Buenos Aires

Its actually been awhile since Buenos Aires. And we set up camp for about 10 days there, which was nice after all the travelling around. My friend Manny messaged me to say that he was arriving the next day in BA for the week so it turned out perfect!

Here is a list of things we saw and did during our visit in BA. I know its not the best post but Im so behind (I´m writing this from our 3rd stop in Brazil).

Recoleta Cemetery - This Cemetery is unbelievable. First it is in Recoleta, a very rich and expensive neighbourhood and it occupies a fair amount of land. It has only mausoleums and houses famous people of Argentina including Eva Peron (Evita). It is impossible to get space there now and if you could have the space I doubt you could afford it. The mausoleums each out do one after the other. I guess they have to prove their wealth and importance.

Plaza de Mayo - This is where the main plaza is and almost all the roads lead here. The Casa Rosada is the Pink House. (For federal government) There are pedestrian streets galore all around this Plaza for shopping, cafes etc.

Avenida de Mayo leads to the Plaza and it also crosses 9 de julio. The street with 16 lanes of traffic! It is insanity. This is also where the Obelisk is.

Teatre Colon is also here on 9 de julio. Unfortunately it is so rundown that they have closed it to completely restore it so we could not see much of it.

Our neighbourhood where we stayed in is called San Telmo. It is very cute and artisty. Lots of antique shopping and individual stores and tons of cute cafes and restaurants. Very much like the plateau area of Montreal.

Palermo is another neighbourhood with gorgeous parks and also a richer area. It is also the party area with all the all-night clubs clustered around there.

One thing we have learned in Argentina, is that time is all shifted forward. A typical day starts with breakfast, then a large lunch followed by 2 hours of siesta or so. And dinner doesnt begin until 10, 11 or even midnight! And then you go to the bar for a couple of hours and head to the clubs around 2 or 3 am! Kates and I had gotten used to eating late in Argentina. We also did the late night partying several nights coming in at 6am! Running around the city at 6am is really fun. Oh yeah, and apparently there are after hour clubs that people enter at 8 or 9am! Not sure how these people do it!

We were in BA for the night of the museums. It was a big outdoor party down near the water and I believe the museums were free for everyone (similar to Nuit Blanche in Montreal).

Another really nice thing we did on our first day in BA was visit a small town outside of BA called San Antonio de Areco. This is a typical gaucho (Argentinan cowboys) town. They still live as gauchos with ranches etc. The day we went was Tradition Day where they celebrate the gaucho culture. Gauchos from all over Argentina come for this week long celebration with competitions and parades etc. I think it is similar to stampede. We went for the final day and got to watch the gauchos herd their horses, rodeo, lasso-ing etc. It was a great day outside of the city and to see some real gauchos.

Manny had a friend in BA whom we met for a drink and he is one of the nicest portenos (person from BA) we met. He gave us ideas of places to visit and what to see and do.

I think I´ve covered most of BA. I loved the city and will definately post pictures up. It is definately a city I could live in. The culture and food is just amazing. Kates gorged on $10cdn steaks and I ate my fill of empanadas.