right?!

But there was only uno problemo, while Spain controlled the North, the South was still inhabited by the native tribes...and guess where all that good soil is situated...ja and as you can imagine, what happened has happened pretty much in every similar scenario across history...die groot man met die geweer het net eenvoudig die klein outjie met sy pyl en boog se goed gevat...dis maar net hoe die wiel draai...

Anyway long story short, a lot of people rushed into Argentina throughout the 19th century (over 1 million Italians - that's why there's a pizza place on every corner!), and the country and especially Buenos Aires exploded! The city, cozying up to big business in Europe, started looking more like Paris and London than a Latin American colonial outpost!  And so the city was formed with its weird mengelmoes of European traces and yet with all the passion and zest that you'd expect from a Latin American country...

All that wealth did bring it's fair share of bloody turmoil and inequality but what it strikingly evident in both Buenos Aires and Argentina is that the locals have an uncanny and uniquely altruistic sense of loyalty and patriotism...

They almost care too much!

This is a city that has on average around 300 protests a year, we saw 4 in the five days we were there...In 2001 they had 5 presidents in 12 days! We struggle to get rid of one and he's really lousy! On average between 80% and 90% of the voting public will turn out to vote come election time which is remarkable!

Ja so needless to say they have an unbelievably strong public interest and are very difficult to please (Italian heritage coming through)...

In today's world of indifference and looking out for your own interests before those of your neighbours, it's inspiring to find a place like this, and as a visitor that sense of care and community definitely embraces you right from the start...

Tiny cafe right around the corner from our hostel - great food and
hospitality, especially after the owner found out we went to a Boca game! 

Our first night out we wanted to go and try some of this famous Argentine steak we kept hearing about...we are from south Africa after all...we were recommended to go to a place right around the corner from our hostel in San Telmo, El gran parrillo de la plata, it's apparently where the Obamas went when they visited Buenos Aires! It was apparently also not that expensive but as we've discovered, in Argentina that's a very loose term! Anyway we shared a delicious rib-eye steak, medium rare, of course, and a very good bottle of the cheapest Mendoza wine on the menu...Gracias San Felipe!

The next day we had the big adventure of having to travel to the other side of Buenos Aires using the local subway and rail system equipped with only a scratched on map/pamphlet and my highly unreliable Spanish...ai caramba! Fortunately kristi aka Garmin van der Merwe is one of the best and quickest map readers I've ever seen!

How do you say lost in Spanish...

We were visiting a friend of a friend so to say, Gisella and Pete du Mee, who invited us for coffee and lunch at their house...it was so nice to experience that again, when you travel you see and stay at a lot of places but you rarely get welcomed into someone's home, which is very different...

The Du Mee's are a very well traveled couple both in Argentina and abroad, plus they lived in Cape Town for a while so they knew what we are used to! They gave us some advice on our trip itinerary, what not to miss and what we could potentially skip, so much so that we have now altered our route! It was very helpful and fun to listen to their stories, it made us think of home when visiting friends or family...which is always great! We enjoyed a lovely lunch and a glass of wine outside in their garden and were even treated to a quick tour of Gisella's art work - she's very good! It was a great visit and we left feeling not just inspired but also with a sense of excitement for the road ahead...both on this trip and just life in general!

Lunch at the Du Mee's home

In the evening we decided to experience what some would say is the only way to feel the true heartbeat of Buenos Aires...we went to a live football match...in La Boca! 

La Bombanero - Home of Boca Juniors!

It was something we looked into prior to coming but it seemed almost impossible to get tickets...I found out there's no way to buy tickets the ordinary way because of the fact that there are 60 000 season ticket holders for a stadium with a capacity of 39 000...or basically lesson 101 of how to create a black market for something! So you have to know someone that knows someone, and it's pricey but definitely worth it! 

DALE BOCA DALE!!!

Dis die malste crowd wat ons nog ooit beleef het, hulle sing aanhoudend en as daar 'n doel gescore word hak almal behoorlik uit! Was so awesome, ek was net bang Kristi cheer per ongeluk vir die ander span as hul score! Haha nee grap net!

Great game - Boca won 3-1!

The next day was a bit of a dreary one due to the weather so we explored some of the other areas around town...including the leather factory shops! Two leather jackets later...ja nee ons kom einde Junie terug!

Leather Factory Shop - Thys, ek het gevra, die ouens voer uit!

We ended the night with some tango dancing at a place called La Catedral! we did have some lessons on the first night at the hostel and managed to add a couple more steps to our routine...it's really something to watch I might add! And it's very different to what we're used to back home so it was fun to learn, and I actually think it might be the one dance that I'm slightly better at than Kristi...haha that might be because it's one of the slowest dances in the world!

Our final day we headed to the famous recolleta cemetery to check it out, and look for Evita's grave! Very impressive place!

We then had to say adios to the lovely city of Buenos Aires but thank it dearly for a highly enjoyable stay, a pair of leather jackets and some great memories! Now we're off to Iguazu to go see a man about a waterfall... ;)

Hasta luego Buenos Aires!